Fabulous Fairholme Workshop

Last Saturday I had the great honour of running a workshop with the wonderful Fairholme Quilters. 

It was a Sewmiriam Bagmaking workshop and the ladies sewed up a storm!  Today's blogpost is a celebration of their work done on the day. 

Above you can see the front of Nerida"s bag. The colours just glow. Nerida has combined a clever mix of florals and geometric prints.

Next up is Noelle's beautiful ethereal bag panel.

Hilary has a real way with colour and created this gorgeous bag panel .  

Jill completed the Sewmiriam Tote that she had started in a previous workshop, using  Cotton and Steel fabrics.

Love the lined zippered pocket  inside too Jill!

Pat has worked her magic with this beautiful bag panel  using just the right shades blue.

Speaking of blues- Elaine has chosen blues for her next Sewmiriam bag too. Her choice of framing fabrics for the central panel are perfect.

Robyn chose a bold central panel and has made it shine 

Sue chose a dynamic Amy Butler central panel to create this lively bag panel. Sue uses spots so well   here.

Chris has mixed Japanese and tonal prints to great effect here

Adrienne has used a spot to really bring this green floral to life. 

Denise has chosen teapots for her focus fabric and created this stunning panel. She has some more teapots to line her bag too!

Daphne has excelled herself and  created this vibrant bag featuring the cat panel. 

Marilyn has framed her fancy hat to perfection .

And last but certainly not least is Margaret's beautiful owl, surrounded here by her fabric selections.












Congratulation ladies on a wonderful day, and heartfelt thanks for my beautiful flowers.
How lucky am I to be able to share my love of creativity with you all. I can't wait to see your finished Sewmiriam Handy Ziptop bags.

Happy sewing, love Miriamx

Australis - New Beginnings Part 4

Sewmiriam Australis is finished. 

What a joy this quilt has been to make! I have loved the colours, the way it has taken shape from the central block and then evolved round by round until its completed size of 70" x 70".

You can read about the making of this original Sewmiriam quilt in previous Sewmiriam blogposts
by clicking

                  here for  Australis -New Beginnings Part 1

                  here for   Australis - New Beginnings Part 2

                  here for   Australis - New Beginnings Part 3 


The colours really reflect the Australian landscape and the seas that surround our great island nation.

My good friend Jo-Ann Philips from Quiltwise has long arm quilted Australis beautifully. The following photos show the swirling quilt pattern . Having blocks of solid colour in a quilt top really helps to showcase a quilting design. The solid colour  enhances the textural and visual impact  a carefully chosen quilt pattern can have on a pieced quilt top. Because Australis is constructed with predominantly squares, triangles, and rectangles, I wanted a circular quilting pattern to complement the piecing.

Many of us have fabric scraps left over from quilt made for others . I had some special pieces of Australian Indigenous fabrics left over from a quilt I  made for my Father who sadly passed away last year. This quilt contains these pieces, so it will always have a special place in my heart. Quilts are often so much more than the sum of their parts. They are memories. They are love. They  are joy. The are celebrations of life's journey. For whatever reason you make a quilt - they are precious. 

Happy sewing , love Miriamx 

Winter Escape Sewmiriam Workshop

I have been spoilt this week. As part of Winter Escape at Cottage Quiltworks I ran a Sewmiriam Workshop teaching the Sewmiriam Handy Zip Top Bag and the new Sewmiriam Large Handy Zip Top Bag.































Thank you ladies  for a wonderful day filled with great talent and inspiration.
Here is a sample of what was created...

Marg made this beautiful Sewmiriam Large Zip top bag. The house focus fabric really shines.

The back is equally as gorgeous ...

Kerrie chose a delightful Kimiko doll print as her focus fabric and carefully selected fabrics to surround it. How stunning is the result! Modern and traditional prints can work beautifully together in these bags.

Lyn used the Elizabeth range of Tula Pink fabrics for her bag. By mixing stripes, spots and prints she has really made Elizabeth the star!

Anne started with an exquisite Liberty tree print as her focus print and built around it to create a beautiful bag front panel. When she came to class Ann had thought her bag would be predominantly blue, but this is the result and I think it is absolutely fantastic!! Well done Anne.

Olga is making a very special baby gift using soft, gentle prints for her large zip top bag, and the result is divine. Wouldn't you just love to be the recipient of this bag ?

Megan made this vibrant bag front using jewel toned prints that are so fun  and bold!
I love these colours, the mix of small and large prints, and the graphic motifs.

Lyndell had to rush off to care for sick family members, but not before she had a chance to whip up these flamingos  with some stripes and spots. This bag will be stunning when finished.

I can't finish this post without a big thank you to Lyn for her cake which was delicious, to Megan for her decadent chocolate slice, and to Gerri for the spicy pumpkin soup and crusty loaf lunch which was so perfect for the Winter Escape Workshop experience at Cottage Quiltworks. 

Quilters are so generous . Thank you all for such a special day.

Happy sewing, love Miriamxxx 

New Sewmiriam Workshop at Cottage Quiltworks

I am very pleased to announce that there will be a Sewmiriam Bagmaking Workshop at Cottage Quiltworks on Wednesday, July 19th as part of their Winter Escape line up. 

Choose between the original Sewmiriam Handy Ziptop Bag 

      or the new larger version    ......

As always, I will guide you through each step of the way, showing you an easy way to put in a zipper, and sharing variations and tips throughout the day.  These days are always fun . Even if you have made one before,  you are most welcome to join me  on the day to make more of these addictive quilt as you go bags. The new version is easy and a great way to use up left over 2 1/2 inch strips. 

For more information, please contact the friendly Cottage Quiltworks 

staff on  02 9997 4661.

It has been a busy week  for quilters and crafters in Sydney with the annual Sydney Quilt Show at Darling Harbour. You can see all the wonderful prize winning quilts by clicking here  . Congratulations to each and every entrant. I would love to give you all a prize!  

Happy sewing , Love Miriamx

Free pattern - In a Whirl

Welcome to the  Free Tutorial - In a Whirl  Sewmiriam Blogpost !  

I thought that this week it would be nice to have a free tutorial. After making  several quilts with indigenous prints and contrasting solids , I found myself with a pile of scraps left over, too bright and cheery to leave looking lost, lonely and neglected. Looking through some traditional quilt block books I stumbled across the block called Whirlwind. 

This tutorial covers how to make the block easily from 2 1/2 inch strips of fabric . ( Got some of those? I thought so! )  I have also included a description of how I made my In a Whirl Quilt using these blocks, just in case you like it and want to make one too. 

Let's get started.  A 1/4 inch seam is used throughout. 

Step 1. Take two  width of fabric (WOF) strips that are 2 1/2 inches wide and join lengthways. I always keep the darkest fabric on the top. This is important for later steps. (In the quilt shown I chose patterned and plain fabric strips for most of my blocks. )

Step 2.  Take a ruler and rotary cutter and measure 4 1/2 inches across the joined fabric strip and cut a 4 1/2 "  x 4 1/2 " square, as shown below. Cut 4 of these .   ( handy information  - a WOF strip will yield 9 of these squares) 

                            

Note that I keep the dark fabric on the top at ALL times for cutting. 

Step 3.   Cut each of these squares diagonally in half as shown below.

Step 4.   Separate the pieces into 2 piles - one predominantly light and one predominantly dark,  as shown below.

 Step 5.  Arrange the light pile of triangles into the whilrwind formation and stitch together.

Step 6. Arrange the dark pile of triangles into the whirlwind formation and stitch together.

You end up with 2 finished blocks.  One has a light centre and one has a dark.

Important note - these blocks will not seam match exactly if you try to join them side by side so they they do need to have sashing separating them .


In my quilt design In a Whirl I gave the sashing a modern twist by using a variety of neutral tones .
I gathered together as many shades of cream, beige and taupe I had in my scraps ( not many as it turned out) and cut them into 2 inch strips.

I made the quilt block units by adding these 2 inch strips to the  right side of the whirl and them the base of the whirl so that the quilt block units looked like this

I made 49 of these units.

These units were arranged in a grid 7 x 7 for the In a Whirl Sewmiriam quilt.

I then added the remaining sashing pieces where they were needed - to the top of the whirls on the first row, and to the left hand of the whirls at the beginning of each row.

Next I stitched the units together in each row, and then I joined the rows together.

With the remaining scraps I cut a heap of 2 1/2 inch squares and joined them to make a border of 2 rows of these squares .

Following this is a 2 1/2 inch neutral border.

Last , but not least in a 5 1/2 inch border of  striped fabric to frame the quilt and bring all the colour and movement together nicely.

Final statistics.

In a Whirl  by Sewmiriam

Size - 68" x 68"

Backing Fabric - 4 yards ( 4 metres )

Wadding - Quilters Dream Cotton

Quilting - I knotted this quilt


























Binding - 6-7 cuts of 2 1/2 inch strips . ( I used left over strips)


Here is the back. I added a strip made up of orphan blocks and pieces.

Thank you for stopping by. In this crazy busy world a few minutes at the Sewmiriam blog is a safe haven. Here you can slow down, learn something new, be inspired and enjoy fabric that has been curated,  mixed and matched, cut up, stitched together and made into something totally unique and useful.

I really hope you have enjoyed this free tutorial!

Happy sewing, love Miriamx 

Australis -New Beginnings Part 3

 There is a real nip in the air today in Sydney. The autumnal tones of the Australis  quilt suit this weather to perfection. Welcome to Part 3 of this growing quilt series. Australis is now too big for me to photograph well, so get ready for a few giggles when you see the finished quilt top towards the end of this blogpost. Photographic perfection is not my forté. I tend to favour the "before the makeover" look. At least I am authentic.

Let's start by revisiting the Australis quilt in my previous posts. You can read about the creation of the quilt in the New Beginnings blogpost by clicking here  and the Australis - New Beginnings Part 2 blogpost by clicking here .

In my last blogpost the log cabin variation round had just been added.

I chose to next add another neutral 2 inch border to frame the log cabins. To upsize the scale of the next pattern round I decided to add a wonderful large scale flying geese round. I mixed up all the fabrics   and  used a Marti Mitchell ruler to cut  the flying geese triangles. There really is something easy and delightful about using a purpose built ruler when making a quilt.  The   corner squares were created by  putting 2 flying geese units together pointing away from each other. 

To make things easier for myself I cut out a whole stack of central and side triangle units and then mixed and matched them at my sewing machine. To ensure that the sides fitted perfectly I  added thin solid colour strips to the short edges of each side panel to frame the corner squares. 

Australis still needed to be balanced, so another neutral border was added but slightly wider this time  being 2 1/2 inch when finished.  To frame the quilt perfectly I decided that it needed a border of squares.  The square border consists of 2 rows of 2 inch finished squares. The first row is made from print fabrics  and the second row is made from  plain fabrics.

Ta Da!!!!   The Australis top is finished. Here it is complete with very fine "model hands." Thank you Evan and Cameron. Thank goodness I have a tall husband and son who both have  loads of patience and tolerance for my crazy crafting ways.

Australis is now patiently waiting to be professionally long-arm  quilted by my friend Jo-Ann Phillips of Quiltwise Quilting.

In the meantime I can play around with the elements of this quilt .

I like the idea of  large flying geese strips and log cabin elements framed in a contrasting colour.

It's always fun to play and free ourselves from the constraints of patterns. Blessed are the pattern breakers!

I hope you have been able to find some time for yourself to pause, reflect and create.

Happy sewing, love Miriamx