Tuesday 19 June 2018

Hi... Are you still out there ??? 

I've just popped in to let you all know that I've moved my blog over to my new web page...


I look forward to you coming over for a visit. Loads of new thing have happened since I was last here...

Happy Quilting
Leanne 

Sunday 12 July 2015

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.....

 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

Monday 2 March 2015

A Festival, a Market and moving on.......

I can't believe it's already the start of March 2015.

I will give a little recap of the end of 2014 so we are all up to speed before I continue being a regular blogger this year......well that's the plan anyway ...lol
 
In October I headed once again to the Australian Machine Quilting Festival in Adelaide. It's great to catch up with old friends and make new friends from all over the world!  I was very excited to be doing a bunch of classes with the incredible Judi Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts. Her quilting is amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute with her.

Judi Madsen and myself at Australian Machine Quilting Festival

One of the best parts of Festival is the friendships made. This year I roomed with Jenny, Jen & Michelle.  Oh wow !! I found my people. They are all from different parts of Western Australia and they are just as crazy as me !!  I had only met Jen once before but it was like we had all known one another for years. I've got my roomies sorted forever now !!!
 
One of my roomies Jenny at AMQF, Adelaide

The excitement of winning a ribbon in Sydney was reaffirmed with both my quilts, Metro Medallion and Spinner,  winning ribbons in Adelaide. I couldn't contain myself.
 
She's done me proud again !!!!
....and I'm a little excited about it !!!

And Spinner got a special  Highly Commended award....How exciting !!!!

In all I had the most wonderful time and I look forward to next time .....
 
The rest of the year has been chock'a'block full of quilting for customers. There was a couple of trips to Melbourne with my sewing sisters.  Once was to attend Australian Quilt Market.  Once again catching up with many great people in the quilting industry. I'm always so inspired when there is this much talent in one place .....
 
Susan and I at Australian Quilt Market in Emma Jean Jansen's gorgeous booth
 
This brings me to the end of 2014. I have spent some much deserved time off with my family and regrouping for this year. I already have many quilts booked in so I'm hitting the ground running .......

Also keep an eye out for a project I have in Quilters Companion precuts edition. Should be out in about April ......
This year sees me teaching more too. I will be at All About Sewing on Thursday's and Friday's,  also 1 Saturday a month. I head to Sydney on the 3rd Saturday of the month to teach at Kim Bradley Creations......
I hope this finds you all well and finding time to be creative. I have been super creative, but more about that later ...

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo

Thursday 10 July 2014

I won a ribbon !!!!

On Saturday night I got a late call from the NSW quilters guild to let me know that I had won an award for one of my quilts that I had entered in this years Sydney Quilt Show .....
I almost fell over !!!
So yesterday I travelled to Sydney to collect my Award ....
It was 4th place in the modern category for my Metro Medallion quilt.  Gosh I was so nervous.  I had my cheer squad in the background when my name was called. What a high !!!!!
Here is my lovely green ribbon....
 
This is my quilt. For the show her name is Metro Medallion. I'm thinking she needs a real name now she has done me so proud....hehe. This quilt was made using the quick curve ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful. The original quilt made by Jenny Pedigo was the inspiration for my quilt.
It took me 55 hours alone to quilt her. We got to know each other pretty well by the end of it.....lol
 
Here you can see the quilting a bit better. I am going back on Saturday so I will get some better photos of her close up. I was in a bit of shock and walked around in a bit of a dream state while I was there yesterday. I didn't even shop properly !!!!
 
I entered 2 quilts this year. The quilt below is my other girl hanging in Sydney. 
This quilt was inspired by an origami given to me by my good friend Sarah for my birthday last year.
This quilt has 64 different 12 inch blocks. Where the colours change in the spiral the blocks are made with two colours. Hope that makes sense ?? I LOVE this quilt. I quilted her with a simple wavy design because it was already so busy....
  
 
I'm really looking forward to going back on Saturday so I can have a good look at the other quilts on display.
 
The award has really inspired me to get in and design a bunch more quilts. So watch this space !!
 
Happy Quilting
Leanne xo

Sunday 6 July 2014

Our day with Camille ......

A few weeks ago Jody, Susan and myself headed to Sydney to Kim Bradleys lovely shop to attend a workshop with Camille Roskelly. Camille came to Australia to do a series of trunk shows and workshops in Qld and NSW.

Camille is so lovely.  She spent time with each and every one of us while we sewed up her pattern, Red Letter Day. There were 19 of us and in one day we made 58 blocks !!!! Yes....58 blocks !! My competitive side came out and I made the most blocks, 8 of a possible 9. I received a lovely prize for being so competitive.  Not my finest moment I have to say....lol

Camille is lovely and spent time with each and every one of us ....

Thanks Jody and Susan for such a great day ....






Thursday 19 June 2014

Millies Fancy .....

I've been very busy quilting lately....
One of the quilts I have done is Millies Fancy. It was made by the lovely Jody.
Jody is the owner of All About Sewing and my friend. We have worked together for 8 years. When Jody first asked me to quilt this huge quilt for her I was a bit scared but I knew I wanted it to be special. 
I hung it over my frame for two days to get my head around it. Nothing came to me. I loaded it up hoping for something to come to me. Nope, still nothing ...
Then I was marking with a template trying out some designs and flipped the template and BAM! there was the design. I quickly drew it up and got started. 
As the quilting evolved I got very excited.  It was beautiful .....
Here are some pics I took when I finished.  I don't have a full one of the whole quilt yet but you'll get the idea.

 

























I'm happy to say that Jody loves her quilt and because it was done in a class a couple of other ladies want their quilts quilted the same..... I look forward to doing them later in the year....

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo
 

Thursday 24 April 2014

I'm so excited !!!
 I just booked all my classes for the Australian Machine Quilting Festival in Adelaide in October. I got all the classes I wanted and flights and accommodation are booked.

So while I'm waiting for this awesome event to arrive I have to do some real work. I machine quilt most days, because its my job, and sometimes a quilt comes along that stretches my creativity. 

Then along came this quilt. It is made from shot silk and has fabulous machine embroidery on it.



I outline quilted all the embroidery and stitched in all the ditches. That took me 2 days to do. Then came all the fill designs. There was a lot of fullness in the centre of the quilt so an all over swirl was perfect to take up the extra fabric.

Using  a curved template, I stitched a double line using the outer embroidery as my inspiration. I then used this line as the spine for the feathers. Pebbling finished off the centre panel.  It took just as long to pebble as it did to do the feathers....

Next was the borders. I marked in a curve for the feathers. This is my favourite part of this quilt.

I did the same feathers in the large outer border, just larger of course.


In the light coloured borders I did simple diamonds with a straight ruler.







This quilt took 28 hours to quilt. It was totally worth it though, I think it turned out fab. The owner absolutely loves it.

Happy Quilting
Leanne xo

Tuesday 11 March 2014

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. 
 
 
Photo: What a clever girl !!!! Must be in the genes....
 
Photo: Annalee quilting the little quilt she made yesterday. ...a proud moment for this quilt obsessed aunt. ...xo
 
Photo: Quilted and bound ready to head to Perth. I had a great time helping my niece Annalee make this cute little lap quilt.  She had never sewn before. I think she did a fabulous job ...I think I may have corrupted her...oops...lol  #longarmquilting  #patchwork #charmsquares
 
 
Happy Quilting
Leanne xo