As well as seeing new quilting clients at my studio I have had some visitors of the feathered variety this week. Unfortunately the more common cockatoos are very dominance and chase away the much prettier and more vibrant king parrots
Over the summer Claire from Matching Pegs, Luke her husband and I were busy designing a new image for Hillside Quilting. This was well over due as I didn’t really have a look at all, I just started quilting and as they say…be careful what you wish for…I haven’t come up for air since. This is a wonderful situation to be in and I thank all my past, present and future clients for making this so.
But it was time to make time to do this, so we came up with this…
We were all delighted with the result, especially as it was part of a skill sharing situation. Claire and Luke’s design background and my quilting. I was able to help Claire finish her quilt ‘Bubbles’. This is one of her new patterns that you can find details of at her website Matching Pegs
This was a wonderful quilt for a quilter to get her teeth into those blank areas. Great for anyone wanting to perfect their applique and practice their quilting techniques.
2012 was a busy year for me with lots of quilting for clients but also setting up Domestic Machine Quilting Classes I offered these as intensive one day classes at North of the Yarra Quilting Guild which has now been altered to being offered over two days. I think I blew their minds and sent them to bed with severe exhaustion doing it all in one day!
I am also offering the same beginners course at Panton Hill Living and Learning with sessions on eight biweekly occasions A more relaxed pace with more time to perfect your simple quilting techniques.
This is the sampler quilt we make to learn simple techniques that you can use to quilt those smaller patchwork projects.
More details can be found on my classes page.
I am also running a Domestic Machine Quilting workshop at Panton Hill Living and Learning centre for those with some experience where we get together monthly to discuss quilting techniques and options for current and future projects. You can enroll through this link or by calling 9433 3744.
Would love to see you there
Anita
Hello again quilting world.
I have been very busy the last few weeks being very unbusy! My annual time out in January was wonderful. Resting by the beach, some hand sewing and family time with my gaggle of teenagers. I don’t think I have too many holidays with my kids left before they leave the nest. Philip Island and Inverloch were our destinations, tent camping and hanging out with friends.
I do love the beach lifestyle in summer, so laid back
This is the closest you get to seeing me in my bathers…I am behind the camera.
We have had a wonderful holiday and getting back to work isn’t so bad when you do what you love.
I have already had to opportunity to catch up with lots of quilting friends and clients. Mother and Daughter team, Maree and Sherryl Galt from Quilting Gems came for a visit to pick up a wedding gift quilt they had designed for a friend. Unfortunately we didn’t get a photograph of this, but they did bring back a quilt that they designed and I quilted. They had finished the heart edgng which was just gorgeous.
The quilt was filled with hearts and flowers, meandering around the large hearts. Ribbons in the hearts gave just enough quilting and curves in the triangular border were designed to extend into the heart edging.
This was a very pretty quilt which was a joy to work with. Check out Quilting Gems for all the patterns for quilts and softies they design.
Happy quilting.
I wish all the patchworkers quilters and sewers of every variety a very merry Christmas.
I hope you all have a lovely time with your friends and family.
Best wishes
Anita
I am working on that post from my Adelaide trip but in the meantime I wanted to share this trio of modern funky cot quilts, designed and made by Sarah Rowe, a lovely client of mine.
I love the way Sarah designs in such a creative and non traditional way. Her use of colour is amazing in these cot quilts and so perfect for that modern baby (and mum!)
I have quilted these three quilts with the same allover pantograph pattern ‘Sunday’ by Anne Bright. The difference comes from changing the colour thread and the contrast that it makes (or doesn’t) to the fabric in the quilt.
This picture shows the thread more clearly and how if the thread matches the main quilt fabric the quilting is more of a texture and when the tread contrast more clearly the quilting shapes are more defined. Something to think about when you are making your patchwork tops.
In quilting I don’t believe there is a right and a wrong, just different, just as all quilts are different. Every quilt deserves to be treated as an individual piece of work and this is the basis that I make my quilting decisions on, just as Sarah does in her choice of patchwork design and colour.
I am back to Melbourne now. Enjoying catching up with my family and friends. Yesterday we had a lovely North of the Yarra Quilting Guild sharing trading tables and travel stories.
This week I will put together some photos of my Ricky Tims teaching day experience. Awesome guy very inspirational.
I WILL get better at this blogging lark. I have so much to tell you about the last month. The people I have met and had the privilege to set on their machine quilting journey be that on domestic or long arm machines…the quilts I have seen…the quilts that I have designed in my head after my trip to the Red Centre of Australia…the list is endless.
Watch this space!
Also had a fabulous hour with the very special quilt in the Women’s Pioneer Museum.
I am on the road travelling through the Red Centre at the moment so can only give you a quick taste of my adventures but a huge post to come in the next week.
I am here in Adelaide on the eve of AMQF.
So excited to have my Ricky Timms lecture tomorrow and starting my teaching the day after.
How excited was I to check into the AMQF website to find that my classes had been profiled.
No too long to wait now for the Festival to begin. If you haven’t had the opportunity to check out the huge number of classes available to quilters with all types of quilting machine, long arm right through to domestic, I recommend you take yourself off to the AMQF website right now and choose a class or two that takes your fancy.
Happy quilting
Anita
It has been a busy couple of months quilting for my lovely clients. I thought I would share a few photos with you.
Lisa Jones made this beautiful quilt. Her colour selection was lovely with a deep charcoal background and mixed purples in the stars and compass. The quilting was designed to show case the centre compass to the full. The paisley background fill made the compass really stand out and I used Constantine Quilts Swag template for the outer border to add an additional frame to the piece. Lisa was delighted with the end result and it was a joy for me to have so much open space to play with.
A couple of quilts by another client of mine, Leanne.
This quilt required simple quilting with line dancing on the white fabric and curves on the coloured triangles. I love the way the symmetry of the half square triangles allowed the quilting to create another pattern showcased on the back of the quilt.
Leannes other quilt was a string pieced quilt, with the blocks again set off by white fabric. This combination of bright colours with white is very pleasing to the eye and fits into modern homes perfectly.
The back of the quilt shows the simple quilting off and creates more patterns again.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing these photos and I will be back soon with some more.
This week I have had the pleasure of completing one of my favorite modern quilt patterns by Kelly Wulfsohn of Don’t Look Now
The quilt Lilly Pilly was designed by Kelly, beautifully hand needleturned appliqued by Rita and freehand quilted by me on my A1 Quilting. Lucky Rita is the one the keep it. The weather was awful the day I took the photos so I retreated inside so the photo is a little dull, sorry.
I love this style of quilt with lots of empty space to fill. I used an organic style of mine I call doodling with thread and whilst it is fairly heavily quilted, it is not quilted to death so much that you can’t see the applique pattern. I always aim to complement a piece with quilting not take over. We were delighted with the overall wall hanging and I know that Rita is going to bind it in a red fabric which will frame it beautifully.
As you know I am teaching several classes at the Australian Machine Quilting Festival this year and seen as I am talking about domestic machine classes I didn’t want you to feel out. So here is a little sneek peak of what we will be doing in the feather class.
I have been remiss…again…at blogging but I have been busy quilting many of your quilts and even a couple of my own. Plus I have been teaching at <a href="http://“>Panton Hill Living and Learning I have taken a group of ladies through the domestic machine quilting process by working on a sampler quilt that has utilized a variety of different quilting techniques.
I designed the quilt and the course of lessons so that the knowledge of different quilting styles, and the ability to execute them effectively, would build upon each other. The aim was that the ladies could go away and refer to their Sampler Quilt when quilting their own small quilts.
We improvised if someone forgot their sewing machine extension table. A great use of old patchwork books.
Everyone worked really hard at learning the new skills and I was really proud of their progress.
Feedback from the class was awesome and the course is being offered again at <a href="http://“>Panton Hill Living and Learning next semester as an eight week course run fortnightly. You will need some time for homework between sessions.
I was really touched when the class presented me with a beautiful bunch of flowers at the end of the last class today.
Thanks Ladies. Can’t wait to see the quilts all bound and finished.
I have been battling new technology for some time now, trying to add a gallery of photos…well after many months of blaming my computer, the software and the cat…I have discovered how to do it. The answer was there all along.
Anyhow now that it is there, check out some photos of past quilts. I will be adding more! (Now that I know how).
This is why I am a quilter not an IT guru.
Well the time for booking classes is drawing near, three weeks in fact. Head over to the AMQF website for more details of mine and other tutors classes.
As I have said before my classes are aimed at getting beginners up and going. I know when I first started quilting I was bombarded with so much information that I couldn’t use at the time. Now it is awesome to have that but at the beginning we all need facts in bite sized pieces that we can go home and put into practise. The classes I have designed will meet that need and really get you going on the path to being a confident quilter.
Looking forward to catching up later in the year at the Australian Machine Quilting Festival. Don’t forget it is for all quilters, domestic, short and long armed types, beginner to advanced. There will be something for everyone.
I have had a great summer working on my own projects, completing ufo’s and thinking about projects for this year….none of which I have taken photos of ….yet!
They will follow.
I thought I might share a couple of quilts that didn’t make my blog last year.
This quilt was a beautiful appliqué quilt by Helen a real labour of love. The feathery quilting was delicate to complement her gentle design and colour choices.
We were both delighted with how the quilting finished the quilt.
It is that time again for the Australian Machine Quilting Festival. 2012 will prove to be bigger and better than the last providing great learning opportunities for both domestic quilters and those with arms of varying lengths, be they short, mid or extra long.
How honoured was I to be asked to teach at this years event. Check out the classes at the website
There will be a great number of different classes for all ability levels. I am aiming my classes at those starting there quilting journey and will be teaching heaps of different things that can be used now…well you might have to wait until you get home, those machines are a little big for the cargo hold and I wouldn’t want to be paying the excess baggage bill.
So check it out and look forward to seeing you at the festival. I will keep you posted along the way.
Happy Quilting
Anita
xxx
How cool is this quilt. Elisha was very happy to take up the challenge of the sampler quilt, enjoying the different patchwork techniques along the way. This was certainly given an modern update with the use of Amy Butler fabrics. Elisha has a great nick name for this great designer… “the butt”. I am assured that this is meant to be affectionate!
I quilted each block in turn, working with the design of the block and the fabric. The feathered sashing and piano key border holding it altogether. My favorite block is the spiral. Which is yours?
This photo from the back details the quilting.
My brief from Elisha was not too tizzy or too closely quilted. She was delighted with her quilt so I assume I got it right!
Happy stitching
Anita
XXX
Hey, there is that sign I made!
It was great to showcase some of my own work and show off some lovely quilts that belong to other patchworkers. Thank you to my ladies who allowed me to borrow them back for the show. I took good care of them.
Now back to quilting
xxx
Once upon a time there was a lovely NOTYQ member who was given a car load of fabric samples by a local curtain shop. As she was so lovely she bought them down to a guild meeting to share. I was amongst many members choosing the various fabrics in a polite fashion..rewind..they were so nice it was like a garage sale at 7.30 am on a saturday morning. I don’t need to say more.
I arrived home with a beautiful selection of textures and colours and no ideas as to what to do with it, so it got folded nicely and put on a shelf.
That is until yesterday, when I was in desperate need of a sign for for stand at the North of the Yarra Quilters Guild bi-anual quilt show coming up this weekend.
So here we have the starting point, fabric given freely by one quilter to another.
I was getting busier and busier with stuff to get ready for the show so my friend Maria came round to help me…step two, time given to another at the drop of a hat.
Here is a picture of her I took some time ago when she was using my longarm quilting machine to quilt on the community quilts.
So then came the fun bit, cutting, fusing, creating and stitching, all mixed up with endless chat and cups of tea. I think this counts as step three…companionship and creativity.
and the letters emerge for the sign.
Progress so far for the sign is the gathering of the letters and almost all of the stitching. I think I might need to make another G.
Special thanks go the many lovely quilters who contributed to this along the way.
Tonight the letters will become a sign.
I hope to see many of you at the North of the Yarra Quilters Guild Show in Eltham on the 8th and 9th of October. Check us out at the Guild website . There is going to be so much eye candy from all the talented ladies.
Is it really July since I have blogged…oh dear…well I am still alive and quilting like a mad lady. It is my Guilds show in October and this has kept me very busy with some beautiful patchwork which has now all been turned into a lovely display of quilts. Of course my ladies wish to unveil their work at the show so no photos today. Well i could show you my entry…
Not much of a finished article but it will be if I stop typing and start sewing.
Will post some more photos soon
Happy stitching
Anita
…to get to work on such lovely quilts and meet so many nice people, all in the line of work!
As the saying goes “if you do what you love you will never work a day in your life”. Now I am not saying that my days are always full of joy and that threads don’t break, machines don’t go cranky and some quilts refuse to ‘talk’ to me but for the most part I feel very blessed to spend my days as they do.
It is such a joy to see people smile when they come and pick up their quilts. I always aim to enhance an individuals work, not overtake it. After all it is not my quilt to keep.
Recently I have had to return a quilt to an owner which i would love to have kept, so much so that I went out and purchased the pattern and fabrics and started making my own the next day. I thought it may be considered unprofessional to keep the original but I did consider it, seen as it is all needleturned applique!
Guatsee, my client made this wonderful quilt called ‘Floral Beauty’ by Irene Blanck with fabrics purchased mainly from Threadbear in Castlemaine.
The colours in this quilt were wonderful, enough depth of shades but remaining very delicate at the same time. I quilted around all the needle turned applique to enhance the flower and star motifs and make them pop out of the quilt. The background was densly quilted in the MacTavishing style which flowed beautifully behind the applique. Guatsee and I were both delighted with the finished product. This was the first opportunity I had had to work with Guatsee so I was doubly pleased.
More close up details…
Sometimes I think Hillside Quilting should be a website with updated photos instead of a blog!
How do some of you guys do it out there in blog land? I adore reading other peoples posts but am utterly hopeless myself.
SO this is to inform you that I am still alive, quilting feverishly and enjoying life enormously, I hope you all are too. I promise, without crossing my fingers, to update properly soon with some lovely photos and stories…but for now…..
You could be forgiven in thinking I am a slack quilter but in fact I am quilting like a crazy lady and am just a slack blogger. I love the idea of a blog and reading about the sewing adventures of fellow quilters…just not so good at making time to update mine. Maybe it should be my new year resolution.
I have been busy working on some great modern quilts this year…
This quit used some very vibrant colours and really cheered up my day when I quilted it. You can see how the quilting pattern Popcorn by Jodi Beamish picks out the modern flower shapes in the fabric. I also like how Maree has broken up the outside border with a thinner border made up of the fabrics in the body of the quilt. Who says we have to use a solid colour in our borders, or indeed they have to go all the way around. Maree’s thinner borders where only added to the short ends. It was good to see some unusual ideas in the quilt.
Another great thing Maree did was to use the same wide back fabric in the borders as well as the backing. Not only does this look good but saves time and money. The borders can be cut from the full width of the wide back fabric and need no joining. This creates a seamless look and usually can be cut from the edge of the fabric you purchase for the backing.
I can purchase wide backs for you from widebacks.com.au I can usually put together a few orders and you save on postage. Ask me about this when you book in your next quilt.
This quilt is destined to be given to the makers niece but first I had to send it to the Northern Territory for binding by Maree. She has recently moved away from Melbourne and is entrusting me with her quilts by Australia Post.
Another quilt…
Helen has made this quilt for a lucky member of her family. The fabrics were very special lawns and linens from Patchwork on Central Park
Helen made the most of the fabrics and kept the pieces fairly large to showcase the lovely prints and textures. I enhanced her lovely work by adding a simple quilting pattern called Rain Drops by Lisa Calle. This pattern provides a lovely texture without dominating the fabrics.
Our family has also been partying. My husband turned fifty years young and we celebrated with a mad dress up dance party. I don’t normally share pictures of me (a bit too much weight gain recently) or my mad family (simply because they are teenagers and don’t stand still long enough to have their photo taken), but I am going to make an exception today because it was so much fun!
I normally have short blond hair, my husband is not a criminal, my daughter usually wears much more appropriate clothing, my big fella looks just like my big fella and my middle boy is always my knight in shining armour.
Ok that is enough for now, back to quilting or people will be shouting at me…never nice!
Come back soon as I promise to keep up to date this year.
Hello one and all, I hope you have all had a peaceful Christmas and are enjoying the New Year sunshine. Being an English lady it has taken me a long time to get used to the seasons being upside down…but I am getting there.
Now I know I promised you a feast of Christmas quilts and I am working on this. My Photographs need a little work and they will be up for you to see very shortly.
Here are a couple of shots of an applique quilt that one of the NOTYQ ladies made. Vivien’s hand work is beautiful and this quilt is as much about her finer details as the more prominent quilting that I used to enhance it. I loved working the border with the swags and feathers, featuring the hearts which appear within the patchwork top.
In the meantime it is all systems go with the new year and all the quilting joys it brings. I am fully recovered from my surgery and booking in quilts for febury, March and beyond. My wait list is usually around eight weeks for custom quilting and often much less for all over quilting. If you have any special requests, tight deadlines or anything else please call as I always try to accommodate your needs.
If you can it pays to think ahead when you are starting a quilt so that it can be booked into my list, so that by the time you have completed your patchwork top you may well be at the top of the queue and ready to go.
I hope you are all planning to complete some of those UFO’s and get them out of the cupboards and on show for all to enjoy. I know that my goal is to get lots of projects finished. Mind you I have seen some very nice new patterns that need making…(stop that Anita, finish some others first!)
I must get back to those photo’s, check back soon.
Anita
xxx
Appologies for my absence recently…I do have a good excuse though!
I had scheduled hip surgery on 30th of November which has repercussions for both before and after.
Before; I was quilting like a crazy lady to get all my pre Christmas orders completed. This was done and all my lovely ladies have taken their quilts back in time for the gift giving season. I will put out a big post after Christmas, don’t want to spoil any surprises!!
There is one that I know I can share. Monica’s Christmas Quilt which is a lovely hexagon quilt made from Moda fabrics for herself on her wall. We were both very pleased with the end result and I am sure it will brighten up her home for the festive season.
After; well I have been a bit sore and in the ”look after myself mode”. Many thanks for all the good wishes, visitors and helpers over the last couple of weeks. All of this is helping in my recovery. I will be out of action for around six weeks but up and about for a summer down the beach with the kids.
So I am now communicating with the world, or at least my own quilting world.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those lovely ladies who have entrusted me with their patchwork and all the hard work that goes into them. I have had a wonderful year quilting each and everyone of them.
I wish all my quilty friends a very merry Christmas and look forward to another year of lovely quilts and friendship for 2011.
Merry Christmas to all of you, stay safe and enjoy the holiday season.
Anita
XXXX
Almost two years ago at the North of the Yarra Quilt Show I was able to present some quilts on a stand for all to enjoy, as a thank you to the Guild I presented a gift voucher for a lucky lady to put towards some quilting for herself. Now as I said that was two years ago and I had nearly forgotten about it until Lee came up to me and told me she was the lucky recipient.
I am therefore delighted to show you photos of before and after…
BQ… before quilting
Lee completed the piecing on her unusual quilt at our annual retreat and I loved the design back then. The borders were added later and I am sure you will agree really frame the offset design. We decided that a swirling quilting design would add further movement to the quilt and the end result is very pleasing.
The quilt was rather large and didn’t quite fit on my photo stand, or should I say table tennis table folded up!!
Here are a couple of close ups of the quilting detail and the piecing.
The quilt is travelling all the way to England to be a wonderful wedding gift, hopefully to be carried by the giver so she can enjoy the look on the happy couples faces. This is a nice ending to a quilt story for me especially as I am English myself and have only lived in Australia for ten years. (Our family are now Citizens so I guess we are half Australian, half English).
All done on quilting Melly’s quilt. All ready for Houston…now about carrying it over….
