Australasian Quilters Convention 2012

I'm back from AQC where I enjoyed alternate exhausting rounds of quilts, classes, functions and shopping.  Phew!

Although I've visited AQC in the past as a guest, this year was my first time as a delegate.  I did 3 classes over 4 days as well as attending a cocktail party, lecture, gala dinner and managed a bit of shopping as well.

Vikki Pignatelli - Crazy about Curves
This was my first class, which went over 2 days.  I was expecting to learn traditional curved piecing, you know with the pins and the easing etc.  I don't know why I thought this, as obviously I didn't read the class blurb very well, because that is the exact opposite of what Vikki teaches.

Vikki teaches a free form style of curved piecing, stress free, error free where any mistake can be fixed and the results are simply stunning.

Vikki Pignatelli helps outs some of the students.....

Vikki is an extraordinary teacher - infinitely patient and supremely talented.  I will admit to finding parts of the technique challenging, (folding freezer paper to a smooth curve) only then to find that fixing errors is extremely simple. 

The students produced a wide variety of work

You can get a close look at Vikki Pignatelli's work on her website http://www.vikkipignatelli.com/default.htm Although I did struggle a little in the close confines of the class, I purchased Vikki's book so I can explore her method in more relaxed surroundings at home.

Machine Applique Techniques with Deborah Louie

In this one day class, Deb managed to thoroughly cover several techniques - invisible applique, curved applique, free motion raw edge applique, blanket stitch applique, and using decorative machine stitches.  Is there nothing this girl doesn't know about quilting?  You can read more about Deborah Louie here on her blog - http://deblouie.blogspot.com.au/ .

Deb shows us how it's done........

happy students......

I actually finished a workshop piece....!

The generous and talented Deborah Louie

See that gorgeous quilt Deb is standing next to?  She gave all the students a free copy of the pattern as well as full size pattern for another quilt.  I love the blue/black/yellow colourway - I'm really tempted to make this quilt - love it!

At the end of June I have booked into a 3 day Free Motion Quilting Masterclass with Deborah when she comes down to Tasmania.  I expect to work hard and get fantastic results for my efforts.

William de Morgan with Michele Hill

My third class was another applique lesson, this time with Michele Hill.  I adore Michele's William Morris patterns and have already started on another piece from her book.  I didn't really need to take a class as I already understand the technique, but there is something to be said for learning direct from the author.

My first Retreat! - A workshop with Marlene King

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to attend a workshop with the multi-talented, multi award-winning textile artist and quilter Marlene King.  You can see some of Marlene's extraordinary work on her website here - http://www.thefabricpalette.com/.

Marlene came out of retirement to teach this workshop, and even better, there were only 2 students - myself and my friend Diana Eaton.  The retreat was held over 3 days at Bengeo Retreat in beautiful Deloraine in northern Tasmania.

The subject of the workshop was to be landscapes.  Usually Marlene sets the project from which to learn the techniques, but this time we were asked to bring a photo of our own to work from.  I chose a picture of myself and hubby riding a camel along Broom's Cable Beach at sunset.  How gorgeous are those colours?

That's me and John on the middle camel

Diana and I were delighted when Marlene decided to hang up a different quilt each day - to inspire us and to point out different techniques she had used.  A very generous teacher, Marlene also said she would be happy to teach us any of the techniques we wanted to learn.

Marlene and Travels

The quilt Marlene is standing next to (and was hanging right next to me all day - that's my sewing machine right there) is a multi-award winning quilt named Travels, which has won the Tasmanian Best of Show, the Australian Quilt Convention Melbourne National, and most recently, second place Innovative at the World Quilt Show XV.  Phew!

My favourite of the 3 was this one -

How beautiful are these quilts?

Day 1 - bobbin work, background piecing and making fern leaves

Day 2 - design

Diana gets expert advice

Fabric selection - I brought heaps cause you never know............

By the end of Day 2 I was finally getting somewhere

Day 3 - Piecing....

Quilting

Thread painting

Applique

Ok, this is as far as I've got.  There is still thread painting to finish and I need to decide on a border, or extending the piecing or maybe something entirely different........

Using a technique by Caroline Sharkey, I made 'fabric' from scraps and bits and pieces to add to the edges of this piece. 

but haven't decided whether to use them or not.  I do rather like the effect though......

Then I have to learn how to make a faced edging.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to.  Tomorrow I'm off again, this time to do 3 workshops over 4 days at the Australian Quilt Convention where I'm booked to learn Curved piecing with Vikki Pignatelli, Applique Techniques with Deborah Louie and William Morris applique with Michele Hill.  Whoopee!

Vol 2 - Project 11 - Star Chain

Hi fellow quilty people and thank you to those who left comments on my last posting - it's all really encouraging.

This next project introduces internal frames - here's Harriet's quilt............

Only 2 fabrics in this quilt - but I couldn't resist adding a 3rd - so I've made this with good quality black quilters muslin and 2 green hand-dyes.

Here's mine laid out, unsewn without borders..........

It's nice huh?

Yes it's a lovely design with pretty blocks and a nice layout.  Herein lies my problem...it's nice and I'm getting a little bored with nice so I decided to jazz it up with interesting borders.  But more of that later... there seems to be some issues with this quilt top which I want to talk about first.

THREE BLOCKS

There are 3 blocks which make up this top - one for the main body, one for the internal frame and one for the corners.  All are easy to do ....... check them out.

Main Block - Internal Frame Block - Corner Block

The main blocks I had no issues with and they came together easily.  There do seem to be instruction errors though for both the internal and corner blocks.  If you are going to make this project, look at the pictures and work out your own formulas and there should be no problems.  Here is what I found......

INTERNAL FRAME

There are several units to the internal frame block which, when made up, needs to measure 5" square.  If you follow the instructions in the book you won't get this final measurement, you'll get a bit of a mess.  However, if you make the 4 patches as per instructions, then adjust the other units to fit, you'll be fine.  Let me clarify........

The 4 patch units need to be sewn to a plain piece.  The instructions suggest cutting the plain units 3" x 3 1/2".  If you do that, you'll get this....

Oops!

Next, you need to make the little centre strip.  The instructions suggest you cut the middle strip 1" wide and the 2 side strips at 3" each and sew them together....

Uh oh - this piece is 6" wide - I don't think it's gonna fit!

LOL

But an easy fix to get your 5" block.

CORNER BLOCKS

It's off to a good start but then the wheels fall off.  The instructions ask you to cut a 1" wide strip x 4" long and sew to each side of the centre unit.  Cutting the side strip 1 1/2 " wide  and 3" long would work better. 

3" square centre unit

To the bottom of this unit the instructions say to cut a dark strip 4 1/4 inches long and attach 2 x 1 1/2" coloured squares to each end.  Um  I see a problem here.......

Whoops

A 3" strip would work much better.......... :)

I've notified Harriet and Carrie about the issues I had with this project but I've not yet heard back.  The errors could be a misunderstanding on my part and I'll leave it at that until Harriet has had a chance to take a look at it.  In the meantime, I suggest you look at the illustrations before cutting all of your fabrics as they are the best clue on how the blocks fit together.  I made a couple of 'test' blocks before making the rest which proved to be an excellent idea!  Anyway, even if you do cut incorrectly, they are easily fixed as they tend to be cut too large rather than too small.

BORDERS

This quilt has 2 borders added on - a narrow coloured on and a plain wide one.  Very effective, very nice.  Adding the first border is interesting as you have those angled corners to deal with.  Working from pictures of Harriet's quilt in the book it's not that hard to figure out how to do it (and thanks to Ali for her advice as well).

Leave long tails on the ends of the border...........

add a piece across the corner........

sew and press.......ta da!

Add the corner triangle and trim square

At this point I knew I didn't want to have simple plain black borders, I wanted something more interesting.  I played with the idea of adding prairie points and found a technique by Rami Kim which made continuous prairie points.

I made one small strip, decided I liked the way it curved and mentally added this to the border.  I then pulled out the scraps - the test blocks and left over strips and had a play with them.  This is the result...

The outer borders are different widths and a bit more interesting. 

I've re-named it "The not so nice quilt"

The prairie point band isn't stitched down, so I can quit around and under it.  I may leave it as it is or attach it down, I've not decided yet.

The quilting for this will have to wait, as it seems no one in Hobart stocks black batting anymore.  I've had to mail order from overseas and it'll be a bit of a wait.

Vol 2 - Project 10 - Carrie's Confetti

Another long time between posts - but despite distractions of Christmas and a bit of travel, I did manage another finish.  This one is for my next door neighbour Pauline, who chose the initial fabrics ages ago.  The project in the book is quite small so I've doubled the size, and Pauline has a quilt large enough to wrap herself up in.

Carrie's version

Project 10 is a strippy quilt with a tiny 'windowpane' strip running down the triangles.  Those strips are the biggest challenge for me in this project.

These are not the fabrics we used - changes were made!

Because I changed the size of the quilt I had to change fabrics.  The mauve became dark blue, the black became bright pink and some other fabrics were added to make the extra blocks. All the fabrics were based around the butterfly print.

After making the blocks, sorting out the size of the triangles is the first challenge - not an easy one for the mathematically disinclined.  Taking advise from the book, I used graph paper to sort out the measurements and where to place the small strip.

With the strip sewn in, cutting is really wasteful as you can't turn your triangle around and cut from top.  Carrie has a solution in the book for making a strip on both sides, which works brilliantly and saves heaps of fabric - but it's complicated to do the math.

Much more economical to do it this way and save on fabric

When I make side setting triangles, I like to make them a little large, then trim them back....

For this project, that doesn't work!  The triangles must be cut to fit exactly or those little strips will end up in the wrong place.  Using the Creative Grids side setting triangle ruler, I was able to cut the triangles down to the right size.  

I also had to unpick some of the practice triangles as I ran short of the blue fabric....sadly, some of these had badly stretched and had wonky stripes, but I had no other choice other than to use them. They are quite noticeable - sorry Pauline!

QUILTING

I've used a wool batting in this quilt which wants to shift around despite heaps of pins. Ditch stitching helped a bit.

You may have guessed, Pauline is a butterfly fan - she has butterflies all over her house - so the obvious quilting pattern to choose, is butterflies! 

I had a butterfly border stencil - perfect for a strippy quilt - I used it on the butterfly fabric with invisible nylon and of course it's invisible. 

For the blocks I decided on a simple cobweb design.

The side triangles also got the butterfly treatment - this time I used pink rayon thread.

Halfway quilted!

PAULINE'S QUILT

She likes it!

CHERIE'S QUILT

Over Christmas I was lucky enough to have family come to stay.  My daughter--in-law Cherie, wanted to make a quilt so I let her loose in my fabric stash.  They were only here for 2 weeks and had lots of things to do, so we only got the top finished...............

Good job Cherie - now aren't you glad I made you unpick those badly cut ones?