Thursday, March 30, 2006

The Rowing Quilt (and the story behind it)


I've been wanting post this quilt for a while now, but hanging off while I looked for a photograph to accompany it. It's our latest 'oh-so-soft' quilt, designed by Gai and it is a large throw size - 60" x 60".

We've called it the Rowing Quilt, largely thanks to the bright yellow oh-so-soft fabric, the exact shade of the rowing singlets worn by Taree High School. Throughout the 70's and 80's, Elwin was the Rowing Coach for the Taree High School crews.

So my childhood memories include many days spent at Rowing regattas, and I have the photos (somewhere!) to prove that I grew up on the riverbanks of Australia.

But not only does this quilt include that distinctive yellow/gold shade, but the Manning River Rowing Club shades of cerise (red) and navy (blue, obviously). Elwin is a Life Member of the Manning River Rowing Club having been secretary of the club for almost four decades. Now though with all of his travelling to Quilt Shows around Australasia he's has to take on a silent supportive role within the club.

And we've had several customers tell us that their rowing club/sporting club colours are here on the quilt in the colourful dot and stripe fabrics. So it's the perfect sports supporters quilt. Take it to a rugby league game this winter and chances are you'll be able to sit on the fence with the team colours.

So that's the story behind the name... but it's a fun, bright quilt whatever you want to call it :)

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Vintage Variety


Although things have been quite quiet on the just patchwork blog, we've been working hard behind the scenes to finish off some projects to show you. I'm moving on from the roses theme of the past couple of posts and the next couple will have a decidedly dotty outlook.

I fell in love with the Amy Butler Ginger Bliss fabric range, and am very sad that it has almost disappeared from our shelves. Of course we've got all of Amy's Charm fabrics and the new Sis Boom Girlfriends line that goes some ways to fill the gap, but I had to make one more project with the Ginger Bliss line before I could properly move on.

I'm also very taken with Vintage look quilts. If you can't have the real vintage, why not fake it? So I grabbed some stars and pinwheels rejected from another project and whipped up this wallhanging over the weekend. And with the soft dots surrounding my star & pinwheel centre, I am pleased with the faux vintage effect.

Continuing the theme I bravely decided to hand-quilt it, though I was going for the 'utilitarian vintage' not the 'showpiece vintage' standard of quilting. It just reinforced that I am much more comfortable with machine quilting, though it was good to be able to watch the Commonwealth Games on television while I quilted away. And the texture of finished quilt is so soft with the hand quilting.

The final result? My very own Vintage Pinwheel Puzzle ... so named because some of the pinwheels are spinning against the wind.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Bohemian Rose






There definitely seems to be a rose theme going on here... but this will be the last rose related post for a while I promise!

With the shop camera back after a trip to the Melbourne Stitches and Craft show last week (more on that later...) I am now able to show you a picture of my completed 'Bohemian Rose' wallhanging. I posted the original Stained Glass version last week.

I used most of the fabrics from Amy Butler's new Charm Fall palettes, all available at Just Patchwork! It was hard to part with this wallhanging as it looked wonderful hanging on my wall at home. But it looks equally great in its new home in our classroom.

I used both white and pink bias tape, and I think that the colourful border fabric looks like a gorgeous wallpaper print. Very bohemian, hence the name.

The entire project took just a couple of nights to put together, and would be a great project for a rainy weekend. But here in Tuncurry with daily temperatures still around 30 degrees celcius, it might take a while for one of those stay inside weekends to come around again!


Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Photo Fabric Fun


We have had a rush on the printed treasures fabric sheets today ($59.95 for 10 sheets). Everyone is discovering the fun of printing photos and digital files onto fabric to use in their quilting projects. Most people have seen Elwin's talk at one of the Quilt Shows around Australia and New Zealand, and it is fantastic that you're all going home to experiment!

We've done a lot of experimentation too, and Elwin is very excited about the new high thread count muslin ($10/m)that we received in the recent shipment from America. It works so well with the Bubble Jet Set and Rinse solutions for making your own fabric sheets.

The picture above includes a close up, cropped photograph of a rose that I've added to with fusible applique shapes. Look closely and you'll see where the photo ends and the patchwork begins.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Out of the Garden....



Heather Ross' Lightning Bugs and Other Mysteries fabrics are all in the shop, looking great nestled against some 1930's prints.

I have already taken some to make a quilt, but to satisfy me until that is complete, I also made a cushion with just the blue garden gnome print, and the coordinating spots and stripe fabrics. It made me want to make a cushion for each of the prints in the range - they're so cute!!! See the whole 21 fabrics (including the fabulous beach border print) at Free Spirit Fabrics.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Charmed I'm Sure



The two new Amy Butler 'Charm' colourways have just arrived in store, and as usual, I want to make a new quilt from them - immediately! The new colourways are called 'Chocolate Mint' and 'Midnight Glow'.

You can see both colourways on Amy's website. Click through to see all of the fabrics in the Charm range. These are all available for A$24/m, and we do colourway fat quarter packs too...

To use these beautiful fabrics, I've decided to use Amy's great idea of reworking an existing design. I'll be making Elwin's Rose Garden Stained Glass wallhanging, this time with white bias tape and of course the new Charm fabrics! Stay tuned for photos.....

Monday, March 06, 2006

Welcome to Just Patchwork!


Hello and welcome to our brand new blog.

After many months of reading other people's blogs...we've decided to jump in and have a go ourselves. Not only will this be a great way to update anyone who wants to spend some time finding out what is new at Just Patchwork, it will also give us motivation to finish projects that we talk about.

See you again soon!