Saturday 25 July 2015

Tissue Box Quilt - Adventure!



This quilt is actually inspired by a tissue box..hence the name. if you follow me on instagram (moniquesmith64) then you would have followed me on the journey of this quilt from conception through to almost completion. You guys get to see the finished product first (only because I dont know how to transfer photos from my camera to instagram when it is not on my phone camera!)

So today , early this morning i finished off the binding of the quilt and tidied all the loose threads. I headed around to my friends Julianne's
 place to see if she wanted to join me on an adventure. Well that  is what we call them because generally I only have a vague idea of what we are going to do and where we are going to head.
Wouldnt it be nice to take off for an adventure in this old Chevie? Unfortunately we only stumbled across this on the way up through the hills, parked in someone's driveway. So we snuck in for a couple of pictures, the old truck lending itself nicely to a few photos. Mind the mud!



From there we navigated our way round to Cherry Gardens. Juli remembers attending the dances at the local halls where they provided the best suppers she can remember..nothing like country hospitality!



The front of the property in Cherry Gardens has been topiaried in the hedge as long as Julianne can remember, she did mention that the letter used to be very uniform and even...times change and so do the hands that carve the letters in time.




A few kilometers down the road and around the bend... On the Old Mount Barker Road is a lovely property with a field full of spring bulbs in bloom. I started to photograph the quilt on the fence/ gate but couldnt content myself without getting a full photo of the quilt in the paddock.... and the owners (whose house was just up the hill) saw and came down to question me.    Apologies .. for an invasion of privacy was in order.. and feeling a little guilty for jumping the falling down gate ..but what is one to do with so much beauty before me?....Apparently I am not the only one....





Photo obtained (a very breathless and apologetic me) jumps back in the car , further down the road to Stirling. The blossoms on the side of the road provided the best photo opportunity of all, I think.


The back of the quilt, the stripes looking like tall timbers (even thought orientated the opposite way)
Amongst the birch and blossoms.



The next photos are my favorites, spectacular crisp clean whites of the blossoms and blurred colours in the background...absolutely delicious.









 On to Bridgewater and the Bridgewater Mill. Mossy and wet wheel , sludgy wet grass and  a cold windy day.




 The hellebores at the back in the woodland path





An in my back yard to get a photograph of the entire quilt hanging on the line with the wind blowing up the skirts to get the full picture!



Cheers and thanks for visiting. Monique x

18 comments:

  1. Lovely quilt and lovely photo. Thanks for this excursion into your world.

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    1. Hi Marly, I really do get a lot of pleasure of having a photographic jaunt. Nothing is too serious and the day is about finding fun and interesting locations, getting to know the neighbourhood and enjoying a finish...so it is easy to share these excursions. Cheers Monique

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  2. Your triangles just sparkle. We get inspiration from EVERYWHERE! I love looking at spring. Our summer has been drier than usual, so the moistness really appeals. Lovely quilt and lovely photos. Thanks.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by. The solids are generally very bright and strong - nothing has been done to enhance the colour.I noticed on instagram that if you used the different effects on the photo different colours would be more pronounced and make the pattern completely different, all because one colour would become more dominant.
      I would love to exchange a bit of sunshine with you,,although it is lovely to be surrounded by green hills.
      Cheers Monique

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  3. Gorgeous! I love the colors! Kat @ katandcatquilts.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, It was an easy quilt to make without having to worry too much about what colour went with what, sometimes I wished I had a few more colours to intersperse in the mix.
      Cheers Monique..I'll visit your blog during the week

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  4. Gorgeous! I love the colors! Kat @ katandcatquilts.blogspot.com

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  5. Gorgeous! I love the colors! Kat @ katandcatquilts.blogspot.com

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  6. I am in love with your tissue box quilt, Monique. The colours pop with gorgeous colour and pattern. Your photos are sublime. I can't believe your blossoms are flowering already....lucky girl. As a little aside.....I really need to have that Chev!!

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    1. Hi Kim trusting all is plodding along swimmingly - that could mean anything! hows the boy? It would be fun to go for a cruise in the Chevie wouldn't it...pity its not mine! Wouldn't want the upkeep anyway, you'd have to treat the old girl with TLC and I do love a bit of speed (I live in wrong country...should have been born italian- they love their cars and their women fast!) Thanks for the quilt compliments, it was an easy one to finish. Cheers Mon XXX

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  7. It's beautiful Monique. And I love the stunning backdrops you've chosen to capture it's beauty.
    x
    p.s as for getting photos from your camera to your phone I email them to myself and open and save them on my phone.

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    1. Thanks Zara, I think I must have been brain dead at the time... I have managed to transfer photos before as you mentioned but sometimes I am a little daft and forgetful. My son usually gets frustrated with me when it comes to computers...he will show me something and if I dont use it soon afterwards I forget again... I think some of that relates to the amount of information I take in daily nursing and then discard at the end of the day - you know being a nurse. Have you started looking for another job or are you content working on your house for now- are there jobs available?
      Your sour dough loaf looked so delicious.!

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    2. exactely the same here: my children are Always mocking my computer skills , I feel brain dead too in this field and I don"t even do nursing. :)

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  8. I am overwhelmed by the beautiful colour combination of your quilt.
    It was done qo quickly. Have you got any ideay how many hours it took?

    Actually it looks quite dachshundie, doesn't it?

    I absolutely adore the blossom pictures with the quilt blurry in the background. They are the best. You even can make them into a painting, just the way they are.

    And the Chevy too of cours.

    Tresspassing for pictures is what I do all the time. Pictures in forbidden grounds are the best, they bring some adventure in our lives, don't they? Where else can we find it? :)

    I like the springtime feeling that is popping out of all of your pictures and it makes me feel a bit sad since it means this part of the world is moving closer to the end of the summer. (don't want that to happen too soon)

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    1. Hi Brigitte,
      I think that the quilt took about 2 1/2 days to complete spread out over three to four weeks. An afternoon for cutting. A couple of days for sewing and the binding.

      The blossoms are beautiful. It seems like spring but really we are middle winter, but because our winters are milder than yours the weather probably suits the trees to blossom now. We have to wait a couple more months for spring to rock round.

      I am enjoying the move away from the sober colours and find it easy to spend time with the brights. maybe this is why the quilt was made so quickly.

      I have been looking in our book and am gravitating towards fractured as a next project.

      Cheers Mon xx

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  9. gorgeous!! I love the back and the stripes of color. You are so so so talented!!! I'm envious :)

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    1. Hi Karen, didn't know you were on instagram or I would have followed you sooner. Thanks for the compliment, right back at you! Monique xxx

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