Saturday 30 August 2014

A little quilting...lots of puffing!

Hi at last, blogging has been off the list these past couple of weeks...I came down with a nasty flu virus and have had to go real slow.  Just starting to come right though with lots of healing prayers and being so well looked after by my lovely husband.
Have also left the cord behind to take the photos off my phone, so only a little older eye candy tonight.  Will pick it up tomorrow I hope.
Finally managed to start cutting out my new grandbaby's quilt.  It is going to be fun.  And Kea's fabric arrived for the baby bag I am going to make.  Oh it is so gorgeous I cant wait to show you the photos.

This was one of my most favourite quilts that was a shop sample.  I still have as I just love it...it is mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics.


This was our own pattern designed and stitched by my friend Colleen Watt, and I wrote up the pattern.  It was very successfull.

 This was one of those design it as you go for the customer quilts for a lovely lady who came to learn how to quilt at 78 years old.  Maureen was amazing and has made lots of quilts and bags.


Will catch up with you all again real soon.  Hope you are getting lots of quilting done.

Hugs and blessings
Clare

Friday 22 August 2014

I'm back with lots of photos and quilty things...

Oh my goodness, selling and moving house within two weeks is not somethng I would like to repeat any time soon.  Kerry and I have been totally exhausted. There are some plusses though as we didnt have time to agonise over the keep or move on stuff.  Mind you we still have a pile of stuff to go through sitting in a large corner of our shop building!!  However, with a smaller two bedroomed unit, there will be very little that will come here.
Today is the first day I did some sewing since the Monday after our quilting weekend which I think is the same day of my last post!  It was nice to finally start doing some stitching and planning.  I also quilted a humungous quilt this week - 98 x 104 plus two pillow cases.  That was hard work as the top was batik.
Anyway I shall start the photo parade and fill in the gaps for you....
Here is Christine's king sized quilt waiting to be loaded.

 Christine absolutely loves horses and appliqued a row of them along the bottom of the quilt.


 The pattern was Hearts and Blooms and it made a huge difference to the look of the quilt.

 I used a lovely dark green Magnifico thread on top and a Bottom Line in the bobbin.


Thanks for letting me quilt your quilt Christine.
Last Sunday afternoon the Group Leaders at Church had a Leaders Get together.  We had lunch at Subway then headed up to Napier for a mystery trip.  We ended up in prison!!!!  It was a visit to the old Napier prison up on Bluff Hill.  The old and very small prison was still operating as late as 1993.  The conditions were truly dreadful.  Prisoners were given one blanket and a mattress.  The blanket was removed at 5am each morning.  Showers were only installed in the 1980's.

My friend Kerry and I looking like matching members of the Red Club!!!

This collage shows the Hanging Yard and at the top of the concrete wall is a terrace about a metre wide where the crowds (mostly women and children) paid one shilling to watch the hangings!  The white picket fence surrounds the Graveyard.  Prisoners were buried standing up to prevent them from ever being at peace!  The blue lino floor is one of the corridors that was badly damaged in the 1931 earthquake.  It was not fixed which is amazing.  Two other corridors were badly affected during this earthquake (7.2 mag.) and had to be broken out of their cells because the doors were jammed.  How frightening would that have been - the earthquake lasted for over two  minutes and over 200 lives were lost.  My Dad was actually at school in Napier during the quake and told us that he and his classmates survived because they were outside during interval.  Their classroom collapsed on itself as it was made of brick.

Lyn from our Tuesday Chat group brought along her hexie quilt to get some advice on a border colour.  Isnt it just lovely?
Talking about hexies...look what I found in a cupboard when we moved (head a little dipped here)....lol

Umm I started these about 12 years ago and was going to make a bag.  Have long since lost the pattern so will do something else with them.
This afternoon I stitched the August blocks for the Paper Bag challenge.  This is Vivienne's quilt and she is using yummy New Zealand fabrics. It's my turn for September. We dont get the blocks til the end of the year though, but I am going to make extra and it will be Caleb's quilt (grandson no. 7).

Yippee I have started cutting out the fabric for  my new grandbaby's quilt.  The kids like the quilt in the magazine below but just want the middle bit.  Oh dear, what it is to be modern parents.  I am going to vary the size though as the strips are only an inch and a half wide finished.  I fussy cut this lovely fat eighth I got in Taupo.



This is the next quilt I need to work on.  Have been working out a plan as it needs some focus put into it to enhance the lovely fabrics.
And our post wouldnt be the same without a mention of the "boys" who have become commuter cats.  We have been taking them to work each day with us as they are used to the place and have lots of outside places to go.  Then home they come.  Last weekend they slept all weekend as if they had had a hard week at work...lol.
Clever Tyson and scaredy cat Travis looking worried.

Well that's the catch up.  Hope you are all well and have been having lots of great quilty moments.  I shall talk to you again soon...it is the All Blacks tonight against Australia....oh boy what a battle it is going to be.

Blessings
Clare

I'm linking with Hexie Weekend

Thursday 7 August 2014

Aunt Grace BOM, ladybird quilt and a tui in our tree!!

Here are the promised photos of the progress I made on my Aunt Grace quilt.  I am so thrilled to be starting to sash this quilt and get the final border on.  Also love the way it has come out.  The biggest challenge will be to get it quilted quickly....the list is very long at the moment.


The colours look good in the top photo, but a little faded in the one below. It is a truly bright and lively quilt.




All the blocks look so different and colourful and once I get the plain sashing between the rows it will look even better.
The flower garden
This is Jean's smaller quilt that I quilted for her yesterday.  It is very bright with the orange and lime green.  the focus fabric has very colourful ladybirds all over it.  I chose a lovely flouro green Magnifico 22022 thread which looks great.  The pattern is "Plush" and the back is a softer dinosaur fabric.  Thanks for your quilts Jean, I loved quilting them.




Kerry and I were most excited a couple of days ago to spot a Tui in our flowering cherry tree (which, by the way, shouldn't be flowering this early) and it came back again today.  My photo is not great but hopefully you will see this gorgeous bird if you click on it.  Tuis are a native to New Zealand and have the most glorious singing voice.  They are a black that has a wonderful iridesence in it and a white "cotton ball" under their beak.  We planted quite a few plants and trees that are food for these birds as we are very fond of our feathered friends.



That's it for now...the packing is going quite well, but I am fighting another flu type bug.  I did have to move my stash from here over to the shop....hmmm quite a bit of sorting and thinking that I do NOT need anymore fabric for quite some time.  (Famous last words!)  We hope to move everything on Saturday and then spend the next couple of days finishing up with the cleaning and bits and pieces so the house is looking good for its new owners.

Hope you are all well and managing to do lots of your favourite activity.

Blessings to you all
Clare

Sunday 3 August 2014

Our Sew In Weekend, a scrap quilt and a block or two...

We have just finished a fabulous weekend of stitching, chatting and eating!!!  Eight of us shared the weekend from Saturday morning, and after dinner on Saturday night and then very little further stitching, we were able to just walk out and leave everything where it was until we came back on Sunday.  It does help to have a shop to use for this sort of fun.  Here we are having just consumed another of Eve's delicious soups followed by a little bit of home baking.  Ronnie is going to send me her photos as I forgot to take lots...duh...

 This is the scrap quilt block and Lorraine is making.  She got about 18 of these made which was awesome going.  They look really lovely.


 I managed to get my blocks made for the Paper Bag Challenge which takes place tomorrow.  The purples are quite nice.

Yayyyy, this a UFO that is now on the way to being finished.  I sew the first 17 of these blocks in 1999...did you read that?  1999.  Oh my goodness that is 15 years ago...they were for a Y2K quilt, but after making these blocks my friends and I decided to do a colourwash quilt of 2000 pieces instead.  These were put away until later...huh?  Much later it seems.  Now I will choose a sashing and border and finally get it finished up. I might have to give this one away.


 These are the signature squares - there is one in each block and they come from all over - USA, England, Australia, Russia and Belgium come to mind ...what fun it was.

 This is the quilt I managed to get finished on Thursday.  It is another of Jean's wonderful Eye Spy quilts made with lots and lots of different fabrics.  A child would be kept busy for hours looking over this quilt.  I was very daring and used a delicious Magnifico Flouro Orange thread...it came out gorgeous over the top of the bright blue border and almost disappears in the body of the quilt.  Great result.  The panto is "Hearts and Blooms" an old favourite that always looks good.


And to finish up - we have lots of boxes in our house at the moment as we are madly packing up to move on the 12th August.  Tyson the lollopy cat just loves boxes...

Now you see me....


Now you dont....lol. A box within a box is such fun for a cat!

Sorry about the blurry photo.  Well that's it for now.  I did get some of  my Aunt Grace put together which is so exciting, but forgot to take a photo before I came home.  Will post it next time.

Bye for now and take care.  Thanks so much for visiting.

Blessings
Clare

I'm linking to hexie weekend