Australasian Quilt Convention - Done. And a little old T.G.I.F.F.

 A couple of months ago, I googled "quilt shows".  Mr Google led me to a fabulous website HERE which gave me all the dates for craft and quilt shows in Australia this year.  I then added all the Melbourne dates to my calendar, in the hope that I would be able to get to them all!

The first cab off the rank was the Australasian Quilt Convention.  Of course, nothing goes completely to plan for me, so when Chloe decided that Tuesday night would be the perfect timing to get sick, I started panicking that I would not be able to go yesterday.  Thankfully, both my sister and husband came to the party and played tag team, so I could jump on a train in the morning and make my way to the city.  The train ride was entertaining as always - I felt like I had been transported back to 1992 with a variety of homeboys and ganstas (wannabes) riding my carriage (that sounds wrong).  We even had an impromptu dj performance - as you do.

So here are some pretty pictures from my day.....

 A wet and cold walk through Carlton Gardens to get to the Exhibition Building.  A beautiful part of Melbourne.

The line to get tickets.  Lucky I bought online the night before!

The beautiful Exhibition Buildings!

There was a beautiful display of "Quilts from Korea".  This was my favourite of the bunch.  It is called "The Beautiful" by Eun-Ryoung Choi.  She says "I intended to express many Korean traditional beautiful patterns and beauties in this quilt".  I think she succeeded!

A close up of amazing stitching.  I'm pretty sure there's hand stitching there?

Another display was the AQC Challenge: Free.  I love this one!  It's called "Free Beach" by Elaine Surmfels.  It is hand dyed background with various threads, silk and beads.  She has used thread painting, free motion raw edge appliqué, free motion quilting and beading.  "My quilt was aimed at stimulating those emotions within us.  To make people smile, feelings of being liberated, uninhibited and carefree".

The detail in this quilt is amazing.  The texture brings it to life.

The third display were all quilts by teachers.  This one is "Last Night's Left Overs" by Deborah Louie.  The colours and the fractured dresdens struck me!

Isn't it just beautiful?

This quilted portrait of quilter Margaret Rolfe drew me in.  It is quite large in size, and the colours are mesmerising.  It is called "The Quiltmaker" by Jenny Bowker.  She used traditional machine piecing, raw edged applique, free motion quilting, hand dyeing, paint applied on a quilted surface!  Amazing.

The best part about all of these quilts was when you got up close and personal with them.  The detail is very impressive.

And my favourite from the day - "Maynard" by David M Taylor.  One of the most gorgeous, unusual quilts I've seen.  It looks like a painting from afar.

And up close.  The first picture I took was inadvertently of the dog's bum!  I thought it a little inappropriate, so took another.  Millions of stitches making up for texture and shading.  Again, amazing.

This gorgeous quilt grabbed me as I rounded a corner!  It is from the "Best of the Best" display - all the quilts from around Australia, which have been awarded at quilts shows.  This particular quilt is called "In Love with Dahlia" by Sandra Aston.  It is machine pieced and quilted on a domestic machine.  This gives me much hope for the future!

Just look at those feathers!

A great part of the day was finding quilts that were made by some ladies I "know".  Well, I know of them through the Quilt Club Australia Facebook group!  This beauty is by Jill Radcliffe.  "Wheels to the West".  Hand appliqued and machine pieced.  I especially love the little triangles around the borders - they remind me of bunting!

This close up shows you just how beautifully pieced it is.  In awe.

And another of the ladies from QCA - Sheila Oaten - is the creator of this piece of magic!  "Kaffe and Kim and Me" is a beautiful version of Kim McLean's Flower Garden.  All hand needle turn applique.  Amaze-balls!

Big, beautiful Kaffe flowers!

I also sat and listened to a seminar about thread.  And needles.  I learnt quite a bit!

AND I met another lovely lady from QCA!  Norma!  Hope your hand heels quickly!

All in all, I spent around five hours there.  Five hours!  I wandered around aimlessly for about one of those hours, spent half an hour in line to get some lunch and the rest of the time pawed beautiful fabric, bought some quilting tools and generally just lapped it all up!  This lovely photo is of the most daunting escalator in Melbourne.  Parliament station gives me the heeby-jeebies!  So long and steep!

And when I got home, I unpacked my bags and found all this lovely loot!  I will show it all to you properly in my Sunday Stash post.  I'm quite pleased with my purchases.

And in breaking news - I started AND finished something today!  I told you last week that I had been invited to take part in a paper piecing bee - well, here's my first block!  Gemma is the Queen this month and her theme is Party.  You can find her inspiration board HERE.

Birthday candles for Gemma!  I used Kristy's pattern, which you can find HERE.  She is quite the clever gal!

Phew!  What a post!  I'm linking up with T.G.I.F.F. being hosted by Sew At Home Mummy!