Melbourne!

I have just got back from a week in Melbourne with the young Mr and various combinations of my friend Liz and my husband.  It was mainly a holiday to give us the chance to introduce the young man to aeroplanes, trams and the fantastic dinosaur display at the museum.  Added bonuses were the Dreamworks exhibition, Zumbo's and the aquarium! 

I also made a point of making a craft pilgrimage to L'Uccello which was conveniently just around the corner from where we were staying and to GJ's discount fabrics, which I had heard a lot about and which was definitely worth the trek to East Brunswick.

So L'Uccello...the pictures say it all really:

It is the most beautifully presented haberdashery store I think I have every seen.  Every nook and cranny is packed full of buttony, ribbony, fabricy goodness.  The feel and theme is definitely vintage - the materials are soft and mellow, the buttons are mother of pearl, Bakelite or lovingly cleaned and restored originals from mid century.  Silk flowers and embossed gift cards burst forth from delicate displays and of course there is ric rac, bunting and threads galore.

This was my (restrained, yes restrained!) purchase:

Complete with beautiful carry bag.  There is felt, ribbons, buttons, Liberty fat quarters and glittery bird gift tags.  I left soooo much behind.  Honest.

GJ's was more your large fabric store kind of place.  Despite the "discount" title it wasn't cheap.  There were some $2 fat quarters I didn't buy for the sake of it.  Liz had some luck in the dance fabric section and I found some beauties on the bolts in the quilting section.

All of these are 1/2m cuts except for the foxes.  That's 1m because you can never have too many foxes. :)

New pretties!

This beautiful bundle of fabric is winging its way to me.  As is this and this.  And maybe a few other things too...but I needed them! Honest. :)

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

I love the idea of versatile quilts but for some reason haven't really managed to make one until now.  I think because the baby quilts I have been making are very much baby quilts - novelty fabric and the like, which means no self respecting adult would want to adorn a chair or their knees or a picnic with it down the track. :) 
However, with this latest (completed) project, which I think got finished within a 24hour time period (a record for me!) I started with the challenge of making a gender neutral baby quilt.  This is because it is going to be sold to raise funds for family who are going to Cambodia to do charitable work and I wanted it to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.  So then I thought why not go further and make it appeal beyond the baby market?  The result was this:

It is made from a range of coordinating woven fabrics, which lend an amazing texture and softness to the quilt.  When I first received the bundle of material in the post a couple of years ago I wasn't sure what to do with them as I was only used to using printed quilting cottons and hadn't realised that these were woven.  So it has taken a while to get the confidence to use them as they are quite dense and stretchy.  Here is a detail:


 
Mmmm!  Raspberry and lemon sorbet! The materials and pattern, which make for a bright and cosy baby quilt for either a boy or girl, also put me in mind of picnics in the early Summer and I think it would be just as nice for that purpose as for a baby.  It really made me think - there is no reason that a baby quilt should be put away in mothballs once the little one is toddling, if the quilt doesn't scream baby then there is no reason it can't be used, enjoyed and loved for years to come...

Experimenting

I love colour and I love contemporary fabrics but I haven't really explored the possibility of Australian Aboriginal fabrics until recently.  I am not entirely sure how I am going to use them, whether they will be integrated into a quilt via their colour scheme or if they will feature on their own.  Anyway, time will tell.  Here is what I spent my pennies on:
Desert flowers
On walkabout
I also couldn't resist these batiks, I am much more familiar with batiks and the colours of these ones were eye popping. :)
Orange! Purple!