Quilts for Beginner Quilters

I love teaching quilts for beginner quilters. My favourite one at the moment is a little one made from two Moda Charm packs, a metre of backing fabric, a metre of wadding and 30cm of binding. The maker arranges 81 squares so they simply look nice, then they learn how to sew them together using the washing line method. They baste the quilt, machine quilt it in a simple grid, trim it, cut and join the binding and finally bind the quilt. It works really well in my little shop, with only really room for one or two students. This is my last student, Shaye, who's making her first quilt for her first child, and believe it or not, she's seven months pregnant in the photos!

Here she is adding the final touch to her binding.

behind her, hanging on the wall, is another beginner quilt I've taught. This time it's a sampler and it was popular too - not too big, a nice variety in the blocks, set on point to add interest, and striking fabrics. It's getting a bit old now, but people still like it...

So I decided to make a new beginner sampler quilt.

It's called The French Sampler Quilt.

This one is predominantly Moda French General fabrics from two different collections, Rouenneries and Rural Jardin. I love the French General designs and their "olde worlde" charm. I also added some old shirting fabrics from my Dad's shirts. Dad passed away 10 years ago today and I still use little bits and pieces of his shirts to add that special something to a lot of quilts.

The other key fabric in the quilt is the ticking, which I've had in my stash for almost as long as I've been quilting and everyone still wants to know where to get it - including me!

I made the second quilt a bit bigger, by simply repeating three of the original blocks. They look different just because I've used different value placement and quilting.

For a quilt like this, nothing looks as good as hand quilting, so I did that as well, using Ecru Cebelia No. 40 cotton thread, made in France. I love this thread for hand quilting as it's not as thick and attention drawing as Perle 8 (which I also love) and seems to suit more traditional work.

I really agonised over the borders for this quilt, and finally chose the beige over a blue and also a red in the same design. It's a little bit washed out, but I like the antique feel of the whole quilt and am very happy with it.Finally I added the pinkish red rick rack. I finished the binding and put it out on my bed, I wished I'd added another five blocks and it could have been a queen size for me. The red was exactly right in my room and I love shabby chic.

My new quilt was inspired by the Tsunami and I'm using a stunning Japanese Kona Bay fabric as a big central panel, with French Braids from watery, murky Bali Batiks. Here it is in the planning stages. I'm using Jane Hardy Miller's French Braid Obsession as a source book, but making the quilt up as I go. Hopefuly it will become a new workshop.

The world is really having its share of suffering to date this year, but I hope you're all safe and looking to the future,

Ann ♥

Last Post from this computer...

I wanted to write one last blog post from my trusty old laptop. We've been throug a lot - I've learnt just about everyting I know about the Internet on this little BenQ. Its got a busted h key, stuck onto the keyboard with sticky tape, so nearly always h doesn't register when I type and I have to correct in editor. I've left the mistakes in this time, for posterity.
Next time I'll be posting from a brand new MacBook!
How exciting is that? I guess it will take a while to get used to and I'm a little apprehensive, but I'm really looking forward to a faster process. Today I'm taking this one in to get all my files migrated onto the new one and on Friday, I'll be able to play with my new one.
Enough of that.I've posted some new photos of Gypsy, that rose quilt that I washed with disastrous results. I couldn't bring myself to actually take photos of what happened to some of the silk squares, but they were really frayed and wadding was exposed. I tried a number of different solutions using large turquoise roses cut form a Valerie Wells fabric and intended to be appliqued on. I even tried making them three dimensional.
I had it hanging in my studio for ages auditioning, and I just wasn't happy. My daughter was quite vocal about how muc she DIDN'T like the roses, their colour, their number etc, but how much she likes the quilt as it is, so....I decided to only patch the spots with the fraying and wadding, and I used some fussy cut roses from a Phillip Jacobs print (also in the quilt). They toned quite well and don't detract from the actual quilt. It will never be a quilt I love... O well.
I don't have a full photo of it yet - Amelia's gone to school camp with our shared camera (hers) while mines getting repaired on warranty.
I've also been working on something new using the beautiful Under the Australian Sun fabrics, by Leesa Chandler. When I saw this range, I was immediately inspired to make ... something. There are so many quilts waiting to be made with these intense, oriental/Australian fabrics.

It's taking shape slowly, with sewing machines being serviced and all the other things that happen in life.
More next time,

xo xo Ann.

Update on the last couple of weeks...

Well, I've finished a couple of things I blogged about a little while ago!

The first one is my African Shweshwe Quilt. I showed it to you here and here when I'd just finished basting it and Dolly was curled up sleeping on it. I made it from a pack of mixed indigo and red shweshwe squares and a fabulous Prints Charming red-and-white print, with a background of white Moda Bella Solid all fabrics I LOVE to sew! I hand quilted this one with an ecru sashiko thread. It took 3 skeins of thread and several weeks to finish, but worth it in the end. You can't really see the quilting in this photo, but it's wavy lines in a grid. I'll do another post with some details.
The quilt was already dirty, as It's been in progress for a year, and in use, unfinished as a table cloth in Quiltopia Boutique.

The next one is my latest commission with the star medallion. It's been basted here - but I finished quilting it yesterday! I want to finish it today. I used Shweshwe in it too - the red squares and a little bit of Nelson Mandela - a good roll model and someone to inspire any boy (or person for that matter!).
The one below is a new Jelly Roll quilt I'm working on. It's a sampler and you need a special ruler to cut half square triangles from the 2 1/2 inch strips. I saw the sampler at and went on to develop it in my own way. Quite fun but a bit frustrating for some reason. I used a Moda Verna Jelly Roll for mine. I'm still deciding on the border...

And finally, here's one of my students and her stunning finished quilt, from my last Stained Glass Stack and Slash class @ QuiltEssentials. She used a selection of semi-solid bold fabrics and black quilting thread. Doesn't it look stunning?

I've been busy... but I've been thinking about doing a blog quilt along of my Three Easy Pieces Modern Sampler Quilt featured as a Free BOM on my website. There's also a picture of it in my side bar.I picked some new fabrics (including gorgeous Prints Charming ones) and thought I might rework it as a quilt along. What do you think?
Life goes on...

xo xo Ann.