It’s Wednesday again, wow! did that week fly by. My daughter has come and gone. Had a lovely time with her and ever so hard to say goodbye. I think she has single handedly kept at least five business afloat until Christmas!! It's lovely to hear her talk about her job. She just loves being a primary school teacher, and especially relishes the chance to make a positive difference in these lovely childrens’ lives.

I’ve had a busy day today at my Quilting Guild monthly meeting, chatting to and greeting so many lovely quilters. Our guest speaker was an elder member of the Guild (she is turning 88 next weekend). Lorna delivered the most interesting talk about how she became interested in quilting and some of the jaunts she had taken to various places throughout the country, for classes and retreats. Lorna took a 2 year full time degree course in fibre arts when she was in her mid 70’s. She loved being among the younger artists and creative young people, and wallowed in the challenges set by the course – doing all sorts of fibre arts. Quilting is Lorna’s biggest love and her show and tell was truly awesome. She has inspired me to create a quilt using stripes in different ways. Stay tuned and I’ll keep you up to date with this creation, and maybe I’ll write the pattern up for you.

My article that was posted on Sunday is all about being CRAZY. Well, crazy over patchwork that is. I have written instructions and drawn diagrams to help quilters to create the crazy block in readiness for embellishment. The “blocked in blues” seems to be the biggest issue when making the crazy patchwork block, so hopefully these instructions will be of use to quilters.

The picture of the crazy patch at the top of the article is a photo of a crazy patch I currently have on the go. I love creating different kinds of embellishments. I’m going to share these with you in the future – different kinds of embellishments that give your crazy patchwork an original look.
Here’s the link to the article.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art23942.asp
I’ve also posted a crazy patchwork item on the forum for you to browse through and add you comments if you’ve got the time or inclination.
Here’s the link to the forum
http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=43

My little gift to you this week is a couple of hints and tips to apply when creating crazy patchwork blocks, for a more impressive look.

Hint 1: When placing colours, try to have different colours sitting next to each other. For example, green next to red, purple next to mustard and so on.

Hint 2: Use a variety of prints and plains, textures and solids.

Hint 3. Remember that textured fabrics probably won’t enjoy being embellished, but the seams will love it.

Hint 4: Try not to place print against print – it will look too busy and you’ll loose the opportunity to embellish in a regular fashion.

That’s all for now dear quilters – I’m off to the coast for a beach holiday with my elder sister who has come to visit from the far south of Australia – Tasmania. It’s winter here, but luckily, not too cold for a chance to walk along the beach and get our feet wet!!

Till next week, stay busy with those quilting fingers.
Cheerio for now
Judie Bellingham, Quilting Editor
http://Quilting.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com