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

She's Arrived!!!

Hooray, after weeks and weeks of nervous anticipation... my Juki TL-98P finally arrived!!!! Oh joy of joys she is everything I had hoped she would be.   Its like going from 4 cylinder sewing to a roaring V8.  She goes from 0 to flat out in a second.  It's lucky there are no speeding fines in sewing or I would have lost my licence for sure ;) haha

We've had lots of playtime together, mostly piecing and I'm really happy with my purchase.  I did, however, have to make another purchase to make room for her in my little studio (sometimes one thing leads to another!).  I still use my old Janome for teaching students and piecing work (I bought the Juki mostly for FMQ) so I soon realised that if I was going to make the space functional I required a better setup.

So I purchased these two desks from Officeworks and did a bit of rearranging.

My studio is now a lot more manageable and the light from the window is a godsend.  I was working in my shadow before - sew annoying ;).  I also made myself a design wall from a large piece of batting and a dowel rod.  I just folded the batting over the top and stitched down to make a rod pocket - too easy and much better than laying out on the floor.

This is actually the meals area of the house, which is great because its right next to the kitchen, makes me accessible to the kids and I can keep an eye on dinner and sew at the same time!  I usually pull out my cutting mat and place it on our dining table if I need to cut yardage, otherwise my old cutting mat is under my Janome so I can trim up blocks or do paper foundation trimming... perfect!  Storage is aways an issue for me, but I cleaned out my linen cupboard in the hallway so my batting and large items live there.  It did lead me to wonder though, why hasn't someone invented and ironing board with straight legs?  That way we could store things underneath it.  I may (shhhhh don't tell DH) get another shelving unit and just have an ironing board mounted on top to solve this problem.... need to think about it a bit more.

I had a new student start a few weeks ago and there is also talk of a custom quilt job on the horizon so having a space that can cope with all of these things is quite important.

I've been quite busy working on a mystery quilt for our guild members.  It's a garden themed quilt.  At this stage I can only reveal the first block as the members have only just been given this block... but as you can see, its quite pretty.

Dresden plate centre block

The colours were picked with the help of my friend Lorraine, from Patchwork Passion in Cranbourne and what a marvellous job she did.  Beautiful fabrics are always a pleasure to work with.. and.. this will be my first quilt where I haven't pre-washed the fabrics! Eeeeek!  That scares the crap out of me but sometimes we have to live on the edge a bit ;)

I've been delving into my scraps making some quilts for a worthy cause... more about that in the next few days... and also a baby quilt for a friend who's daughter is expecting a baby in August... my friends first grandchild :)

I also played around with my Dresden plate ruler and came up with this little beauty... I might do a tutorial on this soon :) I call it my Kaleidoscope Cushion -  it was so much fun!

There is lots going on here, especially being school holidays, so I have lots to share... I'm lucky I'm getting a lot of time of late to spend in the sewing room... going to dig into my growing pile of UFO's and get some things finished so you may see some 'oldies but goodies' popup.

Can I just say that the very inspiring Victoria Findlay-Wolfe has a lot to answer for and I'm itching to play in my fabrics and make some truly unique quilts, so expect to see more of that from me in the future :)

I'm linking up with Mollie Sparkles Sunday Stash, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, My Quilt Infatuation and Pink Doxies.

Ok until next time

Yours in Stitches

Leanne x

Fun at the AQC!

Hello lovelies, once again I have been lured in by an unloved sewing machine sitting in an antique warehouse.  They are like abandoned puppies... just waiting for someone to love them lol.

Miss Janome was found last weekend and at only $38 she was a steel!  She came in good condition, with original manual and extension table in a vinyl case.  After a bit of TLC I'm pleased to say she is sewing beautifully.  Unfortunately she didn't seem to have any accessories/additional feet but thats ok.

The Singer 201K was found on ebay for only $20!!!!! thats insane!  She came with a case and has a knee lift to make the machine stop and start.  After a little cleaning and rewiring she sews quite well, having to make a few tension adjustments but we are getting there.  The 201K was said to be one of Singer's greatest successes.  She has a wider throat space than other models and was designed to be a heavy duty machine.  More about her here.

I've now made a separate page entitled "My Vintage Sewing Machines" which can be found on the right hand side of this blog if you are interested.

Now onto the big event... the Australasian Quilt Convention!  Last Saturday I attended the AQC at the Royal Exhibition Buildings in Melbourne (a truly stunning piece of Melbourne architecture).  Each year this show just gets better and better, and this year was no exception.  All quilting related stalls so that was fantastic.  I usually get there just on opening and leave just before closing.  I park underneath in the secure underground carpark which makes it easy for me to get a pass out and take purchases back to the car though out the day (my neck and back thank me for this!).  It's a big day but there is just so much to see, and you never see everything the first time around.  I'm sorry to say that I didn't take any (nope none) photos whilst I was there because, frankly I just wanted to take it all in.  Follow the link and take a look at the gallery pics - the exhibition display was amazing.

For some time now I have been toying with the idea of purchasing a new sewing machine.  I've looked at the big players, Bernina and Janome but oh there are so many features I just wouldn't use.  I adore my little Janome QC4618 (Jan as she's affectionately called), she's getting on a bit now but still going strong but the more I'm delving into my free motion quilting the more I'm feeling a little restricted.

For starters, I need more throat space, Jan's is just too limiting and having to push and tug a quilt into that confined space is really annoying me.  I also would like the needle down function, a knee lift, an extension table and thread cutter.  I really don't need fancy stitches and computerised screens.  Then I stumbled across a few bloggers who raved about their Juki 2010Q... quilters such as Victoria Findlay Wolfe and Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts.

A WHAT?????? a JUKI?????? virtually unheard of in Australia except in the industrial machine world.

Apparently these machines are the domestic version of an industrial machine, all metal housing, nothing fancy, but fast (1500 stitches per minute) and tough as nails.  They need to be oiled and they just do straight stitch (simple - just like my old vintage machines).  I hunted high and low for a Juki 2010Q in Australia but they just don't exist.  But alas at the AQC I see a Juki stand *angels singing* and find out from the Australian Juki ambassador, Mollie Sparkles, that this machine was never released in Australia but the Juki TL-98P is the Australian equivalent and quilters are raving about them.

I touched it, I played with it... and... I loved it!!!!  It goes from zero to flat out with ease and quilts like a dream.  I WANT ONE!!!

After visiting my local Juki dealer and having yet another play, I have placed a deposit on one.  Three weeks wait as they are sold out at the moment, but oh I just can't wait!

Anyway, back to the AQC, here are a few of the things I purchased at the show:

• '15 Minutes of Play' and 'Double Wedding Ring Quilts' books by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  I've just discovered this woman and until recently I didn't think much of modern quilts but Victoria makes it seem so easy.  Her creativity is contagious and she really helps you to step outside your ideas of what a quilt 'should' look like and just create.  I love reading about her process, and how she links her quilts to her past, making her work personal.  Victoria also loves her Juki and is the American ambassador for Juki and, my other favourite company, Sizzix.
• A practice panel for quilting feathers from Pauline's World.  This is a panel printed with various feather designs.  You simply pretend this is a quilt top, sandwich with batting and backing and then quilt away FMQing the feathers but without thread.  You can do it over and over until you get the feel and motion of FMQ feathers, what a great idea.
• Gail Pan's 'Vintage Sewing Collage' and the items to make it - it was fun hunting for all the items required - sewing machine print linen, ruler trim, mini lace motifs, buttons, etc.
• Some laminated fabric - I've never sewed with this before but I'm thinking some little make up bags might be nice - they would make great Xmas presents too.
• Two new Sizzix dies for my Fabi Cutter.  It was great to see a Sizzix stand at the show.  There are sooooo many more dies available that what Spotlight carry.  I'm saving my pennies for the next craft show where I can stock up on more dies.  They are so hard to find and the prices at the show were very reasonable.  I haven't mentioned my Fabi Cutter but Santa was very generous to me last year (er um this was my Xmas present to myself lol),  I must remember to do a separate post on how much I love it.
• I didn't buy a lot of fabric this year because quite frankly I have so much and I really need to be using what I have.  But these were just a couple that appealed to me.
• A gorgeous little miniature sewing machine - the right size for a dolls house... so cute!

So thats it, I think I was pretty restrained actually!

Well until next time, I'm linking up with Mollie Sparkles Sunday Stash.

Yours in stitches

Leanne x