Hello... again! Time flies...

Wow lovelies, July was my last post and frankly I'm surprised its taken me this long to get a post together.  Sometimes life just gets in the way.  I'm still about, haven't fallen off the face of the earth... just been busy, a few medical issues and well... a bad blogger lol.

Much has happened since I last posted.  I'm still madly in love with Miss Juki... she's such a dream to use and I've quilted a few things in the last few months including a double bed size quilt for one of my students!  Something I never could have done on my little Janome.

You may remember, many moons ago, I had some projects coming up in the August and September issues of Homespun Magazine.  Now that those issues have hit the stores I can now display my projects here.  Homespun did a wonderful job of styling them don't you think?

Love Begins at Home Sampler in August 2015 Homespun Magazine:

Raspberry Tart Pincushion in September 2015 Homespun Magazine:

Here are some other projects I managed to finish along the way....

This quilt, you may remember, was just a flimsy until my stepdaughter requested a quilt for a fundraiser night she was organising.  A family she knows has a boy with muscular dystrophy and they need to purchase a wheelchair modified vehicle.  A friend of mine recently went through the same process so I am aware these vehicles cost around $70,000 and our government only provides a financial assistance of around $5,000.  The remainder of the funds have to be raised by the family which, I think is a huge ask for families coping with an already challenging daily life.

Although I love the fabrics I wasn't overly impressed with this quilt when I pieced it.  Given the urgency of the request I pulled it out of the cupboard and quilted it in a swirl pattern with a nice shiny thread.  By the end of it I had fallen in love all over again - amazing how the quilting can transform a quilt!  It was very hard to part with but it raised some much needed funds for a very worthy cause.

Lately I've been really interested in making quilts that are unique to me, rather than following patterns.  I have discovered Improv quilting and bought some great books on the subject.  As a result I feel that slowly I'm growing as a quilter - exploring style and colour, and starting to take more risks.  This all started when I purchased this book by Victoria Findlay-Wolfe called 15 Minutes of Play.  I'm now focused on rotating old fabrics out of my stash, using up fabric that has been sitting and sitting and getting some of those old UFO's finished.  I'm enjoying the process.

Some of my personal projects got tackled...

I am determined to have a Christmas quilt this year and had been hanging onto these fabrics for ages. In the end I just went for it, improve style, and this is what resulted.  Its not finished yet, I still have a border to add on but I'm really liking it so far.

This is surprisingly my very first Sampler quilt.  I used it as a learning tool to teach one of my students accurate cutting and seaming.  I just used fabrics already in my stash and I'm thinking it will be great to donate to Quilts of Valour Australia.  The pattern was free online here.

Also, I've taken a few steps forward in something very close to my heart.... charity quilts.  I'm going to talk about this in the next post because I really do have a lot to say on the matter, so stay tuned.

In amongst this we had a the Melbourne Quilt and Craft show which my students and I attended together - so much nicer to go with friends than by yourself.  Also our guild had guest speaker Irene Blanck come and show us her beautiful quilts.  And a couple of us went to a workshop with Michelle Yeo at Millrose Cottage in Ballan... oh my, what a fabric heaven that place was!  I can't wait to get back there for some stash enhancement ;)

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday, Sew Fresh Quilts - Lets Bee Social!, Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday and My Quilt Infatuation - Needle and Thread Thursday.

Well, until next time

Leanne x