It seems like ages since I've posted here but I have been really busy travelling all over with a swag of 2-day classes here and there. It's great to be home I can tell you.
One thing that happened before I went away was the swap-over of my Tuesday night group's mini border-go-round.
We have been working on these for the last six months with everyone providing their centre block and maybe some fabric. It was boxed up and passed around the group in secret with various borders added each round. A maximum of 4" border size was chosen but the quilts are really not mini.
They are absolutely stunning and each one is a reflection of the owner - how well we all know each other after sewing together for @ 15 years.
Zoom in and check out the details.

Lisa - sorry about the blurry pic in all the excitement!

Anni - interesting there were 3 blue and white quilts in the swap.



Bev - she now has to repaint the wall it was being made for.

Marilyn - it was such fun to choose fabrics and a design for each designated border

Robyn - says it all

Lyn - love that doily

And this is mine! Just perfect. Thanks guys.

 If you've never done something like this in your group give it a go. Not too many rules and it's a lot of fun and stretches one's capabilities too.

Did you see this book at the Quiilt Mania stand at the show - it's to die for if you're into antique quilts.

Lots of words and pictures to keep you drooling for hours.

I've even had a go at drawing this centre in EQ7.

Lots to tell

I've just come back from a flying visit to the beautiful shop Precious Time in Toowoomba. We did a two day class on Lots of Dots and boy was it flat out for the girls. This is the shop in a lovely old house in a suburban street of this spread out city at the top of "the range" as the locals call it.

There is still evidence all around of the disastrous floods earlier this year and the effects of it all will be felt in the community for years.

Here's a sample of the work the class produced over two really full-on days of sewing. We had newcomers to foundation piecing and some old hands, young sewers and the lovely Janette who is 83 and still powering on. Apart from the moment when I cut her block in half!!!!! all went well and I can only hope they continue with the project at home.

Fellow quilter Sue Ross and I were guests of Bev and her mum Pat who made us feel right at home and fed and watered us as only country people do. Bev is a machine quilting teacher in her other life and we were treated to a show and tell of her magnificent prize-winning work. It made me want to get to the machine there and then. Thanks girls and hope to see you all again in September.

These pics are from Bathurst recently and show Val's free-motion quilting skills to perfection.

It is a real sampler of techniques and was very inspiring.

An altered version of my Easy Medallion - love the diamond border!

Roxanne's cushion cover - don't you just want one?

Time is ticking away for the Springwood Quilt Show in less than three weeks time. We have over 150 quilts this year and the room will be chock full of wonderful work from local quilters.

The hard part starts in 16 days time when we begin building the stands and hanging the quilts.

Have a look at the blog for the show - Vicki has written a great post on what actually goes into this great community event.

One more thing - have a look at my quilt in the EQ Gallery here and scroll down to number 198. You send in your project file then a pic of the completed quilt - how exciting to have it displayed in their gallery!

Kind deed

To start the day here's a link to lots and lots of tutorials for quilts and related projects. You could spend quite a while just browsing and I'm sure you'd come up with something new.
Now for the eye-candy:

Coral from Hobbysew

Barbara from Hobbysew

The start of Daphne's lovely quilt for her grand-daughter

Lovely Lurley in paradise

For our Cotton Reel Quilters Xmas party we had to bring a block that starts with the first letter of our name - here's my Circular saw block - groovy! 24" across - I found it in a book of 5000 blocks and drew it up in EQ. Easy piecing too.

Have you seen Barbara Brackman's blog? Always interesting with lots of quilt history and links to antique quilts. WELL! Her latest post talks about a quilt block that goes by various names - Botch Handle is one of them. I just happened to have made a quilt for my son using the same block - mine was called Devils Claw. I sent Barbara a pic and she's put it in her post with a very kind link back to me! What a lovely lady - thanks Barbara. It is an easy block to sew - 16" so nice big pieces and looks so graphic.

What's on my design wall

This is my latest "playing around" project. I've always liked the dahlia quilts and this is my version. The plan is to have different blocks in a circle all around the centre and then see what happens. It's fun to play with all the blocks in EQ7 - some are good and some just don't work so I guess I'll make heaps and then choose.

A few pics from Berrima over the weekend.

This is Chris's NYB quilt but she has gone outside the square with the border. Why didn't I think of that!!

Fantastic work! Those geese have a very narrow bound edge and are appliqued onto the border - too easy.

She's also quilted her Mariners Madness - it looks even better in the flesh.

Better join the guild girl and get them into Darling Harbour next year for alI to see.

Lovely muted colours in these NYB blocks.

Wish I could say this was from class but it's a coat worn by Jimi Hendrix - isn't it wonderful and wasn't he a trendsetter. How cool are those hexagons.

I'm off to Toowoomba on Wednesday for Quilting on the Downs - can't wait. Hope those Qld quilters like foundation piecing! We're continuing on to Noosa for a week so I'll be back in a little while.

A gift

This is a new version of one of the blocks from my circle sampler (which is pinned and waiting to be quilted).

I enlarged the centre from an EQ7 block to measure 32" across and printed the foundations - too easy!

The stunning centre is an embroidery given to me by Nerida from Ribbons and Rainbows in Blackheath.

She saw it in an op-shop for $1 and bought it for me. What a lovely friend she is.

Before I even thought about sewing this I found the amazing background fabric locally

and after the centre was completed there it was on my shelf waiting to be a star in this new project.

This is a close-up of that beautiful embroidery. Why on black I wonder? Was it maybe going to be a cushion? Whatever the plan it is now out there for all to see and appreciate.

All's good in the fallen tree dept. It is being removed Wednesday and the neighbour's insurance covers all but our half of a few new fence panels. Can you believe it!

Now a few class pics.

Alice's 10 deg wedge ruler quilt

Lurley's stunning NYB

Check out that centre fabric in Sonia's quilt