Linda's latest

Quilting

2012-02-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

I feel as if I have been quilting all year so far. I havealready quilted my latest Crazy Quilt which I am calling Naturally Crazy. I was quite happy with it when it was finished buthalfway through the quilting process I always feel a bit of a panic thinkingthat it is not going to work.

Here is a photo of one of the blocks called Canada.

I can’t show you the entire quilt because it has no bindingyet and I haven’t sewn on any charms.

Now I am quilting my next quilt which is an appliqué quiltand unfortunately I am at the halfway point where I don’t think that it is goingto work out. It is giving me a lot of trouble at the moment.

I spent a lot of time with the trapunto. I have been keepinga time sheet so I know how long everything takes. The trapunto took 30 hours.

Here is the back of the quilt showing the squares of waddingthat I had sewn to the back of the appliqué.

Here are the offcuts after 3 hours of careful cutting outone part of the trapunto.

When the trapunto was finally finished, I basted the quilt whichtook 5 and a half hours but that was including preparing the backing fabric.

I finally got to start quilting around all the motifs and mytop thread kept breaking every 2 inches of stitching. It was very frustrating.I checked all the usual things and couldn’t understand why it was happening.

I finally got out the book that comes with the machine tosee what it said.

Reasons for topthread breaking:

Upper thread tension too tight

Incorrectly threaded

Poor quality or old thread

Stitch plate or hook damaged

Loose threads caught in the pre tension or the take uplever.

None of those things applied to me but I did find out how toget into a part of the machine to do some extra cleaning that I didn’t knowexisted.

I was sitting at the machine wondering what to do next when Ilooked at the reel of thread and saw that the thread was caught on the side ofit. I had a careful look at it and sure enough there was a rough spot on the edgeof the reel that was catching the thread and then it was breaking. I am usingsilk thread so it is probably a bit more prone to catch than a cotton thread. Ichanged to a new reel of thread and have had no more trouble since.

I have put that reel aside to use for hand work but Isuppose I could file the rough edge if I was desperate to use it on themachine.

I had better get back to quilting.

Bye for now,

Linda

CQJP 2012 February Block

2012-02-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

My February blockfor the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012is finished. This time I did a green 6" block using silk fabrics.

Here is the base block before I added any embroidery.

My theme for this year is Christmas so I put a couple ofcandy canes in the middle of the block. I decided to satin stitch the red andwhite stripes on an angle and it gives a nice rounded look to the candy canes.

Every month I am trying a stitch or technique that I have tolook at a book to remember how to do it. This month the stitch that I cannotremember to do automatically is the chained feather stitch.

I added some beads to the stitch for the first time becauseI usually leave it plain.

People from all around the world have started putting theirblocks on the CQJP 2012 blog. Anyone can look at them by going to the blog. Itis so wonderful to see everyone’s blocks.

Bye for now,

Linda

Silk Challenge

2012-02-14T12:31:00.000-08:00

At the Waverley ArtQuilters end of year dinner late last year, we were all given a 7½"square of silk. Every piece of silk was in a different colour and they werehidden in a brown paper bag so we couldn’t see what we were getting.

This is my piece of silk!

I would never have chosen these colours; in fact it wouldnever occur to me to put bright burgundy pink, bright yellow and orangetogether. Everyone else got these lovely greens, blues and mauves. I asked ifanyone wanted to swap with me but nobody did!

I looked at this piece of silk all December and January,trying to find some inspiration until I finally came across a greeting cardthat had a bird with a curly tail on it.

I photocopied the silk and then traced the curling shapes andthen simplified them to form a bird’s tail. Then I remembered that we had toinclude some of the challenge fabric in the design so I made up some 2"squares and made a post for the bird to stand on using some other colours inthe fabric.

I used all silk fabrics that I happened to have at home. Theyellow background and the orange fabric I had dyed myself. Most of the fabricswere the 50/50 silk/cotton blend that is so easy to work with compared to 100%silk. I quilted it with YLI 100% silk as well.

This week the Waverley Art Quilters group met for the firsttime this year and it was amazing to see everyone’s different interpretation ofthe silk. It was interesting to find that most of them had trouble with the colours of their silk samples.

We are going to study Van Gogh next.

Bye for now,

Linda

Art Nouveau

2012-02-11T15:21:00.000-08:00

At the end of last year one of the subjects that we studiedin the Waverley Art Quilters was Art Nouveau, which is French for NewArt.

Art Nouveau was only popular for a short time between 1890and 1910 and was soon taken over by Art Deco which was very geometric and sodifferent to the free flowing lines on Art Nouveau.

Examples of Art Nouveau can be found everywhere in beautifulbuildings around the world but most commonly in jewellery, furniture, textilesand art.

One of the words used to describe the style was The Whiplashbecause of the sudden violent curves like a whip cracking.

Artists that were known for their Art Nouveau style wereGustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Rene Lalique andAntoni Gaudi.

We studied Klimt in 2009 and I made this little A3 quilt.

I have always loved Alphonse Mucha’s work and was inspiredby his paintings when I was designing the centre of my Star Crazy quilt.

This is the A3 sized Art Nouveau quilt that I made at theend of last year. I put some Gum Tree blossoms on it to give it an Australianflavour.

I had painted some yellow dots on the top of the flowers butthey seemed a bit lost so I added some gold beads and I am much happier aboutthe quilt now.

Here is a close-up of the beading.

One of the books that I was reading while studying ArtNouveau said that the movement stopped because the artists and designers got socomplicated with their whiplash technique there was nowhere else to go with it.

I tend to think that it started to seem a bit too frivolouswhen World War 1 started and the clean geometric lines of Art Deco seemed more appropriate.

I think that I’ll always love the Art Nouveau style though.

Bye for now,

Linda

Exciting Parcel

2012-02-03T01:04:00.000-08:00

My colour theme for my Crazy Quilt Journal Project is red,green and blue silk fabrics. I realised that I was going to run out of fabricsand I also needed some more fabrics to make it interesting.

I am on the email mailing list for Evening Star Designsalthough I had never ordered anything before. She specialises in fabrics andembellishments for crazy quilters.

I noticed that she had packs of 10 fat eighth silk fabricsin red, green and blue. It was perfect. Different silk fabrics packaged insmall quantities are hard to find in Australia.

I love them; they only took just over a week to arrive. Youcan see that I also bought three different braids, snowflakes, Christmas treesand some holly.

I couldn’t resist the winter pack either.

Now I am really looking forward to making up my next block.

Bye for now,

Linda

Waverley Patchworkers Raffle Quilt

2012-01-30T21:54:00.000-08:00

The WaverleyPatchworkers Raffle Quilt is quilted, bound and ready for our quilt show. The quilt is named A William Morris Garden and was made by members of Waverley Patchworkersand quilted by Desley Maisano of Addicted to Quilts.

We were very lucky that Desley agreed to quilt this for usbecause she is much in demand and very busy. You can see why when you look ather wonderful quilting.

We used a pattern by MicheleHill who generously gave us permission to make the quilt for our raffle.The pattern is not available for sale at the moment, so we are very lucky. Michele specialises in William Morris designs.

The Waverley Patchworkers Quilt Show will be held at theMount Waverley Community Centre in Mount Waverley, Victoria on 26^th and 27^th May2012.

Tickets for the raffle quilt will be sold for $2 each.

I am sure that we will sell plenty of tickets for thisbeautiful quilt.

Bye for now,

Linda

CQJP 2012 January Block

2012-01-24T15:25:00.000-08:00

The Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 (CQJP) is up andrunning.

The rules were that you had to register before December 2011.You must make a block every month during 2012 that must measure at least 6".You are supposed to try and improve your skills by trying something new aswell.

I have chosen a theme of Christmas and my colour scheme willbe red, green and blue.

I have decided to use mainly silk fabrics because of theirshine that lends itself to the Christmas theme. To stretch myself I am going totry a stitch that I don’t regularly use and I will have to look up my CrazyQuilt books to check on how to do them.

Here is my January block.

The blocks in my quilt are going to be three differentsizes. This first one is a 6" block. As you can see I put three candles inthe middle and embroidered the seams with cotton and silk embroidery threads. I embroidered the candles using stem stitch.

This is what the block looked like before I had added theembroidery. I drew up the pattern on some calico and then foundation pieced it.

It looks so plain doesn’t it?

The floral fabric in the top and just under the centre is anew fabric that I had purchased at the Quilt Convention last year. To my horrorit started to shred just like the silk on those antique Crazy Quilts.

I had to remove it and I lined it with a product calledDream Weave Fusible by Floriani. This product is made to protect delicatefabrics from shredding and distortion. It doesn’t change the hand of the fabricand is supposed to be good for lining silk before applique. I haven’t tried itfor that yet though.

It seems to be working well and I have had no moreshredding.

The stitch that I used to stretch myself was the HalfChevron.

One block down, eleven to go!

Bye for now,

Linda

Thank You Present

2012-01-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to win the Victorian Quilters Showcase, Best of Show 2010 with my quilt Eastern Elements. The award is sponsored by Bernina and my quilt along with the Best of Show from the other Australian states was touring around to all the state shows including New Zealand and the Northern Territory most of last year.

I was so glad when it finally arrived home safe and sound. It is my favourite quilt and it was good to see it again.
Bernina sent me a thank you present of a beautiful blank sketch book and a jar of lollies. The little lollies have I love Bernina written on the sides of them. The sketch book will be handy for using this year keeping in mind that my word for the year is Design.

Bye for now,
Linda

Christmas Present

2012-01-13T21:37:00.000-08:00

Can you see what I got for Christmas? It's an Accuquilt Go cutting machine. I admit that it's a bit of a luxury item and I wasn't sure that I wanted one at first. They had a big stand at Houston when I was there in 2010 and the show price was so good that I was tempted to buy one but I had already bought too much and I knew my luggage would be too heavy.

I have bought a few of the cutting dies that I think I might use. Mostly the applique dies because I don't do many pieced quilts at the moment.

On New Years Eve when everyone was out partying, I was at home sewing. I had to cut 16 circles for some flower centres.

I opened my accuquilt box and found a half inch circle template. I was going to sew a blanket stitch around the edge of the circle so I fused some fusible web to the back of some yellow fabric and bravely tried out the cutter.

I think that it took 30 seconds and I had 16 perfectly formed circles.

I couldn't believe how easy it was. It would have usually taken me at least a couple of hours tracing the circles and then carefully cutting them out. Not to mention the ones I couldn't use because I had missed the curve as I cut.

If the price eventually goes down on the dies, I can imagine it taking over from the rotary cutter.

Bye for now,
Linda

Happy New Year

2012-01-11T14:47:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that we are already into the second week of the New Year. I have enjoyed my Christmas- New year break and am ready to start afresh.

I haven't been away on holidays or anything but just having a relaxed time with no commitments is like having a holiday. I have managed to get a lot of sewing done, so that always puts a smile on my face.

I don't usually make a New Years Resolution but last year the Quiltart internet group that I belong to encouraged us to make a word to use for the year. Last year my word was Balance and that worked well for me. I didn't get upset if I missed a deadline and it helped to keep things in perspective.

I have decided that this years word will be Design. I even made a Wordle with the word that I have printed out and will paste it in the front of my new sketch book.

My word is design but it could have easily been sketch. Like most people I am always lurching between deadlines and commitments and ideas for quilts are constantly entering my head and often leave just as quickly because I have too many other things to think about.
This year I am going to take the time to jot down the ideas for a quilt or stitching pattern in one of my design books. I have a few and will have them dotted about the house so they are easy to grab if I need them.
This idea also works well for the Waverley Art Quilters because we are going to have a sketch book component this year.

Bye for now,
Linda

Christmas Table Runner

2011-12-11T14:56:00.001-08:00

We have put up our Christmas decorations and my daughter decided to change things around this year. For the past few years we have been decorating the lounge room only and had just one heavily decorated room. This year my daughter decided that we will put some decorations in the family room as well because that is where we spend most of our time.

She put Santa and his sleigh in the middle of the table and it looked too bare. I decided that he needed a table runner underneath him. I wanted something quick and easy, although it took longer than I expected. At first I thought I would piece some stars to go in the middle but realised that it would be too busy and I was supposed to be showing off the sleigh and not the table runner.

I found some white fabric with some gold stars printed on it to resemble snow and found a Christmas border print that I had bought years ago when on holidays.

I quilted the white centre with a large free form feather pattern. It was a good excuse to have some feather practice and to try out the YLI silk thread with the metallic gold added to it. I quilted around the leaves and pine cones on the border.

I have been looking more carefully at my decorations this year because I want to use them as my inspiration for CQJP 2012. That is the Crazy Quilt Journal Project for next year and there is still time to sign up for it, if anyone is still thinking about it.

I will definitely have a Nutcracker in my quilt somewhere, I'll have to pick which one I'll use as the model.

I'll have to take a lot of photos of the different ornaments because by the time I put everything up again next year, I will have finished all the blocks! How exciting. I hope that it works out.

Bye for now,
Linda

Batting Test

2011-12-01T13:58:00.001-08:00

I teach a lot of machine quilting and often get asked about the best batting or wadding to use in a quilt. I always use Matilda's Own 60% wool and 40% poly, except when I make a baby quilt then I use 100% cotton.
I had a look at my different battings that I owned and found that I had 5 different types. I made up 9" square samples to sew and test them equally to see how they measured up.

The battings that I used were
Matilda's Own 60% Wool and 40% Poly
Matilda's Own 100% Cotton
Hobbs Tuscany Collection 100% Wool
Sew Easy Bamboo
Silk 100% ( I don't know the brand name of the silk, it was a sample piece given to me in a Silk class at Houston last year)

I changed the fabric colours so I could easily recognise the different battings but the fabrics were all Ricky Tims hand dyed fabric.

Test Results

Basting
The silk and cotton battings had a lovely strong grip on the backing fabric and the wool had a quite a good grip as well.

Loft
The wool batting came out on top for loft, the heart that I quilted looks as if I have trapuntoed it. The 60/40 Wool/ Poly had a good body and the cotton was surprisingly good as well. The bamboo and silk felt too thin with no body at all. They show no dimension in the quilting. I have seen that they are advertising a bamboo batting with a poly mix so that might fare better than the 100% bamboo.
Although the loft with the wool was wonderful, I had to be very careful that I didn't quilt in a tuck because of the thickness, the wool/poly mix was the easiest to quilt.

Fold Test
I folded the the finished samples in half with the right sides together and left them for a couple of days. They all showed fold marks. When I washed and dryed them the fold marks disappeared on all of them.
I folded them again but this time I folded them with the wrong sides together and the fold marks were minor compared to when the right sides were together. I must remember to fold my quilts with the right side facing out.

Shrinkage
The wool, wool/poly did not shrink at all. The silk and the cotton both shrunk by an 1/8' and the bamboo shrunk by 1/4". I was surprised at the amount of shrinkage on a 9" square. This would be more pronounced on a large quilt.

Tension
This is where I had the most unexpected result. I used a different colour in the top and the bobbin so I could see that the tension was correct.
I sewed the heart in the centre with cotton thread and the tension was good on all the samples, but I had to adjust it slightly for each sample.
I used a YLI 100% silk for the stippling around the heart. If you are going to have tension issues, the silk thread will show them up.
I quilted the wool/poly first and had no trouble.
I had a lot of trouble getting the tension right on the bamboo, in the end I changed the bobbin thread to match the top thread to mask the problem.
I had a lot of trouble with the silk thread shredding in the cotton and silk battings.
I was having so many tension and shredding issues that I started to think that it was the sewing machine but the last little sample I quilted was the 100% wool and I had no tension or shredding troubles at all.

Whenever people are having tension and thread problems it has never occured to me that it might be the batting that they have used that is causing the problem.
Because the silk and cotton batting had such a good grip with the backing fabric, I wonder if it was gripping the thread while I was quilting it.

Bearding

This was my final test. I had put a black fabric on the back of each sample to help show up the thread and tension problems and show any bearding that might occur. Bearding is when the little fibres of batting come through the fabric, no matter how many times you wash or brush it.It is only a problem with dark fabrics, but it is heartbreaking when it happens after all that work of quilting the quilt.

The only batting that didn't beard was the Hobbs Tuscany Collection 100% wool. Matilda's Own make their 60/40 Wool/Poly in a charcoal colour and I have used it many times on a dark coloured quilt and had no problems.
The bearding with the bamboo batting is particulary bad.

I will continue to use the Matilda's Own wool/poly mix but I am also going to quilt my next quilt with the Hobbs Tuscany Collection 100% wool. Matilda's Own is an Australian company and they also make a 100% wool batt but I haven't tried it yet.

Bye for now,
Linda

Forest Threads Exhibition

2011-11-23T13:46:00.001-08:00

This week I went to the Forest Threads Exhibition which is being held at the Box Hill Town Hall in Melbourne.
Australian Quilts in Public Places(AQIPP) is an initiative of AQA (Australian Quilters Association) designed to enhance the public awareness and appreciation of Quilting.
Because 2011 is the International Year of the Forests the theme for the Juried and Judged show was named Forest Threads.

It was a wonderful exhibition and all the quilts were displayed really well. I only took a few photos of some of my very favourites but there were many other quilts that were just as inspiring.

This first photo is a quilt by Les Clarke, named Forest Threads. This is one of the first quilts that you see as you are entering the exhibition and it was hard to photograph because it was in a glass case. Les has used a lot of thread work showing flowers, water, insects and birds in the forest.

The next quilt is by Barbara Bennetts and it is named Diversity. Barbara used elements from many different regions to form a mystical place of her own imagining. I liked this quilts when I was close to it but I didn't appreciate the depth until I was across the room and looked back at the quilt. The photo doesn't do it justice.

The next photo is a quilt named Ashes to Ashes by Noelle Lyon. This was a lovely quilt using layers of sheer fabric to depict the bushfires in the Alpine National Park in 2006. Noelle says that the fire was so hot the trees have not regrown.

The next photo shows Jan Frazer's quilt named Chromatropes.This quilt was exploring the changing light in the forest using many different techniques.

The next picture is of Annettes Bauneis's quilt named Roots and All. Annette was inspired by the flowing Tingle Trees in Western Australia.

The last photo I have to show you is a quilt by Alison Withers called Clearfell. This quilt was made using hand dyed felt and was all about the changing environment in a man made landscape. This quilt was very different from the others in the exhibition and the more I looked at it the more I liked it.

My photos don't really do these quilts justice and I can highly recommend a visit to the exhibiton. It is on until 21st December, so there is still plenty of time to get there if you live in Melbourne.

You can find the details and opening times of the exhibition by clicking Here

Bye for now,
Linda

Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012

2011-11-16T16:20:00.001-08:00

The Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 has just begun. Registration is open to everyone from 15th November to 27th December 2011.
The idea is to create a Crazy Quilt block every month for 12 months and share them with everyone in the group if you want. People from all over the world are going to participate and it will be a lot of fun seeing everyone's different blocks.

I have never done a group project like this before but it has come at the right time for me. I am just finishing up two hand work projects, a crazy quilt and an applique quilt. The next quilt that I have in my mind to do is by machine so I will be without any hand work.

I always like to have some hand work for when I am watching TV or going to a sewing/friendship group. Now I will have my Crazy Quilt Journal blocks to sew. I am feeling quite excited by this because I haven't started a new project for over 12 months.

If you are interested in participating look at their website and read all about it.

http://www.cqjp.org

The blocks can be any size from 6" x 6", so it shouldn't be too much work. Maybe you have never done any Crazy Quilting before, this could be the ideal time to give it a go.

Now I just have to decide what my theme will be. I am thinking Christmas, but I have also thought about doing some pale floaty lace type blocks...No, Christmas it is. You don't have to have a theme, that's just the way I do Crazy Quilting.

Bye for now,
Linda

Frankston Masterclass

2011-11-13T14:06:00.001-08:00

I was honoured to be asked to teach at the inaugural Frankston Masterclass last Saturday. This event was organised by Cheryl Billing Smith and you can see us in the photo above. Cheryl is on the left.

It was a lovely warm sunny day and the venue was the Mahogany Neighbourhood Centre in Frankston North, Victoria. The room was large with plenty of good light and Cheryl had some quilts hanging in the room to add some colour.

Cheryl had organised catering for this event and the food was delicious. Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea were provided and as we had been working very hard in our class the breaks were very welcome.

I was teaching Machine Quilting. It was not a beginners class, it was my class called Backgrounds and Borders where we learn many designs to use when quilting a quilt. Some of the students were complete beginners to machine quilting and so it was a steep learning curve for them.

Here are some of my enthusiastic students hard at work. They say that practice makes perfect and it was wonderful to see the progress in their quilting as the day went on. I really hope that they continue with their machine quilting because they all showed great promise.

Here is a photo of us at the end of the day, very tired but still smiling. We all thoroughly enjoyed our day.

There was also a shop set up in the room for people to buy some fabric and odd and ends.
Cheryl hopes to run these Masterclasses every 2 years with a Quilt Show in the years between. I am sure she will have great success as the word spreads.

Bye for now,
Linda

Another Student Quilt

2011-11-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

While I was teaching my Crazy about Australia class, Kaye, one of my students from last year dropped by to show us her completed quilt. It's always a great thrill for the class to see a former student's quilt finished.
I have been teaching this class for a few years now and everyone's quilt looks different.

We were all looking closely at her embroidery and colour scheme. It's good to see what little changes Kaye made. I love teaching this class because people usually start out a bit scared and tentative and by the end of the 12 months they have become so confident with colour choices and their embroidery skills increase tremendously.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me that day, so Kaye emailed me a photo.

Thanks Kaye

Bye for now,
Linda

Scottish Dance

2011-11-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

My quilt Scottish Dance seems to be appearing a lot lately even though I made it back in 2006. I was inspired to make a Scottish themed quilt after reading the series of books by Diana Gabaldon that are set in Scotland. I thought about how I would design it for at least two years before I started to sew anything.
Everything I thought of just didn't seem right. One day I sat down and wrote a list of all the quilts that I would like to make. It was a long list and I knew that many would never get done. I combined three of the ideas together and was finally happy with my design.
The three ideas were;
A red and green quilt
A quilt with two different coloured backgrounds and
A Scottish Quilt.

I was asked by Quilters Companion Magazine to let them publish the pattern. The pattern appeared in isssue 26 and 27. I have been told that all the back issues are sold out, but I haven't checked to see if that is right.

I have received quite a few emails from people saying how much they love the quilt and many have since made the quilt. I noticed that the quilt made by others are starting to appear in quilt shows and the people must have done a lovely job because they have been winning prizes.

This morning I found that The Quilt Show Blog has featured my quilt as their Quilt of the Day. The Quilt Show is is an Internet TV Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. I have been a member since it first started because I used to love watching Alex Anderson's show Simply Quilts when it used to be on TV.
I love nothing better than having a free afternoon to sit in front of one of their shows while doing some applique or embroidery. My clever husband has connected a computer to our television, so I can watch the shows on TV instead of a computer screen.

Bye for now,
Linda

Machine Quilting Class

2011-10-26T02:56:00.000-07:00

Cheryl Billing Smith has organised a special event in Frankston for all quilters on Saturday 12th November 9.30am - 4.30pm.

I will be teaching a Machine Quilting class, called Backgrounds and Borders. You will be making samples of stitches to use when quilting. You will never have to wonder what stitches to use in your quilts again. We will be discussing not only stitches for the backgrounds and borders but also ideas for those pieced blocks as well.

Two other teachers will be offering classes as well, Brenda Ryan and Susan Matthews.

Cheryl informs me that there are still a couple of vacancies in all of the classes.

Check out this link if you are interested. http://mahogany.org.au/masterclass.htm

Hope to see you there.

Bye for now,
Linda

Quilters Companion Magazine

2011-10-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

I was at the newsagent and innocently bought the latest Quilters Companion Magazine, not realising that there was an article about me in it!

It is their Great Australian Quilts No. 3. The magazine is wrapped in plastic because there is a CD with it called Learn Machine Applique with Rachelle Denneny. When I opened the plastic I noticed my name on the cover.

They've devoted 6 pages about me including photos of 7 of my quilts. The article is titled A Disciplined Designer!

I am happy to be described as disciplined, isn't everyone? Maybe not.
I think that they have written a lovely article except that they wrongly state on the pattern page that I live in Horsham! Don't look for me there, I live in Park Orchards.

Quilters Companion asked me a few months ago to create a project for their magazine based on one of my latest quilts.
I designed a Wall Hanging named Panda Crazy based on a block in my quilt Eastern Elements.
This is a crazy quilt using free machine thread painting for all the stitches and motifs. Instead of doing all the embroidery by hand I have done it on the machine but not using the programmed fancy stitches. I think that the programmed stitches are fine for some things but I find them a bit flat for a crazy quilt. I have added some braids and beads as well.

The pattern is well set out with a lot of step by step photos. There a quite a few different techniques to use when making up the pattern including, foundation piecing, free motion machine thread painting and stitching and inserting piping into the binding.

I wonder if anyone ever makes up the patterns in Magazines? I think I might have made one once or twice a few years ago. These days, I just look at the photos and read the articles.

Here is a photo of the actual wall hanging.

Bye for now,
Linda

World Crazy Quilt Progress

2011-10-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

I am still working on my World Crazy Quilt (I am still thinking of what I will name the quilt). I have 12 different blocks representing different countries and after I put the blocks onto the background fabric, I thought that they looked a bit plain and bare.

Well, I thought that they needed a bit of embroidery around the borders and it wouldn't take long.
How wrong was I! Each block took two hours to complete the embroidery. That's 24 hours of work that I hadn't planned on.

When I had finished doing the little lazy daisy stitches, I had to put a bead on each cluster. Once again I miscalculated because each block took 40 minutes to add the beads. I had thought that it would take about 15 minutes.

So my little after thought took an extra 2 hours 40 minutes for each block. No wonder these quilts take me so long to do. I think it is worth the work though, judging from the photo above.

I have also been busy with the Australia block that will be in the centre.

Bye for now,
Linda

Blog of the Week!

2011-10-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a big surprise this week when the American Quilters Society picked my blog as their Blog of the Week.

I was thrilled!

I have been a member of AQS for a few years now and I love their magazine, American Quilter. It is always full of wonderfully large photos of prize winning quilts.

I have entered their big quilt show in Paducah a few times and I always order the catalogue because it has a photo of every quilt in the show.

American Quilter also has a facebook page for those of you on facebook. They are always talking about interesting things.

Thanks American Quilter.

Bye for now,
Linda

Holidays

2011-10-12T02:29:00.000-07:00

I have been away on holidays for a week at Bateman's Bay, which is in New South Wales, about 2 hours east of Canberra and 3 hours south of Sydney.

My favourite birds are blue wrens and I kept seeing them everywhere. I was so happy and driving my children mad by trying to take photos of them all the time. They are so quick that it was hard to get good photos.

We went to the Mogo Zoo which was one of the best zoos that we have been to, I got so many closeup animal shots. I can imagine putting this Komado dragon in a crazy quilt.

The next day we went to Birdland and I have so many wonderful closeup photos of parrots, kookaburras and owls that I'll be able to use in my quilts.

We spent ages with the peacocks because they all had their tails out showing off to the peahens and doing their mating dance. One of the peahens went pecking for food down a path and the poor peacock couldn't fit his tail through and was all sad. We thought that she mustn't be interested in him but next thing she was back pecking for food right in front of the peacock!

Even the back of the peacock is very attractive.

I managed to go to a couple of patchwork shops without driving the family crazy. I went to Patchwork on the Bay in Bateman's Bay and Steph's Patchwork and Stitching in Moruya. Steph's is a big shop with a huge variety of supplies. In Mogo I went to a scrapbooking, art and craft shop called Amanda's of Mogo, it was like an Alladin's Cave with so much stock. There was also a shop that only sold beads, so I managed to spend money in all the shops and came home with a nice supply of things.

The picture shows some of the purchases I made. I also bought a 24 set of Inktense pencils.

It's nice to go away and have a change of scenery but it's good to be home as well.

Bye for now,
Linda

Another Crazy Quilt in Progress

2011-09-29T02:27:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy this year teaching my Quilting All Over the World class as a block of the month.
The original quilt is very large and quite complicated to put together. I decided to make the quilt a smaller and more manageable size for the class.

Because I changed the quilt to a square setting instead of a circular setting, I had to add four more countries. The countries that I decided to add were Canada, Spain, Scotland and New Zealand.

I have finally finished all the small blocks and they are pictured above. The quilt is a medallion setting and I am going to put a large Australia block in the centre. It has been really interesting for me to re-do this quilt, it has given me the opportunity to change some things that I didn't like in the original quilt.

I also had to change some blocks because when I reduced the size, some of the motifs that I had done in the first version didn't work as well in a smaller size.

I am now trying to finish the centre so I can finally put this quilt together. The class members have been very patient, watching the quilt progress month by month. I promised them it will be finished by the next class! I have a lot of work to do.

I am very happy with my kangaroos in the centre.

Bye for now,

Linda

Quilting Novels

2011-09-22T03:03:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading the three quilting novels by Margaret A. Rowe. I can highly recommend these enjoyable novels, if you like the Elm Creek series then you will love these.

I was teaching at the Michelle's Sewing Basket retreat earlier this year and Margaret was the guest speaker. She was so entertaining and inspiring that I bought all three of her books.

They tell the story of a group of quilting friends and their joys and disappointments in life as they participate in their Patchwork Guild's Challenge for the year. The novels are set in Australia and their challenge each year has something to do with the history of Australia's settlement, so not only are you enjoying the novel you can learn a bit of history as well.

The first novel in the series is called The Maria Challenge Quilt, next comes The Elizabeth Challenge and the third novel is called The Caroline Challenge.

Margaret has such a lovely, natural way of writing and it is very easy to identify with the characters. The books seem well researched and although no quilt shops are named, you will recognise the shops if you have been there.

Margaret has self published her books and I have seen them for sale in some quilt shops here in Victoria. You can also buy them directly from Margaret by emailing her. My only complaint is that I wish they were longer, I didn't want them to finish. I know that she is working on a fourth novel, so I hope that it doesn't take her much longer to finish it.

Bye for now,
Linda

Student Quilts 2010

2011-09-16T03:54:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely surprise this week. I teach my quilt Crazy about Australia as a block of the month at a shop named Missy Moo. Carlie, one of my students from last year has just finished her quilt and she brought it in to show me.
I think that she has done a lovely job. She changed the centre so she could depict her Grandfather's old house, which I think is a lovely idea and makes her quilt even more special.

I have also received a photo from Sue, who was in the same class as Carlie.

Sue has actually personalised her centre as well. What talented women I teach.
The class goes for 12 months and it is always lovely to see how the students gain confidence as the months progress.

Bye for now,
Linda

Free Motion Feet

2011-09-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

I have always quilted my quilts with a closed toe free motion foot that had a little plastic insert in the middle, mainly because that is what came with my machine and they didn't make an open toe foot for my machine.

But, I always wanted an open toe foot especially when I was doing some intricate work and wanted to finish at an exact spot in a quilted feather for example. You can see through the plastic insert but sometimes the sewing machine light seemed to reflect off of it and it wasn't ideal.

I spoke to the man in the sewing machine shop and he managed to find an open toe foot from another brand machine that fitted my sewing machine.

I was so happy and couldn't wait to try it and thought that I would never use my original foot again.

Imagine my surprise when I found that the open toe foot caught on the embroidery stitches when quilting my Crazy Quilts. It also got stuck if I had a few seams that came together in a bit of a lump.

Luckily I have still got my original foot and didn't cut out the front, the way I was tempted to.

Now I know why they make the two types of free motion feet.

Bye for now,
Linda

Houston Auction Quilt Completed

2011-09-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

I have finished my little quilt for the International Quilt Association's (IQA) Silent Auction which will be held at the Houston Quilt Show in early November 2011. The money raised helps support the activities of IQA including the quilt show.

I have named my quilt Crazy about Kookaburras and it measures 17" (44cm) square.

I think that it looks much better quilted. Quilting adds texture and interest. Traditionally crazy quilts were not quilted and usally didn't include any wadding or batting. They were just the embroidered top and a backing fabric and then tied in certain spots to hold the two layers together.

I make my quilts to hang on a wall and so always include the wadding and quilting.

Bye for now,
Linda

Vienna Art and Design

2011-08-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I visited the Vienna Art and Design exhibition at the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria). The exhibition was focussing on the work of Klimt, Schiele, Hoffman and Loos between 1890-1920.

The exhibition showed not only paintings and drawings of the period but architecture, furniture, household goods and jewellery. Everything was decorated in the Art Deco style. The mathematical, geometric shapes are so inspirational and suitable for patchwork and quilting.

Everywhere we looked from a carving on a chair or a pattern on a vase or cup, there was a design that could inspire a quilt or a quilting design.

Last year we studied Art Deco in the Waverley Art Quilters group and I made the little quilt that is pictured above. The clean abstract lines of Art Deco was popular between the 1st and 2nd World War but obviously had its beginnings earlier than this.

We also studied Gustav Klimt with the Waverley Art Quilters. Klimt was born in 1862 and died in 1918. He is famous for his painting The Kiss. The little quilt that I made was inspired by his golden period. They had a quite a few Klimt paintings in the exhibition and it was so wonderful to see them after looking at them in books for so long. Paintings are like quilts, they always look so much better in real life. You don't have any idea of scale in books either. Most of the Klimt paintings we saw were quite large.

I should be drawing up quilt designs now before I lose the inspiration.

Bye for now,

Linda

Kookaburra has a Border

2011-08-26T03:49:00.000-07:00

I have put a border around my Kookaburra block and I decided to add some embroidery as well. I used a feather stitch and then added some leaves, lazy daisy flowers and some colonial knots.

After I had finished stitching the border, I embroidered some more flowers in the top right corner because I thought that it looked a little bare up there.

A friend contacted me to say that she couldn't see where I had added the ribbon embroidery on the block, so I have a couple of close ups to show.

I added some ribbon flowers on top of the lace motifs.

I also added some ribbon leaves underneath the blue wren.

I have basted my little quilt and I hope to have some time over the weekend to quilt it. Nearly finished now!

Bye for now,

Linda

Ribbons and Beads

2011-08-23T03:36:00.000-07:00

I am still working away on my small quilt for the Houston Silent Auction 2011. I have finished adding the ribbon embroidery and the beads and now it is starting to look finished.

I have used 4mm silk ribbon and most of them have been hand dyed so there is a slight variation in the colour. I think that it is not quite as flat looking as a plain silk ribbon.

I always use the Mill Hill small glass beads, I think it adds a bit of sparkle and light to the stitches.

Next I will be putting some borders on the little quilt and I'll decide if the border needs some embroidery as well.

Bye for now,

Linda

Kookaburra Stitching Complete

2011-08-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

I've been very busy stitching my block for the Houston Silent Auction in the last couple of days. I think that I have just about done all the stitching that it needs.

I added the fish near the bottom of the block using needle turn applique and used a few blanket stitches for their tails.

Next I will be adding some ribbon work and some beads.

Houston Mini Auction Progress

2011-08-18T04:02:00.000-07:00

I have done the stitching on the motifs. I use a slanted straight stitch that is not as regular as satin stitch to give more realistic looking fur and feathers. I am looking forward to doing the rest of the stitching now.

Bye for now,
Linda

Houston Mini Auction

2011-08-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

The International Quilt Association in Houston has a silent quilt auction every year. It is an invitational event and they have asked me to participate and blog about it as well. They only expect a small quilt and all the proceeds go to IQA to help them run the Quilt Show.
I decided to make a small crazy quilted wall hanging loosely based on the Kookaburra block in my quilt, Crazy about Australia.

These are the fabrics that I got out to use. It will be a combination of blues, greens and golds.

I wanted the block to be bigger than the original block, so I drew up another design onto a piece of calico and foundation pieced the base block. The block will measure abour 12" plus a border.

This what the block looked like after I had pieced the base and fused on some of the motifs that I plan to use. They'll look much better when they are stitched.

This is the blue wren after I had stitched him and he looks much happier now.
I have to finish the quilt and have it into Houston by September 23rd, so I will have to work on it and forget my other sewing until it is finished because I have to allow two weeks for the postage from Australia to Houston.
Bye for now,
Linda

Houston Class Catalogue

2011-08-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

This week the Houston Fall 2011 Class Catalogue arrived in the mail. It's 70 pages full of classes and events that are on during the Houston Quilt Show.
There is so much information and so many classes to choose from that you need a week to read it all.
As well as the classes on every technique you can think of, there are lectures and tours of shops and places in the area. There are 900 different classes or events that you can sign up for.
As well as all the classes there is of course the Judged Quilt Show. There are also 32 other different quilt displays on show.
No wonder the Houston Quilt Festival goes for a week. It is also the most well run and organised show I have ever been to.
You cannot imagine how huge the Houston Quilt Show is until you actually get there.

Paul Klee

2011-08-10T03:40:00.000-07:00

Last night I met with the Waverley Art Quilters. We have been studying the work of Paul Klee (pronounced Klay). The picture above was the little A3 sized art quilt that I made.

Paul Klee 1879-1940

Klee was born in Switzerland but spent most of his life in Germany. He was a skilled illustrator and teacher and is known for his watercolours. Klee was heavily influenced by cubism and I think his work is very like patchwork.

This is his painting named Castle and Sun. I tried to use similar colours. I drew the pattern up in EQ7 and then I fused the different squares and triangles to a brown background fabric.

Everyone in the group chose a different painting to study and there was such a variety.

Next month our theme is Doors and Doorways and we can use whatever technique we want.

Bye for now,

Linda

Margaret Olley

2011-08-05T03:23:00.000-07:00

The art world was saddened last week with the death of Margaret Olley. Margaret Olley was born 24th June 1923 in NSW and died 26th July 2011.

She was known for her colourful still life paintings and intimate interiors.

I belong to a group called the Waverley Art Quilters who meet every month to study a different artist or technique. Last year we studied Margaret Olley and I made the small still life art quilt that is pictured above. Looking again at her paintings, I should have made it with much more saturated colour.

Ben Quilty painted Margaret Olley and won this years Archibald Prize with the painting.

Victorian Quilters Showcase 2011

2011-08-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

The Victorian Quilters Showcase is over for another year. I was lucky enough to be the Profile a Quilter this year and so I spent all four days sitting in front of my quilts. I had a wonderful time meeting friends, students and fellow quilters. It was heartening to meet so many beginner quilters as well. I still remember the excitement of making my first quilt, which was on display at the show.

Desley Maisano won Best of Show with her quilt Ruled by Chocolate. Desley is a professional long-arm quilter and is known for her wonderful quilting. Desley has recently been married and used to be known as Desley Regan for those who don't recogise her new name. Desley has a blog and has some more photos and details about her quilt. http://addictedtoquilts.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

My lovely two daughters came and visited me at the show and were inspired to buy a couple of cross stitch kits, so you never know, they might be quilters of the future.

My photos are never very good at quilt shows, so go to the Victorian Quilters website to see all the names of prize winners and some photos as well.http://www.victorianquilters.org/index.php

Thank you to all the quilters who took the time to come and say hello to me at the show.

Bye for now,

Linda

Vic Quilters Set Up

2011-07-27T03:50:00.000-07:00

I have spent the day at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre setting up my retrospective quilt show. I am honoured to be the Profile A Quilter at the Victorian Quilters Showcase this year. I arrived at 9am and we managed to finish at about 2pm. We were able to spend some time after that looking at all the other quilts on display. My very first quilt is the quilt on the far right in the photo above.

Here is a picture of my two wonderful helpers, Jill and Heather hard at work. I couldn't have done it without them. They were so patient and efficient. All the quilts had to be pinned onto carpet walls, so it wasn't an easy job like just hanging them onto quilt stands.

Here is a picture of us after we had finished, very tired but still smiling.

I will be at the show everyday in front of my quilts, so please stop by and say hello.

All the details of the dates and opening times can be found on the Craft and Quilt Fair Website.www.craftfair.com.au

Bye for now, Linda

Masterclass in Frankston

2011-07-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

Cheryl Billing Smith has been very busy organising the Patchwork Masterclass and Workshops to be held on Saturday 12th November 2011 in Frankston North.

I will be teaching a Machine Quilting Class called Backgrounds and Borders. It's for people who already know how to baste and the basics of machine quilting. This class is for those who want to move beyond stippling and have some different ideas for areas of the quilt, blocks, backgrounds and borders. After the class you will have samples of all sorts of ideas to take home with you and use in the future. The photo on the left is just one of the samples that you will be making.
There will be three other teachers conducting workshops that day.
Brenda Ryan- Embroidery
Jane Monk- Zentangles and
Susan Matthews- Sumptious Surfaces.
It looks like it will be a wonderful event. You can find out all the details at
Mahogany Neighbourhood Centre Website http://mahogany.org.au/masterclass.htm

Watercolour Class

2011-07-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

I have recently finished an online watercolour class with Sue Bleiweiss called Watercolor Explorations for the Fibre Artist. I have done a little bit of watercolour before so I already had some paints and paper to use. It was only a three week course so it wasn't a big committment.
Every week Sue randomly picked out someone to receive a prize. My name was picked on the first week and I won some of Sue's beautiful hand dyed fabric.

The fabric was so soft and had a suede feel to it. Sue uses sand washed cotton for her dyeing, so I am going to buy some to try.

I enjoyed using the watercolour especially beacause the clean up is so easy compared to acrylics.
On the third week we had to make a journal using one of the designs we had created.
I used some of the fabric that I won and decorated it with some of the stitches on my sewing machine that I never usually use.
Sue taught us the proper way to make a book but I took a shortcut and sewed my pages on the sewing machine.

Cover Quilt

2011-07-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

I have just received the latest Vic Quilter Magazine and my quilt Scottish Dance is on the cover. They have put it on a background of pale pink and I think it looks really pretty. My quilt has made the cover because I am having a display of many of my quilts at the Victorian Quilt Show this year. I will have the very first quilt I made on show as well as my latest quilt and many more in between.

The Victorian Quilters Showcase is on at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Southbank.(fondly known as Jeff's Shed. It will be open from Thursday July 28th to Sunday July 31st.

I will be there everyday sitting by my quilts, so I would love it if people came up and spoke to me. It will surely make the days go faster.

Fabric Dyeing

2011-07-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I spent the day dyeing some cotton and silk fabric. They have been sitting in my sewing room so I could admire the beautiful colours but I must pack them away.

I used a different colour combination than I have used before and I really like them. I used Procion dyes, Fuchsia Red, Lemon Yellow and Turquoise. I had some dye left over so I added some black to the colours to get a darker version. It is amazing how different the fabrics look with the black added to them.
The fabrics on the top row are the cottons and the fabrics on the bottom row are the silk.
The second photo shows just some of the pots of dye, I had another set as well.

My First Post

2011-04-28T03:41:00.000-07:00

I have finally started a blog after promising people that I would for so long. However this is all new to me and it might be sometime before you see something worthwhile.