Quilts on Bastings

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T20:06:00.000+11:00

I am going to finish this year with a final, very appropriate Christmas Quilt. This cute little quilt was made by my customer Denise and quilted very simply with an all-over design of stars and loops. I hope you are enjoying your quilt at the moment Denise.

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a wonderful festive season and a healthy and happy 2012. Thank you to my readers for stopping by this year - it has been another wonderful year of quilting. I am certainly looking forward to the quilts 2012 will bring.

Ricky Timms is coming to Australia

2011-12-13T20:14:00.000+11:00

I was very excited to meet the extremely talented and very friendly Ricky Timms in Houston last month. He was more than happy to pose for this photo together. If you are not familiar with Ricky, go and check out some of his quilting and musical achievement on his website.

As I didn't take any classes with Ricky, I was thrilled to find that he will be coming to Australia next year. Ricky is going to be teaching an all day class on Friday 28th September, 2012 at the Australian Machine Quilting Festival at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Registration for the Ricky Timms all day seminar "Ricky's Best Kept Secrets" opens on 15th December, 2011 through the AMQF website. More information is also available through the AMQF Blog.

The AMQF is being run over 4 days from 28th September through to Monday 1st October, 2012. The festival is catering for all machine quilters from Longarm quilters, Mid arm and domestic sewing machines. If the 2010 AMQF was anything to go by, it will be another wonderful event and I am certainly looking forward to attending.

Life is a Celebration Quilt

2011-11-27T14:02:00.000+11:00

I have just finished quilting the most amazingly detailed applique and stitchery quilt made by my customer Alison. The quilt is a very pretty quilt in baby blues and pinks which will make a delightful quilt for a little girl. The project was originally run through Australian Homespun as a Block of the Month raising money for research into Ovarian Cancer.

I have quilted Alison's quilt with lots of feathers, stitching around all the applique, a range of background fillers and continuous curves. Here are a few samples of some of the wonderful blocks.

Alison has also included some beautiful hand embroidery in the quilt. I particularly love the blue and white scrolled sashing with its delicate embroidered flowers.

The circle of flowers on the setting butterfly blocks is gorgeous too.

More photos of Alison's quilt can be found on my flickr account.

Thank you Alison - your quilt was a delight to work on and I hope you will be as thrilled with the result as I am.

Vintage Quilts of Houston Quilt Festival

2011-11-20T21:27:00.000+11:00

It is over a week now since Mandy and I returned from our trip to Houston. We had a wonderful time - the events certainly lived up to their reputation. The quilt exhibition was wonderful and the standard of quilts amazingly high. We had some fabulous longarm machine quilting classes and the booths at Quilt Festival were endless...

I must admit, however, that my favourite part were the vintage and antique quilts. Unfortunately, we don't see many vintage quilts in Australia - we just don't have the history. I was pleasantly surprised that there were some 8 or so booths selling vintage quilts, quilt tops, fabrics, orphan blocks and sewing notions - by the end of Quilt Festival, several of the booth owners knew me by name.

Amongst the vintage quilt booths with their wonderful treasures were:-

Cindy's Antique Quilts

Mary Koval Antique Quilts

I think my favourite purchase from Houston is the very green vintage 1930's Double Wedding Ring quilt top which I bought from Cindy's Vintage Quilts. It is shown here by Cindy. Eventually I intend to quilt this gorgeous quilt top.

The vintage applique quilt top below was bought by my friend Mandy, also from Cindy's Antique Quilts.

I did buy another vintage quilt top - a 1930's Eight Pointed Star Quilt shown here together with the Double Wedding Ring Quilt.

I spent the last day of Quilt Festival trying to shop with "fresh eyes" after Kathy from Patchwork House showed us some of her purchases. Whilst I had been looking at the vintage quilts, I had completely overlooked the vintage sewing notions. I managed to buy a lovely collection of spools, a Dutch retractable tape measure, a needle holder, thimble and needles - some great treasures.

It is back to the present and reality for now - working hard to finish numerous quilts before Christmas.

Houston International Quilt Market & Quilt Festival 2011

2011-10-24T21:21:00.000+11:00

Only 4 more sleeps and I will be heading off to Houston with my quilting friend Mandy. We will be going to both the International Quilt Market and Quilt Festival.

My bags are mostly packed, everything is just about ready... Neither of us have been to Houston before but we can't wait to see the amazing quilts, the huge number of vendors and to experience some of that famous Texas hospitality. We will also be undertaking Longarm Machine classes with tutors such as Jamie Wallen, Linda Taylor, Sue Patten and Irena Bluhm so should be coming back with lots of quilting inspiration.

I can't wait for the adventure to begin. Is anyone else lucky enough to be going to Houston this year?

Hexagon Stars Quilt

2011-10-16T16:55:00.000+11:00

I have recently quilted a wonderful scrappy Hexagon Star Quilt for my customer Maree. This absolutely stunning quilt was made by Maree's patchwork group for her as a present for a significant birthday. The quilt is completely hand pieced and has an amazing array of fabrics in it which have come together beautifully.

I have quilted this quilt with continuous curves in all the diamonds, adding loops in the diamonds which form the setting hexagons. The loops have created a secondary design with which I was really pleased.

Many of the diamonds forming the stars in this quilt were fussy cut. I had a hard time deciding which stars were my favourites so have made a mosaic with a lovely selection.

Maree was absolutely delighted with her finished quilt. I believe a further five members of Maree's patchwork group are making their own versions of this wonderful quilt - I can't wait to see them.

Star Quilt

2011-09-11T09:00:00.000+10:00

My customer Marg has been patiently waiting for me to quilt her stunning Star Quilt. Marg's quilt is made with nine small lone star blocks, set with purple background fabric, surrounded by a green sashing and a beautiful, large Amy Butler border. I am sure you will agree it is a striking quilt.

Marg's quilt has been quilted with a narrow piano key border, continuous curves in the diamonds of the blocks, a scroll in the narrow sashing and lots of feathers elsewhere.

To draw your eye around the quilt, I quilted spinning feathers in the setting blocks.

Enjoy your quilt Marg, it was a pleasure to work on - I hope you are as thrilled with the end result as I am.

Quilts in the Barn 2011

2011-08-27T18:34:00.000+10:00

Quilts in the Barn 2011, organised by Linda of Quilts in the Barn is on again - the exhibition is being held from next Friday 2nd September through to Sunday 4th September, 2011. The exhibition is a fundraiser for breast cancer research.

This year, the quilter being featured is Jo Morton. Jo is a quiltmaker, author, teacher, lecturer, a designer for Andover Fabrics, Inc. of New York, and a student of ancestral quilt making.

Jo presents re-creations of antique quilts, imitating colors and styles of period pieces. Using an antique quilt's color and/or design as a source of inspiration, she creates an interpretation - a quilt that might have existed in the 19th Century. Her quilts are made in a lasting tradition, using new cotton fabrics, cotton batting and cotton quilting thread.

If you are a lover of vintage and reproductions quilts, then this year's Quilts in the Barn is an exhibition not to be missed.

I have recently quilted two quilts for Linda which have been made exclusively with Jo Morton fabrics. The first quilt is a Strippy Nine-Patch Quilt.

The fabrics used are just beautiful - the quilt has been simply quilted with continuous curves, some in the ditch stitching and 1/4 inch outlining.

As described on her blog, Linda has been working hard on her Tumbler Quilt which is the second quilt I have just completed. The Tumbler Quilt is huge - a massive 98 inches x 87 inches and an incredible 1,334 tumblers! The quilt was too large for me to photograph in its entirety, however, here is a snippet.

In keeping with the traditional fabrics and design, the Tumbler Quilt has been quilted with Baptist Fans - one of my favourite designs for reproduction quilts. I believe they have added some great movement to this quilt.

To see the above quilts as well as many of Jo's quilts from her personal collection, visit Quilts in the Barn. Wishing you all the best Linda for a wonderful exhibition - may the sun shine this year!

Purple Haze Quilt

2011-07-30T16:10:00.000+10:00

My sister, Mum and I had a wonderful day on Thursday at the Melbourne Craft & Quilt Fair which is on until tomorrow, Sunday 31st July. We had a great time viewing the many fabulous quilts on display, shopping, catching up with quilting friends and having lunch together. The day became even more special when my quilt "Purple Haze" was been awarded a First Prize Ribbon in the Small Quilts Category - Professional of the 2011 VicQuilters Showcase.

Purple Haze is a quilt which I made as part of the Australian Machine Quilting Association's 2011 Challenge. The challenge involved making an Amish style quilt with a pattern provided. The instructions stipulated that the maker could use fabrics of their choice, provided that only the colours red, blue and purple were used. Purple Haze was also awared a First Prize ribbon in this challenge.

I have quilted Purple Haze with a central floral design, surrounded by feathers in the purple border, flowers in the red setting triangles and hours and hours of pebbles in the background.

I found great inspiration for the quilting of Purple Haze in the quilting of Judi Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts.

Thanks for visiting - have a wonderful weekend. If you get a chance, do go and seen the fabulous display of quilts at the Melbourne Quilt and Craft Fair.

Red & White Quilt

2011-06-06T22:48:00.000+10:00

Linda from Quilts in the Barn recently travelled to New York City to the incredible exhibition Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts. This exhibition included 650 red and white American quilts which were on loan from the collection of Joanna S Rose.

The exhibition inspired Linda to finish her own Red & White Quilt - Linda's quilt is a wonderful example of this traditional style of quilt.

Linda loves feathers and so feathers I quilted. Each setting square has been feathered with a heart. The setting triangles are feathered to flow around the quilt.

If you would like to see some more of the Red & White Quilts from the Infinity Variety Exhibition, have a look at some of Linda's Posts:-

Impressions - gives a great sense of scale to the exhibition
Texture - a series of individual Red & White Quilt photos

I think I may well have been inspired to make my very own Red & White Quilt. Hopefully the Infinite Variety Exhibition will eventually travel the world so that we can all experience those incredible quilts.

Tree of Life Quilt

2011-05-10T20:07:00.000+10:00

One of the things I love about quilting is that there is a different quilt and style for almost every quilter. I particularly love the fact that there are different styles of quilts linked to different cultures. The vast range of quilts which come to me to be quilted never ceases to amaze me and I was very excited to be able to quilt this Indian Tree of Life Quilt for Kate.

Kate gave me some background information on her purchased Tree of Life quilt top. Kate was backpacking around India more than 10 years ago and saw some women working on one of the bedspreads in Jailsamer, Rajasthan. As an impoverished traveller with very little room in her luggage she couldn't buy one, but always regretted it. Years later her parents went to India on a far more 5-star trip, and Kate's Mum was given very strict instructions to try and find a Tree of Life quilt. Kate's Mum spent a whole day schlepping around the shops in Jailsamer and finally found one, which cost a lot more than the original quilt Kate had seen all those years ago. Being a good mum, she bought it anyway, and the quilt has finally made it to me to be quilted.

This Tree of Life Quilt is large - some 88 x 104 inches. The quilt has been entirely made using hand applique. Each tree, including the large central tree, is made from one piece of fabric which has been appliqued using the needle turn method. The central tree is about 50 inches tall.

In keeping with the simplicity of this two-toned quilt, I have quilted around all the applique, including all those leaves, and filled the background with swirls. The outside border has been quilted with a freeform feather style design including more swirls.

While I spent quite a long time quilting this quilt, I couldn't help thinking how long the Indian quilters had spent working on this wonderful quilt top.

I hope you enjoy your quilt Kate - I am sure it will provide a wonderful memory of your travels.

Easter in Ballarat

2011-05-01T21:28:00.000+10:00

My family spent a delightful long weekend in Ballarat over the Easter break. Of course no visit to Ballarat is complete without dropping in to the wonderful Ballarat Patchwork. I was fortunate enough to visit on the day they reopened after renovating and they were celebrating with a 20% off all stock sale!

Ballarat Patchwork is a feast for the quilter. I took the following photos which I was permitted to share by Emma from Ballarat Patchwork. The shop has an amazing range of bright, modern fabrics, books and patterns all displayed beautifully.

I fell in love with their display of quilts.

And these softies took my fancy ...

Of course it was impossible to leave empty handed. I bought some black Hanky Linen fabric to make the Amy Butler Liverpool Tunic - yes, an item of clothing, not a quilt! We will see how I go - the idea of making button holes is scaring me - wish me luck.

Ballerina Quilt

2011-04-21T17:51:00.001+10:00

Kate from One Flew Over has recently made a Ballerina Quilt, the making of which she has outlined extensively on her blog. It is a beautiful quilt made with some lovely vintage fabrics.

When Kate initially asked me to quilt this quilt with "straight wavy lines" I was a little concerned. Straight wavy lines don't really go with my usual need for perfection - it was certainly a request outside my comfort zone. Once I got started I had a great time quilting this quilt and I love the end result.

You can see Kate's quilt on her blog after washing and drying - perfectly crinkled. Anyone else for straight wavy lines?

Australasian Quilt Convention

2011-04-13T16:55:00.070+10:00

I am excited to be attending the Australasian Quilt Convention which is on from April 14 - 17 at the Royal Exhibition Buildings in Carlton.

I am particularly looking forward to seeing the entries in the APQ Seven Deadly Sins Quilt Challenge. This year I was fortunate enough to have my quilt "Envy" juried in as one of the 30 finalists in the challenge. As a result of participating in the Quilt Challenge this article appeared in today's edition of our local newspaper, the Northcote Leader. Click on either the link or the photo below to read the article.

You may recall my quilt "Envy" from previous posts - be sure to look out for it if you are attending the Quilt Convention.

I hope those attending the Australasian Quilt Convention have a great time - I am sure I will!

Blue & Lemon Diamonds Quilt

2011-03-28T22:46:00.000+11:00

The quilt I am featuring today has been made by my friend Tiana. Tiana has made a beautiful and very effective half square triangle quilt resulting in a lay-out of blue and yellow diamonds.

The blue triangles in the quilt have been quilted with continuous curves throughout. To provide contrast in texture, the yellow diamonds and squares have been quilted with a fern design.

Here is another close-up of the quilting on the diamonds. The border has been quilted with swags and piano keys.

I am sure the quilt has been worth the wait - happy binding and enjoy the quilt Tiana.

Bleeding Heart Quilt

2011-03-11T17:42:00.000+11:00

My customer Alison has just left, picking up 2 quilts - she was very excited when she left. Today I would like to feature one of those quilts - her Bleeding Heart Quilt. Alison's quilt is a wonderful black and white quilt with just a splash of colour in the centre, giving the quilt it's name.

Alison's quilt has been quilted with an all-over design called Hearts in Bloom from Timeless Quilting Designs - a very appropriate pattern on this occasion of hearts and daisies.

I do love the centre block of this quilt and the touch of colour it has added.

Alison has also put quite a bit of work into her back with a pieced strip down the centre and red appliqued hearts. I love the effect of the quilting on the back of this quilt - the contrasting thread has been a great success, resulting in a truly reversible quilt.

I hope you enjoy your quilt Alison - happy binding!

Finally a Finish!

2011-02-27T12:38:00.000+11:00

I have spent quite some time finishing this amazing quilt called "The Best of Friends" by Linda Bear. Linda's quilt is a reverse applique quilt with 32 different twelve inch blocks and a large centre block resulting in this traditional style quilt. Linda has designed and pieced this quilt which is going to be available as a pattern.

In reverse applique applique two layers of fabric are used and the top layer is cut away showing the fabric underneath. The raw edges are turned under and handstitched down. Linda's quilt is an amazing example of this complex style of applique.

Each of the blocks in this quilt have been quilted with a circle around the applique extending to the sashing. This circle has then been finely cross-hatched and feathers quilted in the corners. The sashing and borders have been quilted with the same style of feather.

The large centre square has been quilted in a similar manner.

Here is a close-up of the feathers quilted in the corners of the blocks and sashing.

And finally, a single block, showing the intricacy of Linda's applique and detail of the quilting.

For more photos of this quilt, have a look at my flickr page.

Good luck with this quilt Linda - I am sure there will be many quilters inspired to make this fabulous design.

I Spy Quilt

2011-02-06T20:44:00.000+11:00

I am slowly returning to quilting after summer holidays and kids getting back to school. I am looking forward to getting back into our normal routine and quilting.

The quilt I would like to share today is a bright and colourful I Spy Quilt made by my customer Lisa. Lisa has done a great job, using a huge range of prints and tying them together beautifully with the plain blue sashing and the great border prints.

As the quilt has a lot of busy prints, we decided to quilt it with an all-over star design.

Lisa's quilt has been made as a gift for a young boy - I am sure this quilt will provide hours of entertainment and be treasured for a long time to come.

International Patchwork & Quilting Magazines

2011-01-26T16:07:00.000+11:00

I have just returned from our annual summer holiday - we have had a lovely time of beaches, sunshine, relaxation, the company of family and friends and too much good food and wine. It is great to be back and I am just starting to get back into quilting. I hope everyone has enjoyed a great festive season and has had a wonderful start to 2011.

On my return from holidays I was thrilled to find a collection of quilting magazines amongst my mail. I had ordered a number of back issues of the American magazine Machine Quilting Unlimited which, as the title suggests, is mainly concerned with machine quilting. In addition, I received a German Patchwork magazine as a result of liaising with Brigitte Heitland of Farbstoff.

Some time ago, Brigitte had emailed me, asking permission to use a number of my photos in an article on the subject of machine quilting which she was writing for the German Patchwork Magazine. The article has resulted in a fabulous look with a combination of photos by Brigitte and myself depicting the different styles of machine quilting possible. Unfortunately, apart from the title, I will need someone to translate it for me! Thank you again Brigitte for sending me a copy of this magazine - it was great to be involved.

I love reading the Machine Quilting Unlimited magazines - they are always full of wonderfully quilted quilts, great tips on different quilting techniques and often very useful articles on maintenance specifically for longarm machines. In the January 2011 issue I was thrilled to find an article on the Australian Machine Quilting Festival which I attended last year in Adelaide in early October.

I was even more thrilled to find that the article included a photo of my Field of Flowers Quilt which had won first place in the Edge To Edge category.

I hope everyone in Australia is enjoying a relaxing Australia Day holiday. Back to quilting soon ...

Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows Quilt

2010-12-22T20:25:00.000+11:00

I can finally show you more of the quilt made by Linda Collins from Quilts in the Barn which I quilted a few months ago. Linda's quilt "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" has just been published as a project in Australian Country Craft and Decorating Vol 22 No 6. The magazine came out today and I have managed to pick up a copy. It is always great to see a quilt you have worked on in a magazine.

Linda's quilt was inspired by a bundle of fabrics and a Dresden Plate wedge purchased at the Australian Quilt Convention earlier this year. During a retreat that same weekend, she played with both the fabrics and the wedge, desiging this quilt. The result is a stunning quilt based on a traditional design.

I quilted Linda's quilt with swirling feathers in between the dresden plates and along the borders. The dresden plates are quilted with continuous curves and a small feather flower in the centre.

Congratulations Linda on having your beautiful quilt published. Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows would make a great holiday project - remember to pick up your own copy of Australian Country Craft and Decorating.

Ishbel

2010-12-06T21:38:00.000+11:00

I used to be involved in a large range of craft activities but in recent years have focussed mainly on quilting. As I don't seem to have the patience for hand piecing, I tend to have some knitting on the go. A knitting project can take me quite a while to complete as I usually only work on it while watching our kids play sport or on holidays.

I have just finished a lovely shawl using the pattern Ishbel.

This was my fourth Ishbel, all of which have been given as gifts over the last year or so. The shawl was knitted using Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Lettuce purchased from Eat Sleep Knit. Ishbel is a lovely, easy knit and makes for a very portable project. The yarn feels very soft and blocked beautifully.

I know it may be a while before you get to wear your shawl, Steph, as it is certainly not shawl weather in Melbourne at the moment - I hope you enjoy your shawl next winter.

I have decided to knit a different shawl next - I am trying the Haruni shawl which is a free pattern on Ravelry. What "on the go" projects do you have?

Vintage Fabric Linen Quilt

2010-11-28T11:50:00.000+11:00

My customer Linda Bear from Somerset Patchwork & Quilting has designed and made the most wonderful quilt using vintage linen fabrics. Linda's quilt was made from linen curtain fabric which came from her grandparents' farmhouse.

Each of the squares in this quilt has been made from the same fabric. Linda has carefully fussy cut 4 triangles for each square creating a kaleidoscope effect in each. The light and dark squares have come about with the careful selection of light and dark areas of the curtain fabric. I was amazed at the incredible number of different squares she has managed to create - closer examination of the lighter squares reveals an amazing array of designs which are not initially apparent.

There must have been a huge amount of curtain fabric to enable the creation of this quilt. Linda did say that she still has a considerable quantity of the fabric left.

Linda's quilt has been quilted with cross hatching on the darker squares. The cross-hatching is alternated with feathers which wind themselves through the remaining areas of the quilt.

The back too is wonderful. Linda selected a backing fabric with a small print which still allows the quilting design to show.

Thanks for letting me quilt this stunning quilt Linda - I enjoyed the challenge and love the end result.

Random Reflections Quilt

2010-11-20T16:48:00.000+11:00

Today I would like to feature a quilt which has been made by my customer Evelyn. Evelyn has made the Random Reflections Quilt which is a free pattern by Moda Bakeshop. The pattern can be found here and comes together really quickly using just 2 jelly rolls of fabric - 1 jelly roll of a range of prints and 1 jelly roll of a solid fabric. Evelyn has used the Freebird Collection by Momo for Moda for her prints and Moda Solids in Snow.

To tie in with the many floral fabrics used in this quilt, we decided to use an all-over design called Daisies Galore by Timeless Quilting Designs. I must admit, I love a quilt which has some areas of solid fabric where the quilting can be a feature - Evelyn's quilt has quilted up beautifully.

Evelyn's quilt is a wonderful example of a quilt which looks great quilted with an all-over design. I hope you are enjoying your lovely quilt Evelyn.

My First Vintage Quilt Top

2010-11-06T18:08:00.000+11:00

I am afraid I may have started something which will be hard to stop... I have been trawling ebay and the internet looking for vintage quilt tops to buy - a new addiction perhaps. I love the look of vintage quilts. I don't seem to find much time to piece my own quilts but would really like to quilt some quilts for myself. Buying a vintage quilt top would solve the need to piece my own quilts.

While I was in Adelaide recently at the AMQF, I did a class with Pam Clarke, an American Longarm Quilter and teacher, who has quilted many vintage quilt tops. Her view is that unless it is a blue ribbon quilt top it is better to finish it than to have it sit in a cupboard and not be used. Apparently there are so many vintage quilt tops in America that some real bargains can still be picked up.

My first vintage quilt top is a Lone Star Quilt made in solids. I love solid quilts and I am hoping that the quilting will eventually be a real feature. The name of the maker was Eva Stelters and the quilt top originates from Oklahoma. The quilt was bought from Buckboard Antique Quilts.

Perhaps it is just the perfectionist in me coming out, but I have decided that the corner squares and setting triangles are too big for the quilt causing it to not quite lie flat. I am going to remake the corners and insert new setting triangles. It will make the quilting much easier. So much for my time saving theory...

I have sourced matching fabrics from Kona Solids using the Kona Solids Color Chart - it is great to be able to see the actual fabrics rather than trying to match colors on a computer screen. As usual, the fabrics arrived promptly from The Fabric Shack.

I am looking forward to finishing Eva's quilt - hopefully it will become a much treasured and used quilt.

Oh, my second vintage quilt top is currently on the way from America. I have stopped myself from looking at any more vintage quilt tops on the internet ... for now.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2010-10-29T17:09:00.000+11:00

I am once again participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival being organised by Amy of Amy's Creative Side from October 29 - November 5. The Blogger's Quilt Festival is an online quilt festival where bloggers from around the world showcase a quilt - once you have had a look here, head on over and take some time viewing the other wonderful quilts.

This time I am sharing a beautiful quilt made by my customer Susan. Susan's quilt is a chubby star quilt made with gorgeous fabrics - I particularly love the owl fabrics which are featured in the centre of the stars.

I have quilted Susan's quilt with spirals on the centres of the stars, swirls in the areas around the stars, feathers in the white sashing and swags with feathers and piano keys in the border.

Sometimes I dread plain backs...luckily I didn't have to work with too much contrasting thread on the back. This time the plain back has made for a stunning result - I love the quilting on the back!

I hope you have enjoyed Susan's quilt - I had a great time quilting it and am thrilled with the end result. Remember to head on over to see many of the other quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival - enjoy!

Kermit - Fat Quarterly Quilt Along

2010-10-24T16:51:00.000+11:00

Kate from One Flew Over has collected her beautiful Kermit Quilt from me this week. This quilt was made as part of the Fat Quarterly Quilt Along.

The reason for the name of Kate's quilt becomes apparent quite quickly - it has almost every imaginable shade of green!

I have quilted Kermit with semi circles through each square and petals in the centre squares and corners, creating a floral design in those areas.

Thanks again Kate, you have made a gorgeous spring time quilt!

If you would like see some more of the beautiful quilts created by the Fat Quarterly Quilt Along, go and have a look at the Flickr Fat Quarterly Group - there are several other lovely examples of this quilt.

Japanese Lantern Quilt

2010-10-17T14:25:00.000+11:00

I guess I had better get back to featuring some of the quilts I have been working on. This week, I have completed a Lantern Quilt in beautiful Japanese fabrics pieced by my customer Mary. I love the way Mary has included some carefully placed red lanterns in her otherwise indigo blue quilt.

Mary wanted the quilting to be kept fairly simple with mainly straight lines. I hope I have obliged with straight lines 1/4inch apart outlining the lanterns and a piano key border. I have quilted some curved lines in the lanterns which I believe have added to the concertina effect of the lanterns.

My favourite lantern:-

Quilts in the Barn Exhibition 2010

2010-10-12T20:07:00.000+11:00

Just a reminder that the 2010 Quilts in the Barn Exhibition is nearly here...

If you have been to Quilts in the Barn before, you will know that Linda puts on a fabulous event with beautiful quilts, in a glorious setting. All monies raised are for breast cancer research. If you haven't been before, now is your chance! There will be morning & afternoon tea available, Corliss from Threadbear will have a stall and Di Ford will have some of her patterns for sale. Check out the amazing Raffle Quilt made by the Secret Sewing Sisterhood. Apparently there will be about 70 quilts on display - certainly worth a trip!

Back Home from AMQF

2010-10-07T22:12:00.001+11:00

I have returned home from the Australian Machine Quilting Festival exhausted. The four days were fabulous - I would like to thank Tracey Browning and Sharon Parkinson for organising this fantastic event. Thanks also to the many volunteers, vendors, teachers, sponsors and judges.

The American instructors were truly inspirational especially Pam Clarke, Kimmy Brunner and Anne Bright - they are all so passionate about quilting and were great instructors. I have learned a lot and am looking forward to putting some of these quilting ideas into practice.

The Australian Machine Quilting Show was held in conjunction with AMQF and was a wonderful display of quilts. I was thrilled to learn that two of my quilts had been awarded ribbons.

My wholecloth quilt "Envy" was awarded a Second Prize ribbon in the Custom Heirloom / Show - Wall Category.

My quilt "Field of Flowers" was awarded a First Prize ribbon in the Edge-to-Edge Category.

It is back to the quilting machine now - lots of quilts to be done before Christmas!

Australian Machine Quilting Festival

2010-09-30T17:25:00.001+10:00

I am very excited to be heading over to Adelaide tomorrow to attend the inaugural Australian Machine Quilting Festival. The event is running from 1st to 4th October, 2010 and I will be travelling with 2 Longarm Machine Quilting friends.

I am looking forward to taking classes with international teachers Pam Clarke and Kim Brunner as well as an amazing group of talented Australian tutors in all aspects of machine quilting.

The AMQF is catering for all machine quilters that own either a Longarm, Mid-arm or domestic sewing machine.

The 4 day event will also include a vendor mall (looking forward to some shopping) and the Australian Machine Quilting Association Quilt Show. I have entered a number of quilts in this exhibition and it is always fabulous to see your own quilts on display amongst a fabulous collection of quilts.

I am looking forward to 4 days of machine quilting, the company of like minded people and getting away from the stresses of the St Kilda / Collingwood Grand Final Replay on Saturday. Go Saints!

Snail Trail Quilt

2010-09-27T19:30:00.001+10:00

I would like to share another quilt I have recently finished quilting which was pieced by Linda from Quilts in the Barn. Linda's first love is antique quilts and reproducing them using reproduction fabrics - the Snail Trail Quilt she has made is a wonderful example of such a quilt.

Linda's quilt was quilted with a spinning feather in the red snail trail blocks and continuous curves in the cream snail trail blocks.

More feathers were quilted in the border with a scrolling feather.

And yes, Linda knows that some of the four-patches in the quilt are facing the wrong way. She is just not saying whether they were as a result of the fact that this is quite a confusing pattern to construct or whether they are intentional as only God is perfect!

Thanks again Linda, your quilts are an absolute delight to work on!

A Wedding Signature Quilt

2010-09-23T19:41:00.001+10:00

Linda from Quilts in the Barn today picked up the beautiful wedding signature quilt which she made for a couple married earlier this year. Linda organised for patches of fabric to be signed by guests on the wedding day. The result is this stunning quilt.

The cream sashing in the blocks are made up of the well wishes from many of the wedding guests. Click on the photos to read the messages.

Even the Bride signed the wedding quilt.

I have quilted the wedding quilt with feather wreaths on the blocks, piano keys in the border and a feather scroll in the blue sashing.

And sometimes a plain back works beautifully - I love this back!

Thanks again Linda and best wishes to the recipients of this quilt - may they enjoy a long marriage full of love and happiness.

Pat's Pies & Tarts Quilt

2010-09-19T21:43:00.000+10:00

I have just had the pleasure of quilting another quilt for my lovely customer Pat. I am not exactly sure about Pat's age - I have quilted several quilts for her over the last few years and ever since the first quilt she has been in her "early eighties". Pat takes great delight in the making of her quilts - for Pat it is certainly as much about the journey of making the quilt as it is about the end result. Pat is the only customer for whom I pick up and drop off quilts at her home. Each time I do so, we have a wonderful chat and, as she said on my last visit, she doesn't know what her life would be like without quilting. I certainly enjoy my meetings with Pat - she has a lot of life experience to offer and is wonderful company.

This time Pat has made the Pies & Tarts Quilt designed by Sue Dailey from Patchwork with Busyfingers. Pat only sews by hand - the entire quilt has been hand pieced and she will even put the binding on by hand.

In keeping with the circular theme of the quilt we decided to quilt a spiral on each large pie. Each spiral extends almost to the centre of the smaller tarts and overlap eachother - the quilting has put me in mind of a spirograph drawing.

Pat is a member of the Bluegum Quilters. Bluegum Quilters are having a Quilt Exhibition on Saturday 6th November, 2010 at St James Church, Corner Pender and Newcastle Streets, Thornbury from 9.30am to 3.30pm. Entry is only $2. Pat's Pies & Tarts Quilt will be on display there amongst a selection of many other beautiful quilts.

Thanks again Pat - I will look forward to your next quilt - I am sure it will be another beauty.

Windows & Frames Quilt #2

2010-09-14T23:37:00.000+10:00

I have recently finished quilting another version of the Windows & Frames Quilt published in the first issue of Fat Quartertly. This lovely quilt has been made by Lurline who requested that it be quilted the same as the original version of this quilt made by Kate from One Flew Over.

Lurline used some beautiful blue fabrics which, together with the white fabric has resulted in a fresh, modern looking quilt. I love the way the spirals complement the straight lines of the piecing in this quilt.

I hope you are enjoying your quilt Lurline - it was a pleasure to quilt.

Eight Pointed Star Quilt

2010-08-30T21:43:00.000+10:00

I have just had great fun quilting this little Eight Pointed Star Quilt for my customer Cheryl. Cheryl has made this special quilt for her sister who is seriously ill - it will hopefully be a quilt her sister will be able to take along to hospital and take comfort from when at home.

Cheryl has hand-pieced the stars using fabrics from her stash including some of her favourite Liberty fabrics. I have quilted the quilt with a feather border, continuous curves in the points of the stars and line-dancing and swirls on the plain fabrics. I managed to quilt each block continuously - the quilting really seemed to flow. I did change colour on each block to match the plain background fabrics.

The line-dancing on the plain fabrics has made a secondary design where the four corners of the blocks meet.

Thanks for letting me quilt this quilt Cheryl - I hope your sister loves it and that is brings her joy and comfort.

Piping Hot Binding

2010-08-28T18:04:00.000+10:00

Sometime ago now, a friend gave me the book "Piping Hot Binding" by Susan Cleveland. The book describes in detail how to make and apply piping in the binding of a quilt.

I have now made a number of quilts where I have finished them with piping in the binding and love the result - it makes for a quilt with a distinctive touch to the finish and frames the quilt beautifully. I have found that it works really well with quilts which have either solid fabrics or solid borders - it is important that the piping fabric is in high contrast to the outer border and binding.

Following are some close-ups of some of the quilts where I have included piping in the binding.

King David's Modern Crown Quilt

Crop Circles Quilt (top)

Zigue Zague Quilt

The book describes in great detail how to make and apply the binding. Susan Cleland has also created the Groovin' Piping Trimming Tool which is used to trim piping seam allowances to a consistent width. The procedure is not difficult, although it is time consuming - it takes me twice as long as applying binding alone, however, I think it is well worth the effort. The book also describes a number of variations such as double piping, blanket stitch on piping and pieced piping. I have not yet been adventurous enough to tackle these variations.

How do you like to finish your quilts?

Dad Saves the Day

2010-08-22T21:08:00.000+10:00

This week my quilting machine had a major break-down for the first time ever. I hardly ever have quilts with a definite deadline but, of course, this time I did. I was stitching along one evening early in the week in stitch regulated mode when all of a sudden the machine's speed picked up to the point of sewing uncontrollably fast. Eventually, the machine would sew at full speed from the second it was turned on and would not turn off with the switch on the handle.

Bruce Brown, the Australian Gammill guru from The Finishing Touch, who unfortunately lives interstate, advised that I had blown my speed control transistor which would need to be replaced - this sounded serious! Bruce put a part in the mail for me and talked me through the instructions for replacing it. The part was a very small electronic component which lives under the motherboard and would require soldering in. I certainly can't solder, nor can my husband. Who to ask but my handy father.... My dad is a retired tiler but is generally a very handy person who has turned his hand to many trades. While he has done some soldering before, he had never worked with electronic components.

Friday morning, Dad and I opened up the quilting machine and were faced with the very scary inside of the machine - wires and plugs everywhere.

After carefully numbering all the plugs, we unplugged them, unscrewed the motherboard and found the part to be replaced. The replacement part was only about 3/4 inch in size with three prongs which required soldering onto three wires - work much finer than Dad is used to. Together we did manage to solder the wires on, re-attach the motherboard, plug the numerous wires back in and put the cover back on. We both held our breath as we turned the machine back on. The first signs were good - at least it didn't start stitching uncontrollably as soon as I turned it on. After some testing all apeared well - we had done it! We must have even put the plugs back on in the correct positions.

The quilt with a deadline was finished over the weekend and has already been collected by my customer Linda from Quilts in the Barn. Linda has made a stunning Dresden Plate Quilt which I have quilted with lots of feathers. The quilt is going to be published as a pattern in an Australian magazine later this year so I can't show you the whole quilt as yet. Here is a little sample - I will show the whole quilt once the magazine is out.

So, thanks Dad for a great repair job, Bruce for wonderful instructions and Linda for your patience in waiting for the quilt to be finished. I am looking forward to a less eventful week.

Baby Quilts

2010-08-13T22:59:00.000+10:00

I have just quilted three gorgeous baby quilts for my customer Hilary. All three babies are yet to be born. The quilts look just beautiful together and I am sure they will be treasured by their new owners. These quilts don't really need much explanation - I think the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!

A Ribbon for King David's Modern Crown Quilt

2010-07-22T21:39:00.000+10:00

Today I went to the Craft Fair in Melbourne - a fabulous day made all the more enjoyable as a result of one of my quilts winning a ribbon. I had entered my Kind David's Modern Crown Quilt in the Longarm section of the Vic Quilters 2010 Showcase and was absolutely thrilled with the Runners Up ribbon.

The quilt is my version of the King David's Crown Quilt by Michelle Yeo - rather than using reproduction fabrics, I have used fresh, modern fabrics with a white background fabric so that the quilting could be a feature.

The machine quilting was inspired by Sharon Schamber. Sharon is a renowned quilter and I was fortunate enough to do a workshop with her last year. I took the unquilted King David's Crown Quilt top along to the class and Sharon assisted in the quilting design stage.

I have extended the quilting in the diamonds into the border of the quilt.

I would like to thank Victorian Quilters Inc, the organisers of Quilt Showcase 2010 for putting on a wonderful Quilt Exhibition. I would also like to thank the generous sponsors of the Longarm catergory including Horsham Patchwork Quilters Inc., Patchers & Quilters of the Hay Plains, Mini Jumbuck and Victoria Can Do Books.

Home & Finished Wholecloth called "Envy"

2010-07-16T22:31:00.001+10:00

We have returned from our trip to Europe and have had a fabulous time. It is great to be home again and we are settling back into our usual routine. I have started quilting again, however, at this stage I would like to share a quilt I finished just before we went overseas.

In April this year I took part in the online Wholecloth Design and Execution Course through MQ Resource. I have previously blogged the design stage of my quilt which can be seen here.

Having completed my customer quilts before travelling overseas, I took some time to mark and quilt my wholecloth quilt. I wanted a quilt which wasn't going to blend into my walls at home and therefore chose a bright green shot cotton by Kaffe Fassett.

The marking stage proved a huge task - each motif had to be traced in blue marker on to the quilt top. I was excited to learn, however, that I would not need to buy a light box. A trip to our local hardware store for the purchase of a sheet of perspex and, together with some kitchen chairs and a desk lamp, I was set.

Having marked the quilt I wasn't going to quilt it straight away. However, I found that after a few weeks the blue lines were starting to fade. I didn't want the time I had spent marking to have been wasted so onto the frame the quilt went.

I used 2 layers of wadding - 1 layer of Nu-wool wadding which is a mix of 60% wool and 40% poly and 1 layer of Matilda's Own 100% Cotton. The thread I used was Aurifil 50wt which quilted beautifully - it has a lovely sheen to it.

Initially I quilted all the motifs which didn't prove as difficult as I had anticipated. Having quilted all the motifs I removed the quilt and removed the blue marker pen with water.

The quilt then went back on to complete the border with cross-hatching, curved cross-hatching in the centre of the motifs, pebbles in the spines and lots of pebbles for the background quilting. I think I found the back-ground quilting the hardest part - pebbles do take a lot of time to quilt but I do love the end result.

Here are some close-ups of some of the motifs:-

I am thrilled with the end result of my little "Envy" Wholecloth Quilt - the course was wonderful, I learned a lot and enjoyed the process. Perhaps there is a larger wholecloth quilt in me yet...

Inspiration

2010-06-19T03:01:00.000+10:00

Last year I did the online Quilt Whisperer course through MQ Resource which I found to be a fabulous course. The material covered included mainly quilting design and taught me to look at everyday items in a different light. I now tend to look at the detail in items around me and am amazed at the inspiration for quilting designs that it can provide. I am currently travelling through Europe and am finding this even more so. I would like to share some of these inspirational photos with you.

1. Ome Wim's Front Door, 2. Detail - Louvre, 3. Balcony - Paris, 4. Link - Arc de Triomph, 5. Paris - detail Arc de Triomph, 6. Detail - Arc de Triomph, 7. Detail - door Paris, 8. Entrance - Notre Dame, 9. Door - Notre Dame, 10. Window - Notre Dame, 11. Detail - Notre Dame, 12. Detail - Notre Dame, 13. Detail - Notre Dame, 14. Detail - Notre Dame, 15. Detail - door Notre Dame, 16. Detail - door Koningsbourg Castle, France

With limited internet time, I have not been able to touch up the photos. Enjoy!

Den Haan en Wagenmakers - Amsterdam

2010-06-11T06:31:00.001+10:00

Today I was fortunate enough to visit the beautiful patchwork shop Den Haan en Wagenmakers in Amsterdam. Den Haan en Wagenmakers are a Dutch Reproduction fabric company known in English as Dutch Quilts. They make an amazing range of absolutely beautiful reproduction fabrics – check out their website at http://www.dutchquilts.com/

The shop is located in a traditional Amsterdam building and as you step inside you find a room swathed from floor to ceiling in seemingly every style of Dutch fabric available. There are many quilts on display, both antique quilts as well as quilts made from the reproduction fabrics. I was again met by extremely friendly and helpful staff who were happy for me to take photos.

I bought a gorgeous little book called “Amsterdam Made By Hand” which showcases the artisans of Amsterdam with beautiful photography.

Of course I was not able to resist their fabrics. I fell in love with the antique Tree of Life quilt and decided I needed to make a quilt with a tree of life panel. Below is a picture of my purchases.

Amsterdam was wonderful - it is a beautiful city and the day was rounded off beautifully with my visit to Den Haan en Wagenmakers.

Le Rouvray, Paris

2010-06-02T06:06:00.001+10:00

I know my blog has been a little quiet and with good reason - I am currently travelling in Europe with my family. Today, I was fortunate enough to visit the lovely Le Rouvray patchwork shop in Paris. Le Rouvray is located in a typical Parisian little square near the Notre Dame Cathedral.

I was welcomed by a member of Le Rouvray staff who was more than happy to speak English and show me their beautiful selection of French fabrics and Provence fabrics. There was also a beautiful display of quilts in the store including some divine vintage quilts.

Thank you, Le Rouvray - my visit rounded out a great day of visiting Paris monuments and gardens, drinking coffees and eating baguettes, croissants and crepes!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2010-05-21T16:11:00.003+10:00

I am once again participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival being organised by Amy of Amy's Creative Side from May 21 - 25. The Blogger's Quilt Festival is an online quilt festival where bloggers from around the world showcase a quilt - once you have had a look here, head on over and take some time viewing the other wonderful quilts.

This time I have chosen to show a quilt I have recently completed for my customer Caroline. Caroline's applique and piecing is just beautiful and incredibly accurate - the detail in the appliqued flowers is just fabulous.

I quilted Caroline's quilt with a formal feather border up to the applique. I have surrounded the applique in the border with a combination of feathers and McTavishing whilst the large setting triangles have been quilted with orange peel. The sashing has been quilted with a feather design.

In the appliqued blocks I have quilted McTavishing and swirls.

I hope you have enjoyed Caroline's quilt - I had a great time quilting it. Remember to head on over to see many of the other quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Kaleidoscope String Quilt

2010-05-14T19:34:00.000+10:00

My customer Tina has made a beautiful Kaleidoscope String Quilt using the tutorial by Film in the Fridge. String quilts are a wonderful way to use up lots of small scraps. While they are quite simple to make, I can vouch for the fact that they take quite a while to make - I have an unfinished String Quilt in my UFO pile. I am sure you will agree that Tina has made a wonderful quilt with striking fabrics and colours.

I quilted Tina's quilt with an all-over design called Windy Meander which is a great swirly pattern.

Sometimes my customers have problems finding an appropriate backing for their quilt top. Tina on the other hand succeeded in finding the perfect backing fabric for this String Quilt. Both the colours and pattern tie in beautifully with the quilt top. The fabric she used was Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party - Up All Night in Blue.

This was Tina's first quilt completed in 35 years - I hope this will be the first of many more quilts Tina.

Zig Zag Quilts

2010-05-08T14:06:00.001+10:00

I love Zig Zag Quilts - the variations that can be achieved are endless and they are so simple to make - really just half-square triangles. I have previously made a Zig Zag quilt myself and have recently quilted two for my customers Heather and Bridie. I quilted both quilts with the same design - it is a Plume Fern which I adapted into a continuous fern from Quiltingismytherapy's Blog. Thanks for the demonstration - it came at the perfect time!

Heather's quilt is a modern interpreation of the Zig Zag Quilt with great effect. I love how the colours fade from bright red at the top through to orange and yellow at the bottom of the quilt.

The plume fern was also easily adapted for the large squares. Thread colour was changed as I progressed down the quilt.

I love the pattern that the quilting has created on the plain back.

Bridie's quilt is a traditional version of the Zig Zag Design with the use of some striking fabrics and colours.

The quilting of the plume ferns in alternating directions take your eyes across the quilt.

And again, a stunning back.

Thanks Heather and Bridie for allowing me to share your stunning Zig Zag Quilts.

Hexagons Galore

2010-05-01T17:33:00.000+10:00

I am always in awe of quilters who have the patience to hand piece. I am particularly attracted to hexagon quilts and Jessie's Hexagon Quilt is no exception. Jessie has made a large, scrappy looking, paper pieced hexagon quilt.

As this quilt has so many busy prints and the quilting would not really stand out, we decided to quilt it with an all-over swirly design called Waterworld. The quilting has again added a lovely texture and movement to the quilt.

Jessie was thrilled when she picked up her quilt - I always love seeing my customer's reaction to their finished quilt. I hope you are enjoying your quilt Jessie - it must be very satisfying to complete such a large hand-pieced quilt.

Fat Quarterly eZine - Windows and Frames Quilt

2010-04-26T20:05:00.002+10:00

Fat Quarterly is a new e-magazine written by modern sewists for modern sewists - I can't wait to see the first issue which goes on sale tomorrow Tuesday April, 27th.

Kate from One Flew Over is one of the faces behind this new magazine and for the first issue she has contributed the 'Windows and Frames' Quilt. Kate made 'Windows and Frames' by upcycling her husband's old business shirts. It is a simple and effective pattern of framed squares enhanced with a crisp white solid. Kate asked me to quilt this quilt for her and I had a great time quilting it with spirals using the Quilt-EZ template. Here is the final result:-

I love what the quilting has added to this quilt - the spirals on the squares seem to provide the perfect contrast for this quilt which is otherwise very geometric. The quilting just kind of happened - initially I quilted spirals in the centre of all the squares. Having quilted the entire quilt in this way I decided it wasn't quite enough and quilted a spiral on each point where the squares meet.

The quilting also looks great on Kate's pieced back.

I will be heading over to buy a copy of Fat Quarterly here - from what I have seen, it is bound to be a fabulous online magazine full of inspirational quilts. I can't wait to see other versions of Kate's Windows and Frames Quilt.

Good luck with the magazine girls!

Girlfriends Galore Quilt

2010-04-21T21:58:00.000+10:00

My customer Rebecca has recently made this beautiful Girlfriends Galore Quilt from the first Material Obsession Book by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. It is a fabulous book and this quilt is a great example of the wonderful quilts in this book.

This quilt is not about the quilting, but rather about the fabulous design and beautiful fabric choices.

I particularly love the central medallion of this quilt.

Rebecca's quilt was quilted with a design called Gothic Vine which shows up beautifully on the plain white backing fabric and has added a lovely texture to the quilt.

I know from Rebecca's blog that she has been busy putting on her binding - I hope you are enjoying your new quilt Rebecca.

Crop Circle Quilt - Quilted

2010-04-15T21:10:00.000+10:00

I decided to go with feathers in the background of my Crop Circle Quilt - although I did like the suggestion of cross-hatching. I am thrilled with the end result - it was a fun little quilt to work on.

This quilt has now been added to my personal quilts which need to have the binding done - I seem to have issues with finishing quilts, especially when it comes to the binding. I was thinking of including a solid coloured piping in white binding - what do you think?

It is back to customer quilts for me now!

Crop Circle Quilt - Work in Progress

2010-04-10T15:45:00.000+10:00

With Easter and the school holidays, I have taken some time out to do some quilting for myself. I have had this Crop Circle Quilt designing itself in my head for quite some time and these circles are the result. The quilt is going to be a wallhanging and I have used white Kona Cotton quilted with Aurifil threads.

Here are some of my circles.

I am having a wonderful time quilting these, although, pebbling is not my favourite pastime. Now, to fill that white space - feathers perhaps?

Wholecloth Design Course

2010-04-06T20:43:00.002+10:00

I have been having a wonderful time participating in the Wholecloth Design & Execution Class being held online at MQ Resource. The class is being run by Adam Chenevert who is an amazing and inspirational quilter - check out the link to see some of his amazing work or visit his blog.

The concept of the wholecloth design course if fairly simple - you design 1/8th, mirror this image which becomes 1/4 of your quilt. Put the four quarters together and you have the basis for a whole quilt. I have spent numerous hours in glorious Melbourne autumn weather drawing and re-drawing my design. With the help of a computer savvy 13 year old I have even managed to mirror and flip my design in photoshop.

This is the 1/4 design of my wholecloth quilt.

The following is the complete design - there seems to be something quite magical about symmetry in quilting designs.

Adam also loves to quilt many different background designs on his quilts - I have included lots of pebbling, cross hatching and straight line quilting around the feather motifs.

I have ordered some Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons to quilt this wholecloth design - whether or not I am up to that task is something I will find out in due course but I am certainly looking forward to the challenge.

Co-ordinated Chaos Quilt

2010-03-31T20:34:00.000+11:00

Last week my sister Rita from Red Pepper Quilts made the Co-ordinated Chaos Quilt from the Rowan book a Colorful Journey. When I saw Rita's quilt I realised that I had quilted a version of this quilt for my customer Isobel some time ago.

Here is Rita's version of the Chaos Quilt.

Photo courtesy of Red Pepper Quilts

One of the many things I love about quilting is that a quilt pattern made by different quilters can result in vastly different quilts. I love that even when quilters are making a quilt from a pattern, they are always adding a little bit of themselves.

This is Isobel's version of the Co-ordinated Chaos Quilt.

While both Rita and Isobel have used Kaffe Fassett shot cottons and checks and stripes, the colour palettes are quite different. Rita has included blues and greens while Isobel has relied on reds, pinks, yellow and blues.

The quilting too is strikingly different between these two quilts. Rita has quilted straight line quilting in both directions to great effect.

Photo courtesy of Red Pepper Quilts

I quilted Isobel's quilt with swirls and feathers quilted in alternating directions.

I have enjoyed the opportunity to compare and contrast these two beautiful quilts. Thanks to Rita for allowing me to use the images of her quilt. Thanks also to Isobel for allowing me to quilt her Chaos Quilt - it was a fun quilt to work on.

Rosie

2010-03-26T20:11:00.000+11:00

The quilt I am sharing with you today has been hand pieced by my customer Ann. It is a sampler quilt, set with sashing and smaller eight-pointed star cornerstones, made in gorgeous greens, pinks and reds. The colour scheme put me in mind of roses and, as a result, we decided to quilt Ann's quilt with an all-over design called Rosie by Jodi Beamish.

I am sure you will agree that this pattern has quilted up beautifully with the flowers standing out particularly well on the green sashing and border fabric while still allowing the individual blocks to shine.

This has been another wonderful quilt to work on - I hope you like the final result Ann and enjoy your quilt.

Purple & Yellow Quilt

2010-03-19T18:15:00.000+11:00

Having just quilted several custom quilts, it was a pleasure to quilt an edge-to-edge quilt again. The quilt I am featuring today was made by my customer Liz. She has made the quilt as a gift for someone whose favourite colour is purple. Liz has made a beautiful quilt - she has used a beautiful range of fabrics and the combination of purple and yellow is striking.

I have used one of my favourite patterns, Splash by Jodi Beamish, on this quilt. This pattern tends to look great on modern quilts -it has added some lovely texture and movement.

I hope your gift is well received Liz - it has certainly met the purple criteria!

Teddy Bear's Picnic Quilt

2010-03-12T20:16:00.001+11:00

I have just had the pleasure of quilting my customer Denise's very cute Teddy Bear's Picnic Quilt. Denise has made this quilt for her grandson's birthday.

Inspired by the quilting on this quilt, I quilted some whimsical detail into each of the blocks - see if you can spot the quilted leaves, flowers, butterfly, fruit, heart, sun, balloon and boat in these blocks.

The above block also shows the border which has been quilted with swags and feathers.

The following block with the little sailor and his boat is my favourite - I love how the quilted boat turned out.

Close-ups of the other blocks in this quilt are on my flickr page if you would like to see more.

Denise picked up her quilt today and was thrilled - I hope her grandson loves the quilt as much as she does. I certainly had a great time quilting it.

Blue Stars Quilt

2010-03-07T22:54:00.000+11:00

My customer Peney makes the most exquisite quilts with wonderful piecing, fabric selections and colour choices. This Blue Stars Quilt she has made is no exception. The quilt is made up of blocks made by various piecers from Peney's quilting group which Peney has sewn together. Many of the blocks have the name of the maker embroidered on them. I love the golden highlights throughout the quilt: in the corner blocks in the outer border; the corner blocks of the body of the quilt, as well as some of the carefully placed corner stones. You really get the impact of the golden highlights when looking at the whole quilt.

I have quilted the Blue Stars Quilt with feathers in the white setting triangles of many of the blocks, continuous curves in the blue sections of the blocks, a tiny scroll through the narrow sashing and semi-circles with feathers and piano keys in the borders. Here are some close ups of the individual blocks.

The following is a close-up of the quilting in the border -

More photos of this quilt can be viewed on my flickr page here.

I hope you have enjoyed Peney's Blue Stars Quilt - it has been a pleasure to work on and I am thrilled with the end result.

Pick-Pocket Nurses (now Quilter's) Tool Belt

2010-03-03T22:47:00.000+11:00

I have spent some considerable time over the last week in the emergency department of our local hospital. My husband was the patient and he is now on the way to recovering. While there, however, I had plenty of time to notice that many of the nursing staff were wearing a small tool belt around their waist for their scissors, tape, pens, keys etc.

As a longarm machine quilter, I am always putting down my scissors and then having to figure out exactly where I have left them, to the point of frustration. I often find myself walking all the way around to the other side of the quilting machine to pick up my scissors. I had considered a tool belt before but had not found anything small enough that wasn't going to get in the way while quilting, until last week.

I found the Pick-Pocket Nurses Tool Belt online at Multipoint Technologies and at $15AUD including postage thought it a bargain. My ~~Nurses~~ Quilter's Tool Belt arrived in the mail today - I will now hopefully be able to put my hands on my scissors and other small tools at all times.

Modern Sampler Quilt

2010-02-21T20:54:00.000+11:00

Kate from One Flew Over has once again made a stunning quilt which I have had the pleasure to quilt. Kate has made a Modern Sampler Quilt, using simple blocks made with gorgeous fabrics set with a cotton-linen blend sashing in a grey colour.

Kate's only quilting instructions to me were that she did not want feathers. Inspired by the quilting on this Sampler Quilt we decided to quilt Kate's quilt with Baptist Fans and I think the result is rather striking in its simplicity.

The quilting design has added a lovely movement and texture to the quilt. Here are some closer shots.

My favourite block:-

Kate has used a plain white fabric on the back with a wide strip of a beautiful Liberty fabric. The back shows the quilting beautifully.

I hope you enjoy your quilt Kate - as usual, it has been a delight to work on and has resulted in a fabulous quilt.

Georgia's Birthday Quilt

2010-02-15T21:03:00.000+11:00

My sister Rita from Red Pepper Quilts and I decided to make a quilt together for our niece's 6th birthday which is coming up soon. Rita agreed to make the top and I would do the machine quilting.

Rita is a designer and maker of the most exquisite modern quilts. Georgia's quilt is an original design by Rita and you can see the making of this quilt on Rita's blog here.

Georgia's quilt has been quilted with an all-over design called Daisies Galore from Timeless Quilting Designs. Here are some close-ups of the individual blocks.

As usual, Rita has pieced together an amazing back. The daisies show up beautifully on the plain pink fabric.

Rita has released the pattern for Georgia's Quilt which is available through her patterns page on her website or from her Etsy Shop. This is the second pattern released by Red Pepper Quilts - her other pattern "Bricks and Stones" is a beautiful quilt also.

Rita and I can't wait to see Georgia's reaction to her quilt on her birthday.

Wonderland Quilt

2010-02-12T22:00:00.001+11:00

My customer Bridie has just made a beautiful quilt using fabrics from the Wonderland range by MoMo for Moda. Bridie has used this range of fabrics to make some wonderful log cabin blocks which have been set with a chocolate coloured sashing in a cotton-linen blend.

I have quilted Bridie's quilt using one of my favourite patterns called Splash by Jodi Beamish of Willow Leaf Studio. I have used this pattern quite a few times as it tends to look great on modern quilts. I do particularly like the way the quilting stands out in the plain fabric - it has added a lovely texture and great movement to the quilt.

Bridie has made this quilt for her daughter - I hope she will love and use this quilt for many years to come.

Loch Quilt Hanging 2010

2010-02-07T20:17:00.000+11:00

When I found out that the 10th Loch Quilt Hanging was to be the last one, I knew I had to go. So, at the last minute it was decided to make the trip to Loch with a quilting friend. I have been to quite a few Loch Quilt Hangings over the years and have some great memories - I have previously taken my Mother, my Mother-in-Law and my husband and children. We have always enjoyed the day and today was no exception.

My friend and I had a lovely time, catching up on quilting news, having a wonderful morning tea in Loch, wandering around amongst the lovely quilts, enjoying a great lunch and then the return drive to Melbourne all on a glorious summer day. As a sign of this electronic age, I bumped into an on-line friend Cathy from Cabbage Quilts and we caught up with several quilting customers.

Loch Village was established in South Gippsland in 1876 and is a small township with a rural charm. The original buildings and colourful cottage gardens add interest to a leisurely village stroll and are a fitting backdrop to the antique and craft shops, bric-a-brac stores and galleries. The charming buildings certainly make a great backdrop for the quilts which were on display today.

The makers of these two quilts were Maureen Mackie and Clare Brown.

The quilt on the left was made by Gail Watts. Unfortunately, I don't know the maker of the small quilt on the right.

These quilts were by Deirdre Mifsud, Amanda Davis and Fay Beverley.

Again, I don't know the maker of the quilt on the left. The maker of the quilt on the right is Maureen Mackie.

While the public display of quilts was great, I particularly enjoyed the collection of quilts by Yoko Okamoto from Japan. Yoko's hand piecing, applique and hand quilting were just amazing. My two favourite quilts from her collection were the following:-

Loch Quilt Hanging 2010 was a wonderful day out with a great array of glorious quilts on display. It is with some sadness that this will be the last one - thank you to Julie Wallace and the organisers from Quilters Barn for 10 great years of Quilt Hangings.

First Quilt for 2010

2010-02-05T19:27:00.000+11:00

Finally - I have finished my first quilt for 2010!

The quilt I am sharing today is my customer Anne's quilt who has made a traditional sampler quilt. I love the traditions of quilting and the fact that many quilters start on their quilting journey with a sampler quilt. This is Anne's first quilt and she had done a great job hand piecing it.

I think it took me a while to get started with quilting this year as this first quilt was a custom quilt and quite a challenge on the brain with each block being different. As you can see, I went with lots of feathers, some continuous curves and line-dancing. Here are some of the blocks:-

The border has been quilted with swags with feathers in them. The pink sashing has a swirl design while the white and green sashing have yet more feathers.

There are several more photos of different blocks on my Flickr page for anyone interested.

I hope Anne will be pleased with her quilt and that this is the start of a great quilting journey for her. I am off to do a quilt with an all-over design now..

Back from Holidays

2010-01-24T16:01:00.000+11:00

I have just returned from 2 wonderful weeks at the beach and must confess to not having done anything remotely crafty in that time... It was great, although I am now looking forward to getting back into quilting and catching up on some wonderful blog reading.

I will return to quilting in the next week when the kids go back to school. In the mean time I thought I would share a collection of my 2009 quilts - both customer and personal quilts. I love the way they look together in their own "patchwork quilt".

1. Rouenneries Quilt, 2. Hippy Wholecloth - close up, 3. Japanese Flower Garden Quilt, 4. Blue Daze Quilt, 5. Inchie Quilt, 6. Fern Quilt, 7. Kaffe Fassett Quilt, 8. Just Leaf It, 9. Zigue Zague, 10. Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, 11. Modern Baby Quilt, 12. Gelati Stars, 13. Single Girl Quilt, 14. Blue & Green Quilt, 15. Just Leaf It, 16. Hearts in Bloom Quilt, 17. Inchie Quilt, 18. Rouenneries Quilt, 19. Japanese Flower Garden Quilt, 20. Fern Quilt, 21. Zigue Zague - Close up 1, 22. Pink Fairy Quilt, 23. Blue & Green Quilt - close-up, 24. Oma's Garden - close up, 25. Gelati Stars

I have thoroughly enjoyed quilting in 2009 and have enjoyed sharing these quilts with other bloggers. I am looking forward to a creative and quilty 2010.

A Holiday Project

2009-12-28T20:26:00.000+11:00

As I tend not to quilt during January while the kids are home on summer holidays, I decided I needed a summer project. I have decided to see how I go with crocheting a throw and was lucky enough to be given the book "200 Crochet Blocks" by Jan Eaton for Christmas. I have bought some organic cotton from Ecoyarns in lovely muted colours of cream, browns and greens.

I have completed four blocks so far and am pleased with the results. The blocks I have finished are:

No. 189 Willow

No. 94 Gothic Square

No. 47 Queen Anne's Lace

and No. 209 Marigold

With that, I am going to be signing off for a while to enjoy our summer break with family. I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and that 2010 may bring health and happiness.

I will see you back in 2010 to hopefully share many more beautiful quilts.

Best wishes,

Karen

A Rouenneries Wedding Quilt

2009-12-21T19:01:00.000+11:00

My friend Penny has just made a beautiful quilt to be gifted as a wedding quilt early in the new year. The quilt has been made mainly from the Moda Rouenneries by French General range of fabrics. The Rouenneries range is a lovely collection of printed cottons and woven stripes. Rouenneries were the cotton prints printed in Rouen, France during the mid-18th Century. The inspiration for these designs were based on a collection of old prints and stripes from this era in shades of reds, naturals and chocolate browns. Penny has certainly managed to put these fabrics together to make a stunning quilt - I particularly love the reds in this quilt.

As Penny wanted a quilting design which was not too feminine and floral, I have again used the Gothic Vine design which draws your eye around the quilt.

The Rouenneries range has some beautiful solid fabrics in the range and I love the way the quilting stands out on these fabrics.

This was the last quilt I had to complete before Christmas - I am sure it will be well received by the bride and groom.

I will be taking a break from quilting for customers over the holidays but will hopefully get to do some of my own quilting.

A Birthday Quilt

2009-12-16T19:44:00.000+11:00

I love the stories behind quilts - every quilt seems to have a lovely story either about the maker, the recipient or the reason the quilt is made. The story behind Liz's quilt appeals to me in particular. Liz has just celebrated her own 40th Birthday - to celebrate her 40th Birthday and to honour and thank her mother on having reached this significant birthday, she has made a special quilt for her mum.

Liz's mother loves green - this beautiful quilt should therefore appeal to her. While many of the fabrics in the quilt were new, some fabrics which have been in the family for a long time have also been incorporated in the quilt. This quilt was rather large and I could not manage to get a photo of the whole quilt.

I quilted Liz's quilt with an all-over design called plumage. Here are some close-ups of some of the lovely fabrics included and the quilting detail which has added great texture to the quilt.

I hope you have celebrated a wonderful 40th Birthday Liz and that your Mum loves her new quilt.

Hand Pieced Inchie Quilt

2009-12-10T22:00:00.000+11:00

Being more of a machine piecer myself, I am always impressed by the skill and amazed at the patience of hand piecers. As the name of the quilt suggests, this quilt is made up of 1 inch squares all of which have been hand pieced by my customer Charmaine.

This little quilt was a delight to quilt. To make the printed squares pop up, I have quilted continuous curves around the cream background squares. I love the circular effect this has created around the printed squares.

Here is a close-up of the sashing and the border.

I believe Charmaine has made a beautiful little quilt. She picked it up today and tells me she has another just like it under way - hand piecing must be rather addictive!

Blue Daze Quilt

2009-12-06T21:40:00.000+11:00

I have just had the pleasure of quilting this beautiful Blue Daze Quilt for Kate from One Flew Over. The quilt is for her son, Alfie and is a result of the Around The Block quilting bee - both Kate and all the girls involved have done a fantastic job. Kate has kindly allowed me to blog about her quilt before she has even seen it - I hope you like it Kate.

Kate chose the Waterworld quilting design, having seen it on this little quilt. The quilting design has added great texture and movement through the quilt. Here are some close-ups of the quilting and the fabulous blocks.

There is so much little detail in each of the blocks - they really are lots of fun.

As there were more blocks than Kate was able to use in the front, some of the blocks have been used to make a great quilt back. As a machine quilter, I must admit I love the quilting on that expanse of white fabric on the back.

I hope Alfie gets many years of use out of his new quilt - enjoy!

Quilt Whisperer 101

2009-12-03T16:51:00.003+11:00

I have been taking part in an online machine quilting course called "Quilt Whisperer 101" which is organised through MQ Resource with the teacher being Carla Barrett of Feathered Fibers. Carla is an amazing quilter and I had been following her blog for quite a while. The class taught the technique of "quilt whispering" or reading a quilt. It is a design class, taught over three weeks, which gives you an understanding of how a quilt needs to be quilted. The class also taught a large number of quilting designs. Part of the class involved uploading photos of your creative exercises which were then shared through a forum - it was amazing and very inspirational to see everyone's work. Also included were a number of videos which were great to watch.

The class included a number of fabulous creative exercises. I learned the joy of drawing quilting designs with a white gel pen on black paper. The result is beautiful and is a great reference to show customers. Here is one of my samples:-

The next creative exercise was to quilt out some of the drawn designs onto black fabric with a contrasting thread. Quilting with contrasting thread is usually out of my comfort zone but I was very excited with the results.

If I were to quilt these designs onto a quilt I would probably just choose a couple of different elements. However, I had a great time quilting this little sample and practicing a wide range of designs.

I would highly recommend the Quilt Whisperer 101 Class to all quilters - it is a design class not specifically for longarm machine quilters. Quilt Whisperer 101 is being run again in January 2010 - I loved it!

Fern Quilt

2009-11-29T17:48:00.001+11:00

I would like to share my customer Peney's Fern Quilt. Peney makes beautiful quilts - her designs and fabrics are always striking and this quilt is no exception. The quilt has been made from Joelle Hoverson's fabric range called Cake Rock Beach which has resulted in a very earthy, organic quilt. I particularly love the colours in this quilt.

Peney wanted the quilting on this quilt to be fairly simple. When I saw this quilt, the "Fern" quilting design by Kathie James came to mind. This pattern seemed to be perfect for this quilt and also met Peney's requirement for a simple quilting design. The fern quilting design has added great movement and texture to this quilt.

I love the way the ferns appear to go in both directions.

Peney has made this quilt as a gift - I am sure it will be well received and enjoyed.

A Parcel from France

2009-11-26T20:45:00.002+11:00

When I got home from work yesterday, my husband declared that I had received a "funny little parcel from France". It is always very exciting getting a parcel in the post - a parcel from France seems to be even more exciting. I received this beautifully handwritten envelope from Anna's Etsy Shop, Lilla Lotta.

Lilla Lotta has a fabulous selection of handmade cotton tapes including custom made tapes. My parcel contained my custom made Quilts on Bastings quilt labels and I am thrilled with them. I intend to use them for quilts that I make to sell and my personal quilts.

The labels are a great addition to my recently designed logo, business cards and flyer. After years of using home printed flyers, it is great to have some professional looking stationery and labels.

Now all I need is some time to make some quilts for myself to use my labels on. I am hoping to squeeze in some personal sewing once all my Christmas orders are completed.

Japanese Flower Garden

2009-11-21T18:10:00.000+11:00

I love the versatility of patchwork - the fact that you can take a traditional pattern like Grandmother's Flower Garden and make it in a totally different style. I have just finished quilting a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt for my customer Dorothy who has made a stunning Japanese version of this very traditional pattern. This quilt was hand pieced using the english paper piecing method.

I quilted this quilt with Baptist Fans which was done using the Quilt Ez templates. The Quilt Ez templates are an easy system to use - the templates sit on the quilting table and a stylus drops into the grooves. It is then a matter of following the grooves with the stylus as you quilt. With a little bit of care where over-stitching is required you get a great result.

I love the end result on Dorothy's quilt - a traditional quilting design on a modern version of a traditional quilt.

Dorothy has also put some beautiful detail into this quilt. Each of the centres of the flowers has sashiko stitching on it as has the outside border.

I hope you have enjoyed Dorothy's Japanese Flower Garden. Happy quilting...

Field Trips in Fiber

2009-11-18T19:13:00.000+11:00

I was thrilled to find that Vicki from Field Trips in Fiber has included my little Just Leaf It Quilt in her list of Longarm Specific Eye Candy. Thanks so much Vicki. Follow the above link if you have some spare time and would like to have a look at some fabulous blogs - her list of eye candy is quite extensive!

Enjoy - I did!

Australian Quilt Market

2009-11-17T20:33:00.001+11:00

I attended the Australian Quilt Market on the weekend in Melbourne. The Australian Quilt Market is a wholesale market which has been the prime venue to view and buy the very latest in patchwork, fabrics, professional quilting machines, threads, domestic sewing machines, notions, patterns, beading and accessories in Australia. I had a great time with Rita from Red Pepper Quilts and also met up with a number of other bloggers - it was great to catch up over a coffee. It was wonderful to see the beautiful fabric ranges of fabrics that are coming out.

As a machine quilter, however, I wasn't really in the market for buying a range of fabrics. My purchases were a little more humble - they included the following from Constantine Quilts:-

I was thrilled to get the current issue and some back issues of my favourite quilting magazine Machine Quilting Unlimited. I tend to find that many patchwork magazines focus on the piecing with the quilting being a secondary consideration. I often find myself peering at photos in patchwork magazines to try and see how a quilt has been quilted.

Machine Quilting Unlimited Magazine (MQU), however, is focused on the machine quilting process, whether you are using a domestic sewing machine, small frame system or professional longarm machine. I find their articles instructive and informative, showcasing the latest products, designs, teachers and quilting celebrities. The magazine tries to educate the reader via how-to instruction and detailed product reviews. A portion of the magazine is often decidated to showcasing award-winning, machine-quilted items, whether quilts, garments or miscellaneous creations and profiling industry leaders and businesses. I also love their maintenance articles which have proved very useful for my longarm quilting machine. MQU is published six times per year.

I also bought Maree Nordeng's book - Extreme Makeover - Feather Edition. I am not sure my quilting library needed another feather book but I couldn't resist.

I also received a complimentary Quilter's Diary for 2010 from Universal Magazines and bought a Christmas pattern from the very inspirational Don't Look Now. I have plans to use the Christmas pattern as a quilting design rather than an applique pattern - somehow I think it may not be ready for Christmas 2009...

Hearts in Bloom Quilt

2009-11-15T16:21:00.000+11:00

Although it is still Spring in Melbourne, the last week has made it feel like Summer has arrived early. We have just had a rather hot week with a number of days with temperatures over 30 degrees Celcius. It is almost too hot to quilt although I still have quite a few quilts to complete before Christmas.

Last week I finished a quilt which has a bright and summery feel about it for my customer Maree. It is a scrappy, square-in-a-square quilt which has used a larger number of fresh, beautifully colourful fabrics.

This quilt has been quilted with a design from one of my favourite designers, Timeless Quilting Designs. The pattern is called Hearts in Bloom which, as the name suggests, is a heart and daisy meander which ties in well with the many daisies featured in the prints.

I hope Maree enjoyes her new Hearts in Bloom quilt and that you have enjoyed reading about this cheerful quilt - enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy quilting.

Birds of Paradise Quilt

2009-11-09T21:27:00.001+11:00

I recently quilted this "Birds of Paradise Quilt" for Kate from One Flew Over. Kate made this quilt as an engagement present with fabrics chosen by the recipient of her gift. As Kate mentioned in her blog, the fabrics are perhaps not those that she would have chosen herself and she was not all that excited with the end result. I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however, and I for one really love this quilt - it is a beautifully fresh looking quilt.

I quilted this quilt with what appears to be my new favourite pattern called Gothic Vine - it is a lovely elegant pattern.

I particularly liked Kate's use of a plain white backing which made the quilting stand out beautifully. I tend to love a plain backing - as long as you can match the thread to the backing fabric.

I hope this quilt was well received Kate - I am sure it will be loved and that the amount of work you put into it will be appreciated.

A Parcel

2009-11-05T21:14:00.000+11:00

I participated in Park City Girl's Blogger's Quilt Festival a few weeks ago which was fabulous. Not only did I enjoy visiting many blogs and looking at the amazing quilts, I was also lucky enough to win a prize from one of the sponsors. My prize was a $50 voucher from The Fat Quarter Shop. I spent quite some time deciding what to buy and today my parcel arrived.

It is very exciting getting a parcel in the mail. I don't have a huge fabric stash and tend to buy fabrics with a particular quilt in mind. However, the voucher had to be spent! I settled on a number of solid fabrics for which I have in mind some baby wholecloth quilts. In also included a dotty fabric which I intend to be the binding. Here are my purchases.

I have also bought some more Aurifil threads which I have recently started using on my longarm machine - they quilt up beautifully and have a lovely sheen to them. These were bought from Always Quilting - they include some gorgeous variegated threads which should look great on the solids I have bought.

I am looking forward to making these baby quilts and will be sure to post them on my blog.

I would like to thank both Park City Girl for organising the Blogger's Quilt Festival and the Fat Quarter Shop for their generous sponsorship and their excellent service.

Kaffe Fassett Quilt

2009-11-02T21:30:00.000+11:00

I have just finished a beautiful Kaffe Fassett quilt for my customer Peta. My first ever post was the Single Girl Quilt which was also made by Peta for one of her daughters. This Kaffe Fassett quilt has been made for Peta's other daughter. Peta's daughters were so excited to have the Single Girl Quilt blogged by me that they asked if I could blog this quilt - how could I refuse?

This Kaffe Fassett quilt is not about the quilting - it is about beautiful fabrics, lovely subtle colours and a great quilt design.

I have quilted this quilt with an all-over design called Gothic Vine.

Well done Peta, you have made another gorgeous quilt - I hope your daughters enjoy their quilts.

Just Leaf It

2009-10-30T08:13:00.001+11:00

As a machine quilter I like to try new designs and quilting ideas. I am always buying books for inspiration and a book I purchased recently was "Just Leaf It" by Kim Stotsenberg. As the title suggests, the book explains how to quilt leaves into quilts, giving ideas for borders, sashing and blocks.

I am usually not brave enough to quilt a new design straight onto a quilt without at least having practiced it. This time, I decided to make a small wholecloth quilt to try out these new leaves. My little "Just Leaf It" wholecloth quilt is about 20 inches square.

Here are some close-ups of the quilting.

This was also the first time I had quilted the pebble background fill. I love the look of the pebbles and the way it has made the leaves pop up. The pebbles were, however, a very time consuming background fill to quilt and I found it hard to relax while quilting them.

I loved making this little quilt which now hangs in my studio - it is great to be able to show customers a quilting design on a quilt rather than on paper.

A Grandmother's Flower Garden Bushfire Quilt

2009-10-25T21:11:00.002+11:00

The bushfires in Victoria of last Summer, and in particular, February 7th caused many people to lose their lives, their homes and their livelihoods. The recovery process is still in the early stages, with many people only just starting to rebuild their homes or even deciding on whether or not to rebuild.

In an attempt to provide comfort, the quilting community throughout Australia have made literally thousands of quilts for the bushfire victims. The quilt I am featuring today is one such quilt which, in a small way, it is hoped will give some comfort to the person receiving it.

This Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt was made by my customers Lesley and Jan and other members of their patchwork and sewing group. Their patchwork group had been meeting regularly for years and one of their very own members lost her home during the bushfires - this quilt has been made for her. The quilt has been entirely hand pieced over the last six months. It is made from the most beautiful civil war reproduction fabrics.

Many of the hexagons have been carefully fussy cut, resulting in the most spectacular blocks - these are some of my favourites.

I have quilted this quilt with an all-over feather design by Timeless Quilting Designs called Feathered Curls. The quilting has added great detail to the borders of the quilt without taking away from the piecing in the body of the quilt.

I hope the quilt will provide some comfort to the person receiving it, I know a lot of love has gone into the making of it.

Piecing for Myself - Wheel of Fortune Quilt

2009-10-22T12:40:00.000+11:00

As a longarm machine quilter who quilts for customers, I am often asked whether I get to piece any quilts for myself. Unfortunately, I don't get to make as many quilts for myself these days as I would like to. There are always some quilts floating around in my head, many of which never get made. I do usually have some piecing on the go.

The following quilt is a hand pieced quilt which is still a work in progress. In fact, it has been a work in progress for about five years, although it seems to be finally coming together. The quilt I am making is the Wheel of Fortune Quilt from the cover of Kaffe Fassett's book Caravan of Quilts. I bought the quilt as a kit some years ago which is not something I usually do but it was a quilt I fell in love with and had to have. I am hand sewing the quilt using the English paper piecing method which has made it a very portable project. In fact, the quilt has been sewn over five summer holidays to Tathra, has been to numerous Port Fairy Folk Festivals and at swimming lessons too numerous to count. When I take the project to our Wednesday evening sewing group the others just roll their eyes in disbelief that I am still working on this project.

The quilt is made in eight segments, all of which I have now completed. It has finally stopped being a portable project! All I need to do now to complete the top is to sew the segments together.

Here is a close up of a section.

I still have all the paper pieces in the back - I can't wait until the day I will be able to remove them all - which will be another huge task. The paper pieces were purchased from the Lizard of Oz who have an incredible range of shapes ready for cutting out.

Will I finish this quilts this year? Probably not.. What will I work on during my summer holiday now? The next question will be how to quilt this - but that can wait a while. Do you have any projects that have been on the go for this long?

Spring Garden Quilt

2009-10-17T16:55:00.001+11:00

I would like to share with you a quilt made by Nicole which I have recently finished quilting. Nicole's quilt is made from nine-patches in greens and pinks, joined together into larger blocks (does that make it a 36 patch?) and alternated with blocks in an ivory fabric. The quilt also has a large border in the same ivory fabric. The large, open spaces cried out for intricate quilting to me. As the quilt is quite large, we decided on an all-over design called "Oma's Garden" by Sophie Collier. This pattern is quite intricate and has gorgeous feathers, flowers, hearts and leaves. I find it a great alternative to the more expensive option of custom quilting.

Here is a photo of the whole quilt - it was quite difficult to fit the whole quilt into the frame.

The following close-up of the quilt shows the amount of detail in this quilting design. The quilting has added a lot of detail to the plain areas and yet has not dominated the pieced parts of the quilt. This pattern is certainly one of my favourites although it does need to be quilted on the right quilt.

I hope you have enjoyed Nicole's quilt - enjoy your weekend and happy quilting.

Modern Baby Quilt

2009-10-14T22:38:00.002+11:00

I have just finished quilting the most gorgeous modern baby quilt made by my customer Hilary. Her quilt is to be a gift for a baby due early November and is based on this Simple Modern Baby Quilt pattern by Oh, Fransson without the applique. Hilary has made this quilt using a beautiful colour scheme in greens accompanied by bright, cheerful prints.

I have quilted this baby quilt with an all-over swirly design called Waterworld. Here is a close-up of the quilting and some of the gorgeous prints.

The back of this quilt has been pieced which has made for a reversible quilt - I love the parade of animals across the back and the texture of the quilting.

I hope this beautiful baby quilt will be received with love and enjoyed by the family of this yet to be born baby.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2009-10-09T17:03:00.002+11:00

I am participating in Park City Girl's Blogger's Quilt Festival - an online Quilt Festival being held from October 9th - 16th.

I have had a hard time choosing one of my favourite quilts but have decided to include Claire's Gelati Stars. This quilt was pieced by my customer Penny a few years ago for her daughter Claire. It is a gorgeous quilt with stars in soft colours set with hexagons in a cream fabric. I particularly like how the pink stars draw your eye in. Penny machine pieced her quilt with a class by Kathryn George at Calico & Chintz. Please contact Kathryn directly if you are interested in this pattern at calicoandchintz@bigpond.com.

Penny gave me permission to quilt as desired - I quilted all the stars with line-dancing swirls and quilted feathers in each of the setting hexagons.

Here is a close-up of one of my favourite pink stars:-

Some of the quilting in this quilt is quite dense which, as a machine quilter, I reall love although it is not to everyone's taste. I discovered this when this quilt was exhibited in the Australian Machine Quilter's Exhibition in 2007 when I overheard someone say "and this quilt has been quilted to death". It did teach me to be careful about what you say at an exhibition as the person who made the quilt may not be too far away.

I hope you have enjoyed Claire's Gelati Stars - I certainly enjoyed quilting it! I hope you enjoy the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Teal Blue & Green Baby Quilt

2009-10-05T22:17:00.000+11:00

Having recently featured some quilts with fairly intricate quilting, I wanted to share a fairly simple, yet beautiful baby quilt. This little quilt was made by my customer Sue and it shows that a quilt does not have to be complicated to be effective. Sue has combined beautiful teal blue and green fabrics, set the squares with white sashing and cornerstones to achieve a gorgeous quilt.

This quilt has been quilted with an all-over design called Spiral Path to add movement and to make the eye travel around the quilt with its otherwise straight lines.

I hope you have enjoyed Sue's little quilt. Have a great day and happy quilting...

Quilt Show Ribbons - Australian Machine Quilters Association Show 2009

2009-10-01T20:54:00.001+10:00

I have been waiting anxiously for the return of the two quilts I entered into the inaugural Australian Machine Quilters Association (AMQA) Show which was held on September 26th and 27th in Queensland. I was thrilled to hear that both quilts won first prize ribbons in their respective categories and couldn't wait to see the ribbons. I have now received one of the quilts and its ribbon in the mail but the AMQA have asked if they could show the other quilt in the Queensland Quilt Show which is being held 21st - 25th October so I can only show you one of the ribbons. It is a rather beautful ribbon, very elegant ..

The two quilts I entered were Zigue Zague which was entered into the Functional Custom category and Oma's Garden which was entered into the Edge-to-Edge category.

I made Zigue Zague this year and, as the name suggests, it is a zig zag quilt made from solid colours. I love the simplicity of strippy quilts, especially with solid colours as they lend themselves well to allowing the quilting to be a feature. I quilted Zigue Zague with a feather design along the lenth of each zig zag, changing thread colours for each change in fabric. Each zig zag required five passes of quilting. Zigue Zague was also entered into the Australian Machine Quilter's Exhibition held in Melbourne in July this year where it was awarded a 2nd place in the Custom Quilting Category.

The following is a full view of Zigue Zague with its ribbon at the Australian Machine Quilter's Exhibition in July this year.

This is a close up of the quilting.

I made Oma's Garden in 2008 and it was also entered into the Australian Machine Quilter's Exhibition in Melbourne that year where it was awarded 2nd place in the Edge-to-Edge Category. Oma's Garden is also a strippy quilt which alternates wide strips of a floral fabric with plain linen strips which again allows the quilting to be a feature. Oma's Garden was quilted with an intricate edge-to-edge design which features flowers, leaves and feathers.

The following is a full view of Oma's Garden.

This is a close up of the quilting.

It was an absolute thrill to have won 2 first prize ribbons with 2 quilts in the inaugural AMQAS. I would like to thank the organisers of the Australian Machine Quilters Association Show for their hard work in getting the first show up an running and the sponsors for their support - well done and I'll look forward to next year's show.

If you would like to see photos of the other prize winning quilts please visit the AMQA-inc blog.

Published - Down Under Quilts

2009-09-26T12:43:00.001+10:00

The digital version of Down Under Quilts issue 137 is out and it has one of my quilts in it. I always find it such a thrill to see one of my quilts in a magazine - very self-indulgent really! My quilt, Hippy Wholecloth is featured on page 18 as part of the article "In the Pink". As October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, Down Under Quilts set out to compile the contents of this issue with this in mind - there is lots of pink!

Hippy Wholecloth was made back in 2007 after I had spent some time with a well-known Australian Longarm Quilter, Susan Campbell, who taught me how to quilt feathers. I was inspired to make a wholecloth quilt that was a little different and would not disappear into my white walls at home. I decided to use hand-dyed fabrics by Lisa Walton from Dyed and Gone to Heaven resulting in a somewhat 'hippy' look. Hippy Wholecloth has a soft, dappled centre surrounded by a border of darker pink. The quilting design is my original design, although based on traditional feathers and the book, Meandering Magic by Suzanne Earley.

The following photo shows the detail of the centre of this quilt:-

I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt and at the time was rather pleased with my feathers. Hippy Wholecloth still has a special place in my home. I can't wait to see the actual hard copy of the magazine..

Get your free Digital Subscription to Down Under Quilts here.

Pink Fairy Quilt for Breastcancer Awareness

2009-09-24T15:05:00.004+10:00

To raise awareness for Breastcancer, October, 2009 is Breastcancer Awareness Month. My customer and friend Penny has made a gorgeous Pink Fairy Quilt which I have just finished quilting. The quilt has been made as a fundraiser for this great cause and will be raffled or auctioned next month at the Annual Morris Hall (MGGS) Touch of Pink Breakfast.

The quilt features 12 different fairies set with pink and white sashing and surrounded by pink and white squares. The quilt was made from a kit and based on a pattern purchased from The Patchwork Collection in Healesville.

The quilt has been quilted with an all-over design called Angel Wings to tie in with the Fairy theme.

Here is just one more close-up to give you an idea of the gorgeous fairies.

I would like to wish Penny good luck with the fundraiser - I hope the quilt is a great success in raising money for Breastcancer awareness and that the quilt goes to a little girl who will treasure it for a long time to come.

Springtime Blue & Green ...

2009-09-18T15:01:00.009+10:00

The weather is just beautiful in Melbourne today - it is a wonderful spring day. I would like share with you a quilt I custom quilted recently which has a Springtime feel about it. It was made by my customer Liz from the most gorgeous soft greens and blues and set with white sashing. Liz used a large number of beautiful Liberty fabrics which are just divine.

Liz wanted fairly simple quilting. Each of the blocks has been quilted with semi-circles which gives the effect of a sashiko like flower. The sashing has been quilted with a feather as inspired by Carla from Feathered Fibers - thanks for the fabulous tutorials. I find Carla's quilting just incredible and an amazing inspiration.

The following is a close-up of the quilting and shows off some of the beautiful fabrics:-

I hope Liz is enjoying her quilt and that you have all enjoyed reading about it.

Happy quilting and have a lovely Spring day.

My very first post

2009-09-13T19:58:00.000+10:00

Hello,

I am a Longarm Machine Quilter based in Melbourne and about to start on my blogging journey. Over time I hope to show some of my customer quilts as well as some of my own quilts. I do both edge-to-edge and custom quilting and would like to start by sharing a beautiful edge-to-edge quilt I quilted recently.

The quilt is from the pattern "Single Girl Quilt" by Denise Schmidt and was made by my customer Peta. The quilt was made for her daughter with gorgeous modern fabrics with a pale pink for the background. Peta wanted to keep the quilting fairly simple and not overpowering, so we decided on a swirly pattern called "Windy Meandering".

Below is a photo of this gorgeous quilt:-

The following photo shows some of the detail of the quilting as well as the beautiful fabrics used:-

This particular quilt seems to be quite popular at the moment - for another example of this quilt being made see: http://www.redpepperquilts.com/2009/09/single-girl-quilt-block.html