Show & Tell

It has been a busy couple of months with Donna's visit from NZ, birthdays & Quilt Encounter just to name a few. The kids are now back at school & I have been finishing projects ready for the Gawler Quilting Circle Exhibition in October. The first one I have finished is Nodding Poppy from Gina Burgess' workshop in June.

I love the finished wall hanging as does everyone who sees it. I've always wanted a lead light quilt hanging on the back of my front door.

I've completed a scrap quilt too. Mum was cleaning out her sewing room & gave me a pile of scraps. I had to do somehing with them so here it is. I added some of my own scraps too of course.

I have been putting together my NZ quilt. When I was visiting there last year I collected lots of fabric as well as taking lots of photos. I have put these together and am very pleased with the result. The top is complete & I have pieced the backing from the left over fabric. All I need to do now is baste and quilt. More on this one later.

Once Donna had gone back to NZ after her 2 week stay I headed off to Quilt Encounter. It was held this year at Immanuel College in Novar Gardens SA. This was my first time at QE & I had the best time. I started with a Mystery Class run by Faye Packham from Happy Valley. It was a great class & I just about completed the project that day. It was completed when I returned home & I have since given that one to my Mum. I have made another slightly smaller one for myself.

The next couple of days were spent with Lorraine Carthew of QLD. Lorraine showed us how to make mosaic pictures. It was another great class & the piece is almost complete, I just have to sew down the binding & label. When I have a photo I will post it here.

Another quilt I have completed is the GQC 2007 Exhibition Challenge quilt. It is a small 50cm quilt called I Wish, I Wish Upon a Star. The challenge fabric is the blue/yellow star fabric. I found the star design in an old British Patchwork magazine, it is foundation pieced. I am very pleased with the finished quilt.

So to finish now..... the binding of the mosaic quilt as well as 4 quilts which are basted ready to quilt.

Until next time......keep stitching

Long time no see......

I still don't have a digital camera so posts are few. If I can't show you what I am doing I can't post! That's how I see it anyway. I am excited. I have a friend coming over from New Zealand in 2 weeks time. Last time she was here was when I got married, over 13 years ago. I went to NZ last year for the first time. I had a great time even though we were snowed in for a few days. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I am so looking foraward to Donna coming to stay. I will be able to show her my part of the country - the best of Barossa, Clare, Adelaide, Victor Harbour and surrounds. I aslo turn 40.
I attended a great workshop last weekend with Gina Burgess - Lead lighting. I had a great day and came home to finish my piece. Alas I didn't have enough bias which is now out of stock with the supplier. Bugger. I have however gone to the library and used the books available to source more patterns. Just love it. Just awaiting the bias tape. I will post a photo when I have one. Until then, smile and live.......

Busy, Busy, Busy.

I've had a really productive day. Valerie & Lynn came around for a day of sewing. I unpicked the borders of a Ricky Tims Convergence Quilt I made at Retreat last September. I didn't like what I had done originally so off it came and on went the new border. I finished the borders of my 1930's Sunbonnet Sue Quilt too. The blocks for this quilt were made for me by Lissa Morrow of West Wallsend, NSW back in 2001 as part of a SCQ Block Swap. Last September's Retreat at Mannum I put the Sunnbonnet Sue blocks together with an Irish Chain setting, using 1930's fabrics of course. So another quilt top finished. I also had some stack & slash blocks I had made using 6 fat 1/4's from the Moda Sonnet range. I put these together and just need to put on a couple of borders before that top too will be finished. I will have to baste them all though, quilt & bind them before they will be completely finished. I hope to do this during the next month. Unfortunately I lent a friend my digital camera so I can't post photos at the moment. With any luck it wont be long before I will have it back & there will be some quilts finished ready to share with you.
My friend Dierdre in Atherton had a baby boy on the 18th so I have made him an I Spy quilt. I quilted that tonight and just need to sew down the binding tomorrow before sending it on. I know it will be well received.
I will be heading to Mannum again on Friday for 3 days of uninterupted sewing. Yipee! There will be 9 other Gawler Quilters attending and we always have plenty of fun. I have 3 projects already to go and will probably baste a couple of the smaller tops ready for quilting. Even if I only get a couple of jobs done I will be happy. It's now after midnight and I have to work tomorrow so until next time........keep smiling :))))))

I'm Still Here

Well, I'm still here and as busy as ever. We have just been away for Easter and had some much needed family time. Victor Harbour, SA, where we stayed, didn't seem as busy as usual or was it that I am getting used to the hoards of visitors each year. The weather was great and unexpectedly warm, we had a great time.
The kids have had to go back to school for a few days until they start holidays next week so hopefully I can catch up on a few things. I really need to get back into the sewing room and finish a couple of bags I have laid out in different stages and also a piece for one of the raffle quilts for the Gawler Quilting Circle Exhibition in October.
I have received my acceptance for Quilt Encounter at Immanuel College, SA in July. A bit of a birthday present from the family. I will be staying in the dorm and attending 2 classes. The first is a Mystery Quilt class with Faye Packham and the second is a 2 day class with Lorraine Curthew from QLD called Raw Edge Mosaic Appliqué. I am really looking forward to this class as it will increase my quilting knowledge. I can also see this tecnique coming in very handy for other projects too. I'd love to hear from anyone else also going to Quilt Encounter so drop me a line. Maybe we will be attending the same classes.
The kids have now got in from school so I will need to arrange eats and a meal for tonight. Until next time...........laugh often and frown less.

Julie's Quilt

I have had a relatively busy week finishing a quilt for a girlfriend's 40th Birthday. Julie saw another quilt I had made last year and was taken by the design. The pattern is from M'Liss Rae Hawley's book - Phenomenal fat quarter quilts. Julie likes dusky pink tones and so I went through my stash and came upon enough fabrics for the top. I purchased the border fabric from Spotlight (on sale) and added the backing from the shop stock. I have just to finish the binding tonight before giving it to her tomorrow. She has 38 friends attending a winery tour she has organised in the McLaren Vales, SA. It should be a great day, just need to finish the quilt.

Caitlin (DD 13) played in her softball pre-lim final today. They won 32 - 22 and next week come up against Blue Jays in the Grand Final. I have 2 small quilts to finish for the coaches this week as well as getting ready for my first Craft Fair for the year.

I will be taking the shop to the Food, Wine & Fun Fair at Mt Compass, SA on Sunday 1st April. I haven't attended this fair before so I am hoping for a good day. It will be great to see some new faces anyway. Until next time...........Have a great day.

I've finally created my own blog. I have never been good at keeping journals or diaries in the past so I hope that this blog will give me the encouragement to share with you what I love to do.

I love dabbling in textiles especially patchwork & quilting. This became my addiction 8 years ago after attending a patchwork class. I always loved fabric but couldn't see the sense in cutiing it up and mixing it with others only to sew it back together again. Silly me!

I've come a long way since then and now run a small patchwork shop from home. The shop "Lyndoch Patchwork Pantry" allows me the flexibilty to work around my family and home life whilst doing what I love. I enjoy visiting groups and passing on my knowledge and exoertise. I design my own patterns, coordinate fabrics for kits and generally have a good time.

I am happily married to Ken and have three children - Caitlin (13) who started High School this year, Alex (11) who loves to draw and Megan (8) my shadow. We now live in the beautiful Barossa Valley, South Australia after travelling this vast country of ours with the RAAF for 13 years. We have a caravan and enjoy holidaying with family and friends. I'm sure you will hear more about the goings on in the family later.

I have decided to post as many photos as possible as a way of journalling my quilting endeavours. Last night I finished a bag my MIL had requested before Christams. Christmas being as busy as it was and holidays in the New Year I hadn't got around to making it. Since I will be seeing her tomorrow night at my neices birthday dinner I thought I would get it done. Her only request was that it be the size of her old bag and plain purple. For those that know me I don't usually work with plain fabric, I love colour and patterns so I found this quite difficult. I also didn't want to purchase anything so I found some hand dyed fabric from a few years ago and some off cuts of plain homespun. I felt like quilting so off I went.....

And here it is. I'm really pleased with the finished bag and might even make another for myself I had so much fun. I will take it to Gawler Quilting Circle, where I am Secretary, tonight for show and tell. I do hope my dear MIL will like it, if not I have myself a new bag.

Well until next time......Have a Great Day.