Lorena Uriarte

Quilts, cooking and craft

You are here: Home / Archives for Modern Quilts

3rd Wednesday Class – My Sewing Supplies (Sylvania)

by

Monthly Quilt Class with Lorena – Third Wednesday of the Month
📍 My Sewing Supplies, Sylvania – Sutherland Shire

Join Lorena for a monthly quilting class at My Sewing Supplies in Sylvania, where you can work on a variety of quilt patterns at your own pace.

Choose from Lorena’s original designs, including Opal Essence, Winding Ways, QST Courthouse Steps, and Sakura Breeze, or take on the challenge of Lessa Siegele’s Ring Cycles quilt. Explore different fabric combinations: low-volume with brights, bold large-scale prints, or a striking two-colour design to make it uniquely yours.

If you’re new to patchwork, Lorena will guide you through the fundamentals by making a sampler quilt. Select different blocks or repeat a favourite to create a quilt that reflects your style.

Materials & Templates:

  • Fabric, templates, and commercial patterns (if needed) are additional to the class fee. A wide range of options is available in-store, and the staff are happy to assist you.
  • For Ring Cycles, Lorena recommends Marti Michell’s Set H
  • Lorena also has her own templates to support her quilt designs.

📍 Location: My Sewing Supplies, 208 Princes Highway, Sylvania NSW 2224.
📅 When: Third Wednesday of each month.

Come along for expert guidance, inspiration, and a welcoming community of quilters!

Winding Ways Workshop

2025 Dates

12 FEB

19 MARCH

16 APRIL

21 MAY

18 JUNE

16 JULY

20 AUGUST

SEPTEMBER NO CLASS

15 OCTOBER

19 NOVEMBER

 

3rd Wednesday Class – My Sewing Supplies (Sylvania)

by

Monthly Quilt Class with Lorena – Third Wednesday of the Month
📍 My Sewing Supplies, Sylvania – Sutherland Shire

Join Lorena for a monthly quilting class at My Sewing Supplies in Sylvania, where you can work on a variety of quilt patterns at your own pace.

Choose from Lorena’s original designs, including Opal Essence, Winding Ways, QST Courthouse Steps, and Sakura Breeze, or take on the challenge of Lessa Siegele’s Ring Cycles quilt. Explore different fabric combinations: low-volume with brights, bold large-scale prints, or a striking two-colour design to make it uniquely yours.

If you’re new to patchwork, Lorena will guide you through the fundamentals by making a sampler quilt. Select different blocks or repeat a favourite to create a quilt that reflects your style.

Materials & Templates:

  • Fabric, templates, and commercial patterns (if needed) are additional to the class fee. A wide range of options is available in-store, and the staff are happy to assist you.
  • For Ring Cycles, Lorena recommends Marti Michell’s Set H
  • Lorena also has her own templates to support her quilt designs.

📍 Location: My Sewing Supplies, 208 Princes Highway, Sylvania NSW 2224.
📅 When: Third Wednesday of each month.

Come along for expert guidance, inspiration, and a welcoming community of quilters!

Winding Ways Workshop

2025 Dates

12 FEB

19 MARCH

16 APRIL

21 MAY

18 JUNE

16 JULY

20 AUGUST

SEPTEMBER NO CLASS

15 OCTOBER

19 NOVEMBER

 

2nd Saturday Class: 60 Stitches (Warriewood)

by

Join a friendly group of quilters in this monthly class at 60 Stitches in Warriewood, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Bring your own project or choose from one of my designs. I’ve even been known to create something special for my regular students! With over 20 years of experience, I’ll guide you through any technique, whether you prefer hand or machine quilting.

All te cutting and pressing tools are there so all you need to bring is your project, your machine and general sewing supplies.

Plus, you’ll have access to 60 Stitches’ beautiful selection of fabrics and notions to inspire your next creation.

Class fee is $85 per month which includes coffee, tea and my famous home baked treats!

2025 DATES

8 FEB

22 MARCH

26 APRIL

10 MAY

14 JUNE

12 JULY

9 AUG

13 SEPT

11 OCT

8 NOV

13 DEC

Winding Ways Workshop : Melbourne

by

Join me for a fun and educational one day workshop on Sunday 20 August from 10 am to 3:00 pm at the Louis Joel Arts & Community Centre.

This workshop is perfect for those who are passionate about patchwork and want to learn how to create unique designs using the beautiful Winding Ways block, also known as the Wheel of Mystery.

During the workshop, we will discover how to create a scrappy look that focuses on colour and value to make those secondary designs pop. We will also learn how to make it modern by focusing on the principles of negative space, minimalism, and strong graphic lines. For those who want to take it up a notch, we will also cover fussy cutting techniques that can add an exciting twist to your designs.

Throughout the day, you will learn tips for accurate cutting and straightforward piecing of the curved shapes. Students usually make a few blocks in this class. If you’re feeling ambitious, keep going to make a bed-sized quilt or cushion.

Two sizes of templates will be available to use on the day to make 6″ or 12″ blocks.

WHAT TO BRING

  • your sewing machine with a 1/4” patchwork foot (or hand piecing supplies)
  • a small cutting mat and small rotary cutter (28mm is recommended)
  • small iron and pressing mat (optional)
  • a selection of fabrics in light, medium and dark values (8 FQs or 7″ x WOF cuts will be enough for a one day class)
  • fine piecing cotton to match your fabrics (e.g., Aurifil 50wt)
  • fabric safe glue with a metal nozzle (eg Roxanne’s Glue Baste It)
  • a piece of batting or flannel to use as a design wall (optional)
  • general sewing supplies (scissors, pins, quick unpick etc)

The workshop fee is $150, and it includes delicious morning tea and refreshments. Bring your own lunch and reusable cup. Please advise of any dietary requirements.

PREORDER AVAILABLE: 6” or 12” template set, Roxanne’s Glue Baste-it, Olfa 28mm rotary cutter

Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to learn in this lovely gallery setting and create beautiful designs with like-minded individuals. Book your spot online or contact me for more information. I look forward to seeing you there!

Technique Toolbox : 3rd Saturday Class at MO

by

There are many ways to construct the same quilt.

We all have our preferences and finding your favourite is a matter of trial and error. This class is for beginners through to experienced quilt makers who want to learn great techniques for quilt making.

From all the different forms of appliqué, foundation piecing and machine constructed blocks to putting your final design together into an  interesting and eye catching composition.

Modern, Contemporary and Traditional quilts all rely on great technique from block construction to sashing, borders and binding. Lorena will guide you in finding your favourite way to achieve your goal.

Start a new quilt, work on one of Lorena’s patterns or bring your own project that needs a little help to get it done!

Technique toolkit

Sydney Quilt Show 2015

by Leave a Comment

Wingdings: A Variety of Symbols by Lorena Uriarte. Inspired by the back side of Chuck Nohara's Symbol Quilt.

Wingdings: A Variety of Symbols by Lorena Uriarte. Inspired by the back side of Chuck Nohara’s Symbol Quilt.

Oops, it’s only when I saw my quilt in Quiltmania this week that I realised a massive oversight on my part. Seems I forgot to write about my most exciting quilty event of the year! The Quilters’ Guild of NSW’s annual Sydney Quilt Show, a member’s show with over 400 quilts in various categories and displays was on 17-21 June. It’s now months ago but it’s probably a good idea to document the event, especially since I won something and so did many of my friends.

There was a spectacular Red & White Challenge this year, over 140 Red & White quilts hung together in a brilliant display of ability and creativity. I had worked diligently to complete a quilt I’ve been wanting to make since 2012, a red & white version of Chuck Nohara’s Symbol Quilt. The original Symbol Quilt is double sided, with the red & white blocks on the back (see photo below).

My quilt really was an adventure, I’ve never made a two colour quilt before and I found it challenging. I was glad when it was finished and very grateful that Michele Turner was quilting it. I really needed a break from it. And it took months for me to pick a fabric for the binding. In the end I was really happy with how it looked and it won First Prize in the Machine quilted Category of the Red & White display. Hooray! Thank you to the sponsors Quiltsmith, Sew Easy, Tech2Home and Nestle for my amazing assortment of prizes.

Some photos of Windings: A Variety of Symbols. Not great ones. This may be why I haven’t written this post before!

IMG_2498 IMG_0143 IMG_0888 IMG_1311 IMG_1453 IMG_1495

I also entered a second quilt in the Modern Category, Under the Sea a variation of my Opal Essence quilt pattern. There’s an embarrassing amount of teal and aqua in my stash. This quilt documents much of it!

IMG_1511IMG_0582

Like most of my quilts, they all end up in use or display around our home. Adding some colour to gloomy days or a warm wrap when it’s chilly!

Under the Sea & Rainbow Reverb quilts adding colour to a gloomy day...

More on the Sydney Show soon… in the meantime you can see all the prize winning quilts in The Quilters’ Guild of NSW Gallery.

 

 

Modern Quilt Show Australia, Kiama

by 2 Comments

Long overdue blog post number 2 this week. As Miranda’s mum would say, “bear with”!

Topic: Modern Quilt Show Australia, hosted by Wollongong MQG in Kiama, 30th & 31st May.

modern qult show flyer

Okay, right off the bat… I couldn’t attend this show as I’d absentmindedly booked myself out to teach in Brisbane this weekend. Rookie mistake. I will be making this show a priority in my schedule in the future as I heard so many wonderful things about it by those who did attend. Great vibe, exciting quilts, engaging discussions about where modern quilting stands today in Australia.

So, my only means of participating were by submitting two quilts for inclusion in the show. I have to congratulate the hardworking selection panel who picked the quilts to hang in this show, only the second time this event has been held. It’s a lot of work and not all the decisions are easy. From what I could see on social media that weekend and follow up blog posts, the show was a great success. Yay!

When I put my two quilts forward for inclusion they weren’t (ahem) actually finished, but I didn’t expect to have two accepted so I hedged my bets. I guessed which one would be accepted and started quilting that one. Then I received a notification that both were in and I frantically got to finishing them off. To put this in perspective I’d been busy finishing two quilts for the Sydney Show and wrangling together a GWSMQG group quilt entry too. In short, the house got very messy, and I probably wasn’t super social!

squircles mosaic

I was really happy with my finished quilts, Squircles was started at Quiltcon back in February in Carolyn Friedlander’s Aerial Grove class. I really, really loved making this quilt. I loved the freedom of not using a template or marking pen for the applique technique, I loved finding a variety of prints that would let the gorgeous Lecien yarn dye in the centre shine and I loved piecing the whole thing together like a jigsaw puzzle without referring to a pattern.

The improvisational quilting was a steep learning curve as I’d never tried portioning up a quilt top before and using a different pattern of straight line stitching in each section. It did break the job up and it made it less boring, which seems to be my main issue with quilting. It was still hard to wrangle though, 78″ x 78″ is not a huge quilt but it was still rather hefty to push through a domestic sewing machine. When I had finished both entries I treated myself to some hand quilting watching Carolyn’s Handwork Is Fun Webinar on the MQG website (members only). What a treat!

floors mosaic

My second entry was a folly, a spur of the moment idea whilst scrolling through one of my favourite Instagram feeds “I Have This Thing With Floors”. I came upon an image of a tiled floor that I imagined I could make by simply using pre printed stripes. This was my fastest quilt top EVER, I’m working on a pattern for this quilt top so I’ll keep you informed…

I was thrilled to have both my quilts included in the Modern Quilt Show and so excited to hear that I Have This Thing With Floors got a Judges Commendation. Completely unexpected! Nothing for Squircles but it is now one of my favourite quilts! Here’s a list of all the winners.

squircles couch

I did have a hand in a few other winning quilts at the show: Our GWSMQG group quilt won 2nd place in the Group category, My daughter Sofia won 1st Place in the Youth category and another group quilt made with the fun gals I went to QuiltCon with earlier this year won 3rd place.

Thank you to all the organisers and sponsors of the Modern Quilt Show, it’s an exciting time to be a quilter and you are helping to get the word out there x

Phew, long post. One more to come this week. You have been warned…

Desert to Sea: 10 Quilts From Australian Designers

by 4 Comments

images from book

So many exciting things happening around here lately, I’ve fallen behind and so I’ll start with the release of my Opal Essence pattern in Jane Davidson’s fabulous book, Desert To Sea. The book was self published by my clever friend Jane and is available to order right now from Amazon and Book Depository. I know there are a few local fabric stores who are stocking it or taking pre orders too, in most cases this can be a slightly cheaper than paying for the book + overseas postage. Contact Quiltsmith, Material Obsession, Cotton Factory , Patches Indooroopilly and QuiltJane for more information.

Desert To Sea Book: 10 Quilts from Australian Designers

Desert To Sea Book: 10 Quilts from Australian Designers

There are 9 other gorgeous quilts in the book by Jane Davidson, Danielle Auckens, Betty Kerr, Cathy Underhill, Charlotte Dumsney, Rachaeldaisy and Jeannette Bruce. The book has well written patterns, wonderful photography and even colouring pages to help you plan your quilt.

You may have seen some photos on Instagram taken whilst teaching this pattern, it’s proving to be a very enjoyable day class and students are learning lots. Take a look at the #opalessencequilt hashtag to be inspired! You’ll see photos of my two other versions of the quilt too #undertheseaquilt and #pinkchampagnequilt.

Opal Essence IG

I’ve had acrylic templates made to help speed up the cutting for this pattern and will be listing sets in my shop next week. The acrylic templates set includes 6 pieces to help cut the diamonds and arcs for machine piecing, I’ll also include a full size A3 template sheet and a packet of pre cut freezer paper shapes to give the applique technique I teach in my classes a try. That will be for another blog post!

Template sets are $35 plus postage. I’m also getting 20 copies of the book to sell together with my templates for those who can’t find them locally. The set will be $70 plus postage.

Please contact me if you’d like to pre-order a set as I expect delivery in the first week of July.

book and templates

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Social Tote Workshop at Material Obsession Saturday 27th June

Chuck Nohara Class at Material Obsession Friday 10th July

Chuck Nohara Class at Material Obsession Saturday 10th July

Lorena presenting at Friday Showcase at The Quilters’ Guild of NSW 7th August

Opal Essence Class at Quiltsmith 26th September

Opal Essence Class at Material Obsession Saturday 24th October

 

c. 2015 Lorena Uriarte