Wyndham Patchworkers Quilt-In 2019

Wyndham Patchworkers have invited me to be the guest speaker at their Quilt- In this year.
They are having a Crazy Quilt theme and challenge and so I will be sure to bring all of my crazy quilts to show.

Here is the flyer they have made to advertise the event.

I hope they get a good crowd and I would love to have some people who read my blog to come because I don't do many teaching or guest speaking jobs these days.

Apparently they have a lovely venue and I am looking forward to meeting them all.

 Date: 14th September
Venue: Chirnsides By the River
             220 Watton Street, Werribee, Victoria
Time: 10am to 3.30pm
Cost: $10 including morning and afternoon tea.

Here is a photo of one of the crazy quilts I will show.

A Time for all Seasons by Linda Steele.

Bye for now,
Linda

A Time for all Seasons- Autumn

I have written a blog post about every season in my quilt A Time for all Seasons except for Autumn.

I've always liked Autumn and love the colours although it's always a bit sad because I know that summer is over and we are heading toward winter. I enjoyed sewing the trees with their red and yellow leaves, it makes a great change from using green.

Autumn

Autumn detail

I also made a block showing late autumn when the trees are becoming bare and everything is getting a bit cooler.

Late Autumn

Late Autumn detail

We get a lot of foggy mornings in Autumn and I tried to create a misty look using organza over the centre section of trees.

Autumn Fog

I think that I was only semi successful in creating fog and I plan to try again one day.

Fog detail

I had some geese flying away for the winter

Geese detail

I enjoyed making the autumn flowers for one of the corners.

Autumn Corner

Corner detail

This is the end of my blog posts about the different seasons in my quilt. If you missed any posts you can click on the links to read about the other seasons, Summer, Spring and Winter.

Bye for now,
Linda

A Time for all Seasons- Report card

My quilt A Time for all Seasons arrived back from the Houston Quilt Festival yesterday. The Houston people always take such great care of the quilts and all the folds are stuffed with rolls of tissue paper.

A Time for all Seasons©2016 Linda Steele

It was interesting to read the judges report, one of them loved it and gave me all excellent scores, the second judge gave me both excellent and satisfactory, so I guess that means that it is in between the two. The third judge gave me mostly satisfactory because she didn't like the scale of my work; she said that my elements while beautiful didn't work well together. I assume she means that I can't make a butterfly in one patch bigger than a bird in another patch. At least I know why I didn't get a prize now. I have never had anyone tell me that everything should be in scale in a crazy quilt before. I am not sure that it is right but I'll keep it in mind if I ever make one again.

Bye for now,
Linda

Houston 2016

The big International Quilt Festival in Houston is over for another year. I wasn't there but I had two quilts on display, so I feel as if a part of me was over there.

My quilt A Time for all Seasons was in the Embellished section in the World of Beauty judged show. I wasn't lucky enough to win a prize this year.

A Time for all Seasons©2016 Linda Steele

I also made a small quilt for the Houston Quilt Show silent auction. I don't know if anyone bid on it yet, I hope so! I called it The Reef.

The Reef©2016 Linda Steele

The Best of Show quilt was won by Cynthia England with her quilt Reflections of Cape Town. It's an incredible picture quilt that is appliqued with hundreds of little pieces of fabric. She has done magnificent quilts before that are pieced but apparently this one is applique.

To see this quilt and the other winners go to the IQF website, I have included the link here.

Bye for now,
Linda

A Time for all Seasons-Summer

This year I finally finished my Seasons quilt.

A Time for all Seasons©2016 Linda Steele

Summer in Australia can be quite hot and where I live we have a lot of agapanthus in our gardens. Sunflowers, roses and butterflies are also in abundance and I put them into my summer block.

Summer block

We also have some lovely sunsets and of course bush fires so I included those themes in the quilt as well.
I decided on a underwater theme for my sunset block, mainly because I am often on holidays overlooking water when I photograph the beautiful sunsets.

Sunset Block

Summer sunset detail

We have had some devastating bush fires in Australia and it was a bit eery at times when I was making this block. I embroidered Australian animals on the block, fleeing or looking scared of the fire.

Summer Bush-fire block.

I used felt and the embellishing machine to make the fire in the centre of the block. You can read about how I made it my clicking on this bush-fire link from a blog post in October 2015.

Here is a photo showing the summer corner of the quilt.

I also included summer in the bottom of the centre clock.

We often have an Ibis or two eating some grass in our backyard during summer especially after some summer rain.

Bye for now,
Linda

A Time for all Seasons- Spring

Spring is officially here in Australia, we managed to get through winter without too much cold weather I think.

I enjoyed making the Spring blocks for my latest quilt A Time for all Seasons.

A Time for all Seasons©2016 Linda Steele

I started the spring section with a sunrise to represent new beginnings.

Sunrise block

Here is a detail photo of the block.

Sunrise detail

I put a nest in the sunrise block to also represent new beginnings.

Sunrise block  nest

I did a blog post all about how I made the nest and you can read about it by clicking here.

I had to include a blossom tree in my Spring section because it is always so exciting to see the blossom trees come to life and I realise that the fine, sunny weather is approaching.

Spring Block

Spring detail

Where I live we also have a lot of windy days in Spring so in my next block I tried to represent the wind.

Spring-Wind

Wind detail

I tried to keep the corner of the Spring section light and breezy.

Spring Corner

Here is a photo of the Spring section from the centre of the quilt in the clock section. I included butterflies and bees as well as some spring flowers.

Spring detail from the clock

It's always good to feel some sun and notice the days getting slightly longer.

Bye for now,

Linda

A Time for all Seasons- Winter

Here in Australia it is the last week of Winter and already we have been having some sunny days and new shoots are appearing on the bushes and the temperature is rising by a few degrees.

I loved working on the winter blocks on my latest quilt A Time for all Seasons.

Apparently if you click on the photos 3 times it enlarges them.

I did the snow block first even though we don't have much snow in Australia and none where I live, I still think of snow when I think of winter. I embroidered a little robin on a snowy branch and a reindeer and some pine-cones. I tried to think cool and icy when I was sewing it.

Winter Block- Snow

Winter detail

I had to be very careful when designing my blocks because it would have seen so easy to put trees in the centre of each one. So in the centre of the rain block I put a little frog who doesn't mind being out in the rain.I included a seagull and a turtle and even some lightning.

Winter Block- Rain

Frog detail

The last block in the winter section was actually a night scene because it was up the top at 12 o'clock and it was to signify the end of winter. I really love the little fox that I have wandering across the block, we have plenty of foxes around our neighbourhood. I also included a possum, bat and grasshopper.

Winter Block- Night 

Fox detail

Here is a photo of the winter corner. This photo was taken before I had finished the quilting because I notice that I haven't done the quilting inside the flowers yet. I'll have to take some more photos when I eventually get the quilt back.

Before I started the applique in the corners I did a test to see if I would fuse the flowers and blanket stitch around them or turn the edges.

Applique testing

I decided that I liked the texture and dimension that I got from the turned edges, so I used the water soluble applique paper and a glue stick to turn all the edges before I sewed them to the block. It made the applique process much easier.

Preparing the applique 

I tried to get a detail photo of the winter section in the centre of the quilt.

Looking at these blocks again makes me remember how much I enjoyed researching the seasons and making the blocks.

Bye for now,
Linda

A Time for all Seasons

My latest quilt is called A Time for all Seasons. I only came up with that title after it was finished; for nearly 3 years I was calling it my seasons quilt. Now people are telling me how much they love my clock quilt! I suppose the clock is a dominant feature. The photo below is a large file so you can see a bit more detail if you click on it.

A Time for all Season ©2016 Linda Steele

My thoughts when making this quilt was how time marches on and the seasons change but sometimes we are too busy to notice how beautiful nature is.

This quilt was a labour of love over the months and months that it took to make but in the end I was really rushing to get it finished in time for the Houston entry cut-off date and Vic Quilters entry, by the time I had finished it, I didn't like it very much, I was completely exhausted and over it.

Of course all that is over now, it's a bit like having a baby, you forget about what you went through and only have the joy of the finished product.

Here is a detail photo of the centre clock. I have divided the centre into the four seasons as well and really tried to get the seasons and embroidery to flow into each other and not make it too jarring.

Centre detail

Each corner of the quilt was devoted to a particular season.

Autumn Corner

Spring corner

Summer corner

Winter corner

I hand appliqued all the flowers, leaves and stems in the four corners and added hand embroidery and beads to enhance them.

Autumn detail

I don't think I have got the season's theme out of my system yet but when I do another one, I think it will be more like a pictorial quilt rather than a crazy quilt. The joy of making art quilts is that I can add the details with the embroidery that I am used to using with my crazy quilts.

So now I am free to start another quilt. I have become quite addicted to the Under the Sea theme and am planning to make a few more of them. I designed an applique miniature quilt a couple of years ago and must try to get that made plus I have a vague idea of another applique quilt, so I have to sit down and try and design that.

I will do some more posts in the future about how I made this quilt because I do take step by step photos as I go.

Bye for now,
Linda

Victorian Quilters Showcase 2016

The Victorian Quilters Showcase is over for another year and I was really lucky to have won three prizes. I started working away on my 'Seasons' quilt three years ago but I didn't get much sewing done last year because I was minding my granddaughter Savannah. I finally finished it this year in time for the quilt show.

This is a photo that I took of my quilt at the show, you can see the ribbons that I won.

A Time for all Seasons ©2016 Linda Steele

I won Runner Up to Best of Show, 1st in my category and Excellence in Embroidery and Embellishment.
I'll give you all the details and some close up photos of the quilt in my next post.

Here is a photo of Bella Rouge, the quilt by Ramona Resurreccion that won Best of Show.

Ramona Resurreccion with her quilt Bella Rouge

Ramona does the most beautiful machine quilting on her long arm machine and she had two other quilts in the show.

Ramona with her quilt Timeless Treasure

Ramona put a beautifully embroidered table cloth onto a background fabric and quilted it, it's a good idea of how to use all those table linens that we have stored in our cupboards.

Her other quilt was in the Modern Quilt section, it is a quilt that she designed based on the triangle roof of Federation Square in Melbourne.

Making a Point by Ramona Resurreccion

My friend Annie Andrews had two quilts in the show and they both won prizes.

Annie Andrews with her quilt Sandrannie

Texas Stars by Annie Andrews

Eileen Campbell won first prize with her quilt called Please Find my Home. There were pictures of various nursery rhyme houses and you had to match them with the names that were printed on the borders of the quilt.

Please Find my Home by Eileen Campbell

Here are some other quilts from the show

Waterlilies by Suzanne Moore

The Pleasure of Patchwork by Darelle Castelow

Quilted Diamonds by Pat Carroll

Star Medallion by Desley Maisano

While I was doing my white glove duty a man came up to me and asked if I could photograph him in front of his quilt. In return he gave me permission to post a photo on my blog

Denham by Max Lennie

Max was inspired by the Jean Paul Gautier exhibition when he designed his quilt. It was double sided and was hanging beautifully flat.

The Profile a Quilter this year was the beautiful long arm quilter Karen Terrens. Here are a couple of her quilts that were on display.

First Blush by Karen Terrens

A Table for Two by Karen Terrens

Her quilting is so beautiful.

My friend Julie Adamson is a hand quilter and she won Excellence in Hand Quilting and Applique with her quilt called Victorian Lace.

Victorian Lace by Julie Adamson

Here is a detail photo so you can get an idea of her exquisite work.

Victorian lace detail 

I also had an official role at the presentation ceremony in my role as President of Waverley Patchworkers .
Waverley Patchworkers gave an award for the Mainly Applique two person section and it was won by Marjorie Bell for her quilt called the Conway Album Quilt.

Here is a photo of me with Marjorie in front of her quilt.

Here is a photo of the quilt.

The Conway Album quilt is a pattern by Irma Gail Hatcher and it was quilted by Yvonne Sebire.

The Victorian Quilters Showcase had so many beautiful quilts this year and it was a well-attended show. Congratulations to everyone who had a quilt in the show. I always say that anyone who finishes a quilt is a winner. They are easy to start but hard to finish.

In my next post I'll show some more photos of my quilt.

Bye for now,
Linda