Hubblebird's Quilt Blog

In my last post I talked about my visit to Braidwood to pick up a raffle quilt that I had won and where I spent a wonderful couple of hours visiting with the ladies of Braidwood Quilters. My drive out to Braidwood almost didn’t happen because of a large bushfire in Nelligen.   While I visited Braidwood we talked about the terrible drought afflicting New South Wales.   One of the ladies commented that visitors to the Exhibition were lower than normal because farmers are doing it hard at the moment and there is less money to spend.  A dry State means lots of fuel for fires. I managed to get up Kings Highway which was thick with smoke from the bushfire and made it to Braidwood.   However, since then a new bushfire just outside Braidwood has spread and the Kings Highway is often closed.   It is a tragedy and very distressing to think of the farmers and other people living in the region who have lost property. Here in Rosedale we are getting a lot of smoke, but so far, no fires.

My Red Centre blocks: tinkering with the layout It's been a lucky week. First, I finally managed to break back into my blog after six months of trying to get Google to recognise who I am.  I have no idea how it worked after months of trying old passwords, creating new passwords, new profiles, etc, and I’m happy to be back. Second, I went to a small country town called Braidwood in New South Wales for their annual ‘Airing of the Quilts’.  Amazingly, I won the Raffle Quilt – the second quilt I’ve won this year.  See my last post about the Berry Quilt.   I could hardly believe it. Third, when I went to pick up the quilt I met a wonderful group of ladies from Braidwood Quilters, shared a cuppa and a gorgeous chocolate brownie with them, and got to discuss a couple of issues I have with my hexagon quilt with two very talented hand quilters. But before I pass on their tips, here is the quilt I won.  Braidwood Quilters Raffle Quilt celebrating 25 years of the Airing of

My friend Belinda and I went on another road trip to Berry in New South Wales this month.   This time we went to the RedBerry Quilters Quilt Show which was held in the historic Berry School of Arts.  I’d say that around 50 quilts were on display (though I didn’t count them) with a diverse range of quilting styles – from traditional, to modern, to art quilts – and I came away with quite a few ideas.   As if I didn’t have enough already! But it’s always good to wonder at the imagination of others, and to see the finished work. I asked permission to take a few photos of quilts that inspired me so that I could use them as a reference point, and I would have liked to have blogged about them and why they inspired me.   But, alas, I forgot to photograph the names of the quilters and I don’t feel I should publish pictures without acknowledging them. Except I did record the name of this wonderful quilt and its maker.  Flora Australia by Denise Griffiths is a stunning

I hate to admit this, but against my better judgement (what’s that to a quilter I ask myself) I started another project before I’ve even begun the flower pots. This brings my current projects up to five.   I say current, as there are a few UFOs in boxes that are haunting me.   I’ll need to get to them some time I suppose, as I hate waste, but sometimes it’s hard to bring the original enthusiasm back to the job! So, staying focussed on the current projects, I notice that in addition to never having had that many going at the one time before, three of the projects are hand-sewing. This tells me that I just don’t have enough time to get to the machine during the day.   I’ll have to figure out a way to adjust that. I’m not sure how other quilters manage it. Maybe they are just more dedicated or more ruthless about getting distracted? The good news is that Winter is on the way, and that does give me more time in the house. Giant hexagon  What did I start, against my be

I can’t believe it.   I didn’t sew a single stitch today.    First off, as we let the dogs out for their morning ablutions, the eldest and silliest (Teddy) took off through the gap in the fence where the plumbers are installing the new rain tank.   My husband ran out after her, in his pyjamas, and managed to catch up with her half way to the highway.   I was following in my ratty dressing gown and caught up with both of them on their way back to the house. That put paid to getting any breakfast together before showering and leaving for the airport at the planned time. We got to the airport only to discover that the flight was going to be delayed for two hours.   Flight delays are common, according to the travel agent who is arranging my trip to Hawaii and California later this year.   So much so that she recommends flying to Sydney the day before any connecting flights.   I was disbelieving.   The Eurobodalla Shire has a growing population and real estate agents es