Last of the Summer Classes at The Stitchers Cupboard

I had a lovely class yesterday for the final Summer School date at The Stitchers' Cupboard.  My ladies were working on a variety of projects but mostly Jane Austen quilts.

Julie and Glenda have been working hard on their centre hexagons for "Meryton" - I have just spent 10 hours typing the notes for the class so I am nearly ready for the start!

This is Christine's very classy "Longbourne" centre - gorgeous!

This is Melanie's centre which is also gorgeous in browns, pink and gold:

Here are some shots of Kerry's beautiful "Pemberley" - she is a beautiful sewer.

Natalie was working flat out on the final blocks for "Hunsford".  I had fun hanging them up on the design wall to give us a hint of what it will be like.  I think it will be stunning!

Love the fussy cut mustard fabric for the centre cross shape.

Sorry Robin and Kylie left before I took out the camera - next time I will catch you girls.

Join Me in Victor Harbor, South Australia for a Fabulous Weekend of Hand Stitching!

2015 is the year for me to travel!!!!

I will be in Victor Harbor in late February at the invitation of Helen Campbell of The Quilting Room to teach two of my favourite Jane Austen quilts over a three day workshop retreat.

On Saturday, 28 February to Monday, 2 March, students will have the choice to work on either "Pemberley" or "Longbourne" at a lovely beachside 1920s bungalow.

"Pemberley" Centre

Beautiful meals are fully catered by Helen and the view is very pretty from the sewing room.

This will be a relaxing retreat where we will get stuck into some serious hand stitching techniques including English paper piecing, template work, stems, fussy cutting and fine hand applique.  I have promised to bring as much show and tell as I can fit in my suitcase.

"Longbourne"

For more information and to book in, please click here.

Two Finished Quilts From Show and Tell

Here are some photos of two great quilts that were brought in for show and tell today.

First, is Michelle's fun and modern version of my "Heartstrings" design - she used two jelly rolls of blue batik fabric and pieced some stars instead of the applique I did on the original design.  Wow!  How stunning, and a wedding present.

This is Meredith's stunning version of "Marrakesh": whack and stack dresden fan blocks made using Kaffe Fassett cactus dahlia fabric.  It looks just awesome.

Here is a close up of the "bubble" edge to edge quilting pattern used on the quilt to mimic the circles in the yellow batik background fabric.  The quilt was quilted by Sue Olim. It looks wonderful, and is also a wedding present!

Thank you for sharing, ladies.

More Stitching at Hobbysew Kings Park

My ladies at Kings Park returned today to work on their jelly roll quilts.  We made lots of progress and were putting together different versions in varied colour schemes.

This is Caroline's bright version of my "Autumn Lily" quilt pattern.  She has used some great harlequin mask fabric for her feature blocks and lots of bright colours.

These are some of Meredith's blocks in soft purples and rich reds and blues. This is going to be a gorgeous quilt. (They are pinned to the top of my quilt, showing in the right hand corner).

Shayne made these blocks in the beautiful "Snowbird" range by Moda.  Looking lovely.

This is Bev's fabulous version using dinosaur fabric for her grandson.  So cool.

These blocks were made by Michelle in gorgeous blues and a touch of red with the "Dutch Heritage" floral fabric fussy cut for the feature blocks.

Thanks for a great class ladies.

Confetti Applique

I finally got back to quilting my little wall hanging picture of an English cottage garden using my confetti applique technique.

I first used this technique on my "knowledge" challenge for Textiles Across the Tasman, when I made a jacaranda tree in flower.

Here is my cottage garden scene:

It is a fun technique to use: you can build up a picture from tiny pieces of many different coloured fabrics.

It was great to practice free motion quilting - they say you get better with practice!

Sit and Sew Day at The Stitchers' Cupboard

If you would like to join me for a relaxing day of sewing and laughing on Friday, 30 January, at The Stitchers Cupboard, Camden, I will be holding a sit and sew class for the last of Summer School.

Everyone will receive patterns for my Autumn Lily jelly roll quilt and table runner.

Please let Kathy know on 02 46558348.

Goodbye New Zealand, For Now

I hope my blog readers have enjoyed coming along with me on my adventures to teach in New Zealand at Quilt Symposium Manawatu.

I am now safely home (with my four queen sized quilts).  It is so exciting to go on a trip but it is always lovely to get home again and take a few breaths.  

I have a couple of days off now to catch up on washing, cleaning, and to get my act together to complete teaching Summer School next week and prepare all my notes for the new quilts I will be teaching in February!  It never stops...

I enjoyed my trip home from the "land of the long white cloud", flying Air New Zealand.  I flew from Palmerston North to Auckland on a twin propeller plane and then another flight from Auckland to Sydney.

The first leg took me overland and low enough for a fabulous view of the patchwork green fields of farms and the mountains in the centre of the north island.

I could even see the snow scattered tall peak of Mount Taranaki in the distance.

The colour of the ocean in the bays and inlets closer to Auckland was a most spectacular green.  Beautiful.

And so I arrived home, back to my beautiful boys and our little, messy house.  I feel renewed with inspiration from the encouragement and support shown to me by the Symposium Committee, the other fabulous tutors and all my special students.  I am hoping to be back in New Zealand one day.

Here is the collection of lovely gifts each of the tutors received during the course of the week.  Every day at lunchtime we received another coodinating accessory in a goody bag with our lunch.  Such fun.

Day 7 in New Zealand and Day 8: Travelling Home

I held the second of my two day class on "Rosings" yesterday.  We had a very relaxing day working on hand appliqué techniques.

Some of the ladies had never made hexagons before so I proudly showed them all my special "fussy cutting" tips and sewing techniques.  I hope I have now got them addicted to the therapeutic joys of English paper piecing!

I'm afraid I had a brain melt down in the afternoon and forgot to take a photo of the whole class.  What a shame.

Here are a couple of shots of progress on the centre blocks:  please note this had been ironed properly yet.

Here are some views of the sunset sky from my window showing the huge and majestic windmills on the hills in the distance.

There was lots of fun at the closing ceremony when the Palmerston North Committee handed over the reins of Symposium to the Christchurch Committee which will be organising the next event in October 2017.  The lady in the centre here is Helen Pedersen, the Tutor Coordinator for Palmerston.  Helen is a fabulous organiser and a very friendly and lovely person (hi Helen).  All the Committee did a fabulous job to make a thorough well run and very very happy Symposium.  Congratulations to everyone!

Here are the Christchurch ladies tempting everyone to come back to Symposium in 2017.  It would be a very easy decision to make!  The theme for the next Sympsium is "Creative Construction", very appropriate given the devastation caused by an earthquake a couple of years ago.

Now I am back at Palmerston North airport, on my way home.  I have had just the most delightful, fulfilling and exciting time.

I am Teaching on a Celebrity Solstice Patchwork, Quilting and Paper Craft Cruise in 2016!

The brochure for the 2016 Patchwork, Quilting and Paper Craft Cruise I will be teaching on in April, 2016 has just been released!

Organised by Needlework Tours and Cruises, this trip promises to be very special.

Aboard the beautiful Celebrity Solstice and departing from Sydney on my birthday, 1 April, we will be cruising to New Caledonia for 8 nights on board.  Students will receive four days of tuition and lots of special treats.

I have never been cruising before and am so very delighted to be joining this very special company.

I will be offering three different projects, complete with kits.  All my projects are hand work so the classes will be very relaxing.  My teaching philosophy is definitely to maintain a stress free environment where students can learn new skills but have fun being with like minded ladies, enjoying our hobby together.

My projects are a two day course on three dimensional Baltimore applique techniques, one day making English paper pieced applecore shapes for a cushion and a one day course on a lovely hexagon and applique table runner.

Please contact Needlework Cruises via their website at www.needleworktours.com.au.

Day 6 in New Zealand: Teaching Rosings

Once again I had an amazing group of enthusiastic, friendly, happy and smart ladies in my class today.

I was teaching the first of a two day class to create the fourth quilt in my Jane Austen Quilt Collection.

The ladies were making their paper foundation pieced Georgetown Circle blocks for the centre of their quilts.  It is always exciting picking colours and fabrics which will continue to inspire the theme of the whole quilt.

Here is a sample of what was achieved today:

Tomorrow we will have a relaxing day working on hand applique techniques.  

That will be my last day of teaching at Symposium.  Sad face.