Sixteen and stepping out in style

How is it that 16-year-old girls today are SO beautiful and SO sophisticated? Here are some photos from my daughter's Year 10 Formal on Saturday. Lovely, lovely dresses - all short, but thankfully not as short as last years'! And with legs like theirs ...

The hairstyles were very pretty, lots of curls and up-dos.

And the shoes!! Oh my! Without exception, they were spectacularly high. Within about half an hour the groans set in, the hobbling started and complaints flew: "Why did I wear these shoes"? Seems their mothers were right, huh?!  Just sayin'!

  

 

I grew up on a farm with three brothers, so I'm not that great with the 'girl stuff'. But I'm sure getting an education via my daughter and her friends! They were all astonishingly beautiful. I am still reeling and wondering where the last 16 years have gone :)

A class with Sarah Fielke

I spent five glorious hours on Saturday at Patchwork Orange in a class with Sarah Fielke. We had a wonderful day that passed far too quickly, blissfully absorbing Sarah's knowledge, and talking about this, that and everything. We covered everything from needle threaders & thimbles, needleturn applique and hand-piecing to bullying, Japanese culture, and education in Brethren schools! Thank you to Lucy, the owner of Patchwork Orange for organising a great day.

A highlight of classes with Sarah is that she brings many of her divine quilts. I love seeing these quilts up close. They are even more stunning in real life! 

On this trip, Sarah brought:

'The Night Garden', a beautiful little quilt, with light fabrics sparkling vibrantly across a deep blue and green background.

And the 'Wing and a Prayer' quilt. This quilt won the 'Best Reproduction Quilt Inspired by an Antique Quilt' award at the The Sydney Quilt Show in June 2011. It is technically excellent and visually stunning.

Sarah spoiled us with a peek at some pre-release fat quarters of her new fabric range, St Ives. It was very special to see this range before it hits the shops. The story behind this range is personal to Sarah, being a representation of many things from her childhood and a tribute to her mother. You can share the story at this post over at True Up. Oooh, and we each got to keep a little piece of St Ives to take home. This was my choice:

Sarah also brought her first quilt made from St Ives. This is 'Made in Cherry' and is available as a free pattern at Lecien. Sarah made four of these for Market, one in each colourway of her new range - impressive! 

So did I actually do anything other than talk and drool over quilts? Well, no, not much. But I was keen to have Sarah show me how to hand-piece the block from her 'Jazz Hands' quilt.

I know I've sung Sarah's praises before, but I feel I need to do it again. She is a most inspiring quilter, with a brilliant knack for paying homage to traditional quilt designs, while catapulting them into the 21st century with her unique and fun flair. She is wonderfully generous with her knowledge. And for the quilting superstar that she is, she is so refreshingly understated about her work and achievements. Hmmm, this is starting to sound like a school report comment :) 
Signed: Ms Bloom x

Marally workshop

I had the pleasure (yes, pleasure!) of teaching my first ever workshop yesterday at Marally Craft.

As you all assured me, there was absolutely nothing to worry about, the girls were all just lovely and we had a great day.

Here we all are with the day's creations; from left, Wendy, Val, Kate, Susan and me.

It was such a thrill to see these women work with my pattern and come up with such beautiful and unique versions.

Susan was working with pretty and subtle shades of green and pink. Love that striped piping! Despite arriving with the declaration that she was an embroiderer, not a patchworker, Susan coped brilliantly!

It was very exciting to finally meet 'Show and Tell' Kate. I had heard many lovely things about her, but somehow we had never crossed paths.

Kate was working with Anni Downs' gorgeous new fabric line 'My Favourite Things'. That little peep of red piping really made these fabrics pop. Kate is a prolific stitcher, and works meticulously - her blog is a 'must-see'.

Val created this very cheerful version with 'Happy Campers' by American Jane. I love how the yellow and black measuring tape works with this range. Oooh, and more striped piping - lovely!

Wendy went 'fun and funky' with her stunning lime green and purple fabrics. The measuring tape simply looked silly with these fabrics, and was quickly replaced with some perfect lime ric-rac.

 

Wendy had us all impressed with her choice of fabrics. She had noticed some wonderful spotty sewing baskets at Marally, and decided to purchase one each for her daughter and daughter-in-law for Christmas. 

She plans to make up the mat, thread keeper and pincushion to match the baskets, for the most wonderful Christmas gift, so thoughtful and generous!

Thank you ladies for making my debut workshop such a positive experience, and to the girls at Marally who took care of our every need. I had the best time. Let's do it again soon :)

I ♥ my quilter

My Strawberry Fields quilt is back, and as usual Belinda (Eucalypt Ridge Quilting) has magically transformed it. She adds a beauty to my designs that is impossible for me to achieve.

As I was picking up my quilt, we got to talking about the concept of losing ownership of a quilt if you outsource the quilting. I confess to once feeling that I was 'cheating' to get someone else to quilt my work. I'm over it. Life's too short. These days, it is an enormous relief to hand my quilt tops over to Belinda, in complete trust that she will do something beautiful with them. If not for her, I would have completed the top, and it would have languished in the corner incomplete because quilting with my domestic machine frustrates me. I still quilt small pieces myself, but at 93" square, this baby was way too big to wrestle with.

We decided to use Anne Bright's 'Strawberries' design for my quilt, to link with the strawberry theme of the Fig Tree fabrics.

Can I take a moment to sing Belinda's praises? You won't hear it from her as she's not a 'blow-your-own-trumpet' sorta gal! She turned my quilt around in 10 days, despite my telling her that there was no particular hurry for it! My quilts don't challenge Belinda much because they are usually edge-to-edge designs, but I can tell you, this woman is an unbelievable quilter. She has won awards at major quilting festivals, both national and international, for her spectacular work. I have pinched these examples from her blog, to prove my point:

The precision and detail in her exhibition quilts are extraordinary. And when I get to occasionally see them in real life they take my breath away!

Belinda is also regularly called upon to quilt collaborative charity projects for Australian Homespun.

There are countless more examples of Belinda's exquisite quilting on her blog and at her website gallery.

As for my simple little quilt, all that remains to do is the bind. Pure pleasure!

Turning can'ts into cans

I have been asked by the lovely girls at Marally Craft in Orange to teach a workshop. Yep, quietly terrified about that prospect, but I've stepped out of my comfort zone and accepted!

We will be working through my 'Beyond Measure' pattern for a sewing mat, thread catcher & pincushion.

The workshop is on this Thursday 17th November. If you are nearby and would like to bear testament as to how terrified Bloom can be join us, please contact Marally Craft on 

ph: 02 6362 3860 or email: info@marallycraft.com.au

I have put together a slideshow of some of your versions of my 'Beyond Measure' patterns to inspire the girls who are coming to the workshop. I thought you might enjoy it too.

Make a slideshow

My thanks to all the lovely women who have purchased my patterns and made them up. And to these ladies in particular for the use of their photographs:

Melissa @ Quilting for Happiness

One for a Wish

Cherie @ Sew & So Quilts

Tilly, a friend of Josie @ Dilly Dimple

Wendy @ Sugarlane Quilts

Jess @ The Elven Garden

Katie @ Sew Katie Did

And because I know you'll ask about the stunning Australian designed fabrics used by Jess, the 'Mikko' fabric is by Surface Art, available here,

and Saffron Craig's designs are available here.

Think of me on Thursday! Despite the fear, I am really looking forward to it and know it will be lots of fun :)

Daybook entry #11

Outside my window ... not today exactly, but recently, the first blossoms of our new crabapple, Malus 'Mattom' (Tom Matthews).

I am thankful for ... the many positive comments about my Strawberry Fields quilt of my last post. Your encouragement keeps me motivated! Yes, it is my own pattern which I am writing up at the moment. Can't wait to see what Belinda does with the quilting. Itching to get this quilt bound and finished :)


From the kitchen ... I am eating leftover rhubarb & apple pudding with my morning coffee. Ooooh yeah!

I am stitching ... repairs to Miss 16's Year 10 formal dress. It is brand new, unworn, and needs fixing - hate that! Whether detachable straps of said dress will be worn on the big night is a matter still under negotiation! 

I am reading ... 'One Day' by David Nicholls. A very readable book, about the exasperating relationship between two friends who just can't seem to get it together. I suspect it will end annoyingly unfulfilled. I am enjoying this book, but I just want to slap the characters around the head at the same time!

I am hoping ... to spend some time reading 'A Field Guide to Fabric Design' which arrived today. I have no intentions of designing fabric, I just love to learn :)

I am listening to ... the new Coldplay album, Mylo Xyloto. Youtube link enthusiastically provided by Miss 16 who is studying graffiti art at school right now, and thinks this is very cool.

I am learning ... about Banksy from Miss 16. Banksy is a controversial and anonymous British street artist whose works split the world into those who think his work is 'art' and those who dismiss it as graffiti. 

'Sweeping it under the carpet' in London (source)

The Melbourne City Council caused outrage when they inadvertently removed one of his works from its streets in 2010 - this video link is an excellent summary of what Banksy is all about. 

'Flower' (source)

His works are thoughtful, political, cynical and often funny. They are always painted in a location which will provoke reaction. You can see more of his works here.

'Flowerchucker' in Palestine (source)

Does Banksy's work constitute art? Does a woman giving birth in a public gallery constitute art? The day we can define 'art', we will perhaps be able to answer these questions! 

Here endeth the art lesson for today! Have a creative weekend. Bloom x

Strawberry Fields quilt

I love the muted, softly washed vintage colours of many of Joanna Figueroa's fabric ranges. Her Figtree & Co fabrics and patterns are amongst my all-time favourites. When she recently released her 'Strawberry Fields' range, I was in love all over again! 

I finished my 'Strawberry Fields' quilt top this week, which is now with Belinda-the-weaver-of-quilting-magic.

You may remember this solitary little block a few months ago.

Thankfully, it found some friends and they finally got their act together to produce this:

Sorry, the photos are awful as it was a very windy day and this quilt is very big - the biggest I've made to date.

I am thankful Belinda is quilting it and not me! I will post some nicer photos when it is quilted, bound and more photo worthy.

In the meantime, I will endeavour to resist Joanna's newest line, 'California Girl'. It will be a tough ask!