What am I doing??

Ok, it's no secret that I adore stencilling. What's not to like? You get to use all your skills and end up with something entirely original. And although its mostly forgotten nowadays, stencilling is very traditional too, so its a great technique all round.

So why is my latest quilt needle turn applique??

Well, I bought a roll of Floriani on some good advice from a friend. Its the new way to do things apparently, and trusting her advice (afterall she is an award winning quilter and I love her work) I decided to launch in. I wanted to challenge myself ( I may be regretting this already) in finishing an original applique quilt in the time it would take me to complete a stencil quilt. I can state already that that was wishful thinking! Now I'm trying to create edges as crisp as stencilling.....and points as sharp as stencilling....well I'm getting there, but its definitley a lot of hard work.....and I'm really missing my paintbrush!

My brain has already decided that my next quilt will be a full fledged return to stencilling. Oh those vases are just to die for! (as are the peonies I'm envisioning....)

Better go now and do some hard hours....

Full Speed Ahead!

4 days to to needle turn applique 360 leaves. My entire house is looking like an extension of my sewing studio...and yesterday I gave up cooking, cleaning and shopping until I'm on my way to Sydney!

Decisions ..decisions... still deciding on the centre circle design....

tomorrow is another day.....

Quilting in Geelong

What a perfect day for a quilt gathering! Saturday was grey and rainy as four of us drove in to Geelong together....to Vic Quilter's Autumn Gathering. As we arrived, there was a coffee van cleverly parked right in front of the entrance so we were all able to enjoy a real coffee before going in...in fact we were so keen to get inside and start mingling that we left the lights on in the car. When it was time to go home, the battery was flat. So like all good quilters, we happily sat and stitched while we waited for the RACV to arrive and give us a jump start. Who cares about car trouble when you have quilting friend's for company? Thank you Judith, Grace and Liz for a lovely day....

Yum...Inspiration Strikes !

Well, who needs an excuse? The cake was delicious....it's just a beautiful coincidence that my Mother's Day cake looks awfully familiar..... maybe all this quilting is rubbing off on my family.....

Full Speed Ahead!

After my third attempt, I'm finally happy with my centre...well almost.... I'm still deciding about the middle. Oh well, this quilt has a mind of its own. After a careful selection of fabric and my first draw up of what I envisioned....it just didnt work - so on I went, changing fabrics and one by one discarding all my lovely newly bought fabric and raiding my stash. Yes, all the fabrics I actually needed were already on my shelf. Nevermind the weeks of colour matching specific hues of gold, black and marble and beige....they will just have to wait for their turn....and another quilt design.

I wonder of every quilter goes through this moment, where you design something specific in mind, and it just takes on a life of its own?!

I have 280 leaves left to needleturn applique this week, so I am hoping the changes are finally done! As well as running out of time, I'm posting my progress to keep this quilt on track....

Happy Mother's Day

What a beautiful day....with lots of cake! This beautiful cake was made by my daughters and I think it's so superb that I just had to share.....

My Quilting Cat

Well, this week I have a good reason for being behind in my quilting schedule... Mooshi loves my ironing board, sewing machine (but only when its on and in use), fabric and quilting stash. And, as it was the only spot of sun in the house I didnt have the heart to move her.


I spent my afternoon sorting out a few 'maybe' quilt fabric piles after Valuation this morning.


I was delighted with the all the positive and encouraging feedback I received after posting a few of my quilts on The Quilt Show.

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to leave a comment. I will be posting some stencil ideas up soon so that anyone who's interested can give stencilling a try...