What have I been doing lately?

I am definitely looking forward to travelling to Adelaide in less than two weeks time to teach at the Quilters' Guild of South Australia Quilt Encounter 2013!  It will be lovely to meet the organisers that I have been chatting to for over twelve months.  It will also be great to meet all the ladies in class.

I have been busy photocopying hundreds of pages of patterns and compiling folders for all of my students.  I have also had hundreds of photos of the quilts printed and been working on more samples.  I put a LOT of preparation into my classes so that they run smoothly on the day!

I have also been asked to present a talk on the Monday evening so I need to get working on my PowerPoint presentation of my Jane Austen quilt collection.

As for sewing, I have been working on a few new designs!  Work progresses on "Meryton" which will be the sixth Jane Austen quilt - in pretty pinks and greens.  I have also started a new design in brown and blue (brown, just for a change!)

I have also sewn a lot on my trusty Bernina to (nearly) complete a quilt top for next year's NSW Guild Quilt Show.

I do not want to reveal the quilt just yet but I can tell you it is based on an antique quilt made by Henrietta Glover in the mid-nineteenth century in Connecticut, USA.

Here are some of the little half square triangles, all in piles and then in rows ready to be pieced....

Until next time, happy stitching....

More Work on "Rosings" by Jan and Sharon

Work continues on the "Rosings" quilts that were commenced in February this year.

Here is Jan's very beautiful centre with all the applique complete.  Jan has done a fabulous job as her quilt sits very flat and her applique is lovely.  Well done! (I might add that Jan did not want to be in the photo, hence the legs at the bottom)...

Here are some of the wonderful octagons made by Sharon from a variety of "fussy cut" William Morris fabrics.

Here is one of Sharon's foundation pieced cornerstone blocks - yummy!

Lovely Day at Nowra

Veronica and I made the trip to Jukejema Quilting Barn at Nowra last Saturday where I taught "Pemberley" to a lovely group of ladies.

The ladies were most knowledgeable and experienced with their applique which made my job much easier!

We had a great day playing with fabric for the centre oval medallion.
                                         

Here are some photos of the very start of the girls' quilts... looking forward to returning to see their progress.  Thank you, Kim for a very warm reception and thank you to 

Le-Anne, Wendy, Sharon, Karan, Lee, Sheila, Sharon, Louise, Di and Donna for a fun day!

Whack and Stack "Rococo" Stars

I taught my new Whack and Stack quilt for the first time this week.  The Le Moyne star blocks were all cut from the same border fabric, creating many different exciting and unexpected patterns.  I called the quilt "Rococo".

Here is the original...

Here are some of the blocks the girls were making in class.  It always makes for a great class because everyone is excited to see the different patterns that emerge from the different choice of the main fabric.

The first one belongs to Dawn.  She used a fabric with a brown background and large bouquets of different coloured flowers.  We expect she will get lots of blocks in different colours.

The next one belongs to Lynn.  This fabric also had bouquets of lovely pink and yellow flowers.  She has set her diamonds in a soft pink background fabric.

Then we have Janine's.  Her main fabric had a distinctive olive green background with sprays of soft apricot/pink roses.

This one belongs to Janine.  Her fabric was an amazing green, gold and black swirly paisley design.  We decided to set her diamond star on a rich green.  Wow!

The last example belongs to Sally.  Sally's fabric was a very colourful one with lots of different sized circles with many flower motifs.  She also set her block on a soft pink background.  Looks amazing.

I will show you some more of these blocks as the girls progress.

Great fun!

Class Action

I have been busy teaching classes all over the place!

Here is Janine's completed "Rosings" quilt in magnificent autumnal shades of green and orange.  She says it is completely different for her but she loves it.  So do I!  She has a splendid William Morris poppy border as the last border.

I have been teaching the Richmond girls my "Pamela" hand bag.  Here are three different versions of the front piece in a variety of colours.  First is Karol's with her very professional home made leaf buttons - hand formed and painted...

Here is Mary's (1) - sorry I took the photo before the hand made buttons went on.

Here is Mary (2) with a lovely pink stripe fabric on the sides.

Here is my original sample.  The pattern is available for purchase.

And just because a mother can always brag, here are my two sons at last night's school music festival.  First, here is David at the end of playing the violin in the orchestra and second is James (in the middle) playing the flute in the concert band.

Progress on Theresa's "Pemberley"

Here are some action shots on progress made today on Theresa's "Pemberley":

Here is her centre medallion appliqued to the background.  She has used a lot of wonderful William Morris fabrics.

Here is a closeup - she has played a little with the fabrics on her urn:

Here it is later in the day cut into the oval, with pink piping and scallops in place.  Looks fabulous!

Jan's Show and Tell

Jan surprised me today with TWO finished quilts: her "Rosings" and her Block of the Month quilt.

Here is her "Rosings" all finished.  Jan always intended to put a beautiful floral with a black background (used in centre circle) as her final border but when she sewed it on she was disappointed and felt it detracted from all the lovely applique so she unpicked it and replaced it with two plainer borders - a black and a soft pink.  Looks great!

Here is the centre:

Here is Jan's completed black and white version of the Block of the Month I designed for Pioneer Patchwork in 2012.  Jan has set her blocks like my reproduction setting but omitted the sashings between blocks and made a brick work border in the leftovers.  It is huge and gorgy.  Congrats, Jan.

She is laughing here, relieved to be finished?

More "Gorgy" Applique

I really love writing my blog.  I hope that you are enjoying reading it.  Please let me know if you are, as I love to hear from you.

Here are some photographs of the "Rosings" work the very gentle and beautiful Glenda has been doing on her "Rosings" quilt.  The first photos show the cute and "gorgy" fussy cut half inch hexagons she has made.  I never get tired of seeing the different versions of these little rosettes.  Then there is a photo of one quarter of her applique on "Rosings" where the hexies will be placed.

Here is a photo of the centre of Cheryl's "Pemberley" in soft colours of pink, mauve, blue, green and brown.  Cheryl loves the pastel look and this is really looking lovely.

Until next time, happy stitching!  K x

Some of My Favourites at the 2013 Quilt Show

I love looking at all the different quilts at the NSW Quilters' Guild Darling Harbour Quilt Show.

This year was no exception, with lots of fabulous quilts.  The following are photos of some that caught my eye:

The first one was made by my lovely friend, Deborah Louie.  Called "Last Night's Leftovers", it won 1st prize in the New Traditions from Old Favourites Category.  The quilting, as usual, was awesome, especially on that black border!  







Here is Michelle Marvig with her "1850s Revisited" which won  2nd prize in the Commercially Machine Quilted Category.  Quilted by Michele Turner...  Congratulations!

Here is a stunning quilt by Catherine Butterworth, called "Sisterhood".  Made of the Seven Sisters block, every diamond in the stars was "fussy cut" from a different fabric and each hexagon block was a different colour.  As if that was not enough, Catherine appliqued 510 circles in the sashings.  Amazing!

Here is a really beautiful hand appliqued and hand quilted Baltimore Album quilt by Margo Hardie called "Gorsuch Family Quilt c1840 Revisited".  It won a 3rd place ribbon in the Professional Applique Category.

I took a photo of this one to show the lovely Michele Hill.  It is  called "Morning Glory" by Christine Snerling and is one of the designs from Michele's book "More William Morris Applique".  It is really beautifully made.

This quilt was called "Big Blue" by Joanne Barraclough.  It won a 1st place ribbon in the Traditional (Machine Quilted) Amateur Category.  I thought it was really beautiful.  

Of course hexagons are always among my favourites.  This one was called "First Daughter's Quilt" by Deborah Laurie.  It was inspired by an antique quilt featured in the book "Quilts of Virginia 1607 - 1899" (page 50).  They are superb!

This quilt is by Rhonda Pearce of Post Office Patchwork. I always love her quilts using reproduction fabrics.  This one is called "Civil War Journey".  Love the applique and the churn dash block is one of my favourites too!

The last one was made by the lovely ladies at Epping Quilters Inc and is called "Dahlia Daze".  It won a 2nd place ribbon in the Group/Collaborative Quilt Category.    I enjoyed teaching the ladies one of my quilt designs earlier this year and I know they are working hard towards their own exhibition. Well done, ladies!

I hope you have enjoyed my mini tour of this year's Show! If you have time over the next three days, it is most worthwhile to visit.