Favorite Travel Log Quilts Archives – Quilts and Other Stuff from Frances

In today’s “look back at the past”, I wanted to talk about using Australian fabric!!

For those of you who don’t know our history, Michael and I lived in Australia for 6 years back in the 1980’s and then returned for a visit in 2008. While we were visiting in the Tuross Lake area, Michael found this amazing granite mortar and pestle that he just had to have…..

As we discussed how we would transport it back home (it weighed a TON), we decided that we would purchase a small suitcase and take it back as a carry-on. Michael looked at me and said “We really need to pad it up. Do you have anything that would work for that?”. My answer was simple….”Let’s go back to the quilt shop!!!”

So, I purchased TONS of Aussie fabric and used it to pad and protect the kitchen tool….we were BOTH happy!!

Now, I needed to figure out what to do with the fabrics.

For many years I had owned the book “Vivacious Curvy Quilts”….

….and REALLY wanted to make a quilt of curves!!! I decided that the Aussie fabric was the perfect place to start.

I talked a bit about the process in THIS POST from 2014.

….and I even made a video of the curved piecing process……

The final quilt turned out great…..

…and I used up EVERY LAST BIT of Australian fabric making the back……

This quilt is on our bed and we both enjoy snuggling under it every cold night!!!

Several weeks ago I showed a quilt that was made based on a photo taken in Porto, Portugal. You can check out that post HERE…..

Here is an excerpt from my blog about the next day…..

As I walked back across the bridge, I noticed a long set of stairs that went up the hill to the area that I was trying to reach. I also saw a small tram that would take you up the mountain. As I was debating about which to use, I noticed that there was a fairly long line for the tram and that the ticket machine was not working well and there was a tram agent banging on it to try to get it to work. SO, I decided to climb instead.

After I had climbed the first 100 steps, I turned a corner and found that there was ANOTHER set of steps and terraces that ended up being 114 MORE steps. However, it was a very interesting walk as there were homes located along these terraces, with kids, dogs and small shops along the way. I watched as one woman walked out of her door and up about 90 steps to get to her car. I can’t imagine how they manage to live there. Also, one of the train lines ran just above the houses so I would imagine that it is relatively noisy as well. But, the views were wonderful!

After I had finished “Casa Amarela”, I wanted to continue working on perspective in stairs, so I decided to use the long flight that I had walked up first.

I printed the photo in black and white and enlarged it to a full sheet of paper. Then I took a fine-point sharpie and traced the lines on the copy…..