Quilting Owl

Its been a fun week working in the studio and I have lots of projects to keep me amused.  I have now finished the 49 8" Pie blocks and am enjoying moving them around to find a pleasing layout.  They are up on the small design wall (an old office divider covered with pellon) and it is not in the best place for photographing but you get the idea. In the meantime I am making some tarts to go on the intersections with five down and 31 to go. Most of my time has been spent working on a large project commission which features fuchsia and white along with lots of other vibrant colours. While watching television of a night I have been doing some hand piecing on another of my many projects.  I find hand pieceing to be very relaxing and therapeutic and I do this now when once I would have knitted. Till next time Frances

The last few weeks have been quite busy though there is not a lot that I can show you.  Autumn has finally come to tropical Cairns and there is now actually sunshine between the odd shower of rain.  The grass is still leaping out of the ground needing to be cut at least once a week and the temperature usually hovers around 30 degreesC with the humidity often around about 60 percent.  Peter has started a massive clean up in the garden to get it all nice for the winter months which is the best time of year here and sees us all come out of hibernation. In the studio the design wall has been stripped bare and is gradually being filled with the latest design commission.  I just love a blank canvas to create with.  Lots of different fabrics have been taken off shelves and out of storage boxes, played with and often put back while I decide on a colour pallette to work with.  This is the best part of my job and I just love it. While all this has b...

It has been a busy week while I finished off another project commission so I am only now catching up with a few photos from the camera.  This is the happy group of Sunday Stitchers who gathered this month at Cairns Craft Centre for another fun morning of chatter and stitching. Jenny brought along her latest appliqued wall quilt with a New Zealand theme and also a quilt which she made for a charity auction which has just come back from her long arm quilter and just needs some binding. Easter has been a lovely time here in Cairns and to celebrate this long weekend a few Farmers Wife addicts gathered in my studio for a great day of stitching with Peter whipping up his usual creations in the kitchen to keep us well nourished.  I actually managed to finish two more blocks to add to the block pile #17 Cats & Mice and #19 Checkerboard and here is the happy group busily working away at sewing machines and the cutting table. Till next time Frances

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