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

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

 

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

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

 

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



A little something I'm working on. It's an improvised wonky sampler.

I am doing a demonstration on improv blocks at the upcoming Wyong Quilt Show. Later in May I am teaching this quilt in a BOM class at All About Sewing.

Sorry for the photo quality. I took it with my phone....

The blocks still need the white around them. I love blue and orange together.

Have a Happy Easter.....

Leanne xo

All About Sewing- Retreat 2011

The forecast was for rain.
Perfect for a weekend of sewing.
Most of the ladies arrived at Raffertys Resort on Friday afternoon. We had our machines set up even before we put our bags in our cottages.

There was excitement in the air.

A few ladies did a bit of sewing that night but it was mostly about catching up with friends. We had a yummy dinner at the Thai restaurant and then off for a good night sleep before a full day of sewing.

Saturday morning saw us up bright and early for a buffet breakfast ( can you see a pattern starting here ).

We tore ourselves away from the buffet and headed to the conference room.

 The conference room

The Tuesday Girls

The Machine Embroidery Girls

Off sewing. There was two groups. The machine embroidery girls that had a set project to do. Then there were the general sewers. That was Jan, myself and the Tuesday girls, as we affectionately call them. Lots of laughs and chatting and a bit of sewing and all of a sudden it's morning tea. ( the pattern ). The day went so fast. There was trivia, which was loads of fun. Lots of different projects to be inspired by and ofcourse chatting about anything and everything. We accomplished a fair bit though.

Dinner!! What more can I say... I will be going back to this restaurant again. Al Lago for anyone that's interested. The food was divine. We were all so full from during the day (  morning tea then lunch then afternoon tea ). But we managed...

A couple of bottles glasses of wine later and the chatter was really flowing. (along with the wine)  We didn't sew after the consumption of alcohol though. A few of us were up late just chatting and laughing into the night. (my cheeks were so sore from laughing).

A glass of Chardy in good company with Neptune by Tula Pink.

Sunday and no-one really wanted breakfast. We were still full from the day before. A piece of toast and straight into it. The machine embroidery girls finished their project the day before so it was just free sewing.

After lunch I was booked in for a massage. Oh!! it was so relaxing. I need to do it more often. I was so relaxed I couldn't sew anymore. The weekend was coming to an end.

All About Sewing - Retreat 2011

I had such a great time. We have already booked for next year.
Thanks to all the lovely ladies for their company .

Just enough energy for the obligatory crazy photo.

Happy Quilting
Leanne

Oh My Goodness.............

I didn't think I could possibly fit anything else into my day. Guess what? I can. My husband would beg to differ. He thinks I have just replaced housework with more exciting things to do.

My full work days at the shop have ended and I'm back to just 1 day teaching. I was just starting to get fast at putting dance costumes together and it's come to an end ( for another year)

I have finished a couple of quilts.

I am still doing costumes for Ethans school musical, Alice in Wonderland. They are almost done.

I am also making about 6 quilts to sell at a mini market my sister is holding at her place. It should be lots of fun. A bunch of Mum's from Luca's school are selling all handcrafted items. I can't wait to see what there is to buy. I have to get them finished by the end of the month.Ahhh................ I'm always biting off more than I can chew.

I also have about 6 customer quilts to get done before the second week in Dec. I don't think I will be sleeping for the next month. 

Best get back to it

Happy Quilting
Leanne

Back On Track....

After my wierd week things changed for me. As well as my beautiful Tuesday patchwork class I have picked up two days work at the shop sewing up dance costumes. I would like to thank Ange and Jody for that opportunity. It has been great. Although, the full work days took a bit of getting used to. But now I'm back on track.
I doesn't rain, it pours!! I also had a bunch of quilts come to me for quilting . I love quilting. Seeing the flat quilt come to life with the beautiful texture of the quilting. It always feels so nice when it's finished.
I have also been designing some quilts with the hope that they will be published. Even if they aren't the patterns will be available for purchase.
I have been so busy that I haven't even had time to take any photos, so here's one of some of my stash.

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

Some Finishes

These are the two quilts I bound this week.

This is for my niece, Annalee. who lives in Western Australia.

The pieced back

For my little Archer.

These prints are from Prints Charming.

Happy Quilting

Leanne

I Got Real Busy.

After feeling rotten at the start of the week, the end of the week turned out to be great.
I finished 3 quilt tops

Quilted a top. I designed this quilting pattern myself for my quilting machine. It worked out really well.

And got a NEW MACHINE!!! How exciting. It was kind of a last minute decision. I got a Husqvarna Mega Quilter. I always said to my boss, Jody, that if ever that machine came on sale that I would get one. In the 4 years I have worked at the shop that machine has never been on sale. I just HAD to have it....

I picked it up on Friday. My boys went to stay with Ma & Pa for the weekend, so I sewed up a storm. While Paul watched the car racing, I annoyed him with the constant whirring of the machine. Because it is an industrial machine it goes super fast. I sewed up 366 HST ( Half Square Triangles ) in no time at all.

When I picked up my new machine, Jody had a little surprise for me. It is my 40th birthday this week and she had a gift for me. A 1/4inch foot for my mega quilter and 3 quilting books. I was from all the lovely ladies I work with at the shop, so Thankyou to you all for my gift. ( I can't believe I am turning 40! )

I am expecting another busy week with customer quilts and some of my own to get up on the frame. I've 2 quilts to bind and another to stitch together. So I better get going.

Happy Quilting
Leanne