'One Still Bird' by Annette Isager

"I call my quilt "One Still Bird", because the bird inspired the design. I began this quilt in July 2006. It was taught in a class at Vision Patchworkers in Ipswich Queensland. This is after an origional design by Sue van Slyke (Copyrite 2006) called Sue's Medallion Quilt. Sue was assisted by Audrey Mazzaracca. The quilt was tailormade as a bedspread for an old silky oak bed.










The bird was painted by a friend called Maggie. I kept the Tshirt it was on for 20+ years and was delighted to be able to include it.







I used pictures and flowers of the West Australian gum Eucalyptus caesia for a guide to the gum flowers and photocopied Gerladton Wax flowers for the guide to the flowers in the baskets.



I should be finished this quilt in October 2008 and owe a debt of gratitude to my great friend Cheryl Doblo who helped me in many ways throughout the making.



Everyone who comes to my house gets dragged in to the guest bedroom to see this quilt. I love it and am totally delighted with your work. Everyone who has seen it loves it too!



Thanks for your great work. I feel you have made my quilt an heirloom. "
Annette Isager
Booval Qld

New Zealand Machine Quilters' Conference 2008

“I am speaking to you tonight as President of the AMQA. Founded about two years ago in Queensland, Australia, the Australian Machine Quilting Association is a not-for-profit organisation which is specific to machine quilting..... in particular.... the business of machine quilting”.

Earlier this year I was given the privilege to open the 2008 New Zealand Machine Quilters’ Conference at Cambridge, New Zealand. Hosts, Mike and Lori Neels once again ran a very successful four days of learning opportunities and machine quilters and tutors travelled from all over New Zealand and Australia to attend.

There were seminars and workshops for all levels that gave tuition across a wide range of interesting topics including, funky free-handing, thread-play, templating, pantographs, designing wholecloth quilts, business principles and inspirational colouring techniques.

Sunday was open day at the hall and the public were welcomed in to view a very impressive display of machine quilting. Hands-on classes for those who wanted extra were given by Kim Bradley, Tina Whitaker, and yours truly, either side of the main two-day conference.

The conference dinner was held at Onyx, one of Cambridge’s top restaurants. Everyone had a fantastic time, the food was great and I developed a serious liking for NZ wine which I am pleased to discover is available here in Oz.

Congratulations to all the winners:

Peers’ Choice 1st - Linda Young - $500 cash from Nolting Mfg Inc plus $250 thread parcel from Coats Industrial. (photo to left)

Peers’ Choice 2nd - Colleen Burr - $250 cash from Karamu Quilting plus $250 voucher from John Rainger Textiles.

Public Choice 1st - Diane Caskey - $500 cash from Kasa Engineering plus $250 thread parcel from Coats Industrial.

Public Choice 2nd - Julie Cannon - $250 cash from Karamu Quilting plus $250 books & fabrics from Fabco Ltd.

Kim Bradley’s Choice - Susan Trendall - 2 nights B&B plus 20 fat quarters and batting from Quilt Fairies of Baylys Beach.

The time just flew and before I knew it I was saying goodbye to our Kiwi friends. I left Mike and Lori sharing a well earned moment of relaxation on the front verandah at Quiltique under the autumn leaves of that beautiful neighbouring tree.

See you in 2010!

Soon It Will Be Spring

I can't remember feeling so cold in the winter months in Brisbane. Previous winters have been quite mild, this year it's freezing! Normally we only need to use the heaters occassionally, this year they have really had a good work out.

Sure to brighten the wintery mood is such a crisp, fresh explosion of bright Spring colours. This quilt made by my good friend Suzanne Walker called appropriately 'Spring Fling' has reminded me that the start of the Spring season is only one week away!

I usually find myself looking forward to a welcomed spell from what can be a very hot Queensland Summer. This year though I must admit, I am looking forward to feeling the warmth of the sun again.

I love daisies, don't you? This is a view of Sue's quilt from the back. Lovely Sue, well done.

Exciting News!

It was a very exciting day here at The Quilt Connection yesterday. I received a phone call in the morning from the organisors of the Quilts Across Queensland exhibition at the Ekka to tell me that my quilt ‘Solutions 1’ had won 1st place in the Professional Small Quilts category. A blue ribbon….. I’m stoked!

‘Solutions 1’ is one of a pair of teaching samples created in preparation for the New Zealand Machine Quilters’ Conference in Cambridge which I attended earlier in the year. Both ‘Solutions 1’ and ‘Solutions 2’ are examples of thinking ‘outside the square’ in terms of planning the quilting. I applied very different machine quilting to a very basic piecing design which resulted in two unique and very individual quilts. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete ‘Solutions 2’ before the cut-off for entries so only ‘Solutions 1’ will be on display, but WOW, it will be on display with a big blue ribbon on it!

Second phone call for the day was from one of my favourite customer/friends, Barb McIntyre..... the red and purple one, and her husband David, who by the way, poses as my part-time business manager occasionally giving advise such as, “definitely with the stippling, not without” and “white, not red thread will give a better result on that red and white quilt”.

They rang with the news that Barb’s quilt, “The Torch of Lady Liberty” had won the red ribbon in the Collaborative - Commercially Quilted - Any technique Class 7 also in the Quilts Across Queensland competition. How ironic is that, a new red ribbon to dress up Barb's red hat. (VBG)
Congratulations Barb......Woo Hoo!

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, later in the afternoon, another much loved customer/friend, Lorna Haigh, rang to say her quilt ‘Morning Light’ had won the Blue ribbon in the Class 7. Congratulations Lorna.
I’m very excited for you both.
In fact, I am just over the moon, not only is it just the best feeling ever, to know that as partners in quilt-making we are obviously getting it right but also so good to be rewarded for our efforts.

All this excitement will make it difficult to focus today, but preparations need to continue for activities planned at the end of the week. Machine Quilters have flown down from the Atherton Tablelands and others, more local, who have recently purchased a machine for their own use or to enter the business of machine quilting, are attending a longarm workshop I am running here on Friday. Then, on Saturday, people from all over Queensland will come here to attend the next Queensland Machine Quilters’ Gathering. So off to work I go…… Whistling with joy all the while.

Congratulations to all other winners in the Quilts Across Queensland exhibit at this year’s Ekka.

I'll post some photos in a couple of days.

Betty Houston of Figtree Pocket, Qld, made her 'Blue Dandy' (designed by Barbara Campbell) after finding it in a magazine and deciding it was the one she would lovingly make and give to her daughter-in-law Patsy. Betty is 80 years young and her work in many of the finer arts is exquisite. No surprise to learn that this year Betty was awarded 'Champion of Show' along with several other awards for her beautiful stumpwork at the Embroiderers' Guild Qld April Exhibition.




Patsy's preference is a 'no fuss' style of quilting so we chose to apply a balance of straight and curved lines in alternating fashion.

My Dad Makes Quilts!

My dad, John David Bond is 80 years young, a retired fitter and turner who can put his hand to anything.
When I took delivery of my first quilting machine back in 2001, a second-hand Gammill Classic, the truck arrived and it took Dad, my teenage son, DH and the driver to unload the various machine parts off the truck. They’re big heavy machines!

Not being so mechanically inclined, DH and son quickly made their excuses and the driver hit the road, leaving Dad and I to work out how to put the machine together and make it work. We managed to do that reasonably well considering we were working off an incomplete manual and, really, knew little about what we were doing.

The machine was usable, but I did experience more than the usual amount of problems. As I explained my difficulties to Dad he realised some components of the machine needed to be improved. Over the next four months Dad rebuilt and refurbished until finally my machine was running better than a new one. I don’t know what I would have done without him.

Several times during this ordeal, Dad had approached me with ‘quilty’ questions which I was only too happy to answer for him. I remember thinking it was great that he was showing an interest in my new found passion. One day, he said, “I’d like to give this patchwork a go”. It was then I realised Dad was more than just interested, he really did want to make a quilt.

Dad had never used a needle and thread and certainly he had never had the need to venture from his work bench to Mum’s old Singer. I knew he had more to learn than most beginners and perhaps I was biting off more than I could chew but he was obviously keen to try patchwork and I was keen for him to have a go.

I loaded up a project bag with a collection of plaids, checks and stripes from my stash, a rotary cutter, mat, ruler and a square Perspex template which, coincidently, he had made for me some time back for a project I was working on involving numerous flying geese.

I took the bag with me on my next visit and asked Dad if he would like to lend a hand with my next quilting project which I was keen to get underway. He agreed. I gave him a lesson in rotary cutting, showed him how to use the template to cut the squares and stressed the importance of keeping the plaids straight. My departing instruction was, “Cut as many squares as you can from the fabric in the bag!”

Next time I saw him and it wasn’t much later, he had cut heaps of squares, which he proudly handed over asking, “What do I do next?” All the stripes and checks were as straight as a die.

Dad’s colour blindness prevents him from distinguishing between certain colours such as brown and red or green and blue, so easier to work with light/medium/dark. Lesson two involved drawing a pencil line diagonally across all the light coloured squares and then pairing all the light squares with either dark or medium.

Lesson three was a big learning curve. I introduced Dad to my sewing machine. I gave him a lesson on how to sew a ¼” seam and while I quilted away on my new ‘toy’, he sat at my Bernina laboriously stitching ¼” either side of the ruled line on all the paired blocks. By this stage he had realised he was working on his own first quilt.

The lessons continued covering every aspect of making the quilt including visiting the fabric shop to find the best option for a backing fabric to the final steps of binding, adding a label and hanging sleeve, just in case he wanted to exhibit one day.

Dad was so thrilled with the end result and I was thrilled for him. He was an excellent student, we had some great father/daughter memories and these days, no one dare remove his quilt from his bed!

Welcome to The Quilt Connection!

My name is Barb Cowan and I am a dedicated 'machine quilter for hire'.

I offer a wide range of professional machine quilting services using a Prodigy 24” longarm machine quilting system. I am passionate about the art of quilt-making. I treat all quilts with high regard and aim to produce standards of excellence in my work.

Whether you have quilt tops that require finishing in simple, inexpensive fashion, or you have created a traditional heirloom requiring a masterful finish, I believe I have the expertise to answer your call.

I will be happy to advise you about any aspect relating to the quilting process including selecting and preparing backings, choice of battings, type and colour of thread and I do bindings too!