A Time for all Seasons- Autumn

I have written a blog post about every season in my quilt A Time for all Seasons except for Autumn.

I've always liked Autumn and love the colours although it's always a bit sad because I know that summer is over and we are heading toward winter. I enjoyed sewing the trees with their red and yellow leaves, it makes a great change from using green.

Autumn

Autumn detail

I also made a block showing late autumn when the trees are becoming bare and everything is getting a bit cooler.

Late Autumn

Late Autumn detail

We get a lot of foggy mornings in Autumn and I tried to create a misty look using organza over the centre section of trees.

Autumn Fog

I think that I was only semi successful in creating fog and I plan to try again one day.

Fog detail

I had some geese flying away for the winter

Geese detail

I enjoyed making the autumn flowers for one of the corners.

Autumn Corner

Corner detail

This is the end of my blog posts about the different seasons in my quilt. If you missed any posts you can click on the links to read about the other seasons, Summer, Spring and Winter.

Bye for now,
Linda

A Time for all Seasons- Report card

My quilt A Time for all Seasons arrived back from the Houston Quilt Festival yesterday. The Houston people always take such great care of the quilts and all the folds are stuffed with rolls of tissue paper.

A Time for all Seasons©2016 Linda Steele

It was interesting to read the judges report, one of them loved it and gave me all excellent scores, the second judge gave me both excellent and satisfactory, so I guess that means that it is in between the two. The third judge gave me mostly satisfactory because she didn't like the scale of my work; she said that my elements while beautiful didn't work well together. I assume she means that I can't make a butterfly in one patch bigger than a bird in another patch. At least I know why I didn't get a prize now. I have never had anyone tell me that everything should be in scale in a crazy quilt before. I am not sure that it is right but I'll keep it in mind if I ever make one again.

Bye for now,
Linda

Alison Holt Class

I've had a busy couple of weeks and at last things have settled down a bit.

Last week we had our Art Quilters break up party at our favourite Chinese restaurant and they gave me a beautiful bunch of flowers as a thank you for leading the group.

We got one of the waiters to take our photo, I feel very lucky to know such a creative and supportive group of women.

Last Saturday Waverley Patchworkers hosted the Victorian Quilters Spring gathering. We had a great day of talking, laughing, sewing, eating and shopping, just perfect really.

Last Sunday I did a class with Alison Holt a machine embroidery teacher from the UK. It was actually a two day class but because of the Spring Gathering, I could only do day 2. Alison didn't mind because I have done classes with her before.

I have been a fan of hers for a long time and have all of her books.

If you don't know Alison Holt, click on her name because I have linked it to her website and you will see how wonderful her work is.

The class over the weekend was called Textures in Nature, but I have also done, Up Close and Personal, Reflections and the  Waterfalls class. Alison has such a lovely manner and is an absolutely wonderful teacher. I highly recommend that you take a class with her one day.

These are a couple of Alison's samples to give you an idea of what we were working on over the weekend.

I found it quite relaxing to spend the day trying to get different effects on trees and leaves. I especially liked learning how to do the moss on the tree on the top photo.

It's been a busy year and now most of the big events are over now and I might be able to get a bit more sewing done.

Bye for now,
Linda

Houston 2016

The big International Quilt Festival in Houston is over for another year. I wasn't there but I had two quilts on display, so I feel as if a part of me was over there.

My quilt A Time for all Seasons was in the Embellished section in the World of Beauty judged show. I wasn't lucky enough to win a prize this year.

A Time for all Seasons©2016 Linda Steele

I also made a small quilt for the Houston Quilt Show silent auction. I don't know if anyone bid on it yet, I hope so! I called it The Reef.

The Reef©2016 Linda Steele

The Best of Show quilt was won by Cynthia England with her quilt Reflections of Cape Town. It's an incredible picture quilt that is appliqued with hundreds of little pieces of fabric. She has done magnificent quilts before that are pieced but apparently this one is applique.

To see this quilt and the other winners go to the IQF website, I have included the link here.

Bye for now,
Linda

Spring Gathering

I have recently become President of Waverley Patchworkers for a second year; the first year has flown by probably because it was so busy. Our next big event is the Spring Gathering on Saturday November 12th, it is actually the Victorian Quilters Spring Gathering hosted by Waverley Patchworkers.

The Spring Gathering will be held at the Mulgrave Community Centre, 355 Wellington Road, Mulgrave. Victoria, Australia. Doors open at 9.30am and entry will be $5. It will be a fun day where we bring our sewing and chat to others while we eat cakes and possibly win a prize.

Visitors are welcome, so if you live in Melbourne please come and join in the fun. You need to bring some hand sewing, and your lunch, mug and show and tell; we'll take care of the rest. There will be 5 shops to browse, quilts to admire and prizes to win. Sounds like a fun day doesn't it?

I have even more Waverley Patchworkers news because the latest issue of Down Under Quilts magazine has come out and there is a 4 page article about our quilt show from earlier this year.

Down Under Quilts no. 177

The photos are large and look great so look out for the magazine in the shops now.

So what have I been doing lately? Well I have been busy organising Waverley Patchworkers events and helping my daughter look after her new baby, Jack.

Jack 8 weeks

I have also been making fish and coral for my next underwater quilt. Life is busy, but life is great.

Fish

Coral

Bye for now, hope to see you at the Spring Gathering.
Linda