Behind the Scenes

Whist I feel so honoured to be able to have my quilts commissioned in magazines it also means I am very limited to what I can share about them. But I wanted to share at least a little bit with you...

So I've been working very hard behind the scenes on a few commissioned quilts over the past month. Some wonderful Australian quilting magazines will be displaying my work from September onwards and I will make sure I share all the details once they are published.

This is what I can share...

My king sized churn dash quilt will be appearing in Down Under Quilts in September in all her glory. This one was made for my sister for her 40th birthday and she has lovingly parted with it for a few months so it could make it's way to Brisbane to be photographed.

This super cute red and white quilt is also featuring in Down Under Quilts Christmas edition and is still a work in progress on my sewing table. Details about the fabric can be found here.

This quilt has been sent off to my amazing longarm quilter and is in the process of being quilted which I am hoping to get back to bind next week. This is my original design and is made with the gorgeous Garden Party Tango by Iza Pearl Design, details here. Homespun magazine will be showcasing this in their January 2015 publication.

Another Christmas quilt - this one an Advent Calendar for Love Sewing Australia a fantastic new magazine which has lots of sewing and creative ideas including quilts. This was something different for me a quilted wall hanging with little advent pockets to count your way down to Christmas. My son has already made claim to this one when it comes back from the publishers. The quilt will feature in the magazine's October edition. Fabric was Solstice by Kate Spain, more details here.

I also have another quilt yet to be started but fabric ready and waiting for Love Sewing Australia which will be a beautiful cot quilt featuring appliqued butterflies which I can't wait to get started on.

Why work with magazines...well I absolutely love being able to tap into my designing skills without any restrictions and utilise the beautiful fabrics I have in my stash. It's a chance to quilt what I want in my style not to mention it's lovely recognition for the hard work that goes into all our quilts.

With all this work going on I have no idea why I am starting new things but after much feedback I am also releasing some patterns of my own for sale and launching a new website. Not to mention spending time on the weekend teaching classes at my local quilting store. I would say I'm currently living the quilting dream !!!

Till next time....happy sewing.

UFO's - not the flying ones!

"I've been put on this earth to sew and finish a certain number of things. 

I am so far behind right now…I will never die!"

~author unknown

Ok so before I started quilting I thought UFO's where those things that fly in the sky. In the quilting world UFO's are "unfinished objects" those quilts we start to make but never seem to finish.

Unfortunately I have a very short attention span so if a quilt top takes me too long to put together or doesn't quite look how I had planned it ends up in a box or basket. And please don't get me started about quilts needing binding... If it's a customer order it gets done as a matter of priority but if it's a project for me (in most cases) it will never see the light of day.

So today I am sharing my UFO's which comprise mostly of blocks that are ready to be sewn together to make a beautiful quilt that I just haven't got around to yet. You know when that thing called life gets in the way.

Here they are (in no particular order):

This one just waiting for binding

This one has now been quilted and too is waiting for binding

My first Chevron quilt still in pieces..lots of them arghh
 

Another one still in pieces just couldn't quite get it to work



Yep this one is in pieces too



and finally this one....

Wow after looking through these pictures I didn't realised I had so many unfinished quilts. To make matters worse I have two more that I just don't have pictures of in various boxes..... Given it's a new year tomorrow perhaps I could at least promise to finish one of them - maybe..

So tell me - do you have a room full of UFO's like me - and I don't mean the flying ones !!

Markets and more quilts

I have been toying with the idea of attending a few markets to lift the profile of my business a little but having a young baby and not a lot of time to spare I didn't want to be out all day. So I ended up attending a local babies and kids market which only goes for half a day so was perfect for me. I must say I had a blast especially meeting other stallholders and I loved people coming up to me complementing me on my quilts.

As most quilters know quilting is a passion and not really a basis for making a living by so my business fuels my passion for quilts (there are only so many friends and family you can make quilts for) and my other products support my quilt making obsession. I only wish I had more hours in the day to quilt !!

Here is me at the local markets - proud as punch showing off all my goodies.


What else have I been up to making more quilts of course!! I whipped up these 2 over the weekend just because I could. These are both available on my Facebook page here.

The quilting on this one is simply just straight lines approximately 10cm apart. I did however try something different by machine sewing the binding on with a decorative stitch. I must say I like to hand bind my quilts but for the cot sized ones machined binding just adds that extra durability especially with the more frequent washing. Here is a close up of the binding.

This next quilt was made with Sasparilla by October Afternoon for Riley Blake designs and was just made from one Rolie Polie of 22 x 2.5" strips. The pattern I used was called "Jelly Roll Jam" which is a free pattern from the Fat Quarter shop and also has a You Tube video you can watch too.

You can get two quilts from a jelly roll of 42 strips or one quilt like mine from a Rolie Polie. Finished size of the quilt is 36.5" x 36.5" and went together so fast so is a great pattern to use when in a hurry.

"Peak Hour" quilt

When Peak Hour Fabric by Kelly Wulfsohn for Riley Blake came out I was first in line to get myself a layer cake and a couple of yards of the Peak Hour traffic main fabric and I'm so glad I did. How cool is this fabric!

I was asked by a friend to make her little boy a single bed quilt and he loves anything car related - so this fabric hit the nail on the head. I really wanted to highlight the main fabric so that's exactly what I did. I decided to simply put a large piece of the main fabric in the centre and border with the layer cake blocks and I couldn't have been more happy with the result.

 

This quilt came together nice and quick I just had to be very careful with the measurements (which I'm not always that precise with - if truth be told...) to be sure the layer cakes stayed complete around the edges.

So what do you think?

It's time to start blogging ....

Well I have been procrastinating for a while about starting up a blog and I must say I am quite nervous about my first post.

What do I say, who will read this, will anyone want to know about little ole me??

Let me start by saying my name is Jenny and my passion is quilting - sounds like I have some sort of problem hey.. I started my first quilt for my son from a quilt kit bought on special from the local Hobbysew and here is the result.

It's not perfect but for a first attempt I was pretty pleased and so was my son Benjamin !!

Then a friend had a baby so back to Hobbysew for another quilt kit - I was still too nervous to make anything where fabric wasn't already chosen and a pattern picked out to match.

And the result was this single bed quilt for Sophie who I'm told by her mum cuddles up under it every night. There is real satisfaction in making something for someone and hearing their joy about it - especially children. Here is a picture of it on her bed.

So as a result I began to make and sell custom made quilts for babies and children and yes I did eventually get the confidence to choose my own fabric and design my own quilt tops.

So this blog is about my journey with quilting and sewing. The highs, the lows and everything in between.

I hope you enjoy it !!