Don't we just get addicted to the easy things? Instagram has taken over all our lives connecting us in snippets of visual life and short statements about things. (Mine is @matobsgirl in case you haven't found me yet.) I enjoy a quick review on Instagram when sitting on the bus, waking up with my coffee and filling in the dull moments. However, sometimes I want to talk and this is the place that I do that! Lately the shop has filled my every waking moment as everyone seems to be returning to the shop as summer starts to slip away. I find myself regarding the leaves on the tree and wishing they would stay forever!

I am starting to feel the pressure in my head release as I finish the last of 15 projects! These past few weeks while watching nearly 36 episodes of Boardwalk Empire I have started or finished the hand quilting of five quilts and bound five more. With five still to go I have called on the fingers of friends to get the last bindings on tight! Phew! This is a big but fascinating experience as the binding is so thoughtless that I have time to think...lots of time to think about what is done but more importantly about what comes next!
This is one of the things that I am thinking about....Violette by Amy Butler. Some of these gems are going out this month in my Comtemporary Fabric Club.
So just curious...what do you see here? For me, the first thing I see is a fanciful trip down fabric lane. Amy talks of influences from days gone by discovered while traveling in France. The flowers are simply, in a word, pretty. Add in the graphic prints and a few bits and pieces from other bays in the shop and we have a story evolving. Do you do this? I like to set them up from light to dark and then move them around to see how they excite each other. It is a bit of a designer playground.

As I sit and finish what I have on my plate with painful discipline I fancy attacking this collection with vigor. My mind wanders to this... 
My messy but inviting box of tools. Which one will come out next? And to set the mood, I have been leafing through this treasure sent to my by Kat.

This day dawns with a flurry the photos of quilts hanging at Quilt Con. Driven by social media, this event brings strangers together as friends like every good quilt show should! I find myself lost in admiration for these Modern Quilters. The modern movement has been maturing into something real and really interesting. The quilts in the show continue to push boundaries and make statements...to twist traditional methods and invite completely new ones. I decided as I looked at the entries that I am afraid. I am not sure I could ever confidently call myself modern and yet, there is something modern in all of us and that concept attracts my attention. I admire the ferocity with which this movement has solidified, gathered steam and become something that makes me think.
While I am thinking about it, we are in the planning stages of some fun workshops at our own Modern Quilt Show which will take place this May at the Kiama Pavillion on 30-21 May. Since many of the great quilts I see on the internet actually come from down under it should be a fascinating day out!!! Put it on your calendar NOW and join us for a bit of seaside quilt viewing!!!!

Speaking of thinking, doing and pushing boundaries...this little treasure is on my to do list as well...Victoria is an artist. This book is jammed with her exploration of the Double Wedding Ring quilt pattern. It is, in a word, AMAZING. The background story, the depth of her exploration and her unique style are all evident in these pages. I am proud to know her and to be pushed in my thinking by her.

Sometimes as I flip through social media I get a feeling that makes me just want to give up. And then, the next feeling is the thrill of knowing that this is how we live now. We the makers of today. Not sure it it matters what we call ourselves as long as we are enjoying the process of creating and valuing each others' work. Enjoy! k