Flower meadow

This is what I am calling my new quilt in Mckenna Ryan fabrics. I have finished the dresden plate flowers and have made a start appliquing them by  needleturn which I have chosen for portability so I can take the project with me on a retreat which is comming up soon. I am really pleased with how it is looking and because I am excited about it I spend every spare moment on it and so it grows quickly.
Another thing I did this week was to make myself a proper design wall. You'd think I would have something so vital to designing but no, I have been accustomed to pinning pieces to a quilt which hangs in my workroom, that worked OK but was far from ideal. Last weekend I taught a workshop where there was designwalls for all the students and it was fantastic so this has prompted me to finally make a proper one for myself. All it took was a piece of light plywood, a piece of batting, a staplegun and a small amount of time, well worth the effort.
Regards Elizabeth.

Nursery Quilts

This week I've added some photos of nursery quilts to the gallery page. These are both small wallhangings that I've made years ago. The cat & the fiddle is from a very old childrens picture-book that I no longer have and I made it for my daughter when she was small. The Crooked Man is my own interpretation of the nursery rhyme of the same name. Also new this week are a close-up of Roses N Cream on the patterns page and Flower Gems which won an award in 2008 on the home page. I hope you enjoy them.
Regards Elizabeth.

A new quilt for myself

A few weeks ago I showed a friend the lovely McKenna Ryan fabrics in the shop and I just couldn't get them out of my mind. I've always loved the beautiful soft blends of color that McKenna designs and I finally succumbed to the temptation to use them in a quilt. I have decided on large blocks to show the fabrics to advantage and am making a king size quilt broken down into quilt as you go sections for easier quilting.  It will have appliqued flowers scattered all over in a random manner. this quilt and the  labyrinth quilt are both at the forefront of my mind at the moment so it will be interesting to see which gets finished first. Of course they are both competing with other quilts I am working on for patterns. Life is always full and interesting with so many quilts to make isn't it.
Regards Elizabeth.

close up photos on gallery and block of the month pages

Check out the new photos I have added this week. I've also found a photo of my assistant putting her paw of approval on the quilt I made for my niece a few years ago so here she is.
regards Elizabeth.

Labyrinth

I've made a start at last on a new project I am calling Labyrinth. The difference between a maze and a labyrinth is that a maze has a choice of different paths to take some of which have dead ends whilst a labyrinth has only one path leading to the centre. I love to incorporate circular motifs and curving rhythms in my quilts, mollusc and gourd are good examples of this, so it was probably inevitable that I would eventually make a labyrinth quilt. Labyrinths go back thousands of years BC and researching them has been fascinating. I have chosen to use needleturn applique instead of the faster machine applique method so it may be quite some time in the making because of all the small brick wall and crazy path pieces, but I am enjoying the process.
Regards Elizabeth.

Another busy week

This latest week has been full on again. On Monday our McLaren Vale group were invited to visit Myponga Mudlark Quilters and when we arrived we found that several other groups around the district had also been invited, in fact the Mudlarks were expecting about 90 guests. As you can imagine we had the most wonderful day catching up with quilting friends. A very interesting talk about antique quilts and in particular Armish quilts was given by Lyn Uppill from Riverlea Quilts and she had wonderful old quilts to show us. The quilts hung about the hall and show and tell from visitors was also very inspiring and the Mudlarks unveiled their new banner. One of my quilts 'Carrousel' elicited a very good response which promises well for future workshops with this quilt.
Tuesday was spent with the girls I teach at the Seaford/Moana Neighbourhood centre and as always was a delightful day of interesting conversation intermingled with patchwork and quilting.
On Wednesday I spent a very busy but interesting day working in Karen's shop 'The Sewing Sanctuary' where I am employed on a casual basis.
Thursday was a welcome day at home relaxing with a new sewing project.
Friday I was back at the Sewing Sanctuary teaching my 'Tessellated Flowers' workshop. As a teacher it's wonderful to see the different fabric choices of students and the completely different look this has for their quilts, they were all lovely.
Saturday was of course Country Forum put on by our South Australian Quilters Guild and with such a crowd of eager patchworkers from all around the state our group again met up with distant friends. On the program were very interesting talks and presentations. Rachelle Denenny talked about her win in Huston which was just as interesting as when she spoke at Guild, we all shared in the excitement of her win with her.
Lyn Uppill spoke again this time about Japanese antique fabrics and sashiko stitching which is of special interest to me as it is one of the workshops I teach. Lyn was on the same tour of Japan I went on in 2005.
Last but not least was a very informative talk by Pam Holland about embellishing quilts. Pam is a very entertaining and accomplished speaker and we are lucky to have her as a member of our Guild.
I am looking forward to a quieter week next and hope to make some progress on my new quilt.
Regards Elizabeth.

New Photos

In spite of a busy week I,ve finally had a chance to retake photos of my most recent award quilts to show you, so now "Fantasy Seed Pods" and the miniature "Baby Rose of Sharon" are here for you to see with some close ups also on the gallery page. Those of you lucky enough to be going to the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne at the end of April will be able to see "Fantasy seed pods" in real life becausing it's going to be there in the selection from South Australia. I am also looking forward to a lovely day at our South Australia guilds Country Forum on 12th March and am taking my award quilts along for show and tell. Any quilt related outing is very enjoyable and tomorrow is another such day with my local group, we are visiting a neighbouring group for a fun day of socializing.
Regards Elizabeth.