Quilting Owl

It was a fun afternoon in the studio playing with some kids bright fabrics and the result is a cute library bag for a little one.  The back is the same as the front with velcro on the top tab and the handle will tie so it is adjustable.  A finish! Till next time Frances

I spent a lovely Sunday morning relaxing and stitching with a small group of friends from the Sunday Stitching group and as usual there were Peter's lovely scones to enjoy with our morning tea. Thora surprised us with these beautiful flowers called Hippeastrums which she grew in her garden on the Atherton Tablelands.  The petals had a lovely textured feel to them and the red was such a rich colour - what a treat! Thora has also put together the first section of her Pies and Tarts quilt which is coming along beautifully. Joan was busy assembling crazy patch blocks for her latest design and I am looking forward to the next stage. Kay was wearing a lovely blouse she made and I just love the flying geese blocks up one side and the lovely fabric she has chosen. I spent the morning working on my Pies and Tarts but forgot to take a photo.  The count is now 24 pies and 4 tarts. Till next time Frances

I enjoy The feeling of accomplishment when I complete a quilt that has been entirely stitched by me. Sitting in front of a favourite DVD and hand stitching. Seeing how other quilters interpret my designs. That “light bulb” moment that happens when just the right idea brings all the elements of a quilt together. The look of pleasure on a novice stitcher’s face when their quilt top is completed. When a new range of fabric is the spark for inspiration. Listening to an audio book while I machine quilt. Making quilts from a wide variety of fabric and finding just the right design to suit the particular fabric style. Hand piecing while travelling on a train, coach, boat or plane. Hand stitching the binding on a completed quilt and thinking about the next project.

This week I have been cutting and sewing some fabrics from a Moda French General range and put together a quilt top which is now pinned up and ready to quilt.  This fabric had worked its way to the bottom of my current heap and when I came across it I knew instantly what I wanted to make - sorry about the mystery!!   I had a great deal of fun selecting fabrics to cut out and prepare new pies - I am really enjoying using these contemporary fabric ranges for such traditional piecing. Today I was sewing lots and lots of triangles using a Wilmington fabric range of soft blues with a stripe.  Another busy but very enjoyable week stitching and playing with gorgeous fabrics - its a tough life but someone has to do it!!! Till next time Frances

Sunday Stitching at Cairns Craft Centre again gave us all the opportunity to enjoy some lovely work by the talented members of the group. Kathy, who never disappoints, made this wonderful large quilt using a Jelly Roll and border print fabric.  I wish the lighting and my photographic skills were better to show you the wonderful all over free motion quilting Kathy did on her domestic Bernina machine. Lesleigh brought along an unfinished Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt that she started about 14 years ago and we all encouraged her to finish this beautiful quilt.  In the centre she added a lace motif to represent grandmother in her flower garden.  Also on a hexagon theme is Heather's lovely bag which she has now nearly finished. Kay was finishing off her Cathedral Window small quilt that she began in a workshop with Meg Orr from Sydney. Kay also brought along some hand dyed pieces of fabric that she made in a workshop with Michelle Barker at ...

Hot off the press in the latest edition of Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol 19 No 8 is a project for a small quilt I hand pieced and hand quilted using the big stitch Perle thread method.   "Marmalade and Jam" by Frances Leate AP&Q Vol19 No 8 It was a fun little quilt to design and make and proved to be very portable and travelled with me on the odd trip away.  The only time I resorted to the sewing machine was to add the prairie points as stitching through so many thicknesses of fabric can be very hard going on my right hand.  My favourite colour "yellow" also managed to creep into things! Till next time Frances

"On Parade" is finished and packed up ready to post to Australian Patchwork & Quilting as a forthcoming project.  This quilt uses a Moda Kansas Troubles fabric range and the quilt top has been in the "to be quilted" heap for a while now.  One more to cross off the list. To celebrate finishing a WIP I instantly started another project which proved to be a much faster one to produce and only required some very simple machine quilting on the trusty old Bernina.  So now all I have to do is finish hand stitching the binding on "Floral Marathon", sew on a label and write a pattern. There hasn't been much progress on the EPP Pie project this week as I have been spending my evenings stitching bindings and I can't wait to get back to stitching a few more particularly as I have a few prepared and ready to sew. Till next time Frances