Hottie Challenge 2013 - My Entry

Have you heard of The Hottie Challenge? Coordinated and promoted by The Open Drawer and Curlypops, the gist of it is that it's an exhibition at The Open Drawer of hot water bottle covers (not necessarily functional). The aim of the exhibition is to raise awareness and funding for the Margaret Pratt Foundation, who support research into heart and lung transplant outcomes.

The hottie challenge was run in 2011, but I didn't have enough time then to join in. And when Cam announced it this year I was worried that I wouldn't be able to join in again, but I was determined to try and squeeze it in.

For my entry I wanted to have a go at making an art quilt, as I always love looking at them when I see them at the show. And as I had a nice selection of blues and greens in my stash of patchwork fabric decided to try making a landscape image.

     

It was lots of fun building up the layers to try and create an image. I want to do it again with a quilt that I will actually be keeping. You know the scariest part though? Cutting out the hot water bottle cover shape from the finished landscape.

 

The back was kept simple with a plain white quilted back, but I took the opportunity to have a go at a free motion quilting design that I've not done before; pebbling. It took a little while to get the hang of it, but overall it was a fun design that makes a really lovely texture. I don't know when I'd do it again as it's very time consuming though.

As both the front and back are like mini-quilts, this made the hottie a fully functional hot water bottle cover.

And you want to know my favourite part of the whole thing? The little embroidered sheep that I added...

Anyway, my hottie, along with all the other incredible hotties will be on display at The Open Drawer from Friday the 5th to Sunday the 28th July, and will also be for sale to raise funds for the Margaret Pratt Foundation. Maybe you'll come along to the exhibition? Or buy one of the hotties? Or make a donation to the Margaret Pratt Foundation?

Prints Framed and Hung

Do you remember the Cate Parr watercolour prints I was trying to choose back in June? Well I finally made a decision and bought the prints in September. I have since gotten them framed and onto the wall...

Yes, I went with option 2 in the end. But there was MUCH deliberation. They're now on the wall above my desk in my room, the little corner that makes my little sewing area. I love how they look on the wall, it was exactly what I was after.

I wanted to take a moment to share the amazing place that I ended up getting the frames from. The shop is called "Frames Readymade" and is 352 Lygon Street, Brunswick East. They're only open Thurs-Sat 10-14, but it turns out that's because they make the frames on site. They have a great range of frames, and the staff are super helpful.

I got some standard size frames, but I had to get one mat custom cut (for the bargainous price of $8!) for the print of the hands/dandelions as it's a bit taller than the other two. My boyfriend also got some frames there, including one that was custom sized that ended up costing half the price of the other quote we got, and the service was infinitely better.

If you're in Melbourne and are in the market for any frames I highly recommend trying out Frames Readymade. Overall I'm a very happy camper, both with my superb art and the frames that the prints are contained in!

Cate Parr Prints...

Last year I discovered Silver Ridge Studio on etsy. Cate Parr is an amazing artist who is selling originals and prints of some beautiful watercolour paintings. I wanted to get some of the prints back then, but at the time I was living in a bedroom in the roof-space and as such didn't have any walls to hang things on. Thankfully I have now moved and have walls so I'm re-visiting the idea.

I spent quite a lot of time yesterday looking through all the prints and liked far too many of them. I have now narrowed them down somewhat, but here are some of my favourites that didn't quite make the cut:

I think I've narrowed it down to two sets of three (think being the operative word).

Option 1:

Option 2:

Which would you choose?