Claire and her EQ7

It's arrived! Winner of the EQ7 competition, Claire with her new software. Congratulations again Claire, and I hope you have heaps of fun with it.

Remember if you want your own copy, the Electric Quilt Company has a pre-release special  that ends on 31 May, so check it out and order before then. 

Quilt Sculptures by Fraser Smith

Club member Helen Barron recently told me about walking past an Art Gallery in San Francisco. She had to go in and have a look as they had these amazing quilts on the wall.

When she had a closer look at the quilts she realised they weren't quilts. They are sculptures carved from wood! They are made by Artist Fraser Smith who carves them from solid blocks of wood and then paints them with water colours or oil based pigments. These are just a few of his carved quilts. Go and have a look at his website to checkout his other works. They are incredibly detailed from the gentle ripples in the 'fabric', right down to the 'quilting stitches'.

When I contacted Fraser Smith for permission to use these images on the blog he told me he is in the process of making a time lapse video of his latest carved quilt. So I'll post his video for us all to watch soon.

Clever Kiwi Arts & Crafts

On Friday Margaret & I popped in for a quick look at 'Clever Kiwi Art & Crafts' on Reyburn St. Gee I'm glad we did the place is really incredible. We were welcomed & and given a tour by the very friendly owners Julie and Mark. They have a large range of  arts & crafts for sale as well as fibre supplies to make your own. I liked the look of the mulberry silk so will now have to think of a way to use that! And some of the Jewelry may have to come home with me soon. 

Julie and her husband Mark are Americans who fell in love with New Zealand  so decided to move here! As well as selling arts and crafts 'Clever Kiwi' has a workshop room for teaching and Julie (who is a Fibre Artist) taught the first class on Felting. They are planning many more classes, so if there is something you would like to learn ask them and they will try and arrange. They also like to have Artists working in the shop. On Friday there was a lady spinning wool. I was enjoying watching so Julie told me that on Saturday they had many Artists coming into work. So I promised to come back and bring my husband with me.

Some of the Art & Crafts for sale: Garden Sculptures, Paintings, Wood turned Bowls, Glass Jewelry, Clay Figurines,  Felted Wraps, Dolls, & Hats, etc

I liked the display of old sewing machines above the coloured fleece.

On Saturday the place was buzzing with Artists. There was a lady making flax flowers, an artist drawing portaits, a potter making a chicken and a wood turner turning an incredibly small piece to thread glass beads onto for earrings. 

 

And yes for those wondering I did take my husband and he was impressed too. One of the items in the shop he thought was a good idea, was a CD of Northland photos, great for tourists especially. We had fun working out where the photos had been taken.

They are so new that their website is not up and running yet, but I will update this post when it is. In the mean time you can check out their listing on 'the big idea page' it has more information and contact details. OK here's that update their website is still under construction but check it out.(30 May 2010) 

If you have not been and had a look, get yourself down there I'm sure you will like it.

And the Winner is.....

I picked a winner yesterday after a few false starts. The first two people I picked had no contact details, so I had to redraw. I wanted to make the draw before I went to work, but because of these false starts I ran out of time! Anyway as soon as I got home it all went to plan. A lot of people asked me how I was going to do the draw. I went to this Random Number website and let it do it for me. I had 543 comments and 101 followers so I added these together and went from there. 

So the winner is kcrock. I emailed her last night and she quickly emailed back saying 'Wow I can't believe it. I never win anything. Thanks so much.' So who is kcrock? She is Claire Vivash of Auckland. Congratulations Claire.

Claire has two blogs Kazart & The Garden Pixie so check them out. Her cats test her quilts just like mine does! I got another email this morning which said 'I thought I had dreamed it last night so pleased to see it is real.' I know how she feels. I was like that when EQ emailed me. When I rang a friend to share the news, I think my friend thought someone had died, as I was in so much shock! 

This competition has been a blast! It seems like nearly every quilter interested in EQ7 has visited my blog over the last few weeks. I would like to say a Big Thank You to everyone who visited, made comments and became followers.

From the first post on 26 April saying EQ7 was coming till the contest closed on 19 May, I had 4081 visits to the blog! 

It was amazing to see people from all over the world coming to have a look at my little blog. I had visitors from USA, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Taiwan, Netherlands, Hungary, Norway, Costa Rica, Romania, South Africa, New Zealand (of course), and heaps more. I hope you liked what you saw and will visit again.

I wish you all could have been winners, sorry. But if you want to get EQ7 check out  The Electric Quilt Company because EQ7 is on special till 31 May, and the savings are really incredible.

Lastly thank you to The Electric Quilt Company for being so generous.

Abstract Mosaic Wall Hanging- Quick Tutorial

REQUEST, I have noticed this page is getting a lot of looks from all around the world. Hey I'm nosey, so write me a comment on how you found this post! If you make a wall hanging please send me a photo, I'd love to see your version. Leeann :-)

Remember this beautiful wall hanging? Lynne O'Donnell did a tutorial on it at her satellite group the 'Wot Knots'. A few years ago Lynne took a class with Olga Walters - 'Add Libbing with Vliesofix'. This fused mosaic was one of the ideas in the workshop. At home Lynne made it hers by adding silver lamé cut outs and a beaded fringe.
A lot of you have asked for a tutorial on making one so here it is. First cut your background a little larger than you want your wall hanging to be. Chose about 5 fabrics to applique. Can be complementary, contrasting its up to you.
TIP use hand dyes or batiks as this is raw edge applique and you don't want 'white' raw edges showing. If you have to use a pale backed fabric because you just love it, use black as your background, then you can colour in the edges after quilting with a black fabric marker.
Cut squares of your applique fabrics and iron fusible to back of them. Size depends on how big your wall hanging is. Then cut your fused applique fabrics into triangles (or other shapes, but triangles are nice). Arrange them on the background leaving gaps in between. When you are happy iron them down.

Layer your backing, batting and top and quilt as you like (see photos for ideas). Iron fusible to lamé (use an applique sheet as fusible glue sometimes comes through lamé). Cut out shapes from lamé, arrange and fuse, using applique sheet again. TIP if you cut spirals like Lynne did, you get 2. The waste from the spiral you are cutting is a bonus spiral!
Add a beaded fringe to bottom edge, (tuck it in as you sew the binding on). The fringe is made from raw edge strips of fabric with beads. Lynne's fringe was made using her applique fabrics, coming out of the binding on the front of wall hanging. Mine was made using black (the background fabric) and caught in the back of binding. You may want to add a pre-made beaded fringe, its up to you. Complete binding.
Then make and attach a hanger to your quilt. Lynne & I made a strip of background fabric to hang ours, you may want to use a sleeve and dowel, again its your choice. I sewed a wooden skewer into the top edge of the binding to keep it flat against the wall.
Have a look at some of the different ideas from the group below.

Kath has started to quilt hers in radiating diagonal lines and added sequins. Looking forward to seeing this finished.

Elaine has used a fancy feather stitch around her shapes, and then spiral quilted each piece. It gives it a crazy patch look. Elaine didn't want all triangles so has cut some different shapes.

I wanted some curved edges so I didn't do triangles either! I quilted mine in spirals, and added leaf shapes cut from gold lamé.

I sprayed my fringe with water then curled it by twisting and leaving to dry.

My wall hanging 'Falling Leaves', finished.

A Trip to the Breast Clinic

Yesterday my friend Lynne asked me to do her a favour. Could I go to the Breast clinic for her? I was a bit confused to say the least, as I really can't have a mammogram for her and I'm not sure I would if I could! Anyway she explained it was not to have a mammogram but to drop in a quilt block she has made, for a new quilt to go on display at the clinic. OK I could do that!

Lynne told me to have a look at a Kiwiana Quilt that is hanging on the wall while I was there. Lynne made the lizard block in this quilt.

It was a bit sunny so this photos not the best, but I wanted you to see it too. (Without having to have a mammogram!)

Top left corner of quilt

(see Lynne's Lizard block, its the green one in bottom right hand corner)

And a couple of close ups of blocks on the bottom row so you can see the superb quilting.

Now that was better than being squished, wasn't it. :-)

PS: I had a bit of a tidy up of the blogs side bar (right handside). I've added a list of Blogs, some new Websites, and links to Merchants. Check them out.

Jigsaw- Island Sunset

Hi all I just hate having that last post at the top of blog! Decided we need some eye candy, so I've made another jigsaw from an old wall hanging. I made this in a class with Gloria Loughman at the Palmerston North Quilt Symposium 2007. She is an amazing teacher, and if you ever get the chance to take one of her classes do. Have fun with the Puzzle.
TIP sometimes a puzzle piece hides behind the "Image,Ghost, Help" button, so if you are one piece short, drag the button out of the way and look there!

EQ7 Competition, Editing Profiles

IMPORTANT UPDATE PLEASE READ

I have noticed a lot of people entering the competition need to edit their user profile and tick "show my email address". If you are lucky enough to be the winner I need to be able to contact you! Please go and do it NOW. Thanks

PS: I have had a few people asking how they do this, I created a new account and took some screen shots to show you.

Write another comment on a post and sign in with your details, publish your comment. Then go and view your comment on the post. Click on your name, as you are still signed in there will be an EDIT PROFILE button for you to click on. (see above)

After you have clicked on the blue button, the EDIT USER PROFILE page comes up. Put a tick in the show my email address box (I have circled it in yellow), then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click SAVE PROFILE.

This is what it will look like when someone clicks on your comment now that you have added your email address. The address is not shown but people can click on the "email" to contact you. Hope this helps, Leeann.

May Meeting- Guest Speaker Chris Behersing

The guest speaker at the May Meeting was Chris Behersing from Auckland, who spoke about the online "City and Guilds" course she has recently completed. Chris did the 12 month course of "Creative Sketchbooks". She spoke of the challenge of completing the course, and how it has opened her mind to new possibilities in her Art. Her sketchbooks showed the progression of the course, from simple beginnings to very complex work towards the end.

What is "City and Guilds"? here's an excerpt from Linda Kemshall's website. (City and Guilds tutor)

"City & Guilds is an internationally recognised awarding body founded in the 19th Century and originally financed by the City of London for it's livery companies. It has extended its certification services internationally and now has representation in over 100 countries. City & Guilds qualifications are respected worldwide and are the accepted standard for many tutors especially in the teaching of textiles in further and adult education."

You can see more of Chris's work in the Student Exhibitions of the Creative Sketchbook course. Also check out the Student Galleries and Exhibitions for the Patchwork and Quilting courses.

Chris successfully applied to the Quilt Auckland Trust Fund for a grant and to cover the costs of her course. This trust fund was set up using the profits of the last Auckland Quilt Symposium. Any quilter or quilt group from Taupo north is eligible to apply for funds.

Show and Tell, May 2010

This is the completed top of another raffle quilt, it was made by the "Seams2B" satellite group for our July Quilt Show.

"Spring Bright " by Pam Carr made from of a pack of 5 inch squares, hand applique with yoyos.

This lovely Red Work quilt was made by Sue Farrier. She bought the pattern last year at Calico Christmas quilt show, so it hasn't taken her long. Close up of one of the blocks below, the stitching is perfect.

This evening bag was made by Shirley Julian. It was started in a collage class with Hazel Foot, who is teaching a mixed media class here in September. See Shelia for details.

The clown quilt was made by Wendy Legarth, to 'reduce her stash' a good reason! And the red child's quilt was made by Maureen Gray, its backed with polar fleece, and is hand quilted.

This quilt made by Helen Barnes is hand stitched and embroidered. Helen made the blocks from the book "Affairs of the Heart" and the colours are fabulous. It was her last UFO, so she is now deciding what to start next.

Sandy Robinson has been practising her longarm machine quilting, on these two tops she purchased at Calico Christmas. Looks like she has the hang of it now, the quilting was really nice. I thought that was a good idea to practise on a top you hadn't made yourself, no guilt if it doesn't work out. Sandy is really pleased with them and also their mitred bindings that she has just learnt to do.

Since our meeting was on Mothers Day weekend we asked members to bring any quilts they had made for their mothers. Carmel Spray bought this sampler that she made when she first started quilting. It was made for her Aunt who was very special to Carmel and like a Mother to her.

Lynne Wilson made this quilt for her Mother, it was made from the book "Fast Quilts from Fat Quarters". Lynne machine quilted it using a 'quilt as you go' technique, she said it made it much easier, and she would do this again.

These last two are works in progress from the "Wot Knots" day (post below). The top one is made by Elaine Healey, and the lower one is by Kath Hunt.

Wot Knots Quilting Group

The 'Wot Knots' are one of many satellite groups of Whangarei P&Q. I tagged along to their last meeting, as they were going to have a day making small mosaic wall hangings.

Lynne did a demo for us (that's her completed wall hanging above) and then we were into it.

Bernice chose lovely blues and turquoise for her wall hanging.

Maria's making hers with purple and pink, and Jules is using purples and blues. They're so hard at work I don't think they realised their photo was being taken!

Kath had a multi coloured orange/red/yellow fabric that she thought she would never use in a million years, until Bernice suggested she could make a fire. It really was the most perfect fabric for it. When Kath ironed all the fabric onto her background it looked great. I especially like the starks jumping off the flames.

I was going to make mine in blues but I could not find the silver fabric I wanted for highlights. I know it's somewhere in my sewing room, but I don't know where it's hiding. Anyway I did find gold so had to find fabrics to go with that. Hopefully I will have finished for club day tomorrow, then you can see in show and tell post. You will have to wait till then!