Thursday 17 January 2019

Week 2 of Summer School

Already I have taught nine Summer School workshops, and the weather is living up to that name.  We are living through a major heatwave here in Sydney.  It will be 45 degrees Celsius today (113 F)!

Despite this we have had some fun times in class working on projects started last year (or before) and starting some new ones!

Alexis only started her pretty pink and grey blocks for “Charlotte” last week and now here are all the blocks together and the first border on. This is the very first quilt teenage Alexis has made and I am sure it will not be the last.  She has done a beautiful job.


Here are the blocks laid out on the carpet at The Stitchers Cupboard.


Jan was also working on “Charlotte”, making her blocks in striking red and golden brown.


Here are Sue’s beautiful blocks for “Hopetoun”.  We set the top half of the quilt in different ways.
Now it is up to Sue to decide which one to use for her quilt!











Here are some more “Hopetoun” block colour schemes.  The first is by Glynnis and the second by Iain.




Glynne is making baby star blocks for her Miss Lucas Star Satchel.  She found paper foundation piecing difficult at first but here are two gorgeous stars.
Hi Glynne.


At Hobbysew, both Anne and Meredith were working on their “Morris Holiday” Jelly Friends Quilts.  Anne is using green sashings.




Meredith is using red sashings and has now joined the blocks together and started adding the rectangle borders.  Wow!






Dru is making a very pretty version of “La Belle” in one of my favourite colour combinations, pink and green.


In between all these classes, I have now completed about 110 hours of hand quilting on my Ottoman tent inspired quilt.


Stay cool everyone and happy stitching!

Friday 11 January 2019

Summer School Starts for 2019

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you have had a great holiday break with friends and family and a little time for stitching?

A new year deserves a new diary cover!  Here is mine.




This week I was back at work with Summer School Classes five days in a row.

Lots of happy ladies beginning new projects and some working on UFOs.

At The Stitchers Cupboard in Camden, several ladies began their strip pieced “Hopetoun” Quilts.

Here is Jan’s first block.


By the end of the week she had eight blocks done for the top half of the quilt.  Here are four different options of how to arrange them.









This is also going to make a beautiful quilt by Jen in soft colours to match the floral border print.


Glenda added more borders to her beautiful “Hartfield” Centre.


Ivana has completed her quilt called “My Favourite Quilt Shop”.  This was was very first original quilt design made in the year 2001 to launch my teaching career!  Well done Ivana.


Fun quilting of scissors, thimbles, sewing machines etc. by Heather Pollard.


Alexis began a very pretty “Charlotte” quilt in pinks and greys.


Maryse added more borders to her stunning “Hartfield”.  Love it!




Two busy classes at Hobbysew were also lots of fun.  Here I am holding up my latest work in progress.


Pat finished her lovely soft version of “Highbury”.






Christine completed the hand appliqué on her D’Arcy Cushion.




A beautiful rose arranged by Wendy for the appliqué on her “Henrietta” quilt.


A gorgeous block for the “Summer Winds Block Keeper” by Sandra.


Meredith continued to work on her beautiful “Jelly Friends” blocks.


At home David helped me sort my huge stash of reproduction fabrics in to colour coded tubs. Thanks David!




More classes next week.