10.7.09

Before The Quilting Bug Hit ……

An earlier love of mine was folk art / decorative painting. I loved the creative freedom it offered. There was not a day go by where I wouldn’t pick up a paint brush. Like quilting, I found it to be immensely relaxing. From choosing a piece I’d like to paint, to deciding what I’d like to paint on it, how I’d like to finish it….the entire process totally engrossed me and I rarely stopped until the piece was completed.

Unfortunately, when we moved to the other side of the country a few years ago, my entire collection of paints and supplies was accidently put in the wrong pile of stuff and ended up in a skip bin! I didn’t realise until we had arrived at our new home, and I could have cried. I had quite an extensive, not to mention expensive range of supplies.

Most of my pieces were given away, some were gifts, some were thrown out as I no longer thought I liked them. Lots still remain in the homes of friends & family, but I only have one piece left for myself. My mum found this gorgeous little stool in a second hand store. The top was padded, so hubby removed the padding, gave it a good sand and a nice stain and it was ready for me to try and beautify it. I think it came up pretty well, although these days it’s rather worn. ‘Well used’ is a term I prefer to use, as we do use it as a coffee table at times.

As you can see, I painted this piece 11 years ago, so I guess it’s stood the test of time.

P7100114

P7100111

P7100115

P7100110

There are times when I think I’d love to pick up a brush again, and perhaps I will someday. For now, I’m quite content with my quilting & sewing. But who knows? I just may find myself starting a new collection of painting supplies… … …

Happy creating!

Julie

3.7.09

A Few Sneak Peeks……

Just thought I’d show a few sneak peeks of some secret things I’ve been slowly working on lately. Pay it forwards and other gifts………

P4050450

P4050457

P6150663P4050459

P6150661

No more work on anything until I’ve finished my son’s quilt. Last night I finished the top, so today I will be basting it and then begin the quilting. Yippeeee! The poor kid has waited long enough.

Hope you are all enjoying some creativeness. Very, very windy here today…blowing an absolute gale.

Julie :)

29.6.09

A Beautiful Gift From A Beautiful Friend

I've been waiting for a few days now for the weather to brighten up a tad so I could take a shot of these gorgeous fabrics. They arrived unexpectedly all the way from Canada, from my beautiful friend Kaaren.
Knowing that I'm a bit chook mad, Kaaren said she thought of me when she saw these fat quarters and so bought them for me. She had a few other reasons also...lots of 'just because'reasons. While I just love them all, if I had to choose a favourite, I'd choose the one on the far right. You see, I'm not just chook crazy, I also have a bit of a thing for cows and saltbox houses and this fabric has all that and more. And the blue spot/chooky fabric is also pretty special. I tell you, it would take one pretty special project to make me want to cut into these fabrics. I've been playing, feeling and looking at them since they arrived. I've even ironed and refolded them. Yep, I'm in love I think...LOL. OH! I just realised I forgot to take a shot of the sweet card Kaaren included. As you could probably guess, it also has chookies on it.
Kaaren, thank you SO much for your thoughtfulness, your kind words, thoughts and the endless laughs you give me. You're a very special gal and a treasured friend. Big hugs to you!


Just thought I'd show a shot of another cheeky friend of mine who broke a fence to sneak in to visit me tonight, bringing along a couple of other rogues with her. Unlike my mate Fred, who I showed in another post, this one doesn't like vegemite sangas..she prefers honey instead.


I thought these shots were too pretty to leave out. They are low clouds ( but I still call it fog ) taken at lunch time yesterday. This is the view from my sewing room. No wonder I don't get much accomplished!




I hope everyone is enjoying a good start to the week. Mine started with much joy and laughs provided by my 18 month old nephew. And tomorrow I shall be up bright and early to ensure I get good tickets for the Keith Urban concert. Yippee....another long time love of mine. Oh. So. Yum!!!


Julie :)

20.6.09

My Wonderful Morning With Joy!



This morning I went to the Beenleigh Quilt Show with the lovely Joy. While she and I have been 'net' buddies for the past couple of years, we'd never actually met in person. It was just fantastic to finally catch up! Should have happened sooner really, as we only live not quite an hour apart.
While there were many gorgeous quilts on display, I thought I'd show a shot of this one. While it's not really my 'cup of tea', there is no denying the workmanship & talent which has gone into this quilt. We were told that the lady who made this, Michelle Hutton, had completed it in only a weekend! Pretty mind blowing isn't it?



A close up of the detailed work. It's called 'Log Cabin With A Twist'.
I'm sure Joy will have nicer shots of this on her blog.


Now onto my loot....
This spud box is something I'd been after for ages. The couple who sell these are usually at the Mt Tamborine Craft Fair each October and I eyed this off last time. Could have kicked myself back then for not buying it. They were at the quilt show today...yippeee!


Here are some cute charms....of course there are roosters there. I was NOT leaving those behind...no sireee!


This hanger is just the size I'm needing for one of my PIF gifts.


And lookey.....rooster fabric! So dang yummy. Joy helped me choose the terracotta dots to match.

A new embroidery hoop. Joy assures me these are good. No more screws to fiddle with.


A Hatched & Patched chooky pincushion pattern.


Joy and I both fell in love with this gorgeous scarf, so I grabbed one for each of us. Very pretty on, Joy wore hers to visit her mum after the show and she looked lovely.


And if all of that wasn't enough, check out this!.... Joy gave me a beautiful gift. YAY! A copy of her very latest pattern, Dragonflight. I am among the many who fell in love with this when Joy blogged about it, now I have my own.


But that's not all.... check out this cute little bag Joy made. Notice the chooky button?

And look what she had hidden inside the cute bag.....yummy chocolate, ( if hubby is REALLY nice to me I may share with him, but only a little bit!). Another fab Joypatch pattern. This one is an adorable journal cover. Can't wait to make this!


And in that sweet little organza bag she had hidden a cute dragonfly magnet, a dragonfly button and a really pretty little stone thingy.


Am I spoiled or what? Thank you So much Joy! You are too kind. And thank you for spending your morning with me, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and it was so nice to finally catch up with you!





13.6.09

Blogger Generosity



I've been very slack and should have made this post earlier in the week. There was a pleasant surprise in the mail for me during the week and it was very unexpected! My lovely friend Deb sent me these absolutely gorgeous place mats she made. This was her way of thanking me for the Easter swap. Now what makes Deb's gift even more generous and special to me is that she had the dirty done on her in the Easter swap. One of the bad swapees listed in my sidebar was actually her partner. :(. Even though she was let down, she still felt the need to thank me for all the work I'd put into the swap. Isn't this so nice of her? It's people like Deb who make the blogging community so special, even though there are a minority of people who do the wrong thing. It didn't occur to me until after I had thanked Deb, to ask how she managed to get my postal details. I didn't want to annoy her again as she'd gone to bed early with her bad back, so I got to thinking and asked the first person I thought of. I was correct in my assumptions, although she never actually admitted it! This cheeky monkey helped Deb in her quest to send me a gift. All she said was "this is what friends are for", and yes, she is a wonderful friend.


Apologies for the poor shots. I had to lay them on my laundry floor as that was the only room in the house still holding any sunlight in the late afternoon.

I am so thrilled with the fabrics and colours! These are my kind of country/earthy tones, although I very rarely use blue. Having said that, our lounge is this shade of blue and all the other colours are throughout our dining room, so they are a perfect match! Not to mention the best part of all.....they are chooks!! They look so pretty on the dining table. Deb, how did you know I needed new place mats, and how did you know we have a 6 seater dining suite? You've done so well chooky, your workmanship is superb!

I intend sending a gift to Deb in lieu of the swap gift she missed out on. I've finished one, just need to make another little something and it will be in the mail as soon as I can manage. I also have two other participants to make gifts for who missed out in the Easter swap. This is on top of my 6 PIF's, so please bear with me girls. I promise you will all receive your gifts before the year's end!

Thanks so much Deb, I love these gifts and the sentiment behind them. You're a very special friend!

4.6.09

:o((


May you always rest peacefully Carol.




3.6.09

My Bizarre PIF Story

Following along from my previous post about the gorgeous PIF gifts I received from Jan. There is a story about those lovlies that I didn't mention. Those particular gifts were replacements. You see, Jan sent me her PIF gift just before Easter, actually it should have arrived before Easter. It never did arrive, so Jan sent the gorgeous chooky things as a replacement.
Low and behold, I received a letter from Australia Post last week, along with a rather tattered, dirty post pack. YAY! It was the original gift Jan had sent me. The letter from A.P explained that they had found my parcel, along with other mail strewn along a river bank AFTER it had passed through their Brisbane mail centre. They offered their apologies, said the incident was being investigated and offered me the opportunity to file for compensation. Naah, I'm not into that kind thing, was just so pleased to have received the parcel. Both Jan and myself were pretty disappointed that it had gone AWOL, particularly due to the fact that Jan had taken the time to make the enclosed contents. I'm so glad she never told me what they were though! In the rather awful shot below you can see a lovely chooky stitchery, which now moves from the top of my microwave to one of my coffee tables. Can't make up my mind where I like it the best. The cute little scissor case, which you can't see too well is made from the cutest chicken fabric. And the coaster with chooks is permanently on one of the coffee tables getting good use. And of course she included a chooky card. Jan obviously put a lot of thought into all these gifts, taking into account my love of chooks. So a big thank you Jan, you really did make my day!!

Oh, the little scissors case was filled with yummy Easter eggs. Notice I said "was"..LOL