June Crazy Block

I am ready to show you my June block for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 (CQJP). This time it is another blue block. I really love working with the blue colours. It was always my favourite colour growing up, although I probably liked a lighter blue than this. This block is  9 inches wide, all my blocks are going to end up being a round shape but they look square at the moment.

Nutcracker © 2012 Linda Steele

In keeping with my Christmas scene, I have put a nutcracker in the middle of this one. I have quite a collection of nutcrackers that go on display every Christmas, so I had to include one in my quilt.

Can you see the Mouse King lurking up in the top right hand side?

Nutcracker detail

I have used a turkey stitch for the Nutcracker's beard. It is such a bushy beard that it is a bit hard to see his mouth.

This is what the base block looked like before I added the embroidery.

June base block

I was working on this block at the Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC) this year, just in case anyone saw me there and thinks that this block looks vaguely familiar.

People from all over the world are making crazy quilt blocks for the Journal project this year. You can see them by clicking on the link CQJP 2012

Bye for now,
Linda

Art Quilters Display

I forgot to tell everyone about the Waverley Art Quilters display that was on at the Waverley Patchworkers Quilt show a couple of weeks ago. It was a very popular display and we received some lovely compliments about our work. Most of the work displayed is an A3 size. We find that A3 is an achievable size for a small, once a month challenge. For the first couple of years we used A4 but that size became a bit limiting.

Waverley Art Quilters Display 2012

We only showed some of our recent work and not everyone was able to put their work in the display.

Van Gogh Inspired

Inspiration from Image

I think the Inspiration from Image part of the display was my favourite, maybe it was the complementary colours of red and green that made it so vibrant.

To read my last post about the Waverley Patchworkers Quilt Show, click here

Seeing all those red leaves reminds me that there is an Art Quilt Competition running at the moment called One Red Thread. Click on the link to find out all about it. It will be running in conjunction with the Berry Quilting Retreat in September this year, but I think entry forms are due at the end of June. I promised that I would enter, so I had better get onto that!

Bye for now,
Linda

Quilting in Ballarat

There is going to be a wonderful quilting retreat in Ballarat next year. It is called
 Quilt at the Winter School. and the venue is Ballarat Grammar.
Imagine spending 5 days from the 6th to the 12th of July 2012 happily sewing, laughing and learning, chatting, shopping and having a break from your everyday commitments.

There are 11 tutors including myself. I am teaching Celebrate the Crazy Quilt and 5 days will give you time to experience the joy of Crazy Quilting and help find your artistic voice.

Crazy about Kookaburras © 2010 Linda Steele

Over the five days you will learn all of the crazy quilt stitches and combinations as well as 3 different methods of piecing your base block.

Immerse yourself in fabric and thread while we discuss colour and design and how to make quilts that reflect you.

The skills you will learn can be applied to all your work including traditional and art quilts.

Topics covered include, Foundation piecing, Hand embroidery, Ribbon embroidery, Appliqué, Beading, Design, Colour, Dyeing and painting lace and ribbons and much more.

I will be giving the class some patterns but I will also be teaching you how to break free from patterns and design your own.

It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. I have heard that you must book early to ensure a single room.
Click on the link Quilt at the Winter School to find out all about it.

For all those  readers on Facebook, I now have a Facebook page for Linda Steele Quilts. Just click on the link in the right sidebar of my blog to find the page. The page is only a couple of weeks old, so it's pretty new.

Bye for now,
Linda

Waverley Patchworkers Quilt Show 2012

The Waverley Patchworkers Quilt Show is over for another year. Well, two years really because we run the show every two years but the preparation starts a year ahead.
Opening night was a great success despite the appalling weather that we had on Friday. The forecast was to have a months rain in a day. The quilters still came and were treated to a wonderful talk from Leannne Beasley, who is well known for her Leanne's House patterns and her Vingette magazine.

Leanne Beasley Opening the Show

I was lucky enough to win the June Lyons Award which is awarded by the Quilt Show committee for the quilt they admire most that has been made by one person (ie. not commercially quilted).
The quilt I won it for was Naturally Crazy.

June Lyons Award winner, Linda Steele 2012

I was also lucky enough to win 2nd in Viewers Choice for my quilt, Holiday Waltz.

Viewers Choice 2nd. 2012

I can see that I am looking a lot more tired and weary by the end of the show when this photo was taken. Who won 1st Viewers Choice? Mariya Waters, of course. I forgot to take a photo of her quilt but the photos of all the awards and winners should be on the Waverley Patchworkers site soon.

Our wonderful raffle quilt called A William Morris Garden was won by an active member of the club, so that was nice for a change and good to see her collect her prize.

A William Morris Garden 2011

You can read all about the designer, makers and quilter of our raffle quilt by reading a previous post I have done  by clicking here

Bye for now,
Linda

Number 1 Quilting Mistake

Machine quilting has been on my mind a lot lately for two reasons. The first reason is that have just finished machine quilting two large quilts. The second reason is that I have been teaching my Beginners Machine Quilting Class three times in the last three weeks. That is 32 new machine quilters starting out on the exciting road to quilting their own quilts.

There are so many pitfalls on the road to machine quilting your own quilts, but the number 1 mistake that people make is not using enough pins.

Size 2 safety pins

I always use size 2 curved safety pins. They are so much easier on your fingers and hands than the old fashioned straight pins. The container below shows my collection of pins. By the time I have finished pin basting a large quilt, this container is empty!

Make sure the quilt is completely stabilised with pins because that quilt is going to be pushed and shoved through a sewing machine and you don't want any shifting of those layers. Nothing is more depressing than finding a fold or tucks on the back of your quilt after all that work of machine quilting.

I went through my photos and found a couple of pictures that I had taken after a pin basting session.

Eastern Elements Pin Basted

Holiday Waltz Pin Basted

.

Eastern Elements took 4 hours to baste and Holiday Waltz took 3 and a half hours.

Hello to my students at the Wonga Park Community Cottage and the Geelong Patchwork and Quilters Guild. I hope you are doing some practice. Be kind to yourself and start quilting some small items before you tackle that large quilt.

Wonga Park Class

Wonga Park Class

 We were so busy quilting in Geelong that I forgot to take any photos. Oh well, I hope to be back there next year with another quilting lesson that takes us beyond stippling to the fun of all sorts of different stitches to add to your quilts.
By the way, if someone tells me that they ended up with a fold at the back of the quilt, I know that they haven't basted the quilt properly. Please don't rush this step.

Happy Quilting, it's my favourite part of making a quilt now.

Bye for now,

Linda

Do you Design?

I started designing my own quilts in 2004. I certainly never expected to go in that direction when I first started quilting. Once I started on that road, I couldn't stop. I get so much pleasure from it.
Designing is not particularly easy for me and it takes a long time but it is so satisfying.
I never know when an idea will strike but it is often mixed up  with my life experiences somehow. We are all a product of our past. Even if we experience the same thing as a friend, our reactions to it are based in part on our life experience.

I recently read a blog post by a quilt designer, Tanya Brown who has documented her design process on her latest quilt. This is a rare pleasure. Quilt designers are usually too caught up in the trials and tribulations of designing and creating to stop and think and write about what they have done.

I don't know Tanya Brown but she was kind to me once. My quilt Crazy About Ballet was in Houston and she took a photo of it hanging there and emailed me a copy. She didn't have to do that but it warmed my heart. I have followed her blog ever since.

Crazy about Ballet © 2007 Linda Steele


Here is the link to Tanya Brown's latest blog post about the beautiful art quilt that she has finished.
I hope you enjoy the sneak peek into her designing.

Bye for now,
Linda

May Crazy Block

I am managing to keep up to date with the Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP 2012). This months block is a dark red block with a snowman in the centre.



CQJP May  2012  Linda Steele

I used satin stitch for his face but I changed to stem stitch for his body, I wasn't very happy with the satin stitch and thought that stem stitch looked a bit more textured for the snow. Not that I really know much about snow, living in suburban Melbourne, Australia. I think I've only seen snow twice in my life.

Here is the base block without the embroidery. This one is a 7" block.

You can see that I had started the embroidery when I remembered to take a photo. I have used a mixture of silk and cotton fabric. In future I must try and remember to take a photo before I add the beads. I think that the beads really improve the block and it looks so plain without them.

I am enjoying looking at all the blocks that other people are making. Photos of blocks from all over the world have been posted on the CQJP Blog.

If you go to the CQJP Website and click on Inspiration Photos, you will find that they have given the participants their own page and you can see all their blocks that they have done so far.

I have already started my June block.

Bye for now,
Linda