sydney quilt show ......

Hi there my quilty peeps.....

 

3 Days ..... yep!! I spent 3 whole days at the Sydney Quilt Show..... (warning: it's a bit heavy on photos).... I had a fantastic time meeting up with old friends and meeting lots of IG and FB friends for the first time. On the first day my Aunty Diana & Uncle Dave popped by to check out my quilts and were awestruck by the amount of talent in the quilt makers. On Saturday my parents, Aunty Heather and cousin Suzanne came to see what all the fuss was about. I think Mum and Dad were very impressed and now understand what I do a little better.......it was great to have them in my world.....

AND.....

Great News !!!! I won Third place in the Modern category with my beautiful quilt "Emma".

 

 This is Emma hanging in all her glory......

 My 3rd place ribbon.....

Me and my girl ......

A close up of some of the custom quilting.....

 



 

 

I also entered "Scarlett" in the Red and White category. This was a one off category for this year. It was an awesome sight to see all the red and whites hanging together.

This is (a poor pic of) Scarlett..... 

 A closer look at some of the custom quilting that  I did on her.....

My Mum with hair that matches my quilt...lol.....

This year I was asked to custom quilt this little beauty for the lovely Chris Jurd. I was so excited to be asked then quickly realised that this was the first time I was doing a quilt for someone else to enter in a show. I am extremely proud of how it has turned out. I used the centre panel for the inspiration for the background quilting.  

 



 

It felt a bit like I was quilting a tattoo with the snakes and skulls .....

 

One of the best parts of the show is catching up with friends and realising they are all just as crazy as me. I walked away from this bunch the a sore face from laughing so hard.....

 Bec, Myself, Gemma from Pretty Bobbins and Angie from Gnomeangel

 Myself and Sarah.... We have been going to the show on Saturday for years now. I always love spending the day with my good buddy .....

AND...... Finally, I got to meet the lovely Siobhan from Beaspoke Quilts fame. We have talked via email for years. It was really great to catch up and touch base.....watch this space....

 

 

By the end of the week I was exhausted and had hit the wall. I've just had a forced hiatus while the kids were on school holidays and I feel refreshed and ready to go again.....

 

Happy 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



Taming the Fabric....

Well, it's been a good day in the studio today.

I did lots of stipping in the background of the applique blocks and feathers in the setting triangles.

As you can see in the bottom photo I haven't yet started on the borders. The more I quilt on it the more confident I am that it will all be fine.

It should be all finished by the end of the week...yay...

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

Hi there my quilting friends...

This week has been a huge catch up week. After being a slacker in the school holidays, I am behind on my customer quilts. So I got my butt into gear and I have quilted all week, even this weekend.

The first quilt I finished this week was a custom for Jody at All About Sewing (the shop I love teaching at). The design is "Midnight Roses". It is a machine embroidery Block of the Month that Jody and Gail have been running this year at the shop. I can't wait to see them all finished.

Beautiful winter sunshine streaming into my studio....

I stippled the background of the embroideries, put a swirl in the sashings and did a feather and stipple border. (It's not quite finished here)...

 The embroideries are so vibrant...

Jody was really happy with it and that's one crossed off the ever growing list.

I have finished another two and half finished another this week. I'll have more about them later.

Thanks for looking and thanks to those patiently waiting for their quilts to be done...

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo



Hi there my crazy quilting friends...

I have had a busy but good week. Some teaching, some quilting and a little time out...

Here is a beautiful little quilt that I have custom quilted for my friend Ally...

I quilted every part of this little quilt. I think it looks fantastic...

Ally has done a pattern for this quilt. It will be available at the Newcastle Quilt & Craft Show or you can purchase it direct from Ally.

Tomorrow I am off to a Monica Poole workshop that we are having with the Central Coast Modern Quilt Guild. Twenty ladies sewing the day away and I'm not even sewing (I know, shock, horror) I am a helper for the day. With all those machines there is bound to be some problems... 

Hope you all had a great week and have an even better weekend...

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo



Bloggers' Quilt Festival....

This year, once again, I am joining in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.

The quilt I'm sharing is not new to my blog, it's one of my favourites and has been quite popular.

If you haven't already met, I would like to introduce Sabrina....

I had always wanted to do a star sampler, so I went about designing one on EQ6. Once I had finished the centre blocks I decided that it need a border so once again i used my trusty EQ6.

I loved the finished top and I knew it need special treatment when it came to quilting. I am very lucky to be a longarmer with a fabulous quilting machine. So up she went onto the frame for some quilty love. When I did this quilt I hadn't done many custom quilts. This was a real learning curve for me.

Sabrina is currently hanging in a local quilt shop as I am teaching classes on her. She also made an appearance at the local charity quilt show recently.

Go over to Amy's blog and check it out. I hope you enjoy the festival...

Happy Quilting

Leanne 

Yes, I've been terrible at updating my blog recently. I have been so busy quilting and I have 2 magazine deadlines that I have been pushing to get finished that I have only been on my computer to write patterns...yay... and pay bills...yuck...

Back a couple of weeks myself and my "sewing sisters" attended the Central Coast Charity Quilt Show.

All the girls from All About Sewing  BackL-R Jan, Jody, Ally,Robyn.

Front L-R Ange & Myself (Gail is missing)

We had a fabulous time. We met some lovely new people and the whole weekend was really relaxing and fun. I did a demo on improvised block construction. I was really nervous and did the whole thing way to fast.

Me doing my demo...

My friend Jan from Red Shed Quilting did and awesome demo and talk on domestic machine quilting. Jan really is a quilting guru and she has been a fantastic mentor to me and is more than willing to share her expertise. Thanks Jan...

Jan has them enthrauled...

The Quilts...
There is Sabrina on the right...

Beth is Jan's daughter. She won the Junior section...

Charlotte is another one of our Juniors. She got second for her 1st quilt...

The whole thing was to raise money for the local hospital oncology unit. The Show raised just shy of $10 000. WOW!! That's amazing!!! Yay for the quilting community...

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Next up was Mothers Day...

Look what my Hubby pick for me...from the garden at his work...

It was a relaxing day. First up was breaky at Maccas, next flowers at the cemetary (on my mother-in-laws grave), then to the hardware. All I wanted for Mothers Day was to get a bunch of stuff hung on my studio walls. That's why we went to the hardware to get hanging stuff. All done and now I'm happy...

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On to quilting... This week I have done custom quilting for Gail. Two customs in a row, I really am ready for that massage now...oooo my aching back...

Phew, that was exhausting but fun...

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo