I won a ribbon !!!!

On Saturday night I got a late call from the NSW quilters guild to let me know that I had won an award for one of my quilts that I had entered in this years Sydney Quilt Show .....
I almost fell over !!!

So yesterday I travelled to Sydney to collect my Award ....

It was 4th place in the modern category for my Metro Medallion quilt.  Gosh I was so nervous.  I had my cheer squad in the background when my name was called. What a high !!!!!

Here is my lovely green ribbon....

 

This is my quilt. For the show her name is Metro Medallion. I'm thinking she needs a real name now she has done me so proud....hehe. This quilt was made using the quick curve ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful. The original quilt made by Jenny Pedigo was the inspiration for my quilt.

It took me 55 hours alone to quilt her. We got to know each other pretty well by the end of it.....lol

 

Here you can see the quilting a bit better. I am going back on Saturday so I will get some better photos of her close up. I was in a bit of shock and walked around in a bit of a dream state while I was there yesterday. I didn't even shop properly !!!!

 

I entered 2 quilts this year. The quilt below is my other girl hanging in Sydney. 

This quilt was inspired by an origami given to me by my good friend Sarah for my birthday last year.

This quilt has 64 different 12 inch blocks. Where the colours change in the spiral the blocks are made with two colours. Hope that makes sense ?? I LOVE this quilt. I quilted her with a simple wavy design because it was already so busy....

  

 

I'm really looking forward to going back on Saturday so I can have a good look at the other quilts on display.

 

The award has really inspired me to get in and design a bunch more quilts. So watch this space !!

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

Our day with Camille ......

A few weeks ago Jody, Susan and myself headed to Sydney to Kim Bradleys lovely shop to attend a workshop with Camille Roskelly. Camille came to Australia to do a series of trunk shows and workshops in Qld and NSW.

Camille is so lovely.  She spent time with each and every one of us while we sewed up her pattern, Red Letter Day. There were 19 of us and in one day we made 58 blocks !!!! Yes....58 blocks !! My competitive side came out and I made the most blocks, 8 of a possible 9. I received a lovely prize for being so competitive.  Not my finest moment I have to say....lol

Camille is lovely and spent time with each and every one of us ....

Thanks Jody and Susan for such a great day ....

Millies Fancy .....

I've been very busy quilting lately....

One of the quilts I have done is Millies Fancy. It was made by the lovely Jody.

Jody is the owner of All About Sewing and my friend. We have worked together for 8 years. When Jody first asked me to quilt this huge quilt for her I was a bit scared but I knew I wanted it to be special. 

I hung it over my frame for two days to get my head around it. Nothing came to me. I loaded it up hoping for something to come to me. Nope, still nothing ...

Then I was marking with a template trying out some designs and flipped the template and BAM! there was the design. I quickly drew it up and got started. 

As the quilting evolved I got very excited.  It was beautiful .....

Here are some pics I took when I finished.  I don't have a full one of the whole quilt yet but you'll get the idea.

 

I'm happy to say that Jody loves her quilt and because it was done in a class a couple of other ladies want their quilts quilted the same..... I look forward to doing them later in the year....

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo
 

I'm so excited !!!

 I just booked all my classes for the Australian Machine Quilting Festival in Adelaide in October. I got all the classes I wanted and flights and accommodation are booked.

So while I'm waiting for this awesome event to arrive I have to do some real work. I machine quilt most days, because its my job, and sometimes a quilt comes along that stretches my creativity. 

Then along came this quilt. It is made from shot silk and has fabulous machine embroidery on it.

I outline quilted all the embroidery and stitched in all the ditches. That took me 2 days to do. Then came all the fill designs. There was a lot of fullness in the centre of the quilt so an all over swirl was perfect to take up the extra fabric.

Using  a curved template, I stitched a double line using the outer embroidery as my inspiration. I then used this line as the spine for the feathers. Pebbling finished off the centre panel.  It took just as long to pebble as it did to do the feathers....

Next was the borders. I marked in a curve for the feathers. This is my favourite part of this quilt.

I did the same feathers in the large outer border, just larger of course.


In the light coloured borders I did simple diamonds with a straight ruler.







This quilt took 28 hours to quilt. It was totally worth it though, I think it turned out fab. The owner absolutely loves it.

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo

March Already.....

Well, I have been getting myself organised....

Unfortunately I haven't been able to fit in computer time until now. The good thing is part of my getting organised was to make time for myself and get fit and healthy. I can report that I am succeeding better than I expected. I signed up for the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation and in 6 weeks I have lost 7.5kg and a whole dress size....yippee !!!! I am in it for the long haul. I have about 25kg more to lose. I have made a life change for myself and my family. We all have tons more energy and we are happy....

 

Quilting has become more enjoyable too. Because I am stronger, my back doesn't ache as much and I am able to stand all day with no problem. So last week I made this cute quilt. a jelly roll race quilt with giant applique flowers. I topped it of with custom quilting to enhance the quilt....

 

 

 

 

 

My niece Annalee came to visit with us for a couple of days last week. What else would you do when visiting your crazy quilt obsessed Aunt....make a quilt of course. She is so clever. This is the first time she has ever sewn. I'm so proud. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

 

Organised I will be....

I am really excited about getting things in order around our place.

As we live in a barn we are lacking in storage, but this year I am going to change that.

We are extending another room into the roof space at one end of upstairs for our biggest boy. The other two are having a custom built-in double size bunk bed in their room which will free up some space upstairs for a tv and study area.

 

So today I got a start on my organisation...In a shipping container we have for storage I found some old baskets that we had saved when the frames they went in were broken....perfect for the boys clothes cupboard....

 

It is so good to purge out stuff that is cluttering up our space. Like a breath of fresh air.

 

While I was on my cleaning high, I cleaned the cupboard under the kitchen sink...ah that's better.

 

My inspiration for organising this year is from The Organised Housewife. Her website and facebook page are great and really help to keep me motivated.

 

Back to quilting soon...

 

Leanne xo

 

 

 

 



Being Present.....

.....that is what I have been for my family for the last two months of no blogging. In fact, I have hardly even turned my computer on.

 I was incredibly busy quilting customer quilts coming up to Christmas so I made a conscious decision to do only the things that are important to me and my family. When not quilting I have had a heap of social events that got me out of my lonesome workplace and spending time with friends and family...

I am feeling extremely relaxed after taking three weeks off. We have been enjoying the summer at our little patch of paradise....swimming in the pool, playing pool and air hockey on our new table, having family and friends over and just relaxing in general.

 

I am looking forward to all that 2014 brings. I have chosen a word to help me through the next 12 months.

*ORGANISED*

 

So here goes.....bring on 2014, I'm ready....