Quilting Owl

Today was a wonderful day because I got to welcome to the Far North for the first time my niece, Maree, and her daughter, Nicole, who sailed into Cairns on the P&O cruise ship the "Pacific Sun".  This was the first of many visits from family and friends that we are looking forward to over the next 3 weeks.  Their ship docked at the city's new Cruise Liner Terminal very centrally located right in town and we took in some of the local sight on a steamy and tropical day.  Nicole and Maree at Cairns Craft Centre Maree with me at Palm Cove Till next time Frances

Well the "silly season" has certainly started around here and I always enjoy digging into the cupboard and bringing out some of my favourite Christmas quilts.  This one is my all time favourite design which I hand pieced and appliqued but machine quilted. "In the Spirit of Christmas" by Frances Leate In the studio I have just been flitting from one thing to another with nothing yet ready to photograph - some days I just seem to take one step forward and two backwards but I am sure it will finish up alright in the end. I am getting ready to start on a another project involving lots of blocks so I decided to prepare some boards where I can lay out the pieces for each block as I cut them and in this way I can cut and sew several blocks at the same time.  I have used some stiff cardboard rescued from discarded packaging and covered it with an offcut of 100% cotton batting.  I fold the batting in two and cut it approximately an inch larger than the card and then sew ...

I have finally caught up with my blocks for the Civil War Quilt and here are blocks 37 to 45.  These blocks have been pieced by hand and machine and there is also some needleturn applique. Here is a quick photo of all the blocks lined up together on my small design wall.  With only 8 blocks to go it is time to start thinking about how to set them all and Barbara Brackman has some great ideas over at Civil War Quilts  .  At the moment I am think of straight sashing with cornerstones but I have been known to change my mind (at least once or twice).  I have really enjoyed being part of this stitchalong project. Till next time Frances

There was some wonderful Show and Tell from the Sunday Stitchers at the November gettogether for us all to enjoy.  Shirley W has been very busy and brought along a couple of quilts for us to see, the first one is a lovely colourful wall quilt she made from a local class with Ruth Bloomfield. and about this bright and cheerful quilt Shirley said she just whipped it up from bits and pieces in her stash. Joan has just finished this very pretty quilt top - while Heather arrived with this log cabin bag she has just finished.  Inside the bag there are lots of zip compartments so it is a bag inside a bag. Karen was busy doing some crochet on this beautiful shawl. Till next time Frances

Amy's Creative Side is having a Blogger's Quilt Festival and I thought I would join in and show off my quilt "A Summer Place".  This quilt was just meant to be a very quick Jelly Roll quilt but like Topsy it just grew.  I love all types of applique so some of that crept in as well and the more I played with the wonderful colourful fabrics the more the quilt grew.  The quilt got its name because I live in a place that enjoys Summer all year around with some times in the year just a bit more humid and tropical than other. "A Summer Place" by Frances Leate One of the applique blocks I hope you enjoy this quilt and visiting all the other bloggers who have taken part.  Thank you Amy for organising this wonderful event. Till next time Frances