AQC Quilts on display - Including mine!

The Australasian Quilt Convention is on in Melbourne this coming weekend, 18th-21st April, so if you're around drop in and take a look at all the quilts on display. There are some fantastic travelling exhibits for show & of course the 2013 AQC Challenge 'FREE'.

 

Including my quilt 'Dancing Free'

Artist Statement:
When I throw off the anxieties which enshroud me,
and let them fly free,
I can embrace the joy of dancing in the light.

For those who (like me) are stuck interstate, or overseas, you can view all the quilts here online.

 

I've also added a couple of quilts to my Finished Projects page.

I'm slowly catching up to this year's projects.



March NewFO

Catch all the great new projects at Cat Patches March NewFO!

 

Another month gone by and a few new projects started.
(though not as many as I'd hoped... do study projects count?)

 

I started (and finished) a contemporary art quilt & sent in the application form for the Wangeratta Contemorary Textile Show.  You can catch a few glimpses in my other posts, but here's one more.

 

A Detail Close up of 'Syergy'

I also sort of started my 'Doors' project... I've chosen the first 'Door' to make & gone through my stash to see what I have for it. That counts doesn't it??

In other starts I spoiled myself to some 'easter fabric' & started a new pieced quilt. I usually make art quilts and not a lot of them involve intricate piecing (see above), so I thought this would be a good time to practice. A little challenge to my self. Of course, me being me, I couldn't just find a nice little pattern to follow, I had to design one myself! I do like a challenge. (you can bet if I ever build a house, it won't be off a plan, I'm forever fiddling with 'grand' idea's)

I got a lot further than I thought I would & now I just need to work out the borders.

From this.... 

....to this

   

 

There was one more 'thing' I started for FNSI. It was last minute impromptu using scraps from another project & I'm not exactly sure what it's trying to be yet. I'm waiting to see what it turns into. :)

 

Soooo..... The NewFO count for this month.... 4!... not too bad after all.

March To-Do List

Ooops, a day late. I'ts been a busy easter.

Better late than never....  My March to-do List.

 

Check out all the others at Pig Tales & Quilts.

1. Contempory Quilt - Wangeratta Show due 22 March
   Bridge Design Abstract Texture Design
   
   DONE! & application sent off.



Miyoko's inspecting the work for me.... and on the right - a detail

 

2.Start Blocks for Moroccan Quilt - NOT DONE

Decided to try my hand at something a little simpler first.

Lots of fun! but these are 9" blocks. Think I might go back and redesign my Moroccan quilt with larger blocks. (1" triangle's sound much better than 1/4")

 

 

3.Sort & Organise Bags & Bags of scraps - STARTED

 

 

4.Scrappy Rainbow blog hop - Not DONE....

Darn! just not enough hours in the month!

 

5.Start Doors for Quilt - Sort of Done

Have chosen 1st Door to do.
Was going to also be for Orange Rainbow Scrappy but had to study for a maths test instead.

 

6.POST AQC Quilt!!!!!!!!! :) - DONE, DONE, DONE! YAY!

 

I'd say that come out at about 50%?..... oh well, maybe I'll have better luck this month. Or a more realistic To-Do List? - Nah! where's the fun in that?!



A Good Fri Day's Work

Well, I'm nicely tired and falling asleep while I post this, but it's a good tired. I'm feeling very satisfied and Happy! So I'll share what I accomplished today.

 

I drew up & printed the pattern (ie. pice sizes etc.) for two of the four different blocks making up my quilt design, and selected the fabrics to use.

 

 

I got a little nervous at this point (as I do at the begining of every new project)  and proceeded to phone my sister for a 1/2hr chat.

Then I got stuck into the cutting, sewing & pressing...

 

 

Quite a few hours latter & I'm ready to start assembling the block sections....

... and then the first 2 blocks.

What a wonderfull feeling when the first block(s) come together.

 

 

The next 6 are also ready to start assembling...

 

Not bad for a day's work, I think - a bit slow since I haven't done a lot of pieceing for a while but still a very satisfying feeling. I'm very pleased with the results so far. Just 7 more blocks to go after these 6 and it'll be ready for borders! (I have a sneaking susspicion it won't be finnished this weekend.)

 

 

Easter goodies

Saw the parents off on their easter holiday. Visited the nieces & nefews with goodies before they before they left on theirs & got a hug from my brother (he gives really good hugs).

Now it's just my sister, CJ, and myself, all alone, for the whole weeked! What will we do with ourselves? The mind begins to plot... hehehe (insert wicked laugh.)

 

Fortunatly there was a nice little easter bonus in my pay this week so I splurged & bought myself some easter goodies too.

 

Just working out the pattern pieces fo the design & will be quilting shortly. CJ found herself some yarn we thinks perfect for another project and with the stack of videos hired from the local store (ans the rest of the family gone) we're all set for a weekend of....
Quilting, Crochet & ANIME!

Unfortunatly the reason I stayed home is to get top of some study & assignments so I'll also have to fit them somewhere. Darn you higher education! Oh well like good ole Scarlett says, I'll think about it tomorrow.

 

In some other good news I farwelled my AQC challenge quilt off on it's travels this week. I look forward to seeing it again when it tours our lovely state of South Australia. For those of you who'd like to get in & see it before me, and all the other stunning quilts in the challenge, you can view them at the AQC Show in Melbourne, April 18-21st. The AQC challenge quilts will also be touring the other states through the year.

 

Happy Easter to everyone!
May God bless you all & have a great weekend.

 



testing 1,2,1,2

test - to see which page I land on

.....Darn! wrong one!

Yay it's FNSI time again

I've been looking forward to FNSI all week.
Deadlines past, all pressure off, just relaxing & enjoying sewing, maybe starting a new project.

Then I arrived home from work, fealing rather weary, curled up on the couch & promptly forrgot it was finally sew-in night. That is untill I stumbled accross it while looking at other stuff on-line. ('round about 9:30pm)

 

Would you believe it? I suddenly had all my energy back! :)
I jumped up, rummaged through some bits and pieces & came up with some scraps / spares from another project. I started sewing them together & with a touch of ironing & a teeny bit of trimming, here's what I came up with....

 

 

Now I just need to a) decide on a background, b) decide on a layout & c) decide what splashes of colour to add. Still, not to bad for only an hour or two.

I'm deffinatly feeling an asian vibe though. Yippee! I love Asian style quilts.
Only thing is I didn't use any orange scraps... so no double duty this time & time's running out for the rainbow scrappy.

Then I thought 'maybe I should be responsable & do something from my To-do list', so I sewed on the label for my AQC Challenge quilt.

 

 

Just have to sew on the hanging sleve and it's ready to be sent.

 

I did also design a new quilt, an exercise for me in piecing, earlier this evening. It's not, strictly speaking, sewing, but it still counts, doesn't it?

 

 

The colours above were just so I could see the design, I'm thinking of maybe doing it browns & blues?? not sure, will have to look through the stash.

 

Well that's my Friday night (and into Saturday morning). Looking forward to seeing everyone elses.

 

And for those of you who're wondering what FNSI is? Head on over to Hedi's Handmade.

 

Sneak peak?

Well, it's been an up & down this week. I've been rather unwell & had to skip my classes. This also ment I was a lot slower with my quilting.
On the upside I did, eventually,  get finished my piece for the Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Show & sent the application off today. Express post, hope it gets there by 5:00 friday!

 

Miyoko was helping me with the photography...

 

 

Yes that is a sneak peak at my entry (bottom of the photo).
I think this is one of my favorite pieces so far. I love how It's turned out.

 

 

News, Tests & another Challenge

Apologies all, it's been 2 weeks since my last post, but.....

 

GREAT NEWS!

 

My quilt for the AQC challenge 'FREE' has been chosen for the exhibition. I'm sending it of to Melbourne at the end of the week. YAY!!

 

Guess I'll also have to add it to my March to-do List.

1. Contempory Quilt - Wangeratta Show due 22 March
           Bridge Design  Abstract Texture Design
2. Start Blocks for Moroccan Quilt
3. Sort & Organise Bags & Bags of scraps
4. Scrappy Rainbow blog hop
5. Start Doors for Quilt
6. POST AQC Quilt!!!!!!!!!    :)

In the mean time I've been keeping myself busy (and apparently the family a little stressed) with study assignments. Just a couple simple ones like Atomic structure, Tensile strength ,

 

Hardness test samples

and Algebra tests!

First test in over 15years... so I guess 80% is not too bad, though I was hoping for closser to 90%. Will have to study harder for the next one.

 

I have managed to also get a start on my piece for the Wangeratta Contemporary Textile Award. 

 

 

That's all I can show for now, but this too will be finished by the end of the week.
I hope.

 Time to got back to it now. I'll leave you with an image of the 'kids' "helping" fold a quilt....

 

 

:)



 



Quilting Aftermath!

Aftermaths, finished projects & To-do Lists

 

Missed church today so I could pick dad up from the airport. He's back home after working up in Cairns for the week. Poor thing was bitten by sand flies at the beginnig of the week & is still itching.

 

In the meantime I was cleaning up after the marathon quilting session last week.

Here's some of the aftermath...

 

 

Thinking back on what else I started in Feb (2013NewFO)

I came up with two more projects which I finished mid Feb for a quilt challenge in France.

Quilt en Sud is a French/Spanish quilting group who have a biennial quilt & textile show with a challenge open to international quilters.

This years challenge was 'The White Line' - size and interpretation of theme open to the imagination. Below (left) is 'Serenty's Pathways". 

 

 

Also part of the show is a 'textile game' in which we had to design and make a reticule (regency style purse).  My inspiration was a regency tea set I saw. Odd I know, but I liked the shape & it was a fun challenge to turn it into a purse. I used indan batik's and vintage sari embelishments. India meet Regency!

 

Now to my March to-do List

1.  Contempory Quilt - Wangeratta Show due 22 March
    Bridge Design
   
2. Start Blocks for Moroccan Quilt
3. Sort & Organise Bags & Bags of scraps
4. Scrappy Rainbow blog hop
5. Start Doors for Quilt

It'll be a good challenge to see if I can actually start all these. Having somewhere to report to will hopefully help. Check back at Pig Tales & Quilts to see how I go, and check out many other to-do lists.

  

 

 

 

 



Feb NewFO - Finished results

Sorry Guy's - I've removed the picture of the finished quilt till after the AQC exhibition. (I've put the rest of the post back on though.)

Warning- this is a long one guys, enjoy.

Well its been a busy week, with a few ups and downs.

I was so excited last friday, seeing how the background for my quilt was looking, that I was eager to get to work Sat morning....

Life always seems to have other plans. Somehow it was after luch before I got out to get the materials I needed. A couple hours later, and it was not going so well.

Awear of the time constraints, the amount of work needed to get this finished in one week and my other commitments in the week ahead, I decided to try using a different material than usual (tulle) to "trap" my background so I could stich it down. I was sure this would be quicker and easier. (why do we always try new things when we're uder preassure?)

The tulle didn't work quite the way, or blend in quite as much as I'd hoped. By late arvo and many re-threadings of the machine I was convinced it was all a horrible mess and I'd ruined the whole thing.

I took a break!

View while I was thread painting, as you can seethe colours of the tulle have obliterated all the lovely fabrics, or so I felt at the time.

After a cup of tea and some encoragement from the family I decided to perservere and got back to work. (Note to self : do not sit and sulk when things aren't working out - it accomplishes nothing other than speeding up the time when there is a deadline looming...)

By sunday night things were looking better. The thread painting was starting to tke shape, I was getting a lot done & when I stood on a stool to look down on it, it wasn't too bad.

Of course I always seem to think I can get three times as much done, unfortunatly that jolly clock seems to have kept all the red bull for itself. I could swear that for every half hour I spent sewing the clock had zipped ahead 1.5 hours.

I had about 2/3's of the thread painting done.

Monday - Classes in the morning
I flew home after class and had a little over an hour which I thought perfect to dye the muslin I needed for another part of the project.

Turned up to my appointment an hour & a half later with purple fingers 'cause I'd once again forgotten to wear gloves.

The deying went well though, and after a mad rush to get the place ready for the cleaner the next day I had everything ready for the next step.

Tuesday - Classes all day
Came home too tired to do anything more than prepare the next 'trapped fiber' section for sewing.

Wednesday - Weekly Quilting group

Thought I could spend an hour or so, sewing together the trapped fibers before taking it to the quilting group. I always underestimate father time, dont I! Ah hour in and I knew I'd have to skip group this week.

5 hours later...

The sewing is done, birds are being cut out and preparing to have an early tea before heading off for my evening class. Ever tried wrapping your head around algebra after a long day? It was actually fun though & left me in a good mood so I finished cutting out the birds when I got home.

Thursday - Time's running out, so much left to do but I have a whole day and a night and even another day if I can last that long! ( lucky I'm not working this week.)

Back to the thread painting. I need to get the backgroung finished, and then quilt so I can attach the focal pieces.

A successfull day's work, though frustrating as I think I spent nearly as much time re-threding the machine as I did sewing. Not sure whether it was a wrong needle, course tulle or simply impatience that kept striping the thread and breaking it.

We got there in the end though & I was quite happy with the results, Talmai (my cuddly litte boy) seemed to agree.





6am Background quilted & trimed - I think I can grab a couple hours sleep.

D-Day!

All I have to do is make quilt Rocks for the forground, Bind everything and attach cloak, birds and figure, Photograph and email application. Easy peasy??

Rocks ironed down - Tick

Machine playing up worse than ever as I try to quilt.

Take machine apart, clean out mountains of dust & fluff.

Finish quilting rocks, machine's working better.

Bind edges raw with decorative stiching. Sooo slow! but less fiddly annd still quicker than trditional binding. Also complements trapped fiber work very nicley.

Attach all elements together, photograph and Voila!

Pic removed till After AQC exhibition.

Title - Dancing Free

...and 15min to spare. I'm thrilled with the result. Amazing what you can achieve with a little perserverance and a lot of support. Thankyou wonderfull family, and thankyou the readers who've stuck with me to see the results.

Now back to reality and the washing which somehow got behind this week. :)

 

 I'm still counting it as my 2013 NewFO for Feb though. It was started & finished. There's some great projects up on show at Cat Patches if you'd like to drop by. click here.

 

 



15 minutes to Spare!

Yay, I made it!
With only 15minutes of the 1st of March remaining (South Australian time) I finished my quilt and sent off my application for the AQC Challenge (Australasian Quilt Convention).

1 week to start and finish a 125cm/sqr art quilt! I think that's a record for me, though to be fair I was planning it for a month or two before.

 

Now, as it's past midnight (and I stayed up all last night to work on the quilt) I'll be heading off to bed. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten to show you the finnished quilt. I'll post all about it tomorrow.

 

For those revisiting from Heidi's FNSI, or Cat Patches 2013 NFO, thanks for swinging by, and here's a preview to intrigue you.

 

 

Goodnight.

 

Still Madly Creating!!!

Thanks to all who posted on my FNSI, I too am looking forward to seeing the results.

I've got lots to post on how it's been going but it'll have to wait till after friday if I'm to have any chance of finishing it before then.... the posability is getting smaller & smaller but I'm still determined to try.

 

Gotta head of to class now so I'll leave you with this small teaser...

 

 

 

...Part of the foreground....

 

Hope to have good news soon.

Creative madness ??? (Friday Night Sew In)

I started a new project.

I measuerd the craft table and discovered I would, once again, have to take over the dinning room as I needed a larger work area.

I cleared the table, set up another alongside and prepared my work space.

I laid out my tools and matarials, streached out my 'canvas' and admired how organised and exciting it looked.

 

 

I then took a deep breath, tried to figure out where to start, and....... sat down with a cup of tea!

That big bit of white expanse can be awfully intimidating.

 

After my tea, & another deep breath, I jumped in and filled the space with folded FQ's (fat quaters) in an attempt to work out which fabrics to use where.

1/2 hour later....

 

Now I know which fabrics.... how to proceed next????

Another cup of tea!

Back to work, but my canvas is covered! So I reorganise my fabrics to give me space to work.....

 

 

.....and start cutting fabric.

A few hours (and cups of tea) later.....

 

 

...a couple more cups of tea (and hours), & the background is all laid out.

 

It's 11pm and bed time for me.

Tomorow I just have to figure out how to sew it all down.
Then I need to create all the foreground pieces. I have one week to finish this project, in between balancing it with my studies. Madness I know!
I'll keep you updated on the progress.

 

Wish me luck!



New Addition

Another week's gone by already. Boy was that fast!

I've started tafe, re-aranged my schedule a couple times, joined the Woodpatch Quilters at woodside and welcomed a new member of the family. A little girl with big eyes and floppy ears who we've called Sienna. She's adorable!

 

 

 

Introducing one more Artist.....

Hi, let me introduce myself..... I'm Roxanne Murphy and this is my first ever blog.

 

It's intended to be an exercise in dicipline ( I hope to post about once a week), a place to explore the inspirations and frustrations of life.... and mostly a chance to share my work with others. The succeses and the learning opportunities, after all, there's no real failures in art... is there? Just new opportunities to explore and create.

 

 

As a taste of what's to come, here's the piece that launched me into the world of textiles and art quilting!

 

Titled - View from the Heights, size 8"x11"
Created for a challenge back in Feb 2010, in Quilting Arts magazine, this was my first ever art quilt. To my supprise it was chosen as a finalist and published in the magazine. (http://www.quiltingdaily.com/media/p/15725.aspx)

I've been experimenting with art quilting and textiles ever since.


I hope you enjoy what's to come and maybe I can help to inspire other artists to explore, play and just have fun!

Roxanne Murphy