One of my many hats, is a machine quilter who finishes quilts for other people. In this capacity I have just completed quilting this lovely quilt, for Cheryl, which will become a “cuddle rug” for a young child.

Cheryl's quilt with the applique motif.

The initial quilting design dilemma with this quilt was the appliqued moon set in the middle of the quilt.  Normally I would not choose to quilt an edge to edge (pantograph) design over the top of any applique, but this quilt is not going to be an heirloom. It is going to be “loved to ...

Recently,  Melbourne has earned the well known reputation of  having ’4 seasons  in one day’.  The emphasis on WINTER has been most noticeable by my cold feet! So, when I was offered to tag along on a business trip to Perth with my DH(dear husband), I said, “YES PLEASE!”

I knew I would be on my own during the day and using the city’s public transport system. I enjoy these challenges and I don’t mind being a tourist.

Perth has a wonderful free transit system within the CBD. There are free busses that are colour coded RED ...

I recently subscribed to “Quilting Arts” magazine and have been thoroughly enjoying the articles and workshops in each issue, as it arrives in the mail. 

The June/July 2010 issue of Quilting Arts magazine

However,  you don’t have to be a magazine subscriber to have fun with some of their workshops,  you simply join their free informative online newsletter.

So here is a  freebie, especially for machine quilters,  from the people who publish the Quilting Arts magazine.

Free-motion Machine Quilting: 67 Machine Stitching Tips and Motifs – Quilting Arts

I hope you enjoy playing with the ideas in this free ...

Last month was so busy that I pretty well ignored the quilting studio and it got messier and messier as the month progressed.  So it was very satisfying to clean up yesterday.  Patterns were put away, threads were organised and the floor was vacuumed.  

The Always Quilting studio, 401 Waverley Rd, Malvern East, Victoria.

 I also swapped over the display quilts to give the room a fresh new look. They are not new quilts, just newly displayed. It is always  a good idea to ring the changes with your quilts.   

What a busy few weeeks it has been since I last wrote. The first Aurifil shipment for the new financial year arrived and had us “heads down” unpacking boxes, counting stock and filling shelves. Once that was done we had to start filling back orders to get that thread out of the warehouse and into the shops for you.

It is always fun to have new stock items in a shipment and this one was a special treat, as I had ordered some new Kit Art collections and a the first mini  spool “Designer Collection”. So check out the images ...

Many of us are members of internet patchwork & quilting groups, have facebook friend groups who quilt and share experiences with blogs such as this, but do you belong to a real life guild?

Guild members, busy chatting and stitching at the Quilt In

Being a member of a guild allows you to meet, face to face, with people who share your passion for textiles. There are regular meeting days with activities, workshops and show & tell events where you can actually touch the quilt and there are also special days, such as “Quilt Ins” when non members and other guilds are ...

Since as far back as May, I’ve been promising myself that I would upload a copy of this daisy/gerbera pattern that we made for my talk at the Australasian Quilt convention.  

The daisy appliqued & embroidered with Cotton mako' Ne 50

Last night I finally added a file sharing box where I can add links to free downloads (check it out on the left hand margin).

So, from now on it will be easy to add lots of freebies

Well the wholesale Quilt & Craft Expo is over for another year. It is always held in June,  before the NSW Quilt Show & retail craft fair. If I had realised that the two events were only days apart this year I would have planned a little better and stayed on in Sydney to see the Quilt Show.  As it was, I ended up driving the round trip, nearly 2, ooo kilometres,  just for the 2 day wholesale event.

There we are, all packed ready to head off to the Quilt & Craft Expo

I enjoy the wholesale events as much as the ...

I’ve just had a pleasurable browse through the new issue of Down Under Textiles.

Down Under Textiles; issue No 2, 2010

Issue 2 has maintained the high standard of issue 1, published earlier this year, and will be a worthwhile addition to your magazine library.

Just one of the articles in issue 2 of Down Under Textiles

This issue has something for everyone – transfer painting, beading, using colour, weaving, using texture, making journals, using metal shim and the list goes on.

Issue 2 of Down Under Textiles is full of detailed "How to" photos

I can’t wait to ...

I am the world’s best procrastinator, always moaning that I don’t have time to stitch,  so I just had to find out how Judy found time to make the “Animal”  print quilt on such short notice. 

I knew she used a system  to give herself  “permission”  to spend time on her patchwork hobby everyday but had never thought a great deal about it until today, when I asked her to explain how it worked.

Judy said:  “I call it the “Cleaning-Sewing Combo“.  I divide my time into two parts – one half hour for sewing and the next half ...

I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The BIG “O” birthday party was only 3 days away and I was ready to quilt. This was one of the biggest quilts I had attempted to quilt since taking a machine quilting class with the wonderful Kim Bradley. I made a sketch of the finished quilt block in order to audition several possible continuous quilting designs. Kim gave me the confidence to know “if you can draw it, you can quilt it”.

The quilt top looked  ‘busy’ so I decided to use ...

I have cut almost 100 animal print units!
I have a design wall I made from lengths of ‘canvas stretching wood’  assembled as a frame.

I used a staple gun to attach the quilt wadding over the frame just as you would a piece of painter’s canvas.

I am sure there are easier ways of making a design wall (please share your methods) but this worked for me.

I began placing the units on the design wall paying close attention to a particular animal print and trying not to repeat it more than 3 times in any row.

Sewing a straight seam was one of the first things I learned to do when I first sat in front of a sewing machine many decades ago.

I began sewing my jelly roll strips together with the setting strip and realized if my mind wandered, so did my needle.

Mental note to self….remember this when driving the car!.

I found instrumental music helpful for my concentration. I tried playing some of my favourite pop music whilst sewing and the more I sang along, the more my sewing suffered.

Again, Mental note to self…..remember this when driving the car ...

I have a wonderful neighbour. I noticed she was making very positive comments about my quilts every time she visited. I have lived in my house for more than a decade, but as my neighbour’s BIG ‘O’ birthday drew closer, she began to stop mid-sentence and pick up a quilt from the sofa or move directly in front of one on the wall and say,” This would look fabulous in animal print fabric!”

I finally took the hint just 3 weeks out from her party.

A Touch of Animal Print

My friend LOVES animal prints. She even has a ...

Judy's hand quilting test sampler using Cotton Mako' Ne 40 & Cotton Mako' Ne28

In fact, at the Australian Quilt Convention, Sue ...

Don’t you think that the exhibition centre is such an appropriate venue for a craft exhibition?

Melbourne Exhibition centre, Carlton Gardens

The building was designed in the 1880′s for the World Exposition, it was then the home for Australia’s  parliament for several years after Federation, before Canberra was selected as the site for our national capital. The current renovation is relatively recent, and it is well worth taking a break from the patchwork shops to look up to the ceiling.

The cotton Mako' Ne 40 thread display at the Floriani/ Know How Sewing Essential stand at AQC ...

Day one is over at the Australasian Quilt Convention and I saw a lot of cheerful people, smiling as they left at the end of the day.  Hopefully all the exhibitors are as happy as the visitors, making it a win / win  event for everyone. The change of date, to a cooler time of the year, has meant that it was a much more enjoyable day this year, compared to the heat wave experienced on the first day last year.  

Lara, from Chocolate Coated, standing behind the Cotton Mako' display

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was presenting ...

Cushions using Cotton Mako' Ne 12 for the hand stitching detail

I finally completed sewing up these cushions, destined for my family room couches.  The gorgeous panel of cotton canvas fabric came from Needles and Pins at Warrandyte in Melbourne, and is a Denyse Schmidt design called “ Patchwork Promenade” from the Country Fair range.    I backed the cushions with another fabric in the range and piped them with an ‘old gold’ cord which seemed to work well with the variety of colours.  

This is the fabric that I used for the cusion backs. Don't you just love this fabric ...

Cotton Mako' Ne 28 creative ideas sampler

Well the Quilt Convention is nearly upon us (Thursday 29 April until Sunday 2 May) and, although Always Quilting will not have a market stand this year, I still have samples to finish and thread stands to fill. 

Look for one of the Aurifil thread stands at the Convention

At this show you will find Aurifil threads on sale at the following stands:

No 146: Chocolate Coated  (Cotton mako’ Ne 50 & 40)
No 198: Miss Sampson’s Drapery  (Cotton Mako’ 28)
No 82: Logan’s Patchwork Fabric   (Cotton Mako’ Ne 50)
No 62 ...

What a busy, and varied, week it has been.  The latest Aurifil thread shipment arrived, so once again we have been up to our elbows in boxes as we unpacked, counted and shelved the threads.

This week will be spent filling back orders and organising threads for the Australasian Quilt Convention (29 April – 2 May)  for the retail stockists.  I will be sure to post a list of shops and stand Numbers, once I have them collated, so that you will know where you can obtain your threads.

The highlight of the unpacking was to see the latest Cotton Mako ...

Do you have a design inspiration folder? 

I do. I keep a folder of photos of  images & colours that appeal to me for future reference. I may never use the actual image but some times it might just be the stimulus that I have been seeking for a quilting design or patchwork block.

I added a couple of new images to the folder last week after my flying trip to Western Australia.

This was one of many displays of butterflies in the natural history section of the Museum.

Aren't these butterflies just amazing. It makes you wonder why we ...

I’ve just had a flying visit to Western Australia so I thought it was a good opportunity to mention 2 of the Aurifil outlets in that state. 

In Nedlands, a Perth suburb,  you will find Materialise, a lovely shop full of modern colours.

Materialise, 2/51 Aberdare Rd, Nedlands

Down south, in Narrogin, you will find Patch N Paint for Pleasure, the creative hub for the area with a wide range of classes on offer.

Patch n Paint, 100 Federal St, Narrogin