Appleyard Cottage Stall at the Sydney Quilt and Craft Fair

It is very exciting that my friend Veronica will have a stand at the Sydney Quilt and Craft Fair to be held at Glebe Island from the 9th to the 13th July.  The number of her stand is C43.

She will be selling lots of wonderful kits for quilts and smaller projects as well as her favourite Sue Daley and Sewline products.  

If you are at the Show, check out Veronica's original Block of the Month projects as well as her Aurifil Thread Club offer.

If you have been to the Show held at Darling Harbour in previous years, you can travel on a free bus or ferry from the old venue to the new location at Glebe Island. You can also travel by bus from Central Station or ferry from Circular Quay.

I am looking forward to going on Wednesday 9th July to see my two quilts in the Show and see Veronica's stall.  I have made her a couple of applique signs to display on the stand.

I Love Foundation Piecing

I was given a gorgeous collection of advanced pre cuts by The Stitchers Cupboard from the next Collections for a Cause by Moda called "Community".

This range has some stunning deep browns and the famous Moda reds, but also some gorgeous teal blues and pinks.  I had trouble choosing which combination of colours and prints I liked the most.  I drafted a small pineapple block for foundation piecing and made a test block today.

Yummy!  Foundation piecing always gives such great results.

"Longbourne" Ladies in Nowra

I made the journey to Nowra again yesterday to teach my lovely class at Jukejema Quilting Barn.

The ladies have been working on their centre blocks for their "Longbourne" quilts.

We all enjoyed a day of stitching and some of us made more of a mess than others! Check out the work table.

Here is Di's centre in progress with fresh and pretty fabrics. Great fussy cutting of those petals.

Here is Louise's centre with a very beautiful urn fussy cut from some very striking fabric.

Check out this gorgeous collection of hexagon rosettes:

Happy stitching ladies.

Inaugural Jane Austen Sewers South Australian Group

The ladies I have been teaching in South Australia held their first meeting yesterday at Hettie's Patchwork in Adelaide.

It was a shame I could not be there to join in the fun and see the progress made on the girls "Rosings" quilts.

Here is Jackie holding up her centre:

Here is Chris laying out her applique pieces:

Well done girls, wish I was there!

Some More Great Placemats.... And Some Spikey Blocks

The ladies at my second machine applique class at Pioneer were a bit daunted by the prospect, but by the end of class everyone was wizzing along like a professional!

Here are their colour combinations for their placemats.  In order, by Sharon, Jan, Jane and Krista.  Some ladies escaped before the camera came out!

While all this was happening, Leanne was working very hard on her blocks for "Spikes and Specks".  She has now finished all of the machine paper foundation piecing, just the applique to go now.

Mary's Little "Longbourne"

My dear friend Mary has been working on a slightly smaller version of my "Longbourne" design.

Here it is almost finished - Mary wanted to make a wall hanging size.  Just one more small pink border to go.

Very lovely... Well done, Mary.

Riley Blake Fabric Makes "Le Jardin"

I love it when the fabric just makes a simple quilt sing!

Here is my latest creation using Riley Blake's range "A Beautiful Thing" (courtesy of Millhouse Collections).

I pieced some simple rectangles from two and a half inch strips and combined them with some pretty applique flowers inspired by the border fabric and voila! a new quilt which I have called "Le Jardin" (The Garden).

I think it looks very fresh and pretty.

A full kit to make this single bed sized quilt is available from The Stitchers Cupboard in Camden.  Please phone Kathy on 46558348 to make enquiries.

Beautiful Work at Patchwork Plus

The ladies at Miranda's gorgeous quilt shop, Patchwork Plus, are renowned for their hand work.

I have been teaching my Jane Austen Quilt Collection to a lovely group of ladies.  They have been working hard on their applique quilts.

Here are some photos:

This is Irene's wonderful "Netherfield" in progress.  Irene wanted a soft, muted look so we chose lots of reproduction prints in teal, gold, brown, green and red. Really beautiful!

This is Madeline's "Netherfield", which she is making from her vast stash of reproduction fabrics. Looking great!

Now this is Trish's version of the same quilt.  It is wonderful to see it in different fabrics. Lovely!

I have two other ladies making my "Rosings" quilt design.

Here is Margaret's on a deep green background. She is using a variety of lovely fabrics, including some fussy cut from William Morris prints.  There is a lot of applique in the centre of this quilt.  Tis is looking so striking.

Here is Neesia's "Rosings" on a deep brown background with lots of red and gold.

I will be away in Adelaide for the July class date but will be back in Miranda on 20 August. If you would like to join the class, please contact Lorraine at Patchwork Plus on 9540 2786.

Machine Applique

I taught some of my machine applique techniques today.  I used a new project called "Upsy Daisies" placemats to demonstrate the different stitches and methods that can be used.

Here is some of the work achieved by the ladies today.

This is Robin's placemat in very happy bright colours.  She liked satin stitch the most (yellow flower).

This one belongs to Kay using a lovely William Morris fabric for the border.  Kay perfected her small button hole stitch (large daisy).

This one by Kylie in the pretty "Plum Sweet" range by Moda looks very classy.  Kylie liked the look of the spikey feather stitch (dark green leaf).

Meanwhile, Julie was working on her "Fleur" quilt, she is embroidering the button hole stitch applique by hand.  The hour glass blocks look lovely around the centre.

A New Start Ladies and Gentleman

A new group of students began their "Hunsford" quilt journey yesterday at Pioneer Patchwork: several new ladies and a gentleman (my one and only male student, Iain).

Here is a sneak peak at work in progress.

This is Birgit's centre block on its way, with the tricky use of the hinged mirrors.  She is making a gorgeous version using a Leesa Chandler range called "Anastasia".  Wow!

This is Jenny's version with a lovely striped centre star.

This is Claudine's centre in red and black.  Lovely fussy cutting on the hexagons.

This is Iain's in red and blue.  Love that centre star!

Robyn was working on "Blue Lotus".  Here is the centre coming together.

These people are lucky they have two months before the next class to get their homework done.  I will be at SA Quilt Encounter in Adelaide in July.  Cannot wait!

Check out these gorgeous quilts....

My lovely ladies at Pioneer's Thursday class have been completing some of their quilts.

First, this is Kaye's gorgeous version of my "Blue Lotus" quilt design.  Mine was obviously blue, but doesn't it look sensational in brown?

Second, here is Sharon's version of "Heartstrings" in beautiful fresh florals.  Wow!  Nearly done.

Next, Natalie has sewn her amazing star blocks onto her "Hunsford" centre, complete with fussy cut sashing strips.  Gorgy!

Class at Kings Park Hobbysew

My ladies at Kings Park Hobbysew continue to do some excellent work on their quilts in my sit and sew class.

Caroline has been working on my design called "Cross My Heart" which features some crazy patchwork techniques.  

Here are a couple of photos of my quilt which I made some years ago.  It is even hand quilted in pink Perle 8 thread.

Caroline found a stash of fabrics she bought years ago with a panel of pictures of Amish scenes and coordinating fabrics.  She decided to use these in her crazy patchwork hearts.

They have turned out really lovely with their colours of soft purples, pinks, greens, blues and browns.  I suggested we use a plain black fabric for the piping around the hearts.  Wow!

Here are Drew's four patch blocks for her jelly roll "Jelly Nation" quilt in Nancy Halverson fabrics.  Lovely.

Here are some of Jill's small blocks for her "Pennsylvania" quilt.  There are nine shoo fly blocks in the quilt. Yummy repros!

I am excited that my "Pemberley" class is due to start on 3rd July at Hobbysew.  Phone the shop if you would like to join in.

Jean's Progress on "Hunsford"

I was sorry that my lovely friend Jean needed to move to the Central Coast and is no longer close to my classes.

She has sent me some photos of progress on her "Hunsford" in black, blue and red.  It is looking amazing.  Well done, Jean!  Keep me posted.