Charity Donation

Each year the Sunflower Foundation holds a big fundraising event.  This year it is a Black Tie Fantasy Ball at Wattle Tree Chalet Melbourne May 17th
The Sunflower Foundation supports disadvantaged girls in Australia and Overseas to help them get an education. http://www.sunflowerfoundation.com.au/ This web page will give you all the details if you would like to attend.

This wall hanging is a design by Miriam Gogarty of Ireland so it is not an original idea of mine.

The sunflowers are made from cotton fabric with multiple layers of organza with beaded centres.

I'm back

It is months since I last blogged.  Many of those months I have not quilted at all.  We moved and will all the unpacking, rearranging and finding places for all our things in a smaller area, was a little stressful.  All settled now thank goodness.
In March our granddaughter Chloe turned 13 and I promised her a big girls quilt for her birthday, I still have the binding to stitch down this weekend for her and Chloe loves it.  The quilt is 80 x 80inches so it should last her quite a few years.  Chloe still uses the quilt I made for her when she went into a single bed, that had little fairies on it.  This one I think is very eye catching.  The lady who took the photo said it would look better with grandma in it.

UFO's bite the dust

I have been finishing off UFO's lately trying to make more room so I can start new quilts.
The mauve/purple one is from a kit I bought at Calico Crossroads in Exeter Tasmania, thanks to my dear husband who spotted the sample quilt hanging in the rafters.
The second one is a Disappearing 9 Patch with a Difference.  The difference being I made a mistake in cutting the 9 patch squares and the pieces didn't match well so I cut out circles and appliqued over the mistakes.

For those who know me well they will notice that the Disappearing 9 Patch is not in colours that I normally use.   Another challenge for me this year is to use colours other than my normal purples and mauve tones.

Light Challenge

Below is a small quilt I made for the Textile Arts Group challenge 'Light'.  The background is black synthetic fabric which is double layered, the top layer is scrunched to give the appearance of bubbles.
I randomly cut strips of grey lurex organza and laid these on top of the black, the strips were stitched down with silver thread.  The next step was to attack the quilt with a heat gun melting away some of the layers exposing in some places the white background fabric.  Then I mixed silver and white Luminaire fabric paints and added colour onto the black and white places.  Finally I added more stitching and then zig-zagged the edges together.  I have called this piece 'Cascade of Light'.
As the quilt is black and silver it does not photograph well.

STOP PRESS!!!!!!

For those doing the Mystery Quilt.  STOP don't go any further I have missed a simple step.  How stupid of me.  Apologies for those who are stuck and can't get pieces to fit.  Will upload correct instructions later today.
an embarrassed Fran

Charity Auction Result

My 1600 quilt that I donated to the Sunflower Foundation here in Melbourne was sold for $310 a good result.  I thought it raised $305 but it was $5.00 more.  A lovely night with lots of gorgeous items to try and buy.  I missed out on the 3 I wanted.  Should have bid more for the signed Hawthorn team poster!!!  Ah well can't go back.

Auction Quilt

Finished the quilt I am making for the http://sunflowerfoundation.com.au/GalaDinner2012.aspx 
The quilt will be auctioned at the Dinner on June 9th.  Made from Kaffe Fassett Jelly Rolls  Bought 2 as Kaffe's Jelly Rolls only had 28 fabrics and I wanted a reasonable size quilt.  The quilt measure 158 X 170cms.  I machined quilted this one and I am pleased with the result.

Noticed a few stray cottons that I have to remove before delivery.   Now to do a Deb Layt wall hanging, started in a class 20th May nothing went right was too distracted, came home to find sister had experienced heart problems lucky she was in hospital at the time and early intervention saved her from a heart attack.