Playing shop and Quilts in the Woolshed

Saturday 19 August saw me head out to "Springhill Country Craft Retreat" in Amby for Quilts in the Woolshed and a day of working in the patchwork shop.

It was a glorious day.

The Woolshed was decked out in quilts and other crafts.

 

 Plenty of eye candy and inspiration

 Hand spun and coloured wools

 

 

 I was playing working in the fabric shop.  It is just so pretty in there.

 Cecily was my partner in crime for the day.

 More prettiness behind me

 And even more.

 This quilt was one of my favourites. The fabrics were beautiful.

 I love old farm building so I couldn't resist taking a few snaps of the woolshed.

 

 

It was another wonderful day and, yes I may have adopted a few fabrics....

A challenge & some scrap busting

At the end of August I attended "Injune's Creative Odyssey", a two day crafting feast hosted by Injune Arts in the little town of Injune, Qld.

Prior to the weekend we had been issued with some voluntary challenges.  A painting challenge and a Fat 1/4 challenge.  The Fat1/4 challenge was to make a cancer care bag using the challenge fabric.  My challenge fabric was the bright 'weave' print.

 

I was so inspired by how easy the bag was, I set to work making another from scraps from my Ribbon Boxes quilt.  These scraps were just sttitched together to form rectangles and then the bag completed as usual. The way these scraps came togethe still amazes me.  I know they 'went' together because i used them in a quilt, but to have the bag come out so bright and happy & unpredictable was what really surprised me.

 

My two bags have been sent off to the Cancer Care units in the Toowoomba hospitals along with the other 30 something bags from the weekend.

The second challenge was a mini canvas challenge.  Now I am NOT a painter but I was determined to give it a go.  This was "The effect of Odyssey"

 

however, I did not like it.  So it was painted over in the orange paint and left to think about its behaviour.  LOL

One week before the challenge was due, inspiration struck me and this was the finished & submitted mini canvas.

A much more appropriate sentiment I think. :)

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August AHQ #2

Aussie Hero Quilt #2 for August was fun to make.

I used donated blocks to make the giant stars on the top & bottom.  I love the red, white & blue star in the top section, unfortunately the bottom star is not quite as obvious, but it is still there.

This quilt used my favourite AHQ border material, Australian Flags.  it is quite a happy fabric.

 This recipient requested the rising sun and once again the AHQ embroidery fairies stepped in to provide me with one. That rising sun is very complex.

 I was also to send a laundry bag to this fellow, so I dug into my 'quirky' fabric collection to see what I had.  These black & white signs were perfect and the bag will be very distinctive.

Safe travels to the recipient.  Come home safely to your family.

Catch you soon.

Debra

August AHQ #1

August saw two Aussie Hero Quilts completed and sent.  This scrappy green quilt went to Afghanistan.

He requested the Australian Flag, Afghanistan Flag & Op Resolute badge.

(My favourite part of this quilt is the stripey binding)

 Thankfully the AHQ embroidery fairies were able to stitch the words & the Afghanistan flag for me.

 

And a close up of the binding just because I can.

 

I hope it brings joy and encouragement to its recipient.

See you soon. 

Debra

Two secret projects revealed

In July I posted that I had been doing secret sewing for Aussie Hero Quilts.

These two laundry bags were presented to the crew of HMAS Darwin during the last week to commemorate their final deployment before the ship is decommissioned.

The fronts are plain colours with the ships crest so the crew can collect signatures or other commemorative momentos of their final trip. The backs are 'nautical' or Australian themed.

To see the reactions of the crew of HMAS Darwin pop over here to read the blog post.

Glad to be a part of this project.

See you soon.

Debra

 

July was secret sewing month

I only finished 2 projects in July and they are secret laundry bags for Aussie Hero Quilts, so I can't share them in their entirety at this stage.

 Back view # 1

Back View #2

You'll see the fronts once they are delivered.  :)

I've also started 2 Aussie Hero Quilts & another secret project... so some progress going on but not much to show for it.

Catch you all soon.

Debra

June Finishes

June flew past without me noticing. I'm not sure how I didn't notice, I had a birthday and it the school musical and end of term.

I managed a few sewing projects and made quite a good start on others.

This rainbow AHQ was fun to sew and very pretty while sitting on O-Me.

 

This rainbow theme Aussie Hero Quilt & Laundry bag were finished and sent to the recipient somewhere in the middle east (I think).

 I love it, it is happy and colourful with a little bit of Aussie thrown in for good measure.

The rainbow blocks were made by Aussie Hero Friends from across Australia & I designed, pieced and quilted the quilt.

June's other sewing was another 11 hearts for the 1000 Heart project.  These haven't found a home yet, but I'm sure they will soon.

See you again soon.  My first July finish is almost done.

Debra -Outback Crafter

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Costume Finished, Musical Over

My last post was about the Sheriff costume for my son.

Well the musical is over, school is now on holidays and we are onto the next projects.

I promised a photo of the complete outfit, so here it is.

"All Shook Up" was a brilliant production and a credit to the students and teachers.

A special shout out to Broken Record from Redcliffe, Qld who custom made our thank you gifts for the teachers, she CNC Routed the production logo into records. The teachers loved them.

 My two handsome men after the production.

See you again soon.

Debra- Outback Crafter

Costumes and Hearts

Sometimes, the pretty sewing has to be put aside for the 'important' or  "but Mum, I need it tomorrow"  sewing.

That is what this creation is.  A costume for the teenager for the school musical.  

His character is an American Sheriff, so I had to create a uniform for the sheriff.  

Epaulets and pocket triangles added to a fawn coloured shirt seemed to fit the bill.

 

It appears I forgot to photograph the finished shirt.  Oh well the production is on in the next couple of weeks, I'll try to remember then.

The Sheriff also needed a holster for his pistol.  You cant see it, but it is sewn.  Got to love having a craft cupboard of random fabrics. I knew the black vinyl would be handy eventually. LOL.

 My 'no stress' sewing lately has been felt pocket hearts for the 1000 Hearts Project.  These pretties were sent to an acquaintance who's had a tough time lately.  One for herself and others to share with her  local support crew.  If you are interested, pop over here to find out more about the 1000 Heart Project.

Catch you again soon.

Debra ~ Outback Crafter

An Unexpected Project

Sometimes projects just happen.

My youngest child has a banana pillow and every time we wash it it makes me gag.  No matter what I do it won't come clean. (No, I have no idea why we purchased a white pillow case).

So Saturday saw me digging out some long forgotten fabrics to create a couple of pillow cases that I can live with.

The old pillow case made the perfect pattern

 and we now have bright balloons

 and colourful crayons.

 These are fabrics that I'm not even sure why I had them.  I'm very glad they are now in a project.

 

So 2 more finishes for May OPAM and no feral pillowcase to have to look at.

Catch you soon.

Debra ~ Outback Crafter

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Its Show Time

The second Friday in May is always Roma Show.

Our Family love show time, we all enter exhibits and spend time as a family.  (We are not sure how much longer that will last, the boys are getting older.)

Our photography entries ready for the show.

My photos 

 Master Ts photos

 Hubby's belt for the Leather work section

 I was one of the handicrafts stewards for this year's show, so around work I was out at the pavilion to receive and display exhibits.  These photos were taken before the protective cages were put up.

Part of the quilt / patchwork section

 Some of the lovely, knitting, crochet & miscellaneous categories.

 Some of the many crochet rugs.  (That adorable elephant on the front corner is mine - not made by me but gifted to me.  He looks a bit forlorn on the display.)

 This Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs was knitted.  Each dwarf has real personality.

 The entertainment was Walter Whip  & The Flames.  He did many 'regular' whip tricks with flaming whips.  They made for great lighting effects.

 Master E and his art entries.  He did not place, but this was his first year entering art. There are some amazing artists in our community.

 Master T won two First Place ribbons. This is for his altered digital imagery.

 and this Fern is in the Novice Flora & Fauna.

 My apron came 1st in the apron section.

 Master E entered 2 Lego creations.  The Helicopter you can see over his right shoulder was awarded Highly Commended.

 and the excavator you can see in this photo was awarded Second place.

 

Master T's Claas Logging Tractor (on the top shelf) was awarded First Prize & Champion Junior Exhibit.  He is really excited as this is the last year he can enter as a junior.

 This hexagon wall hanging by Cecily Hamilton won 1st Prize Patchwork Wall hanging, Best Piece of Patchwork & Champion Handicrafts Exhibit.   It is all hand embroidered and hand stitched.  It is just lovely.

 These were some of the quilts on display.

 

 The table runners, my blue triangle mat was in this section.  

It did not place.

My cross-stitch ball of wool was awarded 1st place.  

That was an azazing surprise.

My "Red, Red Ribbons" Quilt was awarded 1st place and my Exploding Star was awarded 2nd place. They were both in the Quilt made by 1 person category.

That lovely blue trippy quilt was also in the same category as were 6 or 7 others.

 

 Then onto the rest of the show.

This Chicken Cake was amazing,  It looked real enough that it could have hung out in the chook pavilion with the live animals.

This real chicken reminded me of a powder puff.  It was more than happy to pose for a photo though.

We took time out to watch the Sheepdog Trials.

And of course the end of a good show is great fireworks.

I am always fascinated by the lights of sideshow alley with the fireworks.

Another great Roma Show.

 

Until next time.

Debra ~ Outback Crafter