A gentle start to 2018

image of Nectarines

It’s been a hot, hot summer here at Quilt Station.

Christmas and January were spent in perfect harmony. Family, Friends, Food and Festivities. Some Granddaughter time…  And a touch of garden/home reno …bliss on a stick I say.

image of Nectarines

Delicious White Nectarines from my tree…  laden this year!

There was fruit picking galore… The Boysenberries, Nectarines and Apricots were particuarly abundant, and Delicious, this summer. 

After the very busy close to 2017, including a four week trip to the USA, it was just what I needed.

And of course there was also a healthy amount of stitching done too.

I finished all those Rolling Star blocks I’ve been hand piecing for a while,  well  ages.

image of Rolling Star Blocks

Rolling Star Blocks

They have been my constant companion, travelling hither and yon with me.

image of Hither & Yon

Hither & Yon

image of Indiana Medallion

Indiana Medallion

The inspiration for all those lovely blocks came from an antique quilt top in my collection, but rather than just reproduce I felt a medallion quilt would be just the ticket.

The lovely top with copious amounts of California Gold and Double Pink is circa 1890s and comes from Wayne County, Indiana.

image of Indiana Medallion

Indiana Medallion and my antique quilt top

So then what’s a girl to do?

Start a new quilt LOL.

Here’s a snippet of what I’ve been doing.

Applique for starters

Applique for starters

And a border

And a border

This one’s going to be a special project later in the year, so stay tuned.

Okee dokee… I’m off to do a little more pattern writing for Indiana Medallion.

You may notice a change or two to the Website as well.

My Teaching Schedule has been updated and includes my new Chez Moiclasses from home. 

I’m very excited to be able to offer that.

Thanks so much dear friends for sticking with my intermittent Blogging,

Til next

happy stitching

Margaret xx

OMG Ombre and some new patterns

Rising Sun Medallion

I’ve been enjoying working with some Ombre fabrics which have been in my stash for a wee while,

and I confess I’m still adding new ones to my shelves.

Ombre fabric, also known as a Rainbow or Fondu print, was very fashionable with quiltmakers during the 1830-1850 period.  The fabrics created shading and interest to applique quilts (think epergne vases in Baltimore Album quilts) 

On my shelves these two ombres started inching their way forward ’til they fell off, giggling and holding hands and I noticed them again.

image of Ombre fabrics

Classic (not to mention gorgeous) Ombres.

And of course then I got enthused.

image of Wild Goose Chase block

Wild Goose Chase, working title OMG Ombre

So I have a few more blocks to make…I will be alternating the Wild Goose Chase blocks with another pieced block.  Yay, a chance to use more ombres and I’m happy to have some more machine piecing to do after months of hand stitching.

 The hand stitching I’m doing is piecing my 1800s Sunburst blocks.

image of Sunburst blocks

1800s Sunburst blocks.

I am just loving the fabrics in this quilt, again I’m pulling out oldies but goodies along with newies.

image of 1800s Sunburst quilt

Marcus Bros. Aged Muslin and (in no particular order) a bounty of 1800s fashionable fabrics.

 And ombres feature here too. This pic is just from the last time it was up on the design wall and I coudn’t resist sewing four together so I could see how the applique would work as a secondary pattern.

Two recent-ish quilt finishes are

Margot

Margot, after my Mother-in-law Margot DeCamp and Margo Krager ~ whose fabrics I adore and use A LOT :-)

Margot, after my Mother-in-law Margot DeCamp and Margo Krager ~ whose fabrics I adore and use A LOT :-)

and Rising Sun Medallion

Rising Sun Medallion

Rising Sun Medallion

I’ve also finally updated my Pattern page with some new additions, I’m very excited to have some more patterns for sale.

A cup of tea and some more sewing beckons,

happy stitching 

til soon

Margaret

Once you cut you’re commited.

image of union jack pillows

It’s a long weekend here in Australia, Queen’s Birthday weekend.  Aaah the perks of still being a Colony ;-)
My home country of New Zealand celebrated last weekend, Queen’s birthday is celebrated the first Monday of June there.

What does that have to do with commiting to cut?

I don’t think either country is seeking to cut ties with Great Britain anytime real soon, so nothing really!

It’s just that it’s our  first long weekend of winter, so I hibernate… and in the best British tradition, I potter.

The fire is roaring & maybe I’ll bake a cake this afternoon.

A suitably British looking fire place, not mine alas.

And then make something hearty for dinner.

But most importantly, I’m making time for sewing more of this.

image of applique block

And I’m ‘commiting to cut’.

I have sewn the last flower down during the week (I know pretty poor effort for a whole week LOL) and now want to

concentrate on the basket.

It’s a big shape and I always intended to break it up a bit with some reverse applique to reveal more of the blue.

I had only a very loose idea in my head, perhaps  a trio of shapes, curving-ish.

I traced the basket again on to paper and using the paper cut method, folded and… cut.

image of paper folding/cutting

good old Scherenschnitte, in its simplest form

Open it out and Voila!

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Yeah, that's okay

Try it on for size.

image of template

I think that could work.

I fancy that I work quite impulsively, all this has taken about five minutes, but then something happens and I start to vacillate.

I’m pretty sure it’s a Libra thing.

I have to fiddle about and start changing things.

Maybe it could use some circles? There are lots of circles in the block.

image of paper cutting

Oh no, go back!

It suddenly looks like a face, or a ghost.

Maybe it always looked like a ghost.

What is it people say?

Quit while you’re ahead.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Learn to leave well enough alone.

Well I haven’t cut yet, but I have drawn it on so I feel commited.

iamge of ready to make the first cut

That pencil mark's not going to come off easily so I'm ready to cut.

I’m just finishing my coffee and then I’m cutting, starting with just the centre shape.  Just in case I want to ‘tweak’ a little.

Enjoy your weekend, whether it be long or short, hot or cold.

til soon

Margaret

Lights, Camera … Action!

image of A Stack of Quilts

Thursday and Friday were clutter filled and busy days at my place…

Why?

I turned the living room in to a Photographic Studio!

I had finally found time to set aside a day (but then needed two) to photograph quilts and get pattern covers designed for a ‘stack’ of quilts.

image of A Stack of Quilts

A stack of quilts to do, some Antique, some new.

I had planned to do this way back in February or even March! Outside… on a fine and wind free and DH not busy & can assist me kind of day.

Well it just didn’t happen LOL, then I figured surely I can do this inside.

DH isn’t having any non busy days but my friend Catie was here and wanting something to do.

The fun began with the moving of furniture, setting up the quilt frame and dusting off the tripod.

Then bringing in extra lights and doing test shots to test the light- shadowing vs glare and which camera gave the best result.

Phew.

Rollo was exhausted watching all that.

image of Rollo

"are you nearly finished? I can't sleep, it's too bright"

Eventually we were on a roll and had a good system in place. Catie photographed and uploaded to the pattern cover template

while I gave her the info to enter… Quilt name, description and size.

image of pattern cover design

Catie is quicker with her own computer and language.

I should mention here that Catie is visiting from France and English is not her first language and French is not mine.  But we are both improving at a remarkable rate ;-)

But I now speak (and even think) English in an odd slow and deliberate way, with a French accent.  I’m sure it won’t last.  But even DH is doing it!

The antique quilts needed a bit of tweaking of course, you can do wonders with a bit of string and double sided sticky tape.

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donner un 'tweak'

I shooed Maisie off this quilt so I could finish the binding and add it to the Quilt Stack.

image of Sail boats crib quilt

Antique Sail Boats, a new Crib Quilt

There is still a little bit to do but the hard part is done and the living room was back to normal for Friday evening.

Merci Catie...still smiling after two days.

 I haven’t had much evening sewing time the last few days but hope to get this new block finished during the week so I can decide what to add to it next, it will probably turn in to a medallion quilt.

image of Applique block

Have a great weekend, it’s cold and wet here but I’m enjoying the time at home.

Happy stitching

til soon
Margaret

Just catching up

image of modern quils

What a great January I had!

I take the whole month *off* so I can *work* on my own things, bit of a contradiction I know.

However it’s all very enjoyable for me so doesn’t feel like work, and I often use the term ‘pottering about’ so it’s all very much at a summer pace.

This January my main tasks were to get some patterns written up and get the Maltaville Album Quilt ready as a complete pattern package.  Plus I wanted to get two of my own quilts completed (borders on or blocks joined) and quilted, they are just simple, fun quilts and I planned to try new pantograph quilt patterns on them.

And on the home front there were some special cooking things I wanted to do, fancy myself as a bit of a foodie I do ;-)

So how much did I achieve and how far did I get sidetracked LOL.

image of modern quils

two modern quilts finished off and quilted.

I have sewn the binding on but have yet to hand stitch to the back, that can wait ’til Autumn.

The one on the left is a quilt I started ages ago with a Layer Cake of fun, modern fabrics.  The pattern is Memories of Japan by Suzanne Lyle and is especially for layer cakes.  The quilt on the right is the result of playing with some bold geometric prints that came home with me after a trip to Amitie quilt shop in Melbourne.  Of course both these quilts were intended to be a quick and fun diversion but took about four and two years respectively to complete.  Haha like I say January is the month to potter and finish.

I did get all the Maltaville Block patterns  redone to A3 pages and added new history info to the pattern sheets.

image of MaltavilleAlbum Quilt detail

Maltaville Album Quilt centre block

What can slow me down is getting the photo’s suitable for pattern covers so that’s the hold up with that.  It’s always a two person job for starters.  I have several quilts to do now so a day will be set aside in the very near future. Very near!

I wrote up the patterns for two antique quilts and they are only waiting on their photo’s.

I did this oneimage of stars quilt

and this one

image of Red and white quilt

didn’t get as far as I’d hoped on this one

image of Antique star quilt

or this one

image of antique quilt

I got a little side tracked with this new basket quilt

but haven’t actually done anymore on it since I showed it last

image of Basket quilt

No name except basket quilt

And more than a little side tracked on this

image of Eagle Quilt

Eagle Quilt

The next exciting thing is the Eastleigh Quilt and pattern appearing in the April issue of Homespun magazine (volume 14 #5)

image of Eastleigh Quilt

Eastleigh Quilt

Eastleigh is an English Frame quilt, named after my Grandmother’s home town in Hampshire UK.  Today *would be* her 108th birthday.  I had such fun creating this quilt for Homespun and can’t wait to see it in print.

happy stitching and til soon

Margaret

Back home after a whirlwind visit to Texas

image of halloween

I’m not sure how to capture two busy and exciting weeks in a single blog post, but I’ll give it a go.

Jenn and I arrived in San Antonio in time for dinner on the Monday evening (the 22nd ), having left Sydney just prior to Monday lunchtime!

It’s always a pleasure spending time with our good friends Sherry and Darwin, their home has become quite the home away from home.

America was getting ready for Halloween (and Thanksgiving too going by the amount of pumpkins I saw), it was neat to see as we don’t celebrate that here in Australia.

image of pumpkins

Anyone for Pumpkin?

Of course the reason Jenn and I were there was to attend Quilt Market, arriving on the Friday morning to help set-up the booth.

We had to set off early in the morning from San Antonio to get to Houston, and because I am pathologically punctual we set off at 5.00am which allowed plenty of time.

image of on the road

On the road, it got light soon enough.

It was great to meet up with Marianne again and also to meet her ‘girl Friday’ Judy, we all hit it off really well and the time together just flew by.

First up was ‘Schoolhouse’ which I knew nothing about, but now I do know… 30 minutes (that’s 30 minutes, not 31) of manic activity showing attendees what you will be showcasing at Market.  Marianne spoke and watched the clock ticking, Judy and I held up all the quilts and Jenn handed out flyers and photographed the whole affair with three cameras as of course we all wanted our own record!!

image of schoolhouse

getting ready for the next quilt on the list

image of Harmony Rose at Schoolhouse

Harmony Rose being seen for the first time at Market. She got an "aaaah" moment.

Then it was racing back downstairs to start hanging the quilts in their places on the booth.

image of hanging quilts

Judy and I did take turns up the ladder, and it sure was nice having someone taller than I for a change.

At Market there is always a well known face or name going past.

image of with Eleanor Burns

A spot of celebrity spotting, with Eleanor Burns.

The next day, we and the booth were READY.

image of Marianne Elizabeth's booth

Marianne Elizabeth for RJR, ready to roll.

 We also caught up with quite a few friends at Market, dinner with Mary and Joe Koval, Petra Prins and the Quiltmania crew. We all went to Mama Ninfa’s  which was fantastic.  Really good Mexican food and with a wonderful vibe to the place.

image of Mama Ninfa's dinner

Margaritas and munchies.

I had a couple of real highlights to this trip, the first was finally meeting a good blog friend in person.  We had tried to meet up earlier this year but the gods were against us that time.  But this time Michele from Betwixt the Betweens and I met up, along with another friend Gina (whom I always knew as Janet!!) and we had a super time together, as if we had known each other for years.  We were so busy talking and laughing that we didn’t get photo’s sorry.

And there was a perfect deja vu moment on the streets of La Grange, just outside the Texas Quilt Museum, literally steps from where Irene and I had met Kathy in April…

image of quilters at La Grange

Irene Blanck, quilter Kathy from California and Texas Quilt Museum staff member Julie, April 2012

… Kathy and I locked eyes and grinned like cheshire cats in November.

image of happy quilters

Fancy meeting you here

We were thinking “were we wearing the same clothes last time”? No, phew.

And a big, big thrill was seeing a Mid 19th C Star Quilt hanging in the European Championship section of the Houston Quilt show.

I can’t really describe how it felt, I guess the only thing better is having your own quilt hanging there.

image of Mid 19th Century Star Quilt

Mid 19th c Star Quilt by Kea Gutker de Geus from Velserbroek, The Netherlands. Quilted by Elly Prins. Awarded first place ~ Traditional.

Kea has used beautiful Dutch Chintzes in her quilt, it is stunning.

I will be back with some other quilts to show.

Thanks for visiting,

til soon

Margaret

Time flies when you’re sewing.

image of ironing

I am astonished to see it’s a month (or so) since I posted last, but I take comfort noticing that some of my favourite bloggers are doing the same.  Weeks and months are whizzing by in the blink of an eye.

Since May I’ve had an internal monologue of… “life will get a bit less manic, I just have to get through July and August”.

I think I started breathing again on the first of September.

Since I was here last I have…

  1. been on a lovely weekend away with Linda, Bev, Jenn and Debbie to Sorrento.
  2. been working steadily on the Vintage Quilt.
  3. enjoyed a day with lots of other quilters and the Chester County Criswell Quilt at Linda Collin’s home.
  4. finished the last bit of embroidery and finally started quilting the Maltaville Quilt.
  5. finished a quilt for the US with Jenn and Irene (more about that later, we’ve had to keep it very quiet until recently)
  6. been teaching at Patch n Quilt in Gisborne.
  7. dragged out the Welsh Quilt for more hand quilting (the weather’s been miserable)
  8. been quilting quilts for the  Goldfields Quilters (my LQG) exhibition next month ~ all customers’ quilts done, just mine to do now phew.
  9. finally made a start on reproducing one of the Antique Quilts I bought in Paducah, but I only started that today so does that count in this list?  Oh what the heck, course it can count.

Pictures would be nice wouldn’t they.

Linda blogged ages ago here about the Sorrento Retreat but here’s a few more pics.  It really was a super weekend :-)

image of ironing

Now that's novel

I love this one of Linda,

image of circles

soooo many circles

As well as other sewing, I sewed more circles on the Vintage quilt,

We watched a wonderful movie called The Help.

We all cried, ssshhh don’t tell anyone.

Do see it if you can.

And there were so many books to browse, not just sewing but also our other passion…

cooking.

And just take a look at the quilt on the floor and keep it in your mind.

image of books galore

Books galore

The Vintage Quilt is coming along nicely, I finally got my design wall up in the cottage.

That sure helped.

image of Vintage quilt progress

Progressing nicely

Just a couple more borders and it will be done.

The day at Linda’s enjoying the Chester County Criswell Quilt was fantastic.

Linda has blogged about it here

Many thanks to Sharon for making the quilt available for us all to enjoy, and to Linda and Bev for a fabulous day, so well organised.

The Maltaville Quilt went on the machine yesterday

image of quilting

I’m sooooo very happy to see this at the next and final stage.

Do you remember this Red and Green quilt, it was one I purchased in the US in April?

image of Antique Quilt

June Orr's 1849 applique quilt

I’ve been intending to recreate it as a pattern and I had drafted the blocks a little while ago.

But today, I finally got fabric happening.

The impetus?

I’m going on a retreat with my LQG this weekend and I needed some handwork ~ easy to transport, not too taxing.

But warning, it’s not Red and Green.

image of large block

One of the large blocks

I think I must have trouble with two fabric quilts.

I love them~ I really do, but it’s just there are so many great fabrics that it’s hard to stop at two!

So now for the Irene’s, Jenn’s and my ‘secret’ quilt.

If you’re on Facebook you could take a little look at the link below then I’ll try and fill you in as best I can cos it’s a bit of a long story.

http://www.facebook.com/MarianneElizabethDesigns

Are you back? Did you see a quilt that looked like the one on Linda’s floor in Sorrento?

Crazy huh!

When Irene and I were away in the US we met fabric and quilt designer Marianne Elizabeth.

I could talk for an hour on the serendipity that brought the three of us together, but trust me, it was a fabulous bit of fate.

So, we chatted about fabric and quilts, then Marianne showed us some pieces from her newest fabric collection

 Arabella Rose

and invited us to design a new quilt using them.

What a thrill.

So a big part of why I (and Jenn & Irene too if I can be so bold as to speak for them) have been a teeny bit quiet around blogland is that we have been sewing, and sewing and sewing and sew…

The quilt is called Harmony Rose and we want to introduce it to you properly ~ and in a special way ~ very soon.

You’ll just have to be patient a little bit longer, there’s just a bit more to do on the promotion.

And there’ll be a pattern of course.

I’m going to sign off for the night, it’s quite late oooh it’s suddenly tomorrow.

til soon

Margaret

Vintage

image of Sewing days

That’s still the working title, not even Vintage Quilt or Vintage … anything.  Just Vintage, it’s the best I could come up with.

I took it to Mill Rose Cottage last Thursday, it was nice to catch up with Sue and the regulars, though I have hardly been a regular, this was the first chance I had to get there since April.

image of Sewing days

A bit of Sewing and a bit of Shopping, happy days.

I grabbed a copy of the book  History Repeated by Betsy Chutchian and Carol Staehle.

I love to read about a group of women getting together through a mutual love of quilts and it leading to such a wonderful project.  And of course, amongst the Divas there are a couple of names I recognise ;-)

I have been over in the studio today as  I really needed to have a tidy up.   I confess that I do work in a bit of a mess, functioning quite well until I get fed up with myself and get more orderly.

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I get sick of rifling through stuff

The templates were piling up so they needed to be put away once finished with.

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Templates so far

And my working book was looking quite empty despite the centre being nearly complete.

That’s bad, I use this as the basis of my pattern writing so it’s important that I keep it up to date while it’s all fresh in my mind.

So I updated that with instructions and fabric samples.

image of quilt workbook

Quilt Workbook, plus a pile of circles

I’ve sewn on the last of the leaves and then needed to make some more circles. I have a nice little pile there but I still need about 20 more.

But I got a bit bored and decided to come show you how it’s looking so far.

I haven’t got a design wall up in the studio yet, I kept rearranging the furniture so wasn’t sure where I wanted it for awhile.  But now I have decided and yesterday went to Spotlight to get some cheap Polar Fleecy (at Jenn’s recommendation)

image of Design Wall Fleecy

Design Wall Fleecy, awaiting a curtain rod and a tall man.

So for now I am making do with the back of the door

image of Vintage Centre progress

Vintage centre block in progress

You may have spotted some fabric changes from the last post.

image of Vintage Centre, early stages

Vintage Centre Block ~ early stages.

My quits tend to evolve. I actually don’t know how big this is going to be or anything.  It’s just fun playing.

Well I better go back and make those last circles.

Happy stitching,

til soon

 Margaret

Melbourne Quilt Show

image of Banyan Tree Medallion

I’ve been away for a few days at the Melbourne Quilt Show.

This year I stayed down in Melbourne for three nights so it was a mini getaway. And very nice it was too :-)

image of Southbank Melbourne

Winter in Melbourne, so pretty

Karen at Somerset Patchwork has Quilt Station’s  Banyan Tree Medallion Quilt on her stand this year with the patterns for sale.

image of Banyan Tree Medallion

Banyan Tree Medallion Quilt

It looks great (if I do say so myself LOL) on her stand, it’s a while since I’ve seen it in the real as it belongs to my friend Brenda, Thank you Brenda for the loan again.

I really have to get on with my version two but I keep starting new things.

The Banyan Tree was my quilt design which my LQG The Goldfields Quilters made for our 2010 Exhibition.

Our newest quilt for our 2012 exhibition is called Entwined in Time and was designed and made by our members.

We were thrilled to see it get second place in the Group Quilt Category.

image of Entwined in Time

Entwined in Time by members of the Goldfields Quilters

Jennifer’s quilt Leannah, aka Texas Rose Baskets looked wonderful on display too.

image of Texas Rose Baskets

Texas Rose Baskets ~ detail, by Jennifer Murray

I know that this has been a long project of Jenn’s so it’s fantastic to see it finished and hanging.

A quilt I quilted was awarded second place in the Two Person Traditonal Category (amateur/professional)

Pattie is also a member of my LQG and I was thrilled to see her get a prize, hehe I get a ribbon too :-)

image of Persistence

Pattie's version of Nearly Insane, called Persistence

One small quilt that absolutely blew me away is by Julie Adamson.

image of Applique Paisley detail

Detail of appliqued paisleys, silk and batiks by Julie Adamson.

 The detail in this small quilt is incredible, I kept going back to look over and over.  The work in it is very fine indeed.

Thank you Julie for allowing me to show it.

There really are some fabulous quilts on display, it’s still on for today and tomorrow.

Linda at Quilts in the Barn has some wonderful photo’s too so have a look here too.

I am just about to head off to teach a class in Gisborne so I will keep moving.

til soon

Margaret

A Facebook page

image of Banyan Tree block prep

You may have noticed the new Facebook icon under the Quilt Station header logo

Yes Quilt Station is on Facebook so if you’re a facebook user, please click on the icon and have a look.

I’ve only done one post so far, it’s about a new quilt Jennifer and I are doing together.

I think this will be a great way for me to post and keep in touch more instantly while I am away, but I will still be blogging in the States.

I’m meeting up with a few of you and I’m really looking forward to that :-)

I’ve organised my sewing projects for the trip.

I wanted to get on with making another Banyan Tree Medallion Quilt, so at first I thought I’d prepare the Hexagons for one of the borders,

even tho I haven’t finished the centre yet.

I spent an afternoon choosing and cutting all the hexagons required and then bagged them in to the 24 blocks.

image of oodles of hexagons

oodles of hexagons

Then I even started to create a few and that’s when I thought

“keeping track of these fiddly bits while I’m away is going to drive me mad”

so I went to plan B

image of Banyan Tree block prep

Banyan Tree Medallion centre block

I figured I should “just get on with the centre block”

so I gathered the appropriate threads ~ the colours I only need a little of I wound on to cardboard.  I have an empty floss container for a thread cutter on the plane, so that’s ready to go in the cabin bag.

The new quilt Jenn and I are doing is another Maltaville Album Quilt, but this time much smaller.

It’s only 25 blocks and it’ll be Red and White, as we hope to have it finished for Linda Collins’ Quilts in the Barn exhibition later this year

Jenn came over last week and we made some more decisions about it.

image of Red and White Maltaville Quilt planning

Further planning for the new Red and White Maltaville Album Quilt

We had previously done a couple of mock ups on EQ 6, with blocks that represent blocks in the quilt, really just to see we had a balance of block types.

But because months can go by without doing anything on it, we’re always trying to figure out which block is what and where we were up to.

We’re a bit hopeless and impatient when it comes to too much preparation, well I am anyway.

Image of Red and White Maltaville Block

Red and White Maltaville block

I prepped a couple of blocks and will try to get them done while away

image of Red and White Maltaville Block

Red and White Maltaville

There’s only 2 full days til I leave tho,

eeeek better get a move on if I want to prep another block.

til soon

Margaret