My First Published Article.....

I've been harboring a little secret, well trying to?  Seems like ages now, but way back beginning of August 2012, I was approached by Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine to do a 'little' tutorial on my Flourish wholecloth quilt.  

To be honest I was happy enough that this quilt won 3 ribbons on it's first outing at the Scottish Quilt Championships 2011 but was pleased to think others thought it worthy of further mention.

 I took it all step by step, have to say writing out the article was the easiest part,  uploading and sending 1500 words and 14 photographs was a little nerve racking but all went well even with our very slow archaic broadband connection.   All must have transferred over correctly and there were no rewrites, isn't technology wonderful?

Well, we got back from England late last night to find a hard copy of the magazine here on the doormat.  I am thrilled with the layout, it covers 6 pages, my photos look really great, what a pleasant experience!

You can buy your own hard copy or subscribe to downloads here at Machine Quilting Unlimited there are of course many more interesting articles, it's a fantastic magazine, one of the best 'WooHoo'!

Designer Tablet Pouche....

The time I intended to spend on a new quilt project seems to have melted away. I did take a few hours to make a little designer pouch for the new tablet that Santa brought....finished hand sewing down the binding last night while a right old hooley blew off part of the cowshed roof and left lots of blown trees and damage....but everyone is safe.....

Did a bit of colouring in while the Grandkids played on the XBox.....

I didn't have enough lilac fabric for the binding so used this red taffeta on the bias, it worked perfectly......I love it!

From our Hearth to Yours...

Wishing you a wonderfully Happy and Peaceful Christmas, from our hearth to yours, literally!

Hope you have good food, company and can fit in even 10 minutes of sewing/quilting to feed your soul......See you in 2013....

Jumping Through Hoops...

It's that time of year when us women feel like we are jumping through hoops we have so much to do....well, don't know about you but I do? Anyway, things are now feeling more organised, house is clean and tidy, tree is trimmed, presents wrapped and all promised quilts have gone home.

I started this little quilt (approx 20x15 inches) a couple of weeks ago as a piece of plain taffeta, quilted a 'doodle do' on it and spent a few evenings playing with different pens, pencils and paints to try out different techniques. I started to add some beads and may add some crystals over the coming days? We'll see what time is available later in the week but this is where it is right now.....it was fun, I may try another???

Very appropriate at this time of year to have these Red Legged Partridge feeding in my garden....most people have sparrows, thrushes and crows....I do have an old pear tree too but chances of seeing them there are rather slim. They are very timid though and if I venture outside to try and take a better photo they would soon scarper so a shot through the window is all I can manage at the moment even though I throw them a few seeds every now and then....

Photos of me and my 'Swooning' quilt in Fabrications magazine.....Overall Champion at the Scottish Championships 2012

One for Christmas display.....

I quilted this quilt for my good friend Anne over at Frayed at the Edge . It's a special quilt to Anne as she was gifted the top on a visit to Australia earlier this year. Anne decided on light custom but I decided to quilt a little extra....we were both very happy with the results and I'm sure this quilt will have pride of place in Anne's home over the festive period......

I quilted feathers in the paler background fabrics and continuous curves in the blocks with feathers in the inner border and piano keys in the outer border.  Anne chose a lovely Moda fabric called Papillon in the red colourway, I used a gold coloured metro thread which looks metallic but isn't.  This quilt is the perfect size to drape over the back of your couch.

I love that border fabric with the beautiful birds.....

Collectors....

I think as quilters we have many different collections, we have our fabrics stashes, thread stashes, rulers, patterns, machines, even quilts.

My new Daughter in Law has her own collection of DM's....yes Dr Matin's

My favorites with the roses...

Where's the line to see Jesus?

Check out this video it's a tear jerker for sure and brings back to us what Christmas is all about....

You can listen and watch the video here

You can visit  iTunes to download here

Kimonos and Sashiko Stitcheries

This is Charlie's Kimono and Sashiko quilt....started very early in her quilting career, it must be fantastic to have it quilted at last after around ten years as a top.

We chose a sashiko or orange peel design for the setting triangles and radiating rays to simulate the land of the rising sun, the kimono blocks have a continuous curve design with a chrysanthemum type flower in the centre. All freehand freemotion quilting with just a little ruler work for stitch in the ditch (SID). After debating a little I decided I needed to pin down the outer border so added some quilting to the sashings too, I needed some curves to take up a little fullness so used an egg and dart type design.

I'm loving how this turned out and I think more importantly Charlie like it too!

Fabric....where does yours come from?

Thought some of my customers and friends might like to see this process, it's fascinating...... click on the link below to watch a short film.....

Robert Kaufman Fabric....the printing process.....

Here is another link to the dying of batik fabrics courtesy of Moda and my good friend Michelle

Printing batik fabrics...courtesy of Moda

Tutti Fruiti....

Tutti Fruiti, oh Rudy
A whop bop-a-lu a shop bam boo!

As I was working away quilting this quilt I kept singing this song....it was the colours that set me off singing, especially when I laid out some threads to quilt the geese, at the time I didn't know that was the name of the quilt.
Sometimes, a quilter receives a quilt that is special...this was one of them. The top was appliqued and pieced a few years ago as a sample in a class taught by pattern designer duo Mother and Daughter, Mary and Karen Milne of Patchwork Creations in Aberdeen. It's a stunning pattern and top, Karen made a wonderful job of the machine applique. The batik fabrics and colour choices add a sophisticated elegance to this modern design.
Karen gave me permission to quilt it as I thought fit, there was lots and lots of open space for quilting.  

White Glide thread on top and white Bottomline in the bobbin, the only place that I used coloured threads was in the flying geese......batting was my customers's own, measures 84x84....

I would class this as Full Custom or even Heirloom Quilting.

I think the photos speak for themselves......I wanted this quilt to shout out 'look at me!'

I didn't want to give this one back but I can hear it shouting 'look at me' all the way from Aberdeen.....Can You?

Quilted Zig Zags....

Now that the Ladies at the Abbey Quilters have seen it, it's time to gift the quilt to baby Ivan, he's two months old already so it's about time.

I thought you would like to see a few photos first .....
I decided to quilt only the Zigs and not the Zags.....lol.....
I quilted swirls and pebbles in the white background fabric, this pushed the blue fabrics forward and also leaves a lovely design on the back of the quilt.
Piano keys finished of the border, but also in the border I placed a name plate with date of birth..

You can find a little tutorial for cutting and piecing this quilt here

My first ever quilty presentation.....

Tuesday night saw me at my first ever presentation night at the Abbey Quilters of Kelso, I have been at this venue before to see Ricky Tims so I was following in hallowed footsteps.  I was a little anxious that my laptop would let me down as it's been a bit of a pain so at the last minute I borrowed my Grandsons laptop and all went well.
I was warmly welcomed by Sandra the Vice Chair of Abbey Quilters and the Local Linus Representative.  After an introduction on my part I played a couple of home videos showing a tour of my studio and myself working on a panto on my APQS Millennium longarm followed by a powerpoint presentation of slides along with the various quilts I had taken with me showing freemotion and pantograph techniques.

I was caught being very studious setting up the slideshow....lol....I'm loving the look of my new green specs.....

Photos thanks to Anne at Frayed at the edge my official photographer

More photographs can be seen on Anne's blog post.....here

I heard lots of 'ooohs' and 'argghs' so I'm guessing that they were loving my quilts, I took lots of quilts.

Thanks to the Abbey Quilters for making my inaugural presentation a very pleasant and successful evening!