100 Day Project

 Have you heard of the 100 day project? I have heard about it for the last few years but never participated because I am always so busy. But, guess what? I will always be too busy.

This year, I read that you only need to do something for 15 minutes a day to participate. I have wanted to try watercolour for ages and have dabbled a little but found it very difficult.

I had recently bought a book called Creative Abstract Watercolor by Kate Rebecca Leach. I set up some paints and some paper and made the commitment to paint for 15 minutes a day and follow all the projects in the book. 

Creative Abstract Watercolor

I was hopeless at first, I didn't know how much water to have on my brush or how much paint I was supposed to use but I persevered and I started to get the hang of it. I didn't give up, I kept reminding myself that I am a beginner.

Not only did I keep going, I really started to enjoy it.

Here are some of the pages that I have done. Don't be too hard on me, I am a beginner who is teaching herself.

I have finished all the projects in the book and now have bought an online course called Sketching for Watercolour. I am loving it so far and some days I spend much longer than 15 minutes. 

One of the things that I am enjoying about it is that it is such an easy clean up compared to acrylic painting. I love painting in a compact sketchbook.

I started this adventure on the 1st March and so I suppose the 100 days will finish in June.

It is quite amazing how you can improve by just trying for 15 minutes a day. You have no idea how bad I was in that first week.

I love learning a new skill too, it's supposed to be good for us!

Bye for now,

Linda

More Good News

 I am having a run of luck lately. One of my quilts is touring around Australia with the Ozquilt Network, AW8 exhibition. A lady saw it while it was displayed in Launceston, Tasmania and wrote a lovely email to me, asking if she could buy it.

Of course, I said yes, what a lovely compliment. The quilt was my 16" x 16" Ocean Dance Quilt.

Ocean Dance

The touring exhibition finishes in July this year and then I will post it to the lady who bought it.

The other good news was that Simply Moderne Magazine wrote an article about the SAQA Red exhibition and they chose my quilt Autumn Song to be in the article.

Simply Moderne Magazine issue 36

Here is the page with my quilt, Autumn Song at the bottom.

It was hard to photograph because the pages are quite glossy.

Here is what the quilt really looks like. This quilt also sold at Houston Quilt Festival last year. I told you I was having a lucky run! 

Autumn Song.

Bye for now,

Linda

AQC 2024 Winners

 AQC is over for another year but there were some prizes given out. Every year there is a challenge and this year the theme was 'Oh My Stars'. There was a huge variety of quilts, people can be very imaginative. The winners was Soul Dance by Elizabeth Dubbelde.

Soul Dance by Elizabeth Dubbelde

It was made of recycled jeans but the photo does not do it justice.

Viewer's Choice was Balthazar's Camel by Julie Tasker.

Balthazar's Camel by Julie Tasker

Best of Show in the Australian Quilt Show was Tathra Wharf by Gloria Loughman.

Tathra Wharf by Gloria Loughman

Here is a photo of Gloria with her big cheque. Fancy winning $10,000. She could hardly believe it.  

Susan Sheath won Best Modern quilt with Mexican Hats.

Mexican Hats by Susan Sheath

I was so busy working on the Bernina stand this year that I didn't take many quilt photos, but I did manage to take some that caught by eye.

I liked two quilts that were in the SAQA Red exhibition.

Finding Neverland no. 8 by Jan Soules

The Implication of Red by Hsin-Chen Lin

The Implication of Red detail

I liked some of the quilts by the tutors.

Ceramic Portals by Julie Haddrick

Journal Quilts by Gillian Travis.

I went to a lecture by Gillian Travis and she explained how she makes little quilts inspired by her travel photos and then stitches them together to make wall hangings. I think it is such a good idea.

I think that AQC is the best quilt show in Australia and we are so lucky that it is held in Melbourne every year.

Bye for now,

Linda

AQC 2024

 AQC or the Australasian Quilt Convention is over for another year. I am so lucky that it is held in Melbourne where I live because it means that I can go every year.

This year I was the guest artist on the BERNINA stand and it was a fabulous experience. The stand was 12 metres long so it was hard to get a photo of it all. It was a great honour to be asked.

Bernina Australia stand

I sat down at a Q16 sewing machine and demonstrated quilting and talked to visitors at the show for four days. People were so kind about my quilts and I received many compliments.

Demonstrating the Q16

I even managed to sell a couple of machines, which was a highlight. It was an easy sell though, I have the Q20 and I love it. The Bernina people were lovely to hang around with too.

I also had a quilt in the SAQA Red Display. It is the quilt that sold in Houston last year, so it will be the last time that I see it.

Autumn Song by Linda Steele

I took some more photos of quilts that I liked.

Two Ponies and a Dog by Jocelyn Trembath

Australian Flora by Bev Butler

Conundrum by Belinda Betts

I also escaped from the Bernina stand on the first day to have a catch up with some SAQA members from all over Australia.

SAQA Oceania catch up

I took some more quilt photos but I'll put them in the next post.

Linda Steele on Bernina Stand

Bye for now,

Linda

AQC Time

 The Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC) is on again this week. It starts on Thursday 11th April and finishes on the Sunday. I will be there on Wednesday with other Victorian Quilter members to set up the quilt show.

The exciting news is that I will be on the BERNINA stand everyday as their Guest Artist. I will be spending my time quilting on the Q20 and talking to visitors. I will also have a display of some of my quilts at the stand.

There will be lots of quilt exhibitions and one of them is the SAQA Red exhibition and my quilt, Autumn Song was used for the front cover of the catalogue.

This quilt sold at Houston last year, so I am very grateful that I will get to see the quilt one more time before it goes to its new owner.

Autumn Song

Autumn Song was the first Improv quilt that I made.

If you are coming to AQC please come and say hello to me at the BERNINA stand.

Bye for now,

Linda

Exhibition Closed

 My exhibition called Of Land and Sea that was on in Warburton closed a couple of weeks ago. I went up before it closed to catch up with a bus load of quilters from the Westernport group. They were a lovely group of women and I had the chance to answer all their questions and have a lovely catch up.

I took a photo of some of them, not all wanted to be in the photo in case I put it on Facebook.

Westernport Quilters

Then I asked someone to take another photo so I could be in it as well.

The curator Bronwyn, said it was the most successful exhibition that they have ever had! They had so many positive comments from visitors.

The good news was that I sold one of my quilts to Elenna.

I got a photo when she came to pick up the quilt after the exhibition closed. She was in her gardening clothes because she didn't expect a photo opportunity, but I didn't mind, I just wanted to be able to remember her.

Elenna and I

She bought Life on the Reef.

Life on the Reef

That was a positive experience and I thank all involved in the Yarra Ranges Gallery group, especially Warburton.

Bye for now,

Linda

Quiltcon and Ocean Dance 2

 Last week the Modern Quilt Guild Exhibition was on in America, it's called Quiltcon. I wasn't there but I made a quilt for the fabric challenge and it got accepted.

Challenge Fabrics

I loved the fabrics so I signed up to do the challenge. Unfortunately, I didn't get a prize but I saw the prize winners on Facebook and they were amazing. The winners were actually what I would call a Modern Quilt and mine was more of a contemporary quilt, so I was surprised when it was accepted.

Ocean Dance 2

I actually took some progress photos, it's good to see where I started and where it ended up.

beginning the quilt

Making progress

I sometimes wonder how I manage to sew it all together! Here I am doing the quilting.

Quilting Ocean Dance 2

Here is a detail photo.

Ocean Dance 2 detail

Here is a link to the Winners 2024

I have a lot of fabric left over, so I think I will make another smaller quilt for an Ozquilt Network exhibition that is coming up using the same theme. Time is the problem, I had better get sewing.

Bye for now,

Linda