New year awaits

Great to be back home after a lovely seaside holiday on the Central Coast. In the top pic is our rental - the one with the flagpole and massive frangipani. We virtually camped out under that tree with occasional forays into the water when it got too hot. Lots of food and drink and visits from friendly pelicans and even relatives. Hubby tipped his kayak over and had to be rescued by the neighbours in their tinnie, then he cut his foot on oyster shells but THEN he fell over and cracked a rib! Lucky it was on our last night and I won't say how much alcohol was involved but he is in a great deal of pain and on some heavy duty drugs which make him dopey but not very friendly!

I finally found a 10 deg ruler and made this gem . What a lot of possibilities it evokes! You are only limited by your imagination aren't you and mine has been in overdrive.

My teaching year starts in 10 days time with the calendar pretty much fully booked. Over the break I visited Blueberries at Wyong where I have some classes in April. What a lovely, big, bright shop and the girls were so welcoming. Go visit if you have the chance.

Check out my sidebar for classes in your area with the addition of Bernina Patch in Penrith on the 1st Sunday of the month starting February.
Our raffle quilt is starting its journey around the shops in the lead-up to our quilt show in April. Suzie Anderson has done a wonderful job quilting it and all that remains is the binding and a label. Keep an eye out for it in your travels around Penrith and the Mountains.

New things

These two pics are the result of a tutorial from Lurline in Perth who had a dresden ruler especially made for her project. I used my little 4" long ruler to create a longer version out of freezer paper and used that as my template. The proper ruler would be so much easier but weren't they fun to make. One is the French General range out at the moment and I used a layer cake with heaps left over. The other is gorgeous scraps of thirties

On a completely different subject it's too late for this Xmas but I found a website selling just the right thing for those men who have everything. It's here and it's the perfect gift! I have two on the way from Canada to put aside for significant male birthdays coming up this year. Check it out. Another interesting gift is here - not just for guys and so reasonably priced. Might have to order a bulk lot. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think. It's so hard to find interesting and unusual gifts.

New shop on the block

Want to see a sneak preview of our raffle quilt for next year's quilt show. I'm sure the girls won't mind - it is in the process of being quilted by the lovely Suzie Anderson of Leura Quilting who will do a magnificent job as always. It's a Karen Cunningham design called Bluebell - some of you lucky ones probably have one on your bed at the moment. So for those who can't get into a class with Karen who is so popular there are waiting lists all over the place here is your chance to have one yourself. Anzac weekend next year but don't worry I'll keep you posted. (I love saying that!)

Take some time to have a look at a new on-line shop that just happens to be selling a kit for my Mariners Garden quilt here. Kellie and Caroline from the new Quilt Street have put together a great collection of fabric and kits with some really good specials on at the moment. They are also the exclusive Australian stockists for a range of Jewish themed fabric from the US picked up on their whirlwind trip to Houston last year. Well done girls - keep up the good work.

Who's a lucky girl then

How about that! There's my quilt on the cover of BCC - what great photos they produce. It's a scrap thousand pyramids quilts just right for hand-piecing over the summer hols. Hand quilted with number 8 thread - how quick and easy is that.

This is the first of my order of three quilt history books to arrive from Amazon. What a delight it is. Every time the courier walks down the path with a mystery bag/box it feels like Xmas - maybe it is! Full of quilts and the stories behind them it will be consumed over several weeks and lots of cups of tea.

Another real surprise is the mention of my Mariners Garden quilt pattern on the blog of Penny The Dedicated Appliquist.
Go and have a look at her fantastic site all about applique with a bit of her life thrown in. It's a treat to read. Thanks Penny for mentioning me, I am thrilled. The pattern is available from my SEWnSELL shop and the button's on the side bar.

Penny also put me on to the three new quilt history books available from Amazon at a really good price. If you're interested just scroll back thru a couple of her posts and you'll find it.

How's this for a new look with my Mariners centre. Kate has added machine applique to four corners and it looks superb. There are so many variations where I wish I had done that and this is one of them.

Janelle from Bathurst is on the home straight with her Ludlow Beauties quilt. Pretty colours and great fabric choices.

Another version of my Fancy Dancing from Jenny. This is a good scrap buster using all those pretty floral fabrics we tend to hang on to. Just add another floral border and you have a double bed quilt. Well done - makes me want to start another one now!

With all this disgusting hot weather I've been in the air-con doing some of my own sewing. A red, white and blue 30's number with a scalloped border and a hexagon medallion to use up all the leftovers from previous quilts. Some pics later when they're nearer completion.

I have also found some embroidered centres for those wedding ring pieces I bought in Houston - more of them later.

I've ordered three new quilt history books from Amazon after reading this. How exciting - two don't come out til next year but that's ok - something to look forward to after Xmas.

The teaching year is coming to a close with Xmas parties being organised all over the place. Some new venues for me next year involving a bit of travelling - I'll keep you posted (so to speak!)

Emperors Wheel

Have you seen the latest issue of Aust Patchwork and Quilting? Among other things there's a profile on me and my Emperors Wheel quilt. The photo of me is about 6 years old (how funny) and the interview was conducted via email when we were in Canada earlier this year. Didn't turn out too badly tho I'd had a couple of wines as I was writing! The magazine's photography is first class as always.

Workshop

Another Mariners centre but this time much smaller. These smiling faces are my weekend class at Quiltsmith in the city with their Mariners medallion centres. Lots of hard work and decision making later they were well on the way to making their own version - some will be way different from the original but that's a good thing. Each quilter's design choices were coming to the fore.

This arrived on Friday in the mail from the US - even better in real life. Aren't they beautiful and it will make a stunning back for something I haven't even thought about yet but like I always say - buy it when you see it and it will come in handy later.

Helen in my Friday class has used the wavy ruler to cut sashing for her quilt-as-you-go project for her grandson. Wish I'd thought of that! Click on the pic to see the lovely log cabin centres.

Another quilt show meeting is coming up and we are ready to take pics of the raffle quilt in preparation for lots of publicity in our local quilt magazines. Keep your eyes out for it.