trip around the world quilt.

I have just completed a trip around the world quilt. Which I did with a couple of jelly rolls.
I ran out of white fabric part way through and had to unpick and redo 7 rows but I am really happy with the end result.
As I ran out of the white fabric I was using and decided to use another white fabric from my stash, when I laid it out the two whites were different shades. So I decided to unpick and redo.

you will notice the rows in the top are a slight difference in the white colours. I had to remove 7 rows in all and change the 6 1/2 inch white squares.

this one here really shows the difference.

I have just finished it and will upload some photos of it tomorrow. I am glad that I decided to redo these ones. I had made a alot of 9 patch blocks so I had enough to redo the 7 rows of 18 across. 

I am going to use the blocks i removed and make a single bed quilt from.

thanks

Wendy

internet problems

I appologise for my blog being very boring of late. We have been having terrible trouble with our internet coverage for a long time and have finally decided we couldn't wait any longer for the company to fix up the service. We have changed companies and gone back to ADSL and wow the difference. Where before it would take sometimes up to 30 minutes to open a page now it is instantaneous. I just can't believe the difference. I will try to find the time to write more and give you some information that is worth reading.
thank you for putting up with the terrible communication and I hope that you will give me another try.

Tutorial to make pinwheel quilt.

We had a customer that had made a quilt with pretty pinwheels on it that were folded we quilted it for her.
It was such a pretty quilt and looked easy to make so after having a look at the blocks I was sure that I could make that myself. Here is my version of what she did. In this I haven't sewn the pieces together but placed them in the order I have sewn them so that you could see the effect.

I used 10 inch squares for each block you need 4 of each colour

decide which of the 2 colours is going to be your pinwheel. fold in half to form a triangle and press

bring one of the long points of the triangle up to meet the centre point as shown above and press in place

place along one side of the back ground square as shown above repeat this for all 4 pieces.

the pieces are sewn together as shown above I just pinned mine in place to keep them there while I joined the seems with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

once you have joined both sets of 2 pieces sew them together to form the pinwheel.

make sure that the folded piece is like shown in these photos

there you have it one block,  I am going to put alternative blocks of the pinwheel and a plain fabric square to form a quilt. I will update photos when I have it completed.

Sorry it has been a while

I am sorry that it has been a while, we have been changing internet providers and have had to change email address. This has meant we have had to update everything that was associated with our email address. I have not been able to access my blog as it wouldn't recognize my new email address with the account. It won't save a gmail address to the blog. It has been very frustrating.

On the other side of things I have been doing a bit of sewing lately and I will put up some photos in the next couple of days to show you what we have been up to.

I hope that everyone is well out there.

Wendy

well it has been a while since I posted, I have been slack. We have had a lot going on lately with my Mother being in hospital for a while. She is now better and improving all the time.
We went to Sydney for the quilting business show. This gave us alot of contacts of fabric and thread, batting suppliers. There was so many amazing companies out there, I really enjoyed the little businesses, a couple of small family businesses that produced patterns as well as a small fabric range.
My favourite was Tilda oh this was just amazing, the way they set up their stall. I could have purchased everything there but I couldn't take it home on the plane.
if you haven't seen their things you should have a look, gorgeous tins, papers, fabrics baskets, bags, buttons everything. Beautiful.
I had better get back to work I will put up some photo's of the stalls that we saw and the products available.
Wendy

been very busy lately had to finish a test quilt that I was doing for Arbee designs. My mum has been in hospital, she was there for a week so with full time work, sewing in my lunch and  hospital visit in the evening it has been a bit full on.
My daughter and partner have just been here for a week also while they prepared their house for the rental market after the last tenants have moved out. So we have had 4 big dogs in the backyard with lots and lots of rain so as you can imagine it has been a bit full on.
We are off to the Australian Quilt Market on the weekend in Sydney so we have to get up at 4am in the morning for the 1 1/2 hour drive to the Gold Coast airport we will be home again on Sunday night ready for work Monday.
I am looking forward to school holidays in just over four weeks..
I will write again sometime next week about our weekend at the quilt market.

Blog give away at The sewing Library

The sewing library is having there first birthday celebrations and are giving away one of the most beautiful sewing machines around it is the commemorative sewing machine from Singer,
So drop of and check this out here http://thesewinglibrary.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/1st-birthday-giveaway.html
I love this blog if you haven't been here before be sure to have a look around.
Have a lovely day

Wendy

Quilt Pro systems

I have recently signed up to receive free block of the day from the Quilt Pro Systems http://www.quiltpro.com/page/BlockOfDay this is totally free.
I was wondering if anyone out there had actually used the quilt pro system computer program. For what I have read it looks pretty good.
You can draw your own blocks, make up quilts using the blocks they already have, you can scan in your fabric and use them to see what the quilt will look like in advance.
That would be nice to scan in your fabrics and play around and see how colours work together.
They have a few products that are interesting including the print and sew half square triangle sheets.
I haven't tried this method before but have read that others find it really easy, I have always just sewn 1/2 inch either side of the centre diagonal.
How do you sew up your half square triangles?
You should drop over and have a look. I know that I would be interested in a couple of the other products they sell including Carol Doak foundation pieces and the Mariner Compass Volume 1 set they look great. I still haven't tried the Mariner's compass but I just love the look of these quilts.

I hope that you are all well, I have been sick the last week and still not 100% with Bronchitis and Laryngitis so haven't done much sewing this week at all. Atleast the weather here has finally fined up and we have a lovely sunny day. Hope that the weather is lovely were you are.
Have a nice day.
Wendy

http://chasingcottons.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/monster-giveaway.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+ChasingCottons+(Chasing++++++++++Cottons)

I am so sorry the chasing cotton link didn't work below for the give away please try this one

Cloud 9 Fabrics giveaway

I don't know if you have seen these fabrics before but they are beautiful organic fabrics.

Chasing Cotton one of the wonderful blogs I read is having a giveaway thought I would add a link for you so you can check them out. 

Michelle from Cloud 9 Fabrics has so kindly offered to give away a full Fat Quarter Bundle...

Pretty Cool Hey!!

In order to enter the Giveaway...

 Just leave a comment on this post below and tell me....

What is your favourite baby gift to give? make?? or receive??

Giveaway is open internationally... and will remain open til 9th May..

Winner drawn on 10th May using Random.org

http://chasingcottons.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/monster-giveaway.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+ChasingCottons+(Chasing++++++++++Cottons)

test pattern number 3

as promised here are some of the photo's of the test quilt that I have just finished

this was taken before I trimmed and finished it.

some items that I have been doing today

today I did some nappy cut embroideries

these will be for sale they are made on minkee. This is such a cute one

what about this one

and this one

and this one

this is the test quilt I just finished

http://www.academyofquilting.com/Classes#15
The place that I do the test quilts for in America are running a class on the test quilt that I have just completed. It is the rose one.
I loved this quilt and would highly recommend that you took this class or purchased the pattern when it comes on sale. It is a really lovely quilt.
I will put up some photos in the next couple of days as soon as i get permission from them that I can.
Wendy

Sister's visit

My sister Gail has been visiting for the last almost 3 weeks. She started me in quilting a few years back now, she has been such an inspiration. She had a stroke last year and has had an almost full recovery. She hasn't let it stop her and she has gone back to quilting this year and has used hand stitching a quilt as rehabilitation.

these are photos of one of the quilts Gail has made we quilted this one for her, this was our first quilt that we did on the longarm machine.

if you would like to see more photos of Gail's quilts and other customer quilts have a look on our webpage www.dahlwardquiltingservices.com

Wendy

Austalian Quilt Market

Has anyone gone to one of these before. We have just booked to go to our first one in Sydney in June. I hope to do a few classes while there and meet up with some wholesalers.
I am really looking forward to the show and tell classes from the exhibitors. This is not open to the public you have to book to go to the Quilt Market. If   your interested you can look it up online at Australian Quilt Market. If you are a buyer it is free but if you want to see the classes you need to pay for a 2 day pass. Online booking is now open. www.aqm.net.au/syd_defaultaspx
Back to work today so the next couple of days I won't be getting in much quilting can't wait for the weekend already.
Wendy

Give away.

I have been trying to get to 1500 likes on my facebook page to have a giveaway. I have a quilt to give away when I reach 1500. I have 230 to get there. You can help by going to my facebook page and click the link 1500 giveaway.

this is the quilt that we are going to give away to one lucky winner. Please drop over and like.

As I told you earlier we spent a couple of days away in Woody Head northern New South Wales. Above is a photo of my husband and granddaughter testing the water. All the Photos in this post are taken by my daughter as part of her HSC portfolio.

this is part of the beach when the tide was out.

Piper feeling the wet sand in her hands.She was a bit wary at first but she soon enjoyed the water.

such a beautiful place. If you are ever in the area you should have a look .

Wendy

Barbara's Wedding quilt

Here are the photos of a quilt that we completed recently for one of our customers. It is a beautiful quilt that she made for a wedding gift. Some 40 hours of quilting went into this quilt and when you see the photos you will see why. It was heirloom quilted and if you would like a quilt done like this just let us know we are happy to give you a free quote.

here is another photo of the back of the quilt for you to see the work that went into this quilt to form such a beautiful quilt.

customers quilt

Here is the photo from a customer quilt we finished a month ago. This was a gift from the customer to her nephew for a wedding gift.

This quilt took us over 40 hours to quilt and as you can see it was a lot of work this photo shows the back of the quilt
After it has taken me 2 hours to load up these two photos I have decided that this will have to be enough.
I hope you like the photos.
Wendy

holidays

we have just been away for a couple of days in beautiful Woody Head in Northern NSW. We stayed in the Bunjalong National park. What a beautiful place, it was wet but a lovely time was had by all spending some quality family time. We had no internet or phone coverage so we had to do with out technology for a few days which was hard for some.
We went for walks on the beach, checked out the local Kangaroo's which my granddaughter thought was very fascinating. We saw some big Goanna's outside the place we stayed but as long as they stayed away from us all was good.
We had one day of fine weather and some very heavy rain the night before leaving and they were expecting alot more rain with chances of flash flooding. Good time to leave I thought the Caravan park was quite empty for school holidays.
Back into some sewing now before I have to go back to work next week. I have another test quilt to do, this is a  stained glass one. I can't get the pattern to print so I can see the lines at the moment.
hopefully they will send me another copy.
Wendy

10 minute block

Have you seen this 10 minute block. how clever is it. I am going to give it a go today and show you the results later. If you don't know what it is all about check out this U tube clip to see what it.

stack and whack quilt

Here is one of the photos of the stack and whack quilt. 

Here is a couple of the other blocks as you can see when sewn back together they make some lovely patterns. I love the first one best so far.
I have another 6 or so to finish putting together and than add the finishing touches to make it into a quilt. Stay tuned for more photos.

Wendy

Test pattern number 2

Well the pattern has been put up for sale, so I can show you some photos of the test quilt I made.
http://arbeedesigns.com/star-crossed/ this is were you can purchase the pattern if you are interested.

this is my version of the pattern. As I said it is small so I am looking to add some borders to the quilt to make it a small table cloth. I thought of adding just the red and green fabrics in a couple of borders. What do you think.

hope you like the photos.

happy Quilting
Wendy

Spotlight Voucher.

http://promotions.spotlight.com.au/events/E14_12/coupons/E14_12A_BOGO_Coupon.pdf if you haven't seen them online here is the link to the $10 voucher that is currently available for spotlight in Australia. This offer expires on Sunday 1st April. Great value to get $10 off your items. This means I can go and get some more fabric.

this is from a blog that I read regularly Esthers Blog

The “Pandora’s Box” of Quilting Posted: 26 Mar 2012 01:57 AM PDT Please read these blog links to see what I am talking about. http://generationqmagazine.com/2012/03/notions-copy-wrongs-and-rights/ http://carolinapatchworks.com/blog/2011/11/17/an-interesting-read/ http://katespaindesigns.blogspot.com.au/ Imagine this: you design and create a quilt (or project) using commercially available printed fabrics. Perhaps you’re a well-known quilter publishing a book of your work and perhaps a fabric manufacturer sends you some fabrics to create your projects with. So far, this all sounds rather ordinary, yes? Now, imagine that the designer of the fabric range you used in your project sees your published book and decides to sue you, the quilter ($150,000) for breaching their licence. Unlikely? Impossible? Ridiculous? I have been following the development of this very same scenario over the last week with great interest, concern and annoyed confusion. I really feel that the Pandora’s Box of Quilting has had its lid pulled off…and the implications may not be nice for quilters. How often do quilters see a quilt pattern and decide to purchase the very same fabrics used in the original quilt? Very often in my experience. How often do quilters go out of their way to ask the designer what range of fabrics were used in a particular quilt? Very often in my experience. How often have you purchased a fat quarter with no selvedge or fabric manufacturer details (not the retailer) listed anywhere on the fabric? Very often in my experience. How often have you been pleased to know what range a fellow quilting blogger is using in a shared pattern or design? Pretty much always? Almost expect as much? What are the implications of this situation? Does it mean that quilters are not able to create designs with commercially available printed fabrics free from the worry of being sued? Even when the fabric manufacturer sends it on to them? Are we all exposed to being potentially sued by designers who didn’t issue written permission or approval to us specifically to feature their fabrics on our blogs? Does this mean that, as a quilting blogger I am not allowed to show what fabrics I am using, creating and or simply like? I don’t sell any fabrics and I don’t receive any monetary value from listing what fabrics I like or select for projects here on my blog. I know that the issue at hand is regarding a quilter publishing a book which included her projects being made up with a designer’s fabrics (which are commercially sold and available and in this instance were provided to the quilter for use), so my question is, if quilting fabrics aren’t allowed to be exhibited or shown or published as used examples without the permission of the designer…what are quilting fabrics for? Should we all be working with solids and hand dyes exclusively? Or are we simply not allowed to show and exhibit or publish any works which involve printed fabrics? And what are the implications for Quilt Shows and Festivals? Surely quilted fabrics are made to be used in quilting and associated projects, so what’s the problem? Should designers have an avenue to sue quilters for promoting their own work using fabrics that were designed by someone else…and who’s designs were sold for the express purpose of quilting? Anyone who follows my blog, website or is a member of my Yahoo Bom Group knows how seriously I take Copyright – it always matters. But is this really about Copyright? Surely designing a quilting fabric range means you expect quilter’s to use it? This issue raises so many questions…for quilters and bloggers. If you blog, you are publishing.  So these questions are important.  It’s something I really think all quilters should be talking about, blogging about and expressing an opinion about. Do I have to ask every single designer’s permission before sharing commercially sold fabric on my blog? Is that even possible? I couldn’t possibly discover the designer of each fabric range and writing to a manufacturer like Moda would take months. This is my blog and this is my personal opinion. I sincerely hope that I don’t offend anyone because that is not my intention. But I am one of many quilters now questioning my design possibilities. I love finding new fabric ranges…will that have to stop now? I have removed all Kate Spain’s fabric from my range, which is a shame because I love her work…but really, who needs the worry and heartache? And who wants to ask permission for every single fabric I use? I use hundreds of fabrics. Even in a scrap quilt?? Also, regarding Sselvedge’s on the fabrics ( when they are there), should they really tell us specifically what they mean by Rights Reserved? If something is Copyrighted, I am the first person to abide with it. However, I didn’t think quilting fabric was copyrighted to the extent that it couldn’t be shown once used. What do you think?

Finshed the test quilt.

I finally finished it, what a lot of work, it is a very small quilt would I do it again, not likely. Did I enjoy making it no! in fact I nearly didn't finish it, if it wasn't for me doing it as a test quilt I probably wouldn't of finished. It looks nice, my husband thinks it is lovely. I think it is about 35inches square. So not very big at all. I think I will look at adding more borders and sashings to it to make it a quilt worth while at this size it isn't much use to me. Can't use it on the table my table seats 10 so it just gets lost on that. Will decide what to do later tho. I am looking forward to starting something fun, I am going to try a stack and whack quilt.
have a great one
Wendy

Fabric copyright laws

well I have been hearing alot at the moment on the yahoo groups I subscribe to about fabric copyright laws. I didn't even know until reading these that they existed. I would never of thought about not being able to use fabric in my quilt because if I sell it I have breached copyright laws.
I don't really understand why someone who designs fabric for quilting could even place such laws on the fabric. after all quilting and being made into a patchwork quilt is what the fabric was designed for. Patchwork and Quilting is a huge business and it is a business for people to show and sell their products. It seems that you have to check fabric to make sure it isn't copyrighted.
I do know that in embroidery patterns some items have copyright laws. Disney items can't be used on any items that you sell, so if you are making something that you want to sell make sure you don't use Disney patterns.
here is a quote from one of the yahoo blogs from a couple of lawyer about licensing laws and copyright.
"We have located two federal courts cases concerning the use of fabric to make items to sell:

In Precious Moments vs La Infantil, 1997, the federal court invoked the first sale doctrine in denying Precious Moments attempts to block the use of its licensed fabrics to make bedding for sale. The 1st Circuit Court said making a fabric item from fabric lacked any originality so it was not copyright infringement. Since then, M&M/Mars, Disney Enterprises, Major League Baseball, United Media (Peanuts fabric), Sanrio (Hello Kitty fabrics), and Debbie Mumm, have been sued when these companies tried to block the eBay sales of items hand-crafted from their licensed fabrics. Every one of them settled rather than risk losing the issue in court.

In Scarves By Vera, Inc. v. American Handbags, Inc, 188 F. Supp. 255 - US: Dist. Court, SD New York 1960, American Handbags was using towels manufactured by Vera to make handbags for sale. On some of these handbags made with plaintiff's towels there could be seen, at the bottom, the name Vera coupled with the figure of a Scarab or Ladybug, all three of which were registered trademarks of Vera. The judge rejected Vera's copyright claims.

It should be noted that in both cases the judges required the defendants to provide disclaimers attached to the items because the items were being sold in stores. The disclaimers were to plainly disavow any relationship between the manufacturer of the item and the trademark owner. This was done so "an ordinary, intelligent purchaser" would not be misled that there was any connection. When selling on-line, a prominent, highly visible and well-placed disclaimer, such as our recommended Tabberone Disclaimer, would likely serve the same purpose and legal need as the disclaimers required by the courts. Precious Moments disclaimer court quotation and Scarves By Vera disclaimer court quotation.

Licensed fabric means the fabric is licensed by the rights owner to be manufactured and sold. It does not mean the fabric is licensed at the time it is sold. A license on the use of the fabric requires the person buying it to agree, usually in writing, to conditions on the use of the fabric before paying for the fabric. If you do not agree to the "license" before purchasing, they will sell the fabric to you anyway. In fact, no one even asks you if you agree to the license. They just sell you the fabric. Any fabric sold without a signed mutual agreement prior to the sale is not licensed and there are no provisions in the law that allow for otherwise. Any one who tells you otherwise is lying. And, under the definition of a "license", they would record your name and address, require periodic payments, and demand the fabric be returned to them when you are done with it. That just does not happen."

Thanks for listening! Happy Quilting!
Deborah


--- In Machine_Quilting_Professional@yahoogroups.com, Irene Frederick <ifrederick01@...> wrote:
>
> I decided to google the topic myself, and found a site with explinations of
> a number of lawsuits regarding fabric. Here's the site:
>
> http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/CopyrightLaw/LicensedFabric.shtml


makes for some interesting reading.
Wendy

New York Beauty Quilt A Long

http://www.sewsweetness.com/2012/03/new-york-beauty-quilt-along-week-3.html

Here is the link for the next block in the New York Beauty. So head of to Sew Sweetness if you want to watch this weeks tutorial on how to make this block.

Wendy

Tutu Quilt

Here is a photo of a quilt I made. I found the pattern on line at www.cutequiltpatterns.com

I just loved the pattern so I made one up it was really easy to make. I have added black ribbon down the border of the white pieces in the centre. I couldn't get rick rack here that was big enough.
I need to quilt it now. What would you suggest that I quilt on this.
leave a comment to let me know what you think.
hugs
Wendy

customers quilt

This beautiful quilt was made by one of our customers. This lovely older lady has only just started doing patchwork and i think this was her 3rd quilt that she has made. It is beautiful.

 This was one of the quilts that we quilted for charity. The local quilters were making quilts for the Mental Health unit at our hospital. We have quilted 12 so far and have another 8 quilts to do for them. This one was a really nice log cabin. I just love black white and red one of my favourite colours to quilt with.

 this is another quilt from the lady that did the first quilt. This one is her second quilt that she has made. I know that my first couple of quilts sure didn't look this good.

 This is another customers quilt. This one was done with an all over quilt pattern. Quite a lovely quilt.

over the next couple of weeks I will be uploading more photos of some of the long arm quilting that we have done for some of our customers.

enjoy your night
Wendy

recycling

I found this great site today a machine embroidery site. Wow has she got some lovely patterns, on her site she has a free pattern where she uses the thread ends that we cut off from sewing, embroidering, quilting etc. She sandwiches them together between 2 pieces of soluble stabilizer and free motion stitches over the threads to make a lovely fabric.
You can check it out here. http://www.masterpiece-embroidery.com/machine-embroidery-designs.html I think  this would also be great with all those tiny bits of fabric that you end up with as well that aren't quite big enough to use in a scrappy quilt but you could make a lovely confetti fabric especially if you use the same colour blends in the made fabric. Will have to give this a try.
What recycling ideas do you have for your scraps.

Wendy

Whack and Stack quilts

has anyone tried one of these whack and stack quilts. We have just finished quilting one of these for a customer of ours. they are a very impressive quilt. She said that it was easy to do but there was a lot of wastage in fabric. I suppose that just means more fabric for the stash.
The pattern she used was designed by Bethany S Reynolds taken from the book Magic Stack-N-Whack.

what do you think. I know that I am going to give this one a try the effect with the pattern formed in each square is really lovely.