and what !?

One thing at a time ! Thats what I keep telling myself, I am only one person and only have two hands!

Trying to start up something on your own entails a fair share of blood sweat and tears. 

I spent the first half of last year finishing off my book manuscript and projects to hand into my editor, Its hard to believe this time last year I was knee deep in 22 quilts and pattern writing.....

and

Now its available for pre order !!!

I did a quick google and these are all in the first page search

AMAZON  US based Store

Book Depository UK based Store

Interweave Store US based Store

Page after Page NC, USA

Booktopia Australia

Angus & Robertson Australia

Kinokuniya Australia

Can Do Books Australia

The Australian distributor is
Capricorn Link

Please let me know if you have seen it somewhere else! 

If you would like your local shop or Book store to stock my book - ask them to get it in :) 

The second half of the year was dedicated to setting up my website

siobhanrogers.com.au

I wanted a space where everything was in one spot. The blog, contact info, My Media work, workshops, exhibitions (coming soon), The book and of course my shop for patterns quilts etc.

Id love to know what you think of it.

I also had the opportunity to create projects, style, photograph and write for local Sydney paper The Daily Telegraph. Below are some of the stories I created.

Then later in the year 2014 -  just when I thought I would get into blogging again, I was commissioned for a few more magazine stories............. Some exciting (for me!) Magazines with my projects coming out through out this year 

Let me know how you go with the pre orders of my book! 

and If you know or see another retailer that has it in stock or will be getting it in - Let me know and I will eventually get a stockists list together !

Siobhan Rogers Xx

and again

with some pics of my Melody Calling Quilt pattern that is in the Patchwork 3 publication for Spotlight Australia

Have a look at yesterdays post for more details 

Xx Siobhan Rogers

How on Earth do you

store all your quilts?

When teaching or generally talking about what I do - The number one question is

"What do you do with ALL your quilts"?

because I do have a lot of them and I do keep making more and more.....

A few have gone to friends or family but mostly they live in my house or studio and sometimes one or two are on display at places that I teach at.

BUT

most of them are in my house!

If they aren't on a bed (which we have five of in our house and most beds have two quilts on them) they are on the lounge, hanging on a chair, folded on a chair, in a basket or hanging on one of the many ladders I have collected......

I'm yet to have wall hangings although I do have box framed fabric art works

Quilts aren't just for beds!

How do you store your quilts?

and on decoration/ houses and storage etc I have been pouring over Megan Morton's (Australian based Stylist) new book - I love my room its gorgeous!

I love the book! 

& my kids have been absolutely fascinated with it.

Lots of great ideas. Which will come in very handy when we eventually start our renovation/ extension.

more room for more quilts!

I'll have to get my dad onto making more ladders for me :)

If any Sydney people are interested in a ladder (like the one pictured) 

they are 900 wide X 1800 high, raw timber

and cost $130 AUD

email me :)

I'm off - last day of school today before the winter holidays and I have a million jobs to do 

Xx Siobhan 

when I'm teaching......

When I'm teaching patchwork and quilting.....

the thing I start with is usually learning how to use a rotary cutter and cutting mat and accurate (ish) piecing.

I've been reminded this most recently when all my classes for the year started last week and I had lots of new students - which is great!

It can seem daunting at first but its not so bad once you get use to it and work out what works best for you.

Every one does things differently

this is how I do it :)

for this project I have cut 30 X 7 inch squares 

Finished quilt size

33 inches X 39.5 inches

perfect for a baby rug

When cutting fabric you should always try to fold fabric selvedge to selvedge. 

1 - I use the grid lines on my cutting mat to help line up my fabric and keep it square and then trim the end to make it a straight edge.

2 & 3 - once I have lined up the fabric and it is trimmed I then measure my width strip that I need - in this case it is 7 inches

4 - I then cut this strip into 7 inch squares

repeat until you have all 30 squares cut

Lay out your squares in your desired layout - in this case I have gone with a random placement of pattern and colour.

Sew the squares into strips and iron the seams. 

I iron my seams open, lots of people iron their seams all sorts of ways - to the side all in one direction, to the dark side etc Its personal preferance. I sew mine open as I find it easier to quilt on my machine and the long arm machine quilter I use prefers it too. 

Once the strips are sewn then sew the strips together

here you have one finished patchwork quilt front!

next steps are 

1 - making a backing

2 - wadding

3 - making a quilt sandwich and basting

4 - machine quilting

Squares are a very versatile shape in quilting and can be very effective in lots of different sizes and colours

Hope that helps some new Quilters

:)

Xx Siobhan 

stop to smell the roses

Gosh time flies!

I made this quilt back in June this year for a Modern Quilts special for Australian Quilters Companion.....

and finally today it landed in my letter box!

Thanks Claire (Editor) :))) 

the magazine should hit the shelves during the next week or so - its worth a look and I have some very fine company :) 

 I read a newsletter recently by Denise Schmidt and she talked about taking a second to congratulate yourself and note all your achievements in 2012, she noted that life and work can be a whirl wind and we need to take the time and be still to think of all we have done. 

Its funny because of the type of stuff I do I can often forget to stop and appreciate my work - I'm usually too busy chasing or trying to finish the next "thing" and I mostly work 6-12 months ahead of anything going to print. I love what I do and I am incredibly lucky that I get my work published.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog, makes my quilt patterns, takes my patchwork classes and sends me emails.

It means so very much to me and keeps me going in the work that I love.

Tomorrow I'll try to get a few better pics of the Quilt in the Magazine article and get some links up!

Here's to a very interesting next twelve months :)))

Xx Siobhan

Lost treasure

Amazing what you find when you clean up.

I've spent the last few days sorting cupboards and moving my things into the new shed - or my new house if you are talking to Miss 6yrs.

Anyway I came across two sample panels I had made over a year ago for Better Homes & Gardens magazine that never ended up being used - long story - but to do with change of colour theme etc, that sort of stuff happens a lot with lifestyle publications......

So I decided to turn them into little baby rugs and get some use out of them!

I did these a little bit like a cushion - sewing the two right sides together and then turning them through the right way. 

Doing it this way means no binding and a baggy kind of quilt. 

To keep it together I have sewn all around the edge in a 1/4 inch seam & also a bit of stitch in the ditch (which I very rarely if ever do)around the squares.

This particular one is going to a school family that have just had a baby boy & the second one will be kept in the pile ready for the next friends baby.

More treasures coming up over the week!

Xx Siobhan

Enough room to swing a cat

For a long long time I have dreamed of having my own creative space & now its become a reality! 

Its still a work in progress - a few final finishes and external painting to do....

but Its about time for me to start filling it up with all my stuff & start doing some work.

I've spent the last few weeks procrastinating watching it all be built instead of knuckling down and getting things finished.

I anticipate another week of mucking around with my fabrics and rearranging things before any real work starts happening.....

Although thats not a luxury I have, I have a few deadlines to finish before I head away for a week in New York City early September.

Yep - thats right - I'm heading to NYC!

I have a few work meetings & hoping to see lots of fabric/ quilty stuff too.

I'd love any advice you might have :)

A quick bit of info about the studio fit out 

The walls are painted in- Taubmans Crisp White

The Wallpaper- Abigail Edwards Owls of the british isles 

Light fittings- From Freedom Furniture

The bench was made by my Dad and painted the same colour as the walls, the bench top is Corian bought on ebay.

The black wall was painted with Murobond Pirate chalk paint & the lounge is from Freedom Furniture

of course this is about the cleanest its ever going to look!

I'm sure there will be lots of photos taken once I fill it up and start using it.

I also have lots of "stuff" to fill you in on over the week.

Like a few new ranges of fabric I have gotten my hands on & some exciting happenings at CLOTH Fabric

Hope you all had a great weekend 

Xx Siobhan

Strength in numbers - A community quilt

Earlier in the year a friend was diagnosed with Cancer.....

Cancer is one of those things I have experience in - not me personally - but Friends and family - Yes.

I think most of us have been touched by Cancer in some way.

Everyones experience is different but I think one thing is common - Nothing is ever the same.

With this in mind I asked a few friends if they would like to contribute to a quilt.

I wanted people to make a 12 inch block in a star pattern.

  

Word soon spread and I had 25 women able to participate.

I sent out a million emails with links, ideas, resources and patterns.

I had 3 sewing days at my house to help out the beginners - this entailed lots of laughing and mayhem. All good fun.

anyway a few months down the track and all is good with our friend - prognosis is great and she is all clear. 

We had a morning tea today to hand over the Community made quilt.

Made with much love and thought.

Friendship & Stars

Xx Siobhan

*A little note on construction

To tie in all the colourful blocks I framed each square in the light green cotton - this also helped with sizing up everyones blocks to the same 12 inches (everyones 1/4 inch seam is different!which then leads to 11.5 inch to 12.5 inch blocks).I also used the light green for binding.

I then sashed the blocks in a little floral Liberty of london print, to add to the vintage feel I used two different colours of the same liberty print. 

The quilt was long arm quilted in a Baptist fan by Kim Bradley.

Fabric choices in recent quilts

Hi!

sorry I've been quiet.....

Its School holidays here in Sydney Australia & everything in my normal working week goes out the window. 3/4 of the kids go back to school tomorrow - fingers crossed I get all my bits n pieces finished off this week and handed over.

I've had a few emails asking about fabrics I had used in recent quilts that appeared in Modern Patchwork

I very excitingly had three quilts appear in the new Interweave  publication & one was on the cover :)

The Fabrics for the Yellow wide Stripe quilt

- all the text fabric is from my spoonflower BeaSpokeQuilts shop

- The yellow flower is a Robert Kaufman Fabric

- White homespun

- The binding is a grey & white honeycomb

- the yellow check is Unknown! 

I bought it as an end of bolt special at Material Obsession a long long time ago (before they moved), If anyone can help name it Id appreciate it or even maybe let me know of a similar fabric design thats currently around?

The Fabric for the Monochromatic Text Quilt is all from my spoonflower designs

BeaSpokeQuilts Fabric Shop

& the binding is the grey & white honeycomb again

the back is pieced of all my left over bits n pieces

The Linen Square Block Quilt is Made out of

- Natural linen

- the inside square is linen

- the first frame is Liberty of London pink Paisley

- the second frame is Isso Echo, it might be tricky to find

- the third frame is Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Village Path

- the fourth is by Working CLOTH although it appears the pink is no longer made! 

 Hopefully that helps....

If not then let me know how I can help by commenting on this post or 

Im also on twitter

Below is a bit of a look at what I have achieved in the holidays

This is the Swoon block I've been working on, I'm waiting on more fabric to arrive from my Spoonflower shop so that I can finish it all off.

below is a bit of a look at a project I did for the Fat Quarterly Team

This one was done earlier in the year - I'm busting to show you all

and here I have some bits and pieces from a quilt I'm making for The Lovely Ladies at CLOTH Fabric 

Its a great weight fabric to work with and fantastic colour range.

Have a sticky beak at the online store - they currently have some swatch book bundles for sale which would make a great addition to a quilt.

Fingers Crossed for a productive week.......

Xx Siobhan