Quiltmania #126

image of Quitmania #126

Isn’t this just the most divine summery scene, perfect for the newest, mid summer edition of Quiltmania magazine.

image of Quitmania #126

Quiltmania #126

Here in the Southern Hemisphere it’s mid winter… but that’s ok too.

Inside these pages is the pattern for my Cleland Coverlet and I’m so thrilled to be able to share it with you.

image of The Cleland Coverlet

The Cleland Coverlet

As always, Quiltmania’s styling is just so beautiful.

This coverlet was such a pleasure for me to make;

Inspired by an antique coverlet which was made by Francis Cleland in Ireland in the 1700s but now resides in New Zealand.

I loved Francis’ centre design of hearts, stars and circles.  Then I added my own ‘take’ on it and the Cleland Coverlet is the result.

Grab your copy from your LQS, newsagent or direct from Quiltmania

Click HERE to see the what other *gorgeousness* is in #126…

including my friend Deirdre’s (Hat Creek Quilts) newest quilt Annabella Smythe

inage of Annabella Smythe by Deirdre Bond-Abel

Annabella Smythe by Deirdre Bond-Abel

Thanks for dropping by :)

I’m formulating another newsy, fabric inspiration post and hope to have that up here for you to enjoy in the next few weeks

’til then

happy stitching

Margaret xx

Using Backgrounds

image of Concord Massachsetts

Autumnal greetings and welcome new followers, I really appreciate you being here xx

image of Concord Massachsetts

Just a beautiful pic of Fall in Concord, Massachusetts for you to enjoy

Y’know… I’ve been thinking about how you, my dear friends, can get more out of these blog posts.

How can I make them more informative and inspiring for you?

And if you’re not in near proximity to where I’m teaching (though that IS expanding), how can I share with you the fabric inspiration I talk about in my workshops?

As I’ve been stitching the Suffolk Coverlet (new), that pondering has been taking shape.

image of Hexies

My nightly companion… Hexies for the Suffolk Coverlet

I realised I’ve actually been looking at what I want to share with you for months, it just took me a little time to figure it out.

It’s *Backgrounds* and how I…

Choose what I’ll use,

and use what I choose.

And why?

image of Antique fabrics

See that patina? … the blotches and age stains? Simply put… that just rocks my boat.

In ‘Quilts From the Colonies’ I talk about the nostalgia and familiarity I felt (even as a child) looking at antiquities.

 I don’t really know *why*it*moves*me*… but it does.

There’s just something about old stuff and how it makes me feel.

Old, faded, battered & stained = Well used (loved), handled & cherished by generations and it has a history.

image of Antique blocks

A few more from my collection… I buy these just because they make me feel all warm amd fuzzy inside.

So of course… I want to get that *look*.

I just want it to look like this.

image of antique quilt

In earlier days my MO was to Tea Stain pretty much any background print,

and any print that had white,

and any print that had too high a contrast going on.

I loved the print and I loved the colour, but I didn’t always love the colour value.

Vintage Sampler 2005

Vintage Sampler 2005

Vintage Sampler 2005

Vintage Sampler 2005

 I would also use the wrong side of fabrics to tone things down a bit.  I wanted to flatten out that high contrast.

This pic shows what I was wanting to achieve, and my love affair with brown.

Antique fabricThere’s contrast here (above), but the background has discoloured and now sits (imho)  more calmly against the print.

Below is a recent finish where the print evokes the same feelings of calmness and nostalgia.

Indiana Medallion 2018

Indiana Medallion 2018

Quantities permitting, if I’m using a plain fabric my absolute preference would be to use a tea stained fabric.

Left. Patty Harants print (Gold Star for that one) and Right. Marcus Bros Aged Muslin

Left. Patty Harants print (Gold Star Miss P for that one) and Right. Marcus Bros Aged Muslin

 There’s a few that are commercially available.  Alas the Patty Harants fabric above left is from years ago.  But the Marcus Bros Aged Muslin is one I have used in many quilts, it’s a standard line for them and comes in many different tones from off white through to brown. And just FYI, it comes in colours too.

But what I’ve been doing with the Suffolk Coverlet is …

Anne Romsey's Coverlet c 1790 Dedham Essex/Suffolk

Anne Romsey’s Coverlet c 1790 Dedham Essex/Suffolk

…using tone on tone prints to create the look of random discolouration, or patina.

Suffolk Coverlet backgroundsWhy did I decide to use these four fabrics?

Far right is the background for the centre Broderie Perse appliqué … not a lot left so can’t use that.

Far left is the background to the Pentagon border … didn’t have a huge amount left but have since sourced more from Margo Krager.

But I didn’t want to just switch from one background fabric in the centre, to using a whole other background for the rest of the quilt because I think that is too big a jump, I want to blur the meeting point.

So as well as repeating the two already used, I added the tiny spot… tonally and scale wise the three are similar.

But what’s with the fourth? Why is that fabric there?

FabricBecause I like it,

Actually, I love it.

Because I have only a few off-cuts left and it’s been in a couple of my favourite quilts already (and I have a feeling this one is going to be another favourite quilt)

Because  I think every quilt should have something that doesn’t quite fit… but you love it and that’s all that matters.

And because I don’t want to make the *obvious* fabric choices in my quilts…

and may I be so bold as to say,

I don’t think you should make the obvious choices either.

Please use the fabrics that give you joy, and make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Making shapes and sttiching them together

Making shapes and stitching them together.

More hexies

The four ‘background’ prints are totally random. No rhyme or reason to it at all.

Hexie Rosettes of all colours and prints

Hexie Rosettes of all colours and prints.

I’m so sorry this has been quite a mammoth post, I hope you’re still here til the end.

As I don’t have time to blog as much as I’d like, I’m wanting to offer you quality over frequency… I want to share fabric choices with you on a deeper level than just showing pretty quilt pictures.

I really hope I haven’t bored you.

Thanks for sticking with me

Til next

Happy stitching

Margaret xx

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

Pour l’amour du fil 2017

image of Misao Wado's Nantes

Nantes was where it was all happening… As I load these photo’s I am reliving a most amazing time

(Apologies in advance for a long blog post)

image of Misao Wado's Nantes
Misao Wado’s ‘Nantes’

But of course to get to Nantes, a trip to Paris is pretty much *a must*

As soon as I arrived at The Hotel Henriette on the Left Bank, I was swooning.

We were a party of ten (can you imagine the giggling) at this hotel  … now my new favourite.

image of Hotel Henriette, Rive Gauche

Hotel Henriette, Rive Gauche

image of Hotel Henriette, Rive Gauche

Hotel Henriette, Rive Gauche

A fabulous time was had by *all us girls*;  we sent the guys off to do boy things because they would not have been interested at all in the Stitching Up Paris Tour we did

If you get the chance to spend an afternoon or morning doing a walking and metro tour with Barbara, you simply must! Tailor made to you and your friends’ textile passions, click here to see

http://www.stitchingupparis.com/

Here’s just a small taste of what we saw

image of Ines, La Boutique du Patchwork

Ines, La Boutique du Patchwork

http://www.inespatchwork.com/

We also went to Sajou and La Droguerie, I have no idea why I have no pictures :-O

Ultra Mod....Divine

Ultra Mod….Divine

http://ultramod-paris.com/

Just because...so gorgeous

Just because…so gorgeous

Ditto the gorgeous Haberdashery

Ditto the gorgeous Haberdashery

And then it was time to go to Nantes for Pour l’amour du fil

and the official launch of

Quilts from the Colonies

Quilts from the Colonies

Quilts from the Colonies published by Quiltmania

What a thrill the whole five days in Nantes was… I was overwhelmed by the amount of visitors to the show and their kindness to me! I loved meeting up again with old friends, getting to know friends I’d met on social media and making lots of new friends.

And of course being reaquainted with my book quilts which have been away from home since August, beautifully displayed in my Salon by the hard working Quiltmania and Pour l’amour du fil teams.

image of My Salon at Pour l'amour du fil

My Salon at Pour l’amour du fil showing some of the quilts from my book

And a few more

Holt's Landing and Miss Hitchens' Whimsy

Holt’s Landing and Miss Hitchens’ Whimsy

Salon

Rainbow Row, Sarah-Jane’s Scrapbag and Liberty Oak

A rare moment of calm

A rare moment of calm

And the oooh-ing and aaah-ing over all the gorgeous salons and the work contained therein was deafening LOL

Clockwise from top left: Misao Wado, Petra Prins, Deirdre Bond-Abel and Segolaine Schweitzer

Clockwise from top left: Misao Wado, Petra Prins, Deirdre Bond-Abel and Segolaine Schweitzer

Clockwise from top left: Di Ford-Hall, Dawn Heese, Norma Whaley and Bonnie Sullivan

Clockwise from top left: Di Ford-Hall, Dawn Heese, Norma Whaley and Bonnie Sullivan

And let’s not forget the Welsh Quilts !

Welsh Quilts from the collection of Jen Jones

Welsh Quilts from the collection of Jen Jones

 I loved popping in to the salon of the gorgeous and talented Judy Newman of A Very Fine House, what a joy it has been to share this amazing journey together

Judy Newman.  Her book Quilts for Life Made with Love is another recent publication by Quiltmania

Judy Newman. Her book Quilts for Life Made with Love is another recent publication by Quiltmania

Catching up

Catching up with Judy, Deirdre, Amy, Di and Kaffe

And more ctaching up

And more catching up with Norma, Anne-Helene (who did all the technical work on my book…thank you <3 ) Jo, Linda and Martine and Dawn

I also taught two classes while I was there

Sarah-Jane's Scrapbag class

Sarah-Jane’s Scrapbag class

A-Tisket A-Tasket class

A-Tisket A-Tasket class…  And a very special photo here of Christine Maxwell Bonney, I’m so pleased to have been able to spend time with her in Nantes.

Sadly Christine passed away last week after a long cancer illness.  She travelled and sewed and enjoyed her life, making friends wherever she went. Truly an inspiration to live the life you want.

Here we are in Paducah in 2012

Sitting on the porch

Sitting on the porch

 I loved the trip and the show so much I am planning to return to Europe later next year to do some more teaching.

Because all too soon it was over.

And it was time for a little R and R.

Off to Lisbon and beyond

Off to Lisbon and beyond

A well earned Gin and Tonic (they're huge in Lisbon, just sayin')

A well earned Gin and Tonic with a view (they’re huge in Lisbon, just sayin’)

After the build up to the release of the book, and the preparations for Pour l’amour du fil and all the excitement surrounding it, I extended the trip with another 3 weeks gallavanting around Portugal, Spain and Morocco gathering lots of inspiration and ideas for future quilts.

There’s some works underway already :-o

Thanks so much for visiting, and sorry it’s such a long post.

But there’s lots of exciting things ahead and I want to show them in chronological order

Stay tuned

happy stitching

Margaret

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Pour L’amour du Fil…

Pour L'amour du Fil

Pour L'amour du Fil

And Quilts from the Colonies book launch

image of Quilts From The Colonies

Quilts from the Colonies

…here I come.

The bags are packed; the kits for my classes are contained therein.  A bit of Show and Tell is also on board.

I have my sewing organised for the plane and transit (all 25+ hours of it)

I’ll be stitching some small blocks for more of this quilt

Irish MedallionYou may remamber this quilt from my last blog post…Working title is Irish Medallion

Irish Medallion

I loved doing some EPP coffins for this quilt and am keen to do more EPP, very addictive

Irish MedallionAnd for reasons I can’t quite fathom, other than inspiration strikes at the busiest of times, I started a new quilt.

Or you might say, I started a new Block. What it will be, who knows?

But I’m loving these fabrics together

Applique

This was such an impulsive start it doesn’t even have a working title

And it gives me a little more applique to work on while I’m away

If you’re going to be at Pour L’amour du Fil, I would love you to stop by my Salon to say hi, we can chat about quilts and gorgeous fabrics…  or join me in a workshop or two.

I won’t get to  blog while I’m away  but I will be Instagramming and Facebooking

Til soon

Happy Stitching

Margaret :-)

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A new quilt for the New Year and a busy year ahead!

Then pick a winner.  And stick with it.

Since I posted last, my book Quilts from the Colonies has arrived in my hot little hands…

I am so so thrilled with the result.  It is perfect in every way.  Quiltmania‘s talent in bringing all the quilts, photographs and patterns together in to one beautiful package just bowls me over.

image of Quilts from the Colonies

Seventeen projects

image of A Tisket A Tasket

a- Tisket a-Tasket

image of Sarah-Jane's Scrapbag

Sarah-Jane’s Scrapbag

The two quilts shown above are the two I will be teaching in Nantes at Pour l’amour du fil.

I’d love to have you join me in the classes so keep an eye on their website which is constantly being updated

http://pourlamourdufil.com/cours-et-ateliers/

I have managed to put the book down periodically …

and I’ve been having the loveliest time in my wee studio. Here’s what a lovely time looks like

image of studio

Enter at your own risk!

image of studio

No beautiful or glossy styling here.

But I’ve been working on a few projects simultaneously, so may my mess please be excused?

The one I’m currently working on fanatically  steadily is this one

Working title Irish Medallion

Working title Irish Medallion

 If you’ve been following along on my Instagram page you will have seen some of the progress.

Deciding on a background for the applique centre is not fast but it’s fun

Pull some possible contenders from the stash

Pull some possible contenders from the stash…

Narrow it down and stand back

Narrow it down some and stand back…

Then pick a winner.  And stick with it.

Then pick a winner. And stick with it.

I’ve completed the applique and am now spending summer evenings stitching a border of Coffin shapes, stitched using the English Paper Piecing method

ENglish Paper Piecing... very relaxing

English Paper Piecing… very relaxing

 One border done and three to go.

Happy stitching and til next

Margaret

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Christmas Catch-up

image of Quilts for Life Made with Love

I know I’ve really (really) been Missing in Action.

But this is what I’ve been doing… designing and finishing seventeen quilts for my very first book!

image of Quilts From The Colonies

Quilts from the Colonies published by Quiltmania

Quilts that once only had *working titles* now have real names;

Quilts that have been a long time in the making are finished;

And new Quilts have been designed and made…

and they have been photographed so beautifully by the Quiltmania team.

I’m yet to see ALL the finished result, BUT… I was there on photoshoot day with the gorgeous Linda from quiltsinthebarnaus.blogspot.com.au

And so I have a pretty good inkling that the styling will be stunning, as always with Quiltmania :-)

What fun we had!

Photo Shoot day

Don’t bump anything!

Quiltmania currently has a competition running on their website

(click link here to go directly to the competition)

from now until the 20th Dec

where you could win a copy of ‘Quilts from the Colonies’ and ‘Quilts for Life Made with Love’

the beautiful new book by my talented friend Judy Newman

image of Quilts for Life Made with Love

Quilts for Life Made with Love by Judy Newman. Published by Quiltmania

I am dizzy with excitement to finally see the results of my efforts.

It will be for sale on Quiltmania’s website from the 21st December.

Landed and for sale in Australia will probably be March/April.

Huge thanks to Carol and the Quiltmania team for this wonderful opportunity

Happy Stitching over the Christmas break

‘Til next

Margaret x

 

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Throwin’ a Friday arvo sickie…

image of Connecticut quilt

…cos I feel like blogging not working.

I’ve been continuing with this quilt over the last couple of months

image of WIP quilt

working title Connecticut Quilt

but before I show you how it’s evolving I want you to see how the 1800s Sunburst is looking now that all the blocks are together.

IMAGE OF Sunburst-wr-wm

working title 1800s Sunburst.

We all know what a nice feeling it is when the last bit of stitching is done on a quilt top.  And this one was no exception…that was a lot of hand pieced circular blocks!  The applique petals were very quick to do though and now it she is all ready for the quilting machine.  I’m not in a great hurry to quilt her though…I’m still mulling quilting ideas over in my head.

So back to the Connecticut quilt and when I left you last I was pondering whether the baskets would stay or go…Thank you for all your kind and encouraging comments, I really appreciated the input.

I did decide to keep them, but they needed a little *attention* so I took them off to neaten them up…

image of baskets

Off they came.

…and in true Libran style I changed my mind and they didn’t go back on.

You see I’ve always liked these little Peony blocks.

image of Peonies

Peony Blocks.

 I’m just finishing the last half dozen or so blocks at the moment and then that will be a border complete.

This is how it’s all looking so far.

image of Connecticut quilt

Connecticut Quilt take 2.

There’s still a wee way to go with it…more borders of course.  But sooo nice to be moving forward with this after a long hiatus.

Spring is in the air here and it was lovely to spend an evening in the city with my darling daughter recently…drinks, ballet, dinner.

I had fun making this photo collage of our evening.

Image of Melbourne Collage

I heart Melbourne.

thanks for visiting,

til next,

happy stitching

Margaret

Two finishes

image of OMG Ombre

I have finally completed the top of Miss Hitchens’ Whimsy, just the quilting to do now.

*Insert Happy Beaming Face*

image of Miss Hitchens' Whimsy

Miss Hitchens’ Whimsy

With MHW’s completion I got stuck into OMG Ombre…cutting the fabric for the remaining flying geese blocks.  Well when I say remaining I mean 22 of the 25 needed…I hadn’t got very far initially.

image of OMG Ombre

Ready to sew.

I spent a lovely (coldish) weekend two weekends ago sewing by the fire, using foundation piecing for speed and accuracy.

image of OMG Ombre

The pile of finished blocks getting bigger.

 By the end of the weekend I had made all the Wild Goose Chase blocks and then started playing with the alternate blocks…I needed to decide if I did or didn’t want them scrappy, did I want to add pink triangles? (cos I had a nice pink Ombre print I was dying to use)

image of Alternate Blocks

Some ombres, some checks, some florals… No pink, didn’t look right.

There was a bit of this going on periodically to make sure I was still happy…

image of Alternate Blocks

Yep, happy with that.

But the weekend was over too soon and I had to pack it away :-(

The very next weekend, out it all came again and I finshed the alternate blocks, assembled them and *even* got the border on.

More decisions to be made there of course, lol I had in my head that it would be quite a subtle pieced border…there was enough going on in the centre I thought.

image of OMG Ombre

I started out subdued but got progressively bolder.

I tried all sorts of combinations and ended up with this… Not what I had in mind at all but, hey sometimes you have to listen to what the quilt has to say.

image of OMG Ombre

More ombre, more prussian blue, more brown.

 So I have two quilts ready to machine quilt .. such a good feeling.

Hoping you are getting some productive sewing time too

til next

Happy stitching

Margaret

Progress x three

image of 1800s sunburst blocks

I’m so close to finishing Miss Hitchens’ Whimsy … I can hardly believe it.

I’ve calculated just four evenings of stitching will complete the remaining two small corner blocks.

(once I have prepared them of course)

image of Miss Hitchens' Whimsy corner

Miss Hitchens’ Whimsy corner block…two down, two to go.

And then I just need a few hours to assemble because all the border strips are sewn…

image of Miss Hitchens' Whimsy borders

Miss Hitchens’ Whimsy outer borders.

…and the centre is done.

image of Miss Hitchens' Whimsy Centre

Centre block…FULL of Broderie Perse.

It is such a *good* feeling.

So that is the first of the three quilts that are in the *Priority Pile*.

The second is the 1800s Sunburst Quilt…maybe progress is too specific a word for this.  Chugging, nay Plodding along might be more apt but I am getting there and I periodically have another finished block to admire.

image of 1800s sunburst blocks

1800s Sunburst blocks, the top left is the most recent finish

I still get a thrill out of finishing one and deciding “which one next?” At the moment I seem to be drawn to these Vermiculate style patterns.

image of 1800s Sunburst blocks

More blocks.

Once MHW is finished I’ll be able to get a bit more gung ho with these blocks.

And I’ve decided to use these Leaf Templates from Made Studio for the elipse corner applique…I’ve used these before and really like the accuracy and speed of these ready made templates.

image of Applique leaves

Made Studio Leaf Templates.

The third is my OMG Ombre (that’s the working title lol)

With the arrival of more of the fabrics I wanted I can get cracking on this (yay)

image of OMG Ombre

Prussian Blue Ombre by Pam Weeks and Eccentric print by Lisa DeBee Schiller.

I’m itching to start sewing again on this… But first I’m going to prepare those last two MHW blocks…today.

I hope you are enjoying your UFO’s too.

thanks for visiting

til next

Margaret :-)