Houston Quilt Festival - Part 2

Thought I'd share a post about the people (and creatures) of Quilt Festival.

With only one day up my sleeve, I knew I had to be selective about how I spent my time in Houston. I spent an intense morning viewing the thousands of quilts on display and spent much of the afternoon shopping and perusing the thousands of stalls. Of course, I had to arrange a meeting with this gorgeous lady who I have developed a connection with via 'Blogland' but have never met IRL.

She was so incredibly sweet and amazingly helpful and generous with her time. Thank you Victoria xx

Victoria introduced me to her wonderful friend Michele but I didn't get a chance to take a photo :(

I also got to attend a brief talk with Kaffe Fassett

And snapped a quick selfie with Ricky Timms

Apparently, Quilt Festival is a party!

But no one told these folks.

They were pooped after an exhausting day of shopping and perusing. I was too!!

But not too pooped to have an evening meal with this gorgeous bunch of Louisiana ladies that had adopted me the evening before in the hotel cafe.

They were so friendly and welcoming. Quilters are good folk!! :-)

And as well as the flesh and blood people I got to meet, there were some wonderful quilts depicting people ...

And of course there were the creatures ...

We quilters certainly to love our creatures!!

The only thing left to tell you about is the shopping I did in Houston. I'll be back VERY soon to show you the wonderful purchases I made. Yay!! Loot!!!!

Much crafty love to you.

Andi xx

Houston Quilt Festival - Part 1

I know this is now OLD news by now but I have been away on a BIG family holiday to the USA and have been unable to upload my HUNDREDS of photos until now.

So anyway, after Dan and the kids flew to Hawaii, I took a brief detour to Houston to briefly attend the biggest quilt show I have ever seen. "What's that?" I hear you say. "You missed out on Hawaii to go and look at quilts?" How's THAT for crafty dedication!!! (I did actually make it to Hawaii but just for a slightly shorter time. Phew!!)

So here we go. Get ready for a whole lot of photos because there were a WHOLE lot of incredible quilts on display!

 First up ... some of the more traditional quilts:

 

And some more contemporary ones .....

Quilt made by Chawne

Quilt made by Victoria Findlay Wolfe and Lisa Sipes

I have to apologise for mostly not knowing the quilters' names. I had only 1 day to explore a bazillion quilts and stalls and I simply neglected to note down details. (Hangs head in shame). 

Here I am in front of another of Victoria's amazing quilts

I might stop there and keep some more pics for Part 2 (and most likely Parts 3 and 4).

But suffice to say, it was one of the most inspirational (and exhausting) days I have had for quite some time. I'll be back in a few days to show you more.

Much crafty love,

Andi xx

Well helloooooo there!!!

After a couple of years of humming and harring (is that even a word?) about this blog ....  PatchAndi is back and I am busting with so much crafty news to share!!

There are a million things I could tell you about in this post (including a very brief but jam-packed visit to the Houston Quilt Festival!!) but I might start by showing off a recent 'finish'. Well ... the quilt top is finished and awaiting quilting :P

My 'Groucho' quilt is the first of a series of pixelated quilts that I am planning. My husband has written some awesome software to help generate the pattern (more on that later!) Can you see his hands holding down the quilt at the bottom? He's a good man!! It was a VERY windy day.

And just so you can see how big this quilt actually is ....

I certainly have my work cut out for me with the quilting!!

It is so good to be back in this blogging world! I'm not sure how many of you are even reading this as Google Reader has disappeared since I last posted.

But if you ARE reading this ... and you blog ... and you don't mind giving me a little plug .... it would be great if you could mention to your readership that I'm back, or even just pop me back onto your blog-roll. I would be most grateful!!

Much crafty love to you!

Andi xx

Blogging return for a great cause

It's been a LONG time between posts but I have a wonderful reason for this (probably) brief return.

Some of you may be familiar with Bianca. She's a crafty mumma with a husband and 4 young kids. Soon after a move from the top of Australia to the other end of the country, Bianca and her family found out that their eldest daughter, Maybelle, had cancer.

So, for the past year, Bianca and her husband have been juggling a new home, 4 kids, regular 2 hour trips to the city for hospital visits and treatments, and at the same time trying to provide for their little family and provide some sense of normalcy. I can't even begin to imagine the struggle and the stress!!

During her long and extended stays in hospital, Maybelle has watched a fair bit of daytime television. She has developed a great love of the Ellen Degeneres Show and her greatest wish, other than to be well of course, is to go along to a taping of the show. A whole community of people who connect to this family in a variety of ways, have banded together to try to make Maybelle's wish come true.

One of the fundraising efforts has come from the crafting community, of course. A Facebook based auction will be held in November with all manner of donated handmade items.

My donation will be this quilt:

A low volume style quilt with much inspiration from the fabulous Rita of Red Pepper Quilts.

The quilt measures 54.5 inches x 68 inches.
It is a good sized single bed quilt or a large lap quilt, perfect for snuggling on the couch.

The choice of fabrics include screen printed fabrics from local Australian designers such as Ink & Spindle, Yardage Designs and Pippijoe Textile Designs. Also included are a selection of international designer patchwork fabrics from Denyse Schmidt, Lu Sommers, Aneela Hoey and others.

 

  The quilt is backed with a simple red spot on white.

 

Binding is also simple in a red and white stripe.

 

Lovingly hand-quilted with red Purl 8 thread.

I will be setting a $300 reserve on the quilt because I HATE seeing quilts being sold for next-to-nothing!! Don't you agree?


So what am I asking of you? A few things:

1. If you would like to make a donation to the auction, please contact coordinator Mel at five2many@optusnet.com.au. She will let you know what she needs from you in order to participate.

2. Head over to the auction page and 'like' it. Items have already started to appear but the auction will officially begin on November 12th. It will be a perfect place to do some early Christmas / Hannuka shopping!!

3. Send a message to the Ellen Show via this page to make them notice Maybelle and hopefully play a part in getting her over to the show. Make sure in your message you mention the 'Let's Get Maybelle to the Ellen Show' page.  


I hope you have all been well this year and that you will end your year on a high with some gorgeous home-made goodies for a great cause.

Much love,
Andi x

But you promised!!!!

I know I promised way back in January that I would be back with crafting and blogging mojo aplenty. Not the case.
It seems that 'real life' has become rather overwhelming and I have been unable (or unmotivated) to get back to this blog.
I have also been absent from most of your blogs too as I have been occupying myself more in said 'real world'.
I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I'm OK. I'm not brilliant ... but I'm OK.
And I won't be back to blogging in a hurry. That is going to take some time.
To all of you who have noticed my absence and have sent me the "Are you OK?" emails ... I thank you so very much. It's so much of what I love about this community.
And to those of you who have shared wonderful crafting and life news on your blogs but I have missed it, I'm so sorry and I send you all much crafty love.
Catch ya later!
Andi xx

Thank you for your patience (AKA the Festival of Jake)

I have had the laziest of summer breaks. No blogging. Hardly any photos taken and extremely little crafting was done.

You see ..... between late November and early January we have both kids' birthdays, both Grandmothers' birthdays, Hannuka and Christmas to celebrate. I do A LOT of entertaining and A LOT of baking and gift buying/making and by the end of it I am EXHAUSTED!!!

But I am back to blogging with a renewed energy and would like to spend this first post honoring my Jake who turned 8 exactly 1 month ago.  (See here for the recent Festival of Ella post).

__________________________________________________________

So, my delicious Jakey ... This year you have grown so much. You have learned so much due to your enthusiasm for school and ANYTHING written in a book!! You have blossomed as a social creature with such a lovely group of friends who care for you and who you love. You love your food and have grown so much physically. You are nearly as tall as me and your feet are a whopping size 6!! (Better stop feeding you I think)  ;o)

The school circus concert happened and you were dazzling with your hoola hoop:

 

Birthday books were donated to your school library:

 

Red House rewards day was celebrated with red EVERYTHING .... even your hair!!

 

Before school finished up for the year (and kids scattered to their family holiday destinations) you had a go-karting birthday party with your friends:

 

Would you check out the hair (and makeup) on the party organiser!!!!

A fabulous (yet amazingly easy) cake was provided by yours truly:

 

   

Of course a second celebration with family on the actual day involved ANOTHER cake. This time ... a chocolate ripple cake in the shape of a 'J':

 

You have serenaded us all with your guitar. It has been so exciting to see your growing love of music:

 

 And we took your traditional photo with Homer:

 

 

I love you so much my Jakey boy. You give the yummiest cuddles and the sweetest kisses and make me smile everyday.

__________________________________________________________

 

Among the many and varied gifts received by Jake over this very festive season was, of course, a mum-made quilt but I will show you that in another post.

More crafting posts to come ... promise!

Hope you have had a great January and look forward to catching up with you in February and beyond.

Andi xx

PS Also ... I turned 40.