Quilting Owl

In the magazine Creative Patchwork and Craft which has recently been published I found one of my projects "Let's Start In Provence".  This quilt was originally published as a project in Australian Patchwork & Stitching Vol 8 No 9 and its great to see it available again.  I loved this French provincial range of fabric and it brought back memories of Europe in 2005 when Peter and I started the trip with a week in a small town in Provence called Bandol on the French Riviera.  Provence is definitely on our "to visit again" list. This quilt also featured on the cover of Creative Patchwork and Craft. I have taught this quilt in a few beginners patchwork classes and thought I would show you Ann's version with such a different colour selection.  She was very pleased with her first finished quilt project which she also quilted herself. Till next time Frances

Living in the Far North of Australia I don't often get to meet up with other quilting bloggers so it was a wonderful opportunity today to be able to spend a few hours with Wendy Whellum of Legend and Lace .  Wendy's many quilt projects have been well published in magazines over the last 6 years and it was great to have Wendy visit me in the Studio and talk quilting. As usual, Peter performed his magic in the kitchen and whipped up a lovely batch of scones for afternoon tea. Other recent visitors were Peter's youngest daughter, Fliss, husband Tim and very cute son, Leif.  Peter enjoyed taking them around some of the wonderful local attractions and here he is holding a koala for Leify to pat at The Habitat, Port Douglas. Till next time Frances

I have spent a lot of time in the studio this past week or so doing lots of machine quilting on a project that has a deadline looming.  This quilt is a mixture of hand and machine piecing with a lot of the hand work stitched on travels.  It was exciting to finally put the last border on the quilt and I have been thoroughly enjoying being totally engrossed in quilting this fairly large quilt.  Quilting from the reverse side  Peter spent a lot of time sightseeing with his youngest daughter and her family who were visiting Cairns last week and on his travels found this wonderful present for me to add to my owl collection. Till next time Frances

When the lovely Shirley over at Stitcherydo  had a giveaway recently I was the incredibly lucky winner and look at the wonderful thimble holder I received in the mail today.  Inside this beautiful and skilfully beaded thimble holder is a lovely soft pink thimble which moulds to your finger and is very comfortable to wear - sorry I forgot to photograph it in my excitement this afternoon. BUT.... there was more in the package which included another thimble, a lovely souvenir one of Taunton, and a recipe book of  "Favourite Somerset Recipes" which was a present for Peter so he can make treats for the Sunday Stitcher's morning tea and when we have an all day "stitch in". Thank you Shirley and these wonderful gifts have come to a good home where they will be treasured and loved. Till next time Frances

It's Show & Tell time for the Sunday Stitchers who gather on the first Sunday of each month at Cairns Craft Centre and there was lots of wonderful projects for us all to enjoy. Lesleigh, who is a good friend to have, has agreed to hand quilt this stunning cross stitched afghan for a good friend and we were all giving our two cents worth on how to go about it.  It will be challenging as the fabric is about an 18 count cotton weave and quite heavy. Lesleigh was also the happy winner of our lucky door prize - a "Seven Sisters" paper piecing design  pattern kit by Sue Daley. Jenny loves bright colours and has just finished this lovely table runner top. and this little doggy quit which is now ready for applique. Joan has been doing an online landscape quilt class and was stitching down the binding on her first finished landscape project. Thora has been busy reducing her stash by making happy bright scrappy reversible quilts for her grandchildren and here is the ...

It has been stressful for quite a while as we try to sort out a few things in our house so to cheer myself up I commenced a new project.  Cairns Craft Centre has just had a large shipment of lots of new paper piecing shapes and I decided to try out the Apple Cores using lots of black and white fabrics from my stash.  I have to say that this project is coming together much faster than the Pies & Tarts using an applique stitch and it is proving to be lots of fun. Christine over at Once upon a Quilt...  has a new blog where she is selling off lots of bits and pieces and I fell in love with these thimbles and just had to have them for my collection.  I might add they were speedily dispatched and beautifully wrapped so they all arrived safe and sound. I have also been adding the odd little owl to the ever growing collection and they now have a new home on a shelf between the button jars and lots of fabric. The other new addition is to the library and thi...

The studio is still in turmoil so I thought I would continue showing some photos of quilts I have designed and made in previous years.  Some of these quilts have been published as projects in Australian Patchwork & Quilting and Patchwork & Stitching and some were made as class samples. "Westward Ho" by Frances Leate AP&Q Vol 16 No 8 "Borders Abound" by Frances Leate - AP&Q Vol 17 No 3 "Windmills of My Mind 1" by Frances Leate "Learning Curves" by Frances Leate "With Compliments" by Frances & Peter Leate - P&S Vol 8 No 10 "Shoo fly Medley" by Frances Leate - AP&Q Vol 17 No 5 Till next time Frances