Hello there, it’s Judie again just catching up with you during your busy week. Yesterday was a huge day for me – I co-judged a regional quilt show. There was a terrific range of quilts to judge, and of course no category was a cakewalk. The skills on show were very impressive, even the skills of new quilters who had never entered a quilt in a show before.

Here in Australia we don’t offer a written critique as is done in many shows in America, and I sometimes wish that we did. There are always little hints to pass on to quilters, and of course the opportunity to give encouragement would be fantastic too.

It is interesting to see a rise in the amount of machine embroidered quilts this year. Lots of girls are getting into machine embroidery and it’s exciting to see this new genre taking its place in Quilt Shows. One observation I made, is that while the machine embroidery is very well done, the actual finishing of the quilt is overlooked in some cases.

It would be a great idea for machine embroiderers to take some time to learn the skills of putting a quilt together, including skills of sashing, quilting and binding techniques. I believe this genre of quilting is here to stay. Some grumble, but I feel it’s always good to have new techniques and genres taking their place in the quilt world. It keeps us all on our toes and gives us more reasons to learn new skills.

Last week I wrote about an exhibition that is currently showing here in Brisbane. It is the same exhibition that was presented at the Victoria and Albert Museum in England recently. Here’s the link for your interest: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art181267.asp

A reader, Debbie has popped onto the forum asking for help with tracking down some patterns that were available in the US during and after the depression. Here’s the link and please see if you can help Debbie.
http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/836086/Help_to_find_patterns_please_q#Post836086

And so onto my goodies for you this week.

http://www.babble.com/home/7-cool-diys-for-your-old-jeans/ some more ideas for using old jeans

http://homeofhomemadetreasures.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/tutorial-making-fabric-appliques.html a very well explained tutorial on appliqué techniques

http://www.sewminty.com/2013/06/looking-out-pincushion-tutorial.html a bit of a different pincushion

http://rosmademe.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-pentagon-balls-up-or-patchwork-ball.html I made one of these for my son and he played with it for years!!

http://createstudio.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/how-to-make-elephant-doorstop-thats-too.html a cute elephant door stop.

http://www.mysocalledcraftylife.com/2013/04/16/repurposed-vintage-tablecloth-cross-body-tote/ here’s a way you can give your old tablecloth a new life

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/use-your-stash.html another easy scrappy quilt to make from your stash

http://www.kd-quilts.com/2012/06/solid-star-a-tutorial.html I love this scrappy star tutorial, simple and very effective.

http://www.fiberartalmanac.com/2013/03/art-elements-and-principles-of-design.html some pretty amazing beading and embroidery eye candy for you

Well, dear quilters, I am heading off now, and will be back again next week. In the meantime, make some time for a little stitching – it’s good for your soul.
Cheerio for now


Judie Bellingham, Quilting Editor
http://Quilting.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com