I'm still here...

 

I have had a couple of weeks off with the kids on school holidays. I had full intentions of working through the holidays but instead I ended up having a very relaxing time with my boys (and my new pup, Diesel)... We didn't do much the first week. Just hung out at home enjoying the peace and quiet of our country home. The second week was crazy with family visiting, the boys stayed with Ma & Pa for a couple of days which gave Hubby and I some time together alone.

 

Today I was back to quilting...

 

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo



A Cover, A Show & lots of quilting....

The last month has been rather busy.

 

As always there are lots of customer quilts to get done. There are too many to post here but you can see them on my facebook page.

 

 My quilt Dorothy is on the cover of Issue 157 Down Under Quilts...Woohoo !!!

 

 

 

The weekend just gone I attended the Central Coast Charity Quilt Show where I had a stand selling my quilt patterns and promoting my machine quilting business.

What a fantastic time !! I got to spend two whole days with the beautiful ladies I work with at

 All About Sewing. Jody, Robyn, Ally & Susan always make it fun whenever we are together. Lots of fun and laughs and a croaky voice the next day from too much talking...

 

My Stand with Dorothy and Supernova in the background...

 

Myself and Jody.

 

 Jody has just celebrated 7 years since her shop, All About Sewing, first opened its doors. I started teaching at the shop about a month after it opened. Time sure does fly by when your having fun. Congratulations Jody and I look forward to the next 7 or 10 or 20...hehe 

 

 

Back to quilting

Leanne xo

 

Where have I been...

...well I don't really know. I've just been getting on with things. I do check out the blogosphere all the time but by the end of each day I'm so pooped from working that I just don't feel like posting.

I have almost caught up on my backlog of customer quilts from last year and this year has been full steam ahead with quilts coming to me each day. I love quilting and I love the reaction of my customers when I send their quilts back to them and they absolutely love them.

 

I try to squeeze one of my quilts in once in a while. Last weekend I got this beauty up and quilted. I will have more photos soon. The quilting is finished, I just have to bind it.

 

 

Today we bought this little guy home. He is an orphan and I just fell in love with him at first sight. We have been waiting for the right dog to come along and he just appeared on facebook and I knew he was the one. Perfect !!! He is only 5 weeks old and I will be his surrogate mum for the next couple of weeks. He is so placid and already feels like part of the family...

 

It's going to be hard to concentrate on quilting with him here with that cute little face looking up at me. Tomorrow I will sort out a pen for him to be near me but not under my feet.

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo



weekend stitching...

After cleaning the house a little I got to finishing up my Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt top.

I love it so much...

 

We went into the paddock for a photo shoot on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. It was a bit breezy, which made for fun flowy photos. It's such a big quilt at 80" x 96", my 6ft 2" boy couldn't reach to hold it out properly...wowzers. Just 3 jelly rolls !!!

 

 

 

I love this old dead tree. It has so much character. It's amazing how many birds nest up in it. Spring is like "bird wars" with all the different birds fighting over the best nesting spots. 

 

 

I've a busy week ahead so this might get quilted next Sunday. We have a new leather lounge coming soon and this quilt will be the perfect companion for it...

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

some yummy fabric...

I went to Spotlight yesterday to see if I could get some of Sarah Fielke's On The Pond fabric range.....

I was in luck. I got all 15 in fat 1/4's. They are really nice and I have already designed and started making a quilt.

 



 

I need more fabric like I need a whole in the head !!! Oh well...I'm happy

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

Lots of quilts...

In the last week I have been crackin' along on my customer quilts.

I thought I would show you what I have been up to.
 

 This is quite a large custom I did at the end of last week and into the weekend. I'm really happy with how it turned out...

 Here you can see the different quilting in each of the borders and below is the freehand all over flowers in the centre section of the quilt...

 

 

 Not a great photo but you get the idea...

 

 Next up was a panto edge to edge for the lovely Ena. It's cotton Candy. An oldie but a goodie...

 

And just off the frame today is this very bright strip quilt with applique flowers. I did an all over freehand swirl with ditching around the flowers... 

 

This is me with my head stuck in the machine. My back really hurts when I spend too long doing this... 

 

 Again, not a good photo... It's such a bright quilt...

 

Just a bit of what I've been doing...I won't show you photos of my neglected house. Having the boys home on holidays means that it's 10 times messier than normal. Only a week to go and they are back at school and when I clean the house it will stay clean....for a little while anyway...

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

Oh No...

...I couldn't help myself.

They are everywhere on the web. I just had to make one. I love every one of them that I have seen.

What am I talking about you ask ??

The Scrappy Trip Around the World Quilt

The original instructions can be found at Quiltville. I changed mine up a little.
Firstly, as I'm short of time, I used 3 jelly rolls instead of scraps or stash. Much faster than cutting it all myself. Thanks Leanne @ Lizzie the Quilter for that idea!
Secondly, I cut my jelly roll strips in half, which is longer than the original instructions. This enabled me to have 8 strips per set instead of 6. This in turn made my blocks 16 " instead of 12".
Thirdly, I have not used one single pin. If you press the right way, the seams nest right in against one another, saving even more time !!! (I will probably have to use pins to put the blocks together)
The 3 jelly rolls make 30, 16 inch blocks. A huge, fast growing quilt !!!
I have done 4 complete blocks, and prepared another 6 and sorted the others into their sets, all on this rainy Sunday afternoon. It's nice to do some stitching for myself. Now I just need to make a bit of time each day to get it finished....

My 4 finished blocks....



My bits ready to go.....

 

What about you? Are you going on a trip around the world?

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

 

Another Cover.....

I squealed so loud in the newsagent today that people looked around to see what was happening...

 

My quilt, Daisy Mae, is on the cover of the latest Quilters Companion !!!

It was totally unexpected. I knew it was going to be a project in this issue but not on the cover...

 



 

This fabric is one of the Denyse Schmidt ranges from Spotlight.

 

After a really crappy end to last year, this year is starting off with a bang. I am really excited about what's in the pipeline for this year. The journey continues....

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

Playing a little...

I have been having a play with photoshop. I had it years ago but lost it when my computer died (it was a freebie). I have done a new header for my blog with alot of help from my awesome Sister Monique. She is a wizz on the computer and with graphics. She designed the logo on the left. Very clever !!!

 

On another note, we survived the extreme heat with no incidents in our area. Must have been too hot for the firebugs to venture out, thank goodness!!

 

I am still quilting Loulou. One more full day should just about do it.

 

And just cause I don't like posting without a photo, here are all the kids on Christmas morning at my parents house

 

 

Yep, just one girl...Annalee, my beautiful niece from WA

 

And this is for you Jan, as you requested...hahaha

It was yuuummmmm!!!!!!

 

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne

Back in the swing....

Well here we are, a new year and time to start fresh.

I have put the pain and sadness of the past few months behind me. I feel refreshed and ready to take on 2013.

While on my forced sabbatical I was able to get a lot of new quilt designs down on paper. I am excited to be starting on a couple of them while I have the boys home on Summer holidays.

I am also getting through the backlog of customer quilts. I am very greatful to my customers for their understanding. Your quilts are not too far from being quilted...

 

This week I have been custom quilting one of my quilts that has been waiting too long for it's turn. The quilt is Loulou...and I love it. It reminds me of the circus.

Here is a little preview...

 

 

Hopefully I will get this close to finished tomorrow. We'll see...The weather forecast for tomorrow is Extreme to Catastrophic. Upwards of 42 degrees C. We live in a bushfire prone area so we have our fire plan in place ready to act if we have to. I have all my customer quilts ready to go in the car first if anything bad should happen...Oh, and the kids...

Here's to a hot but uneventful day tomorrow

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

One In A Million....

Not the words you want to hear from a specialist doctor...

 

I debated whether to post about this and came to the decision that if it can help one person then it is worth putting it out there.

So here goes...

 

For as long as I can remember I have had a mole on the iris of my left eye. Not a lot of people noticed it, but I always saw it everytime I looked in the mirror. It started off very small and with each of my pregnancies with my 3 boys it grew bigger and further into my iris towards my pupil. I have always had it checked by a number of doctors and specialists and it was always just a mole. That was until this year. I had been having some vision problems so off I went to have it checked out.

The original diagnosis made no sense to my husband and I so we asked for a second opinion.

 

On October 10 we headed to Sydney to see one of the top eye surgeons in the country.

Within 20 seconds he had diagnosed it as a melanoma !!!

Right then our whole world changed...

I was nearly sick. Paul's mouth was gaped open in shock. 

Me: "So what action do we take from here?"

Dr: "We remove the eye ! It's ok, I do it all the time."

Me: "No really, there has got to be another way." Tears streaming my face. "I have told you I am a quilter!! I need two eyes !!

 

After much discussion he sent us off to meet with a Professor in Sydney. Unfortunately the Professor gave us the same diagnosis. It is so rare. One in a million !!! and the only way to rid my body of this horrible thing is to remove the eye.

So a date was set, October 30...
I had 13 days...

I started preparing myself for living my life with one eye. There was no way that I was going to take this lying down. I started to practice sewing and quilting with my left eye shut. It was all ok. My seams matched, my quilting was fine and it put my mind at ease to know that my life shouldn't change that much. I was driving with my eye shut and even that wasn't too bad. I had come to terms with it and I was going to hit it head on. Telling family and friends was the hardest part of the whole thing. Everyone we spoke to was so upset and I felt I had to stay strong for them. Once I was staying strong I felt strong and the more I spoke about it the stronger I felt. That was until I had to see my GP for all the test results prior to surgery. I was a blubbering mess. The results were ALL CLEAR!!! It had not spread.

The day came for my surgery. I had my hubby Paul, my Mum and my sister Monique with me. It all went very well although once the pain killers started to wear off...OMG...
I was a bit sad but not as much as I thought. The first night was a bit tough but every day since has been easier than the last...

Within 4 days I was off the pain killers and cutting and prepping hexagons to do while I was recovering. I think having something that I love to do has really helped me get through the whole ordeal. Also the amazing support I have had from my family and friends including all my ladies from my classes. Thank you to you all for your kind words, messages and phone calls to make sure I wasn't getting depressed....you all know that I could never be depressed !! I don't do depressed...

 

My pretty hexagons...

 

 

Loving them...
 

It has been almost 4 weeks since my surgery. Life has pretty much returned to normal. I have been sewing, quilting and driving. I do lose my balance every now and then but that will get better with time. I will soon be fitted with a prosthetic eye and I will look the same it just won't see a darn thing.

Custom quilted and bound ready for a magazine shoot... all with one eye!!
I have impressed myself...

I guess the moral to my story is if you think something is not right, it's not going to hurt to get a second opinion. You never know it may just save your life. Melanoma is rising in Australia. We all remember running around in our swimmers all summer and not being able to lay down in bed at night because of the sunburn. We are starting to pay for it now.....

Thank you for reading my story. This is the last you will hear of it here. As I said I am moving ahead as normal and I will have some great stuff to show you very soon.

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo

Australian Machine Quilting Festival....

Wow, what a week !!!

I went with Jan and Clare to Adelaide for the Australian Machine Quilting Festival. The first day we went to a Ricky Tims seminar. He is a quilter and musician and a very funny man. It was a huge day and I learn lots about his techniques.

 

 

All the crazy quilters at the Ricky Tims seminar...

Ricky's Caveman style quilt...

His beautiful Rhapsody quilt... I love this...

 

Day 2 we started the classes...oh so many classes!!!

 

Jan and I....Oh yes, we look really happy here. It is our first class. You should have seen us at the end of the day with our bloodshot eyes... 

Some designing I did in class...

Sharon Parkinson's class. She had tonnes of helpful tips...

 

There were tutors from Australia and the US. I did four classes on the first day, three on the second day and two on the third. The end of each day was a huge blur....

I met so many fantastic people and some very talented quilters. My 2 favourite tutors were Michelle Turner and Vicki Jenkin. Both local girls with loads of talent. I got to spend a bit of time with them both out of the class. I was very chuffed that they both knew who little old me was. It made my day.

 

Besides the classes there was a vendor mall and quilt show. I spent a little to much at the shops and the quilts were amazing...

 

I love this quilt. I have always wanted to make one similar to this...

This is a snippet of the Best of Show quilt. All done on a domestic machine by Rachel Denneny. It is a queen size quilt with the tiniest stitching...

 

For 5 days I didn't go out of a 100 square meter radius. On the last morning we had a bit of time to walk through town. Adelaide is a beautiful city.... there is loads of inspiration for quilts everywhere.

 

Tessellated Floors...

 

 

Beautifully patterned ceiling...

 

 

The architecture is quite German...

 

In a little arcade there was this button shop. Absolutely chocked full of the most amazing buttons.

 

 

Thanks to Jan and Clare for being great roomies and the 2 year countdown is on til next market.

 

Back to reality and the studio...

 

Happy quilting 

Leanne xo



1 Week....

In 1 week, myself, Jan and Claire are off to Adelaide for the Australian Machine Quilting Festival.

I am starting to get a bit excited.

I may have gone a little overboard with the amount of classes that I am doing but I figured that it only comes around every two years and I had better make the most of it.

There are tutors from all over coming to share their expertise in machine quilting on both longarms and domestic machines.

We are gone for 6 days and 5 nights. I've never been away from my family for that long before, I wonder if they will cope. I bet all the washing is waiting for me when I get back...haha

 

Before I leave I still have tonnes of quilting to get done. I have been quilting like a crazy lady lately, although, I did take last weekend off so I didn't actually go crazy.

 

Here is some of what I've been up too...

A nice loop the loop quilting pattern...

 

Chantilly Lace on Sarah's gigantic quilt....

 

At one point Dudley had had enough and he need a little timing and a little love. We are on good terms at the moment...touch wood...

timing time....

 

I've had another one of THESE quilts....this was quite bad and I couldn't do much with it. The owner was fine with it so I didn't stress too much.

look at that wavy border.....

 

This last one was great to quilt. I forgot how much I love this quilting pattern...scrollwork...

 

 

 

Back to the studio

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

 



I'm A Cover Girl....

...well my quilt is anyway.

 

My Quilt "Supernova" is on the cover of this months Quilters Companion.

It's so exciting !!!

 

 

 

 

A close up of the quilting...

 

 

I'll be back with more news soon...

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo



What a fantastic time we had at the Newcastle Craft and Sewing Show. Susan of Little Red Jug joined me on the Universal Magazines stand.

Well, as you may know, I love to chat. Put me at a place with thousands of people who have a quilting obsession the same as me, and I can chat all day. I loved spending 3 days with Susan. There was not a moment we couldn't find something to talk about. Thanks Susan for the great company.

See on the front left of the table, that's my quilt that is in the Quilters Companion Precuts Issue. It is released in October....

Jody, Jan and Ally were there on the All About Sewing Stand. Nice quilts girls...

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo