Two New Quilts, Another Commission Finished

Just to start off, here's a little doll quilt I made from the scraps left over from Amelia's quilt. I used all the cut off edges for the triangles and the border comes from the backing. It's sweet, and just visible in the background of the ironing board photo. I've got another one in progress, from the really little scraps of the same quilt.

I love doll quilts - so random and cute!

Behold the scene of conception of a new quilt commission in my studio. It's not very pretty. I was asked to make quilts for two 12 year old boys. This is the first. The colours were chosen and I decided to make a snowball block, with a look of tiles and tortoise shell, from fabrics provided by my client with a few of my own thrown in. It turned out to be quite a fiddly exercise with all those little corners and lots of cutting and pressing.
How do you like my ironing board cover? I can't help smiling every time I use it. I covered it with a fabulous Alexander Henry fabric called The Outdoor Type from my shop.

The quilt was finished with a simple black border and binding, and minimal quilting in the ditch so it retained a soft and cuddly feel. It's quite a large single bed size. I used lovely 100% bamboo wadding again.

In 12 years of quilting, this is my first quilt made specifically for a boy! I made a small one for my Dad, early in my quilting life. Apart from that, all the others have been for girls, women, or non-gender specific - just quilts I wanted to make. It was a bit of a challenge, and I think it's worked. I enjoyed working with the strong, earthy colours. I do think a lot of girls would like it too...

xoxo Ann.

My Comfy Chair Just Got Comfier.

Just wanted to show you...

Here is the cushion I finished a couple of days ago - finally after months of it sitting in pieces waiting... It didn't really take that long to sew the final bits together, quilt minimally by machine, and add embellishments. And it looks so cute, feels so good, on my comfy shop chair.
This is my comfy chair. Everyone loves sitting in it and gazing around at the fabric shelves. They can even browse from the magazine rack. Once they relax and take a load off, they can discover all sorts of pretty things they need... and want to sew with!

xoxo Ann.

Last Weekend

Last weekend was one of those weekends when you feel like all you do is work. Do you ever feel like you just can't catch up? I really needed to clean the house, but I'd set up my cutting table to baste quilts in the middle of the lounge room, and although I finished a few quilts on the Saturday night, I still had one to go on Sunday. I was tired on Sunday... but I did end up finishing basting the quilt. It's a top I made almost a year ago from African shweshwe squares. I've decided to hand quilt this one with sashiko thread.

The pile of basted quilts. Isn't that red one a lovely backing? it's from the Moda Rouenneries range and I used it for the indigo, red and white quilt above. You can also catch a glimpse of the large applique flowers and fish one from a few posts ago.

And here it is again! I'm trying to decide on a quilting thread for it, and Dolly's helping. In the end I chose the pastel variegated Signature thread to blend the pastel background strips. The flowers have already been free machine appliqued with a black thread to make them pop. (I've finished it now and love the look of it, even if I do say so myself - very different style of quilt for me... but I'll tell you more about that in my next post.)

Finally, I finished this little fairy Baby Wrap. I really made it to show case the fabric, but it's so simple and could be done with any print you don't want to cut. I just had to put the red half square triangle borders on the top and bottom. When I sew those, for some reason I feel happy. Perhaps that's what quilting is all about.
Do you like the background? It's the lovely shabby chic shelf full of fabrics in my boutique.
Have a good week ,

xoxo Ann.

Sweltering Summer 2010, Baroon Pocket Dam

It's been REALLY hot here, and Maleny is usually a couple of degrees cooler than Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast! We went for a picnic with friends from Darwin, to Baroon Pocket Dam.
The Kookaburras are very cheeky there and often swoop down to grab your sausage from its bun while it's en route to your mouth!
Here's one just waiting for the opportunity...

Black swans also joined us on the lake. I altered this image a little - it's a bit like a lino print now.

The water was so clear for this little flock of swans.

And here's something I'm working on at present, to fit the summer mood.

We've finally had a bit of rain today and things have cooled down a bit for now. Thank heavens for air-con in my shop!
Hope you're keeping cool too,

Ann xoxo

Have You Seen This Quilt?

This is a quilt I made earlier this year from an Arcadia Jelly Roll and a pattern from Moda Bake Shop. A lot of people liked it and I've shown them how to make it as well as sold kits in all sorts of fabric ranges and colours.
Today this quilt was stolen from just outside the doorway to my shop!
It was hot and the door was closed for the air conditioning. It was a quiet day, with few customers. I arranged the quilts on the display stand so they looked really attractive... so attractive that someone took the opportunity to pop up the lane and lift this quilt from the rack and walk right out into the main street of Maleny without anyone noticing!
I'm still in shock. I came out and saw it wasn't there, then looked around everywhere like it might be hiding.
No- one saw or heard anyone come down the hall, or out again.
So someone got a completely hand made, one - of- a - kind quilt for Christmas for nothing!
It's so sad that people can do that sort of thing. They like hand made quilts, but they don't like to pay for the time, materials and creativity.
Lesson learned by me: From now on, if people want to look at and admire my quilts, they can come right into my shop to do it.
Take care and I hope nothing like this happens to any of you over the Christmas Season,

Ann.

Sprung!

Every Saturday, I pack up my quilt studio, fabrics and sewing bits and pieces, and squash them into my trusty little 11 year old Ford Festiva to relocate to my shop in Maple Street, Maleny. Amelia helps me do this. She's got a brilliant sense of humour and a real talent at photo stories and animation. Look what she managed to catch Dusty up to and quickly snap on my digital camera -
What's he contemplating here?

Hmmm, I'll just take a quick spin... I've seen Ann sitting here, she touches that wheel, the car moves back and she comes back home with our dinner...

O-OH! SPRUNG!

A quick getaway...

What you lookin' at?! Can't a cat just sit on a rock minding his own business...?