Joyce’s Quilting Quandary

Half Way through the year! I am still having fun with numbers! I want to convey the half- way idea so split the 26 diagonally. I wanted to use the reverse of the black and red spot but couldn’t locate them so compromised by using the smaller spot. No more spots for a while. The second version came because when I put all the blocks together, 26 was very bright – the spots tend to have this effect! -so overlaid the block with a black spotted tulle. I am much happier with this effect, tones it down.

Holidays over!! Back to Ballarat and the cold! Block this week is in celebration of Catherine’s birthday. She turns 34! But, celebration has to be a far distant one! Thank goodness for the internet. I thought that half a cup cake would be sufficient this time. The spotted fabric opens up lots of opportunities for variations. I thought that I had better use satin stitch again. The Bernina works well, especially with the open toed foot on.

Four rows together!

Managed to get two weeks from Magnetic Island.  I concentrated on the visual, the coastline, the rocks, the pine trees with their strong sculptural shapes, the A-framed chalets which were a delight to stay in and the wonderful curlews which were so vocal at night with their mournful calling, then so friendly during the day, especially at breakfast time. I couldn’t manage to include their wonderful spindly legs! I used mainly appliqué for the designs. I used the wonderful white on white stripe fabric, but found it moved a great deal. However it was ideal to represent the island. I was very happy with the curlew, drew it with the sewing machine then coloured it with a little tea!

Our holiday trip to Magnetic Island this week! Magnetic Island is a tropical island 8 km off the coast, accessed from Townsville. Our 10 days brought back many happy memories of great holidays, both with Catherine and Michael and in later years, just the two of us. Decided that I would use a map of the island with the main road ( the only one ) and the main settlements marked in red. I used my favourite lettered fabric as the background. Week 23 number was free machine embroidery stitching over organza. The organza was then trimmed back to the stitching. The grey quilting emphasized the design without overwhelming it. I could have repeated the word Magnetic because it is certainly a magnetic place!

This week Arnie had to be in Melbourne for an early morning appointment, so we had a night in the city! I went to see Top Designs – furniture was great, fashion was a little disappointing. I then went to see the Illuminated Manuscripts exhibition at the State Library. They were amazing! 8th Century manuscripts with tiny Celtic knots! So I decided to use the Celtic knots as the basis for the block. I was going to use bias tape for the knot, but this was going to be very difficult ( the corners were too tight!) So used appliqué instead. I then put a row of decorative stitching with the Bernina Artista sewing machine down the centre of the bands. I used the triple straight stitch for the red corner.

Amazing full moon this week! I was outside at the time the moon was rising so received the full benefit.The violin shape was due to my attendance at the Pro-Arte Concert at the Wendouree Performing Arts Centre. They are a wonderful chamber orchestra – violins, cellos, violas and double basses plus a harpsichord. I think that the violin shape is wonderful! Entirely functional and so beautiful – design at its best. The cream fabric worked well for the moon and I feel that the quilting enhances the image.

I have been a little slack with my updating of the blog, but are trying to get back on track. This week we had some good falls of rain, about 40 mm which was great. I decided that this would be the focus of the block. Drops of rain, plus rain sweeping across the sky. We had a trip to Stawell where I took some photographs of sunsets and clouds. The one I chose had the silhouette of the Grampian’s along the bottom edge. The rain drops were appliquéd onto the background using a mixture of organza and tulle. I used some silver thread to highlight the rain sweeping across the sky.