Ernie Elna Supercharged

Baby Botanicals: 1995  (Started: 1993)

I purchased a panel of cute flower prints one year and wanted to piece up a fresh, spring quilt.  This easy design was speedily machine pieced during one of my holidays. 

I had fallen for scrap quilts and wanted to select random colours for Puss in the Corner blocks.  It was a pleasure to rotary cut and machine piece this easy quilt after all the concentrating at TAFE classes.   I found a bright flower garden backing which just seemed right for it too!

Cheater Print & Puss in the Corner

But how to quilt it?  I still had “a bit of a backlog” on the hand quilting front when my friend from the Literary Institute (RLI) Quilters offered me a place on a machine quilting class with Lee Cleland (Jun/Jul 95).  I took it up with relish.  Baby Botanicals became my “practice” piece after days practicing on class samplers.  I can remember sitting at my dining table overlooking a lovely view of Sydney, enjoying the machine quilting process, and now day dreaming of all the quilts I would be able to finish.  I think this must have been my first use of a cotton batt which took the machining quiet well.  I liked the end result – not too puffy – so have mostly used cotton wadding since then for quilts I intend to machine quilt.

For starters on this lap quilt, I did a traditional stay stitch to hold the layers together.  Then I did a circular outline stitch over the panels, finally adding a free machine stipple to the border.  That was a big leap forward; and not bad given that I was still using my trusty old domestic, Ernie Elna.

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 122.5x 157.5cm
Block Size: 7.5”
Cut in: 1993
Pieced & Basted: Machine 1993-94
Quilted: Machine 1995
Quilt Type: Own Design
Quilt Finished: 1995
Exhibited: 
Collection: Home# 024
Pattern Name: Puss in the Corner
Pattern Source: Traditional
Fabrics Purchased:
Fabric Design: Floral prints & Plains
Fabric Style: Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Cotton Batt
Backing: Cotton

Lessons Learned:
The small size of this quilt made machine quilting not such an adventurous activity. I really enjoyed Lee’s class (2 days in all) and had come away knowing that I could break away from my traditional hand work beginnings to use a wider variety of machine techniques well enough to finish off my quilts - faster.     

Making New Friends

ACS Friendship Quilt: 1995  (Started: 1992)

The ACS Group spent our first year (1991) learning how to piece samplers in the traditional manner.  We had fun together and managed to fit in a few other interesting “technique” days to expand our repertoire of skills and of course to determine quilt construction methods that appealed to us individually. 

ACS Friendship Quilt

By mid-1992, the ladies were willing to give a Friendship Exchange quilt a go and we all chose a simple design to make the task easier on ourselves.   I chose a large Clays Choice block and asked that everyone hand piece it in fabrics they were currently using on their own quilts.  Just for good measure, I asked them to embroider their name on the block.  I added a couple of additional blocks to make a lap quilt size then finished it with pink fabric borders – very unusual for me!  Later, as I was still enjoying hand quilting, I chose to stitch a traditional design.

Finally I added some buttons (yes hearts) which seemed the sentimental choice to make a nice complimentary statement about friendships made over the 2-3 years this group was running. 

Detail - ACS Friendship Quilt

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 108x 150cm
Block Size: 15”
Cut in: July 1992
Pieced & Basted: Hand 1992
Quilted: Hand 1995
Quilt Type: Group Friendship Quilt
Quilt Finished: 1995
Exhibited: 
Collection: Home# 023
Pattern Name: Clays Choice
Pattern Source: Ruby McKim’s Book
Fabrics Purchased: Group Choice
Fabric Design: Floral Prints & Plains
Fabric Style: Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Thin Poly Batt
Backing: Cotton

Lessons Learned:
I had now been quilting for nearly 8 years and I finally came to the conclusion that hand-stitching quilts, whilst lovely to look at (and a chance to Zen out for a bit in a hectic life), was holding me back.  I had a wish list of quilts a mile long and somehow my creative spirit was starting to rebel.  The TAFE classes had included a few on machinist skills so I was well prepared to tackle the accuracy demanded when machining together a top.  It was time to up-skill.    

Ed Note:

Participants in this project included:
Diana  - Overall Sam,
Chris - Doe & Darts,
Monica - Little Boys Britches,
Cathy H - Checkerboard Heart, 
Cathy J - Our favourite traditional design, Ohio Star; &
Me - Clays Choice.

Fresh Beginnings

Tamworth Community Art & Craft

There was not a Guild as such in Tamworth but a couple of local groups did exist. At the time I joined up with a group offered by Tamworth Community Art and Crafts.  As my life was pretty much consumed by TAFE, I don’t think I used my time there to do much other than finish off “what was due”.  Either way, I met some nice people and confirmed that quilters are a friendly bunch.

Moon over the Mountain: 1995  (Started: 1989)

The Tamworth Patchwork & Quilting Group was led by Lyn.  At some stage the members had each appliqued a “Moon over the Mountain” challenge block and when I joined, Ruth was in the process of machining the blocks together in fun way.  I loved the colours – strong pinks balancing the blacks and checks to tame the “cuteness” of the finished blocks.  In Nov 1990, I bought this top as a memory of my 2 years in Tamworth.  I finally got round to quilting it in 1995 (hand & machine) and then added a small Moon over the Mountain block of my own on the back as a signature block.

Tamworth Moon over the Mountain

Just for the Record:
Quilt Finished Size: 135x 178cm
Block Size: 12”
Cut in: 1989
Pieced & Basted: Machine 1990
Quilted: Hand 1995
Quilt Type: Group Challenge Quilt
Quilt Finished: 1995
Exhibited: 
Collection: Home# 022
Pattern Name: Moon over the Mountain
Pattern Source: Traditional
Fabrics Purchased: Group Choice
Fabric Design: Prints & Plains
Fabric Style: Cotton
Materials Type: Cotton
Wadding Type: Thin Poly Batt
Backing: Cotton

Lessons Learned:
I loved the adventurous border colouring in this quilt and the way it “hangs” all the individual blocks together. After finishing the quilting, I was determined to be a little more radical (ie brave!) in my colour and fabric choices.