Phone - 02 9550 4947
Email - quiltsmith@ozemail.com.au
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| We are accustomed to Robin's working mostly with Kaffe Fasset's bright, bold fabric, so it was very interesting to hear how much she loved these blue tones on sight, and bought two charm packs to make a large wonky pinwheels quilt (detail below). |
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| It was good to see Dawn last week after a long break. But she had not stopped sewing while she attended to pressing family needs - she brought along three of the four quilt tops she has made recently. For this one she used a pack of 5" wide 'jelly roll' strips, with a complimentary print to add interest. |
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| When Miriam first showed us her 'Whirlwind' pattern and described her technique (Miriam's free online tutoral is here), Dawn was immediately drawn to its simplicity, and set about making her own - this is the first and larger of the two we saw last week. |
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| This one is a little smaller, but brighter - a celebration of yellow. |
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| Pink and pretty in beautiful soft Liberty prints - whose could it be, but Janice's? |
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| Nerida has an unfailing eye for mixing colours and prints - and her finished Emma Mary quilt made from Judy Newman's pattern is no exception (detail below). |
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| But this top is not recognisably Nerida's style at all! She didn't make it, but found it in a country 'everything' shop ... she looked at it again, recognised it as a sampler several years old but in excellent condition, and decided not to buy it. And yet here it is, and it came out of Nerida's bag ... |
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| Some quilts just materialise from the scraps of others - this one is the scraps from at least two others, with the addition of a lovely raspberry spotty border. Magic, Chris and Lynette! |
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| Perfect backing fabric for this vibrant top made by Robin, quilted and bound by Lynette - and it was picked up in a snap sale for $4 a meter at Craft Depot. |
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| Sue C's second quilt from these jelly rolls, generously donated by a friend, with a cream background from deep in Sue's own stash - and a pretty blue backing, of course! But wait till you see what 'Blue Sue' comes up with next! |
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| Sue M has been hard at work for community quilts - she has finished the one on the left made from small pieces sourced from the community stash and the border fabric from her own stash, and quilted and bound Robin's second donated top, on the right. |
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| Margaret has packed a lot of fun into this beautiful, bright patchwork with colourful swirls on the back. A little kid, or maybe a big one, is going to love it. |
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| Lyn pieced this beautiful patchwork flower garden as a background for an appliqued wrought iron gate that wasn't quite realised. Lynette has added a complimentary border and floral backing from another donation. It will be well loved, with the 'gate' left wide open ... |
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| Six new community quilts, all in a line ... |
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| ... and all stacked up. There will be photos of the individual quilts, when we have some brighter days - soon! |
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| Susan is making a quilt reminiscent of Shoji screens - she started the quilting as soon as it was basted on Thursday |
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| Pat's 'Logs and Ladders' quilt is for the community collection - it is already gorgeous, and we look forward to seeing it quilted. |
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| The first of two quilts, each to be made with twenty of our 2016-2017 challenge star blocks, was basted on Thursday. All the blocks are different, so some contemplation and consultation about the quilting is in order. These quilts will be donated to NSW Quilts of Valour. |
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| 2017 is Sue H's 'year of finishing things', so when she found a perfect-fit print for a final border, her plan for a pieced border gave way to a finish for the win. The centre was made in classes with Chris Jurd. |
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| Louise's table runner is made especially to go with the kitchen decor in her new house. |
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| Susan has been busy with community quilts. This one, reminiscent of shoji screens, has fabrics from the community stash and some of Susan's own and is a good showcase for large scale prints. |
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| Susan has also quilted and bound Robin's top. We need to take some close ups of the quilting designs in the blue counterpanes. Community quilting can be a very cooperative process. |
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| Just one fat quarter of the cute bee print was the starting point for this cot sized community quilt made by Jill |
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| Quilters flannel front and back, with cotton batting makes for a very warm quilt. The blocks are made from the scraps of two similar quilts Jill made last year for other family members - this one is for her. |
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| Linda is teaching a group of novice quilters. Having started a year or so ago with basic patchwork, they then requested appliqué classes. They are now on their third course, learning several methods of using triangles in quilts. Linda's triangle class sample is a generous single bed size.  |
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| Julie made her first disappearing four patch quilt, and liked it so much that she immediately made another (below) in the same range of soft, muted greens and cream from the community stash (below). |
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| Janice was wearing hexagons on her scarf, while she worked on her tiny hexies - they are just 1/4"! |
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| Elaine B has nearly finished her latest community quilt - she made a disappearing nine patch for the first time. |
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| Elaine also finished a pretty 'Sew Miriam' zip top bag for a friend's birthday - what a lovely gift. |
There are more photos on the Quilt West Facebook page.
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| Pretty log cabins, blocks donated by a friend of Sue's, put together and quilted by Sue. Complimentary backing just in view at left. |
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| And there were some small pieces left from the jelly rolls Sue's friend gave her, so now Sue is quilting the sashed four patch she made with them. |
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| Lynette's latest blue and white beauty, made from a very large stack of squares cut from the community stash. The pink border is a nice touch. |
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| Lynette found a large enough piece of the blue/pink floral to make a two fabric disappearing four patch. |
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| Jill also made a pink and blue disappearing four patch - this one is scrappy |
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| Helen also found mostly blue 'leftovers' in her stash, mostly florals, and sashed them with more blue scraps ... |
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| ... and Lynette trialled her new quilting template very successfully on Helen's quilt |
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| Sometimes, cutting is just not necessary - two small whole cloths, one with fairies, the other with dinosaurs, again made by Lynette. |
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| And Sue also finished her 'Hello Kitty' Ohio Stars - much admired and coveted by Linda, but destined for the community winter collection. |
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| A small sample of our disappearing four patch quilts - they work well with just two fabrics , a limited palette, or with scrappy backgrounds and feature fabrics. |
Here is a quick pictorial guide to making a disappearing 4 patch block. The starting squares can be any size, and the cuts to the four patch can be any width - this block started with 6 1/2" squares, and the cuts were made 1 3/4" from the centre seams. The wider the cuts, the less distinct the design becomes:
The Craft Depot half yearly sale starts 9am Thursday 1st June 2017, both on-line and at our Pennant Hills store, and runs until 30th June 2017.
Complete sale catalogue is available to view on-line here.
