Darling Harbour Quilt Show and Early Bird Finish

I had the best day yesterday at the Darling Harbour Quilt Show.  

The weather was glorious.  Imagine looking out over Darling Harbour from up there.

My friend Cath hadn’t been before and she had a ball.  There were so many stands to look at.  This only shows a portion of them. There were 10 Aisles plus the actual Quilt display.

The quilts on trader stands were stunning in their own rights.  This is Logan Patchwork.

And of course The Quilters Barn has the most beautiful fabrics.

When we went to have a look at the quilts we finally met up with Cardygirl.  It is great fun meeting blogging friends for real. We even remembered to take a photo for a change.

Now to the quilts.  They were simply stunning.  I don’t know which was my favourite. The workmanship seems to get more intricate all the time. It was actually a bit overwhelming.  Anyway, here is a selection. I haven’t taken note of the makers of any of them I’m afraid.

This one had a very simple centre, but I loved the overall effect.

Just gorgeous.

 

Not something I’d ever make, but you just have to appreciate the amount of work that has gone into this one.

The photo doesn’t do this quilt justice.  It is actually really rich with blacks and golds.  All 60 degree kaleidoscopes.  It was made by a man and when it was all pieced, he noticed that one triangle was put in around the wrong way…and it was in the middle, so he had to fix it.

 

I just love this one.  The colours work so well, but are not at all what you would expect to put together.

This was stunning. It was quite three dimensional with yo-yos for the wattle and the banksia was all padded.  The colours are more vibrant in real life.  It was a deserved winner.

Another bright and cheerful quilt.  Beautiful.

And of course, I had to find one that Mick would like. I love the rich, traditional feel of this one.

And that’s about it.  There were so many other stunning quilts. I really enjoy seeing quilts up close that I have seen in the magazines.  There were quite a few this time.  I’m sure the magazines will also have a good article showing many more of the entries and winners.

I suppose I’d better share my purchases with you.  I was quite restrained.

I carry a leather backpack as a handbag and mine is getting somewhat ratty, although it is still structurally OK, and I’m having trouble finding a new one that I like. However, this pattern is nearly the same design as my leather one, so I bought the kit to make it in black with Japanese fabric as the feature and a red lining.  I’m itching to make it up. Funnily enough, one of my friends also bought the same pattern.  What are the chances of that in all the hundreds of stands there.

 

And this is the rest. The fabric is from the Quilters Barn.  The cherubs will make a lovely centre of a quilt with the border fabric.  It might even go with the Roenneries fabric I have.

 

I found quarter inch iron on bias in several colours at a reasonable price at a cute Japanese stand, so I bought black and olive green.  I think the olive will be nice an easy to make appliqué stems, rather than all the fiddling normally required.  And lastly, a couple of reels of Perl 8 in pretty variegated colours.

I was actually surprised that I bought so little.  I mustn’t have been trying.

Oh, and I had to duck outside and have a look at where all the Soccer Football partying happens to show Mick.

Today has been a nice quiet day at home and I now have another mini Christmas gift completed. As soon as I saw this pattern in the latest Homespun (No 85. Vol 11.6) I knew I’d have to make it.   It is by Nicole Mallalieu and is just too cute for words. Yes, more quilt scraps.

It is a little lavender bag.  I’ll be making more of these.  Mick just shook his head (again).