New Joggles Classes

The new Joggles classes have been listed on the website. I've signed up for the Textile Art with Pizzazz class with Debbie Babin. Debbie has been teaching on Quilt University and also had an article in Quilting Arts No. 29. I'm looking forward to her class which starts in July. I am very tempted to take more classes but I've learnt my lesson from taking 3 lessons that overlapped last term. I didn't get to participate fully in them, and even though I have the lessons to go on with, I'll miss not having the class and teacher contact.

TIF Challenge Update - I'm about halfway through. I don't think I will have this one finished before the end of the month but I'll try to have it finished next week. I'm working the rest of this week, going away on the weekend to Brisbane to see James Blunt (I can't wait) and then I have time off next week to concentrate on finishing it off.

April TIF Challenge - Change

So, I should have been abit further along with the challenge this month, but sometimes life gets in the way. I have been thinking alot about what I will do and I've come up with an idea.

First abit about the thoughts I have been having about Change and how we react to it.

I think change can be exciting and refreshing if it is something that has been planned or if it involves changes that we consider positive such as a promotion, new job in a field that we love, moving house, etc.

Change can get more difficult if it involves things such as divorce, death of loved ones, having to sell your house or business due to financial reasons, etc.

Maybe the difficulty that comes with change is the attitude that we have towards it. If we are clinging onto the past for dear life, this can only bring pain, grief and trauma into our life. All things in our life may happen for a reason and if we could see things in a broader perspective we may be able to understand more why things have happened the way they do. In order to move on in our life and to learn lessons we sometimes have to leave good things behind. We need to be able to end the chapters in our life and be able to open the next door and jump right in. Even if you try to have this positive perspective I still think that there is a period of adjustment. And maybe sometimes this adjustment may mean crawling under our bed covers and blocking the world out for the day.

I'm in my early 40's and am starting to experience aging. Its interesting to think about how differently we all react to aging. Some people fall apart, some cling desperately to their youth and some embrace it. It is a time maybe to confront issues from our past, look back and review our life, what are the things we haven't done, what about the dreams we had - did we go out into the world and accomplish them, what do we still want to accomplish in our lives. I don't see it as a downward spiral. I'm all for older people going out and climbing mountains, jumping out of aeroplanes, travelling the world, riding motorbikes or whatever it is that makes them feel complete.

When Sharon spoke about this challenge she mentioned about the attitude people have about the cup being half empty or half full. I think this attitude can have a big influence on how we react to change. I also thought of the saying "Going with the Flow". Which lead me to think about nature and the natural cycles. I then thought that this month I would focus on my garden once again and do a piece that would represent the flow of change in nature and remind me to embrace change and "Go with the Flow of Life".

So I'm going to either use this burnt green thread background that I already made or experiment making some other burnt backgrounds. Then I'm going to embroider flowers all over it to make a lush vibrant garden.

I better get cracking!!!

Quilt Fair and Small Quilt Class

I thought I would show a progress photo of my "Tree Of Life" quilt I am doing for the Small Quilt class with Jane LaFazio. Jane's website is http://www.plainjanestudio.com/

I had a great time at the Quilt Fair. The quilt displays were great. I particularly liked two quilts by Helen Godden. They were painted and then stitched. She does some really amazing work. One was a large painted Cockatoo and the other one was of a boy sitting on his bed reading a story and all around the bed was an imaginary world of jungle and dinosaurs. It was very detailed and great to see up close. Helen's website is http://www.helengodden.com/

I ended up buying some beads to make some necklaces, which I hadn't planned on. I really enjoyed hearing Prudence Mapstone talk about Freeform knitting and crocheting and I bought her book "Freeform". I also got a Jenny King pattern for a crocheted poncho and black yarn to make it. Now, it's the first time I've used a large crochet hook, so it might take me abit to get the tension right. The pattern isn't hard though. Also Wendy Bailye had a great stall there with lots of amazing examples of her felting work. I would love to do one of her felting classes sometime. She's located north of Brisbane at Yugar. Her website is http://www.heartandsoulaustralia.com/

Gold Coast Craft and Quilt Fair

I can't wait till tomorrow. I'm spending the day at the Craft and Quilt Fair up at the Gold Coast. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Husqvarna Viking International Quilt Competition display. There's also the Best of Australia Quilts display and A World of Quilts by members of the Gold Coast Quilters Inc with a theme of World Travel. There will be lots of beautiful work to drool over. I'll be keeping my eye out for some beads, buttons and fabrics to buy, I'll have to try to control myself.

The April TIF is about Change. I haven't come up with any ideas yet, I have some days at home next week so I'll spend some time on it then. It's also the last week of the Small Art Quilt class I'm doing. This weeks class is creating a self portrait quilt. It looks like alot of fun, so I can't wait to get started on it. Also its the 5th week of The Fertile Earth class and this weeks theme is Shells, Rocks and Stones. I'm enjoying both of these classes so much that I don't want them to end.

A few posts ago I mentioned that I got some new things.

I got some more wool - I can't help myself, I love the colours and textures.

These batiks are beautiful. They were perfect to use as the background for a Tree of Life quilt that I'm doing for the Small Quilt Class.

I also have started collecting interesting buttons of all shapes, colours and sizes as well as beads. I've had some new additions of these but haven't taken a photo of them.

A can't help myself with books, I love them. These are a few I have got recently.

This book was abit different to what I expected as its all in black and white, but its a great reference book. I'm abit limited in my stitch knowledge so this is a great one to extend my stitch knowledge and to see how to take the stitches beyond their normal look.

I love this book. Each time I go back to it I find new things.

This is a bad photo but the book is great. The quilt on the front cover is really striking, I love the colour combination. Susan Sorrell has some art quilts in this book as well.

Another bad photo, but I had to also add these two books that I recently got out from the library. Both of these are very inspiring and well worth having. I think I will have to get my own copy of Stitch Magic sometime - I don't think I will be able to keep getting it out from the library.