Joyce’s Quilting Quandary

We visited the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show after a visit to Castlemaine and Chewton. It was great show with lots of contry things and also great examples of where the wool industry diversification is heading. I was sorry that I  had left the camera at home because I would have taken some close-ups of the sheep and rams and their wonderful faces. I “collected” some wool from a couple of the prize-winning fleeces. As the background I used a black woolen fabric out of which I am making a jacket. I added the pieces of fleece and also some chords which I made from some wool tops which I already had. I used the chords to confine the pieces of fleece. I also twisted a red piece into a circle and used this as the red corner.  I put a stabliser over the top and then appliqued all the bits down. Unfortunatly , the stabiliser was supposed to pull off or be ironed off, but it didn’t quite work 100%. I couldn’t use a water soluble one because of the background fabrics and the wool threads. But, I did manage to get most of it off. Quite an abstract block!

Tour de France and Wimbledon takes up a huge amount of space on  television this week. The Tour de France is amazing! I could move into one of those French villages tomorrow! I often think of my dad when I am watching it. He would have found it amazing! He owned a bike shop when children riding bikes to school were the main users. Tennis was one of my mother’s loves and watching Wimbledon was one of her  joys. She would watch all night if she could get away with it! The design evolved. I had great plans to draw a bicycle with the chain wheel and part of a tyre, but then found some bicycle fabric which I had bought in America when I was staying with Geraldine, so used this. I have included the hills and mountains that the riders have to cross on the red block. I included the tennis ball for wimbledon ,also the purple and green colours. When first added, these were a little too prominent, so I added a piece of tulle to subdue them and this doubles as a tennis net. Now the colours are very subdued, but I think the net works well.

I thought after tweny-eight weeks it was time for a glass of champagne! Twenty eight weeks and no  image of champagne! Not a true reflection of the year!  Thought I should also add a cup of coffee for all those “social” coffees!  Also we had a lovely afternoon tea at ” The Turret ” – one of my favourite haunts – with my dear friend Sandra, her husband Peter, children Philip and Lee, and their partners Dale and Christie to celebrate Sandra’s 60th birthday!  I taught with Sandra in 1970 at Ballarat Girls’ High School and we have been friends ever since. I wanted a dark block to maintain the overall quilt balance, but had learnt by Week 11 that black can be too black! The gold/silver metallic thread helped solve this problem as did the grey thread. I added some beads for the bubbles in the champagne. What would champagne be without the bubbles!  This is a very good analogy for life also! Lots and Lots of bubbles!