Quilting Owl

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...

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 ...

I can't believe it is August already and while I never seem to stop stitching I haven't had as many finishes of late.  Maybe one of the reasons is my preoccupation with the wonderful quilt "1718 Coverlet" which I have been making from Susan Briscoe's book.  This project is very addictive and I have been enjoying hand piecing and needleturn appliqueing the blocks.  Unfortunately I now have to put it aside for a while to get on with some more urgent projects. At Sunday Stitching this morning we had fun with some of the quilts started in previous classes for my project "To the Manor Born".  I really love seeing how people interpret my designs and the power of colour and what a difference it can make. "To the Manor Born" by Frances Leate Lesleigh loves red and teal and what a difference it makes to her gorgeous entirely hand stitched quilt.  Now she just needs to finish the hand quilting. Kathy added to the project to make a lar...

I had a wonderful couple of days with a great group of ladies when I was invited to teach at the "Family of Quilters" retreat at Redlynch on the weekend. After a fabulous welcome dinner on the Friday night it was time for my trunk show and then show and tell from some of the members of the group.  Jane Austen gowns featured throughout the night and Ruth wore her beautiful blue one. "A Spring Affair" by Frances Leate "Flowers in the Sun" by Frances Leate Karen's confetti quilt Margaret's Bargello Alexis' version of Di Ford's "Montmellick" Fiona with the "Jane Austen" gowns she made for her and  her daughters To finish, a selection of the Kimono blocks made by Karen, Alexis and Madonna for one of the projects they could choose on the weekend. A big thank you to all the members of the group for a great weekend. Till next time. Frances

I have had lots of distractions over the last few months and have been very remiss keeping up with this blog.  In between these distractions I have been working on lots of different projects mainly UFOs but not too many finishes as yet. There have been some additions to my pincushion collection, some gifts from dear friends and some I have made myself or purchased at craft fairs. I have finally finished quilting a quilt top hand stitched as a gift for me by Jenny and this quilt now hangs in the studio. I have turned a panel into a quilt for the latest addition to the family, a great grandniece called Ivy. Then it was time to start on some of the UFO projects housed in plastic boxes and I finished this quilt top which is now layered and currently being machine quilted. I have assembled these hand pieced diamond blocks into larger sections which are now ready for an appliqued centre medallion.  At least I have made some progress on this long time UF...

Happy New Year to all my family, friends and followers of this blog and I hope 2015 is going to be a really wonderful one for you all. I Instead of a new year's resolution I select a word for the year and this year the word is "create".  I want to create and not procrastinate and to keep me on track I have made a mug mat with this word to keep near me when I am working as a constant reminder. Happy New Year to you all and I would like to thank you for your continued support. 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...

Many of the Sunday Stitchers rose to the challenge to make a quilt or patchwork object using a specific piece of Christmas fabric and I would like to share some of the wonderful  results of this challenge.  There was a Viewers' Choice prize which was won by Lesleigh with her beautiful runner with freehand embroidery. Lesleigh Maryanne Kathy Joan Jenny Sonjia Maryanne Till next time Frances