Looking Forward to AQC 2016

AQC (Australasian Quilt Convention) is just about to begin. It is always so much fun and has a very high standard of quilts on display.

One of the reasons that Quilters really love AQC is because all of the shops are designed for quilters in mind, so we don't have to wade through the extra crafty shops.

I have two quilts on display at the Convention this year.

My Life on the Reef is part the A Matter of Time exhibition. Brenda Gael Smith curated this exhibition and is doing a floor talk about the quilts at 12.30pm every day of the Convention. I will be at the talk on Thursday, I am so looking forward to seeing the other quilts up close. Brenda will also have some catalogues for sale.

Life on the Reef ©2016 Linda Steele

My Firelight quilt will also be on display at the Brother stand.

Firelight © 2015 Linda Steele

 I will only be at AQC on Thursday 14th this year because I have to spend all my available time trying to finish my Seasons Quilt by the end of May deadline!

I hope to catch up with many friends, get to do some shopping and do white glove duty with the quilts in the afternoon. It should be a very busy day, but so much fun.

AQC- Thursday April 14th to Sunday April 17th 2016

Venue- Royal Exhibition Building
9 Nicholson Street,
Carlton Gardens
Victoria
Australia

Open 10am - 4.30 daily

Bye for now,
Linda

How to Embroider a Bird's Nest

I wanted to put a bird's nest on one of my spring themed crazy blocks and I wasn't sure how to go about it. I looked at some images on Pinterest but couldn't find what I was looking for and so finally came up with my own idea.

I cut out a little nest shape in brown felt and fused it to my block. You will notice that I added a little circle of black fabric behind it to add some depth.

I started embroidering some straight stitches over the top of the felt while trying to replicate a nest. I wasn't trying to be very neat or even, I was just trying to keep an oval shape.

After I had gone around the felt in a variegated brown thread, I added in some stitches in a couple of other colours to make the nest look a bit more haphazard.


Here is my completed nest, I added three little beads to complete the look.

I was happy with the result; I think any little bird would find it a cosy nest!

Bye for now,
Linda

Happy Easter

Easter is over for another year but I always enjoy having the family all together. The weather was fine and we had a lovely BBQ lunch followed by dessert of Easter eggs and fruit. I think more Easter eggs were eaten than fruit!

We started the day with this many Easter eggs but we had much more later on because all the kids brought over eggs as well!

Savannah is 16 months old now and so could have some Easter eggs for the first time. She was given a little yellow bucket of eggs that she carried around all afternoon.

Of course she dropped those eggs many times.

She did eventually get to eat one though.

I managed to get some sewing done on the Monday holiday which made me very happy.

I think that this is the largest template that I have ever made, it is 45" across.

I made it out of freezer paper and then turned the edges with some glue because I want to try and keep it from warping.

Here it is with all the edges turned.

The next thing to do is applique it onto my quilt without it moving out of position too much.

Still, it means that I am one step closer to getting my quilt finished.

Bye for now,
Linda

Website Update and a quick trip to Adelaide

We had a quick visit interstate to Adelaide over the weekend for an engagement party. Even though it was only for one night it was good to catch up with my brothers and my friend of many years.
Little Savannah is 16 months old now and we loved being able to introduce her to family and friends in Adelaide. It was a whirlwind trip and I can't believe that we could do so much in two days.

Savannah 16 months

Savannah 16 months

 It's been a busy year so far and one of the many things I have been doing is updating my website, Linda Steele Quilts. It is just about right now, just needs a few tweeks here and there.


I love the new Home page with the slideshow of 6 of my quilts.

There is also a page of some of my quilt patterns that I am selling with payment through PayPal. I know that people have been asking for the pattern for my Christmas Crazy but there will be a delay with it because I just don't have the time to draw it up for a few more months. At this stage it might not be available until next year.

There are also easy links to the Linda Steele Quilts Facebook Page and Instagram Page.

What is missing is my Workshops page because I am taking a break from teaching while I try to get my quilt finished and devote time to being President of Waverley Patchworkers, who also have a new website.

I am actually making progress with my seasons quilt, I have finally finished the applique corners and should be able to start sewing all the elements together and start thinking about how I am going to quilt it.

Here is a photo of the Autumn corner with the embroidery added. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Please visit my website and let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions to make it better.

Bye for now
Linda

Elements of Design - Line

This year the Waverley Art Quilters are continuing the study of the book by Sandra Meech called Connecting Design to Stitch.

This year we are concentrating on the Elements of Design which are the things within the design that help complete it and make it a success. The Elements are the visual tools used to compose a piece of work.

This month was all about Line.

A line can be a path or mark that can direct attention to an important point. A line can also join up to itself to make a shape, which is what we will study next time.

Lines can be straight (static), curved (flow), diagonal (adds energy). A contrast between horizontal and vertical lines can create tension. A horizontal seascape can suggest calm. When you start to look you can see lines everywhere.

I had been admiring the quilts of Carol Ann Waugh lately and decided to use her idea of making a quilt using lines of programmed stitches in my sewing machine.

First I couched some braids and wool and then I added some programmed stitches that are on my Bernina 820 sewing machine.

Here is what the work looked like before I quilted it.

I was going to stick with an underwater theme for my art quilts this year and thought this could represent reeds under water. I don't think it was very successful. It might have been better if I had stuck to one colour.

Quilts always look better when they are quilted and this was the easiest quilting I have ever done. It was just lines of quilting between the lines of stitches.

If you click on the photos they appear larger.

This little quilt didn't take long to make and I learnt a bit more about my sewing machine which is always a bonus.
I never use the programmed stitches on my machine and thought I didn't have many anyway. It turns out that whenever I pressed one of the stitch buttons another screen opened with a page of more stitches. It turns out that my machine has many fancy stitches. I also learnt about the pattern end and button begin button and learnt how to make a stitch larger and still keep the integrity of the stitch.

I love learning new things about my machine.

Bye for now,
Linda

Present for Liz

Earlier this year I was told that Elizabeth Dubbelde had sold her quilting shop in Berry NSW and I was asked to contribute a block as a goodbye present. I met Liz when I taught at her retreat a few years ago in 2012.

Liz has not left the quilting scene; she just wants to take things a little easier by concentrating on planning her retreats and quilt show without trying to run a shop as well. You can see her new website here.

The block had to be 8" square and I had just finished my Life on the Reef Quilt and so it was easy for me to use the fabrics and supplies that I still had out.
 Here is a photo of my Life on the Reef quilt.

I cut out a background fabric and fused on some fish and plant life.

It came to life when I added the hand embroidery.

I have heard back from Liz and she was delighted with the block that I made. She might make a fabric book out of all her blocks.

Speaking of my Under the Sea quilt, it was on display in the Matter of Time Exhibition at the Sydney Stitches and Craft Show last week. Lisa Walton of Dyed and Gone to Heaven lives in Sydney and sent me a photo of some people admiring my quilt. Thanks Lisa.

I am looking forward to the exhibition coming to Melbourne next month for the Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC) where I can see my quilt again and more importantly have a closer look at how the others in the exhibition interpreted the theme Time.

Bye for now,
Linda

Waverley Patchworkers Raffle Quilt 2016

The Waverley Patchworkers have their quilt show at the end of May this year and as usual they have made a beautiful raffle quilt. It is called Carnival Constellation.

It was designed by Naomi Hynes and Linda C, Joy and Karen M helped Naomi make the quilt and finally it was quilted by Naomi Hynes of Elegant Stitch Quilting and Design.

Carnival Constellation

Here are a couple of detail photos that show the beautiful quilting.

Hasn't Naomi done a beautiful job with the quilting?

Tickets will be $2 each and all the money raised will go to the Waverley Benevolent Society. The tickets will be available from next month as well as at the quilt show.

Bye for now,
Linda