Finally I have set aside a little time to spend at the computer. Isn't it funny how when life gets busy a few balls can get dropped ... and the ball belonging to my blog may have just rolled under the couch. But I have a morning at home today, so I can pick up a few things. This post may be a little bitty as I try and catch you up on what I've been doing lately, and figure out what I'm going to do with my pictures from Paducah. First up, I wanted to share that in stolen moments I've battled on hand quilting on my Montmellick project: This is something I can really only get done late at night, or when I'm out and about, like waiting for a certain small person at tennis training ... or at quilt group when I can get there. Hand quilting is so soothing, and it feels like I've achieved a huge milestone every time I get to move the hoop. I don't think I'm even one quarter done, so it's not going to be done any time soon, but it's not a race to the finish line, right? :-) Another significant thing that happened recently is that my little man turned 13!! Oh my goodness, where has that time gone?? The big day was on a Saturday, so after his tennis game (which his team happily won) I took his team mates to Maccas, and then on to a movie - Minions. It was super cute and I enjoy having an excuse to see the kid movies. I wonder how much longer it'll last?? After the movie and dropping the boys off, it was home to prepare for the family party. This year I didn't have time to make a real cake, so I baked cupcakes the day before, and iced them on Camo's birthday: Lazy Mum that I am, I even used store bought decorations - Camo chose Monsters and Pirates. But if I'm honest, there weren't that many choices at the grocery store :-) The cupcakes were really yummy though, and by the next day none of the 24 were left! Another fun thing that happened recently was a couple of fun wins at Small and Whitfield. I saw on their website that they had a Masons Vista fruit bowl and some loose amethysts coming up in their next auction, and also an oak shelving unit that I thought looked interesting. The day before the auction my Dad and I went and looked at the treasures and placed absentee bids. Dad had found a ring and a bowl that he liked, so in total we had five bids. The day of the auction I was working, so when I thought it would be finished, I called and had the great news that we'd won four of the five items we'd bid on. I missed out on the shelving unit, and I think Marty is super glad, when it comes to furniture, he thinks we're full! But here is the fruit bowl I bid on, and it came with a bonus tea cup: And here are the amethysts, the four stones make a total of just over 30 carats. I will have fun deciding what to do with them - I know one will be destined for a pendant, and I promised Amy that she could have one - she likes amethysts as much as I do. Now - I promised I'd get busy sharing some pictures from Paducah didn't I? Well, I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do about that - it seems that most of the pictures I took were of quilts in the show and at the Rotary exhibition. It's not really fair to share quilts without permission from the owners. I will have to see what other pictures my friends have, and maybe even look at some of my pictures from previous visits of things that we visited again. I'll work on it. But I can share right now the picture of the beautiful Grace Episcopal Church in Paducah - we lunched there on Friday during the show: It is the most gorgeous historic building, surrounded by lush gardens. This year we ate outside, it was a really nice day, and the ladies of the congregation made us feel very special. There is a picture of our group kicking around, I'll try and find it for you. It's never easy to get 8 ladies in a picture, and at the luncheon we managed it. Here is a beautiful pink dogwood tree blooming in the garden. This year the dogwood trees in the neighbourhood were kind enough to arrange their blooming schedule to coincide with the quilt show. Everywhere we went we could see spectacular displays of flowers. Our schedule was jam packed this year, so sadly we didn't have time to drive the dogwood trail, but we were able to enjoy the flowers when we saw them. Obviously I have so many blanks that I need to fill in about our time Paducah, but I do have another picture to share with you. On the last day of our visit, we had a long visit at the Quilt Museum there. Sadly they don't allow pictures in the museum at all, but in the foyer there was this lovely quilt we were allowed to photograph: I'm not sure of the name of the quilt, but it was made up of the most gorgeous English paper piecing, and the machine quilting was to die for! Being flaky, I don't remember much of the detail of the quilt - it was either a raffle quilt or advertising a book or something like that, the paper pieces logo is in the background there, so I should investigate further. This year in Paducah and on my other quilt related stops I didn't really buy as much as I have in previous years. I joke with my friends that you can see my stash from space :-) and lately I've been making quilts that are kind of slow going so I'll be a long time using my fabric. I did get some lovely books and patterns, so in my next post I'll share a few of the things I purchased. Thank you for all the emails I've received checking in on me, and also for the comments on my last posts. I'm way behind on emails - next week school holidays begin, so I'll be on holidays too, and it's my plan to catch up on all things! Famous last words! Chatter soon xoxox

Longarm Quilting Service by award winning quilter, Frances Meredith based in the UK, serving quilters locally in Bristol, the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Herefordshire, Somerset, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, South Wales (Cardiff and Newport), Monmouthshire and Gwent. UK Quilt postal service also available.

As promised, here are some photos of Phebe now that she's quilted! Unfortunately, the photos from my camera didn't turn out very well so mos...

Wir sind wieder zurück aus Birmingham. Wir: Birgit, Helen, Mona und ich. Wir hatten interessante und unheimlich erlebnisreiche Tage am Festival. Eine riesige Ausstellung und unvorstellbare viele Ge…

Kim was invited to display two quilts for the New South Wales quilt and craft show in Sydney which started yesterday and runs through until Sunday. Her two quilts were part of the Masters exhibition which was to celebrate the thirty year anniversary of the guild's show. This Mariners Compass quilt was done with reproduction fabrics. You can see Robyn's version of this quilt on the blog here. This will be released as a pattern but not for awhile. I'm sorry about the quality of the photos, I only had my phone but I'll be returning tomorrow to take lots with a decent camera. I couldn't get far enough away to get a straight on shot of the quilt and the lighting was washing the right side out a bit. The hand quilting was lovely. The second quilt was the Pandemonium which was lighter in real life than what I had imagined. It was truly glorious and such a treat to see. photos shown are with Kim McLean's permission.

I have many photos of quilts from the Houston Quilt Festival to share with you but I'm going to start with the quilts and people I most wanted to see! The Australian Quilting Exhibit, sponsored by Quiltmania Phebe by Di Ford Since I'd just finished my version of Phebe in spring, I most definitely wanted to see it! Rotherfield Greys by Di Ford I'm attracted to medallion quilts so this is another quilt I'd like to make. Antique Wedding Samper by Di Ford I've made 5 blocks but am having difficulty finding the right fabrics. I spent a lot of time studying this quilt. the Morrell Quilt by Di Ford I'm not sure I've spelled Morrell correctly but this quilt is on my "Someday" list. Drayton Hall by Di Ford Ann's Legacy by Di Ford Oh dear, Mrs. Tompkins! aka The Burnt Quilt by Di Ford Jane Austen Quilt by Di Ford I'd like to learn more about Broderie Perse so I made sure to watch the demonstration Michelle Yeo (left) and Di Ford (right) did. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to catch the bus back to our hotel. On Saturday afternoon, I attended the lecture, "Three Addicted Aussie Quilters", given by Carolyn Konig, Di Ford and Michelle Yeo (l-r) and enjoyed hearing about how they approach quilting. Stars upon Stars by Michelle Yeo California Star by Michelle Yeo 19th Century Folk Art by Carolyn Konig Marriage Quilt by Carolyn Konig Indiana Rising Sun by Michelle Yeo and if you've stayed with me so far ... my friend and a member of our quilt guild, Jan Hutchison collaborating with Gail Stepanek, won the Pfaff Master Award for Machine Artistry for their quilt, Stars on Mars! It was an exciting and fun time at the quilt festival but now I'm trying to play catch up on everything I should have been doing at home. I'll be back with another installment of photos soon. Until next time, Mayleen

Photographs of the quilt 'Turkish Tiles', created by Kim Mclean, including close-ups of the individual tile pieces. Visit the site for more!

I finished my Urban Abacus quilt today! You can find the pattern here at Jenny's website. This is the third quilt I have made using her Quick Curve Ruler, I think it is just the best! I used all bright batik fabrics and the backing is batik as well. I used Lava Threads and did multiple thread color changes to match the threads to the fabrics. I used light blue thread in the bobbin for the whole quilt. I did a free hand wave on the colorful beads to give the appearance they are spinning. I decided to leave the background unquilted and just SID around the beads. Just need to add the binding, that will be a good weekend project.

Explore Tom Russell Quilts' 2798 photos on Flickr!

Explore SurrendrDorothy's 4998 photos on Flickr!

They’re All Simply Stunning! We recently shared a photo of a gorgeous quilt on our Facebook page and were astounded by the positive response. At the time we didn’t know who the designer was, as the photo wasn’t credited. However, comments from our followers helped us identify Kim Diehl as the creator of this spectacular …

This blog entry will only contain SOME of the incredible appliqued quilts that were in the show. I don't think there is a show in the cou...

Frank's Quilt got a Judge's Choice at the National Quilt Show back in June. It was designed by Di Ford Hall and released as a block every other month by Quiltmania. It kept me sane making a quilt whilst Frank lay at my feet slowly fading away over 7 months. I didn't have to make any decisions about it, most was done by hand. I made a few changes but not many and nothing which changed the overall impression of the original. Back at the Festival of quilts over the weekend, I added to my stash. Of course, I did. I bought this glazed one from Sallieed who sells on Instagram and in Bristol. She said it was 1930s. How different our 1930s fabrics are from American feedsacks. I have been looking for fabrics to put into a Jane Austen quilt, they don't have to be exact reproductions of the era, but should vaguely represent the colours and hopefully the styles. The colours are more important. These ones below are not for the Jane Austin but I thought they would do well in some future quilt and they were a bargain..... Back to possible candidates for the Austen quilt. This last one is a fabric I had been searching for. I was told only 2 bolts made it into the UK, there were just over 6 metres left and I grabbed them. Yet again, Blogger is not letting me add any more photos so I'll just let you know the dogs and cats are very happy.

Há algumas semanas eu postei no meu Instagram algumas fotos de quiltings que fiz para uma cliente minha. Inicialmente era para ficar apenas por lá, mas como essas imagens tiveram uma boa repercussão, eu me animei e resolvi publicá-las no meu blog e também fazer um vídeo da que obtivesse a melhor repercussão. Segue foto e vídeo no Youtube para que você possa aprender como fazer. Uma foto para que você possa ver melhor os detalhes. Link do vídeo. Espero que vocês gostem desse tutorial. Caso você tenha alguma dúvida sobre como fazer, pode deixar sua pergunta nos comentários. Obrigada por sua visita e até semana que vem!

Today, Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend a sewing day and to also visit a quilt show, this does not happen very often as I usually work every weekend. My social events are virtually nil due to working most weekends. Christine Book teaches patchwork in Camden once a month and today as I am on holidays I went to one of her classes as well as having the opportunity to visit the Campbelltown Quilt show which is being held on Saturday and Sunday. The quilt show is being held in the civic centre in the centre of Campbelltown. The quilt show was very well represented with trade stalls and a great sales table. I purchased 4 great American quilt magazines from 1994 to 1996, these magazines are a great buy as they have patterns for all antique blocks, appliqués and paper piecing. I will share some of the quilts from the show which took my eye. My next post will be from Japan as I leave Monday to enjoy 9 days sightseeing which will include the Yokoharma Quilt festival. Elaine Farriers version of Jane Austin, the centre is coloured and embroidered, redrawn by Chris Book Another quilt by Elaine Farrier, a Chris Book design, Row by Row. note it is completed lengthways. This quilt by Adrienne Blair took my eye as it was completed in reproduction fabrics, pattern by Megan Carroll. The quilt was called John Hewson's bird's, check out the centre. Just love the border. This next quilt is a miniature completed by Robyn Dye, called Baltimoe Beauty and Bluebells. I could not avoid the glare of the lights, a close up of the bottom flower. The above quilt called "Joy" was a whack and stack made by Bridget Wilkinson, it looks like it has been fussy cut but it is a layer of 6 fabrics stacked on on another to get the design, what great fabric. A close up of the fabric used. Another Row by Row quilt, made by Dale and designed by Chris Book, photographed in Chris Books class in Camden.

Joan Crawford in Letty Lynton, 1932. Dress by Adrian. Movie set and costume design introduced modern emphasis on line, shape and contrast into American taste. Adrian's dresses often included flat geometric shapes. Modern is a strange word in that it means both current and past at the same time. Modernism was an early 20th century art movement---modern is up-to-date. Carol Gilham Jones, Free Form Circles, 2008 Simple geometrics repeated---a hallmark of Modernism The most up-to-date thing in quilts today is the Modern Quilt. Yet we can look at the trend as a reflection of the past---a movement that has roots in the early 19th century when the "modern era" began---the years of the industrial revolution and political rebellion against traditional religion and monarchic states. Rain, Steam & Speed: The Great Western Railway, 1844 by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) New attitudes about art accompanied new concepts in science and philosophy. Artists who had used tools of line, shape and color to imitate nature now saw line, shape and color as valuable in themselves. J.M.W. Turner's 1844 painting above abstracted the new railroads into rain, steam, speed, color and line. Cocktail by Gerald Murphy, 1927 Oil painting The modern art movement in the early 20th century emphasized shape and flat planes of color. Elektrische Prismen, by Sonia Delaunay, 1914 Oil Painting European designers like Anni Fleschman Albers and Sonia Delaunay adapted modern design to textiles. Weaving by Anni Albers, 1926 Modernists looked to folk arts like stencilled decorations and folk weavings for inspiration. Folk art and ethnic arts took on new value as artists imitated their use of color and abstraction. Detail of a log cabin quilt, about 1880 Chinese Coins, about 1900 We can imagine how fresh these 19th-century American quilts must have looked to people who grew up in the visual clutter of the Victorian era. Patchwork 1908 Reel quilt, about 1850 Mennonite sawtooth medallion, about 1900 Detail pieced floral about 1850 It's easy to find parallels between 20th century modern art and 19th century quilts, but it isn't coincidence. Modern artists found much inspiration in folk arts. Find inspiration in Anni Albers weavings at the Albers Foundation: http://www.albersfoundation.org/Albers.php?inc=Galleries&i=A_1 Read more about Sonia Delaunay's textiles at the Textile Blog http://thetextileblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/sonia-delaunay-textile-designer.html Read more about modern quilts in my February post: http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2010/02/modern-quilts-style-change-and-ditsies.html Fleamarket Fancy by Denyse Schmidt About 2005

See the featured quilts and web-exclusive color options and projects from the American Patchwork & Quilting April 2018 issue -- our special 25th anniversary issue!

Challenge yourself with this wonderful pieced quilt.

...... genoot ik van alle mooie quilts, de lieve mensen, de gezelligheid, de fijne reacties, de hulp van familie en vriendinnen en het verrassende bezoek van mijn lieve vader! Natuurlijk vergat ik

I have a confession. I LOVE Feathered Star quilts. I know some of you think I’m crazy but it’s the truth. The Best resource for learning to make these blocks is Marsha McCloskey’s books. You can find them here. After I finished the Sri Yantra quilt people kept asking me what I was going to make next. I always replied “Something Traditional” so I made this. Then this Then this There is just something about the concentration it takes to make a feathered star that helps me reset. If I’m ever feeling really stressed out I know if I make...

The perfect road trip includes sunny days, time enough to stop at quilt and antique shops, and one very special destination. I experienced just that last week when I visited the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. The museum is located just outside the charming town of Cedarburg, not far from the shores of Lake Michigan and just 20 miles from Milwaukee. Cedarburg was once a mill town, but its well-preserved stone and wood buildings now beckon tourists to art galleries, restaurants, and specialty shops.

Tokyo Quilt Show 2009 - January 24th at Tokyo Dome City. Photos by Tempusmaster - Robots Dreams (www.robots-dreams.com)

France Patchwork présentait plusieurs expositions à Lièpvre. Tout d'abord Artextures Anne Guibert Lasalle "portrait de Pierre" Anne Woringer "entrechats" Anne Woringer "la houle bleue" Annie Mazayrac "allium porrum " Béatrice Lanter "tout est partie...

My Rotherfield Grey quilt top is finally finished. I've been working on the applique' of the outside border for what seemed like ages. Those are English paper pieced 1" stars that are appliqued' onto the background squares. Here are a few photos of different parts of the quilt. This center was my first attempt at broderie perse. I love how the flowers look. Those center hexagons are 1/2". The braid was all appliqued' on by hand. The hexagons in the border below are 5/8". I loved cutting up some of my stash to make the rectangular framed border. Each of the outside stars has 3 of the same brown points and 3 of various other colors. I fussy cut the brown star points so each would have a flower at the point. After I took the photo below, I tore the corners off and fixed them. All of the borders that have a star in the corner are facing the same direction. The corner stars in the outside border were twisted the wrong way. Probably no one besides me would have noticed that. This was the outside corner of the rectangular round. This top was a huge finish. I've been working on this one off and on for about a year. I hope you are finding some time to stitch today. Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

In April Rhonda Pearce gave a talk for the Quilt Study Group of NSW about her quilting journey and showed five of her remarkable quilts. She explained that she was a dressmaker by trade and started working when she was 15 for Sydney’s most famous fashion house, Germaine Rocher. The Sydney couture atelier was started by Germaine Rocher in the 1930s and was allowed to make a limited number of exact copies of some of the latest Parisian designers’ collections. There were only two treadle machines and, like the other 19 women she worked with, Rhonda sewed most of the garments by hand. This is where she honed her skills, and explains both her love of hand sewing and why so many of her quilts have won awards both here and overseas. Rhonda’s only lesson in patchwork came from Val Moore, whose quilting tour of USA she went on in the 1990s. After she returned, Rhonda realised her dream of owning a patchwork shop by buying the local post office building at Glenbrook. She started with just 89 bolts of fabric and due to interest from her students, started making patterns of her quilts for sale. For this reason, Rhonda estimates she has made over 300 quilts, mostly samples for the shop. Now she enjoys the luxury of making only quilts she likes. Over the ensuing years Rhonda has developed many patterns and produced many outstanding quilts, including First Place in The NSW Quilters' Guild's "Professional, Traditional and Viewers' Choice 2007"category for her "Insanity" quilt, which has attracted a huge following, both in Australia and overseas. Although she does tend to use the same colours in her quilts, Rhonda said she never sticks to a fabric range and adds the odd quirky coloured fabric. Rhonda and Baltimore Classic In 2013 Rhonda took out First Place in the "Traditional Applique" category in Houston, with her entry "Baltimore Classic". Rhonda is a member of the Cocktail Quilters and 17 of the group went to Houston with her for the prize giving ceremony. She discovered she had also won the Viewer’s Choice award when she landed in Honolulu on the way home. The inspiration for this quilt came from a photograph in a book about the quilts in The American Museum in Bath. Rhonda said drew up the blocks using graph paper and decided it would be a Block of the Month. Most times she was only one step ahead of her students. The top took her 24 months to sew plus 12 months of hand quilting (using 15-16 spools of quilting thread). At 3 metres square it is such a large quilt that in order to fit the hangers at Houston, the sleeve had to be put on part way down the quilt. Civil War Journey Rhonda likes to use mainly reproduction fabrics and tone on tones. She prefers to applique using the freezer paper on top, needle turn applique method using a blue wash out pen. She transfers her design onto the fabric she is appliquing on, but marks only as much as she can sew that night. At the end of the night the block is immersed in cold water, rolled up in a towel and spread out to dry overnight. When asked for more details, Rhonda told us that she doesn’t prewash her fabrics, uses Gutermann thread for applique and hand quilting, uses a thimble for quilting and a short needle. She has a Clipfast frame for her quilting and balances it on the arm of the chair. She does a lot of crosshatch quilting and said that she doesn’t like quilts which are overquilted. Half inch Hexie Quilt Rhonda then showed us an amazing quilt top she has made of 15,000 half inch hexagons for a grand daughter’s 21st birthday. She reuses her hexagons and said she only bought 300 to do the whole quilt. She will probably quilt it by ditch stitching around each hexagon and hopes to show it in Paducah. Rhonda’s newest quilt, “The Glenbook Star”, has a foundation pieced log cabin centre using quarter inch strips from her stash of left over fabrics. The Glenbrook Star Still another quilt brought was based on the “Ann Randoll Coverlet Quilt” which was in the recent V & A Quilt Exhibition. The centre was appliqued onto a circle of fabric, a bias strip was sewn on and then it was appliqued to the quilt top and the fabric cut away from the back. She quilted it using Hobbs Poly-Down batting. Ann Randoll Coverlet Quilt

At last... the quilt is complete! Quilted with binding on and stitched in place - a start and a finish for 2015... can I keep up the pac...

Di Ford était l'une des invitées du week end à Wilwerwitz, et elle est venue avec une sélection de sa collection de patchworks, installée dans une salle un peu sombre, difficile de prendre les patchworks en entier... alors j'ai pioché quelques détails...