let's make that ...

SIX are sold, and we have raised $1700 so far.

Once the A4 artworks reach $100 - that's the best price - it will not reverse any further. Don't wait around, BID $100 for your favourite at 10am.

5 textile pieces sold - $1500 raised!

Over the weekend five A4 artworks were sold and a total of $1500 raised for National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Thank you to all the artists and the clever textile art collectors!

The following A4 artworks are still available - at $200 each today! pop over now and BUY one - it's for a good cause!

Or, take your chances and hope your favourite is still available tomorrow, when you can BID for it at $100!!!!

Sue Dennis

Sarah Louise Ricketts

Robyn Kennedy

Jocelyne Leath

Brenda Gael Smith

Olga Walters

Erica Spinks

Dijanne Cevaal

Caroline Sharkey

Go on, what are you waiting for...

Raising funds for breast cancer research - 2 artworks sold

Two of the gorgeous textile artworks have been sold over the weekend. Wendy Bailye's and Lisa Walton's.
Tomorrow is the fourth day of the reverse auction - and artworks will be available for bids of $200. The first bid in for a particular piece will be the winner.
Go over to the Bid-4A-Cause blog, and take another look at the 12 remaining textile pieces, surely there is one there that you love! There is more than one that I love!
Happy bidding! dls

Guerrilla Knitting

When I was walking down the main street of Balmain on Sunday morning, a sight took me by surprise!

There was Balmain's very own act of guerrilla knitting on a pole - outside the Balmain Police Station. I love it!!!

Other public places in Sydney that have been wrapped in yarn are the old toilet block in Taylor square, and in Newtown and Rozelle by graffiti artist Denise Litchfield.

It is believed that guerrilla knitters have operated in Britain, Scandinavia, the US, Japan and South Africa. It has been suggested that Litchfield might be Sydney's first.

Visit KnittaPlease to see an interesting gallery of more than 20 installations around America and Europe.

It's a very busy time of the year for us all, but if you do find yourself with time on your hands, and yarn in the cupboard maybe you can join in?

dls

Bidding begins for A4 Textile Artworks soon

Get ready ladies and gentlemen; it is now time to support our fund raising activities for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

On November 27 the auction will BEGIN – tell ALL your friends.

There are 14 wonderful textile artworks up for grabs. You can add an artwork to

your textile collection for a fraction of the price that these artists' work normally sell for.

Scroll down to earlier posts to refresh your memory.

All money raised will be sent to the NBCF – there are no admin or artist’s fees

that will be required, so every cent you spend will go to this extremely important and worthwhile charity.

A calm woman's desk?

Last week I wrote, and I quote...

"At present I am just putting the finishing touches on Down Under Textiles. I cant tell you how excited I am!

And, then in the afternoon, I had the breathing space to refocus on the next issue of Down Under Quilts. More on that later."

I sounded quite calm didn't I?

Here I am "with more on that.." The "breathing space" has turned into "hyper-ventilation", as I stare down the barrel of a LOT of work to be finished by the end of the year. YIKES.

Does this look like a calm woman's desk? No, not to me either...

(gotta love Christine Cohrs quilt in the foreground! - it is a project in #140)


On my desk you can see the (new) distraction of a beautiful book that Lynn Hewitt bought back from Japan for me. It is called Kuroha Shizuko and shares 38 divine quilts, each with an English explanation of the quilt (thankfully). I can't understand the instructions, but that doesn't matter, lucky for me I honed my drafting skills more than 25 years ago!




Now, back to that messy desk, (note to self - put my gorgeous new book in the bag to take home...) and get some work done. The projects for #140 were all completed last week, thanks to Lorraine (mummy or GREAT-GRANDMA as she is known to at least one person). This week I am sub-editing the articles. Then it's into design next week... and then I can breathe deeply. Uh, maybe not, then it's Christmas, oh well maybe next year I can breathe? Perhaps that can be my new year resolution?

dls

new life for old fabric

Yesterday at the NSW Guild meeting at Burwood RSL, the guest speaker was Diane Groenewegen, artist and a collector. She has collected embroideries, buttons (her favourite), aprons and more over 40+ years. She shared slides of her works that she has created from old fabrics, doilies and embroideries. She does not cut up fabrics that are in good condition, choosing rather to breathe new life into those that are damaged. Cutting away the good bits and allowing them to live on in another creation.

If you look closely at this image, you can see the individual pieces cut from old fabrics, joined together to make a still life. The background is an old table cloth.

Diane also does block printing and other textile art techniques, teaching

these skills around the country. She is a member of ATASDA and on their website you can see Diane's Member Gallery more of her work. What a gracious lady, I could easily imagine her cherishing and patting her buttons collections!

Today I was editor

After being so happily distracted by the imminent birth, and subsequent arrival, of my first grand-baby for the past month, today I relished the experience of getting back into my editor of Down Under Quilts and Down Under Textiles mode.

At present I am just putting the finishing touches on Down Under Textiles. I cant tell you how excited I am!

And, then in the afternoon, I had the breathing space to refocus on the next issue of Down Under Quilts. More on that later. Meanwhile, let me remind you how great issue 138 is ... not only is it one of my all-time-favourite covers, the content is marvellous. It includes an exclusive review of the annual Quilt Festival in Birmingham UK - Europe's largest. A gorgeous bag pattern, and a sweet hand made quilt using paper piecing.

But, that's not all, so to find out what else is in store jump over to www.downunderquilts.com.au to sign up for your free subscription - which is only available for a limited period.

Then in a couple of weeks you can anticipate a whole new fabulous issue of Australia's first patchwork and quilting magazine.

Erica is our 'cover' girl once again with an intriguing quilt made from selvedges, plus we share many inspirational photos of other selvedge items and the instructions to make a functional shopping sack too.

One of my favourite features is Australian Designers. We introduce you to 20 talented people who are clever enough and talented enough to bring their original and unique prints to the Australian (and world) patchwork market. Then Kathy Doughty and Co, from Material Obsession share some brilliant ideas on how to include these diverse prints in your quilt making.

Lastly, today I had a meeting with the insightful MD of Bernina Australia - Greg Anderson - and his ever-so-talented offsider - Kerry Hay. It is a pleasure working with Bernina, whom have been so generous and supportive of our industry for so very long. It is refreshing to learn that they are moving with the times, and we at DUQ , DUT and CE look forward to moving on with them in 2010 and bringing our readers even more interesting and interactive content.

In case you haven't noticed, I LOVE my job! I love being a quilter, and I simply love producing the magazines. Part of the discussions with Greg and Kerry was about that passion, and how much drive and determination we put into our jobs. And we all concurred that we are privileged to work in this industry.

So, to you, my friends, thanks!

Sadie Deborah Albury

Well, the cutest little bundle has finally arrived, at 9.20pm 15.11.09, weighing in at 4.3kg (9.7lbs!!!), and 53cm long.

It was a long day for mum, and she's still a bit sore, but everyone is happy. The buba is so content and serene.

Here are some photos of her ....

with her daddy,
and her Mimi

and her Uncle Mason
and her Papa,

and her Aunty Eloise, Uncle Mason and Mimi

How chubby is she! 9.7lbs...

My sweet little grandbaby - Sadie Deborah Albury!!!!

dls

A baby, a 24 hour plane journey and a batch of cookies ...

what do these three things have in common?

These are the things that my four children are awaiting right now!

Tara-Lea's baby is due in a few days; Jake boards a plane in 36 hours and flies from New York back to Sydney and right now, Eloise and Mason are cooking vanilla cookies.

I wish I could take a photo and show you how cute they are, the cookies that is. They are little shapes, no bigger than 1 1/2in in any direction, and the first batch is out of the oven.

Jake has my camera, and while I can't share pics of cookies, I guess I will concede that photos from his NY NY trip are more important right now. He celebrated his 24th birthday in Times Square - how cool!

lets hope the baby 'pops' out (as Eloise says) soon, the plane journey is ontime and uneventful, and that we don't burn the next batch of cookies.

sweet dreams..
dls

an apple today and goddess relics last week

When I arrived at the office today there was a parcel waiting for me. I didn't recognise the sender, so had no idea what was inside. What a surprise, how delightful - this gorgeous Apple Pincushion made by Nicole Vaughan of Craftapalooza.

Nicole is very generously giving away two kits to make this crunchy morsel in issue 139 of Down Under Quilts. And she popped this one in just for me, already made up! Thanks Nicole - I love it!



A week or so back, when I was in Brisbane at the Craft and Quilt Fair (BTW don't miss the one in Adelaide this week), I ran into Sue Dennis. Sue is sharing a paint stick project in the first issue of Down Under Textiles, and she also contributed to the Goddess Roseus fund-raising auction Bid-4A-Cause recently. Sue gave me this sweet postcard, which is reminiscent of the A4 piece she made for the auction - take a look.

happy stitching, dls