Quilts Along the Way....

 During my recent trip to visit Janice and Chooky in Australia, I was lucky enough to see some very beautiful quilts, and I even slept under two of them.

First stop, this gorgeous blue number was on the bed we slept in at Janice and Mick's place. Janice knows me well and knows I love blue. 

All around Janice's home there were quilts, mostly small ones, lots and lots of table runners, many I recognised as I had gifted them to her. It was a delight to move around the house and see so many things I recognised.  😃

We also saw many quilts out on our travels. Every town we visited we would stop at the local craft store to investigate the 'baking table'. There were always home made cakes, slices and biscuits, and even jars of relish and jams. Some of the stores had quilts on display and even for sale. This red and blue one caught my eye.

 The same store had this quilt as an exhibit. 

 It tells the story of the Export Gold Robbery, which I mentioned in this post.

This very large wreath of knitted and crochet poppies was a lovely sight to greet us as we walked through the door.

 The Eugowra craft store had a good display of quilts and was one of the larger stores we visited.

 This next beauty was designed by the owner of the stitchy store in Canowindra.

I fell in love as soon as I saw it and asked permission to take a photo.

The store is called The Plague and I. They have a website here. Go look at the gallery.

Janice and I both purchased patterns before leaving the store.

Here's mine.

There was a shop quilt hanging behind the counter, it looked much bluer than this image.

it had me at BLUE. LOL

As Chooky was going to be busy at work when we arrived in town, she suggested that we might like to go look in the local art gallery and store. 

It was interesting and I discovered another piece done by the same chap who had painted the bus stop in my last post!

Apparently they had recently had an exhibition of quilts, what a shame we missed it. 

Some of the quilts were still there, tucked away in a tiny walk through room.

As you can see, Janice accepted the invitation to slip off her shoes a walk through.

  I declined that offer and marvelled first from this door.

Then I scooted around to the other end and looked back the other way.

 Even the floor was covered with quilts.

 So many beautiful quilts squeezed into such a tiny space.

 There were more quilts at Chookys place of course!

I got to sleep under this lovely green and blue one. 

 There was also another one in our room, it was tucked over a spare bed pushed away into the corner.

 There were little pieces tucked in here and there. I loved this one, and might have to stitch something similar for my home.

 There was a quick show and tell, just before we left.

This grey one was waiting for someone to close it's binding.

Back at Janice's place, there was another very quick show and tell.

 Trust me, there were more than just these three.

But I put the camera down and took the time to admire.

This one is special to me. Janice made it for Mick finishing it in April or May 2012.

While I was making this quilt. I was running short of B and W fabrics and Janice very kindly sent me some of her left over pieces. They are included in my quilt, which I gifted to my son Jiffy. I even managed to find the very post on Janice's blog! Thank you so much my friend.

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As you know, for some time before we went away, I had not been able to do much in the way of crafting, my wrist was and still is an issue, my crafty mojo was slipping away. But seeing so many lovely quilts and visiting stores such as Anni Downs and spending time in the chook shed and Janice's room has made me want to get busy again.  I won't be making all of my usual hand made Christmas gifts, which saddens me a little, but I have been into my room and after yet another tidy up and a bit of a shift around I spent some time in there! I've browsed patterns, I've plotted and planned and even created!

I'll tell you all about it in another post.