From ‘old French’, the term ‘coussin’ refers to a cushion and I thought it sounded more romantic and heaps more fun!  Here is my Pomegranate Coussin which is reversible so that you can turn it over whenever the whim and fancy takes hold of you!

Needleturn applique - my very favourite sort of technique (you might know that already!!!!).

After the delight of receiving a surprise invitation in January to join a wonderful group of tutors on Needlework Tours first Australian South Pacific Fijian Dream Cruise, I have been busy working with the company in finalising details over the past several weeks.

Needlework Tours launched this Cruise at the Stitches & Craft Show at Rosehill, NSW over the past few days and I understand that bookings are filling fast!

The cruise is with Royal Caribbean “Voyager of the Seas” and departs February 2013 - plenty of time to book, enjoy the wonderful anticipation of planning ahead, stacks of entertainment and food, the ‘haute couture’ of Noumea, the fabulous Fijian port of Lautoka, and then basking in the South Pacific sun and seas,  - along with a four great days of needlework workshops with your selected tutors.  What more could a girl (or guy) want!!!

Friends are making this a special trip away together  - or if you come as ‘one’,  you will meet your fellow stitchers in classes on the outward sailing days. One big happy family!!!   With only 150 places, it is expected to be sold out in six weeks - if not before this!

Like to learn more??  Check out the following link for full details of the cruise destination, tutors, craft project classes, all about cabins and more………..

http://www.needleworktours.com.au/index.htm

Last weekend, I was hosted by lovely Sadie Moffitt (below), President of Murray River Quilters, during my Applique Technique and Design Workshop in Wodonga. Struggling with little voice and a pesky cough, Sadie dosed me up with honey, hot water and lime juice which came from fruit on her prolific lime tree.

Sadie chose irises and hand dyed fabrics for her applique and as you can see it is shaping up beautifully. Impressively, she also dressed in ‘iris’ colours!

Amanda, below, was inspired by an Art Deco perfume bottle which belonged to her grandmother.  Her wonderful drawing evolved on Saturday and here she is spread out on the floor on Sunday bringing the piece to life with an exotic fabric colour palette.

The floor seemed the favoured place to work - Merideth also enjoying some creative time on hands and knees.

Helen, below, chose bright tulips in this lovely memory piece. The inclusion of one of her  grandmother’s doilies is Helen’s plan and will make it a very special tribute.

And here, tulips and Dutch Delftware captured Michelle’s imagination …..

And below, Ruth had a struggle to keep her shirt on with it’s wonderful design inspirations.

Above:  sisters, Rhonda and Narelle with their magnificent creations.

Above:  Happy Group - Carolyn (standing) with Margaret, Linda and Jane.

October 9 - 11 took me to Morwell for the Latrobe Valley Quilters Weekend. I picked up colleague and tutor, Lisa Walton, from the airport and we drove down together - a little touch of deja vu!

We spent a pleasant evening over dinner with some of the girls before retiring for an early night.  Well it was early for me as my ‘normal’ bedtime is sometime between 1 and 2 am!!!!

Above:  more sisters, Gaynor from the UK,  and Betty showing her Bronte’s Garden block (one of my BOM’s).

The two day weekend of classes was fun and I am sure a record has been broken!!  My class of 15 or thereabouts consisted of FOUR pairs of sisters. Can you believe it??  And Gaynor even came from England to attend (well also to visit her sister!).  To be honest, every one in the class looked like sisters to me before we finished!! But it was really good fun and what a productive lot they were.

Some of the ladies in the class were involved in the successful 2007 Quilt DownUnder Auction for Breast Cancer Network Australia at which it was hoped to raise around $2000, but topped over $32,000!!!  I was fascinated with the story of how it evolved from small beginnings to such a huge event. The call is now out for donations of quilts for the 2010 Quilt DownUnder Auction so check out the website at www.quiltdownunder.com to find out more about this great project and how you can take part. Quilt donations should be sent in by early June.

Below:  Chris - are you threading the needle?

What a lovely welcome I received from the girls at Anam Cara Patchwork in Kialla Lakes at Shepparton! My workshop was held at the shop in late September (you can tell that I am way behind with the news here but there is something on every moment of my life and I am now seeing a little window of space to catch up!!!).

I arrived the night before  and it was sheer joy to settle in after driving through torrential rain and very limited visibility for two hours, to arrive to such a very thoughtful gesture from Debbie who had left a delightful gift bag of ‘essentials’ including a water bottle and CHOCOLATE and some other lovely little things…. .  I didn’t disappoint them either - having made a decent impression in the contents of the Roses chocolates.!

It was lovely to meet Rhonda (third from left above) and Debbie (standing right below), who own the shop with their friend and business partner Julie.  Rhonda had made most of the arrangements with me for the workshop and also joined the class.  Debbie was thoroughly attentive and helpful in looking after the shop and all our needs during the workshop.

It was great to meet such an enthusiastic group and I think everyone managed to learn a few more tips to help with their applique - also very encouraging to see some new designs taking shape as well.

And my hasty departure after the class - I pointed the car in a north easterly direction towards Wodonga - more about that next………

For most of my needleturn applique, I love to use templastic for my applique pattern templates. The durability is an advantage if you to trace many shapes, such as identical leaves - or if they are in reverse image, the template can easily be flipped over. As these templates are flexible and long lasting, you can establish an excellent library  upon which to use for future projects. Sort them into categories and store them in folders, stackable containers or your preferred system.

The transparency of plastic templates is also exciting if you are working with lovely large scale fabric prints as you can move the template over the fabrics in a ‘try before you cut’ approach. The opaque plastic allows you to ’see’ the finished applique effect created by the prints and to capture very interesting and dynamic overall results.

Cut-out or ‘negative’ applique templates.  I have designed and developed Bon Bon Applique Templates (see Bon Bon Shop and previous entries) to allow applique shapes to be traced directly onto fabric, based on the ‘negative’ or cut-out shape.  This provides wonderful accuracy and speed. There are an assortment of shapes in the collection which can be interpreted in many ways to create leaves and petals and other concepts. The cut-out shape also allows you to ‘flip’ the template over for reverse images and to ‘rehearse’ fabrics to determine if they are suitable for your design. 

                

Quilters freezer paper is certainly an accurate template material and can be used either on the right or wrong side of the fabrics.  I will discuss the application of these methods in a future tutorial. Freezer paper is excellent if the applique shape is long and willowy or delicate and lacy.  Freezer paper can stabilise the fabric well to allow you to trace the shape onto the fabric, unlike plastic which can be rather unruly in this respect.  Although it is reusable to a limited extent, the downside of freezer paper is that you will usually need to cut every single shape required for your pattern including the reverse image shapes. 

Templastic and quilter’s freezer paper are readily available at your local patchwork and quilting shop.

Other template materials can be easily obtainable everyday bits and pieces such as card, paper and the like. When I have been away on holidays, I have frequently had to resort to using whatever is available which may include cutting up magazine pages or using travel brochures, tracing around cardboard drink coasters, cutting up cardboard from packaging, tracing around lids and bottles, etc. This approach stirs a definite affinity with our quilting sisters of past times, and a very strong sense of current satisfaction and accomplishment!

In essence, there is not one perfect template material!  It is a case of trying what is available and deciding which you prefer to use. 

Another tutorial coming soon……