Four Plus One

This is one of the Lori Smith patterns in the Four Plus One Equals Fun series. Each little quilt measures 16" x 20" and uses 5 fat quarters (or four prints plus one background) for the front and the back.

This is the front and back of this pattern: Enjoy The Flowers.Christine bought the pattern and fabrics to make this quilt and she already finished it!
The most striking fabric is the border print from the Alliance range.

Thanks for sharing with us Christine.

Strip for Christmas...

Ooh! That sounds cheeky doesn't it??

This is what I am really talking about:



40 x 2/5 inch strips of fabric across the width of the bolt = 2.5 metres of fabric, all in Christmas colours!!

Choose from:a red and green pack; red, green and cream pack; red, green, cream and black; or Christmas blue and silver.


Elsa bought one of these Christmas strip packs from us a while ago and made this Christmas quilt in the braid style.

These fabrics are just stunning together. Thanks for sharing with us Elsa.

Lots of customers have been making braided table runners using the Christmas packs. One strip pack will give you 3 or 4 table runners (depending on how big you make them).

Breast cancer fundraiser

Lorraine (there are a significant number of Lorraine's in the quilting world.. we must have been born to it)brought this little re-modelled number in store to show us.

Lorraine wore it at a fundraising event for breast cancer. What a blast! I think it's a great idea to wear the decorated items over your clothes. Maybe we could have a Biggest Morning Tea here at the shop and wear some decorated bras.... Hmm.. definitely something to think about for next year.

Lorraine is donating these bras back to the opp shop where she bought them in their original undecorated state. I wonder who will buy them!!

Maureen's memoirs

Maureen fell in love with the French panel we had in stock last March. The original panel had scenes in France featuring women of "real proportions" in cartoon. This is Maureen's quilt top.


Maureen is making 2 quilts the same - one for herself and one for a girlfriend who she had spent time with in Paris some years ago.

But, wait it gets better.

Maureen has a friend who does caricatures. He drew Maureen and her girlfriend from a photo(see the picture on the left) and coloured it in the same style as the fabric panel.

Maureen printed it onto the inkjet fabric that goes through your printer, and here it is in the quilt top!!

Not far to go now Maureen! I am so pleased to see how this quilt has "evolved". Maureen attends our UFO sessions to obtain help with her quilts. Would you like to join us? Click here to see our class list.

Coming up roses

Linda is stash-busting. She suddenly found herself with plenty of time on her hands, with a lot of stash to play with.

Linda is coming along to our UFO sessions (click on the link to see the class list) to learn needle-turn applique.

She has finished 2 other quilts, and one quilt top. This is one of Linda's finished quilts.

Linda started the quilt top in a workshop. You really need to see a close-up to appreciate the colourwash effect.

Isn't it beautiful?

Thanks for sharing with us Linda, we can't wait to see your applique homework in a week!!

She's back!!

Wasn't I just saying we won't be able to stop Fay if we wanted to!! I love the bags quilters carry their goodies around in. We just had to snap this photo while Fay had this bag with her.


Isn't it cute??

Fay's first quilt

This is Fay's first quilt. The flowers are made from tiny hexagons pieced over papers, then appliqued on. No wonder Fay looks happy - this is a pretty quilt top.

I know this will not be the last time we hear from Fay, as she has enrolled in our beginner sampler class, and the stumpwork and embroidery class.

Fay has plenty of homework to do.. I don't think the dog will be allowed to eat any of this homework though!! LOL!!

Thanks for the show and tell Fay, and congratulations.

Whose favourites are these?

These circa 1800s reproduction fabrics are from the range Nancy's Favourite Blues - designed by Nancy Gere.

This is the excerpt from the Windham Fabrics website:

Leave it Nancy to come up with this incredible collection of rich indigos, soft creams and milky browns, used in the most stunning quilts of the mid-1800s, and spanning more than half a century of rich textile history.

Indigo print designs changed only slightly during the 19th century; earlier designs were a little less crisp than their 1860s-70s counterparts, due to changes in the actual printing process.

Indigo and white quilts were very popular in straightforward motifs - Wild Goose Chase, Log Cabin - not many fancy curves, and because these blues saturated both sides of the fabric, they were very desirable since the same hue was found on the front and back fabric face.

It's no surprise that these treasured "gems" are among Nancy's favorite Blues.

So, these are Nancy's favourite blues... they are also some of mine, and some of Andrea's and some of Annie's (insert staff name here). LOL!!

The indigos are really striking, but despite the name, the fabric collection also contains some very dark brown prints and some beige ones too.

We have assembled fabric packs, or you can choose to purchase by the metre from the bolt.

Click here or on the link above to view all of these fabrics on our website. If you live near Gisborne, VIC, we would love to meet you.

The teeniest, tiniest bear

Glenda started making quilts only this year... but she has been crafting for a long time.

These are only a couple of bears Glenda has made over a long period of time.
The bear on the left is sporting the leopard-skin look and has a very long tail. Glenda made up the designs for both the leopard bear and the purple bear.

The teeniest tiniest bear is crocheted. The muzzle is even crocheted separately, then sewn on. Now that's what I call dedication.

Thanks for sharing with us Glenda.

Monika's second quilt

This is Monika with her second ever quilt.

Monika attended the 12 fat quarter quilt class and made her first quilt, then she came along to UFO (Unfinished Objects) sessions until she had basted, marked her quilt, machine quilted it and bound it herself.

Then she chose fabric from the Pashmina range to make another one!! YAY Monika!!

This time Monika did it all on her own.

Monika's next quilt will be the Cobblestones quilt.

See our class list (on the right) for more details on all our upcoming classes, including Cobblestones quilt, 12 Fat Quarter quilt and UFO sessions.

Lots of new fabrics in store!!

Over the next week or so I will show you some of the latest fabrics that are in store. Last week we received 181 bolts of fabric.

Yesterday another 24 bolts arrived.. I have lots to show and tell!!

These are from the pink chocolate range circa 1875.

Why are these colours together in one range? Here is an excerpt from Windham fabrics about this range:

The origin of chocolate brown used as a predominant color in printed fabric appeared with regularity in the nineteenth century.

The color was worn by widows who had passed out of the stage of mourning, when they were expected to wear only black. The patterns used in these "mourning browns" were simple calicos, and not like the more stylized designs featured in this collection.

Later in the century brown as a color in printed fabric started moving to the forefront of European fashion. It is then that we began to see brown combined with the lively colors of red and pink emerging as a trend in Europe.

Personally, I think 1800s double pink goes with everything. Red, yellow, blue, brown. You name it and it goes with it. The popular combination of pink and brown show minimal signs of use (i.e. hides the dirt) and suits both feminine and masculine quilts.

We have fabric packs available online or in store. Choose from: fat quarter of each fabric OR fat eighth of each fabric, OR 8 assorted fat quarters from the range OR 8 assorted fat eighths from the range. Click on the link above to see even more of these gorgeously non-fattening chocolates.

Catching up with JLWC

Rhonda and Heather are catching up on their Jo's Little Women Club medallion quilts.

This is Rhonda's. She fussy cut the leaves, border prints, flowers and so much more. Rhonda has really enjoyed the Club so far...Now she is up to the Flying Geese border - the last part!! YAY!!

Heather has worked hard to complete this much of her medallion quilt.

It's a very co-ordinated scrappy look. Heather fussy-cut the leaf prints, berry prints, and had lots of fun with the scrappy blue and brown sawtooth border. She has very cleverly picked up the green leaves with the outer green cornerstones. Yesterday Heather was working on her hourglass border - that's the next step!

I can't wait to see all the medallion quilts finished next month!! Then we are onto the little baskets....

Carolyn's Black Forest bag

This is Carolyn with her version of the Black Forest bag. Carolyn picked all the fabrics herself, and I just LOVE them together.

Doesn't this make a funky ensemble?

The Black Forest bag pattern is available online (click here) or in store. We have a sample you can try to see how it feels. It's a very comfortable bag.

We have been so busy in store and with mail orders that I haven't had a chance to blog all our news. I will catch up in the next couple of days... we just received 181 more bolts of fabric last week. We are trying to make space!! Can you help us out? Just buy a little bit more each... LOL!!

Embroidery, embellishment and stumpwork class

This photo just doesn't do the sample justice.

This is what we are learning to stitch: This is framed, and the glass casts reflections when I try to photograph it. You will have to come in to see it properly.

This class runs for 7 sessions, once a fortnight (with a long break over Christmas). The Wednesday night class is almost full (it starts tomorrow), while the Thursday class starts next week.

There are still spaces in the Thursday sessions. Can you make it once a fortnight from 7pm-9pm? We are sooo looking forward to learning this embroidery, embellishment and a little bit of stumpwork. I'm going to give the stumpwork a try, and if I don't like it, I can just applique the leaves on. LOL!!

Click on the link to our class list for term 4 on the right hand side for more details, or give us a call.

Little mosaic patchworks

These stunning mosaic-type patchwork pieces are made by Brenda.

Brenda just loves the free creativity of cutting what she likes and sewing it down.

Don't these look fabulous together???Congratulations Brenda, your originial little mosaic-pieces are just gorgeous.
Thanks for sharing with us.

Jo's Little Women Club update

This is where the Club members attending classes in the shop should be up to this month. Now they are adding a border of flying geese.

Each quilt top looks sooo different so far. I can't wait to see them all finished.

Carmel isn't sure about her fabrics. I think the green stripe is stunning.

Shelley has been decorating Christening and Wedding cakes, and promises she is now back on track with this quilt!!

Judy used the purple stripe to great effect.

Even the back looks good.

This is a friendly message to all other Jo's Little Women Club members: come on girls! You can do it! (I've even started putting my basket quilt top together for next time!!).

Proud of her finished quilt!!

Carolyn bought this kit containing felted wool from a quilt shop in Tasmania.

Here it is: quilted, bound and labelled!!

Carolyn is consolidating her skills undertaking the beginner's sampler class by machine in our store. She is now learning partial seams, Y seams, and curved seams by machine!!

Click our class list on the right for more information on all of our classes.

Carolyn's quilt was quilted by Deep Creek Quilting.

Amy's cow

Amy is 9. She made this cute cow using the Melly and Me pattern called "Mad Cow". Amy's Mum set up the sewing machine with phone books under the foot pedal so that she could reach. Amy did all the sewing herself - Mum only helped her with the turning-inside-out part.

Amy wants to make Rudolph the reindeer next. We can't wait to see Amy. Thank you for sharing your show and tell with us.

Quilts that bring us pleasure...

I would like to extend a very big thank you to Sandra for coming out of retirement to travel from Queensland where she now lives, to teach the 12 Fat Quarter Quilt here for 2 days. Boy, did we keep her running around!!

I just love to see how different fabric choices make a totally different quilt with this pattern.

This one is made using the Symphony range of fabric (we don't have much left now).

The Intrigue range (above) is only $15 per metre.

These pinks are from lots of ranges - all circa 1800s.

William Morris fabrics were really popular for these quilts because you don't cut the large motifs into tiny pieces.

Even those are strikingly different - with 40 William Morris fabrics to choose from, each person chose 12 to reflect their own tastes.The quilt below is made using fabric that had only been in the shop for 3 days!!

Read more about the Folklorica fabrics in a previous blog post.

All participants worked really hard to complete most of their quilt tops. There are only a few borders left to add before quilting and binding! YAY!!

You can click here to read more about our upcoming classes for term 4, 2009.