A Baby Quilt for my Neighbour

My new A1 quilting machine arrived last week and I have spent some time getting used to the differences.  I am happy to report that I am loving it.  The first quilts have now been quilted and I would like to share the very first quilt I quilted on my new machine.

The quilt is a beautiful baby quilt pieced from fabrics provided by my sister Rita from Red Pepper Quilts.  Rita and I spent an afternoon together cutting, piecing and pressing this little quilt - we had a lovely time sewing together - something we don't do together very often.  I am very lucky to be able to occasionally access her wonderful stash and her eye for colour and design.

The quilt was quilted with one of my favourite all-over patterns Splash which has given it great texture.  The quilt has been made for my neighbours who have just had a baby boy - hopefully it will be well used and loved.

This should be the first of many more quilts to be quilted on the new A1 machine.

Zutphen - A Sampler Quilt

I have recently quilted a beautiful sampler quilt for my customer Jenny.  Jenny's quilt is named "Zutphen" after the location of Petra Prins' Patchwork & Quilting Shop in the Netherlands.  Jenny was lucky enough to visit Petra's shop and purchased the pattern "Project Rood".  Petra regards the pattern more a layout rather than a pattern with individual blocks coming from several now famous quilts including "Dear Jane", "Nearly Insane", "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler" and "The Civil War Diary Quilt".  Jenny included nine additional blocks to make the quilt rectangular rather than square.

Zuthpen has 50 blocks which are 6inches square each.  As Jenny loves feathers I incorporated feathers wherever possible including a lovely feather in the sashing.

This Dresden Plate block is one of my favourites:-

Some more detail of the quilting and Jenny's beautiful piecing and applique:-

I love Jenny's border too:-

Congratulations Jenny on completing a beautiful quilt and thank you for letting me quilt it - I had a wonderful time working on your quilt.

Gammill Classic Plus For Sale - SOLD

I have decided to upgrade my Longarm Quilting Machine and would therefore like to sell my Gammill Classic Plus.

The machine is a 2006 Gammill Classic Plus which is in excellent condition and perfect working order.  It has been used on a part-time basis operating 2 days per week during that time.

The machine has the following features:

26" by 10" Throat Space with 21" quilting area;

Stitch-Regulated & Manual stitching modes;

Electronic Needle Positioner and Single Stitch;

Horizontal and Vertical Channel Locks;

Low Bobbin Alert;

Run-Time Clock;

Dual Data Display Panels - for pantograph quilting and freehand quilting;

Double-Capacity Bobbin;

Built-On Bobbin Winder;

WorkStation Attachment for Circles, Ovals and more;

Portable Stylaser;

Built in Light Fixture;

Edge-Rider Wheels;

Steel 12' Powder Coated Stand with Pivotal Access;

Accessories:

Extended Throat Plate, providing a larger flat surface for ruler work;

Horizontal Small Spool Holder for using small spools of thread

Large Spool Holder for using larger cones of thread

Owner's Manual

Numerous M size Bobbins;

Spare Bobbin Case;

My Gammill has served me well in my quilting business and has also been used to quilt my personal quilts including various award winning show quilts.  The machine would be great for someone wanting to start a machine quilting business or for personal use.

Buyer would need to pay for transport or pick up from Northcote, an inner Melbourne suburb. Australian purchasers only!  Please email me privately at quiltsonbastings@gmail.com if you would like further information or are interested in purchasing my machine.

MACHINE HAS NOW BEEN SOLD - THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST!

Australia Quilts Exhibition

In September 2014, Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork / European Patchwork Meeting celebrates its 20th anniversary in Alsace, France.  Australia is the guest country of honour from outside of Europe.

Australia Quilts is an invitational exhibition curated by Brenda Gael Smith to showcase the diversity of Australian quiltmaking.  There are 34 featured artists and I was thrilled to have one of my quilts selected for this exhibition.

At present the quilts in the collection are making their way over to France including my quilt Purple Haze.

Detail - Purple Haze

Brenda has put together a beautiful website - Australia Quilts - Exceptional Quilts from the Great Southern Land to showcase the quilts that are part of the collection and to learn more about the featured artists.  I encourage you to take this opportunity to view this stunning collection of Australian quilts online.

If only I could accompany my quilt to France ...

Quilt Ladder

My studio is fairly small - there is not a lot of storage space and not much wall space to display quilts.  I had recently seen some great Quilt Ladders online and asked my very handy Dad to make me one.  Dad is a retired tiler and very handy with carpentry, bricklaying and many other trades.  Two weeks after my request, my quilt ladder is home and he has done a fabulous job.

With 10' ceilings, I was able to have a 9' ladder built - the ladder is about 20" wide and the rungs are spaced about 17" apart placed on an angle to accommodate the quilts.

I spent this Sunday morning selecting a range of quilts and quilt tops to display - I managed to take a picture of the now tidy section of my room.  It will be great to be able to easily change the quilts on display.

Thanks Dad for a great job - I might see if I need any more quilt ladders for elsewhere in the house.

Vic Quilters Showcase 2014 - Sanderson's Apprentice

I spent a wonderful day today at the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair with my sister, Red Pepper Quilts and our Mum. 

We had a great time shopping at the many booths, chatting to many familiar faces and viewing the wonderful quilts on display as part of the 2014 Vic Quilters Showcase.

The highlight of the day, however, was being awarded First Prize in the Longarm Category as well as the Matilda's Own Excellence in Longarm Quilting Award for my quilt Sanderson's Apprentice.

Sanderson's Apprentice is a Sanderson Star quilt which was inspired by our visit last year to the Brisbane Exhibition - Quilts 1700 - 1945 which was an exhibition of quilts from the V&A Museum in London.  I was particularly struck by a stunning Sanderon Star Quilt by an unknown maker in yellow and cream fabrics with incredible hand quilting.  Being a machine quilter, hand quilting a quilt like this was clearly out of the question. 

The Sanderson Star design is named after its creator - Elizabeth Sanderson.  Elizabeth was an apprentice to the quilt marker and draper George Gardiner of Allendale, and her iconic style and expert skills made her more famous then her tutor.  Her reputation spread, and she set up her own business, taking live in apprentice to learn the trade.  

My version of the Sanderson Star Quilt was made with Oakshot Cottons.  The quilting motifs are based on traditional quilting designs but I have re-drafted them for machine quilting.  The quilt incorporates shadow trapunto for all the quilting elements - a bright red layer of fabric has been placed between the quilt top and the wadding to create the pink and apricot glow.

Detail - Sanderson's Apprentice

Matilda's Own Excellence in Longarm Quilting Ribbon

I would like to thank Vic Quilters for organising a wonderful quilt exhibition, the judges for what must have been some very difficult decisions and the volunteers for making the quilt show possible.  Congratulations to all those who entered a quilt for what is a fantastic display.  I would also like to thank all the sponsors for their continued support.  I will be heading back to the Melbourne Quilt and Craft Fair on Saturday for another dose of quilts and shopping.

Toy Time Circus - A Baby Applique Quilt

I have recently quilted this Toy Time Circus Quilt for my customer Mrs Hope.  The quilt was made for her grandchild's first birthday and she did an amazing job on the applique.

I had lots of fun quilting this quilt - using lots of swirls, pebbles, feather fill and loops.

It was great seeing each of the characters come to life with the added quilting details -

I think the Lion is my favourite!

The Giraffe and the Bunny are very cute too...

And the Teddy of course...

I hope you have enjoyed this lovely baby quilt - I had a great time quilting it!

1930's Vintage Le Moyne Star Quilt

I have found myself collecting vintage quilt tops with the intention of quilting them.  I must have about eight quilt tops and to date had only quilted one of them.  As a result, I decided that I really needed to get one quilted to justify adding further quilt tops to my collection.

I quilted the following gorgeous 1930's Le Moyne Star quilt which I purchased in Houston in 2011 for  a mere $82USD.  The quilt measures about 68 inches square.  Here is a section of the quilt before quilting:-

I designed the quilting on my recently purchased Wacom Cintiq Tablet.  I love that you can preview quilting designs onto images of the quilt.  This was my quilting design - the final quilting only varies slightly from the original design.

I was thrilled with the final result - I love the secondary design which has been created by the quilting lines.

Some better close-ups of the quilting:-

And a single block:-

That is one quilt top down ... at least 7 to go.

Ann Dagg's Quilt

I have recently quilted a version of the following Ann Dagg's Quilt which was pieced and beautifully appliqued by my customer Ruth.  Ruth used the pattern by Di Ford which is based on a quilt by Ann Dagg which is in the Smithsonian, Washington DC.

Ruth's quilt was quilted with feathers curling into the applique in the outer border.  The remainder of the border was quilted with straight lines.

I love the central applique panel of this quilt - I don't (can't) applique myself but appreciate the endless hours this must have taken.  I quilted the central panel with feathers around the outside, a few sprays of feathers amongst the applique and filled the background in with pebbles.

I hope you have enjoyed Ruth's version of this stunning Ann Dagg's Quilt - it was certainly a pleasure to quilt.

Double Irish Chain Quilt

It has been a long time since my last post - no excuses really - I think my summer holidays just got in the way.  Having had a wonderful break, I am back to quilting now and have just finished an enormous Double Irish Chain quilt for my customer Chris.  Chris gave me free reign on what to quilt and the setting areas of this quilt certainly allowed for some creative quilting.

Inspired by the quilting of Judy Madsen from Green Fairy Quilts and her book "Quilting Wide Open Space", I came up with the following quilting designs.  Each block has been quilted with a feathered motif while the blocks around the outside of the quilt have been cross-hatched and then quilted with double continuous curves.

The following photo of one of the blocks shows the detail of the quilting design - each feathered motif is surrounded by my favourite background fill - pebbles.

Due to the size of this quilt, I was unable to take a photo of the entire quilt.

I hope you have enjoyed Chris' quilt - I can't wait to see her reaction when she picks up her beautiful quilt.