Gwen plus giveaway!

Here she is in person! What a great day I had.

Funny, tiny, generous, clever, sweet - I could go on and on. It was such a pleasure to meet Gwen Marston and even better to have a whole day with her.

(Apologise for the terrible pics.) Here she is with Rachael's medallion. We both got the tick of approval for our efforts.

Rachael, Erica and Stephanie at the end of our class. These girls had two days with Gwen and made mini quilts using solids on day one.

This is my medallion liberated-style. And it was liberating with points chopped off and all things wonky. Not like me at all but I loved the whole process and can see this happening more in my work.

It's quite hard being wonky on purpose!

Check out this star! Kebabs anyone?

And here we all are with the superstar!

 

 

 

All in all it was good to be a student again and thanks Cottage Quiltworks for hosting the party.

 

NOW FOR THE EVEN BETTER NEWS!

This is my 203rd post and I planned on having a giveaway when I got to 200. Missed that completely! So here it is now.

The three patterns below have just been listed in my etsy shop and I have one of each to give away. Just leave me a comment saying which one you'd like and why.

 

SNOWBALL - Quilt makes up to be 66" square. Blocks are 9".

Great vintage block foundation pieced to be a great scrap buster. Fabric strings of varying widths are sewn on the foundation and the 1/4 circles are appliqued on two block corners.
Would look great in any fabric combination and it's a great opportunity to use up some fabrics from the scrap basket.
Pattern contains written instructions, template and foundation for you to copy or trace.
Quick and easy sewing!         

1800s SUNFLOWER - Quilt makes up to 74" square. Blocks measure 15".

16 hand pieced (English-style over paper) and hand appliqued "flower" blocks make up this interesting quilt.
Sashing is foundation pieced and features stars as the cornerstones. The design will use up lots of scraps from the stash and the block backgrounds can be pieced to maximise fabric usage.
Pattern contains extensive written instructions and diagrams plus the foundation pattern for the sashing for you to copy or trace.

 

HATCHET - Quilt measures 71" square. Blocks measure 19".
For fans of foundation piecing but includes some applique for the scallops in the block centres and the "ears" on the block corners.
Great way to use up some scraps from your reproduction collection but looks just as good in batiks or brights.
The pattern contains extensive written instructions and diagrams, applique templates and block and sashing foundations for you to copy or trace.         

 

 

I'm happy to ship O/S and I'll pick the winners this weekend.

So lets see who's interested!

Class pics

 I've been out and about quite a bit lately - last weekend to Hobbysew in Belconnen a suburb of Canberra. It was a bit chilly to say the least and hubby had fun trying to fish in Queanbeyan. No fish for dinner tho! 

Over the two days we did some blocks from the Lots of Dots quilt and an introduction to those wonderful New York Beauty blocks. What fun! I think a few students were hooked on the whole process of foundation piecing - just need them to send me some pics of the finished article.

Recently I did a one-day class with a group from Camden Quilters. They were tackling my Chocolate Stars quilt with great results. It's a big project for one day so we did a bit from each section of the quilt starting with the centre star. Lots of great fabric combinations as you can see.

A long-time student and friend Jenny has just completed her Lots of Dots quilt top. Wow! Try and get some close-ups of the circles as she's gone over the top with fussy-cutting and it looks fantastic. The background fabric is just perfect for this quilt. There'll be more and better pics when she's finished quilting and I'm working on getting her to join the Quilters Guild and exhibiting at next year's show.  

I encourage all my students to send me pics I can show on the blog and here's one from Judy who's done my Art Deco Lamp wall-hanging. Doesn't it look great. It's such a graphic block that makes a big impact whenever I see it made up.

This one's from Sue who started the Supernova blocks at quilt camp last year. The background fabric has  text and pictures on it and is really interesting up close. Sue's a very good machine quilter on a domestic machine - can't wait to see what she does with this one.

Do you read Erica Spinks' blog? You should pop on over, scroll to the end of the post and follow the link she's found to the V&A site about x-raying quilts. Very interesting.

 

Next post I'll be releasing some new patterns - just need some decent pics first.

AND I just realised this post is # 202. I really meant to have a giveaway for the 200th so I'll organise that too. Stay tuned!

Downtown Murrumburrah

They're still there! Last year when I had a workshop at The Quilters Stash these two were playing soccer?? in the window across the road. 12 months later they're still at it!

We had a great two days of the Jacobean Star quilt. Boy did those girls work hard.

 

These are some of the results...

Many and varied fabrics but they all look good. Hope to see lots of finished quilts in the near future!

A sneak peak at some things I've been working on... more later!

 

I've signed up for Bloglovin seeing Google reader is departing in July.

If you want to follow my blog use the Bloglovin button on the sidebar. Why do they change things that are working well!!

I came across  the blog from APQS quilting machines in the US. It's really for their long arm  machines but the info is useful for all quilting. Have a look back thru the topics - lots of interesting information.

Claiming my blog

Follow">http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4962941/?claim=3nve55xqpvy">Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sydney Quilt Show

Well guys we did it again! Our raffle quilt Homage won 1st prize in the group category. That's 4 times out of 6 entries!

 

The beautiful blue ribbon. Susie and I were there to cheer for the group when the winner was announced. Well done everyone!

There were also several entries from past students of mine. Carol was awarded 4th place for this beauty she started at AQC last year.

This was from an Epping Quilters workshop - sorry no name.

And Lois' Mariners Madness. She's the hand piecing queen so this was a real departure for her.

Love that striped border.

Another Mariners from Marrianne.

Birds in Paradise from Marrianne as well.

And friend Pam's Dahlia. The quilting was amazing.

Finally, my Hatchet quilt.

And this is just a part of the view from the upper deck!

over 400 quilts to see and admire. Get there if you can - it's on til Sunday at darling Harbour. You won't be disappointed

If you can't make it check out the winners here. At time of writing pics weren't up yet but come back soon to see all the stunning quilts.

Hunters Hill quilters

A bit of show and tell from previous classes.

This is Debi's Reproduction Beauties quilt all finished and bound - what a great job!

Sue's finished her Lots of Dots quilt and has done an amazing job quilting it herself.

 Check out this free motion quilting on her Bernina 440.

I had the pleasure last week to do a workshop with Hunters Hill quilters. What a great day in  a great venue with lovely girls. And one boy! this is my youngest ever student, little Daniel. He was so good all day and mum and grandma got lots done between them while Daniel added his ten cents worth!

There were NYB blocks happening all over the room which we shared for part of the day with the Community quilters. We got to see lots of their show and tell too.

These could all be in the one quilt tho everyone's fabric choices were so different.

I said I'd be at their next show to see all the finished quilts!

NOW for the big news - I've joined Facebook! I don't really know what I'm doing but my daughter assures me it's easy. So come on over and "like" me to see more of what's happening with my quilting life.

Class quilts

How's this for wow-factor! Colleen bought this You Little Beauty pattern from my etsy shop and has made a fantastic version of her own. She was a little hesitant to design her own border but with a bit of emailing back and forth it's turned out to be a stunner don't you think.

Lorraine (top) and Sandra (below) are working on my Hatchet quilt with two totally different looks happening. It's not a quick project and needs precision but it's so worth the effort.

I think they're having fun?

Shocking pics from my phone - sorry!

Bronwyn is nearing the end with her Chocolate Stars quilt. Just some corner compasses to go.

 

 

And this amazing top is Chris' from a Hobbysew class. She's used a striped background behind the compass which looks fantastic and the red stripe either side of the diamond border is a "film strip" design. Who would have thought! It's just perfect in that position and I think she's justifiably proud of her effort.

Sydney Quilt Show is fast approaching and I'll be there next Wednesday to see all the prize giving and check out the winning quilts especially the Best in Show. 11am near the entrance to the quilts if you're interested.

On the subject of quilt shows and winning quilts check out this blog post on how to block a quilt to make sure it is perfectly square - very interesting.