Baby Basketweave Quilt

I have just quilted a little baby quilt made by Bridie.  Bridie based her quilt on the Denyse Schmidt design from her book Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration.  The blocks have been scaled down considerably - from the original block size of 13.5 inches to 5.5 inches.

Bridie's quilt has been made for a new born baby girl in a modern colour combination of grey and teal blue.

 

I had fun quilting this quilt, trying to emphasise the basket weave effect with the quilting.  The horizontal lines have been quilted with small figure eight loops with a row of pebbles quilted on the teal vertical sections.

 

 

 

Best wishes Bridie for the new-born baby - I hope this little quilt is received and used with joy.

Flora's Sawtooth Stripe Quilt

I have finished my niece Flora's 18th Birthday quilt.  After the previous post, someone guessed correctly that the design was a Denyse Schmidt Quilt - it is indeed the Sawtooth Stripe Quilt from her book Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration.

 

 

Flora's quilt has been quilted with the iconic Denyse Schmidt loops which lends the quilt a very modern look.

 

I have included some wonderful orange fabric in the backing of the quilt which was purchased from Surface Art Design - an Australian based fabric design company. Surface Art embraces colour, form and simplicity which usually results in bold, colourful prints.  A single sawtooth stripe has been included across the back of the quilt - here is a snippet of the front and back of the quilt.

 

 

I am thrilled with the lime green and orange colour combination.  I am sure the quilt will look great turned down on Flora's bed.

 

 

Having just finished year 12 in Queensland, Flora is coming down to Melbourne to study at University at the start of 2013.  While the weather in Queensland is such that a quilt is almost unneccesary, I am sure she will make good use her quilt in our much colder climate.

 

Happy 18th Birthday Flora.

Piecing

I don't often seem to get the change to piece any quilts - most of the quilts I make tend to focus on the machine quilting and they are usually wholecloth quilts.  This week, I decided that a quilt needed to be made for an upcoming birthday present and so, I have been enjoying piecing.

As the quilt is for an 18th Birthday, I decided it needed to have a modern look.  The quilt only has two solid colours - a white and green.  I thought I would quickly whip up this  quilt, howevever, there is no way of quickly piecing and trimming back 540, 2 inch half square triangles.

 

 

Slowly, the half-square triangles have come together

 

 

Having finished the half-square triangles, now the quilt is starting to come together more quickly.

 

 

Back to sewing - the birthday is soon!

 

 

 

 

 

Quilt Mania Cover - Red Cross Quilt

I was thrilled to discover that the wonderful Red Cross Quilt I quilted for Linda from Quilts in the Barn is featured on the cover of the current issue of Quilt Mania.  Congratulations Linda, it looks fabulous and I am very excited to have been involved in the making of this quilt. 

 

 

For those who haven't seen this quilt before, please see my previous Red Cross Quilt post including close-ups of this gorgeous quilt.

 

I can't wait for this issue of Quilt Mania to drop into my letter box to discover other pictures of this quilt inside the magazine - it is going to make for some great quilt reading! 

 

Just think Linda, a quilt we have worked on featured on the cover of a magazine which will be on news stands in Paris!  Happy reading.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Strippy Applique Spring Quilt

I can't believe another Blogger's Quilt Festival has come around yet again.  I have joined in quite a few Blogger's Quilt Festivals and thought I would again - thank you for organising Amy - I always enjoy visiting many of the other quilts.  I know it is the Fall Festival, however, I am sharing what is very much a Spring Quilt given that it is Spring in Australia.

I have recently quilted a very cheerful strippy spring quilt for my customer Karin.  Karin made this colourful quilt for one of her grand-daughters, alternating rows of stripped triangles with strips of appliqued birds.

As Karin's fabrics were very busy and the quilting on the strips of triangles would not show much, we decided to combine edge-to-edge and custom quilting.  The triangle strips are quilted with an all-over design called Daisies Galore.  The applique strips have been outlined around the applique and then quilted freehand with a back-ground fill.

I love the whimsical quilting around the birds.

I hope your Granddaughter is enjoying her beautiful quilt Karin.

Remember to go over to Amy's site and visit many of the other wonderful quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2012 - enjoy!

Quilts in the Barn 2012

Last Friday my 12 year old son and I went to the Exhibition at Quilts in the Barn.  This year's exhibition, "Infinite Variety Revisited" was a wonderful display of Red & White Quilts.  To my son's surprise, he too enjoyed the exhibition (especially with a stop at a lolly shop on the way home).

I will leave you with some of the highlights.

A slight bias towards this quilt - see some of my previous posts!

There were many small wallhangings, creating a great display.

A tiny little doll's quilt with matching pillow!

And lots of lovely quilting!

Thank you Linda for another wonderful exhibition at Quilts in the Barn.  Congratulations - I am sure you will have raised lots of much needed funds for breast cancer research.

Diamond Sawtooth Quilt

The following Diamond Sawtooth Quilt is the last in a series of stunning Red & White Quilts I have quilted for Linda Collins of Quilts in the Barn.  This quilt too will feature in the upcoming Quilts in the Barn Exhibition as detailed in my previous post.  As usual, Linda's piecing was incredibly accurate - on this occasion she had paper pieced the half-square triangles resulting in perfect points.

Linda gave me the freedom to quilt as desired, as long as it included feathers.  I spent quite some time designing the quilting elements, using the Divide and Design concepts outlined in Lisa Calle's DVD.  Each triangle was divided and the same element quilted into each triangle either once, twice or four times depending on the size of the triangle.

The border was quilted with a simple undulating feather with straight lines.  The straight lines were quilted using one of the Quilter's Groove Rulers which made the spacing of the lines straightforward.

All was going really well until I decided to remove some of my blue dividing lines with a spray of water.  Being a red and white quilt, I was being conscious of the possibility of bleeding.  I had used the blue wash out pen on the white fabric only and had used chalk on the red.  You can imagine my horror when on spraying the white fabric, being careful to avoid any red fabric, a pink stain appeared - the backing fabric had bled into the top fabric.  At 11pm on a Saturday evening, I took to the computer googling madly for solutions to this problem - I did take some comfort from other quilters who had experienced the same problem.  After a restless night, I rose early to finish quilting the quilt and visited the supermarket to buy some Colour Catchers.  I consulted Linda who confirmed that none of the fabrics had been pre-washed.  We agreed that I would was the quilt, hopefully rinsing out all the excess dye including the bleeding which had occurred.

I tested some off-cuts of the backing fabric in some warm water in the bath - it turned pink!  Eventually, the quilt went in with a whole packet of  Colour Catchers.  Again, the water turned pink.  After a second and third rinsing, all the colour appeared to be gone and fortunately, the stain had washed out as well.  I am not sure how the Colour Catchers work, but they do appear to be effective - each of the sheets started out white.

AMQF 2012

I am very excited to be heading off to Adelaide tomorrow for the second Australian Machine Quilting Festival.  I will be travelling over with two of my machine quilting friends, Mandy and Anita, for a long weekend of classes with Ricky Timms, Renae Haddadin, Sherry Rogers-Harrison and Myrna Ficken.

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 two 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 and the company of like minded people.  Are you heading over?

Quilts in the Barn 2012

Quilts in the Barn 2012, organised by Linda of Quilts in the Barn is on again in a few weeks - the exhibition is being held from Friday 5th Octiber through to Sunday 7th October, 2012. The exhibition is a fundraiser for breast cancer research.

This year's exhibition was inspired by the Infinite Variety Exhibition:  Three Centuries of Red & White Quilts held in New York City in 2011.  Since travelling to the exhibition in NYC, Linda has developed an even greater love of Red & White Quilts as you may have seen on my blog, having quilted a number of Red & White Quilts for her.  For a preview of some of the Red & White Quilts which may be on exhibit at Quilts in the Barn 2012, remember the first Red & White Quilt, the beautiful Red Cross Quilt, and the stunning Red & White Quilt #2.  A range of vintage Red & White Quilts from the Mary Koval collection will be also be on display. 

The most recent Red & White quilt which I have quilted for Linda is the following beautiful traditional Signature Block Quilt made with reproduction fabrics.

In keeping with the traditional fabrics and design of this quilt, it has been quilted simply with Baptist Fans, one of my favourite designs for reproduction quilts.

I am certainly looking forward to this year's Quilts in the Barn Exhibition - best wishes Linda for what I am sure will be another wonderful exhibition.

Anne's 7th Birthday Quilt

I have just finished quilting a very pretty floral quilt made by my customer Kate.  Kate has made the quilt for her daughter Anne's birthday - Anne is turning 7 this weekend and she loves roses.  I am sure she is going to love this quilt - it is a simple design of floral squares sashed with a solid white fabric.

Anne's quilt has been quilted with one of my favourite designs, Daisies Galore to tie in with the floral theme.  I love the way the small daisies stand out on the white fabric.

Kate has also been very creative with the back of Anne's quilt.  Kate has four children and the hands of Dad, Mum, big brother, big sister, Anne and little sister have been appliqued across the back of the quilt - a very special and thoughtful touch!

Happy Birthday Anne - I am sure you will love your new quilt.

Japanese Quilt

Today I would like to share another of my customer Peney's wonderful quilts.  Peney has made a beautiful Japanese Quilt.  Peney's quilts are alway amazingly pieced and her eye for colour is fabulous. 

It took me considerable to work out how to quilt this quilt and Peney certainly waited patiently.  Once I started quilting and let the quilt speak to me, the designs just flowed.

I love the straight lines radiating from the fans, meeting in the centre of the quilt.

The lanterns have been quilted with orange-peel with small setting flowers in between.

The smaller lanterns have been outlined with straight lines and curved lines through the body.  I was also really pleased with the design for the sashing.

Detail of the kimono - very clever use of a prairie point.

Alternating floral designs on snow-ball blocks.

I hope you have enjoyed Peney's quilt - thanks again Peney for allowing me to work on your wonderful quilt. 

Keep it Simple!

I have recently quilted a number wonderful modern quilts.  The request for these quilts had been to keep the quilting simple and so I obliged.

The first quilt was made by Arlie and is a Denise Schmidt design called Stacking the Odds.

Arlie requested the signature figure 8 Denise Schmidt quilting design which has quilted up beautifully.

Arlie also made the following Strippy Quilt for her son Sammy with a collection of gorgeous fabrics.

With the busy prints, this quilt was not going to be about the quilting.  As a result, simple straight lines were quilted vertically troughout the quilt.  

Finally, two of my regular customers Tamsin and Bridie worked together to make the following Denise Schmidt quilt called What a Bunch of Squares as a gift for a friend's significant birthday.  I love the beautiful colour choices of this quilt.

I have quilted spiral squares 1" apart which has accentuated the straight lines of this quilt.

I hope you have enjoyed this selection of modern quilts - I have certainly enjoyed working on them.

Best of Show!

I have had the most incredibly exciting day today at the Melbourne Quilt & Craft Show.  The 2012 Victorian Quilters Inc Showcase is currently being held in conjunction with the Melbourne Quilt & Craft Fair.  My quilt, First Blush was entered in the Longarm Category.

First Blush is a wholecloth colour trapunto quilt which I recently made after making some sample pieces earlier in the year.  The quilt is made using techniques by Karen McTavish and involves cut-away trapunto.  The pink colour is created by placing a bright red fabric behind a sheer layer of basiste fabric.

I was thrilled to find that not only had First Blush won First Prize in the Longarm Category, the quilt also won Best of Show!  I have spent most of my day on cloud nine and am still buzzing!

Detail of the centre of First Blush - the background fill is pebbles, one of my favourites.

Corner section of First Blush with sweeping curved cross-hatching.

I will be going back to Quilt Showcase on Saturday to spend some more time with my quilt.  I would like to thank the committee of Vic Quilters for organising another fabulous quilt show, the judges for their time and what must be a difficult job and the volunteers for making the quilt show possible.  I would also like to thank all the sponsors and in particular Bernina for their generous sponsorship - I will look forward to receiving my prize, a Bernina 820 Quilter's Edition sewing machine.