This beautiful quilt was hanging at the Sydney show, and was made by Rhonda Coates. She and three friends stayed at Kaye's last night, and Rhonda kindly gave me permission to post the photo of her quilt. It's based on the Nearly Insane blocks, and is just the sort of quilt I like, very antique looking. I love it.

I saw some desirable things at the show. These wooden stamps are from Bali and were used to print Batiks. I had a hard time choosing just one to buy. I've always wanted a collection of them, and bought a simple edging one to start with; I hope to add more each year. The ones on the left are new, carved for the tourist market, and the ones on the right are older, used ones. I would rather have the old used ones. I'm in no hurry to amass a large colletion, so I'll just wait and buy nice ones when I see them.

And there was sock wool. Mereth and I can fight over who gets what when I get home.
I bought a few bits and pieces of material,some for Mereth and some for specific projects. Some of the shirtings are to make more blocks for Kaye's quilt. I love that pretty pink stripe, but I have no idea where I'll use it. I can see another Pretties quilt in my future.
Mereth would be proud of me, using up all these scrappy bits in Kaye's blocks. I love the look of them, I will make a few more tonight after tea I think. I don't know that Kaye will bother with all the tiny bits, so I'll try and get them all into blocks before I go home.

And as an aside, it's Freezing cold! Down to 1 degree overnight, and decidedly chilly in the mornings. I'm appreciating the electric blanket and the extra quilts on my bed.....

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We were up early yet again, and on the road by 7am. The traffic reports were for long delays everywhere, so I went well prepared. I sat on the back seat of the van with a quilt and a pillow, a cup of coffee and my sock knitting , and I was perfectly happy for the two hours it took to get to Darling Harbour. We did try to go to our favourite shop, Quiltsmith, but the Navman took us to the wrong place, and there was no arguing with him, though Bruce did, as usual. Navman maintained we were at 75 Nelson St, but there was no shop there. If only we'd had a street directory we could have looked it up the old-fashioned way; I rather think we were in Nelson Lane instead.

It's so exciting to walk into a show early in the morning and start hunting down the things you want. The Busy Thimbles booth had lots of quilts that made me want to go home and start stitching straight away.

I took ages choosing things at Hatched and Patched, Anni Downes shop. We have quilted several of her Block of the Month designs for our customers, and they are just gorgeous. I fell in love with her appliqued wool ornaments, and bought patterns for several stitcheries.

I wanted to buy some gifts for friends, and some wool, and meet up with friends, and I did all that and more. It was busy without being crowded, and it was pleasant to see the quilt exhibition without loads of other people around. Unfortunately I can only post photos with the owners permission, so most of them I can't show,. However, this is Kaye's entry, and she doesn't mind me sharing it. It's a reproduction of an antique quilt, and it's just beautiful in real life.

I chatted to Annette Gero, who is the author of this stunning book, The Fabric of Society; Annette has been collecting antique quilts since1982 and is Australia's best-known quilt historian. The book is outstanding, and there were some of the original quilts hanging at the show. This chintz one was beautiful, but I really loved this faded, damaged old hexagon. Each hexagon was about 3/4" along the side, and many were pieced from smaller bits of fabric. Even worn and faded, it was still amazing.

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