Blog

It has been a busy ‘Quilting’ week for me…….AQC in Brisbane on the weekend and back to Canberra on Tuesday to hang quilts in our Annual Guild Exhibition, which is being held at the Canberra Craft Alive event. The official opening was yesterday and my quilt ’Antique French Lace’ was awarded Bernina Best in Show. It was a lovely honour. Thankyou Bernina for sponsoring this award and supporting the Canberra Quilting Community.

Canberra Quilters have a beautiful display of quilts made by many talented quilters.

To see photos of all the quilts, including the prize winners, visit https://canberraquilters.org.au/2022-virtual-exhibition/

2022 Virtual Exhibition

I had the pleasure of a quick trip to Brisbane to attend AQC, where the winners from the 2019 Guild Shows were being exhibited and judged for the National Bernina Best in Australia Award. It was lovely to be able to join together after such a long hiatus due to Covid restrictions.

It was a colourful showcase of work by many talented quilters. I felt honoured that my quilt ‘Utsukushi Omoide – Beautiful Memories’ representing the ACT, was displayed with all the other state winners. Congratulations to Catherine Butterworth for her quilt ’Star Crazy’, which was awarded Best of Australia.
Thankyou Bernina for sponsoring such a prestigious event for Australian Quilters.

A new project is slowly coming together. Lots of fun fussy cutting the new Tilda fabric range, Cotton Beach. I am trying a new method of appliqué for me, where the freezer paper is on the wrong side of the appliqué piece, all turned under and ironed before sewing onto the background…..it seems to be working well.

I decided to try a Byannie pattern, a bag with lots of pockets for my quilting workshops.

It was a lot more involved than I thought , definitely not a weekend project.
It was the first time I had sewn with mesh or plastic, but they are great materials for making pockets. You can see all your bits and pieces easily.

It was challenging and tricky in parts, but I am really happy with the finished bag.

In 2005 we lived in Geneva and our children attended the International School. One of my daughter’s closest friends stayed with us for a few months so she could complete her International Baccalaureate. As a thank you gift she gave me a beautiful delft plate. This was the inspiration for my latest project, ’Memories of Alex’.
I love how all the beautiful shades of blue create depth in the design.

Raw edge machine appliqué was the obvious method to use as all the shapes had many curves and points.
All the blue fabric came from my stash, using up those small pieces left over from previous projects. The appliqué pieces were machine sewn using a double blanket stitch in a colour to match the fabric. I then outline quilted the design with a dark blue to highlight features such as the veins in the leaves and petals.

The background is free motion quilted in a cream thread in a pattern that enhances the appliqué and extends the floral design.