Happy Easter

Easter is over for another year but I always enjoy having the family all together. The weather was fine and we had a lovely BBQ lunch followed by dessert of Easter eggs and fruit. I think more Easter eggs were eaten than fruit!

We started the day with this many Easter eggs but we had much more later on because all the kids brought over eggs as well!

Savannah is 16 months old now and so could have some Easter eggs for the first time. She was given a little yellow bucket of eggs that she carried around all afternoon.

Of course she dropped those eggs many times.

She did eventually get to eat one though.

I managed to get some sewing done on the Monday holiday which made me very happy.

I think that this is the largest template that I have ever made, it is 45" across.

I made it out of freezer paper and then turned the edges with some glue because I want to try and keep it from warping.

Here it is with all the edges turned.

The next thing to do is applique it onto my quilt without it moving out of position too much.

Still, it means that I am one step closer to getting my quilt finished.

Bye for now,
Linda

Website Update and a quick trip to Adelaide

We had a quick visit interstate to Adelaide over the weekend for an engagement party. Even though it was only for one night it was good to catch up with my brothers and my friend of many years.
Little Savannah is 16 months old now and we loved being able to introduce her to family and friends in Adelaide. It was a whirlwind trip and I can't believe that we could do so much in two days.

Savannah 16 months

Savannah 16 months

 It's been a busy year so far and one of the many things I have been doing is updating my website, Linda Steele Quilts. It is just about right now, just needs a few tweeks here and there.


I love the new Home page with the slideshow of 6 of my quilts.

There is also a page of some of my quilt patterns that I am selling with payment through PayPal. I know that people have been asking for the pattern for my Christmas Crazy but there will be a delay with it because I just don't have the time to draw it up for a few more months. At this stage it might not be available until next year.

There are also easy links to the Linda Steele Quilts Facebook Page and Instagram Page.

What is missing is my Workshops page because I am taking a break from teaching while I try to get my quilt finished and devote time to being President of Waverley Patchworkers, who also have a new website.

I am actually making progress with my seasons quilt, I have finally finished the applique corners and should be able to start sewing all the elements together and start thinking about how I am going to quilt it.

Here is a photo of the Autumn corner with the embroidery added. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Please visit my website and let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions to make it better.

Bye for now
Linda

Elements of Design - Line

This year the Waverley Art Quilters are continuing the study of the book by Sandra Meech called Connecting Design to Stitch.

This year we are concentrating on the Elements of Design which are the things within the design that help complete it and make it a success. The Elements are the visual tools used to compose a piece of work.

This month was all about Line.

A line can be a path or mark that can direct attention to an important point. A line can also join up to itself to make a shape, which is what we will study next time.

Lines can be straight (static), curved (flow), diagonal (adds energy). A contrast between horizontal and vertical lines can create tension. A horizontal seascape can suggest calm. When you start to look you can see lines everywhere.

I had been admiring the quilts of Carol Ann Waugh lately and decided to use her idea of making a quilt using lines of programmed stitches in my sewing machine.

First I couched some braids and wool and then I added some programmed stitches that are on my Bernina 820 sewing machine.

Here is what the work looked like before I quilted it.

I was going to stick with an underwater theme for my art quilts this year and thought this could represent reeds under water. I don't think it was very successful. It might have been better if I had stuck to one colour.

Quilts always look better when they are quilted and this was the easiest quilting I have ever done. It was just lines of quilting between the lines of stitches.

If you click on the photos they appear larger.

This little quilt didn't take long to make and I learnt a bit more about my sewing machine which is always a bonus.
I never use the programmed stitches on my machine and thought I didn't have many anyway. It turns out that whenever I pressed one of the stitch buttons another screen opened with a page of more stitches. It turns out that my machine has many fancy stitches. I also learnt about the pattern end and button begin button and learnt how to make a stitch larger and still keep the integrity of the stitch.

I love learning new things about my machine.

Bye for now,
Linda

Present for Liz

Earlier this year I was told that Elizabeth Dubbelde had sold her quilting shop in Berry NSW and I was asked to contribute a block as a goodbye present. I met Liz when I taught at her retreat a few years ago in 2012.

Liz has not left the quilting scene; she just wants to take things a little easier by concentrating on planning her retreats and quilt show without trying to run a shop as well. You can see her new website here.

The block had to be 8" square and I had just finished my Life on the Reef Quilt and so it was easy for me to use the fabrics and supplies that I still had out.
 Here is a photo of my Life on the Reef quilt.

I cut out a background fabric and fused on some fish and plant life.

It came to life when I added the hand embroidery.

I have heard back from Liz and she was delighted with the block that I made. She might make a fabric book out of all her blocks.

Speaking of my Under the Sea quilt, it was on display in the Matter of Time Exhibition at the Sydney Stitches and Craft Show last week. Lisa Walton of Dyed and Gone to Heaven lives in Sydney and sent me a photo of some people admiring my quilt. Thanks Lisa.

I am looking forward to the exhibition coming to Melbourne next month for the Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC) where I can see my quilt again and more importantly have a closer look at how the others in the exhibition interpreted the theme Time.

Bye for now,
Linda

Waverley Patchworkers Raffle Quilt 2016

The Waverley Patchworkers have their quilt show at the end of May this year and as usual they have made a beautiful raffle quilt. It is called Carnival Constellation.

It was designed by Naomi Hynes and Linda C, Joy and Karen M helped Naomi make the quilt and finally it was quilted by Naomi Hynes of Elegant Stitch Quilting and Design.

Carnival Constellation

Here are a couple of detail photos that show the beautiful quilting.

Hasn't Naomi done a beautiful job with the quilting?

Tickets will be $2 each and all the money raised will go to the Waverley Benevolent Society. The tickets will be available from next month as well as at the quilt show.

Bye for now,
Linda

Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei Exhibition

For our wedding anniversary I decided that I would love to go and see the Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei exhibition that is currently on at the National Gallery of Victoria International (NGV).

As we entered the the gallery we were confronted with a huge sculpture by Ai Weiwei that looked like radiating light.

The photo doesn't do it justice but you can tell from the following photo that it was actually made up of hundreds of silver bikes.

The exhibition was very big and actually took up two exhibition spaces. On entering the second area we saw a beautiful display of bronze statues by Ai Weiwei that were replicas of the Chinese zodiac animal heads that used to be displayed in Beijing. They looked very impressive against the black wall.

I had never really been an Andy Warhol fan but I learnt during the exhibition that his work was not about being high art but it was all about social commentary. Suddenly his work made a lot more sense to me. Ai Wei Wei is a current artist and so his work has taken the social commentary aspect even further.

Here is an icon image of Andy Warhol's soup can screen print.

Andy Warhol self portrait 1986

Here is a design by Ai Weiwei that looked like a pretty pattern in gold but if you look more closely it is actually images of security cameras and hand cuffs.

After viewing the exhibition we walked alongside the Yarra River to find a place to eat lunch. The streets were decorated for the Chinese New Year and had lovely lanterns of the Chinese zodiac signs.

We went into the entrance of Crown Casino because they always have lovely displays in there. This time it was also decorated for the Chinese New Year and at the top of the staircase was a monkey because it is the year of the Monkey.

My husband and I are both Monkeys! I hope that means we are going to have a good year.

They had all the other zodiac animals as well. Here is some of them.

After lunch we went across to the NGV Australian Gallery at Federation Square. There was no particular exhibition on at the moment so we wandered about the gallery looking at some of the paintings in their collection.

We are so lucky to have so many wonderful paintings on display and I get so much more enjoyment seeing the paintings of the artists we have studied in the Waverley Art Quilters.

There were quite a few Fred Williams paintings. Here is Upwey Landscape

Upwey Landscape by Fred Williams

There were a couple of paintings by Jeffrey Smart. Here is Cahill Expressway.

Cahill Expressway by Jeffrey Smart

I saw a couple of paintings that I haven't noticed before but they looked very quilt like to me.

Arrested Development from a Trio by Roy de Maistre

Painting no 14 by Ralph Balson

It was a full day of art and eating. Sounds like a perfect wedding anniversary day out to me. Luckily my husband is happy to go along with my plans!

Bye for now,

Linda

Thread Challenge

The Waverley Art Quilters met again for the first time this year. It was good to see everyone back after the holidays. Everyone looked refreshed and eager to start the year.
When we last met we were given two reels of very fine metallic thread in various colours. Mine were pink and gold.

They sat around my sewing room over the holidays while I was busy making my Life on the Reef quilt.

When it was time to start the challenge, a week before it was due, I decided to keep to my underwater theme and would try and make a Jellyfish quilt.

I was going to use a blue fabric for the background but when I put the threads on it they didn't show up enough.

So I used a black fabric to help the fine threads show up.

I drew up a little Jellyfish and then enlarged it so it would take up the entire A3 size of the quilt.
I used mostly gold organza to give that transparent floaty look.

I tried using the thread in my sewing machine but it was so fine that it was getting tangled even when I was trying to thread the machine.

I ended up sewing a chain stitch by hand and then wrapping thread around the chain stitch to make the line thicker.

I was so busy making the quilt that I forgot to take any progress photos.

Here is the finished quilt.

In the top part I added some tiny pink and gold seed beads to add some texture.

Bye for now,
Linda