Friday 25 April 2008

Autumn Gathering - Part 3

As promised, here is the next instalment of last weekends Autumn Gathering at Campania. Unfortunately some of the photos are a bit dodgy but they're the best of a bad lot!

Deidre and Leonie from The Quilted Crow both had some lovely new designs to share. I love this very pretty quilt by Leonie called Blooms and Butterflies. Have to confess to taking home a kit for this one. It will be another good project to work on to improve my needleturn applique skills.




Leonie's other offering was a trio of little projects called Favourite Things from The Quilted Crow. She used reproduction fabrics which are one of the specialities of The Quilted Crow and a particular favourite of mine. Here we have Hexagon Cushion ...

followed by Churn Dash Bag ( see what I mean about dodgy photos!)


.. and finally Sawtooth Star Quilt. I love them all. I'm know there are plenty of fabrics in my stash that will be perfect for these projects.

Deidre's new designs included this adorable Dolly Doorstop
and this very cute Cherry Pie Apron.

Everyone at the Gathering got a bag of goodies which included a folder containing all the new patterns from the designers. Bliss. My bag also had these fabrics and a very cute kitty tin.
Inside the tin were these sweetly wrapped fabric squares. Wasn't I spoilt?
The next Gathering is on September 20th and the guest designers will be Anni Downs and Natalie Bird. Will I see you there?
To finish, just want to mention two new blogs I've come across this week, Home Sweet Home and Stitchin Schoolgirl. I'm sure Jo Jo and Alex would love you to drop by and say hi.

Wednesday 23 April 2008

Autumn Gathering - Part 2

Today I'm going to share the projects designed for the Autumn Gathering by Kerry Gillespie of My Favorite Things. First is this bag made from felted wool called Scarlett's Bag.



Then these two Fresh Cut Flowers Cushions



.... this one pictured with the gorgeous Tilly, Milly and Molly, (how cute are they with their linked arms?)



Kerry also brought lots of samples of her other patterns including this very cute bear. I love the stitchery on his paws.



This BOM quilt called Life's Pleasures and Treasures really appealed to me. I recognised quite a few of the fabrics from my stash and scrap bag. I think this is a new design and I'm sure it will be very popular.



Check out these lovely stitchery/applique blocks:





This one is my favourite.



Hope you enjoyed all the eye candy. In Australia, it is ANZAC Day on Friday, so only one more day of work this week. Yippee! Stay tuned for Autumn Gathering - Part 3. Have lots more to share yet.

Sunday 20 April 2008

Autumn Gathering - Part 1

Well, the day finally arrived and yesterday morning Harmony Junkie and I set out early on the 3 hour trek to Campania in southern Tasmania. The Quilted Crow's Autumn Gathering was due to start at 10.00 am and we drove into the car park, with two minutes to spare, at 9.58am!

The entrance porch to the old country hall was decorated with this very charming quilt.



The lovely Leonie from The Quilted Crow greeted us as we arrived and collected out name tags.



Here is a not very wonderful photo I took as the guest designers, Lynette Anderson and Kerry Gillespie, were being introduced but it gives an idea of what the hall was like. Nice big tables to stitch around and the 'shop' on the stage at the front.



I took lots of photos of the projects, other samples and shop and plan to share them over the next few posts - today I'm going to show Lynette's projects. She designed this lovely cushion called Autumn at Hilltop Cottage in both a country and pretty colourway. Gorgeous.



We received an iron-on transfer for this project which I will definitely be making 'sometime'.



Lynette had such fun doing her Autumn stitchery she decided to do one for the other seasons too. This is her Four Seasons at Hilltop Cottage wall hanging.



Lynette's other project was this pretty punchneedle design called Hilltop Cottage Purse. This is the project I choose to work on - I thought it would be a good opportunity to try something new. Thanks to the other ladies at our table who showed me how to thread the punchneedle and get started and Lynette who lent me her hoop - my snap-lock frame just wasn't tight enough. Hope mine turns out as pretty as Lynette's sample. It was very nice to meet her and she is as nice in person as on her blog. I hope she enjoys her last few weeks with Hugo, the puppy she is training to be a guide dog.



Have to show this bag that Harmony Junkie made on Friday which received much admiration yesterday. It is her own design and she's done a fantastic job with it. Don't you love the crocheted flowers - a bargain from Spotlight.



Couldn't resist this photo of our bags next to Lynette's wonderful Pond House BOM quilt. It it truly stunning and it was very exciting to see it up close. The applique is a combination of needleturn and buttonhole stitch and I just love the colours.



I must be out of practice because it's taken ages to do this post. Will share some more soon.

Sunday 13 April 2008

Quilted Angels

Haven't had time for a lot of stitching this weekend. Did manage to finish the first block of my redwork version of Rose's tablerunner. Those of you familiar with this design might notice I left out the french knots on the circle around the flowers. Just couldn't get them to look nice - have already apologised to Rose! I hope to work on the second block later tonight while watching Inspector Lynley.



Next Saturday, my sister and I are going to the Autumn Gathering organised by The Quilted Crow at Campania. We will have an early start as it is about a 3 hour drive from the north west. Lynette Anderson and Kerry Gillespie are the featured designers along with Leonie and Deidre from The Quilted Crow. If you would like to see the projects we will be working on have a look on The Quilted Crow's blog. I will, course, take lots of photos to share with you.

This is a cushion I made years ago that is a Lynette Anderson design. The pattern was in one of our Australian magazines but I can't remember which one. I can remember being very proud of the fact that I managed to use mostly the same fabrics as Lynette!



I like this quirky little angel.



And the house is very cute, too.



And here is my own little angel ...



... or maybe not!



Saturday 12 April 2008

Ryland Manor Update

Part 2 of Ryland Manor arrived this week. Hope to start working on it today. I am going to have lots of fun needle turn appliqueing all those leaves - hope I can remember how to do it!



I love these shirting prints ...



and check out the fabrics for the leaves. Very yummy.



Megan (the designer of Ryland Manor) has started a blog for people making the quilt which you can find here. Hope everyone has a good weekend and finds time for some stitching.

Tuesday 8 April 2008

Stitch by Stitch

Just a short post tonight. Got in early (well, earlier!) with my Capricorn Quilts BOM block this month. Remembering that the theme of the quilt is 'quilters blessings', I'm sure there are many stitchers who relate to the sentiment of this months block. I never seem to have enough hours to work on all the projects I would like to complete.



Oliver managed to get his fluffy white tummy into this shot!



Started Rose's Summer Garden Table Runner last night. I'm a big fan of redwork so thought I'd do a redwork version of this design. It will be nice and relaxing to work on while 'watching' TV in the evenings.



Z and S Fabrics had a sale recently - this little bundle arrived in the mail box yesterday. I love the fabric they used for the bow - a nice little usable bonus.


Sunday 6 April 2008

A Lazy Weekend

Yes, I'm still here. I was so busy with work this week that stitching and blogging didn't get much of a look in. Thank you to everyone who left nice comments about my tidy stitching room. It's still looking good - but I suspect that is because I've not been in there much!

Yesterday I was very lazy and spent much of the day watching TV while working on this Christmas stitchery. It is a Making Spirits Bright design by Kim Shillington and I stitched it on tea dyed sandcastle fabric. The Material Girls invited me to join in with their Christmas in July Swap so I needed to get this done quickly so it can be passed on to one of the other girls to finish for me. It will be interesting to see what they do with it.



This morning I worked on my Easter version of Lynette's rabbit block from her Noah's Ark BOM. I know I've mentioned before that I do a lot of stitching with Oliver on my lap - well here's the proof!



He's such a snuggly little puss. Purrs away for hours on end! Excuse the stunning pyjamas - fashionista I'm not! Just realised they have penguins on them which I guess is quite appropriate considering where I live.



Here's the finished stitchery in a frame - quite cute.



I took it outside for a few photos and of course the other half of the quilt inspection team was on hand to assist.



This is my 'magazine standard' shot!



To finish I need to say thank you to Jackie from Canton Village Quiltworks. Jackie is one of those lucky bloggers who earns her living in the quilting industry. In addition to her blog she has a website to support her machine quilting business. (Have a look in the gallery of customer quilts to see what a great long arm quilter Jackie is.) One feature of her website is a monthly newsletter which includes a blog of the month section. I was very humbled to find out that Jackie chose Auntie's Quaint Quilts for her April Blog of the Month. Thanks Jackie. I am continually amazed that so many people drop by to check me out - though I'm sure Olly and Molly are the real attraction! Did you notice I added a map - it's fascinating to see where your readers are from. Until next time: