Category Archives: Uncategorized

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

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Well a very topsy turvy week this week. It all started when a sewerage manhole a street away became blocked. This started a chain of events which ended with a pipe on our property spewing unmentionable grossness over an area adjacent to the fabric store. While the Urban Utilities people did solve the problem and cleaned up the area, the shelving that held the fabric was not in a fit state to use again, nor could it be salvaged. So the contents of five shelves is currently on the classroom tables – which is why we haven’t been able to have classes this week. I am assured that the professional cleaning team is coming out on Thursday to use their high powered hoses and so on to ensure everything is absolutely clean clean clean.

On a brighter note I had a very enjoyable birthday on Sunday. The teenager-in-residence and I drove to Warwick for the ‘Jumpers and Jazz Festival’. We met up with Mum and Dad, and along with Miss B we stayed for the weekend. The dutiful daughter and the heir travelled to see us on Friday so it was quite a family event. We enjoyed the yarn bombed trees, the textile exhibitions, the jazz music and the steam train. Here are some photos for you to enjoy…

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I would highly recommend this weekend and look forward to being able to go again next year.

After the festival we returned to the realities of restoring the fabric room and cancelling classes, however, my lovely ladies didn’t let me down. When I arrived home this afternoon after collecting the teenager-in-residence from school I found this present at my door.

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I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to visiting Shine Beauty for the treatments. And I absolutely LOVE the pen with the Swarovski crystals. Thanks so much to the best quilting customers in the world!!

Art Attack

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Another exciting day with a visit to the open day of the Textile Art Academy. There was an array of amazing creations both from the artists and their students. The academy has been running workshops this week and the creativity of its members was evident today. From artist’s books to monoprinting (with Sandra Pearce) and from basketry to felted creations the whole place was a feast for the eyes and a great source of inspiration.  It was difficult to avoid bringing everything home (and indeed there is an addition to the decor in the workroom).

Svenja, a textile artist who lives here in Brisbane, had a display of her work with some amazing wearable art from dyed silk scarves to a siren of the sea.   Here are some photos to whet your appetite.

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Ok so not what you’d wear down to the corner shop for a loaf of bread but pretty special aren’t they! Actually my friend Jan and I were commenting on many of the ladies who wore distinctive clothing – all individually designed artwork. Not only were these artistic statements but some were entirely personal. One lady wore what was essentially of travel journal. Each area of the piece had embroidery or appliqué that referred to some part of her trip to Western Australia. I would love to have a more avant garde wardrobe but wouldn’t dare wear something too bohemian. Rather sad as this would be a wonderfully tactile way of exploring my fascination with textiles. Maybe one day…… What about you? Would you like to be less beige sometimes?

Winter Blues

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It’s been very chilly in this part of the world lately – perfect quilting weather in fact! Here are some winter blues that won’t give you the sniffles.

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Blue is one of my favourite colours and I love the variation from aqua to the deepest navy. Do you feel inspired?

Speaking of inspiration I was fortunate to attend the opening of the Textile Art Academy’s tutors exhibition last night. What a wonderful bohemian group was there – and really inspirational pieces. It certainly inspired me to think about the next project. Here are a couple of photos of the people I saw there. Aren’t they colourful! These girls know how to live life that’s for sure.

Janet de Boer

Janet de Boer

Jan and Phillippa enjoy the evening

Jan and Philippa enjoy the night

One of the artists Sandra Pearce

One of the artists Sandra Pearce

I was reminded in another way this weekend of the importance of living life and taking time out to pursue your inspirations. I had a call from a lady whose sister is suffering from dementia and is now living in an intensive care facility. This lady wanted to give me her sister’s stash because she doesn’t sew and doesn’t know anyone who quilts. As I am in the phone book under A I was the first one called. I thought it was so sad and vowed to distribute the fabric to those who make charity quilts. Although this will be a positive end to the situation I still think it’s very sad. So…really…. make sure you have a plan for your stash because you don’t want your family to give it all away to strangers now do you?

Since we last spoke we had a birthday in class. I always feel honoured when someone comes to class on their birthday – what an important day to attend. Here’s June having a special wish on hers.

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Almost finished the stocktaking – don’t forget to enter the competition to guess the number of fabric bolts in the shop – you have until New Year’s Eve – that’s accountant’s new year of course – or this Saturday night if your not sure.

Win a fabric pack

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It’s official – the teenager-in-residence has commenced his career as a rock star! Here he is at his first official gig as a bass guitarist complete with leather jacket.

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Looks impressive doesn’t he?

Another big fortnight with more visitors and two adult children moving house on the same day. Miss B and her family have become the proud owner of acreage and are looking forward to stocking the place with chickens and, if Miss B gets her wish, a pony. The king of the Britons and his entourage have moved to a more modest landholding but is constructing a ‘man cave’ as we speak.

I have sent quite a few hours in my own cave although, alas, most of that was doing a stocktake. Do you know how many bolts of fabric we have? Maybe we should have a guessing competition? Yes – how about a fabric pack to the person who comes closest. Send me an email or come in next week if you’re local and tell me your answer. You have until New Year’s Eve to give your answer and we’ll announce the winner on New Year’s Day – that’s accountants New Year’s Day of course on 1st July.

Don’t Panic I’m Still Here!

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The trouble with having responsibility for a blog is that if you don’t write anything for over a fortnight people start wondering what you’ve been up to. Of course if they knew that you’d had parents and then grandchildren staying for that time they would know the answer! So here’s a little photographic montage to explain the absence:

First the teenager-in-residence took me to the markets for Mother’s Day – a very pleasant way to spend the day, then the children arrived and we enjoyed baby ‘chino’s, pony rides and the baby animal farm as well as a trip to the City.

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The youngest female in the family has been groomed to continue the quilting tradition. She attended classes while she was visiting and was very interested in the whole process. During one class she took some photos with my phone. The pictures she took show a interesting perspective on the class don’t you think!

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It’s been an interesting time at Apatchy with classes as well as visitors. Last year we started the ‘Campfire Sessions’ where one of you clever ladies show the rest of us a glimpse into your expertise. A couple of weeks ago the talented Lynette showed some of the group how to go about free motion quilting. Her patience and simple explanations made it fun and there were at least two new converts by the end of the class. Here she is showing Margaret a thing or two while Sharyn gets going on her piece.

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We also had two VIP visitors this week. Nicola brought her mother in law (who is visiting from Scotland) to see us and of course the lovely Isla, now 12 weeks old.

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And so to this weekend – I had a look around the Mad Quilters’s Gathering. It is always fun to attend a quilt show and see all the lovely fabrics out there. Everyone seems to have slightly different ranges. I said hello to Nikki Tervo and she promised she will come to visit us again soon to show us all her lovely buttons and stitcheries in person so stay tuned!

Also chatted with Tamara from Twilight Retreats. She mentioned that she’d already spoken with some of you about our upcoming retreat so you probably know all the details already. For those who don’t we are looking at the weekend of the 16th August. Those of you who won’t be in class this week please contact me.

Finally today was spent re-arranging and sorting things out after the melee of the past month. The office mess was starting to take over and I was in danger of being buried by paperwork. Don’t you hate having to do all the tidying and so on before you actually get a chance to do some sewing (have I mentioned this before). Usually it’s just annoying but today was quite satisfying. After I’d juggled some papers I used some styrofoam I purloined from a shop to make a sort of design wall and pinned all the blocks we’ve received so far for Trudy’s memorial quilt – the one we’re donating to the Blue Nurses. All blocks have to be by the end of May so not long to go but still time. Not being a very patient person I didn’t want to wait until then plus you have been asking me what the blocks look like so here they are – not trimmed to size (obviously) and just randomly put on the wall (well as random as I can be). Don’t they look lovely? Wouldn’t Trudy be pleased – I think it’s a very happy quilt. What do you think?

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Oh and last weekend, when I was in the city, we stopped in at Tiffany’s (live in hope). The release of ‘The Great Gatsby’ movie has obviously been an inspiration for their visual merchandising as you can see here

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Have you ever been inspired to make a quilt by a movie? Where does your inspiration come from then?

And the winner is………..

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Unfortunately not us. Alas dear friends we did not win the Australian Small Business Champion Award on Saturday night. The winner of our category was Braaap who run an online store for dirt bike and mini bike parts. Congratulations to Braaap and watch out next year!

Although we didn’t win we had a great night and I would like to thank all of you for your messages of support. I was very grateful and felt quite humbled at your goodwill.  It was great to have a few days R&R and I am now refreshed and re-energised and I am looking forward to classes this week and the next event – the Maryborough Quilt Show in two weeks.

Here are some photos from the night:

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These were taken on my phone before it ran out of charge. I intended to update you in the IPad but left it on the bed in the hotel room. As you can tell technology is not my strong suit. I will upload an official photo when it arrives in a week or two.

Super Sister

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Arrived in Sydney today for a few days R&R and to attend the gala presentation for the Australian Small Business Champion Awards. We are staying at my sister’s house and look what we found when we arrived here:

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Our room was decorated with streamers, balloons and all things apatchy! The gifts are from Mum and Super Sister – jewellery to wear on Saturday night. Aren’t my family wonderful! The pressure’s on now. We’ll keep you posted.

Time for a tactical retreat?

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While we’ve been at the Esk Quilt Show we’ve been staying with Isla and Ken at the Twilight Grove Farm B&B. Here’s the scene this morning……..

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If you look closely you can see Jan having her morning cuppa on the verandah. It is such a lovely place and Isla and Ken are the perfect hosts. This is somewhere you want to spend a week- maybe next time.

While we’re on the subject of home-away-from-home I should mention that Isla and Ken’s daughter is Tamara Buchanan (of Quick Stitch Quilting). She runs Twilight retreat next door and very kindly gave us a guided tour. This is one of the best retreats I’ve seen – everything is here. Just look at the photos

Part of the workroom (couldn't fit it all in) with a table and light for each person

Part of the workroom (couldn’t fit it all in) with a table and light for each person

Half of the huge verandah

Half of the huge verandah

The view from the verandah

The view from the verandah

What I haven’t shown you is the formal dining area and the fabulous open fireplace for cold winter evenings. We might have to plan one of these retreats in the near future.

Gone Bush

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On the road this weekend at the Esk Quilt Show. Last night we dined at the Club Hotel and not only did we have a very enjoyable meal up also we took out two prizes in the chook raffle – Jan’s going home with a chicken platter and I won the barbecue tray so guess what we’re having for dinner on Sunday night?

There are a wide variety of quilts here at the show including some made especially for International Women’s Day – all green, purple and white. The textile artist Hetty van Boven just opened the show and talked about why she enjoys quilting. She said that you can start from the beginning and make something beautiful (which is certainly true just look at the sampler quilts in the gallery that our new students have made). She said that patchwork and quilting inspires you to create your own pieces so even if you follow a pattern the end result is still individual (again just look at the gallery for proof of this). Finally she said that enjoys the camaraderie of the quilting group and how we can share our lives and “share our wisdom”. What a lovely expression.

Here’s a couple of the quilts in the show

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And here’s some clever quilting by Tamara Buchanan that makes these bug jars come alive

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And here’s the wonderful raffle quilt – hoo wouldn’t want to win this?

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Dream a little dream

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Quite an eventful week here. We had a special visit from Nicola and her lovely mum to introduce us to her beautiful daughter Isla Rose. She is such a bright eyed little baby and so small!

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She does look a bit surprised doesn’t she?

The teenager-in-residence went to his first big concert this week.

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He has been a big fan of Mr Rose for some time now and was very excited to see the man in person. It reinforced his dream to be a rock star – ah to be 14 again with such preposterous dreams…….which brings me to today. I ummed and ahhed but finally decided to venture off to the Stitches and Craft show. After a battle to find a parking space – that was eventually located in the Southbank car park (due to several shows and a basketball game having taken all the convention centre’s car parks) I finally made it to the show. I really enjoy these events and seeing all the wonderful projects that clever people make. The challenge quilts were exceptional and the projects from the students of textile courses inspiring. I had a chat with Lisa Walton and we planned when we could have her visit Apatchy again. While I was there I also went to the workshop by Gabrielle of Miss Rose and Sister Violet – they of the laces and trims of all things romantic. Gabrielle talked about all the lovely things they use but it wasn’t the pretty fabrics and trims I was inspired by. She talked about the fact that all of us have a creative soul and that when we let it go it sets us free. She talked about how you are in control of your creative life and that you should create things “that make your heart sing”. She talked about how she followed her dreams and how important it is to do that. Maybe the teenager will be a rock star or perhaps not – either way I’m glad he has some dreams to inspire him. Now where’s that thread….