Quilting Owl

I am delighted to see two of my quilt designs now up on Cosy Project where a pattern can be purchased and downloaded.  First up is the quilt I named "Concerto for Mixed Peel" because the peel block is in three sections with the blocks differing in size.   Find out more here:  https://www.cosyproject.com/mixed-peel-quilt "Concerto for Mixed Peel" by Frances Leate Another project on this site is my quilt design "Mary Mary Quite Contrary" which uses a background fabric, a contrast one (I used a fuchsia colour) and approximately 20 fat quarters of various florals.  The name for this quilt was chosen because of the predominant use of the "Contrary Wife" block and also the fact that the given name for both my husband and my own mother was Mary although contrarily neither was known by this name.   See more here:   https://www.cosyproject.com/mary-mary-quite-contrary "Mary Mary Quite Contrary" by Frances Leate The Cosy P...

Well its been a while but I have been inspired to post after seeing my quilt "In a Pretty Pickle" on the cover of the latest "Homespun" magazine https://www.facebook.com/frances.leate with the full project instructions featured inside with a brief profile about me.  This quilt was machine pieced and quilted on my Bernina domestic machine. "In a Pretty Pickle" by Frances Leate featured in Homespun, November 2017 Issue The Double Wedding Ring quilt with its melon shapes and curved centres has inspired me to design a series of quilts in this style.  One of these designs was "Ring of Roses" which featured solid arcs rather than pieced ones with applique on the centre pieces and melons.  This quilt was published as a project in Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol 25 No 12.  I hand pieced and hand appliqued this quilt using the fusible applique method and then quilted it on my domestic Bernina. "Ring of Roses" by Frances Leat...

Hexagons make a wonderfully versatile block whether on their own or as a pieced shape and here are just some I have played with over recent years. "Licorice Allsorts" by Frances Leate AP&Q Vol 24 No 10 "Christmas Tree Skirt" by Frances Leate AP&Q Vol 25 No 5 "Marmalade & Jam" by Frances Leate AP&Q Vol 19 No 8 Hand pieced hexagon UFO blocks by Frances Leate To finish here is some of Lesleigh's work - one of her earliest quilts and a more recent table runner where she has added some beautiful embroidery. Till next time Frances

I have always enjoyed houses as a theme for stitching so here are a few from my cupboards, walls and friends. "Redlynch Village" by Frances Leate Machine pieced and quilted "Midsomer Madness" Hand pieced and hand quilted Jenni's house top Thora's little houses Before I became addicted to quilting and applique I enjoyed other forms of stitching such as blackwork and cross stitch and here a few from the walls. To finish I just love these Dutch houses. Till next time Frances

Well I have definitely been missing in action and now believe that there is some other being who steals time from me or else there are just less hours in the day now!!! I finally got around to downloading some photos from my camera and found some I had taken at a Sunday Stitchers some time back when we had a "To the Manor Born" show and tell.  This quilt is one I got immense enjoyment designing and appeared in Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol. 23 Nos. 7, 8 and 9 and is also one of my class projects.  It was great to see some of the girl's work in various stages of completion. "To the Manor Born" by Frances Leate Lesleigh's version of  THMB Kathy's version with added hexagon border of THMB Thora's THMB wip When I made the original quilt I only intended at first to make a small medallion but it just kept growing.  Later I decided to make another version of the quilt centre with different fabrics and what a difference ...

The latest edition of Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol. 24 No 7 features quilts from several members of the Cairns Craft Centre Sunday Stitching group including my "Victory Parade" made from two layer cakes or 70 10" squares plus a narrow border.  It is great to be in such good company. "Crazy with a Twist" by Joan Taylor "I Now Call North Queensland Home" by Jenny Edlin "Victory Parade" by Frances Leate Till next time Frances

The Christmas spirit came late to our home this year but finally I managed to put aside some of the sadness and pain of the last year and get on with it.  One of the big surprises was when I got the urge to finish a long time UFO of quilt-as-you-go hexagons and create the Christmas Tree Skirt which they were always meant for.  Some very late night stitching went into the final assembly of the project which now covers a multitude of cords around the base of the tree.  Thanks Sonjia for the inspiration I needed to finally finish this project. The crib also sits on a new runner which was a QAYG hand quilted project stitched when my arm was in plaster. The studio is now adorned with a project I designed to hang along the top of the sliding plantation shutters which has recently appeared in Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol 24 No 4.  This was a fun project to stitch with lots of embellishment with buttons and beads. "Christmas Bunting" by F...

In the latest Christmas issue of Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol 24 No 3 my project "Poinsettia" has been published.  This was a fun dimensional applique wall quilt. "Poinsettia" by Frances Leate A couple of my other projects have been re-released in a special issue "Keepsake Quilts".  On the cover is "A Summer Place" which started life as a cuddle size quick and easy jelly roll quilt and just grew to become a full bed size quilt. "A Summer Place" by Frances Leate Also in this issue is "Star Bright" another of my small hand pieced Christmas quilts. "Star Bright" by Frances Leate Till next time Frances

We  all congratulate Jenny on her first published quilt which has just  appeared in the latest edition of Australian Patchwork and Quilting Vol 24 No 1 which has New Zealand on show. "I Still Call NZ Home" by Jenny Edlin Here is Jenny with another of her lovely quilts. This striking quilt was made by Jan which she started in a recent workshop in Cairns. Cynthia's lovely mug mat. In the back of AP&Q Vol 24 No 1 in the section "All Your Own Work" I was pleased to spot Sherrel Meyer's own version in a different colourway of my last Mystery Quilt project "Red Sky at Night". Till next time Frances

One of my projects "In Chains" has just been published in the latest edition of Australian Patchwork & Quilting.  It is always great to see my projects beautifully photographed and presented in this wonderful magazine. "In Chains" by Frances Leate AP&Q Vol 24 No 12 At the last meeting of the Sunday Stitchers there was a mug rug swap and here are some of the lovely ones made by the members.  Missing was one made by me as I left it to the last minute to make one and of course I got injured before doing so. Deb showed us a WIP she is making for a lucky little girl named Sophie from a gorgeous panel. Hopefully in another nine days the plaster cast will be removed from my left arm and it wont be long before I am back stitching again. Till next time Frances

We have been back from Hawaii for a couple of weeks now but have been having problems with the blog which hopefully will be sorted out soon.  I still need to work on the photos from the trip but here are a few other varied ones to share with you. First up are a couple from the Sunday Stitchers and Jenny has been working on a UFO from an earlier Baltimore quilt class. Lesleigh has placed her own interpretation on the block from the Nostalgia workshop and has made a very happy child's quilt. A lovely lady sent me a photo of her Mum's interpretation of  my project "Red Sky at Night" which was published as a mystery quilt in  recent editions of Australian Patchwork & Quilting. So far I am up todate with Barbara Brackman's "Threads of Memory" BOM which she is publishing on her Civil War Quilts blog  towards the end of each month. Block 2  Barbara Brackman's "Threads of Memory" BOM While I was in Hawaii I indul...