Look at what I got back from the long arm quilter today!

My first (of many!) geometric quilts.

Isn't the quilting beautiful?

I've always loved oak leaves.

Here are the next two, waiting to be quilted (while the first one waits for binding...)

Some Amy Butler Larks mixed with solids

And pure Liberty love...

Sorry about the poor quality photos.

xx

Giveaway Winner Announced & Geometric Quilt

A little something I've been working on...

A close up of some of the gorgeous fabrics in this project:

Quilter's cottons, cotton voiles and cotton-linen blends all mixed together in a quilt that I absolutely LOVE!

Isn't the design awesome?  This is the first time I have ever made a quilt from a pattern and I really enjoyed the process, and knowing that it was going to work out in the end.

If you like it, you can purchase a copy from Kate at One Flew Over.


And now, for the winner of the Giveaway...


It's No. 31


Congratulations Janet!


I will email you now to get your address and your package will be on it's way this week!

Giveaway - My 100th Post!

Welcome One and All!

I am hosting a giveaway to celebrate my 100th post.

Anyone can enter (no you don't have to "follow" my blog, but I'd love it if you liked it enough to!).

I don't mind where you live (international entries welcome).

This is what's on offer:

Hope Valley Blues (Fat Eighths)

These Japanese beauties I picked up at the Craft and Quilt show in Brisbane recently (fat quarters)

And finally, because you all know how much I love them, and I want to share the love:

Liberty Scraps.

Please make sure you leave your email address in your comment if it's not in your blog contact details so I can get in touch with you if you win.

The Giveaway will close at midday on Sunday 8th April (Brisbane time).

The winner will be announced some time on Sunday night!

Cheers!

Mary and Me at the Melbourne Zoo :-)

Mary's favourite colour is blue AND pink!

Mary told me recently that her favourite colour was blue AND pink.

I found that piece of information immediately sparked off a creative idea:  (another) quilt for Mary!

I wasn't inspired by the pink and blue colour combination, so I decided to make it predominantly pink, with a little bit of green (my favourite colour) and a little bit of yellow ("Nanny", my mother's favourite colour). It was lovely to make a scrap quilt entirely from fabric in my stash.

I have enjoyed trying out my new sewing machine with this easy piecing project - 4.5" squares, 15 x 15 (that's 225 squares in total), making the whole thing about 150cm square.

My Janome Quilters Edition, a very basic machine I've had for about 12 years, decided to pack it in after I tripped over the lead and brought it crashing to the ground.  I could have spent $200 on a new motor, but I only paid $600 for the machine, so I decided to give it to the sewing repairs man for parts in exchange for labour costs, and put my money towards a new Pfaff.

I love it!

When I recover from this bout of gastro (I'm home from work today as I've been up all night with vomiting and diarrhoea), I look forward to constructing the rest of this quilt top!

PS.  My next post will be my 100th.  I think a giveaway is definitely in order!

Recent purchases

Some new Liberties from Patchwork on Central Park.

Purchased whilst on holidays in Melbourne with my daughter last week.

I'm planning a quilt for our bed.  Finally!

It will be blue and red and yellow.

Along with the fabrics in the picture above, I have pulled these from my stash to include in the quilt.

These two fabrics were purchased years ago from Duckcloth.  I can't wait to cut into them.  Isn't Nani Iro just the best??!! (the white fabric)

More blues... lots of Liberties!

More to come in the next few days!

Echino makes my heart sing!

Made for a dear friend's daughter, Jemima.

Nice big six inch squares to show off the fabrics with vertical, horizontal and diagonal quilting and rounded corners.

'Mima has moved to Sydney... We'll miss you guys!

Quilts for Twins

I bought this fabric a little while ago now from Fabricworm and finally made it into something...

Matching quilts for the twins next door.

As you can see, they are quilted with edge-to-edge patterns, thanks to the lovely Lynn  from Grandma's Bazaar.

And here you can see details of the quilting, as well as the backing for the first quilt:

And the second quilt:

Their mother was thrilled with the surprise gift for her gorgeous daughters!

Down Under Doll Quilt Swap 2 - Round 2!

This is the little quilt I was telling you about in my last post... 

To refresh your memory... Michelle and I both participated in the Down Under Doll Quilt Swap No2.  Unfortunately Michelle never received a quilt, so I offered to make her a little something.  I just couldn't bear the thought of her going without after she made such a beautiful quilt for her partner.

Many months later, I finally finished.  Here is a close up.

And the backing...

I've always just loved this Liberty sunflower fabric.

The quilt is made with all Liberty of London tana lawn fabrics and was machine pieced, machine quilted and then the binding was attached by hand.

But look at what Michelle made for me!

Isn't her appliqué just BEAUTIFUL!

But wait!  There's more!

A pincushion and a, well, I'm not sure what it's called, but I don't have one and I really need one.

You put your needles on the white bit and you can put all kinds of other bits and pieces in the other parts.  It's like a wallet for quilters!

I'm bowled over by Michelle's generosity.

Check out her blog.  You'll love it!

End of Year Flurry of Activity

This is a little number I've been working on the past week or so using Amy Butler's Lark fabrics.  I am absolutely loving this line and have purchased the green colour way as well...

Sorry about the photos by the way, I took them as I was running out the door this morning on my way to work.  There was dappled sun shining through the trees above the courtyard.

Anyway, back to the blue Lark project...

I made nine patches and sewed them together.  Then I added some natural coloured cotton / linen blend and appliquéd some leaves on.

Here's a close up of my "needle turn" appliqué, which I'm really happy with!

Obviously I will add the floral appliqué border around the whole quilt.  Then I may add more borders, with the idea of making a medallion quilt, or I might just finish up with some binding.  I haven't decided yet.

Something else I've been working on is a mini quilt for Michelle from The Quilted Tortoise.

She didn't receive a quilt in the Down Under Doll Quilt Swap, No.2 and I felt bad for her, so I offered to make her a little something, and she graciously offered to make me one in return!

Anyway, initially I was going to make her a little appliqué project, which didn't work out.

Then I started working on this:

I quilted it by hand, but then I didn't have any suitable material left to bind it with (I'd already started chopping the rest of the fabric up for the project above),  so I started making a 36 patch in Liberties.

I finished that off (eventually!) and sent it off last week.  Michelle has received it, but I am still waiting impatiently for my quilt from her.  She sent it a week ago, but I think it must have got held up in the Christmas postal rush.  I'm sorry, I forgot to take photos of the quilt I made for Michelle, so I will ask Michelle to send me some that I can post on my blog later.

Here is some more fabric I have procured lately....

Again, sorry about messy photos, but isn't this fat quarter bundle of Aunt Grace's latest offering just divine?!

And Heirloom (can't remember who designed this sorry):

And lastly, my little Love laying out a quilt in the courtyard this morning...

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!

Finishes!

Three of them...

All it was waiting for was binding, so I finally caved and got someone else to do it...

For $5 a metre, I couldn't resist!

Thanks Lynn!!

Finally, at age 17 months, Mary has received her hexagon quilt.

She loves it.

Couldn't have done it without Lynn (binding) and Barb (custom machine quilting).

This last one is a direct copy of Nova's gorgeous quilt as you go number.

I followed her tutorial and I am so happy with the results. :-)

I used Echino fabrics and a green solid.

And did the same wonky - straight line quilting just like Nova did.

And curved corners, which I LOVE!!!!

Purple Echino spots on the back finish off what is a really lovely quilt.

Thanks for the inspiration Nova!