The year is running along at such a fast pace, I am sure time did not go so fast when I was little. I remember long long summers that seemed to never end, like time stood still and we played all day on the street and under the sprinklers. All the kids in the street (and there were many) were out there until dusk until we realised we were starving and ran inside for “tea”.

But now it goes really fast and I want to enjoy every minute. So I am!

May and June will bring travel to France, the Netherlands and England, teaching at three wonderful shops.

First in May, Saturday26th and Sunday 27th, at Patchwork d’Emma in Gauchy. I met the lovely Emma in Houston last year and we struck up an immediate rapport so I was really delighted when she asked if I would like to teach in her shop.

Following that I will go to The Netherlands and be teaching at Petra Prins Patchwork, one day in Zutphen and one day in Amsterdam, 29th and 30th May. Petra is world famous for her beautiful Dutch reproduction fabric and amazingly beautiful quilts, it is a great honour to be running workshops in her shops.

After that, I will revisit Cowslips in Cornwall but this time not as a customer but as a tutor. After Pour l’amour du fil in Nantes ast year, we went on a little drive around the south of England and happened to pass by, not accidentally, the sign for Cowslips Workshops. The most delightful shop, restaurant and setting, overlooking the rolling hills around the town of Launceston in Cornwall. I am very excited to be returning there for two days of teaching, Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd June.

You can contact these shops via their websites to book into my classes.

I am also working on new patterns, as always and I expect to have these new quilts with me when I visit the UK and Europe.

Bookings are now open for Quiltessentially Clunes 2018. If you go to the website eventbrite.com and key in "Clunes" in the search box, you will see two options:

Thursday, Friday, 8th/9th March and Saturday/Sunday 10th/11th March.

We will be offering many new tutorials this year, by Rae Telfer, Christine Lethlean and myself. We will also have a beautiful yarn shop selling Fishermans Rib yarns and Deb and Tash from The Makers Suitcase will be selling hand dyed wools and running tutorials using their beautiful yarn.

You will need to secure your own accommodation for either two or four days. Lunch, morning and afternoon tea will be provided and an evening of drinks and nibbles on one of the nights, at the beautiful historic Keebles.

We look forward to welcoming you to our Retreat in 2018!

Home again after a truly wonderful tour of France, UK and Norway, catching up with family, a brief holiday in Devon but primarily enjoying the fruits of Pour l’amour du fil.

My first day, seeing my Salon and greeting all the other amazing ladies who were joining me for four days, teaching, book signing and making friends. It was a four day fest of amazing new publications by, to name but a few, and fellow Aussies, Margaret Mew, Di Ford, Deirdre Bond Abel, meeting the truly lovely Amy and David Butler and Kaffe Fassett. The whole show was so beautifully presented by the indefatigueable Carol Veillon and her team, Attention to detail and styling in my Salon was divine, as is always the case with Quiltmania, it was a very special time indeed.

It was wonderful to visit the Salon's of the other new authors also, they were just as beautifully decorated as my own, many photos were taken and these are just a very small sample.

We spent three wonderful days in Devon, staying in an thatched cottage with an Aga and beams, a dream come true! I chose the location of the cottage very cleverly and declared to my husband and daughter that it happened to be but a short drive from Cowslips Workshops in Cornwall and, well you know what happened next! It was just as I had imagined and heard from friends who had visited. Emma and I had a lovely look around, lunch in the cafe serving traditional English fare and of course a little shop. Thankyou to Jo for her little gift, I hope to return on my next visit.

I was then lucky enough to head on to Leeds and do a workshop with Karen Lewis Textiles, two days in a sweet little village hall, teaching a little Whimsy and a little Mayfair, thankyou to Karen for her hospitality and kindness.

Then on to Oslo, such a beautiful city in every way. We were so impressed and my workshops with Kathrine’s Quilt Stue were wonderful. Kathrine’s shop in Oslo is certainly worth a visit or indeed a detour, she has a great sense of style and I convey my thanks to her and the lovely Norweigan ladies I met that weekend.

Home again after three weeks, jet lagged but very happy and excited to plan future trips. I hope you enjoy this gallery of photos of my trip.

1. Cut nine squares 2 ½” x 2 ½”, make into a nine patch block.

2. Put a square of batting on the back, 6 ½” x 6 ½” and quilt.

3. Cut a square of backing fabric 6 ½” x 6 ½”. Trim the corners into a curve.

4. Cut a strip of fabric for the edges, 22” x 2 ¼”.

5. Pin and sew around the top of the pincushion, turning a hem on each edge.

6. Pin the base on the other side and stitch, leaving the gap open.

7. Turn to the right side and stuff with polyfil through the gap.

8. Stitch the gap to close.

9. Find the centre of the back and using Perle thread doubled, knot the end and pull through to the centre of the front of the pin cushion. Thread the button through and stitch it through the middle, pulling the thread in to make a well in the pin cushion. Knot it off to secure.

Try stoping at one! These make great little gifts for stitching friends.

Judy x

Its been such a huge year for me, I’ve been travelling and teaching all over Australia, and meeting wonderful people along the way. But behind the scenes I have been stitching like a mad woman to finish the quilts for my book, Quilts for Life Made with Love, published this week by Quiltmania, France.

18 projects, photographed in the beautiful Quiltmania style.

There are stories of some of the quilts, instructions and templates. It will be available for purchase in Australia in early March.

As well as my book, my friend, Margaret Mew has been travelling on a similar journey. Her book is also just published by Quiltmania, called Quilts from the Colonies, it contains 17 projects, again with the most divine photographs and styling by Quiltmania.

I am now looking ahead to next year when I will be travelling to Nantes to the quilt show Pour l’amour du fil, in April.

Wishing everyone happiness at Christmas and a wonderful 2017.

Judy

Its been a busy time this last 6 months, travelling all over the country. I've had some wonderful classes in Albury at Avonleigh Country Quilting, in Sydney with Gerri, who is the new owner of Cottage Quiltworks, Melinda at Quiltsmith and over to Perth to Calico and Ivy, together with my usual teaching days in Victoria at Treehouse Textiles, Millrose Cottage, Patch N Quilt in Gisborne, the new Cutting Cloth in Fairfield and The Quilters Patch in Moorabbin. Next year is shaping up to be a busy one, travelling north again to the lovely Precioustime Quilting in February and many other places as well. I think it is time I got myself organised so I will have a website next year from which I will list all my teaching appointments for the year ahead and there will be a shop, selling my templates for a couple of my patterns. The stockists of my patterns will be listed for the purchase of my patterns. I intend to pop a few other things on there that I make from time to time. The title of this post has a particular significance. My Liberty Alice quilt has been chosen by Liberty of London to appear in the 140th anniversary book to be published early in 2016. I am so excited by this, I have been sewing with Liberty fabrics since I discovered it when I was 15 and have loved and collected it ever since, so quite a treat to have been picked. My daughter who is living in London at the moment will, no doubt, be able to purchase one from the source. Just to finish off, wishing you all a very happy Christmas or any other celebration that might be yours and all the very best for 2016.

Whenever you plan a trip overseas, the preparation and excitement seems to occupy all your time and thoughts many months prior to the trip. Include in those thoughts, a hatred if not a fear of flying long distances and being stuck up there, the decision to go on a long trip is not easily made! However, I had a good reason to go with two children living in Europe, a visit was a necessity. I spent time in London with my daughter, then we together flew to Florence to visit my son who is finishing his studies there at Monash Prato. It was all a little surreal. My friend from Australia, Lorraine and I were together exploring London while our daughters were working during the day. We visited many beautiful patchwork shops, Liberty of London, goes without saying, Hever Castle in Kent and The Globe Theatre. The weather was perfect, not too hot or too cold. We visited the amazing Antique Textile Company in Hampstead and both made a little, or not so little, purchase. I was invited to teach the Dilly Bag and Emma Mary at the beautiful Tikki Patchwork in Kew Gardens and finally met Tiina who I have been following on IG for ages. We also visited a beautiful fabric shop in Islington called Ray Stitch. Florence with my children was a highlight, I had been there when I was 20 but saw it through very different eyes this time. My son, living there for months, knew the lay of the land and took us to places we might not have otherwise seen. Like inside the beautiful homes that he and his friends are leasing for their stay there, 600 year old buildings with magnificent interiors, hardly student digs! We then all caught the train to Venice, a place I was very keen to see again, having read avidly on the history of how Venice came to be built in the first place. It was a wonderful experience and before I knew it, I was back again! I like to now imagine where my children are living, I know their homes and their environment and where they work and study. I feel more connected with them when they are so far away and that makes me happy. Here are some photos I took during the trip.

My daughter "Emma Mary" has been living and working in London since last September. Missing her so much so I have decided to pay her a visit and to my son, leaving today for Florence for a university semester at Monash Prato. Easy decision to make that one! I have been very lucky to have been invited to do a workshop at Tikki Patchwork in London and Karen Lewis Textiles in Leeds. The workshops will be in late April, link on to the shops for details. These are the projects you can chose from.

My first resolution of the year is to blog more. Famous Last words. There is always the temptation to sew more, cook less, blog less, exercise less. There is always another quilt calling and I never have to talk myself into starting a new quilt. Luckily my children are of an age where the rudimentary cooking lessons I gave them and less rudimentary cooking books for birthday presents, are now in use, which gives me more time for sewing, just as I planned! My latest diversion quilt wise has been the Liberty Alice quilt or Alice in Libertyland, not yet decided on the name. I knew of the range celebrating the 150 anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland being published and. I have been collecting "Alice" fabrics for many years now and even have an original print from the 1950's which I treasure. It was just a matter of time before I made this quilt and the Alice range from Liberty of London was the decider. The drawings in the book by John Tenniel so remind me of my childhood readings of my very old book. The quilt is now finished and I will be teaching it in Sydney at Cottage Quiltworks in January. Here are a few photos starting from early ideas and drawings.

I've always loved a bit of hand piecing, evenings, cat on lap, watching a favourite show! Lately however, after the demise of the pin cushion obsession, I thought I was in the clear to set about designing another quilt. While I was thinking I decided to make a dilly bag, not too difficult, pretty fabrics etc. etc. So I did, I made one, then two, then three and I am not here to divulge how many I have now made, suffice to say that my friends have one or are getting one and I'm thinking again, about the next thing and hoping I can control it!!!! Here is a photo of one of the many pin cushions I have made, again the actual number is not relevant here, but, you know, more than 2 and less than 20. The pattern for the Pin Cushion is by Louise Pappas of Three Dolls Patterns and I now have a pattern for the Dilly Bag available.

I've always loved a bit of hand piecing, evenings, cat on lap, watching a favourite show! Lately however, after the demise of the pin cushion obsession, I thought I was in the clear to set about designing another quilt. While I was thinking I decided to make a dilly bag, not too difficult, pretty fabrics etc. etc. So I did, I made one, then two, then three and I am not here to divulge how many I have now made, suffice to say that my friends have one or are getting one and I'm thinking again, about the next thing and hoping I can control it!!!! Here is a photo of one of the many pin cushions I have made, again the actual number is not relevant here, but, you know, more than 2 and less than 20. The pattern for the Pin Cushion is by Louise Pappas of Three Dolls Patterns and I now have a pattern for the Dilly Bag available.

Well I see that I have not been "here" for a while, goodness knows what I have been up to but it has taken me ages to do it! I actually have been a bit busy, the usual, family, pets, stitching, eating chocolate, not necessarily in that order. The most exciting journey was on my trip to New Zealand aboard a very large cruise ship "Voyager of the Seas", as a tutor. It was my first time on anything larger than a flotation device that bobs about in a swimming pool, so I was alert not alarmed when I boarded this monster of a ship. It took me the whole two weeks to navigate my way around it, making sure to steer fairly clear of the edges where the water was, so as not to trigger the "alarmed" bit. I was invited to join the tutoring contingent by Needlework Tours much to my delight, it turned out to be just that, a delight. The classes were wonderful, eager and talented students learning how to "navigate" their way around Museum Medallion and Guinevere. I met a great group of tutors from various States in Australia and we would congregate together most days after class stitching together watching the sun go down. It was a different world on the ship, and luckily it did not move much even when the waves across in the Tasman grew to 8m. So there you go, thats been my main adventure of late and I am attaching a few photos to prove it!

The much quilted French Market Medallion is finally ready. I love hand quilting, it's my favourite pastime in the evenings, watching television but not feeling guilty because I am still busy. I am sorry it is finished in a way but have a fair stash of quilt tops waiting for me to quilt, I might get another one in before the heat of the summer begins. Pattern available next week.

The Beatles said it so well, I love this song and now here is the quilt pattern.

A first for me, having a go at English paper piecing and starting to enjoy it. I am not being completely traditional and am glueing the fabric on to the paper which is quick and I like that, however nothing quick about sewing the little darlings together.

This post is a little dedication to all the people who have made this quilt in classes in the past. It has been such a great quilt to teach and I have seen it in so many colourways, I just thought I would share a few with you. It seems to work in traditional colours as well as bright fabrics, I never tire of seeing them and teaching this class. Of course, thanks must go to Mrs Vigors who made the original a very long time ago.

Just a little excited. My World Piece quilt is in Quilters Companion this week.

I have always loved flags, reading maps, just to see where places are in relation to other places. I am fascinated by how people live and where and the sort of houses they live in. I haven't been to all the countries in the flag quilt but many of them and at the risk of sounding like a Miss World contestant, I wish for a bit of world piece.

Once again, there is a flurry (love that word) of activity in the studio, making quilts for

Mathilda's Market. I have a good range of quilts for boys and girls and a couple of single bed size quilts this time. I am always amazed at the wonderful things you can find there to decorate nurseries and for children generally. Such clever women about. When I had babies, all you could get was Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck.....not that there's anything wrong with that!