Quilt Show 2014 and A Dresden and Liberty Quilt

Every year I think that I won't go to the Quilt Show because there is never too much that is different from the previous year but I just can't keep away! As it turned out, I was happy I went because I picked up some gorgeous Yuwa and Keiko Goke fat quarters at a very good price. They were just what I needed to breathe life into a quilt I am making.

My output in all things crafty has been on hold.

Firstly because I have been studying at uni at night and this has caused me to spend way too many hours on my laptop.

Secondly because all the extra time spent studying and typing ( I have a 5000 word essay to hand in during mid May) has given me really, really, bad RSI.

Anyway, the essay is nearly done and I was newly inspired by all the quilts I saw at the show.  My new fabric coupled with the vision I had for the quilt meant I just had to get back on my machine.

I'm really enjoying the way this quilt is developing.

As for the show, I met Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession, bought her new book, had a chat with her, and admired her new range of fabrics.

 Here are some of the quilts I saw

By Pam Holland

Sorry about the 2 ladies in the pic. It was a bit hard to get a shot without someone trying to get a better look at this masterpiece!

 By Alison Withers

 By Pricilla Bianchi

By Jenny Bowker

 By Rosalie Dace

 By Michelle Law

By Wendy Williams

 By Wendy Wiliams

 Detail of above

 Detail from quilt below

by Sue Benner

By Sonia Higgs

Hand pieced and appliqued - truly amazing work!

There were heaps more on show.

So much talent and so much time devoted to these works.

Months of Stitches - Piggies, Liberty and Minky

My Piggies Quilt Top was finished just on a year ago.

Well now the back is done too.

I hand stitched the whole thing in white perle cotton.

It is still a mass of too many colours but I love this quilt and think I might have to save it for a special baby of the future. The patches are all my favourite fabrics. The backing is from Ikea. I think it was a child's sheet. They had a few great designs when I bought it but this one isn't available any more.

The binding is on too but I forgot to take a photo of it.

Whilst I was working on the piggies, I started a new quilt.

I bought these fabrics, and a few others, in a sale pack. They are Liberty prints. When they arrived, I was a little disappointed in them and packed them away. They have been quietly waiting for some inspiration for years!

Well finally it came. The idea was to match them with various background pale blue colours. I want the blues to vary but not by much.

I am happy with the way they have worked but I have run out of the Liberties and the blues and I need more. I have hardly bought any new fabrics for ages and am trying to work through what I have but I think I will have to lash out to finish this off.

Maybe I need to reconfigure it.

Anyway I had to put it on the back burner because my friend Rivka brought two more of her quilts to finish after having them quilted professionally.

This first one is huge!

Big enough to wrap around a couple of people at once. It is a mighty 3mt x 2mt.

 Backed with hot pink minky and quilted all over with hearts.

It is so warm and cuddly.

The colours are totally wild.

Rivka made the bulk of the blocks and I just put in the sashings, a few extra blocks and the binding.

I real team effort.

Sometimes it is sad to see a quilt go home but I am glad Rivka is finally keeping this quilt for herself. I think I have made her around 8 quilts now and she has always generously given them to her friends as gifts.

Here is a peek of the second quilt. I am loving the black and white binding.

Too Hot

It's another sweltering day in Melbourne.

I went for an early walk while the air was still crisp, practised my new yoga moves, cooked, cleaned, did some school work and finally sat down to do some stitching but now I am just plain hot!

This weather doesn't mix with my internal temperature control. Hot from inside and out. I keep reading about snow and freezing on the other side of the world and it is hard to imagine. 

I machine stitched this quilt a few weeks ago around the main blocks.

Every block is the same but they look so different.

I love that!

 So, before I got too heated up, I hand stitched my first star.

This is the back of the quilt

And here is the front.

I decided to hand stitch the insides of each star rather than keep machine quilting.

There is nothing like using old cotton fabrics. They feel so cuddly and soft from all the wearing.

Holidays are Almost Over

With the holidays drawing to an end, I am looking around me and seeing so many plans still unfulfilled. I'm not complaining though because I have had the most quiet, relaxing, easy holiday in a long time. Being a teacher, I get lots of holidays, unlike when I was in the retail world. I appreciate them totally. These holidays saw knitting projects finished,  and quilts started, finished and in the middle of, and a few other bits and pieces. I had my first yoga class (and found it really hard - BUT I AM NOT GIVING UP!), walked on the beach and around the local parks, met friends, drank coffee, spent time with my family, did the crossword every day, worked a little, cleaned a lot, got accepted into university to study my Masters part time (am I crazy?), bought some great bargains, cleaned out the back veranda (and found a red back spider), read books, tried new recipes and generally did whatever I wanted whenever I felt like it and it was so relaxing and regenerating. 

I guess I am now ready to enter the world of reality and go back to work. 19 new students to get to know, 19 new sets of parents to meet and remember their names. Organised chaos, here we come!

One of my last two projects stitched on the machine has been these oven gloves.

My son wants to take them back to Sydney as a present for his girl friend's family.

I like them now that they are finished but they were a pain to make!

The other one has been quilting the Keiko Goke improv quilt I started with Gwen Marston.

I have just made up the stitching as I have gone along and it has been lots of fun.

I think I know what the binding will be, but I am not 100% so I will leave it for a while and have another look with fresh eyes in my next term break.

Play time for me is over.

Holiday Quilting

My friend Rivka, who has commissioned me to make quite a few quilts now, delivered her Liberty Quilt back to me, after having had it professionally quilted. The final binding was added and after many months, was ready to live on her bed. We made this quilt together, cutting, ironing and stitching. This one took ages to put together and in the end I had to scrap together every last square inch of fabric to complete the last few blocks.

It's queen size, but looks like a single from the photo. I didn't get a chance to photograph the binding which was mainly charcoal and really defined the border.

Next, Rivka pulled out of her bag a whole stack of blocks that she had made in a fit of creativity and then stopped. As per her usual style, nothing was measured, pinned or uniform. As free spirited as she is herself!

A few hours later, we had everything cut to a slightly more regular fit, many more blocks made and the horizontal sashings attached. 

The aim of this quilt was that it was going to be used for her TV watching evenings. It is so long, it can totally wrap around you for snuggling up on cold winter evenings.

 It is so bright and happy.

Getting all inspired to do my own stitching I added another border to the Denyse Schmidt medallion.

Can't decide whether I should do any more.

Making a Medallion using Flea Market Fancy

I've been playing with these blocks for ages and really not liking them very much but now that I am on school holidays, I have had a bit more time to think and play. The Flea Market Fancy quilt blocks have been joint together to be the centre of a medallion quilt.

A couple of borders were added

 Flying ducks were prepared

Added,

With another border too.

I'm liking the look of this a whole lot more now and the next few rows of blocks are nearly ready to join.

I just love holidays!

A Couple More Pot Mitts

I love using old scrap fabric and breathing new life into it.

Here are a couple of pot mitts that will be end of year presents.

 This is where I first used the fabric by Laurie Wisbrun.

It is fun going through the scrap pile. You find all sorts of old friends and can get a tiny bit nostalgic.