Quilting Owl

There were some lovely quilts for us all to enjoy on show at the Thursday night class.  First up is Anne's finished sampler quilt which she has now machine quilted and bound.  Then Margaret proudly showed us her completed version of "Jacob and Friends" and also the striking quilt she is making for her daughter's bed which just needs a few more borders. Catherine, a new member of the group, brought along a couple of quilts she made which have been professionally quilted - a stunning red and white quilt with lots of wonderful textured reds  and this lovely applique quilt which I think is from the first Material Obsession Book. Cairns has had a lot of rain lately and as a result all sorts of interesting fungi have popped up in our garden. Till next time Frances

There have been a lot of tropical downpours in recent times in our neck of the woods as Cairns endures a late wet season and suffers the usual inconveniences of flooded and closed roads.  So while all this was going on outside I retreated inside to my studio and have been working on a number of projects.  On the design wall is a new design where I have been working with a gorgeous panel and having lots of fun adding borders but this has now been temporarily put aside so I can finish the quilt on the worktable.  This soft floral two block quilt needs some borders and then I will machine quilt it to meet a looming deadline. On a smaller design wall are the Pies and Tarts quilt blocks and this project needs one more Pie block before I stitch them together and start adding the Tarts to the block intersections. Till next time Frances

Some quilts become a very important part of your life while being created and so it was with "To Have and To Hold" which was a constant travelling companion with me on trips to England, France, USA and also to southern parts of Australia.  Some sections of this quilt could be organised so portably that it has literally been stitched on planes, trains and automobiles. "To Have and To Hold" has just been published as a project in the current edition of Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol 21 No 4 "To Have and To Hold" by Frances Leate and a really special treat was to see it featured on the cover of this magazine.  I am quoted at the beginning of the project as saying: "Take pleasure in every step of the patchwork journey, rather than rushing to the destination, and hand-piece this medallion-style quilt with its bridal themed blocks".  I can honestly say that stitching this quilt gave me immense pleasure and happy memories of the process. ...

Daily life for Peter and I has just started to get back to normal and I realised that I haven't posted for a while so here are some photos I found in the camera from last week. The Thursday night class have progressed wonderfully with their first sampler quilt and here is Margaret's lovely creation all layered, pinned and ready for her to begin the next stage to machine quilt it. Mandy is also at the same stage and I just love the striped border and owl print. Rachael is nearly there and just needs to add the borders to this stunner. I also found this photo I took of the main design wall area in my studio when I was having lots of fun playing with my Farmers Wife blocks which I hope to get back to real soon now! Till next time Frances

The Thursday Nighters were all busy assembling their sampler blocks and adding sashing to their quilts at their class at Cairns Craft Center the other night.  Mandy's dramatic colours were all coming together nicely and there is a striped border to be added and then a very cute owl novely print for the main border. Anne's blues and lime greens with a dash of orange were looking stunning.  Then it was time for the Sunday Stitchers and the fun stitching morning we always have every month.  Joan brought along her beautiful "Crazy Garden Patch" wall quilt which has just been published as a project in the current issue of Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol 21 No 3. Kathy has caught the little houses bug and is assembling her own version of this truly addictive quilt project. Jenny never disappoints us and  has just finished this bright and colourful runner quilt top and was stitching the binding on this fun child's quilt wh...