Monday 13 August 2018

Winter gloom.....

Hi, and welcome
Here in Sydney its winter, we are having wonderful sunny days but cold mornings and evenings. I don’t do well in winter, ill put that out there. I tend to get a little gloomy,  you know with head colds and all that this time of the year brings...there is something in that saying FLY north for the winter!!!!!!!   Indeed.... 
I do hope your spirits are high and happily stitching away. 

I have had a lovely recent addition to my sewing machine family..... A wonderful  Bernina Q20 free motion machine with the fold down extension table. Very exciting .... Here is Bernadette and Ian from MY Sewing Supplies Kirrawee who very bravely climbed our 50 odd stairs  to the top level of my home carrying the big heavy box . They installed my machine in no time. πŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌ. thank you...
Here to contact MSS  

At first I had it in a spare room which I was sharing with John and his miniature soldier models. But after rearranging my studio space I have the Big B (I’m calling her that ) next to my loan 570 and 770 Bernina’s.  We’re one happy family together.  
I have been very busy teaching way to much to really sit and enjoy the machine as much as I would love to. But that will come ...



 I did have a few hours stitching a new colour way of Mums Hibiscus 🌺. I was getting thread breakages constantly. I know not to blame the machine... its me not doing something right.. Yes thats right, I was trying to stitch through 9, yes 9 layers of fabric, fusible, and stabiliser. No wonder I had thread issues. As soon as I popped a new 100 topstitch needle in the machine and popped a thread netting, I call them stockings. , over the cone. PROBLEM SOLVED.   Woo hoo 5 hours of happy stitching....  

Theory..... the larger the number of the needle the larger the hole it makes in the fabric. The shaft is thicker.....so I had many layers of course it needed a large needle ... and a Topstitch needle has a large long eye so the thread does not heat up and break.   Solution....SWEET!!!!!! 


The newest colourway of Mums Hibiscus is above. I started to quilt the background with a grid 1/2 inch pop design and I am unhappy with the light blue background. So I have cut the hibiscus  away from the background fabric. I will include this pink hibiscus with 2 others for the wall quilt version. Never  give up on a piece I just re work it.


Above is the original Mums Hibiscus which I am really happy with. All raw edge appliquΓ©, free motion sketch blending colours together . I loved making and designing this flower a great deal.

Dads Dahlia below was the first of this series of large flowers with grid free motion quilting the backgrounds. New glossy full instructional books and patterns will be available late this year on my web site. Ill keep you in the know when they are available.  



I have just returned from the south coast of NSW for the  ROSEMOUNT the Patchwork shop in MOGO’s annual retreat.  My second year running. We had the luxury of a brand new hall to conduct the workshop in with loads of space . Teressa runs a wonderful retreat. It was lovely meeting some ladies that I have taught many years ago and they had come back to extend their free motion quilting skills. We did a 2 day Quilting between the lines grid quilting class.
I am thrilled with the results, the ladies embraced my new designs beautifully and now have many more patterns and ideas to add to their collection. We had a lot of fun. I really enjoy classes especially when lots of questions are fired at me. Give me a challenge , push me , ask away all the questions you can think up. It’s your class your there to learn and expand your skills. Please if your in one of my classes DONT be shy, ask away.....

Teressa is planning of having me back again in 2019 and we will do Dads Dahlia. A decorative trapunto stitched flower with sketch applique  and grid pebble quilting wall quilt or cushion.... 

Teressa from Rosemount with me here 

Thumbs up one happy girl πŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌ










BERNINA is celebrating its 125 years anniversary this year, along with some fantastic new machines they are having a big celebration here in Sydney. At Rosehill Racecourse on the 24th October 2018.  This will be a wonderful celebration , if your interested contact your local dealer or Bernina Australia for more details. Ill be there....    I have made a special Glamorous clams project for the occasion......

 
The Embroiderer’s Guild OF NSW have  a wonderful upcoming  event of CONTEMPORARY MACHINE STITCH. I have been asked to run my ONE day Glamorous Clams workshop on 7th October which is a Sunday. This being held at their sensational office, studio, exhibition space in Concord West in Sydney . This very popular class explores the possibilities of your decorative stitches on the sewing machine. 
Interested please contact the guild office with the link below: or phone 0297432501. There is a full program of classes, exhibitions and activities to emerge yourself in during their celebrations.embroiderers guild









 My web site has my teaching schedule for the remainder of this year and also for 2019. 
You will also find my 3 online teaching classes and my skill building books with immediate delivery all over the world. 










Thanks for joining me , till next time
 Happy Stitching 
X Deb 







1 comment:

Queen Of The Armchair aka Dzintra Stitcheries said...

Thanks Deborah....great Workshop and I learnt so much! Now I just have to remember to put ,my foot down!