yes

Welcome

This website specialises in digital quilting patterns for machines using .qli, .iqp, .cqp, bqm and .pat files
Thousands of designs for computerised longarm quilting machines are available for immediate download.

Current Inspiration

22 July 2020 free patterns - this time - piecing!

UPDATE: the latest version has the date of 1 August 2020 on it - there have been 3 corrections so far. Redownload for the most recent one.

We have enjoyed the freedom we have in New Zealand with no masks, no limits on gathering numbers or where. We continually give thanks for our little islands and being able to do what we have in keeping COVID away. There have been some near misses, but fortunately they were caught very quickly. Our borders are still closed to non New Zealanders, but there are so many New Zealanders wanting to come home that there are restrictions even there - it it difficult finding enough suitable hotels to house them for their 2 week quarantine.

For those who want to make quilt tops with large areas left to do some magnificent quilting in - here is a free piecing pattern. It is not hard - once you have some background squares, just stich and flip some half sized squares on the corners. 16 of these make one large block. Put them together with sashing and job done! On with the quilting.

Click here for a free pdf download of this piecing pattern. (I have not tested this - you are the testers - so do lef me know about errors!)

The pattern is for 10 different sizes - table runner, to cot quilt, to queen quilt and everything in between.
Print the pattern on Letter paper - and once printed can be folded in half - with the pretty picture on the front and fabric requirements on the back.

10 June 2020 (Wednesday) free patterns

At one minute past midnight yesterday morning - New Zealand went completely back to normal within our country - no distancing ..... nothing. We are at Alert Level 1, which means that our borders are closed unless you are a returning resident or citizen - and then it is still 14 days quarantine and testing before being released! But other than that, it is juch a relief to our 'team of 5 million'. Tourism from overseas is not happening - but we are all being encouraged to go on staycation around New Zealand. We are hoping soon to have a limited opening of borders to countries with similar success.

The announcement was made in the afternoon of the day before, that going down to this alert level was to happen just over 6 hours later. I got caught somewhat on the hop - so these designs are being released just a little later than I wanted. But - Tuesday was spent putting new replacement glass into (yes) the brand new double glazed windows in my studio. I now have wonderful non-rippled glass. I can see!! (there are a some scratches on 3 of them - so they will need further replacing, but all in good time. What a journey, but the results are fantastic!

The free padlock designs are going to be free only until the END of JUNE - then they will be put into a set to sell at a nominal price.

Do enjoy them - and I would love to see photos of any quilting done with them

19 May 2020 (Tuesday) free patterns

Thursday last week we went down to Level 2. Well, almost full 2 anyway.

Schools are back, and most everything else - but physical distancing still required, and close contact people (hairdressers and such) required to wear masks. Gatherings are limited to 10 but that is likely to increase neaxt week, and I guess the week after - although that may be pretty close to our going down to Alert Level 1 - where it seems likely that our borders will remain shut except with Australia. 10% of New Zealanders live in Australia (!!) with many children having one parent in one country and the other parent 'across the ditch' in the other country. Husband even had one of his work colleagues living in Australia and working in New Zealand - a 3.5 hour flight between.

So - we are getting near the end here??? Let's hope so - but what is going to happen when our borders re-open? We do not really know, but hope that we have brought ourselves some time and soon there will be answers.

20 Apr 2020 free patterns

Our full lockdown (Alert Level 4) has been extended for just under another week to 11.59pm 27 April - then we will go to Alert Level 3 most likely for a fortnight.

During this upcoming week businesses which are able to trade at Alert Level 3 can access their premises to prepare (clean, repair, get in stock and put in place their new Health & Saftey measures). Those going back include some manufacturing, forestry, constructions, on-line businesses, with schools and child care open for those who need to send children because parents have to go to work, solo parents need a break etc, no questions asked. But those who can stay at home should stay at home.

On the whole New Zealand is very happy with this. It is nice and clear.
All the new data that the government works with is posted online every day.
Questions were raised by a senior doctor about how well our health department was or wasn't doing - so the Director of Health gave her the task of carrying out an audit - which was published within a few hours of it being tabled at Cabinet. Our Prime Minister is of the view that we are all in this together, we will all see the data together. Full marks to them all!!

18 Apr 2020 free patterns

We are still in lockdown - so another group of 3 patterns for one and all!

11 Apr 2020 free patterns

free until the end of our lock down anyway!
- an Easter Egg, inspired by the image attached to the message below
- click on the image, it will take you to the downloadable zipped file with all formats in it.

Neve's mother (aka our Prime Minister, Jacinda Adern), on April 6, the Monday before Easter made a special announcement to the children of New Zealand throung a televised message and a posting on her facebook page. It is as follows:

"This is a message for the kids of New Zealand.

I've been asked by lots of you whether the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny are an essential service (I even got asked in a press conference today!) I have good news, they are! But because we're all in isolation at the moment, the Easter Bunny might not make it to every house this year (they probably have to look after their own Bunny family too). So just in case, I'm wondering if you'll help me create an Easter egg hunt for all the children in your neighbourhood?

You can draw your own Easter egg, or you can colour in the one that some of my clever friends helped to make. All you have to do is colour it in or decorate it, and pop it in your window for other kids to find. I'd also love to see your designs.

If you email them to primeminister@parliament.govt.nz, or share them on social media using the hashtag #NZEggHunt, I'll pop a few of them here and on Facebook over the Easter weekend. Have fun everyone!"

5 Apr 2020 free patterns

free until the end of our lock down anway!
Click on the image, it will take you to the downloadable zipped file with all formats in it.
Feel free to let anyone you like know that there are free designs available
- you do not have to be a customer
- you do not have to log in to access of these lock down patterns.

26 March 2020 - during the COVID-19 lock down

I am going to do some free patterns - free just for while we are in lockdown. Click on the pattern images - that will take you to the product details area where you can download the format you wish. (Do NOT put these into your cart!)

I will be adding more free patterns of padlocks from time to time - so do check back

23 March 2020 - COVID-19

The world has come a long way in the last little while!

In New Zealand our govenment instigated a 4 level alert system for COVID-19 and for quite some time we have been sitting at Level 2. Just after midday today they moved it to Level 3, with 48 hours notice that it was moving to Level 4 reviewable at the end of 4 weeks. There had been 2 cases where the Health Department could not say that it had been from travellers returning from overseas. The NZ govenment is serious about trying to not have COVID-19 take hold here.

So - husband and I are safely tucked away - having been prepared for earthquakes anyway - some quick checking and updating had occurred over the last couple of weeks. It turned out today - that we had not stocked up on printer ink and vacuum bags! Winter is on its way - but the garden is in and I have lots of microgreens and sprout seeds.

Everyone - do take care.

March 2020

Many, many things happened during 2018/19 and I cannot believe it is already March of 2020.

I have been putting a fair amount of quilting information up on my Facebook page - which is a platform I had not used before and has taken a little getting used to.

On the home front the window in my studio which required replacing took way more than initially thought ending up with the whole room inside and out being gutted and starting again from scratch. That is still not completed but should not take much to do so.

Personal health took a turn for the worse - but after a lot of hard work have got some of it under control.
- the best result was diabetes - after getting fed up with it getting pretty well out of control even with meds, medications got thrown out and I lowered my net carbs to less than 30gms per day. Traditional doctor and diabetes nurse had a fit, putting me on a daily, then weekly watch. Despite them saying it could never be done - all those numbers are back to normal (and I did a bit of fasting for good measure)
- the next thing was erythromelalgia, really badly in my feet. Long story short, I am sure ketogenic eating and fasting did a lot of good, but getting rid of even more underlying inflamation with good amounts of bone broth (especially chicken) did wonders. The feet still have a way to go, but it is great being able to walk again without absolute agony.
- last but not least was blood cancer (polycythemia vera). Not hereditary say the 'experts', but my grandfather died of a stroke beacause of it and my aunt died of leukemia (which is what it finally turns into). There are drugs that help aleviate the symptoms but the side effect of one can be skin cancer (both sides of the family have this) and the side effect of the other is depression - and with father and brother both committing suicide and me having cPTSD..... neither were really going to be good options for me. So for the last 2 years I have been researching alternative things for this too. Let me say that fasting comes in a great 1st - especially while continuing dealing with underlying inflamation. Ketogenic eating means it is quite easy to switch to fasting. My oncologist is well pleased with me and taking a keen look at my 'breaking new ground'.

As you can see - I have been having fun in my garden. There was a storm at the local beach and we have made the most of the driftwood!

June 2017

Time has gone by very quickly over the past year - a while spent with both arms in braces after too much sanding of our living room floors,
- then our bathroom renovations went completely belly-up, not once, but twice (still waiting to be completed)
- then the bereavement of a very close family member and all that entails
- and to top it all off, just trying to protect this business and keep it away from other people's 'clouds' has been another massive mission!
I have been grateful for the wonderful support and encouragement I have received through all this - thank you so much.

On May 18th I set off on another teaching adventure through the United States - in Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Washington State and Colorado - and home again on 28th June.
It has been a magnificent time - meeting old and new friends.

February 2016

On the way home from our trip to Europe and the UK I dropped down to Seattle (via Vancouver) to meet up with Jenny Pedigo and Helen Robinson of Sew Kind of Wonderful. They had agreed to my digitising their free-motion quilting designs. I spent a wonderful day or so with them taking lots of photos of some of their quilts. They had a huge number there - and that was just some of them!
Since then, it has been onto the slow process of digitising.
The quilts coming through with these designs as well as my orginals are just stunning. I look forward to seeing many more!

Where in the World is my Office today?

16 Sep 2015 - 19 Jan 2016

My commentary after Nov 23 has been somewhat delayed - but to bring it up to date:

Leaving Italy we headed north through the Brenner Pass to Austria and Germany (an absolute must do again - especially by train) and stayed several nights in Namur, Belgium. Bryan's work associate hosted us in her home which was one of 5 large homes contained in a modified farm barn. There were lots of military on the trains after events in Paris, which we took off our itinerary substituting Luxembourg and Heidelberg instead.

Geneva was lots of fun. Travelling by rail we always tried for a hotel quite near the station. This one took the prize - out the door of the station, half a dozen paces across the pavement and you were there.

We headed north again, overnighting in Helsinki, then going even further north to get 300km (190 miles) north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland at the top of Finland. We stayed in a cottage on the side of a river in Kaamanen. At night we watched the Northern Lights, going out onto the frozen river to get a really good view. During the day it was a few minutes instruction on snowmobiles or sleds pulled by huskies and we were off. We found that even just walking into the outside porch, at -27C your jeans snap froze! South again to Wittenberg and Augsburg where we looked at some of the areas where Martin Luther had worked and lived. We spent Christmas in Zurich and New Year in Interlaken - these are only one 2 hour train trip apart - but we decided to take a Bryan special scenic route - via the Rhine Valley and over the pass at Andermatt and into the Rhone Valley - and some 7 hours and 6 trains later arrived there safely. But what scenery! Then it was back to England in a front cabin (with a great view) on a ferry, spending the last few days together back in St Ives, Cornwall. We then parted ways - we both had business to attend to before getting back to New Zealand. Bryan in Oxford and London and me in Seattle USA. 10 days later we both arrived in Auckland, New Zealand meeting up again - just hours apart.

Nov 12 - 23: Venice, Florence & Naples, Italy

The trains from Chur to Venice were fantastic! The Bernina Express, and then a local one from Tirano to Milan, and then a fast one to Venice

Venice - as a child I always wondered how houses which were built on water kept dry - why would someone build them there?
It lived up to my wonderment. We got off the train and out the other side of the train station to catch our bus to the apartment. The bus of course was a water bus, and we quickly found that transportation by water was used for pretty well everything (apart from using shanks's pony). The freight was all by water - DHL had their own boats, the ambulances were faster boats, the trash compactors heavy duty ones, the fire 'trucks' were boats with pumps etc on them - it was truly amazing. Our apartment was some distance out from the centre of Venice (which made it affordable) and we had a balcony overlooking the lagoon at the end of the Grand Canal and we spent quite some time watching the seeming chaos and pandemonium of the many boats dashing this way and that. We had a 3 day transport pass so as well as tripping around the main island we ventured to some of the others as well: Murano (home of Venetian Glass), Burano (home of Venetian lace - which I know the photo is not of - but a great corner idea), then to the main market place. Many times it was quicker to walk, but we found that it was also very easy to get lost!

Florence - Bryan had more work to do, this time at UNICEF.
Florence is the home of leather and I spent some time walking around the markets. Everyone's stand was always 'the real thing' and the others were the 'fake' ones! A couple of handbags were a must (and maybe a couple of scarves which could be folded tight and packed into the luggage).
Our apartment was in the old part of town - 3 storeys up with shuttered windows and very conveniently situated in the next block from the market stands. This was convenient for others as well. We soon came to find that every night and every morning the 'stands' with their metal wheels were pushed along the cobbled streets in and out of storage areas, some of which were directly below our rooms. And while those stands may offically shut at 7pm the owners of those businesses do what others do all over the world - have a drink or coffee or smoke or both and then some before they fully put things away and head home! Then in the mornings there was the old covered market which opened at 4am - and this required the prior carting of goods into there for sale.
Garbage was intersting. Households did not have their own bins, but there were big commercial dumpster type ones at regular intervals along the street and everyone just came out, stood on a pedal which opened the lid and added to the contents. They then took their foot off said pedal and all were reminded it was a metal bin with a very heavy lid - and - to empty them, the truck came at least once a day - meaning sometime during the 24 hour period that makes up a day! Additionally - Florence kept the streets very clean - with the prime time for doing this being when people were not on them - usually tucked up in bed attempting some shut-eye between the other tasks the citizens of the city were dutifully undertaking! It took a few days to work all this out and get used to it - but once done, all was well.

Getting to Naples we went on the super fast 'Frecciarossa' train (up to 300 km/hr or 186 miles/hour). On we hopped with our Eurail Pass only to discover once underway that on this train we were required to reserve our seats. What would happen once the conductor arrived? Would we get thrown off? Would our pass be confiscated? What to do? Confess immediately the conductor entered the carriage? Profess lack of knowledge once they got to us? In the event the train stopped before one did get to us so we jumped off and into the station - reserving a seat on the next train through.
Our rooms in Naples were within walking distance of the railway station - in fact running past the back of the hotel where we were staying (in a rear room) and we could look down on the points as the trains came past into the end station (also withing sight) ready to go again. This was Bryan heaven.
We took one of these trains out to Herculaneum and spent the day looking through the excavated city which had been buried during the Mt Vesuvius eruption. Utterly and completely amazing. The photo to the left shows one of the floors made from tesserae.

If ever you are visiting Naples be warned: at what purports to be 'controlled' intersections in Naples neither pedestrians nor motorists take a blind bit of notice! Ear deafening horn blowing occurrs for hours on end and the safest option was to move with the crowd, and for best protection - in the centre of it

Everywhere in Italy had wrought iron - so much inspiration for quilting designs.

Nov 8 - 11: Strasbourg, France and Chur, Switzerland

We were now starting using the trains with our Eurail Pass - 15 days (not necessarily consecutive) pre-paid travel. They would be used on the big 'expensive' days and the smaller days paid for as we went.

Strasbourg: this is a city which provides for cyclists - 2 way lanes for them, traffic lights for them as well as pedestrian crossings across them (only usually this was to remind the pedestrians to watch out rather than the bikes to take care)

Chur: when we arrived we went out wandering and heard some distant music (as you do in Switzerland!). So we followed it and found that in one of the nearby parks were 2 gentlemen 'practising' on their Swiss horns! What a happenstance that was - and one of them invited me to give it a go, which I did with a little success.

Nov 6 & 7: Ribblehead, England

We went there for a quiet weekend, after Guy Fawkes. There is a railway station, a fantastic viaduct (100 ft high, 400 yds long) and one pub/hotel and that is it. However, to our surprise on the Friday night we found that one of the expensive railway tours with their refurbished Pullman carriages had arranged something pretty special. They went onto the viaduct, stopped, turned all their lights off to watch a fireworks display which was put on from below them - but right outside the pub (which was where we were staying). Spectacular!

Saturday night - another surprise! We found that night that it was the meeting place for a jam session of the local country/folk club. There were about a dozen of them and they were led by what only could be called a totally mad hard-case clown, who was totally right for the job. - So what a weekend! Certainly not completely quiet - and we loved every minute of it - including walking in the rain - all around the viaduct area. Photo is the view from our window.

Nov 3 - 5: Edinburgh and York

We headed back up north on the train for Bryan to go to some more meetings - this time with one of the departments in the Scottish Government and giving a seminar at the York University

Oct 27 - Nov 2: London, England

We knew we were close - but staying less than a block away from Portobello Road was quite an experience. We were about the same distance away from the Underground Station which meant Bryan could easily get to his work meetings in the Westminster area (and we could pick up that Edinburgh jacket!).
We continued with our fitness regime - 80 steps up to this apartment!

It was here that bad news began looming. I had prepared our staple of fruit cake to take with us and put it into 4 packs which were to last 4 months. Our boys had of course laughed hillariously - but for our stocks to be running down so quickly was bringing on panic! I got the recipe sent to me so that I could consider making more,but finding all the ingredients and tins proved somewhat difficult.
Autumn leaves were clearly showing that winter was near.

Oct 22 - 26: St Ives, Cornwall, England

St Ives is definitely a place to go to if visiting the UK - the tidal fall is about 30 feet and the fishing village a delight. The tide was very high while we were there and the entertainment for the day was standing with the crowd to see how far the waves would go into the village. As they got further and further across the street watertight gates and sandbags were put in front of the shops which had steps going down into them.
We found a very special place to stay last time we visited and it was a return to the same room at the same hotel. It has a big picture window looking onto the rocks and sea just below and across to the harbour and its protective pier.

Oct 13 - 21: Bristol, England

I had had a tooth extraction just days before we left, and while here the final pieces of that tooth worked their way out - what a relief.
Bryan had the first of his meetings and seminars to deliver at the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol, so I got some time to do a bit of exploration in the city and looking at architectural features for the inspiration of quilting designs.

Oct 6 - 12: South Oxford Canal, England

Exciting and relaxing at the same time.

Bryan was up to the challenge of this - apart from managing to put the 60 foot canal boat across an 18 foot canal several times - which required wife to come to the rescue with a big long pole to push it off the banks. In the end we found out from the people we hired the boat from that the rudder had become bent over the season, and that was what caused the incidents (no bad steering at all!). I got somewhat tired opening the heavy lock gates, so took to doing the steering in and out of them and giving Bryan that heavy work to do. It was so peaceful - we decided to stay put for one day enjoying the views and the sunset.

Sep 29 - Oct 5: Whitby, Yorkshire and Warwick, England

Whitby was on our list to visit as a working port plus being where Captain Cook's ship the Endeavour was built. The Endeavour was the first (European) ship to circumnavigate New Zealand and Captain Cook was the first to map New Zealand as islands. Most importantly of all (to us anyway) was the fact that Bryan's 3x great grandfather William Perry, was the ship's surgeon on that voyage. It was in Whitby that we found the bridge across the river rotated open and shut again every half hour on the half hour for the 2 hours before and after full tide - very cool.
Yorkshire was a visit to the distant rellies again - and it was great to see what had been under the snow as last time we visited it was feet deep in it.
Don't you love the collection of old wooden washing dolleys?
Warwick was a peaceful rest at a B&B we had stayed in on a previous trip.

Sep 22-28: Orkney Islands, Inverness, Stirling, Edinburgh.

Orkney was full of such history, with one of the many ancient tombs at least 5,000 years old. It was well worth the visit and well worth having a guide to take us around. We then got a ferry back to Thurso and a train to Inverness. Light packing is always a good idea for when one has to go up 3 storeys of narrow stairs!
At Stirling we stayed at a guest house run by some quilting friends. While there we went up for a walk up the hill to the William Wallace memorial - as it turned out just at the right time to watch a dramatised account of the Battle for Stirling Bridge (1297) between the Scots and the English and the events surrounding it (the Scots won this one).
Picking up a hire car we proceeded to Edinburgh which we had thought "where better to get a tailor made tweed jacket for Bryan", only to find that the tailoring is basically all now out-sourced to Mauritius and for a fee can be urgently done in 6 weeks! This was not going to be soon enough so Plan B had to be put into action (getting a ready made one adjusted and shipped to London for pickup)

Sep 19-21: Mallaig to the Orkney Islands

After the bustle of London Mallaig was sooo peaceful. It is a working village based on the fishing industry. The two nights we had there were delightful.
Going on to Orkney involved our host taking us by car to get the ferry to Skye, catching a bus to Kyle of Lochalsh, where we noted that the station ticket office opened every day and 9.46am! The train trip to Inverness was spectacular along the side of the Lochs. Then it was (going to be taxi but ended up being) a bus to the airport. The plane to the Orkney Islands was delayed by a couple of hours and we hope to still have a little light to see the landscape out of the little plane's windows. We then hire a car, and spend 3 evenings at a B&B and do some sight seeing there ......

Well, another lesson learnt! One has to look after oneself no matter what you are told, even by those who 'know'. At the check-in desk for the plane we were told we could get a light meal at the cafe alongside - which we did. When the earlier than the expected (but delayed) boarding call came, off we went (it is a very small airport). By the time we got there (some 30 yards but around a corner) the doors were locked and we were in big trouble. The staff in this area had a completely different idea as to what we should have done and decided we required to have a thorough 'manual' security search.... this was for a very little plane going a very little way ... but they had their fun.
We got here in the dark and it is just so very quiet. We are looking forward to the view out out window in the morning - across some water to a few other cottages.

Day 2 - London (17 Sep)
Despite the forecast being for rain - it was fine and there was sunshine - a pleasant surprise, so off to do the 'fine day' sight-seeing while we could. We became familiarized with the London Underground again, then an up high spin for an all-round view of the city (see Big Ben in the background), followed by a hop-on hop-off bus tour. The architecture never fails to amaze and inspire me.
(btw - useful info for those travelling: for the London Eye and many other tours the very best place to get tickets from is the London Heathrow Info desk when you first come out of customs - they are open tickets and fast track ones (no queuing) and were cheaper to purchase there than anywhere else! (a happy accidental discovery)).
Back at our new accommodation Bryan discovered that it was not Starbuck's dodgy internet speed which was causing him to have email problems - it was that his high up bosses back home had not let those who needed to know further down that there was a policy change that prevented staff from accessing email overseas. Bryan had thoroughly checked with the IT people that his work email would work overseas on his personal computer (this is a work trip for him - for some of the time anyway). Even these IT guys were unaware of this 'unmentioned' new policy. Initial solution: a 'work' computer is now being configured and will be couriered to him for when we get to Edinburgh.
No - I will not be having daily updates, but these two days have been rather eventful. Tomorrow is another day in London with an overnight train to Glasgow and a change of train the following morning will take us on to Mallaig.

Getting there and Day 1 (16 Sep)
Leaving home all started well. Bags successfully packed under weight for the 4 autumn/winter months we are travelling. This time the plane even left on time!
Some 30+ hours later we landed at London Heathrow, and wearily set off for our special first night apartment which overlooked the Thames. It was fantastic - apart from the fact that their was no power for the kettle and toaster, the plug in the basin was jammed shut, there were only some of the venetian slats in place to attempt to shut out the outside lights (which were beautiful, but we did need some shut-eye!). Then there was the internet - which despite being part of the package was not there, and as for lights to work by ... those from outside were not quite enough! In daylight the apartment did appear to have lots (the holes without fittings seemed not too serious, there were lots of others), but when we turned them on the two which functioned were one above the toilet (very necessary) and one over the kitchen sink (not quite so necessary) - but neither seemed particularly good places to do computer work from.
Much complaining to the administrators brought the response that maybe they could do something in 4 hours or so - but guess who was wanting to be asleep by then? The 'maybe' put us well off, and lack of internet sealed it. Even our phone reception was impossible in the building.
We took our bags and went across the road to Starbucks! Yay for Starbucks! Slowly drinking coffee we did some basic internet work but the main job was finding alternative accomodation. London was almost completely booked out with other events including the grand opening of the Rugby World Cup - which New Zealand is defending.
So, we have started putting down those travel memories - the ones you need to start laughing about very quickly!

When in Santorini Golden Anniversary Kathy's Hexagons Jumping Jacks

Great Celebrations! July 2015 I am back to winter in NZ after tripping around for just over 3 weeks in the United States during their summer. I have spent just over a week recovering - it has all be so exciting! The first main stop was a Statler Stitcher conference - SUGAR - which was held in Kansas City. There I got to catch up with many of you which was so, so good. Associated with that conference was an exhibition in which I won a blue ribbon in the Wholecloth category for my quilt 'Chevron Heaven' (illustrated below). The amazing part of that story was that the quilt was never meant to be judged - as I said below, it was to go into the Teachers' Exhibition. However, by the time I got to Kansas City the Teachers' Exhibition had been abandoned, so into the main exhibition it went, and now aren't I just so pleased?! After that great excitment I found that there were other winners who had used my quilting patterns in their quilts - Nita Rossi won a Blue Ribbon in the First time Entered category for her quilt 'When in Santorini' - Amelia Poore-Bone won a Blue Ribbon in the Traditional category for her quilt 'Husband's Lone Star' - Dee Gerardy won third place in the Traditional category for her quilt 'Cable Fantasy' (see photo in June notes) - Sue Burnett won an Honourable Mention for the quilting she had done on Rayna Clinton's Patchwork of the Crosses quilt 'Golden Anniversary' Walking around the exhibition a bit more I found yet other wonderful quilts which had my quilting designs on (very exciting for me!) - 'Urban Pods', quilted by Anna Mary (Midge) Flinn. She was a first time exhibitor and had completed her quilting most professionally - 'Indian Star', quilted by Cheryl Blocker, another masterpiece by another first time exhibitor. Cheryl was awarded a Teacher's Award from Anne Hurlburt. - 'The Secret Garden' by Carol Lynman (a fellow New Zealander) who admirably met the challenge of quilting many different sized and shaped blocks - and Kathy Johnson, yet another first time exhibitor with her hexagon quilt - just fantastic! Then to top it all off: Marilyn Harding's quilt 'Jumping Jack' won Viewers' Choice. That was an honour indeed! Those who gave her their vote were, in the large majority, Statler Stitcher users - they knew what they were looking for and looking at. This was the first time Marilyn had entered a quilt into a show, so thank you Marilyn for being brave and taking that leap! Well done one and all! I went on to have a little break in Greenwood, Indiana and after that off to teach in Louisville. A group of 25 had got together, found a venue and accomodation for those who needed it and we had a great day (plus some) together. Thank you Sue K for organising that venture. The last and final stop for me was in Denver, Colorado where Kelly Gallagher-Abbott of Jukebox Quilts had arranged for me to teach for 3 days. She is a Gammill dealer and has the most wonderful set-up, with room for lots of longarm machines as well as a great space for teaching. There I met yet more people as well has having a peek around Fort Collins and going on a little of their art walk on the Sunday - which was a day to relax. Coming home involved a full 24 hours of travel - but here I am again, and busy planning my next adventures!

Husband's Lone Star Midge's Urban Pods Indian Star Secret Garden

New Releases June 2015 From 8th June I am away in the US, teaching at 3 different venues - arriving back in NZ on July 2nd. I am looking forward to seeing so many people who, up until now I only know through email. To put faces to names will be so exciting. I have completed two quilts for the Teachers' Exhibition, and am very pleased with them both. They are on the Chevron theme - plus I will be putting up in the gallery yet another chevron quilt, but with quite different proportions. These are a little sneak preview of what I have done with the new patterns. Free quilting plans and additional photos are due to be released on 18 June, the day SUGAR starts - one lives in hope, anyway!

The Tidy Up

May 2015

I am due to teach in the USA in June - so lots of preparation has to be done this month including - samples, teaching notes, handouts, projects..... and general tidying up.
Therefore, very little new design work will be undertaken. If new designs do appear it is because they have been sitting patiently waiting for me to upload them and I have finally got there!

In June though - there will be a release of a few new patterns (inluding a free patchwork pattern) - these will be a couple of the new patterns which appear on my sample quilts. They are looking great - bindings are being sewn on now. So keep a look out for them.

The image to the left is a photo sent through from Dee Gerardy
having great fun with all things 'cable'. Click on the image to be taken to the quilting gallery where it is, and then click on the main image there to get to some detailed, good quality close-ups. How I would love to see this quilt in the flesh.

Concatenating Script Lettering

April 2015

I found that concatenating letters work with all versions of Creative Studio not just CS6 -
so, to be fair, have put the alphabet back up on sale for this month so that everyone gets a chance to play!

Concatenating Script Lettering

February 2015

Yay for concatenation on Statler Stitchers! It is making life just so much easier when we quilt and here is yet another use for it. I have reformatted all the characters in this set so that they can now be concatenated using the Repeat Patterns function. It is now just so quick to form names and words - no more lining up letters, snapping end points together - it is all done for you. I have put together a page of instructions to walk you through concatenating the letters - click here to download them for the instructions when not using concatenation click here to download these.

Crazy Stitches

January 2015

Crazy Stitches with curves (the initial set had 13 patterns in it - click on image to go to the current set)	Crazy Stitches with only Straight Lines (the intial set had 32 patterns in it - click on image to go to the current set)

Oooh! My love of Crazy Stitching has just been taken one step further with Statler Stitchers now able to stitch them along paths that curve and wind - as well as regular straight paths. I need to tell you that it started from the day I was born: becoming familiar with Crazy Stitches and holding them dear to my heart. I did not even know this had happened and yet it had done so literally right under my very nose. How? Well you might ask! Let me tell you the story. At about the time I started patchwork in the 70's my maternal Grandmother died. BTW - she is the one whom I blame for my 'collecting' (let's say) penchant. I inherited her collection of velvets - velvet pieces of ALL kinds - silks, upholstery as well as regular dressmaking. They were mainly ones which had been on sample cards - but dressmaking scraps were also in there. It took me a few years to decide what to do with them, but when I saw a fan pattern in a magazine I knew that would be just the thing. Each of the fans could be of different pieces of velvet! How wonderful! I could showcase them all! After piecing several blocks I decided the velvet really cried out for something more. Now - did I mention I collected? Well - I had just the resource required for that 'something more'. I would crazy stitch each of the fan blades using some embroidery threads which had been given to me by my 'Aunty' Hazel. She had somehow very badly tangled and knotted lots and lots of threads together. In her wisdom she decided that untangling and unknotting was something which might keep me amused as a child, and she gave me the added incentive of being able to keep them if I did so. Needless to say I spent many an hour untangling and unknotting ... and keep them I did, for about 15 years until the crazy stitching stage hit ... just waiting! The next question was - what stitches should I use? So I did what one does - go and unearth the sampler done at school (aged 11) and used some of the stitches from that. Next I looked out the book of embroidery stitches my mother had given to me when I was preparing items for my 'Hope Chest'. After running out of stitches from those resources I sought out another I had - "The Ladies Journal Complete Guide to the Worktable" - which my paternal Grandmother had recently given to me. She had received it from her Grandmother who had been given it in 1886. Who says collecting isn't worthwhile? I should have realised that if it took quite some time to embroider 2 blocks - it was going to take a lot more to embroider 20 of them. But I persisted - at the beach, in the hospital beside sick children as well as just relaxing. As an aside - batting was not readily available at that time - so I purchased some factory ends of calico which had nice thick wool batting cross-hatched onto one side of it. I unpicked one from the other and put TWO layers of that batting into the quilt (I have learnt a bit since then - including how velvet frays!) Anyway - that velvet quilt is one of my favourites, and I love it dearly with all the memories it brings. (So does my younger son, who has already claimed it as part of his inheritance - he loved 'wrinkly' Granny (from whom he has also inherited the 'collecting gene')). Since then I have crazy stiched many other quilts - but now on my sewing machine. Quilts made of wool, men's ties, as well as regular cotton fabric. This is where the story gets very interesting. Years after I had completed the velvet quilt mother was moving - and she produced from the back of a linen cupboard, safely tucked away for close on 40 years, a quilt. Not just any quilt ... no ... a quilt made for me by my Great Grandmother and given to me when I was born and guess what? Great Granny had made it from samples of fabric and she had Crazy Stitched together! I had evidently used it as a 'kicking rug' when I was a baby. I must have spent a bit of time kicking in the middle of it as there is quite a worn area there. So as I said at the beginning: I had started life with Crazy Stitches right under my nose! Such a beautiful gift and lovingly made just for me - how could I help but not grow up to be addicted to them! Look well at the photo - and you can see those 50's sleeves with their high caps for gathering! Guess where her scraps had come from - so cool! Also, I love the way she has laid out all the pieces - very balanced. Even the colour of the threads match each side - I had a very clever Great Granny! The final bit of news was that mother still had the note which Great Granny had included with the gift - what treasures I have and you can see how I was born to love Crazy Stitching! All Crazy Stitches (the initial set had 20 patterns in it - click on image to go to the current set) - and also, just to cap it all off (as if this was not enough) Great Granny's Grandmother was the one who did the embroidered Sampler on the "About Us" page - the 1839 one, when she was 10. Now I have the joy of digitizing many of those old patterns, getting them to run on our modern quilting machines - embroidering AND quilting in the one step (aren't we spoilt?). I have got some way there - but there are a lot more to come! I will be doing the same thing as in the past: - you will be able to purchase patterns individually or - you can purchase them at greatly discounted prices in sets. If you do this and additional patterns are subsequently added to the set they become yours free of any additional charges: just redownload your original order which had the set in and they will magically be there! for printable catalogue pages of Crazy Stitches click here

Urban Pods November 2014 After a few slower months being hampered by a shoulder operation I am just about able to use a quilting machine again! However, I have had a bit of fun slowly working up to that by catching up on some of the design work - Urban Pods has been a strong quitling design request, along with some quilting designs for someof the other fantastic patterns published by Sew Something Wonderful. I have so many on paper (some from a long time ago), all waiting to be digitised. Darby quickly used a couple of these patterns, purchasing and quilting them within an hour or so of meputting them up on the website - and what a fantastic job done! I am just in the process of adapting the main pod patterns so that the ones that double back on themselves will be added as supplementary sets - should you so wish to have them I have done some 'sashes' - with more of these to come in different styles as well. All of these designs are p2p ones - with the placement of the registration points the all-time important matter, sometimes it is best to measure and mark to ensure accuracy. When searching for other designs for Urban Pods quilts, put 'Urban' into the filter.

Hunter's Stars August 2014 Well - I have gone mad on Hunter's Stars this month! Some time ago someone wanted one - which I did and put up on the website, but in the process I had drawn (on paper) almost another 2 dozen of them. My drawing arm is currently out of use - but my digitising one is not (for some reason I use a mouse in the other hand). Hence - if I have a drawing already done, I can use this time to get on and digitise those designs which have been so patiently waiting. So - I am well underway in getting several of these completed - but in the process have found that there are an infinite number of differently proportioned Hunter's Star blocks. What I have done is to digitise my designs for the most popular proportions - and have done a catolgue page explaining them. Included are designs for many of the different sized blocks which can be made using the Rapid Fire ruler from 'Studio 180 Design'. There are also some designs for the traditionally proportioned blocks. To find them all in the General Patterns area - enter 'HStar' into the Name Search filter

Glass Bowls

July 2014

I found this photo of a wonderful antique Carnival Glass bowl - and look at the design moulded into it - perfect to adapt for a modern quilting design! It may take me a while to convert all of these drawings into patterns which will work on the machine, but aren't they just grand? Patterns will gradually be added to the website - including ones which are not illustrated below. The Plan: I have made a set which will contain all the derived designs. More will be added as I have time - including triangles - and the price of the set will gradually creep up - BUT - for those who get in and purchase this set early, you can just keep downloading your original order and the new ones will appear. Currently there are 2, 3, 4 patterns in the set. The reward for getting in early is that you will not have to pay any additional amount. Click on the coloured bowl image to the left to go directly to this package.

A very traditional style of glass bowl which has been the inspiration for several patterns. Two of them have ended with a bit of a modern twist to them. The two arc patterns were done first - just to have a play. These were made more useful by formatting them as p2p patterns. Then I went on to the border design. This I considered a little plain if it was left as per bowl - I wanted to spice it up a bit, so circles - or pearls went on the top of each of the 'fan tips'. The final bit of the change was to make the border repeats work well - so that they could be used without the corner pattern and butt right up to a cornerstone if required. That meant getting rid of the central 'fan' point - so they got reduced from 5 to 4. The resulting design has the interest and modern twist I was aiming for, and in many ways gives the impression of lace. The border can also be used by itself in bars - no pattern dividing required.

One of our special design areas is:

capital letters  -  small letters  -  numbers  -  punctuation  -  symbols  -  words  -  names

Sharon Perry has developed this script style of lettering over a number of years.
• letters are clear, smooth and regular
• letters flow seamlessly from one to the other
• cursive, single line and continuous stitching
• all have been digitised using the same size grid - they fit together with no fuss or bother
• downloadable instructions available from the 'Info & Free' page

Personalise your quilts - have them tell a story!

Many other types of patterns are also available.

We are especially proud of the development of patterns for what can otherwise be very difficult areas.
Solutions are achieved mainly through the focus given to the p2p (line pattern) function:

• builders - especially useful for sashings
- once masquerading as regular blocks - now reformatted into p2p patterns
- they require 2 passes to be 'built'
- quickly placed and extremely accurate at intersections.
- if the machine head can get in and all the sashes are connected - they will sew out with just one start/finish.

• p2psu (point to point set up)
regular blocks - reformatted so they can be placed (or set up) using the p2p function.
- extremely useful for situations such as the chain in a Double Irish Chain, placement in hexagons, etc.

• sashes - which will not overstitch
designed for ease and success at intersections.
Where they turn or cross over each other:
- their corners are self-turning and
- their main design elements will not stitch on top of each other.
Illustrations clearly show what occurs at the intersections.

--------------  other things yet to be added  --------------

• completed quilts - for purchase
• along with patchwork patterns (for making the quilts)
• and for a change of scene, there will be some embroidery patterns for sale

Paypal is used as the gateway for payment. You do not have to be a Paypal customer though.