Saturday, 16 June 2012

I'm still buzzing from the great day I had at the Sydney Quilt Show.
So glad I went now.
We headed down the highway early with our awesome driver Jane at the wheel of the bus. Had a bit of breaky then headed into the abyss that is the Sydney Quilt Show. It just sucks you in and all the pretties pulling me in all directons. I stood strong with my pledge not to buy any fabric and I was successful !!! A miracle !!! There was plenty of other things to temp the wallet though.



Some of the pretty yarns that were there to tempt me...yes I went back and got some..of course..

There were tonnes of quilts. There is always such a variety. So much to take in....






 This is my friend Jan's quilt. It's always exciting to see a quilt you know hanging in the show...


 AND...this is Beth's quilt. Beth is Jan's beautiful daughter and she WON first in the under 12 quilters.. How amazing is that. She is a quilting star!!! Congratulations Beth!!!



Sarah and I had a little time out and went to Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe for lunch. Oh, wow, the hot chocolate was amazing and we had the best chicken pie ever... it was so good we went back for afternoon tea as well... we felt very special...


 I got to meet up with fellow bloggers. What a lovely group of ladies. I am at a loss to some of your names but I will surely be getting to know you all in the near future. Thanks to Chookyblue and Cheryll for convincing me to come...I'm looking foward to getting to meet you all through your blogs...


 My bus buddies all worn out and no money left waiting for our bus home....


Another fabulous year at the show over...

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo

Thursday, 14 June 2012

Wow, what a difference 24 hours makes.
After my little rant last night I found out this morning that I don't have to work at Southern Cross Needlework on Saturday so I can go on the bus to the Sydney Show. !!!!
Well, you should have seen the happy dance. I was really lucky that there were two places left so I asked my friend Sarah to come and she didn't have to be asked twice. So it's all go and the pangs of anxiety have all gone. I think I really have an addiction.

Hi, my name is Leanne. I am a quilting addict. lol...

I forgot to share my day out at the Australian Quilt Market in Sydney a couple of weeks ago.
Jody, Ally, Jan and myself headed to Sydney and met my Sister there. We were all ready to make the dash to the Moda stand to get ourselves some fabric goodness. I grabbed a fat 1/4 bundle of Cuzco by Kate Spain and a 4 pack of layer cakes of Simply Colour by V & Co. I have lots of ideas for this lot...

My Sister & I in front of the beautiful Harbour Bridge.


Some of the old buildings in "The Rocks"...


Jan, Myself, Jody & Ally..

I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I walked around the corner and saw this quilt at 2 green Zebras.
It was quilted by Angela Walters of Quilting Is My Therapy for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. Her quilting is such an inspiration and to see it up close was a dream come true for me. (yes, I am easily excited)


We had a great day !!

Only two sleeps and I'll be in Sydney again...yay...

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Hi there peeps.... I am so relaxed. We have just had a long weekend and it was great to do nothing. Really, all we did was watch movies and eat yummy snacks. The week before was a shocker. All the boys were sick, the weather was horrid and my throat felt like it had razor blades in it....I had decided early in the week that we all ( especially me) need a break from everything.

As usual though, I can't just sit there and do absolutely nothing. I have to have something in my hands so I started an embroidery that I designed. It's so pretty. Just what I need in a house full of boys.



Now that I'm nicely rested I am ready to get back into it. Yesterday I was at the shop with all the lovely Tuesday Ladies. There is always lots of laughs and a bit if sewing done.

Today I machine quilted this little quilt for Kerrie. It turned out fantastic.





I have cut out some pants for Archer. I have a few shelves of fabric for clothing. I thought I should use it up so I have room for more patchwork fabric...lol, Oh and my little guy needs some warm winter pants. Out came the trusty Janome overlocker. I have flogged this little machine for 12 yrs and it still keeps chugging along. 



I also got a half an hour on this very bright quilt. It is cut from templates made by superquilter Kim Bradley. The fabrics are all Kaffe & Brandon.



This week is the Sydney Craft & Quilt Show. I had decided that I wasn't going but I am so torn. How can I not go. I haven't missed one in so long. Every other minute I change my mind and think I should go. I might miss something that everyone is talking about. All the quilts. This year there is 400 quilts on show. All the new gadgets. All the shop owners that I only see once a year. Not to mention the bloggers meet up that is on on Friday. Oh No, I think I have just changed my mind. Better sleep on it and see what tomorrow brings...Are you going???

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo

Friday, 1 June 2012

Some Fun Stuff....

Tomorrow I am off to Sydney Quilt Market with my Sister Monique and my Sewing Sisters, Jody, Jan & Ally. Can you hear the excitement in my typing??
We are heading down the highway to the big smoke for a day out in the beautiful Sydney Harbour. Can't wait to show you what we get up to.

On the quilting front, I have been really busy getting magazine quilts done for their deadlines and today I quilted this little one for the lovely Rhonda.

 There's my big boy Ethan on quilt holding duty.....


A fun daisy pantograph....



Rhonda is finishing this quilt off for a friend who couldn't finish it. Her friend will be really surprised when it comes back to her looking as lovely as it does. Good on you Rhonda...

Well I'm off to bed for an early start tomorrow...

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo


Saturday, 19 May 2012

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 

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

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


Sunday, 29 April 2012

A Bit Carried Away....

I spent today on Dudley custom quilting. Sam needs it for this weekend so it need to be done fast but whatever I wanted to do was fine. As always, once I set up to do custom I just can't help myself. It's a sampler quilt so I tried to do each block differently and I also did some designs I haven't done before. It's turning out great. I'm about 2/3 through it. I hope Sam loves it like I do....








Another full day should see it finished. I might have to go for a massage after this one...

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo


Saturday, 28 April 2012

No Time To Scratch....

Boy, when things get busy they sure do get busy. And I'm really bad at saying no to things. I don't like to let people down so when Sam asked me if I could custom quilt her quilt for her in 1 week of course I said "Sure thing, no problems". Now I'm in a real rush and having to bump all the quilts along the list. Oh well, it will be really nice once it's done and I have met another lovely lady to call a friend.
I will have photos of this quilt soon, but until then I have a couple of other quilts that I have just finished.

The first one is my wonky sampler. It is quilted and bound and ready for next weekends Central Coast Charity Quilt Show. I am doing a demonstration on improvised block construction, so if your in the area drop in and say Hi.

All finished...yay...


Yummy wavy quilting.Very simple but effective and fun to do.


I used 3 different colours to quilt it..orange, teal & baby blue...


The second quilt is a very special one. A good friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. After a couple of surgeries she started chemo this week. I made her this quilt to let her know I'm thinking of her and if she wants she can take it with her to treatment.
It's made from a layer cake so it was really quick to put together. I had it pieced one day and quilted and bound it the next day. A great short notice quilt.
Hope you love it Kath...

I quilted it with a freehand allover swirl... I love it...


 This Heather Bailey Freshcut fabric was the perfect binding....


Hopefully I will have more photos tomorrow
Til then

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo