IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

Where has the year gone? It's been a very hectic lead up to Christmas this year with not as much time for sewing as I'd like.  I made a tiny dress as a thankyou gift for the daughter of the young lass who gives me lessons on my new Janome.  This is the first little dress I have sewn since my own girls were young and it was so much fun to work with this lovely bright fabric.

I've also experimented with magic nine patch and magic four patch squares.  What an easy way to sew tiny squares together without cutting and handling very small pieces.

Another technique I tried was pleating.  The fabric on the tree in this small Christmas quilt is pleated. It was a quick and fun project to make.

And what a wonderful surprise when I opened my Secret Santa package from Small Quilt Talk group to find an amazing framed pineapple log cabin block perfectly pieced with the tiniest pieces.

 

My main focus over the last two months has been in sorting out the files on my laptop.  I had so many things saved to favourites.  Not in separate folders, just file after file after file.  My documents library was almost as bad.  These shortcomings were highlighted when my husband asked me to find something he knew I had saved and he attempted to help me find it in amongst all the mess.  How embarrassing.  After a few pointers from my husband and "Mr Google" I now have everything at my fingertips.  I even created a new Sewing Library and have all my quilting, sewing, and machine embroidery information filed in easily accessible folders and subfolders.  I have even managed to teach myself how to scan on our new multifunction centre, aka the fancy new photocopier.  So happy days.  Now, not only can I find things, but I am trying to limit photocopying and go paperless as much as possible.  So, yes, it does appear that you can teach old dogs new tricks.  It just might take them a little bit longer to learn.

With Christmas just around the corner it has been fun putting out all the Christmas decorations at home.  I just love the happy atmosphere they create. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wishing you all a wonderfully happy Christmas and a bright and prosperous New Year.

Happy Quilting

Bronwyn

AUTUMN LEAVES IN SPRING????

While we are embracing Spring in Australia, the small quilt challenge for October was to incorporate the maple leaf block into a design.  I have always loved this block.  It was one of the blocks in my first large quilt, an album style quilt run as a block of the month over twelve months in 1998 at
The Quilter's Store in Auchenflower, Brisbane.

I hand appliqued and machine pieced this quilt in 1998-99 and hand quilted it in
1999-2000.  Making the quilt involved learning lots of new skills -  needle turn applique, how to inset seams, how to baste a large quilt together, mitring borders and hand quilting.  No wonder it took so long to make!!!!

The small quilt challenge was a much easier project. The day I finished machine quilting it I sponged out some chalk marks and hung it on the line to dry.  It was so windy that the little quilt looked like a gymnast going round and round the uneven bars just begging to be watched.

I included a bright red leaf as a reminder of Autumn on the South Island of New Zealand.  During several trips to New Zealand I have been amazed at the bright yellows, the striking reds and oranges and the deep maroons of the spectacular autumn foliage in Christchurch and Queenstown.  Because of our milder climate and the type of trees planted in Brisbane we don't see such an abundance of autumn leaves nor the depth of colour found in colder areas. I quilted veins on the leaves to distract from the squares and half-square triangles in the piecing.

I so enjoyed sewing the maple leaf blocks for that quilt that I was inspired to make another smaller quilt with different fabrics for each part of the leaf. 

 

Mid October I visited the Stitches and Craft Show at the Convention Centre in South Brisbane.  My friend Judy and I both travelled there by train.  We live approximately two hours drive time apart so it was a perfect opportunity to catch up.  I was very restrained, buying only a small bundle of reproduction fabrics.  My main aim was to find information about threads and stabilizers for machine embroidery, and about machine embroidery patterns that can be used for quilting on a home sewing machine.  So while I didn't purchase much on the day, I have lots of information about different websites for online tutorials and shopping.  Enough to make my head spin.

Queensland Quilters hold their annual quilt show in conjunction with the Stitches and Craft Show.  These photos give just a glimpse of some of the exquisite work on display.  

Beautiful Applique

 

1/4" Hexagons in Liberty Fabrics appliqued onto a white background

 

Dear Jane

 

Hand Appliqued Small Quilt

 

I also saw a little stool which I loved. I've asked my husband to make a similar one for me, another project to add to his retirement "to do" list.  I love the little storage area underneath.  So cute!!!

 

 

 



Another display I saw recently at my local markets centred around a lovely set of old sewing machine drawers. Very pretty.

 

 

 

 

We've been out boating in the warmer weather. My daughter Allison enjoying the sunshine.

 

 

 

While we haven't been catching too many fish, we enjoy watching the antics of the birds, especially the pelicans.



 

 

And the swans at the lake are growing up far too rapidly.                                                                   

 

 

 

 

Until next time,

 

Happy Quilting

 

Bronwyn

  

 

SPRING IN AUSTRALIA - FLOWERS, QUILTS, LIGHTS

I recently went to the annual Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers with a friend and this is what we saw.
Garden beds of flowers, flowers, and more flowers !!!!

 

 

 

 

 







 



We also took time to visit two quilt shows and the local quilt shops while we were there.  I found a beautiful Jo Morton fat 1/4 bundle and some King Tut quilting thread which just begged to go home with me.  How could I refuse?

  

There were many beautiful quilts, but I have never seen quilts as small as the ones in this display.  The hexagon quilt is on a little bed approximately 6 x 8 inches. The crazy quilt on the other bed was beautifully detailed, and there was a quilt with the tiniest pieced triangles on the cot.

 

 

We also visited my favourite country wares shop Gottabee Country where you can find all kinds recycled timber furniture, textiles and decorative household items.



 

But as a self confessed chocaholic I was confronted with the most alarming piece of information!!!

 

On another trip during the ten day Carnival of Flowers festivities, this time with my husband, I visited the Spring into the Country craft show at Geham, a small community outside Toowoomba.
I found an old ice cream scoop to add to my collection of kitchenalia of rolling pins, beaters, bottles and bowls.  My husband remarked that it looked very old, probably dating to the 1950s, probably as old as us.  That was a comforting thought!!!

Also during September we went to see the laser light show as part of the annual Brisbane Festival.  We met up with a relative from the country down in Brisbane for a conference.  After a lovely dinner at the Treasury Casino in the city, we walked across the bridge to South Bank to watch the display.  





 

 

I've also spent lots of time this month learning about my new sewing machine, practising machine quilting and using up more of that never ending supply of antique floral fabric. 



 

 

 

And I've made a small pumpkin quilt for Halloween, one block from the Pumpkins on Parade pattern in the Fall 2013 edition of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine.



And the swans on our local lake are growing up beautifully.

Happy Quilting,

Bronwyn



QUILTS PAST AND PRESENT

I thoroughly enjoyed making Kathy Tracy's Nine Patch Doll Quilt and am delighted with the results.  But I think I'm ready to move on from my "mustard" phase.  In other words, I've almost run out of that wonderful fabric.

 

I've also made two needle cases from Kathy's book "Remembering Adelia".

 

.

 

The green and red needle case is for myself.  The blue and white one for my friend Judy.  Blue is her favourite colour.  I surprised Judy with it when we went to the Queensland Art Gallery in South Brisbane to see the Quilts 1770-1945 display on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and she remarked on how handy it would be when making hexagons.   

 

Quilts 1770-1945 showcases 200 years of British quilt making history with approximately fifty patchwork and quilted items including bed quilts, bed hangings (curtains and valances), baby quilts and sewing accessories on display. The workmanship and attention to detail in these items is amazing.  Exquisite hand piecing, quilting, teeny tiny hexagons, embroidery and intricate beading. Also on display was the famous Rajah Quilt which was on loan from the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.  This quilt was sewn by women on board the convict ship HMS Rajah during their transportation from England to Tasmania in 1841. 

 

The exhibition provided a rare opportunity to see all of these quilts close up.  Unfortunately photography was not allowed, but images from the Queensland Art Gallery Program Guide and the cover of the book documenting these quilts gives a taste of the items on display. Judy and I each purchased a copy of the book to drool over at our own leisure.

 

 

 

  

 Today I decided to tackle my stash (i.e. messy bag) of Antique Flowers fabric scraps.

 

 

Nothing sewn, just organised.  One set of fabric cut and sorted into piles of assorted greens, blues, pinks, yellows, and cream floral fabrics for a scrap quilt.  And I already had the perfect backing fabric for this quilt in my stash!!! 

 

 

Other larger pieces of creams, yellows, and pinks  "in waiting" for inspiration.

 

 

And finally, one set of antique florals and co-ordinating backing fabric to be given to a young quilter just starting out.

 

 

I'd only just finished sorting and tidying up when I heard the postie outside.  He'd left a parcel in my letterbox.  One I had been told to expect from a lovely generous American quilter.  Yes, you know who you are.  Thankyou from the bottom of my heart.  The reproduction fabrics are just gorgeous.  And such a variety.  I'm overwhelmed.  It's all too beautiful to cut.  I think I'm going to have to leave it spread out on my desk for a while just to admire.  So very, very generous.  Thankyou so much.

 

 

 

Until next time,

 

Happy quilting,

 

Bronwyn

 

 

OUT AND ABOUT

While August marks the end of Winter in my little corner of the world, instead of the freezing westerly winter winds we usually have at this time of the year, we've had very warm days with clear china blue skies. So our jumpers, jeans and boots have been discarded for short sleeve shirts and 3/4 length pants.  Hooray!!!!!  Spring has sprung early this year. The trees are blooming and the swans at the local lake are patiently awaiting their new family.

 

My husband and I enjoyed driving to Toowoomba an hour and a half west of Brisbane recently, returning home through the small country towns of Crow's Nest and Esk where we browsed through some interesting antique and old wares shops looking for just that piece of must have pink or amber depression glassware we love. Although we arrived home empty handed, we saw some lovely pieces.  Just not that one vase, plate, or pair of candle holders we couldn't live without.

  

 

But we did see some interesting old sewing machines.

 

 

 

And the perfect cradle to display doll quilts - a child's wooden cradle dating back to the mid 1800s. 

 







 

 

My sewing has been moving along nicely this month.  I'm getting better at using my new Janome
MC 12000 sewing machine which is a quantum leap from the very basic machine I had been using for the past 20 or more years.  A machine on which the needle up/down and reverse buttons had stopped working quite a while ago.

I've finished the top of my nine patch doll quilt, and it's waiting to be quilted.  I've also completed one of my UFOs - a Chinese Coins Scrap Quilt.  It was so easy to stipple quilt once I learnt how to use the software and mastered positioning the quilt in the hoop.  I hadn't used an embroidery machine before, so it was a bit challenging at first.  I'm delighted with the results and feel very fortunate to have my new machine.

I wish I could say that I have now used up all my Antique Flower fabric scraps.  The journey with these fabrics started when someone generously gave me a collection of scraps to make a quilt called Leanne's House. I loved the fabrics and all the hand embroidery involved in making that quilt, but needed to buy additional fabrics to complete it. 

 

 

That left me with even more Antique Flower scraps, so I decided to make an 84" square Desden Plate Quilt out of the remaining fabric, another UFO awaiting quilting.  But I had to purchase more fabric to complete such a large quilt, and of course that created more scrap fabric. 

 

Then I saw a pattern for a floral basket quilt that I knew would be the perfect use for those pieces.
But when that was finished (and I pieced the border to avoid buying any more fabric) I still had leftover fabrics so I decided to make my Chinese Coins Scrap Quilt which I thought would be my last Antique Flowers project.

But no, there are still more scraps (I suspect they're breeding), and with these I plan to make another version of a Chinese Coins quilt and perhaps a bag.  And hopefully then I'll be done with this Antique Flowers phase.  It's a little bit like those ads that say, "But wait, there's more...."

And, while it may seem like this has been a never ending journey, looking back at these quilts has reminded me of how much I enjoyed working with these beautiful fabrics. And it's interesting to see how well the fabrics work together in different combinations across a variety of patterns.

Until next time,

Happy quilting

Bronwyn