Collection 35 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 35	How to make a label. Open up a new Word document and write whatever you want in the label. I used Edwardian Cursive size 48 from memory. Don't forget to include your dates. I know you should also include boring info like washing instructions and materials used but I saved that for a small label on the back.	C35 Raconteur Label
No Way Out - doesn't it look like the perfect maze to occupy a lot of time. For a time you actually get the feeling you may be going somewhere but you're not. A lot like some days at work!	C35 No Way Out	Bamboozled - this block came from a mixture of two quilts I'd made before, Flying Geese and Circles. Another day of going nowhere fast. This wasn't a fun time at work but things did improve.
C35 Reflections	Pebbles dropped into slowly moving water form ripples and then Reflections. I do enjoy skipping stones.	C35 Bamboozled
It was a restful time when Free Time was made. That was why I could have so many tiny pieces in such a small block. 57 pieces in fact.	C35 Free Time	I just love sitting on the machine and mindlessly Stringing Away. I have so many strips but have now thrown out most of the small ones I used for this type of block.
C35 Winter Blossoms	I just love it when you see the first of the blossoms appear as Winter comes to a close.	C35 Stringing Away

BOM 35 - Winter Blossoms

Winter Blossoms

 I just love those blossoms that appear towards the end of Winter .. cherry blossoms and others. I suppose the Japanese fabric suggested the title for this one. Oh it isn't that hard a block ... give it a try.

Colour Variations

Mixed collection variation -  Snippets

C60 variation - Post Scrip

2016 South Bay Quilters Guild

I was contacted a short while ago by Sue Glass who is the quilt show chair for the 2015 and 2016 South Bay Quilters Guild of Torrance California.  

For their 2015 show, the challenge was 12 ½ inch red and white blocks, and one of those submitted used my block “Patrice’s Gift” from the Quiltmaker 100 blocks magazine.

Since then they  decided to use those challenge blocks to make their 2016 opportunity quilt, which is really lovely (red and white of course). The quilt will travel around the Southern California area and be displayed at their quilt show. 

I just had to share the photo. Isn't it a beautiful quilt. Patrisse's Gift is the second block from the top on the right hand side, just below the 's' in quilters. What an honour.

Collection 34 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 34	I always think of an English Garden as a subtle restful place with delicate flowers here and there.	English Garden
Paul loves gardening and could spend forever there ... even at night with stars in the sky if able :-)	White Wall Tiles	The lime green in this block looked as stark as White Wall Tiles in a new building. Funny it doesn't look as stark in the finished quilt.
Follow Your Heart	Yes I know the saying once in a blue moon. At the time this block was made there were so many once in Blue Moon events that I had to make a series of them.	Blue Moon
The long strips in Solid Gold appeared a lot more definite in the finished block than they did in the design.	Through the Roses	Which is the maze, the pink roses or the green path that meanders Through the Roses?
Solid Gold	Well of course you will all immediately guess where I was when I made Champs Elysee Alight and what I'd been up to the previous night ... Paris is beautiful. I'm so glad PJ studied there for a few years.	Champ Elysee Alight

BOM 34 - Follow Your Heart

This is one of the few applique blocks in Raconteur. The title and absence of many applique blocks reflects my attitude to this technique. I don't enjoy applique but adore piecing and so following my heart I do as little as possible. 

The star was reverse appliqued from the centre of the block to signify taking away rather than adding to.

Joy's Quilt

What a difference fabric can make. Joy, the woman with the bright red shoes, made this quilt for one of her grandson's and isn't it absolutely amazing. 

She'd had many plans but wanted to highlight the background fabric and her original plans would have meant a LOT of work and left little space for this fabric to feature. 

She had already made about 40 of the NYBs when she saw the Wedding Quilt layout and thought it would be the way to go and so asked me to design a central circle that could feature and allow her to us my layout. 

Viola not bad ... the quilt I mean. 

Won't her grandson be gobsmacked when he sees this!

One Man's Trash .....

Well I have been given a friend's unwanted scraps and boy what a monumental task it has been to organise them. I have been cutting for over two weeks and now have managed to clean up most of it but I was wondering this morning could I have done it better and after a bit of surfing have discovered that yes...... I could have completed it a lot more efficiently.

One site that I found is this one by Cindi Souder who gives some good suggestions on how to organise yourself for both better/cleaner cutting and more organised time management in the task of cutting fabric. Hopefully I remember it for next time but for now I have cut the following queen sized quilts from my friend's 'rubbish'

• Storm at Sea
• Kaleidoscope
• Penrose Tiles
• Three strippy quilts
• Two hexagon scrooge quilts

What makes it even more amazing is those were cut from her small scraps. There still remain larger pieces to be cut ... another day!

Hexagon Anyone?

Was just cleaning up my camera card and came across this photo. Would tell you the name of the maker but I just don't know it but there she is in the photo. 

She lives in Berry if that's any help :-)

Isn't it a great quilt! Looks simple enough too .... If you like fussy cutting and EPP neither of which am I into.

Robbie Eclow Class

I was recently cleaning up my photos and came across these delightful quilt photos from a class that I did a year or so ago with Robbie Eclow .... where did the time go? If you ever have the chance to do a class with Robbie jump at it. She is the most amazing teacher.
	All of these quilts were completed in just two days. As you can see there is just so much variety. Each is an original. Oh and why isn't mine here? Well because I had RSI and so was unable to cut fabric for two days so I designed for the entire time and learnt so many skills that I am now able to design a lot more intricate quilts of my own. Great teacher!

Look what I found!

Was attempting to clean up my sewing room... not a successful venture if one is honest but look what I found. I did a class several years ago with Jacqueline DeJonge and started this quilt. Learnt her technique but like all classes hit a snag after the class finished. That is one thing about doing classes the tricky bits are often at the end... well after the teacher has gone. I have actually finished all of the pieces but alas the circle appears to have too much in the inner section to fit the outer section.... another problem for another day.

Another Failure

Well one thing about tinkering too far is that you end up with a big fat blob!!! 

Can you believe that there is only minor changes between this border and the one I did last week? 

I was so happy as I was drawing this and fixing that and then I did the colour in and blah. All of the life has gone from it. 

Well wedding is only a month away and so this will be another late quilt. Then again PJ said he never thought it would be finished by then. He might not have expected it but at one stage I did.

Collection 32 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 31	Do you remember those hot summer days and the unfortunate sunburn that often resulted from a day spent at the pool? How many of us didn't have a time or two that we closely resembled the sunburnt lobster?	C32 Sunburnt Traditions
Doesn't life feel like you're in a whirl when you fall head over heals in love with your new desire?	C32 Heart's Desire	I know the block is symmetrical and it's blue and the name Symmetry in Blue just came to me for no other reason.
C32 Kew Gardens	I don't know if Kew Gardens have a maze or not but the design suggested those hedges we see in the old fashioned gardens and as I was in England at the time it seemed appropriate.	C32 Symmetry in Blue
Well here you have the fashionable, and painful, Stilettos along side the grandma's version of less pointy and so less painful kitten heels. I prefer the kittens but that's probably because I don't have legs to complement the stilettos.	C32 Stilettos	The circling birds reminded me of a fact I believed as a child... 'birds fly south for the winter'.  Why, I always wondered, as it was colder going south? My childhood was filled with books written for a northern hemisphere child rather than an Australian child.
C32 Grandma's Apron	Doesn't the fabric remind you of the apron's worn by everyone's grandma and wasn't she the centre of your life when you were growing up?	C32 North for the Winter

BOM 32 - Kew Gardens

C32 Kew Gardens

Time for the next block of the month and for those people who enjoy hand work this is a perfect one for you. Kew Gardens needs a bit of care when placing the pieces but if you follow the step by step diagrams it should be a piece of cake.... albeit a small one. 

Oh and the block is straight. The camera wasn't!

PJ, my eldest son, lives in London and Kew Gardens are one of our favourite day outings. The array of plants plus the glass houses are quite amazing.

Terri's Treats

There is no greater thrill I think than seeing a quilt made by someone you don't know of a pattern you wrote and so I was really pleased when Jennie sent me this photo of her quilt.

The pattern, Terri's Treats, was published a few years ago in Australian Patchwork and Quilting. 

My colours were nowhere near as bright as Jennie's and her  border in particular is superb, don't you agree?

Yet Another Border

Well the designing continues, thankfully it is only a draw and colour exercise at this stage as this is the best out of about nine borders I have drawn up so far. 

Boy am I glad I did that class with Robbi Eclow as the skills she taught me about designing with Illustrator have been invaluable.

Although I think the edges look great I'm not keen at all on the corners so I suppose it is as they say back to the drawing board.

Judi Lawson

 One of the quilt groups that I am a member of is the Red Berries. They meet twice a month in Berry and at one of those meetings they usually have a guest speaker. Last month's speaker was a good friend of mine who as you can see from these gorgeous quilts is into reproduction, or reproduction style quilt. Don't you just love them. 

The blue star quilt is one that I hope to make at some time in the future while the hexagon with orange inserts is one that I have already made TWICE. Must take a photo of those quilts soon. Say when I finish quilting them... well that means it won't be soon.

Judi was interesting to hear. In her first few quilts, in an endeavour to more closely reproduce old style quilts she had used flannelette sheets rather than wadding. She said that this had been very difficult to hand quilt and actually resulted in damage being done to her thumb. I would have thought it would have been easy to hand quilt through the sheet. Live and learn.

Mary Prince Squared Off

Well I know it has been ages since I posted a photo of my hexagon quilt but here it is. I am yet to attach the triangular sections but you can see it is moving along. Should be ready for the NSW Quilt Show in Sydney ... 2016 that is. I have never been one to rush things and no point changing a system that works.

Carol is still at it.

Carol LeMaitre

Well isn't this a great block? You can tell that Carol is still into the hexagons and EPP. You would have thought she'd had enough of both having finished making Raconteur!

This is her block from Quiltmaker's 100 blocks. Isn't it great and of course she still insists on using those great prints. I just love how the star in the middle stands out. 

Oh in case you haven't already done it slip on over to here and enter Quiltmaker's competition you could win your own copy of the latest edition of 100 blocks or you may even win one of the other great prizes. These competitions are open to everyone world wide.

Quiltmaker Blog Hop Begins

Well today is the day. Quiltmakers 100 Blocks Volume 11 blog tour begins here. 

This is my block Tall Ships which developed from my Raconteur - The Storyteller's Collection quilt. Isn't it amazing the difference made with different colour/value selection. All that I have done is reverse the darks and the lights and the block looks fantastic now ... says she with a totally biased opinion. Don't you love the starburst in the middle of the block .. it is so much more alive now?

The actual plan for this block was to make it even slightly larger than what it is, but unfortunately I didn't realise that when I printed the foundation papers my settings were 'fit to page' rather than the usual 'do not scale'. This meant that it printed at 93% and explains why the points don't quite reach the end. We all live and learn

The original quilt was started in 2012 and consists of 363 miniature hexagonal blocks. I have been able to design many new quilts and blocks from that treasure trove. 

One thing I discovered making this block for Quiltmaker is that when you make something bigger it is a lot easier. The original block was 2 1/4in ... including the border. Quiltmaker blocks are 12in. That makes it a lot easier. In fact the Quiltmaker block took only a bit over an hour to make, whereas the Raconteur block took several hours. 

Today is my wedding anniversary ... what a coincidence. Paul and I have been married for thirty wonderful years.

If you would like to have a chance to win your own copy of the latest issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks simply leave your name and the year that you found someone special in the comments below. 

Make certain that there is a link to your email addy or there is some way that I am able to contact you as anonymous entries cannot win. Good luck. 

After leaving your name check back to Quilty Pleasures for links to other blogs where you may win.