Excited!

These are Judy and Deb's centres from my Birds in Paradise quilt. They have been guinea pigs for my new pattern and it has been an interesting exercise in clear instructions and accurate piecing. Thanks girls for being so accommodating.

These gorgeous blocks are also Deb's from my Quiltsmith class. A beautiful, soft, Japanese version of my NYB quilt.

I've long admired all the mosaics and collages of pictures on other blogs and short of downloading Picassa or something similar I was unable to achieve the same result. Until now!

How exciting and it's free here. Funny to be so wound up by something so easy really isn't it.

I started once-a-month classes yesterday at Cottage Quiltworks at Warriewood - what a lovely shop and the class was a lot of fun. Ten girls all really keen to try foundation piecing and what a great job they did too. Some pics from the next class I promise.

I'm back there on Wednesday for their Quilt Escape week. I'm teaching a class on New York Beauty blocks - should be a good day!

It's cold and miserable here today - just right for lighting the fire and hitting the sewing machine. Enjoy!

Clever girls

Here's a selection from a few recent classes. You'll be amazed at how different but spectacular these quilts will be when finished.

This beauty was sent to me by Annette from Port Macquarie. She entered it in the recent Timeless Quilters quilt show and was awarded the runner-up prize for her efforts. What a beautiful interpretation of my Oriental Journey pattern. Well done Annette - we all know how exciting it is to win a prize!.

As the year progresses we have already started working on our raffle quilt for next year's Springwood High School quilt show and we NOW HAVE A BLOG to go with it. Rachel and I spent a lovely afternoon setting it up and there will be regular posts from members of the committee about what goes into making the show happen. We hope you will call by often to check us out and please leave a comment to help us give you all the information we can concerning this wonderful community event.

I have some exciting news coming for anyone interested in fabric packs of Japanese kimono pieces. I have sourced them from Victoria and they'll be in my on-line shop soon! Stay tuned.

Darling Harbour

Guess what?? I won a prize. 3rd in my category at the Sydney Quilt Show - "the most prestigious quilt event in Australia" said Mr Bernina at the prize giving.

The phone call on Sunday night said be there at 9.30 Wednesday morning to receive a prize. Was it my quilt or our raffle quilt from the Springwood Show and lo and behold it was for my Birds in Paradise quilt. Can you believe it!

My dear friend Judy won 2nd prize in her category and the 1st place went to someone else's version of her prize-winning quilt from 2 or 3 years ago. How freaky is that?

It was a great day meeting lots of old faces during my volunteering time and cruising the shops tho I was so worn out I didn't buy one thing. How good is that.

Get on down if you have the chance - it's a really great show!

Time flies doesn't it

How can two weeks have disappeared like that? I guess lots of work makes it happen quicker!
Susan from my Blackheath class has been working on this stunner for such a long time. I'm sure she was ready to throw it on several occasions but perseverance has paid off hasn't it. It's basically a log cabin block with "flippy corners" in red. So graphic. For another graphic stunner have a look here.

This bodyless guy is Alan also from the Blackheath class. Alan is a recently retired primary school teacher and carer for his disabled wife. He's made this quilt (soon to be a sleeping bag) for his 10 year old grandaughter and it's beautiful. His sewing is amazing for a 1st-timer tho he has been making rucksacks and camping gear on an industrial machine for a while. Don't think there'll be any more quilts on the agenda but it was really nice having him join us for a term. He learnt all the proper terminology - fat quarters, suffolk puffs, stitch and bitch and he's such a handyman. Best wishes Alan.

Dawn's quilt top from the Bathurst class is so soft and pretty - an unusual example of the Mariners as they are usually much stronger colours. Lovely work and the border fabric was just right.

I delivered my quilts for Darling harbour today to our drop off lady Isabel. She will take them and lots of others from the Mountains to Sydney for judging on Sunday. Fingers crossed we can repeat our last two wins with the raffle quilt from our show in April.

I am working on instructions for two magazine quilts at the moment - maybe I can sneak a pic next post.

Really looking forward to the long weekend coming up - apart from a sewing day on next year's raffle quilt my time is my own. Yahoo! Hope to get in some bike riding and a picnic with daughter and her hubby if the weather is kind. Have a good one too!

More from camp

Pam's lovely Hexagon magic centreLorraine's Underground Railroad quilt
Lisa hard at work and it's not even her quilt!

This top has been lovingly hand pieced over the last few months for Robin's very lucky grandaughter Bronte.
Lyn made this using a groovy curved plastic template . It went together really quickly and looks great.

Flattery

Just a quick post before we're off to quilt camp.

Have a look at the latest issue of Quilters Companion and you'll see my quilt on the left as a project this month. A hand pieced and hand quilted hexagon sampler.

Another piece of interesting news is here at Blueberries' blog where Tracey gives a critique of my Mariners class at the shop in April. It's good to get feedback - lucky it was on a positive note!

Never enough

These gems are from my latest WIP. It's a "circle sampler" and all the fabrics are spots and dots. It's so much fun to do coming up with different circular blocks and playing with the combinations of fabrics. A bit frustrating when work gets in the way but that's how it is.
These pics are from my Berrima class last weekend.

I never get tired of seeing these beauties. Everyone sews at a different pace and over the three classes for these girls one quilt was fully completed. Lots of homework for all the others!

Can't wait for the weekend when we're OFF TO CAMP! 3 days of sewing and laughing, chatting and laughing, eating and laughing - such fun. Might even get some work done on a quilt for a friend.