Beginnings and Endings

There is a sad note on which to start this blog. Tennille's friend, Bastien passed away on Thursday night. Our thoughts and prayers go to all his family and friends at this time. May they find comfort in each other.

It's hard to find the right way to continue with this blog when you start with such sad news. But we keep going, don't we? Life goes on and we continue to quilt and create and celebrate life and friends and love...

And we had a celebration last night! Dot finished binding her Zig-Zag quilt!  Da Daaahhhh......

AND Candece finished binding her first quilt, for her daughter Piper....

Have a look at Can's gorgeous quilting....

Can is a natural quilter. She is a graphic designer professionally and quilting is a natural extension of her creative nature. She is not afraid to try new techniques or experiment with different ideas...

I spent many hours over summer hand-piecing some blocks.... apparently they can also be done by machine.....

Hmmmm....

Jen continued on with her rag-rug (it is definitely getting bigger)...

Ros continued to quilt her Kaffe Fassett masterpiece....

and Robyn knitted and sewed checker pieces for her kits....

Tennille embarked on her first-ever free motion sewing project with this gorgeous mini-quilt...

and Yours Truly, having completed the top of Xave's birthday quilt yesterday morning...

began constructing the back... I just found out his birthday is on Tuesday, not 10 days away as was in my head calender, so it may be a little late...
Have a great week everyone.
xxxx

A Special Quilt

Today we had an extraordinary session of The Room.... It was to hand-sew the binding on a very special quilt.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Tennille was making a quilt for a friend of hers who has terminal cancer. Tennille's friend, Bastien, celebrated his 16th birthday on Saturday night. On Monday night, his organs began to fail. Bastien's family and friends are now holding a 24 hour vigil by his bedside.
Tennille has been working all hours to get Bastien's quilt finished on time, hence an extraordinary session to help her with the final touches. Tennille's sister is flying to Sydney tomorrow to see Bastien, and now this beautiful quilt will be able to go with her.

And this quilt is beautiful.... It is Tennille's first fully pieced and quilted person sized quilt.  She has honoured Bastien's Aboriginal heritage in her fabric selection and in her quilting colours.... Her quilting is straight and true and the quilt lies flat...

But what makes this quilt truly special is the love that has gone into each and every stitch. This quilt won't be used over a period of years, it is made to say, "I love you. I care. I will miss you. I wish you comfort" for the time Bastien has left.

I don't know Bastien but I know Tennille. To me this quilt signifies as much about the maker as it does about the recipient. Tennille is young and she has known so much grief. Tennille lost her little boy, Eli to cot death 18 months ago...

But Tennille doesn't curl herself up in a corner and ask, "Why me?" Tennille gives a home to children who aren't hers; she organises Cot Death Awareness and dance classes for Donald's youth; she does fund-raising for Cot Death; for The Room; for Kinder.... Tennille is constantly thinking of ways to make life better for other people.  Tennille told me once that she felt blessed because she was able to have that time with Eli; she focusses on what she was given instead of what she has lost. Tennille has so much compassion for the suffering and losses of others, and bears her own with a grace that is extraordinary to be around.

I pray this quilt makes it to Sydney on time. I hope this quilt is able to provide warmth to Bastien; and that he is able to draw some comfort from the strength and love of its maker ....
Godspeed.

Morel Quilts and Monsters

Welcome back after a break for the school holidays! I hope yours was safe and relaxing and creatively inspired!
Mine was... I went to Melbourne and stayed with my sister for a few days. Catherine is a quilter and her work is stunning! While I was there she was putting together her "Morel Quilt". Have a look....

Catherine's choice of colour, contrast and texture is just beautiful... Every time I see what she is working on I am in awe of her skills. Her fussy cutting techniques are inspirational... AND most of these blocks are done by hand.... sigh....

I am hoping she will come and do a class for us one day because I learn something from her just looking at her works of art... and the more I learn about quilting, the more I realised it is truly an Art...

Less of a work of Art and more a playmat for grubby little boys is the quilt I completed while camping in Hattah. I had some help with the trimming...

but finally the binding was on and the quilt was ready to roadtest wash-ability and play-ability in the black Hattah sand....

It passed!
We were back at The Room last night and projects continue to evolve and grow. Check out Jenny's gorgeous rag-rug...

and Dot's binding on her zig-zag quilt....

Andrew finished his Monster...

Andrew is almost legally blind. He was explaining to me last night that he uses contrasting threads in his work because that is the only way he can see what he is doing... What a fantastic creation this monster is!

Yours Truly finished the blocks for a special boy's 6th birthday quilt...

but Tennille's quilt stole the show last night...

Tennille has been making her 3rd quilt for her friend's 16th birthday. Her friend has leukemia and the work, love and care that has gone in to this quilt is amazing.
This is the finished quilt top...

and Tennille is now doing some beautiful quilting that is just bringing the whole quilt to life...

She is using alternating black, yellow and red threads in her quilting to honour her friend's Aboriginal heritage....

This quilt is truly beautiful from its conception to every step of its making...
Have a great week.
xxx

Happy Easter!

You will have to forgive the brevity of this post but in 3 hours we are going camping and I have so much to pack it is ridiculous! We are heading to Hattah with Jen, Can and Ros and their families and while we always have a wonderful time, gee camping is a lot of work! It seems to take a day to get ready and a week to unpack when we get home... I am still not 100% from this flu so at this point a holiday in a nice bed with room service seems slightly more appealing...
However, my lack of motivation may also have something to do with tiredness... We had an alternative night at the Room last night because we will be away on Friday... Cancel? Not likely! And while I had good intentions it would be an early one, somehow time slipped away and it was midnight...

Besides we had to announce the winner of the "Guess how many eggs" Competition that we had running at the local Op Shop...

And the winner is....

Congratulations Chris Sellick with the closest guess of 86... (The correct number was 87)

The Room was a bevy of industry last night as projects moved along... Dot finished putting the binding on her Zig Zag Quilt. It only needs to be hand sewn on now and it is done....

Ros finished stitching in the ditch in Edie's quilt ...

Isn't it gorgeous! She is now going to shadow quilt the darks and stipple the lights....

Ros made some beautiful coasters during the week.  These are the ones she made for Tennille...

and the ones she gave Jen are equally beautiful.  What a great idea!

Tennille began a Very Special Quilt last night. A friend of hers has been diagnosed with terminal leukemia. He is 16.

Robyn knitted (not sure what - this woman is a bevy of industry)...

And Andrew's monster is getting scarier by the week!

Our newest member, Karen is making a library bag for her son and it is beautiful! I love seeing people discover how much fun quilting is and Karen is creative and precise... I suspect she is a born quilter!...

When Can wasn't counting eggs, she was continuing to hand sew the binding onto Piper's quilt. Can's mum, Sandy was a special visitor last night....

You know, as I have been quickly typing this while constructing a "To Do" list in my head, I have been pondering camping, and why the hell do we do it... go on a 'holiday' where you have to work three times as hard just to do basics like cooking and washing....
And then my four year old woke up and came out... The first thing he asked? "No more sleeps, Mum? We go camping today?"  When I said yes, he jumped up and down, "Yaaaayyyyy!" and promptly went to wake his father with the announcement of "No more sleeps" (also translated into "No more sleep for you Dad") "WE GO CAMPING TODAY"...
And seeing that sheer joy and excitement on my son's face, suddenly camping feels like campfires, stars, torch tiggy and marshmallows... and I guess that is why we do it....
Happy Easter everyone!