Lynette Anderson Designs

Stitching and threads...

Its hot here today, I am thankful for the sea breeze as I am busy stitching and watching 'Downton Abbey', I had heard the series was good and its perfect to listen too while I stitch. Did you watch it? I am only on episode two (first series) so dont spill any beans about the story.

These stitched roses have turned out very nicely and I have used a rather interesting striped yarndye as my background...its interesting but not too dominant. I guess I should order a mile of it as I know once you all see it you will want some :) Fatcat has been helping me with the stitching, checking for threads and generally keeping the sewing under control!

I find making hexagons from my new fabrics a great way to get myself aquainted with the fabrics and to see how they are working together. Dont recognise these fabrics??? Thats because they are still top secret but I can show them to you coz your special. Wildflower Wood will be launched along with a new book in May next year.....the fabrics as you can see are very pretty and I am loving working with them, the hexagons pictured here in case your wondering are just 1/4", not as difficult to work with as I thought!

As you know I am enjoying working with Cosmo embrodiery threads, these threads are made in Japan and are very lovely to use. There are 400+ solid colours to choose from in the regular 6 strand skeins!!! I have chosen 10 of my favourite most used colours and put them into a pack for you. If you want to build your collection of Cosmo threads we have also put together a collection which we have called our Gelato pack and for the bright ladies a rainbow pack. 

Or if you want the cute spools like the ones in the picture above on which the threads are already only two strands, Emma has added the colours we have to the store.

Well, I had better get back to my stitching, the day is flying past and tonight we are going out for drinks and nibbles with friends

Whats cooking tonight?

A few years ago when Vince and I were in Sydney we had dinner at The Bathers Pavillion. It was rather a romantic evening as we used a water taxi to ferry us across Sydney harbour from our hotel to the resturant. We had a great evening, the food and the wine was divine and of course we bought the recipie book!! Its a while since I cooked anything from the book and it was nice to flip thorugh the pages filled with gorgeous pictures while choosing which fish dish to cook.

I settled on having a go at cooking this barramundi wrapped in pancetta on a cauliflower mash with vegetables, (this is the picture from the recipe book as mine did not look quite like this). 

This magpie was sunbathing in the dust garden near the fresh fish shop yesterday so I quickly took his picture, as you can see he had already heard me coming and was taking a look at me to see what I was planning to do! I think he is smiling for the camera, do you?

It was so nice to be inside the cool shop, its hot and humid here at the moment which is usual for this time of the year so I cant complain. I am always amazed at the variety of freshly caught fish we can buy, not that I wanted a whole fish as it would have been too much for just two of us.

The cooked prawns looked delicious and they were huge.

We had a great evening and the food although it didnt look quite like the picture in the book was wonderful:)

Sewing Accessory Case...

Its time for some show and tell, this sweet sewing accessory case was first released as one of the exclusive patterns for the LAPC pdf pattern club 2011/12. The design has lots of fun techniques for you to try including, stitchery, applique and wool applique plus you get to make a teeny tiny 1/4" hexagon flower for the front. The fabrics are from Hollyhock Cottage and I have used my gorgeous cotton yarndye for the stitchery background which you can get in 1/2m or 1m lengths.

Inside the case there is a wooden board thats held in place with a covered elastic, the board is covered with fabric one side and has sandpaper on the other which is so useful when your tracing around templates onto fabrics. I have put a double ended zip in my case so that when you pick it up everything does not fall out!! I have managed to source the zips, little plastic domes to cover for the zipper pull and have the pattern and all the little bits and pieces in the store now.

Here is a sewing accessory case thats been made by one of my LAPC club members, Hanneke. I love the colours of the fabrics, think I can see some Secret Garden fabrics -good job Hanneke, thank you for sending in your pictures :)

You can still join the 2012/13 LAPC pdf pattern club here, the first pattern is available straight away and the second is due in December (the patterns are always a mystery).

Or you can buy the pattern for the sewing accessories case now as its from last years club, plus you can get all the bits and pieces to make your own sewing accessory case here, you need to scroll down the page to find the related products.

New Brooches...

While Lynette is busy setting up her booth for Australian Quilt Market, I thought it would be fun to show you some new very sweet hand painted brooches which we have created from Lynette's drawings...of course, you may recognise the designs from Lynette's handpainted button collection... when the buttons were first created Lynette thought how nice they would look as brooches but it has taken us this long to make it happen!

We only have a few and they are only available online so please  visit Lynette's Little Quilt Store if you would like one for yourself or  to give to someone special :)

The Jolly Santa would be perfect for Christmas Day!

Ps. Don't forget to check out Lynette's NEW Little Quilt Store blog

Show and Tell...

Last week or maybe the week before some of my lovely ladies in the UK sent pictures of their recent finished projects :)  I love this version of the Halloween table runner which has a simple binding on it rather than my original scalloped edging, remember if you want to make your tablerunner with this binding variation you would need to cut the binding on the bias.

Halloween Projects

This tablerunner shape is proving very popular and I think its safe to say that there will be a spring version in my next book. I am working on some spring flowers at the moment (which may be a flower variety of my own creation that has never seen before as I am struggling with getting a real look for traditional spring flowers)

This is a very clever spooky adaptation of the journal cover from the Badger Cottage pattern :) Isnt it great.

This gorgeous pillow has been made using the block pattern that I did for QuiltAid 2012, absolutely perfect yoyo's.

For me there is something very special about seeing completed projects from my designs, it tells me that you like my work enought to want to finish it and for that I thank you.

War Quilts and Waggas

Last week mum and I went to a lecture and showing of quilts by Annette Gero. It was a very interesting talk focussed on war quilts and Wagga's . There were lots of lovely old quilts on display, having not taken a camera I had to use my phone so the quality of the pictures is not as good as it could have been. 

This log cabin Wagga is dated approx. 1930-40's and is made from old silk petticoats, used dress fabrics and riibond backed with a blanket.

This gorgeous old flour bag quilt is from the Franco-British exhibition of 1908, its called a flour bag quilt as the maker used cotton flour bags for the backing. 

I love signature quilts and over the years have had the pleasure of making a couple to celebrate a special event in our family.

This redwork quilt was a red cross army fundraiser where you traditionally paid to have your name embroidered onto the quilt.

I liked how this crazy patch quilt used the badges from someones uniform in the centres of some of the blocks.

The Historical book by Annette Gero 'The Fabric Of Society' is fasinating, the pictures and stories about the quilts and the makers are extraordinary and make it well worth the price.

Mum and I had a great morning out and I can highly recommend attending one of Annette Gero's lectures/quilt shows if you get the opportunity.

Now for a bit of show and tell.....only a sneek peek really as I need to get this beauty photographed professionally. Vince and I celebrate our wedding anniversary every year in Houston and this year was a special year and dear Vince bought me an amazing antique quilt. I fell in love with the quilt as it has so much embroidery on it......there are flowers, thistles and lots of strawberries all done on linen (the quilt weighs a ton!).

stay tuned..

Cute scissor charms...

Look what Lynette found in the US...

How cute are they? I just love the blue owl, he is so sweet...

There are lots of different designs...glass owls, cats, sheep, strawberries and all with cute silver charms hanging from them. Click here to see more

Kits and Magazines...

Hi, Emma here... just a quick post to let you know that we have had Homespun Magazines delivered today and the girls have been busy in the shop putting together more kits for the Reindeer express tablecloth.

The girls have also put together a pack that has the threads and ric rac needed to make the tablecloth.

We also have 150cm cuts of stitchery stabiliser which are perfect to use for Reindeer Express.

Please visit the Little Quilt Store website for more info and to place an order.

Have a great weekend :)

Quilt Festival....

After a much needed day off on Tuesday (30th) we spent all of Wednesday setting up our double the size of market booth ready for quilt festival. After market finished we had fun scavenging all sorts of wonderful props to recycle to make the booth look nice. We recycled Amy Butlers flooring, picked up a gorgoeus white picket fence and an old galvanised tin watering can from Terri (Whimsicals) and got some great white cube shelving from Lecien.

Preview night was from 5pm to 10pm on wednesday 31st Oct, the atmosphere in the room was charged with energy, you could feel the excitement. We had no idea what to expect that night so it was so exciting when these lovely ladies arrived and we were on their 'list' of must visit booths......

Look how fantastic the white picket fence looked....perfect for my display and the old watering can which we tied the fence to to keep it in place needed some extra weight in it so we stored our bottles of drinking water in it which seemed very apropriate!

Once the show got started we were busy almost all day which was good news having travelled so far and shipped stock to the other side of the world you need to be busy!

There was time for me to do a little bit of shopping....I will show you my goodies another day :)

Tomorrow I am heading off bright and early to The Quilted Crow, Tasmania for a day of stitiching, laughter and fun on Saturday plus I'm doing a presentation friday evening. I look forward to seeing you :)

If you havent names the reindeer on the Jelly Roll website yet for your chance to win a book and fabrics there is still time, some of the suggestions for reindeer names will make you smile.

Catching Up on news....

Where have the last few weeks gone?? For me at least they have flown past... I am going to do a recap to get you up to date with what we have been up to. We arrived in Houston for Quilt Market on the 24th Oct. This was our empty space at the Geroge Brown Convention Centre, Houston. I always find the emptiness a bit daunting when I first arrive...there is always the worry that I will not have all the things I need in my suitcase to make the space look nice.

My wonderful friend Kay who lives in the US arrived with a big bag of goodies one of which was the quilt that is made from my new fabric collection 'Follow My Heart' this quilt pattern is 'free to download' from Lecien's website. I love how the colours from the new collection work together.

Look at the gorgeous quilting that Darlene from Sew Graceful has done for me. 

There are 4 yarn dye fabrics (plaids) that go with this collection, they are so nice to work with and have given all the projects a real zing (in a dirty muddy coloured way). The plain looking yarndye on the far right is the one I use for most of my stitchery backgrounds, I love the textured almost linen look this fabric has maing it an interesting background for stitchery.

                                                     

Here is the booth almost set up ready for quilt market. You can see a tiny peek of my new quilt 'My Family' and 'Hearts and Paws' approx.60" square which is a really fun quilt that has the option of either putting a pair of cats (Fatcat and Felix modelled for this) in the centre or a dog (Hugo modelled for this).

This little 3m square area was our place of work for the next 3 days....

Vince booked us tickets to see Madona (MDNA) who was in concert for two nights in Houston when we were there. The show was amazing and although it was a very late night we enjoyed every moment and we managed to stay awake!

We went to this amazing place for dinner one night with friends Audrey and Tommy from Pin Peddlers

We shared this delicious starter (appertiser).

then we each had one of these mesquite skewers which was wonderful, we are going to make a visit to this place an annual event.

fabulous food :) great company...be back soon with week two of our US adventure...