Beginner's Patchwork

Today was Day 2 in a 3 day series of classes for the Beginner's Patchwork. After finishing their quilt tops on Day 1 today they learn how to pin their quilts.

Here is Sandy and Dianne pinning Dianne's quilt.

Fabric EVERYWHERE!

Just when you thought you knew where everything was in the shop, Sue has moved a few things around. Part of the reason for the re-arrangement is that we are added more and more fabrics and running out of space. We now have over 4000 fabrics in the shop! We have also made more space for expanding ranges of patterns which you can see with ease now that we have them up on display. The DMC threads got moved so did the expanding range of books that we stock. The spots and strips are now out with the patterns as the quilter's muslin and purples needed more space. The flannels are taking over the children's fabrics so the got two new bookcases as well. There are new bookcases everywhere slowly filling up, the problem is when they are full what will we do? Mezzanine floor has been suggested or sky hooks...... or we might have found a solution stay tuned.

New Fabric in

We just received 20 new rolls of Mary Rose Fabric by Quilt Gate. We stock one of the largest ranges of Mary Rose in Australia and they are a beautiful range of fabrics.

The new fabrics are a stunning range of mauve and raspberry colours, with a few greens. This range of fabric has expanded so much that they don't all fit on the display area and we have had to add two new bookcases to show them all!

Mariners Compass with Chris Jurd Day 2

The ladies are all progressing well with this class. I love the range and variety of colours and fabric they are all using, there will be so stunning quilts made from this class.

Here is a photo of them with their progress so far.

Who is Stitch?

A few people have asked who is Stitch.

Stitch is our shop mascot. In Southern Highland area there are alot of wombats. At the side of our drive-way there is a wombat hole and Sue had a close encounter one evening with this wombat! So we thought it was only fitting that the shop's mascot be a wombat.

Stitch is a international traveller and has been to a few of the International quilt shows in America.

Here are some photos from her adventures: A close encounter with Jaws, A ride on the Terminators Motor Bike, Relaxing in Disneyland and Waiting for her plane in Portland, Oregon.

New Bag - Haute Mama

I have just finished our new bag for September's Bag Club. This is a design by Whistlepig Creek called "Haute Mama". It has been designed to be a diaper bag but could easily be used as a normal bag. It has 8 pockets so plenty of storing spaces. We have the patterns in stock if you are not part of our bag club and are interested in just the pattern. The bag is now on display in the shop

I used the new range of fabrics Santorini by Lila Tueller for Moda which just look stunning made up using this pattern.

Amazing Quilters - Inge Mardal & Steen Hougs

While at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival I was fortunate to see several quilts created by the couple: Inge Mardal & Steen Hougs. They are a French couple who are award winning quilters.
They had one quilt in the exhibition - The Sky's the Limit call "Capturing the Eye" that I went and stood in front of for a while just taking it in. They also had another quilt in the Town and Country Exhibition which took out first prize called "Threshers"
Their quilts are amazing and you have to check out their website www.mardal-hougs.com
Take a look through their quilt slide show and watch out for one of their quilts which is of two swans.

All Creatures Great and Small......

We had an unexpected observer in Kay's class this past weekend. Barney is a 5 month old wombat which was rescued by one of our students - Lyn who is a wildlife carer. Barney definitely was the star of the show over the weekend.

Here he is with Stitch our shop mascot.

Kay Haerland - Tactile Emblishments

This weekend we had Kay Haerland teaching Tactile Embellishments. There were some interesting noises coming from the classroom....... In the class they were learning techniques for creating realistic and tactile landscape embellishments with a focus on tree trunks. The ladies had a great time over the weekend here are some photos of their work.

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 5

The final day..... my bags are packed I fly home tonight, but what fun I've had.

Today was my final class with Judith Baker Montano - embroidery of Trees and Shrubs. Some of you will know that I am not a hand quilter, I try to avoid it as much as possible. However when I saw this class I thought, I have to do it, without realising that it was a hand embroidery class (I thought it was on machine!). Anyway when I was packing for the trip and getting all my bits and pieces together I saw sewing needles and hand needles and realised what I had signed up for. So I was a bit hesitant when I walked into the class, but what fun it was and a great learning experience. Here are a few photos from the class. For those of you who like Judith's work she has a new book coming out later this year (I've ordered it for the shop) called "Fibreart Montage - combining photography, embroidery, quilting with embellishments" It should be in the shop in September.

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 4

Day 4 at the show, only 1 day left after today. My feet are hurting, so is my head, but I'm having lots of fun.

Today I took another class with John Flynn - Storm at Sea. I love the look of these quilts, and how the design can play with your eyes.

I took a photo of the class room today so you can see the layout. In a class there is approximately 10 - 25 people. Today's class has over sold and there was 30 of us. Everyone gets a sewing machine. The machines are provided by the different companies, during my time at the show I've used Bernina, Janome and Husqvarna (they call them Viking in the US). The only difficulty in to the rooms is that there are only 2 irons, which doesn't make it easy.

During my lunch break I headed down to the show to do some shopping - here are a few pictures of the show.

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 3

The first day of the festival/show being opened to the general public. Lots of people around the convention centre today.

Today I took a class with Marti Michell. Marti is a lovely lady and I have previously met her at Houston but this time I was fortunate to have the chance to take one of her classes - Log Cabins. Once again this is a quilt style that I have never attempted and thought it was time to make one of these quilts. The class was fun and Marti is a calm and relaxed teacher which makes the class very enjoyable.

Only 2 more days left at the show, time is flying by quickly!

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 2

Day 2 of classes, today I had one class in the afternoon with Nancy Brenan Daniel. She is an author of several book but today's class was based on a new book she having published at the end of the year. Here are some samples of the pieces I made in the class.

Just after the class finished there was a preview night of the show which runs from 5pm till 9pm. This is when it opens up to those who are members of the association, those who are attending classes and have pre-registered. It's a good time to see the show as there isn't that many people and especially have a look at the quilts that are on exhibition.



This was the line up of women waiting patiently
for the doors to open.

Long Beach International Quilt Festival Day 1

Today was the first day of classes at Long Beach Quilt Show. They start classes on the Wednesday however the show doesn't open until Friday. It's a bit quiet around the convention centre but I'm sure it will be busy once the show opens. Long Beach it about a 40 minute drive from the airport. The area is a bit like Darling Harbour here in Sydney, it has all been newly developed and they are still opening up areas.

Today's Day class was with John Flynn - Double Wedding Ring.

I've always been a bit afraid to sew curves. I tried once and got so frustrated when it didn't work that I put it down and never went back to it BUT when I saw this class was on I thought I should bite the bullet and try. It's always been a quilt that I have wanted to do and being a soft curve makes it easier to sew. The class was very enjoyable. John had an amazing collection of quilts to show us. Check out his website http://www.flynnquilt.com/






This evening's class (I've been here from 9am in the morning until 9pm today!) was with Jodi Barrows who is the designer of Square in a Square. The quilt we were making was Trinity River Bridge which features in one of her new books. The class was great as she showed us all the possibilities of using this ruler and also how quick the method is! (we will be stocking the rulers in the shop soon and running classes on how to use them!) Here is a picture of the quilt (hopefully mine should look like this when I'm finished)



More tomorrow x Tamsin

Mariners Compass with Chris Jurd

Today was Chris' first class for Mariner's Compass which is a 3 day class over 3 months.

I just came out of the class and Chris has been showing the class some of her other quilt, wow they are amazing.

AND some good news we are now stocking a range of Chris' patterns. They are priced 15.50 to $26.50 and in the shop now! We will be loading them onto the website shortly.

Left: Chris Jurd with Sharon, Mariner's Madness in the Background

Frannie

"Frannie" is a design by Lyn Weeks.

This class was a 2 day class that we ran over 2 months.

The ladies had a fantastic time and we are now starting to see some finished dresses.

This is a sample by Annemarie made for one of her granddaughters.

I'm Addicted......

I have to admit that I have a major addiction at the moment.......

I love food and many of you will know I've been a chef, so it was only natural that I would at one time combine quilting/sewing and food together. I have over the past few weeks been making felt food for my niece. I've mainly stuck to making "sweet" items but it really is amazing some of the piece people are making - sushi, whole cakes, pizza, hamburgers!

Here are a few samples of the pieces I've made.

It is a good addiction I have to add, at least it doesn't add on the pounds

Tamsin

Fabric, fabric and more fabric

FABRIC, FABRIC EVERYWHERE! It's a bit like an explosion just recently with new deliveries of fabric arriving. At the end of last month after the stocktake we had just under 4000 rolls in the shop, now we definitely have over 4000!

So what new fabrics have we gotten in........

Amy Butler Fabrics. We have not been stocking these fabric and decided it was time to get them in the shop we now have over 30 of her fabrics available. We have also her patterns for bags in the shop ($20.50) so now it will make it easier for you to buy them both together at the same time.

Morris Workshop By Barbara Brackman for Moda. This is a yummy collection of William Morris fabrics.

Japanese Indigo's - 6 new fabrics have arrived

Stack, Slash and Sew

It's always great to see finished products from those who have attended classes with us. Stack, Slash and Sew has been a very popular class for the shop as it is a quick and easy quilt to make. Lilian emailed us this photo the other day of her finished quilt and I had to share the picture with you.

"Grace"

Jennie was teaching in the shop on Saturday and brought "Grace" the new quilt she will be teaching from September onwards for us. It was just so stunning that I had to take a new photo and put in on here for all of you to see. Jennie has used several of the fabrics from the Mary Rose Collection by Quilt Gate in the piece, which gives it a soft gentle look. The ladies in her class will really enjoy making this quilt.