Australasian Quilting Convention etc.

Headed into the Australasian Quilting Convention over the weekend & was lucky enough to be a helper in a class run by Phillipa Naylor (which basically meant making sure the irons were working etc.).  The 'pieces' (I'm not sure what they should be called) that the class participants made were amazing and the colourways chosen were great too!  An enjoyable day : ) and one that has made me realise that I don't need to completely steer clear of curved piecing like I'd always thought... hmmm...... I have a few ideas rolling around in my head already...

Here are the lovely ladies hard at work - they worked hard from 9-5 pausing only for a quick coffee break and most took a shortened lunch in order to keep working on their projects.  (Note: If you're in this pic and would like it removed, drop me a line and I'll be happy to take it down).  I was also excited to learn from one of the ladies (who had come all the way from Sydney, no less!) that the theme for this year's Quilts In The Barn exhibition is 'red and white'.  Can't wait!  Just imagine - *cue wistful gaze off into the middle-distance* -  a whole exhibition of red and white quilts!

It was very quiet inside before the main doors were open.

But as you can see, was much busier at the tail-end of the day.

Sunday saw me spending a couple of hours doing white-glove work as an Angel on the floor of the exhibition.  It was nice to chat with people - I'm always amazed how everyone has a story to tell.  I enjoyed chatting/listening about trapunto, the general construction of quilts, blocks, and quilting patterns with people, and was pleased that only one person had the audacity to try and touch a quilt with their grubby hands while I was there.  I was also surprised that I understood what a rather excited lady meant when she literally came bouncing up to me to ask where 'Jane' was... : )

It was lovely to see some of the ladies again that I'd met in the class the day before, and I ducked upstairs at the end of the day to see their masterpieces - and wow, had they progressed over the day!

Sunday also saw a visit by my brother, his wife, my nephew and the 'outlaws', which was a lovely surprise, and made my day : ) There's nothing quite like watching someone walk for the first time : )

I was pretty good when it came to shopping and only splashed out on a new cutting mat (my other one has given up the ghost after 15 years), another roll of freezer paper and a 1" by 6" ruler.  

NI - the assembly (Part 1)

Easter weekend, the perfect time to work on assembling the top of my NI.  I set myself up quite nicely in the sewing room at the parentals' and sewed away, and slowly, but surely, the top is starting to emerge.

All set up and ready to sew a strip of blocks : )

A selection of the leftovers.  Not quite sure what I'll make with them yet.

  
The 'refurbished' block 18 - I knew that if I didn't fix up the wonky centre, it would bug me forever!

Trying to decide whether to re-make this one or not.  When I put it next to other blocks, it looks sort of washed out.  When I put it like this, with sashing and cornerstones around it, it looks ok..... still not sure what I'll do about it (if anything).

  
                                                           Yummy!

              
Thanks to quilt-model Dad here.  The central part of the top is almost half assembled : )

Nearly Insane and other projects...

So I'm into/onto the last few blocks of my Nearly Insane.  After much deliberation, I've finally chosen a suitable fabric for the cornerstones and will start assembling the quilt top later this afternoon!  Wow!  Including a six month hiatus where I didn't look at it at all, it will have taken me about 18 months to finish. I still have the zig-zag border to make, but that won't take very long.

Here's my new temporary sewing nook:

And some cute fabric I picked up this morning on a thread run (I wish I'd kept track of how much thread I've used in my NI.  I'm thinking I'm into my third kilometer...).  I'm planning to use this in a cot quilt of some description for my soon to be nephew/niece - I'm tipping that it will be a niece : ).  I really need to get a move on as far as the designing & sewing of the cot quilt goes, seeing as we're into the last nine or so weeks, I think...