2017 comes with wings! I can't believe how fast it flew by this year. After I got over Christmas and New Year holidays I went back in my treehouse studio to pick-up and work on some of my UFOs. I got the Yellow Crumb quilt top finished which was a relief. At the same time I was hand stitching the Indigo moons block for the
Quilty 365 challenge which I started in 2016. I didn't get to 365 blocks, but with a clever setting, I might get enough to make a queen size quilt.
We have had a sad event in our family. My beloved Mother-in-law passed away in late Feb. My family and I made a short trip to the funeral in Auckland, NZ. My MIL was a lovely and supporting lady for all of us. I know we will all miss her.
My colleagues and friends at work gave me a lovely bouquet of flowers on my return, so I decided to use them in the dye bundles in memory of my MIL. I also did more dyeing using my usual eucalyptus leaves. There lot of photos here so please enjoy...
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| Desert Cactus flower from my garden |
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| Sympathy flowers into bundle |
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| Eucalyptus leave dyed. |
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| More Eucalyptus dyed |
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| First piece from the bouquet |
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| Second piece of the bouquet |
I read somewhere in social media about the Asia Gallery Warehouse in Auckland. On my last day there I thought I would look it up and what I found was WOW! It was an amazing hidden gem of a warehouse. I got talking to one of the ladies there and found that her husband worked most of his life in Japan. Although retired, he keeps going back there and brings all the gorgeous textiles and vintage artefacts back to Auckland. It happened that he married a lovely Thai lady so he is now importing vintage textiles from northern Thailand as well. I spent a few good hours there enjoying all the displays. I imagined I was back in Japan and Thailand! Naturally, I bought some gorgeous fabric from there!
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| BORO indigo Yukatas |
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| Silk for dyeing and indigo fabric |
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| The stash I brought home |
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| The two lovely ladies I met there. |
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The Japanese wooden doll (Kokeshi doll)
to add to my collection. |
Some quilts I'm working on recently: The Indigo Moon is the Quilty 365 block challenge in 2016. It started off very well. I kept it going for most of 2016.
I completed the Yellow Crumb quilt I started with my friend
Myra when she visited in October. I got really motivated and got it done over the Christmas holidays. I have just sent it off to the machine quilter and I can't wait to get it back! Out of the blue I started another quilt in January. It's a quilt from the Cultural Fusion Quilts book by
Sujata. My favourite thing about starting all these quilts is, I have all the fabric I need for all of them! I'm a true quilter in the sense that I thrive on reusing and re-purposing what I have. I even go as far as getting new clothes with fabric that can be use for quilting in the future!
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| Setting I've chosen for Indigo Moon Quilt |
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| Original setting, but it will need more blocks! |
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| Yellow Crumb Quilt |
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| Some blocks from the Cultural Fusion Quilts book |
Lucky Find: I haven't posted lucky find for awhile because everything I find these days is a lucky find! But today I'd like to share with you my lucky, lucky find. A vintage Ralph Lauren, RL Polo bag. I found it at a cool vintage store in Bangkok. It's a perfect little bag to carry a wallet and a phone around. I love love using it!
Hope everyone in North America is coping well with the cold weather you have been getting lately. You are supposed to be getting into Spring aren't you? Please keep safe and warm.
I don't have any overseas travel planned this year, but I'm planning a big trip to the Tokyo International Quilt Festival in Jan. 2018 so I am saving everything for that. You can't just go to Japan without seeing more of the country so we will fit in Kyoto and maybe the south which we have not ventured into. For 2017 we will make mini trips to the outback or a trip to Sydney later on in the year.
My lovely friend Janet Wright is complaining that I don't update my blog enough! Sorry Janet, but I really haven't done much to blog about! I can assure you that I have been physically active exercising most days.
Until next time
Nat
Using the flowers from the bouquet for your MIL was a great idea, Nat. It will be a treasure for years to come. I LOVE, LOVE those circles. You are not doubt a real quilter. I chuckled because I, too, buy clothing with the repurposing thoughts on my mind. It is so nice to see a blog post from you even though I do follow you on IG.
ReplyDeleteyes....great idea to use those flowers for dyeing....and beautiful results as usual. i have yet to give a quilt out for machine quilting....although most of the ones i've done have been small. it is a challenge to machine quilt on a regular sewing machine when you're dealing with all that fabric but i'm going to attempt it with my latest quilt. so enjoyed all the images you posted.
ReplyDeleteLoved the post. :) Helen
ReplyDeleteLoved your blog Nat. The Indigo moon picture with the solid indigo squares really sets off the moon pieces. I envy your energy and am always inspired. I am taking Janne Dunnewold's Creative Strength Training on line and finding that it is really inspirational. Thanks for blogging. Janet Wright
ReplyDeleteNice overview of the month. Your work is beautiful and inspiring as always. The layout for the "moons " quilt is striking and showcases all the lovely moons.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got to go to the Asia Gallery in Auckland Nat, I thought you would like it. They have so many treasures there. Love your dyed fabrics, they always turn out so clear and detailed, mine tend to run into each other.
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