Quilters Companion

editor’s journal

Welcome to 2020. Another year has passed and we have a clean slate for the next 12 months of sewing and creating. Those who love Liberty prints and hand sewing will love Melinda Storey’s Liberty Flowering Snowballs; lovers of 1930s fabric and hexagons will adore Jenny Tate’s Betty Joy and Keryn Emmerson delights with another traditional block, Sisters’ Choice, and shares the instructions for how to achieve three different variations. Jenny Bowker’s quilt, Latte by the Sea, takes you on an HST journey of light and dark to achieve her trademark shimmering effect and Robyn Ahern’s Pineapple Challenge is constructed with foundation piecing to achieve perfect little pineapple blocks. Leesa Chandler showcases her Summer Palace range of fabrics with a generous bed runner with dimensional flowers and our In The Studio…

quilters companion

Editor Deborah Segaert Technical Editor Megan Fisher Contributors Michelle Marvig, Anita Ellis Pattern Artist Kate Podger Art Director Kate Podger Designer Bianca de Ocampo Photographers Ken Brass, Joe Filshie Stylists Sandra Hinton, Georgie Dolling Advertising Rob Jordan (02) 9887 0359, 0411 424 196 Fax: (02) 9805 0714 Email: rjordan@umco.com.au Advertising Production Thomas Pena Advertising Art Director Martha Rubazewicz Associate Publisher Emma Perera Chairman/CEO Prema Perera Publisher Janice Williams Chief Financial Officer Vicky Mahadeva Associate Publisher Emma Perera Finance & Administration Manager James Perera Circulation Business Development Manager Mark McTaggart Creative Director Kate Podger Marketing & Acquisitions Manager Chelsea Peters…

quilty treasures

• Is your template sturdy? Patterns will generally suggest that you trace the template sheet onto paper. Paper templates are not very sturdy. If you want to use your templates over and over, you can consider tracing the templates onto template plastic and cutting them out. If you don’t have template plastic you can stick your paper templates onto stiff cardboard (breakfast cereal boxes are ideal!) and then cut around the template shape. This will create templates that are suitable for a degree of re-use. • Family business donates 2% to charity Equilter is a family-run online business owned and run by Luana and Paul Rubin. They give away 2% of sales income (before shipping and taxes) to a variety of charities. To date they have raised and donated almost US$2million, including $297,000…

quiltwest 2019

liberty flowering snowballs

Pairing classic Liberty print fabrics with the traditional Flowering Snowball block has produced a gorgeous quilt. The scrappy fabrics are a restricted palette, pulled from Melinda’s stash, with grey-toned graphic fabrics as the background and shot cotton centre squares. This is a perfect travel project — simply prep your fabrics and stitch away. Finished quilt size: 213.5cm x 183cm (84in x 72in) Finished block size: 6in Mel Storey Designs patch_girl melstoreydesigns@gmail.com Materials • Assorted medium-dark value fabric scraps to total about 4.5m (5yd). Many of Melinda’s fabrics were Liberty of London prints• Assorted low-value fabric scraps in shades of cream and grey to total about 3.5m (3⅞yd)• 15cm (¼yd) lime green shot cotton• 60cm (¾yd) yellow and white print fabric (binding)• 4.7m (5⅛yd) backing fabric• Batting at least 225cm x 205cm (92in x 80in)• Hand quilting…

latte by the sea

This design came to Jenny as she sat watching the flickering light on the sea as she drank coffee. The effect is one that is recurring in Jenny’s work, where the play of light and dark creates a very real vibration. The body of the quilt is created by using eight half-square-triangle units from squares of two fabrics and the effect is created by the way that the two colour ranges are blended over the surface of the quilt. The following instructions are more than a step-by-step to replicate this quilt: Jenny has shared the thought process behind the finished effect and encourages you to experiment and achieve your own unique result. Finished size: 152.5cm x 122cm (60in x 48in) Finished block size: 6in square jenny.bowker@gmail.com Materials • 30cm (⅜yd) each of eight different coffee-coloured fabrics,…