A little peek..

Everyone in the office and studio has been busy the last few weeks getting all the new samples and patterns ready to ship to the US ready for quilt market, its a bit scary to think that its only two weeks until we leave. A big thank you to Jill Beban who has made this sample for me using my new Christmas Collection Candy Cane Angels..., the quilt pattern can be found in my first self published book 'An Angels Wish', I love the three dimensional stars that each little angel has on the front of her dress and the little plaited hair with bows they each have :) Its so nice to see this quilt made up in my new Christmas fabrics. If you have the urge to make an angelic quilt then have no fear we have put a full colour picture of this quilt in the pattern pocket of every book to help with colour placement etc

I know its too early to think of Christmas but thats how far ahead I have to work which at first was weird but I am getting better at it. The really scary thing is that I have done the designs for the Christmas 2014 collection!! Anyhow here is Candy Cane Angels....

You can see all the fabric swatches here on Lecien's (my fabric companies) website, the fabric should start to appear on shelves in stores around the globe from mid-May.

bye for now

PS. If you want to see a beautiful 'Scandinavian Christmas' quilt then pop over to Leeanne's blog to see how she has quilted Maree's quilt, its worth the visit.

Sticker Give-away....

Its been crazily busy here as we prepare everything for quilt market and my teaching tour to Canada in the US. I dont want you all to think that I havent been thinking of you....I have... and when I was in Melbourne last week I bought these two cute stitckers for YOUR car window...

So leave me a message and tell me why YOU have to own one of these stickers :)

Congratulations to Karen and Vivian, be watching your inboxes for my email. Thank you for everyone that left me a comment :)

Marcoola Street Party

Seems I am in the right place tonight, the street where the store is has been recently beautified is having a party to celebrate....

There is a big bouncing castle for the kids and my favourite fairy floss (candy floss), you can get your face painted if your a kid.....I wanted my face painted but the lady said 'no' this is for kids only :(

People have set up little stalls down the alleyways between the shops selling all sorts of nice things.

There is live music of all sorts including school bands and buskers :)

The air is filled with the aroma of sausages and onions...mmmm.... I know what I am going to have for dinner tonight.

I cant belive how many people have come...thank you everyone for making our street party so great.

 We are open late tonight as our street party includes an open air cinema, 'Mama Mia' is on and I am hoping that we (Vince, Hugo and I) can go and sit on a blanket and watch the movie while eating a sausage ( I know Hugo will love to share some sausage).

Dont laugh, I took my picture with the cute pig?? from Bendigo bank.

Sorry you can't be here to join the strret party celebrations but how about to make up I give you a 10% discount on all online orders....use the discount code STREETPARTY to recive 10% off your online order at www.littlequiltstore.com (not valid with any other offer, online orders only ends 1st May 2013)

So many 'Secrets'...

The count down to market is on which is lucky or I am going to burst as I have so  many things I want to show but I am meant to keep them under wraps until market...whY I ask??? I am hopeless at keeping secrets... WARNING... never trust me with a secret.....!! Here is the line up of fabrics from my new collection Wildflower Wood, I love this colleciton :) and I have made so many thngs with it but I'm not bored with it and still have more ideas but no more time!

I also cant wait any longer to show you my new 7 month stitchery BOM, Woodland Secrets (thanks Facebook Fans for helping me name it). I will be launching this new quilt officially at Spring Market next month where I hope that I can tempt lots of stores to run it in thier stores so you can all have fun stitching it.

I love how the quilting has been done (thanks Barb), the hearts in the quilting go so well with the theme of the quilt...perfect. 

The quilt did make its debut in Melbourne last week on The Patchwork Teahouse's booth and Marilyn is taking bookings already.

I love how the little half square traingles look in the border and they were actually quite quick to make, thanks to Wendy Sheppard for helping with the design layout for the piecing :) 

Thought you would like a little close up peek at this sweet rabbit block.

I have edged each of the hearts with some Ric Rac that is from my new braids and ribbons collection which will be in stores about the same time as the fabrics :) keep an eye out for the cute printed tin thats coming too.

 The fabrics are going to be arriving in stores from the end of May so not much longer to wait, the patterns are almost printed  :) so for all the stores we promised an advance copy to, they will be on thier way very soon x I hope!

yes, this is me....

 Taken in 1987.....which feels like forever ago! I know its hard to belive that this is me but it is!

I decided that I would renew my UK passport for when I travel to the UK in August this year and this is the picture is my very ancient passport which I have to send in with my new application. I am not sure they will think its me but anyhow....we will see! The picture has given my boys all a laugh, of course having you hair permed was all the rage in the 80's but they didnt know that!

I am getting excited about all my trips this year and have got most of the bookings completed. The next (first) trip is to Spring Market in the US which is only 3 weeks away, Spring Market is only open to store owners and its where we launch all the new fabric collections, books and patterns. I love catching up with friends in the same industry and am always scared in case no one likes my new things!

After the 3 day show Vince and I are heading to Canada for a few days holiday and where I am teaching at three stores.

If you check out the teaching page you can see where I will be and perhaps you will be able to join me in Canada or somewhere else in the world :) wherever we meet I know we will have fun together.

Meanwhile I am starting to play with some new ideas....I love making hexagons as its a great way for me to see how the fabrics are working together and hexagons are so quick to do. I am using the new water soluble hexagons which make life even quicker as you dont have to take the paper out when your finished just rinse or as I have discovered after alot of handling the light papery feel vanishes.

I think I can see a nice big bag happening using some rather nice handles that I bought when I was in Tokyo back in January.

Hope your having fun stitching today?

AQC Melbourne...

The AQC is held in a lovely old building which was built in 1880 for an exhibition.

Here is my display on The Patchwork Teahouse's stand, you can see a glimpse of my new stitchery BOm 'Woodland Secrets' and the house BOM 'Love Letters'. Once I get home I have a bit of pattern writing to do! Marilyn is taking bookings for both these quilts.

There is a lovely quilt show, sorry the photos area ll a bit dark but as the building is very old and the celings are very high the lighting is not the best.

'

Amazing piecing, so acurate and the quilting was superb.

This quilt which looks very dark in colour is not in real life and I absolutley loved it.

Here is a close up picture so you can see some of the detail.

Not my style of quilt but an amazing piece of work....the detail on this was amazing too

This one struck me for its simplicity and it reminded me of that paper cut work people do which I cant remember the name of???

Well its time to get up and be readyfor day two x perhpas I will get to meet you?

bye for now

Lynette x

In The Pink, A Dogs Life quilt...

Look at the gorgeous colouring on this version of 'A Dogs Life', I love it and thats surprising as it has lots of pink on it :) Although I have to say that now I have the sweetest little granddaughter in my life I am liking pink alot! Actually its about time I made a quilt for her and myabe it can be a gift for her first birthday which is fast approaching.

 I asked Karen if I could show a picture of her quilt on my blog as I know that all quilters like to see things finished and its even more interesting when the quiltmaker has used different fabrics from the original. I think you will enjoy Karens blog, I will put a link then you can visit her and read her story about how and why she made this quilt. Here is the link to visit Karen dont forget we all love messages, so please leave Karen one if you have time :)

I know I havent shared many pictures of Elsie with you but here she is.....so sweet and still keeping her parents up at night :) 

Fun tools...

I met Rosa in Nantes last year, she was demonstrating a very clever tool which makes doing glue stick applique so simple. Rosa has developed, designed and copyrighted the tools herself and I have to say I am getting addicted to using them.

 So lets gather our tools, I have a pair of Rosa's Apliquick tools, my trusty glue pen, Roxannes Glue (no girl can live without this), a pencil, fabrics, some fusible applique paper. You will notice I am working on a black surface, this is the one of the nicest colours I have found to work on and this thin rubbery mat stops things from slipping around rather like sandpaper board but it doesnt set your teeth on edge, ot rolls up for storage, you can press fabrics on it and when its dirty (not sure how you can tell as its black) you can wash it!

Here is a close up of the ends of the tools....interesting dont you think?

Here is a peek at how to use them but for a more detailed explaination I have done a tutorial.

Download Apliquick Tute

The Apliquick Tweezers are brilliant and have been designed to hold onto small pieces of fabric while you cut the desired shape out.

As you know I love scissors, specially ones with fine serated blades and these fit the bill perfectly + I love the pewter look finish. Apliquick Scissors

Today we have stocked up Little Quilt Store with all these wonderful gadgets,

Let me know what you think of the tutorial and of course as always if you have any questions please feel free to email me :) and I will do my best to answer.

Hollyhock Purse

I have had a couple of lovely pictures sent to me this week, the first is a sweet bag thats been made by Alice gorgeous daughter of Nicola. Nicola is based in the UK and writes a great blog, here is the link, I met Alice and Nicola when I taught at Quilter Haven a few years ago on one of my trips to the UK.

This is the sweet bag that Alice has made using fabrics from my Hollyhock Cottage fabric collection, I like the little lace trim she has added.

I had breakfast with a friend on Saturday morning, Raewyn worked for me many years ago at the store for a long long time, it was so nice to catch up on all her news. I wanted to show her how the store is looking  and of course no quilter can leave a quilt store empty handed! 

A little bundle of Follow My Heart went home with Raewyn and it seems her cat Max approved!

This gorgeous completed Fernhill quilt was sent by Lisa Mortell, the handquilting on this is superb. Thank you Lisa for sharing this picture with me.

We have put together a gorgeous pack of fabrics to get you started with this project, we also have the patterns and buttons in stock again :)

This sweet bag was made for one of my English friends, Valerie for Chrismtas by Lesley. Its nice to see some Summertime Friends fabrics (my first collection for Lecien) which featured Hugo and Felix. 

A big thank you to everyone for sharing pictures of thier work from my patterns and fabrics, I know I have alot more photos and will share some more another day :)

Auntie Doe...

Dorothea Teale, whom I called Auntie Doe was my grandmothers sister. Here she is holding my Dad on the steps of the house in Broadstone, Dorset where he was born 80 years ago this year. In 1960 Auntie Doe wrote a poety book which she self published 'Poems of East and West', I am happy to say that I still have my copy.

What I am going to share with you now is a small 3 1/2" x 5" homemade book, which I have treasured since 1983. My grandmother gave the little book to me to enjoy when Auntie Doe when passed away and I still enjoy it although I dont get it out very often as the pages are getting a bit tattered and I want to preserve it as long as I can.

A good friend, Phylis wrote, illustrated and made the book for a birthday present back in 1904. I love the writing...

Inside there is a sweet story, each page has been beautifully written and illustrated.

The colours are still bright and the faces very real.

The story is so lovely and rather than share it with you in its entirity I am going to talk to my publishers about the possibiltiy of getting the book printed as I know many girls would love the story and the pictures.

Daffodils were always one of Auntie Doe's favourite flowers and I wonder seeing them here in this painting if she always loved them.

I hope you have enjoyed a peek at this little treasured book of mine as much as I do each time I take it out of its wrapping and read it again and marvel at the lovely little paintings in a book which was created over a 100 years ago!