My Solo Exhibition

I had a wonderful three weeks at my solo exhibition in Kyabram. It was supposed to go for a month but the Corona Virus suddenly took over our lives and the gallery had to close. I was lucky to have those three weeks and the exhibition was very successful with many visitors coming from Melbourne and neighbouring towns to visit.

There was a lovely article in the local newsletter about me.

I met so many lovely ladies and some also brought their husbands along.

I finally got to meet up with Faye, one of my on-line friends from the Southern Cross Crazies.

Faye and I

There were visitors from Cobram.

Cobram ladies

Another big group from Echuca.

Echuca ladies

My friend Marion and her husband came to visit. Marion and I were room-mates when we went to Uluru in 2018.

Marion and I

The Red Hat ladies came to visit. That was such a thrill to see them arrive. I gave a talk to them and they were a very attentive audience.

The Red Hat Ladies

Last Tuesday, I taught and crazy quilting class at Catharina's Vintage Stitches. The shop is two doors down form the Kyabram Town Hall Gallery. It is a big shop with a huge variety of stock; they were also giving 10% discount to anyone who visited the show.

I remembered to take a photo at the end of the class.

My class at Catharina's Vintage Stitches

I have promised to do a two-day class in October; it will be about making a Coral Reef quilt.

So, my show is over and I drove up on Monday and packed up the exhibition. It took a half an hour to pack up and three hours to set up!

It was a wonderful experience and the Kyabram Gallery were wonderful people to work with. I stayed at the Kyabram Motor Inn when I was staying up there and it was very nice. The weather up in Kyabram is warmer than Melbourne and I loved not feeling cold.

Victorian Quilters are going to have their One Step Further exhibition up there in October and November and so I will be making the trip up there again. Hopefully all this virus worry will be over by then.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to visit, you made many happy memories for me.

Bye for now,
Linda

Kyabram Exhibition Begins

It's been an exciting week this week because my solo exhibition opened on Monday. It is in the lovely town of Kyabram, a two-and-a-half hour drive from Melbourne. My husband and I drove up last Saturday and put up the exhibition with two lovely Kyabram volunteers, Lesley and Judy. It took about 3 hours to set up, luckily, I was organised and had all of the quilt rods cut to size and named.

The Kyabram townsfolk have done a wonderful job of renovating the Town Hall and have turned it into a gorgeous art gallery with three large exhibition spaces.

Kyabram Town Hall Gallery

I have all my Crazy quilts, applique and pictorial quilts on display. I have tried to display them in groups and a pleasing colour arrangement. My Coral Reef series has a section on its own, so that has worked just the way I wanted it too. The gallery space is very large and so I ended up using all my quilts even the 4 quilts that I had in reserve, just in case I needed them.

Luckily my Magical Coral Reef quilt returned home from the USA two days before! With a lovely Viewer's Choice ribbon too.

Gems of the Ocean 11- Viewer's Choice

I had a lovely first day because four of my friends came up to visit. Thank you to Deb, Sugy, Sue and Pat for making the day so special. Sugy is wearing sunglasses because she left her usual glasses back in Melbourne. It was a lovely warm, sunny day in Kyabram.

The ladies at the gallery provided us lunch as a surprise.

Day 1 lunch

There is a piano at the gallery and I put 3 of my coral reef quilts above it.

I stayed for the first two days at a Kyabram motel and before the gallery opened at 10am, I went to a local cafe for coffee. I was reading a local newspaper and found my exhibition mentioned in the What's On section. It's a pity that they left the e off my surname!

I was speaking to someone at the gallery who was getting some information from me for an article and I noticed that she had also left the e off my surname, she was surprised that it bothered me! I said that it didn't seem like me without the e.

The exhibition is open all of March from 10am to 4pm every day except Sundays.

I will be there next Monday 11th, which is a long weekend, in Melbourne. I'll also be there all of the following week, the 16th to the 20th March. I'll also be there on Friday 27th and Monday 30th March.

There is a wonderful patchwork shop two doors down from the gallery called Catharina's Vintage Stitches. They have asked me to teach a one-day Crazy Patchwork class on Tuesday 17th March.

Bye for now,
Linda

One More Coral Reef Quilt

My solo quilt exhibition in Kyabram begins soon and I felt that I needed one more coral reef quilt for the exhibition. I am expecting that this will be the last one in this style. I might explore the coral reef theme a bit more but my next work will not be so pictorial. It's been a fun 5 years though.

I only decided to do one more coral reef quilt about 3 months ago and I also had the Wonder of Eyes quilt to make so I have had a very busy start to 2020. I always say that I won't put myself under so much pressure again but then I think that I can do it one more time!!

I already had some coral and fish made so I wasn't starting completely from scratch. You can see from the photo below, the markings that I make with a Fabrico marker really help to make the fish look more lifelike.

I took a photo of lots of them.

I ended up putting some gold paint on them as well, you can probably see that in the photo below.

I did some blue fish and added some yellow marker to improve them.

I machine quilted some fish onto the quilt and added some colour with another Fabrico marker.

I never regret buying those fabric markers.

I made some coral by machine as I knew that I didn't have time to do all the hand embroidery that I usually do. I machine stitched them on wash-away solvy and then put some felt behind them and added some colonial knots by hand. I like the effect.

Coral by machine

I also made some coral by machine by couching some circles onto purple felt; I didn't think I would use them as they looked too plain, but I was inspired to add some beads and they looked so much better. It's amazing what can pop into your brain when you are under time pressure.

Couched coral

The Kyabram Town Hall Gallery exhibition space is very large, that's why I thought I needed another quilt. This quilt is so new that I haven't even taken a photo of it yet but I have this week to put a facing and rod pocket on it before I hang the exhibition on Saturday.

My husband named this quilt, I couldn't call it another coral reef quilt, could I? It's called Coral Symphony; I loved the name as soon as he said it. A fitting end to my series.

My coral reef, crazy quilts, pictorial and applique quilts will all be on display in March.

I am planning to be at the exhibition on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd of March, Monday 9th March, Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th March and Friday 27th March and Monday 30th. Hope to see some of you there!

Bye for now,
Linda

My Exhibition in Kyabram

I am having a solo exhibition in Kyabram in March this year. My crazy quilts, applique quilts and Coral Reef series will be on display.

The Kyabram Town Hall Gallery is in the main street of Kyabram and the exhibition will be on during everyday of March except Sundays.

Kyabram is approximately 2 and half hours north of Melbourne, beyond Bendigo. Kyabram is a lovely country town that has a great cafe across the road and a quilt shop called Catharina's Country Collections a couple of doors down from the gallery.


Here are some of the quilts that will be on display.

A Time for all Seasons

Crazy about Ballet

6 Pack Shame

Magical Coral Reef

I hope people will make the trip to see the exhibition. I will not be staying up there for the month but if people let me know that they are going, I'll make the effort to be there.

The Gallery is attractive and spacious and my exhibition is in one room and there will be two other exhibitions in the other two rooms.

I have made some flyers to advertise the show.

I hope you can make it to the exhibition in March 2020.

Kyabram Town Hall Gallery
Allan Street,
Kyabram
Victoria
Australia

10am to 4pm every day except Sundays.
Admission is $5

It is a great place for a mid-week day out with some quilting friends.

Bye for now,
Linda