Beautiful Finished Quilts

Some more of my students have recently arrived in the shop to show me their finished quilts.  It is very gratifying to see that my students have enjoyed making their quilts so much that they have continued to work on them after classes have finished and they are very proud to show them to me when they are complete.

Here is Gaye's absolutely magnificent "Cherry Ripe".  Gaye's colour scheme, while still working in the pink and brown that I used, is more subtle which has created a very soft look to her quilt.

She wanted to make the quilt larger than my original design, so she has repeated the woven rectangles and nine patch variation borders from the original quilt to create a very substantial Queen bed size quilt. Wow, I love it!

Here is Robyn from the central coast who has just completed her wonderful "Blue Lotus" quilt.  I am reminded that this quilt was called "the blue thing" for a long time and I had a class booked out ready to make it after just showing the centre circle block.

Robyn has worked very hard to finish her quilt.  She appliquéd all the pieces by hand in button hole stitch and has done a magnificent job on it.  Her quilter has also done a gorgeous job and the binding was just finished today.  Congratulations Robyn, I am so pleased you love your quilt.

Here are some small "baby" blocks Natalie made today for her "Millefiori" quilt.  They are very cute.

And just because I am a proud Mum, here is my son James playing the flute at the school concert last night.

And here is David playing the violin (he was positioned behind the piano so it was hard to get a photo of him).

More Lovely Work

My students have been busy working on their quilts.  Isn't it wonderful to share with ladies that love the same hobby as yourself? There is nothing better than spending time away from chores and commitments and enjoying some time sewing and sharing life's experiences.

I recently held the second class in a series of workshops on my paper foundation pieced quilts.  Sue has completed a couple of blocks for her "Ashbourne Mill" quilt.  This design is based on an old block called "Dusty Miller".  

Here is my original quilt.

Here is Sue's block.  The colour combinations make sense when all the blocks are put together and, yes, that corner triangle is supposed to be in the lighter cream!

Here is Dawn's centre piecing for her "Cherry Ripe" quilt.  My quilt is in the colour combination of dark chocolate brown and pink.  We are calling Dawn's version in chocolate and teal "Blueberry Muffin"!

Here is a close up of the centre paper pieced pineapple block.

Here is Melvine's "Cherry Ripe" centre.  She has done a beautiful job with her colours and her piecing. I love it.

Here is the work Melvine did in class on the next section of the quilt.  The tiny churn dash blocks are fiddly but worth it.  They are so cute. The floral fabric with the birds is gorgeous!

Here is Jean's centre compass block for her "The Way Ahead" quilt.  She has just added her sun ray points around the compass (yet to be pressed). It is looking stunning.

In another class Maria showed me the progress she has made on her "Rosings" quilt.  It is also very beautiful.  I love her colours.  Maria is off to the Houston Quilt Festival tomorrow so progress will have to wait!  Have a great trip!

I hope you all get some stitching time soon.

Katrina x

Work from Today's Class

I spent the day at Kurragong today where my ladies were finishing off a variety of projects.

Here are a few photos of Mary's lovely version of my "Jane" cushion which appeared in an issue of Homespun magazine.  It is still a WIP (work in progress) but I helped Mary tack the rest of the clam shells needed for her border.  The colours are soft and pretty.  Love the striped stems.

We have two Mary's in this group, the next project belongs to Mary #2.  It is her "Rococo" blocks made from an aboriginal print.  She has made the whack and stack blocks in class and then set them in an attic window setting with black sashing strips in between.  Wow, it looks awesome.  She will be doing some more rows and has decided to do a quilt as you go method.

The day was cut short because of the fire alerts in the area.  It has been a terrible day for New South Wales and Sydney.  There were fires at Kurragong Heights and the sky turned brown so we decided to all disperse and make our way home early.  I was pleased to get home to my boys.

Katrina x

More Happy Quilt Makers!

I have some more photos of work being done in my classes.

First here is Jean with her wonderful completed "Rose Rhapsody" quilt.

Yes, this is one of the first quilts I designed to teach.  I made this quilt ten years ago and I still have ladies enjoying making it.  The centre appliqué square contains a three dimensional woven basket and flowers made using several traditional Baltimore appliqué techniques.

Jean should be very proud of this quilt as I think it was one of her first attempts at appliqué and she has machine quilted the whole quilt herself and done a great job!

Here is a close up.

Then Jean has been working on her compass blocks for "The Way Ahead" quilt.  Here are two of the compasses so far.

Margaret has done a beautiful job on her centre appliqué panel for "Longbourne".  Today we trimmed down the centre and added two borders and pinned her hexagon border in place.  It looks fantastic.

Here are some close ups of the applique and hexagons.

Here are two photos of Kylie's lovely corner blocks for her "Pemberley".

Well done ladies.  Happy stitching!

Katrina x

More Great Work From Class

I have seen some more lovely work accomplished by my students in class lately.

Here is Tracey with her version of my "Mansfield Park" quilt, now quilted beautifully by Veronica  Appleyard.  The colours are beautiful Tracey and the baptist fan quilting really enhances the quilt.  Clever girls!

Here are a couple of close ups.

Here is Sharon holding up her finished version of "Rosings".  She has a big smile because we finally finished sewing the William Morris poppy fabric border on and we mitred the corners.  Sharon often gives her quilts away to family members but this one is just for her.  It is so stunning!  More photos follow.

She just needs to take that tacking out!

The girls were also making more of their "Millefiori" blocks.

Here is a collection of Natalie's blocks from a very snazzy fabric.

Here are Glynn's blocks made from a very beautiful traditional floral fabric with a red background.

They are so different but both just as lovely and the patterns come out as such a surprise.

Well done, girls!

Illawarra Quilters Inc Quiltaway Event 2013

I am very much looking forward to teaching at the Illawarra Quilters Inc weekend away which is coming up in a few weeks time from 15 to 18 November at The Tops Conference Centre, Stanwell Tops.

 I will be teaching my Spikes and Specks quilt over a two day workshop and then my Sheherazade appliqué table runner in a one day workshop.

Here is a photo of me standing in front of all the blocks my students made of Spikes and Specks in the workshop I taught at the South Australian Quilters Guild Quilt Encounter in July this year.

Here is the table runner I will be teaching in the Monday workshop.

It is always lovely to get away from all the usual chores and spend some time with like minded ladies doing what we love to do.

The Committee has now released opportunities for ladies to come for a shorter stay than the full three days.  If you are interested, please contact Glenda Wise at glendawise14@ hotmail.com.

Hope you can come!