Home schooling

Every week and one Saturday a month I have classes at home. Some of the girls have been coming along for over ten years now - who would have thought! and they are producing some wonderful work.

Sandra's working on this medallion centre.

Janice is making slow progress - but hey it's not a race!

And Sue seems to turn up with a finished project each visit.

This dahlia is even better in person - Pam is so particular with her needlework and fabric choices and it certainly pays off.

Bronwyn has had this centre waiting for a while and all of a sudden it's turned into this....

Yummo!

Marrianne has just picked this up from the quilter - what a great job. Just needs binding now.

I found these at Spotlight recently - all Denys Schmidt except the purple.

We have received 134 entries for the Springwood Quilt Show from 79 quilters.

A bit down on last year but not sure why. Anyway I'm sure it will be a wonderful display with a little more room to stand back and take in all the beautiful quilts. Only 30 days to go and so many behind the scenes jobs to do!

Busy

Lots of pics today so here goes.....

Lurley has done a wonderful job on her Lots of Dots despite some health issues lately. Clever fussy-cutting too.

Last Wednesday I was at Material Obsession for part two of a NYB class. Robyn used shot cottons and a gorgeous Yuwa background fabric she received on the day as a gift - just perfect! I think they are macaroons.

Elkie left the class a month ago with 2or 3 finished blocks and came back this month with 17! And she has a two year old. I think she must like doing NYBs. Aren't they beautiful with lots of William Morris.

Robyn made this for a friend - with NY fabric too.

Pam is working her way thru the same blocks all in batiks. Looks great.

This weekend I was in Murrumburrah. Where's that you say? About 4 hours south west of where I live near the town of Young. Lovely country town with the usual problem of half the shops being empty. But one of the liveliest ones is the Quilters Stash run by Sue Chesworth. It should really be called the community centre as it's the magnet for local girls to drop in and catch up on all that's happening in the town. No gossiping tho!

The class worked so hard to get their Mariners centres completed in the two days - nearly.

Don't you love it. Available in a large panel from Sue.

WIPs with Mary's lovely face. She and her husband "retired" to the area and bought 700 acres. Now they are farmers and loving it. Some retirement! Sorry Vicki I seem to have missed a pic of yours on the wall.

Auditioning for the background.

Here's the rogues gallery outside the shop. If you're ever down that way you must call in - you'll get a real country welcome. I sure did.

Some new family has moved in over the road from the shop - Shrek's the surname I think!

Entries close this Thursday for the Springwood Quilt Show - have you posted yours yet?

Class pics

Remember this dahlia segment from a few weeks ago?

Well it's turned into this! Silk and satin make up the dresden centre and it's just beautiful. Lovely work Prue who's only been patchworking for a couple of years.

Rosemary is winging it with this compass centre. What to do next she says - more borders I say. It's been an interesting exercise working out the fabrics and the maths! but it's going to be great.

This is Rachael's ENORMOUS quilt for the Springwood Quilt Show - it took two to hold it up and it still sagged.

Love those geese.

And this is what Rachael bought me for my recent birthday complete with varmint.

I can put my orchid/geranium or whatever is in flower inside this and the possums can't eat it!

Thanks so much Rachael - I love it - and the dotty ribbon. Pancho in the background couldn't care less!

What the lovely ladies of Blackheath are wearing these days! Looks a bit nautical doesn't it but we did all have a laugh.

Now two quilts from the same pattern - Judy's first then Rosemary's.

Don't they look good - you can see the Jacobean Star pattern here.

I am teaching this at AQC in four weeks time!! So excited and just a bit nervous. I sent off my quilts and other bits today - hope they are there waiting for me when I need them.

I'm off to Murrumburrah - near Cootamundra - this weekend for 2 days at The Quilters Stash. A long way to drive but I'm really looking forward to seeing this part of the country.

I'm sure to have some pics to share.

What a surprise!

Out of the blue last week I got an email from Marina and Daryl Lynn at Quilt Inspiration - a blog that provides "Inspiration, tools and techniques for beautiful quilts". Would I be interested in being featured on their blog?

Would I ever!! Have a look at their post for today and tell me how it reads. I think they've done a great job - it even makes me sound like I know what I'm doing!! While you're there check out all the free patterns on the sidebar. There are lots of amazing projects to download. Thanks again Marina and Daryl, much appreciated.

A few finishes lately for me - Basket Case was a lot of fun and I'm really taken with all the funky fabrics around these days - thanks Rachael!

Gaby's DWR with extras. Celtic work and candlewicking too. It will be in the Springwood Show so come and have a closer look.

Candlewicking in the middle of the rings.

Mine again - Orange peel I think. The petals were hand appliqued onto 4" squares and it was a keep-awake-in-front-of-the-telly project. Used up a few leftovers on the borders too. Feel I must get out the No.8 thread and hand quilt it too.

Pattern release!

Finally it's here! The pattern set for my Lots of Dots quilt.
It's now available in my etsy shop - over 100 pages of patterns for this quilt which won its category at the 2011 Sydney Quilt Show.
The set comprises patterns for the 26 different circle blocks in the quilt featuring foundation piecing, applique and english piecing. Each pattern features original foundations, templates, diagrams and extensive instructions for all the blocks in the quilt.

PLUS as a bonus you will receive a 50 page pack of light-weight foundation papers to start you on this project.  So if you're looking for a challenging but rewarding project this one is just for you.

The quilt is on exhibition at the Australian Quilt Convention in Melbourne in April as one of five "Best of the Best" from the NSW Quilters Guild - I'm also teaching there so come and check out the quilt and say hi as well.

Below  is Gaby's version of Lots of Dots in aboriginal fabric featuring - you guessed it - lots of dots!

Her fussy-cutting is amazing and the background fabric is just perfect for the blocks.

You can see both versions of this beautiful quilt at our Springwood Community Quilt Show the last weekend in April. We'd love you to come - check out the latest news from the show on our blog here.

No camera

Did I mention earlier I have two classes at Material Obsession in Drummoyne? An intro to New York Beauty blocks and it was a fun day. Lovely shop and really nice girls - staff and students. Unbelievably one of the students was at high school with my daughter - how's that for coincidence?

Anyway I took some pics on the day and left my camera at the shop - grrrrr.  Kathy has some pics from the day here. There's another class on 14th March with a couple of vacancies if you're interested.

So these two same-but-very different Pickled Lillies quilts are from a while back.

Janette has made this for her grandson complete with shields and swords and all things knightly. He'll just love it don't you think.

This one belongs to Lynne from my class in Toowoomba - great fussy cutting and doesn't the design change when you look at both quilts and the lights and darks in the "pickles" are reversed. Beautiful work.

These are what I've been working on lately - handbags? baskets? - whatever they are I've had a great time playing with fabrics and designs. Haven't decided on the strip fabric yet but the yummy black and green 1950's vintage piece came from here and it was even better in the flesh when it arrived in the post.

Patricia has lots of vintage goodies - quilts, blocks, haby and fabric and I notice she still has some of this groovy fabric in stock.

This block is 7" x 10" and will end up a variation on the old nosegay block - japanese/spotty scraps with lots of different backgrounds - and a bit of ric rac. Can't wait to make more so the layout comes together. I'll keep you posted!

Anorina has a post here about our Mariners Compass day at Figtree - check it out.

Lastly, the entry forms for our Springwood Quilt Show are downloadable from the blog NOW.

Click on the top right but don't forget it's 2 pages with lots of info about entering on page two. Entries close 22nd March so if you're a Blue Mountains/Penrith area quilter we'd love to see your work. Print them off and get them in the post soon. You've got til 26th April to actually finish the quilt so get those skates on! This is our 7th year and we want it to be bigger and better than ever.

Out and about

Lots of pics today from recent classes - Kathy's beautiful Birds in Paradise top. Just needs some binding over the scallops and she's done.

Two from Cottage Quiltworks on Saturday - the start of a Dahlia quilt and Rosemary's mariners block with that ever-popular ric rac.

Jenny's done her own version of Deauville and doesn't it look great. She brought along lots of show-and-tell on Sunday to Hobbysew Figtree - boy does she sew a lot!! Also has a longarm machine and quilts for others so she's a very busy girl.

This is from Monica who was new to foundation piecing but took to it straight away. Looks great.

 These NYB blocks are happening in class at The Home Patch in Bathurst. Limited colour palette but how cool are these.

Pat has been busy over the break making her own version of the Faux Wedding ring quilt. The indigo squares were already embroidered and she has done lovely sashiko in the cream squares.

Why didn't I think of that!

Another from Bathurst - great contrast.

 And this belongs to Anorina from the famous Samelia's mum blog. I was so pleased to meet her

in class yesterday at Figtree and she's done a great job on this compass. Can't wait to see it in a project.

Anorina has a quilt ON THE COVER of the latest issue of Australian Homespun! First submission to the mag and she makes the cover - what a woman! Well done.

I met Janelle Noack at a class I did at Wagga quilt shop Simply Stitches last July. She teaches in the area and has had quite a few quilts in Australian magazines and has contributed a block to the Quiltmaker 100 blocks series of magazines. Now she taken the big leap and has a blog too! It's called Country Matters and you can have a look here. Her work is beautiful and you'll get an idea of where she lives from the backgrounds in her photos - she's a girl on the land. Good luck Janelle in the land of blogging but don't forget you need to be sewing some too!