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!