I Loved this Class.

My 2 day class with Gloria Loughman was everything I hoped it would be. What a lovely lady and great encouraging teacher. We were upstairs in the Tech Drawing room, so anything she hung on the wall for us to study was surrounded my other work with computers standing in front. The view from the window was amazing straight down the road to the lake with mountains behind. The view was spoilt by 2 huge ugly power poles  - Taupo you need to go underground with those!
 Here are some of the examples we got to see.

 ( don't those trees look like stained glass windows! )

 The work on the left was the class sample for the course after ours.

******

 This was the brief for our class as it was published in the catalogue of classes.

 ( click to enlarge )

Having looked at her samples of trees we could trace I drew my own on the spot.( many of hers were Australian trees. )

 This is my layout. I am still fiddling with it and embroidering the circular shapes - using some of the many stitches available on my Bernina. These are sewn with a reinforcing fabric behind and can be discarded if the aren't  right. One only so far has ended in the bin. That is brilliant advice because if you were sewing the decoration on the shapes already attached to the trees you could not discard them. So this is still a work in progress.

 Here are some of the other pupils efforts.

My namesake was the fastest worker - her's is ready to quilt.Well done A.

 I also got Gloria to sign my copy of her book. As did some other pupils. She wrote a lovely message.Thank you Gloria for an enlightening 2 days. 

More Quilts.

 Michele Hill's  class to make this  quilt was one I didn't get into. It was stunning. I later met Michele at the museum; she was as nice as her work. The detail in this work required close inspection - a photo does not do it justice. (this is the case with most of the quilts on display. )

 Another tutor I met (as she was sitting alone at lunchtime in the classroom next door to the one I was in on Monday,) was Lenore Crawford. Her class had been my #1 preference but, I didn't get  into it . I had been watching her making this scene on her blog for the last couple of months. 

 Some of the flower detail.

 and this 

 Such great fabric to find for just what she needed.

 She was very pleasant and we visited the classroom I was in and looked at Gloria Loughman's samples and quilts on display - Lenore was a big fan of her work. ( as am I. )

 *****

 Downstairs from our classroom was this excellent cafe. Here ladies queue for early morning coffee.  They know what we need!( they also did excellent soup )

If you were wearing one of these around your neck it got you into most places free as a registered participant.

 A few funny things happened. 

 About 1.15 on Saturday the fire alarm went off( you couldn't fail to hear it! ) and everybody - even the merchants had to evacuate to the bottom playing field. This is just some of the 2500 plus participants, waiting for the all clear. An urn over heating apparently or were they just seeing how well we all obeyed?

****

 This pitch black quilt did not photograph well. I loved it .

 In the border of a large quilt Under the African Sun by Valda Sutton were  many of these. I thought it was the best

part of the quilt.

 I loved this detail an another quilt.

 Gloria Loughman's Landscape was another of her 2 day courses - not the one I did. I have some really close photos of the detail for my own use later. She taught us lots of easy / crafty ways to do things and create texture in backgrounds and detail added bit by bit.

 More about the  classes I was in in my next post.

Some of My Favourite Quilts.

At Taupo Symposium 2013 ( Fabric Art Festival ) there were several different exhibitions of quilts. The Great Lakes Centre housed the large main Exhibition.

 This is the sloping walkway at the start of the show.
 There were more quilts on display than I have seen anywhere else. What a visual feast!
 Here are just a few of the ones I liked the most.

 Misty Morn by Sheryl Meech. ( she won the Totally Taupo Challenge. )

 Fifteen, by Camilla Watson. ( this won the Professional Art quilt section )

 Sue Weston made this from recycled wool. Such a simple bright snugly quilt - fabrics getting a second chance. Well done !

 Daughter of Neptune by Trancien Bot.  (Sorry it is not straight ) The quilting texture gave this amazing movement.

 Turning by Sheryl Meech.

 This is a tiny bit of detail from Mary Transom's Kings Garden.

Amazing thread work there.

 Gleaming by Jancy McClellan - Ryan was part of a trunk show of tiny works  from USA. It was difficult to photograph these as they were all covered with reflective acetate.

 Gloria Loughman's, Grass Trees is my all time favourite quilt.

 I was lucky enough to spend 2 days in class with Gloria . What a lovely person and great teacher. More on her in a later post. ( she told me this quilt is also her husband's favourite of all her work. ) The colours are so stunning.

 More quilts and class work, next post.

( I am still coughing and not totally over my cold! blah!.)

6 Fine Days in Taupo.

If you volunteer to be a fairy ( helper ) to a Tutor in a class as this dear lady did you get to do all sorts of tasks.....like hanging the Tutor's quilts for her...up a wobbly ladder.

 It is now Tuesday afternoon and I am having a spell before heading off to the Closing Ceremony. It has all been very enlightening. Misty mornings mostly followed by sunny days except it is a bit gloomy today. But no rain - that made transporting all our bags of gear so much easier.

 

For me 6 days at Taupo Symposium and Fabric Art Festival  have just flown by. All the extra sewing time I thought I might have has not happened.

I've lots more to tell over the next few days when I get home again and of course  lots of photos to share.

You Guessed It!

Yes, you guessed it. Despite all my precautions I got it anyway. Bad timing or what!
 I woke up Monday morning knowing I had caught R's cold. Yes, it is just a cold ....  I haven't had one of those since 2011  when I realised on the  Eurostar coming back from Paris that I had caught a French cold. ( this one seems more sneezy and watery ) Shortly I am off to buy some medication to try and relieve the symptoms - why? ...Because I have to drive myself to Taupo tomorrow and the next day sit in class all day, hoping not to spread it to the others there. 
 I have been packing and making preparations for my week away at Symposium in Taupo. I feel washed out and lacking energy, but otherwise not incapacitated.( I'll have my own red nose day ! ) I have been doing some stitching on my wall hanging. Here is the left hand side of it.( it's not lop sided it's the photo )

 If I can I will post from Taupo -  there is wifi connection in the rooms but will I make it work? I hope so. If I am quiet for a week you will know why. I have ordered the CD of photos of all the quilts but will no doubt take plenty of my own.

 Looking forward to meeting you other Blog friends I know are going too -  I will try and not spread germs.

 I will have coat, scarf, hat, stout shoes but no energy to walk. I know it is a nice place to walk around on a nice day; so here's hoping.

Experimenting.

My freshly dug yams.( they weren't all this nice! )I love yams.

Today I am being forced to experiment posting a blog using my laptop. I do not like the photo programme on it nearly as much as the one on my PC, which I normally use. (Possibly because I have not practised using it, but it takes far longer with fewer options) I hope to be able to use my laptop this coming week when away down in Taupo. It is only the  photo processing that is very different.  I am unused to it on this laptop. It did not seem to give me the option to reduce the size for uploading here.( it might just be me! )

*****

On Friday, one of our members at P and Q demonstrated using up fabric scraps to make crazy patch squares suitable for cushion covers or as blocks in a quilt.( on a fabric foundation )  She has a little light old Singer machine that we lift for her ( as she can't )It performed well, but she did have to take several tries at re threading it.

 One member had completed a beautiful long table runner for her big table. Here is some of the detail.( click to enlarge )

 I really liked the hand stitching on it.  I might ask her for the pattern as I would like to make one similar.

 *****

 Today we are lucky with sunshine - not everywhere is getting it, so I have been for a walk; I hope soaking up the vitamin Dwill help my immunity. I have picked Jonquils and Daphne which both smell so good. Flowers are not lasting long in the house at the moment with the fire roaring, but it smells nice while they last.

 Poor  R has had a horrid sneezy cold since Thursday. (He knows who he caught it off, but that happens unfortunately.) We have been taking ridiculous precautions to try and prevent me from catching it from him. He has slept on the couch by the fire in the lounge and kept warm for 3 nights now. He has been using the pc so if  I use it I am putting gloves on....... my typing is bad enough without that!.Much hand washing is going on with both of us, almost to the  compulsive stage.... but so( far fingers crossed )  I am still in good health. I do so hope I stay well to go to the cold place on Thursday. There is snow down to low levels all around the Central North Island so not a brilliant time of the year to be holding a quilting Symposium in Taupo.

 Much preparation and list writing and clothes piles etc. are being assembled.

Around the Mount. (Mauao )

Today was a lovely warm Winter day, for walking around the Mt. ( Mount Maunganui or Mauao ) with our young ones. Followed by a nice coffee and muffin at Blue.

 We spied 2 black shags really well camouflaged.

Garden and Quilts.

 Sometimes natures efforts are the best ones I see in the garden. This bracket fungi on a stump is beautiful.

 This is what I am seeing very early morning now with the big gums gone plus the next layer of ponga and kawakawa, also felled.

 If you enlarge it you may be able to make out the shape of Mt. Maunganui on the horizon just to the right of the middle of the photo.

This vireya rhododendron flowers in it's blue pot almost all year round. So do my others.

The garden has been getting most of my time this last week and things are looking tidier.

* The shelled walnut tally is 17.557 kilogrammes Leanne.

 Here are few quilts from last week's show and tell when we invited the neighbouring quilt group over to share lunch and some time with us.