Victorian Quilters Gathering at Deniliquin

Last weekend I drove up to Deniliquin in NSW for the Victorian Quilters Spring Gathering.

Me with my quilt Naturally Crazy

I was asked to be the guest speaker and so my car was packed with 3 suitcases of quilts.

The tiny suitcase on the left was my clothes, the big ones held the quilts.

The meeting was held in a beautiful old church.

The Church hall

Behind the hall was a picturesque lake.

The room was packed as quilters came from lots of nearby country towns; it was a very friendly meeting.

The committee and members of the Deniliquin quilters had gone to so much trouble to make it a fun day with door prizes and raffle prizes and the most delicious morning and afternoon tea.

There were two large tables of scones for morning tea and two large tables of mixed cakes for afternoon tea. Those ladies certainly know how to cook!

After lunch it was my time to be guest speaker, the ladies were very kind and many told me that they enjoyed hearing my quilting story.

Me as guest speaker

I was lucky enough to have dinner one night with local couple Audrey and John. John cooked up a delicious dinner and dessert for me and the Vic Quilters President, Marie. I had to get a photo taken with Audrey and Marie. Audrey is in the middle and she's looking very serious in the photo but she was a kind and gracious host.

Audrey, Marie and I

 As well as guest speaker I was also there as Vice President of Victorian Quilters. We got a photo with the Vic Quilters committee members who made the trip up there with the Deniliquin committee members.

Committee members

I am so glad that we took the time for the photos because so often we forget these things.

It was a wonderful weekend and the weather was perfect. Thank you to the Deniliquin Quilters for a wonderful day and great memories.

I didn't have a couple of quilts with me because they were in America but one came back when I got back home. In the box was a lovely ribbon for winning 3rd prize in the Paducah Fall Show.

The Bleaching with its ribbon

Bye for now,
Linda

Crazy Quilt Calendar 2019

I was asked by crazy quilter Pamela Kellogg of Kitty and Me Designs to design and sew a Christmas block for her 2019 Crazy Quilt Calendar.

Here is the block that I made for the calendar.

Christmas Crazy by Linda Steele

I used red silk fabrics to foundation piece the background and then started adding the motifs with hand embroidery.

Embroidering the motifs

I didn't take any other step by step photographs; as usual I was so busy and running from one deadline to another that I was just happy to get this block done in time.

Here are some detail photos.

I decided to quilt it because it look so wrong and unfinished without the quilting to me.

The calendar is now available for sale from Pam Kellogg.

The front of the calendar has a block by Shirlee Fassell. I had a look at her blog and she does some beautiful work.

Here is the January page, a beautiful block by Betty Pillsbury

January by Betty Pillsbury

It is a lovely calendar; on the back is a snapshot of all the blocks in the calendar.

Back of calendar

It would be a lovely Christmas present for a friend or just get one for you! The calendars are available through Magcloud


The people who sewed blocks for the calendar are Shirley Fassell, Betty Pillsbury, Suzy Quaife, Kathleen Klein, Nicki Lee Seavey, Karen Guthrie, Pam Peugh, Sandra Visser, Brenda Sandusky, Angela Grasse, Lisa Boni, Heather Brighton and me Linda Steele.

I don't know some of the other names; I'll have to look them up.

Pamela Kellogg produces crazy quilt calendars every year and I have had them before but this is the first time I have been included in her Crazy Quilt Calendar.

If you are interested in purchasing one you can find them at
http://www.magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me


Bye for now,
Linda

Master Class with Ricky Tims

Last week my friend Jill and I drove down to Geelong to do a one day Master Class with famous USA Quilter and Teacher Ricky Tims.

Here is Ricky in action, I was lucky to have a front row seat.

Ricky Tims

He projected lots of step by step photos on a big screen behind him but we were also given a syllabus with notes and step by step photos.

Master class Syllabus

Ricky was very generous and signed our books and put up with us taking his photo. Here I am with Ricky.

Ricky and I

I also got a photo with my friend Jill in it as well.

Jill, Ricky and me

Jill is doing an online photography course with Ricky and has recently been on a photography tour to Ireland with him, so she knows him quite well. Ricky Tims is a busy man.


Ricky had a few of his quilts hanging around the room and he said we can photograph them and touch them as much as we like.

Ricky's Self Portrait

Bohemian Rhapsody detail

Bohemian Rhapsody detail 2

Because Jill is a keen photographer we went down to the beautiful Geelong foreshore to take some photos. Geelong is well known for its many bollards so I took photos of a couple of them.

Band Bollard

Life Saver Bollard

Jill took a photo of me that makes it look as if I am in one of those water globes.

Greetings from Geelong

I was only using my phone to take photos but I got some nice reflections under the pier.

Pier Reflections

The water was a beautiful colour and the boats looked magnificent shining in the sun.

Boats

It started to get dark and on the way back to the car I got a lovely photo of the other side of the pier.

Pier reflections at dusk

It was a great short get away and Jill was great company. Jill has asked me if I'd be interested in going on some other photo shoots with her, maybe I'll get better with my photography!

The Ricky Tims Master Class was hosted by the Geelong Patchworker's Guild and they did a marvellous job. The venue was fantastic and morning and afternoon tea and lunch was provided and of an excellent quality. We also received a goody bag on arrival and were made to feel very welcome.

Ricky encouraged us to get on with our quilting and enjoy every second of it and pursue our goals, I felt very inspired after the class.

Bye for now,
Linda