Australian Homespun — February 2018

18

Lay the quilt on a large cutting

board and using a quilter’s

ruler and rotary cutter, trim the

edges of the pink Tumbler shapes

level with the end of their shortest

edges to straighten the side edges,

as shown in Diagram 1.

19

Join four of the 2^11 ⁄ 1 in pink

tone-on-tone strips end to end

to make one length and press the

seams open.

20

Measure the width of the quilt

across the middle and cut two

pink strips to this length. Stitch the

strips to the top and bottom of the

quilt and press the seams outwards.

FINISHING

21

Remove the selvedges from

the backing fabric and cut it

in two equal lengths. Sew the pieces

together side by side with a^1 ⁄ 2 in seam

allowance and press the seam open.

The quilt top, backing and batting are

ready for longarm quilting as they are.

22

If you’re quilting by hand or

on a domestic sewing

machine, refer to Step 10 on page

112 to layer and baste the quilt.

Frances thread-basted her quilt.

23

Quilt as desired. Frances hand-

quilted with light gold Sulky

Cotton 12 thread using a size 8 sharps

needle. Her quilting lines echo the long

edges of the Tumbler shapes. She put

the quilt in a quilting hoop and used the

stab-stitch method and large running

stitches to achieve a textured look.

24

Join the eight^7 ⁄ 8 in light-value

strips end to end with diagonal

seams to make one length. Trim the

FRANCES LEATE

How did you feel when you first started

sewing? Of necessity, I was a sewer for most

of my adult life (mainly fashion and home

furnishing items) before I discovered

patchwork and quilting and I can truly say

that was when I first started to really enjoy

sewing on a machine. This discovery

happened about 22 years ago and quickly

turned into an enduring passion.

Has your response to your craft changed

muchsince then? I’ve continued to discover

and learn new skills, such as appliqué and

embroidery by hand, and now often use these

techniques with my quiltmaking. I really enjoy

mixing hand and machine stitching, and often

in the same project. As I have less pressure to

meet deadlines now, I’m finding I’m doing a lot

more hand stitching than I was 10 or 15 years

ago. What I don’t enjoy much these days is the

writing up of instructions for patterns, as I

find it very diff icult to concentrate on the job

at hand and just keep getting new ideas for

other projects and fabrics I’d like to play with.

What is it that keeps you creating?

Quiltmaking is a passion and hand stitching

a real pleasure, and I can’t imagine not

doing them. I also keep finding inspiration

everywhere and seem to start more projects

than I have time to complete.

Do you teach your skills? I started teaching

patchwork and quilting about 21 years ago and

have never lost the delight of passing on my

skills to others. These days, I also get immense

pleasure from teaching hand-stitching skills

to people who previously never entertained

the idea of doing this style of craft, which is

so versatile and flexible and gives unlimited

joy. I have taught and given trunk shows at

various quilting retreats, and this is something

I hope to continue doing in the future.

How long can you spend browsing in a

patchwork store? My large studio in the

backyard at home is equipped so well it is like

a mini patchwork shop, and I never get tired

of the inspiration it gives – I enjoy spending

most of my day there.

What’s your favourite time of day to sew?

One thing I’m not is an early riser, and I definitely

‘don’t do mornings’, so I guess any other time

would be a favourite time for stitching.

Do you have any sewing gadgets/notions

you never use? My husband once bought me

a short-arm quilter on a frame as a surprise, but

I never came to like this style of machine quilting.

How many quilts do you think you’ve made all

up? I’ve made approximately 140 quilts, and

that doesn’t include lots and lots of unfinished

projects. I only count the quilts I’ve finished,

and these have all been pieced, appliquéd and

quilted by me. I’m too much of a DIYer to ever

have my quilts finished by someone else, even

though the quilting process, particularly by

machine, is not my first love.

What do you wish for your creative future?

I would like to go on making more and more

quilts using techniques that I enjoy most and

that I gain the most pleasure from doing.

Gett ing to know ...

Diagram 1

FRANCES’S

PIECING TIPS

If machine piecing this project,

remember to add an accurate^1 ⁄ 4 in

seam allowance to the templates

before cutting the Tumbler shapes.

Machine stitch the full length of

the seams, don’t stop^1 ⁄ 4 in from the

ends as with hand piecing. If you

press the seams of alternate rows

in opposite directions, or press

them towards the darker fabrics,

the seams should nest when you

join the rows.

56 Homespun

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