AQC 2016

After a good sleep I was ready to tackle the trip into town and the crowds at the Australasian Quilt Convention. And it was very crowded. I enjoyed the quilt show, but spent nothing in the vendors area. I was a little tempted by a couple of books at the Quiltmania stand, but I resisted. Lisa Chandler's new range, Melba, had a stand all of its own. There was some rather lovely things, but I didn't take any photos. And she doesn't seem to have any good photos of it on her website. So here's someone else's blog post which shows some beautiful items made from the new range:
Falling in love with Melba.

I didn't take any general photos. I mainly concentrated on quilting that grabbed me. And because one is not meant to show photos of the work without asking the maker, I can't really put any of them here. However, I am going to make an exception: 

This piece by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Luminous Views, is a great example of a trend I noted for breaking up background areas with quilting designs. (The quilting is by Lisa Sipes, I found on Victoria's website.) And the reason I don't feel guilty about putting it here with attribution, is that Victoria, in her blog post recapping QuiltCon last month, published a photo she could not have got permission for as she doesn't know who made it. See the blog post here:QuiltCon Recap, and scroll down to the last quilt.

Slow Day

Recently I've felt the need to do some easy, stress-relieving sewing, but I really didn't want to start a new project. Last night at my quilt guild meeting, the "Quilts of Love" coordinator was looking for people to stitch up kits she had prepared. She had cut up squares to make small "disappearing 9-patch" quilts, which we were to assemble according to the instructions on this blog post:
 Disappearing 9-Patch I-Spy Quilt.
 I took two sets.

Today I had been planning to go into Melbourne to visit the Australasian Quilt Convention, but I was just too exhausted for that. So I stayed home and relaxed with my easy sewing, getting both kits to the "webbed together" stage. Here's one on the new design wall, as I played with the fabric arrangement:

Steam Clean

Spent the morning cleaning floors, walls, ceilings, tiles, mirrors, you name it in the upstairs of the unit. Then the carpet cleaner arrived:

He had a very shouty voice, and I think I know why. His machinery is very, very noisy, and he wore no hearing protection. I think he is a bit deaf!

The carpet looks better than ever, though:

I did take my shoes off and sneak upstairs for a look as well. It's all good! Apparently the way tenancy agreements work these days, you have to leave the carpet in the state it was in when you moved in. So getting it steam-cleaned now means that the tenants will have to get it steam-cleaned when they move out.

When peace was restored, I spent more time cleaning everything downstairs as well, and filling the car with the last items from the kitchen. My last act was to mop the floor on my way out.

Time Pressure

Time to empty the unit. The removalists said they would arrive at 8am. I had trouble sleeping, because I was worried I would sleep in. So at just after 4am I got up and drove to the unit to be sure I would be there when they arrived!

Phew!
So now all the items that were too large for me to manage are out of the unit.

Time pressure of a different sort:

This is a sunflower which has grown as a volunteer at Lal Lal. Summer was over before it started growing. It is now about 40cms tall, and is trying to flower before winter. I will be surprised if it manages that.

Elsewhere in the garden, these soft-looking bulbs have emerged:

I don't know what they are, but I hope they know what they are doing, coming up as the weather cools down.

Design Wall

Last month I bought two "acoustic pinboard" panels at Bunnings:

and four Ivar hooks at Ikea:

With a few holes punched into the panels and the addition of some cord I already had:

Instead of my boxes of fabrics being exposed to the light

they are now in the dark behind my new 1200 x 1600 design wall:

The cord allows me to fold the panels together if I take them down to get at the fabrics.

All the parts have appeared in previous posts. The hooks could be seen here, the panels here, and the top panel was hanging up here. But it was only today that the holes were punched and the lower panel was actually attached to the top one.

White on White

I emptied out the fridge in the unit, and got ready to take all the cold stuff home. But I forgot one thing:

You can't just turn off a fridge and walk away. Or if you do, it will be sitting in a big puddle of water next time you see it. So now I'm defrosting the freezer!

UFO Progress

I've made some progress on UFO No. 11, the Zoo Animals BOM from Quiet Play last year:

Still contemplating borders.