Saviours of the Lost Arts Workshop

Last Sunday Pauline from Funky Friends Factory and Kylie from Voodoo Rabbit held a soft toy making workshop here as part of the Brisbane City Council 'Saviours of the Lost Arts' Program. 

Having fun adding the toy fill to Plattie the platypus

Finished and  just  so gorgeous. Wouldn't you love one of these?




   

See more of Paulines soft toy patterns at Funky Friends Factory 

and buy the fabric kits and patterns from Voodoo Rabbit

My after school sewing kids saw this photo and were jumping up and down with excitement at the prospect of making one themselves. So I will be teaching Plattie, Baby Rabbit & Silly Scrap Snake  in my school holiday classes.

Isn't this protea beautiful.

I had one just like it in my wedding bouquet in 1989. Seems an unusual choice but I was married in the tropics on a very hot & humid 36 degree summers afternoon (believe me nothing else would have survived)
Thanks Nat & Caryn for a lovely bunch of birthday flowers.

Until next time..............Keep warm  and keep sewing..........Linda

Kids Holiday Sewing Classes

Only 3 to 4 weeks now until the school holidays and I am looking forward to a great couple of weeks meeting & teaching a new generation of sewers.

Each young sewer learns a combination of machine and hand sewing skills tailored to their age and skill set. 

They always get to make something they can take home even in a half day class and most are delighted with their achievemments.

A couple of days allows them to learn more skills and make several small items or one more involved piece.

Classes are limited to 4 to ensure that each child gets individual attention.
To view the class list scroll to the top of this page and on the top right click on
School holiday classes 2011

Quilting those quilts for Winter

The colder weather has everyone thinking about snuggling under a quilt. Lots of finishing off and quilting going on in classes. 
I thought I would bring you pictures of some of them.

 
This is a very pretty twenty-piece dresden plate block worked in florals on a white printed background. I particularly like the cornerstones and the way Lesley has mixed the colours in the sashing.

  Jeanette started sewing & quilting about 18mths ago. She has just completed 'Charlotte Sometimes' designed by Sarah Fielke from the book Material Obsession Two. I have loved this quilt from the first time I read the book and I am very proud of what Jeanette has achieved. It will be hand quilted.

 Here is Karen stippling a quilt called 'Avalon' which is designed by Kathy Doughty and appears in Material Obsession Book One. It is a great pattern using large squares of feature fabrics with wide sashing. Karen's enthusiasm and love of colour is contagious!

 Maxine made this 'Surfs Up' quilt last year for a grandson and is about to start another. She has quilted in the ditch and around the applique.The boys absolutely love it. We have made it bigger by repeating and reversing some of the motifs. Pattern available from Hot Possum http://www.hotpossum.com/products/Surf%27s-UP-%252d-Lap-Quilt.html 

 We kept the gorgeous edge on Robyn's baby panel by adding a picture frame shaped  piece of backing fabric (orange) and wadding under the scalloped edge and sewing around each scallop. We then trimmed away the excess fabric & wadding and turned the facing right side out. (see top of the photo) After pressing we turned it over to the right side and stitched along the edge line where the white meets the green (bottom of photo). Then it was just a matter of fitting a piece of wadding  & backing into the back and quilting. The backing is turned under and slip stitched along the line of machine stitching visible on the orange fabric at the back.

Some free motion quilting
practice for Robyn

This was an echo of the fabric design

We used 13" squares to practice on. This is the back of the work.

If she does one every day she will be able to join them into a quilt-as-you-go quilt.

 

This is Lillian's first quilt. We have added a peeper border and  2 other borders to the alphabet panel. Using the walking foot, Lillian has quilted a diagonal grid in the centre and lots of parrallel lines and hearts into the borders. 

I have been working on quilting a couple of baby quilts, making a bag & finishing this jacket. Hopefully next time I show you the jacket it will have sleeves......... Until then get those quilt tops out, layer them up and start quilting.  It is so much fun to finish your quilt.

Cheers Linda

Quilt as you go - direct join technique

Do you love the idea of quilt-as-you-go

but don't want to add strips between each block.

Then this direct joining technique is for you!

There are 3 key points to remember to make this easy to achieve
1.  Several blocks can be joined into a strip of manageable size before quilting

2.  Cut the backing & wadding at least 1" larger than the piece you are quilting

       i.e. 9 1/2" square block requires minimum of 10 1/2" squares of backing & wadding

3.  When quilting you leave at least a 1" margin unquilted around the edges of the piece

 
 I quilted this project as 3 long strips of 4 joined blocks
When the quilting is finished it is time to trim up

First trim the wadding back to to the edge of the block
















If you have cut the backing 1" larger than the block you will not need to trim it.

In this photo I had been more generous and needed to trim the backing back to 1/2" along the edge that I would be joining to the next strip

Join the fronts right sides together with a 1/4"seam. 

Ensure the wadding & backing are flipped out of the way.

NB: Remember Key point 3 - 

If you have quilted to the edges of the block it is not

possible to join the fronts in this way!

View from the back while making 1/4" seam

View from the back after pressing seam.

With the edges of the backing still folded out of the way, smooth the wadding into place with one layer on top of the other. Carefully cut away excess wadding with scissors so that the edges of the wadding meet exactly.

Finish the backing by smoothing one side flat over the wadding.

Then with the edge folded under, position the other backing on top so that the folded edge is on top of the seam underneath. Use a ruler if you need.

Pin fold in place and handstitch closed with invisible stitches.

Note: Don't stitch through the wadding if you need to add another piece to this edge.

This quilt and its borders were assembled using the direct joining technique.

Back view of quilt showing machine quilting & handstitched joins.

Please try this technique and vary it to suit your project and your skill level. I often go back and add some lines of quilting across the joins. Any edge that won't be joined to another can be quilted closer to the edge for example the binding edge of the borders in my photo.

This quilt was a UFO for a long time because I chose a brushed cotton backing fabric that frayed badly and was very difficult to work with. On the other hand it is a lovely soft and snuggly finish so I am glad that I perservered.

Sewing & Sunshine

Don't look now

I took my sewing machine on holidays and made this

bright & cheerful cushion designed by Australian

Kellie Wulfsohn and called  

First Day of Christmas

This pattern comes with fabulous instructions and tips for free motion machine sewing and inserting a zipper into the back of the cushion. Find this and all of Kellie's patterns at her blogsite

http://dontlooknow.typepad.com/dont_look_now 

Next I had a scrap quilt to finish

(This one had been lurking in the back of the cupboard for a few years) 

It is a quilt-as-you-go scrap quilt that I had sewed one border on. I'd packed it away and then lost track of where the rest of the backing fabric was. Finally during a clean out I found the backing and set my sights on finishing it off. It has a flannel back so it is really cosy and soft.

Here I am quilting continuously up and down the border strips. Note that I leave 3/4" unstitched where I will attach it to the quilt. For this quilt I used the direct joining technique for the front and hand stitched the back joins.

I attached a scrappy binding and here it is all finished. This one is for Dad to snuggle under this winter.

Sunshine Coast, Queensland , Australia - Holiday Destination

Come on down and enjoy all that Australia has to offer 

Watch the sun rise over the ocean

 Take an early morning beach walk

You can walk for miles & miles on white sand

 Go for a paddle on a tidal lake by the ocean

 find something interesting on the beach

like this shell encrusted rope

 Watch the 'wormers' at work

and in the late afternoon

join the people making the most of the afternoon sunshine at Mooloolabah Beach

or watch the lifesavers do some off duty training at Kawana Beach

I was trying out some special effects with my camera  - black & white with only warm colours

 

 Here is a quick preview of what I am working on next 

it is big, bright and bold

 Bye for now - Linda

-

Website Launch

http://urbansewinglounge.com.au   

Do your eyes look like this when you've been searching the net too long?

Me too! Hope you find what you're looking for at our site......

 Go to our website to:

• view the gallery
• order a 'Linda Mahoney Designs' pattern
• find our location 
• watch for new pages as we populate the site

Designed by Sandy Gervais and made by Natalie Bird
Kits for this owl are available from Thread & Ginger Patchwork Boutique 07 38209052 for $10
Free pattern download from www.modabakeshop.com search for Owlivia

Raw Edge Applique

We have been having lots of fun doing raw edge applique.

Even the youngest sewers were very enthusiastic. Join me soon for a class to learn this technique.

Starting on the poppy stems - poppy fabric from Voodoo Rabbit

Learning to bring the bobbin thread to the top

as you begin
doing this keeps the back of your work tidy

Stitching a design from the book Scandinavian Stitches copyright 2010 Kajsa Wickman
All outline stitched in black using Signature 40wt thread

Finished Projects

Also from Scandinavian Stitches

                Apple coasters

Miss 7 proudly shows off her apron.

The applique is from one of her drawings.
The straight stitching was done with a regular machine foot by Miss seven and the curved stitching was done with a free motion foot by me.

So that the young students can experience free motion stitching I get them to rest their hands on top of mine as I stitch.

This is another delighted student 

 with her very own design stitched on her apron.
Again all the applique tracing and cutting out has been done by the student but the  fusing of the applique was done by me.

We stitched it together

I particularly love the angels wings


Below is a work in progress.
Up to stitching the blades of grass.


Lots of practice stopping with the needle down, lifting the presser foot and turning the work.

Finally this is 'Pippi' from the Melly & Me stable

I made her with fabric I purchased in Tasmania at Picture Patchwork in Deloraine

Bye for now.....................