Auckland Festival of Quilts

 Today I took myself to the Auckland Festival of Quilts.  There was lots of inspiration with so many beautiful quilts to be looked at, photographed and discussed.  I met up with Linda from Koka Quilts, which was lovely after at least two years of commenting on each others blogs.  Below are a selection (read lots) of some which caught my eye.

Plus Size by Robyn Croft
I think this was my absolute favourite quilt, so much colour and movement

Flower Power by Christ Behersing
Flower were originally made to cover moth holes in a woolen blanket, then she kept adding them

My Anna Maria by Eileen Hoyle
How could I not love this one.  

Dinner Party by Mary Metcalf
The coloured quilting on this was particularly stunning .

Hexies by Moonlight by Mary Metcalfe

A Wing and a Prayer by Mary Cathie
Pattern from the book 'Quilting from Little Things' by Sarah Fielke

Dance Floor by Cheryl Houston

Almost Neopolitan by Maureen Stroud
All blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler book, this quilt was huge and featured fabulous fussy cutting.

Kete: Congraduation by Louise Saunders
Maker's own design, inspired by a traditional Kete.

No Idle Moments by Carolyn Van Wonderen

Cream of Heart by Jill Young.
Each block was made up of 1000's of french knots - awe inspiring, 

A Kaleidoscope of Liberty Fabrics by Val Troost

Iridescent Bali by Vimla Govinder
Pattern from Quilt Worx

Mediterranean Hexagons by Margaret Read
From Quilts in Morrocco by Kaffe Fasset.  I was particularly intrigued by the use of brown civil war prints as the contrast in this quilt.

Axminster Carpet by Cheryl Houston
Inspired by carpet in her hallway.

Colour is Everything by Ngaire Fleming
Pattern from 'Savour Each Stitch" by Carolyn Friedlander

Curtain Fabric Samples by Debbie Jones
All linen, which showed up the different quilting patterns beautifully.

Southern Stars by Mary Hawke
This quilt was amazing, 369 hand pieced stars, some fussy cut and over 730 different fabrics were used.

And of course a day out at such an even always requires a little retail therapy, so here is the "look what I've  treated myself" to photo:

Well worth a visit if you are after some crafty quilty inspiration this weekend.

Linking up to Wandering Camera at Whims and Fancies.

Macro Mondays - August

At the beginning of the month I joined a photographic Flickr group called Macro Mondays.  Each Monday we are given a theme to photograph, and then we post the photo, the following Monday. Some have been easy (flowers) some require thinking outside the square and some have been rather difficult (In the mirror). I don't have a big fancy professional camera, just a small Canon Ixus 160 digital camera, that I am still learning about.  Of course, if I read the manual I downloaded, it would probably make things a lot easier.

Here is my  first month of Macro Mondays photos and themes:

• Flower(s) black and white
• Summer Olympic Sports
• Stars
• In the Mirror

Linking up to Wandering Camera at Whims & Fancy.

Weekending

• fungi on firewood - I love how it looks like tree rings
• these Bergenia, are a little weather beaten, but are still flowering bravely and adding some much needed colour to my somewhat sad and sodden winter garden.
• Liberty and hand quilting - perfect for snuggling under and working on this cold weekend.
• I joined a photographic group on Flickr, called Macro Monday.  Each Monday they give a new theme to photograph, this week it is black and white flowers. Between showers, I bundled up and went for a walk around my neighbourhood to see what I could find to experiment with. It is quite amazing how different the flowers look in each option, and what colour brings to a picture.

Linking up to Wandering Camera at Whims & Fancies

Winter Flora

There will probably not be a lot of sewing related photos from me for a wee while.  A week ago when Auckland experienced some exceptionally heavy rain in a very short period of time, our garage and the attached sewing and computer rooms flooded.  Luckily they are separate from our house, and it appears to be only the carpets and some storage cupboards that have been damaged (my fabrics were all safe) . However we had to clear everything out of these rooms, so subsequently my house currently looks like we should be on one of those hoarders tv shows.  Unfortunately my fabrics were first out, and that means I cannot reach them for the time being.

Every time it rains I stress, so today I took myself out for a walk (and got rained on) and found some prettiness around my neighbourhood to cheer me up.

Linking up to The Wandering Camera at Whims and Fancies.