A Gorgeous Scrap Quilt or two

Look at this, I'm back already and it's only been a couple of weeks.  Been quilting flat tack as I seem to have heaps of custom quilts waiting in the pile and they take time, time, time.

This is my dear friend Felicity's lovely wee sheep quilt with hand dyed hearts.  This quilt came up really well and was easy to quilt with an all over loops and star design.  That's Fliss (for short) holding her quilt up!!

 I used a King Tut 901 on the top and Bottom Line in the bobbin.  This variegation had all the same colours as Fliss's quilt so it looked really great.

Love this sheep fabric and used it in granddaughter Olivia's quilt.  It's such a fun fabric.

Then I finally quilted Fliss's wonderful scrap quilt that was like a walk down memory lane with some of her fabrics.  Fliss had been very patient waiting for me and allowing me to let others jump the queue ahead of her.  What fun it was to finally be able to quilt this for her and I just love the way it came up.  Be prepared for lots of pictures cause I love it!!  LOL.

I used So Fine 402 on the cream fabric and So Fine 454 on all the rest with Bottom Line in the bobbin.  It worked really well over all these scrappy colours.  The triangle applique blocks ended up with micro scribbling (from a Cindi Needham workshop) and took about 20 minutes each to do.  Phew!  Didn't actually intend to be so micro, but once I had started I couldn't stop! Feathers in the corners and pebbles in the four centre appliques.  My favourite is the chicken cause it looks like they are dancing on the cobblestones....hehehehe.
Border work very simple with loops at opposite directions looking like hearts or a big 'M' and stippling behind the almost circles.  In the star blocks I did line work and continuous curves around the outside and in the pinwheel blocks did something different in each one.  Thanks for being so patient Fliss.

So there you have it.  I have another one to show you soon but need to tootle off for now.  I hope you are all keeping well.  We are freezing here (for us) and the snow is very low!!!  I would imagine there will be some major frosty mornings coming up.

Take care and blessings to you all,

Clare

A beach, a hill and an almost finished quilt top....

Hello everyone, finally made it back to say hi and what's happening in my world.  Life has been rather hectic, and of course I managed to get sick again.  All better now and getting back on track.

Anzac Weekend saw my friend Donna and I troop off to Pongaroa to have lunch with my sister.  We used to visit this tiny village with our parents who had close friends living there for some years.  Sounds terrible to say that we have not been back for about 50 years!!!  After lunch we drove on out to Akitio Beach where we used to often go while there...the crayfishing was legendary.  How easy it is to forget the little dirt roads and how long it takes to drive the hilly winding 30kms to the beach.  All worth it in the end and we went back home the alternate easier route.  The trips is around an hour and a half one way from home.

I did manage to get my sisters very large quilt finished before I left and was able to give it to her on the day.  Glad I dont have to sew all that binding down Joyce!!

The pattern was the freehand flower that I practiced on the Vanuatu quilt and it looked really lovely on this one too.  I used a Magnifico Thread in a lovely olive green that just looked stunning on these colours.  Number is 2180 and it sewed like a dream with bottom line in the bobbin.
The alterations have been moving along nicely, and while I was tripping around, the boys got stuck in and put in some walls and the new kitchen window. I spent the day at friend Catherine's giving her some help on quilting her lovely Round Robin quilt.  Cant wait to see the finished article.

It looks even better than this now too.  And look what I got for Mother's Day...just what every mother desires... a handle on the toilet door...lol.  Coming up in the world here in Waipukurau.

We are in the throes of ordering the kitchen, so that is my next most exciting thing happening in the building world.

In the stitching world, I have finally got this scrappy top together for my grandson's birthday quilt.  Now to get the frame on and find a nice border fabric.  I'm hoping that there is a chance I will find something nice in my stash, but not counting on it.  I'm really happy with the result so far.

On Sunday after a lovely lunch with Kerry, we drove up to the top of Pukeora Hill just outside out town and sat on this lovely new seat with a view.  Can see about 190 degrees from up here and it was a spectacular day.  Love this part of the world.

And finally, one for the birds.  This Cotoneaster tree at my sister in law's is a feast for the birds at this time of the year.

There you go my friends.  The update in a short version.  We will be off to Wellington in three weeks to help Richard & Kea move into their first home!  Wow, such a special time for this little family.  Marcy is growing at a great rate and is such a beautiful baby...of course!  The twin great grandsons are now at home with Mum and doing well.  Jayden the smallest is still on low flow oxygen, but both are putting on weight and seem to be thriving.

Take care and will try to come back sooner.

Blessings
Clare

Farmers Wife, Vanuatu Quilts = less UFO's

At last I have managed to grab a moment to say hello and that I am still around.  Easter came and went and I made a big effort to get two quilts done to donate to the appeal for Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam caused such devastation. I found these two in the pile labelled "Quilts to be Quilted" which has now been reduced by 2!!!  Woohoo.
This first one was a sample quilt I made way back when I first began teaching.  Was a scrap quilt class and I am really pleased how lovely it looks now that it is quilted.  I used a lovely variegated King Tut which looked fabulous over all the autumn colours.

The back looked almost as good as the front on this one.

 And I absolutely loved the effect of this freehand border square.  I found this in my latest Angela Walters book and decided to have a go at it.  So easy and fast to do and it didnt actually matter that each block was not exactly the same size as the next one.  Love it.

 It's quite hard to see the patterns on the blocks, but I tried out lots of different types of sashing styles and fillers and tried to give this quilt a bit of a modern look to it.

 The other quilt I did was the complete opposite.  A gorgeous panel quilt that I had made up years ago for the shop and had never gotten around to quilting it.  A delicously bright quilt and I hope it gets given to a young girl.  I used a soft lilac Magnifico thread which looked great.

The back was a soft pale blue, but the late in the day light gives it a deeper look.  This pattern was also a practice of a freehand feather flower also by Angela Walters.  It was super easy to pick up and if I got stuck, a few spirals and hooks soon got be out of the predicament.  Another lovely one to learn as an all over edge to edge that is freehand.

This is a close up of one of the gorgeous panels.  I was almost sad to give this one away it turned out so cute.

Here is a picture that I promosed of the whole of the hexagon quilt.  Wonderful colour choices from Lyn

Wouldn't be complete without the cat would it?  Travis decided I had put this nice warm pile of batting there just for his pleasure.  Had to tell my sister I couldn't start her quilt until the cat has finished his rest!!!

And I have managed to do a little bit of sewing.  Now have 14 of my Farmers Wife blocks done.  I think the slowest part is choosing the fabric and getting them all cut out. Some of these blocks have well over 30 pieces in them.

 Spot the booboo in this one.  Darn it, more reverse stitching.  I have had to be much more careful and accurate with these blocks and that must be a good thing.

Okay, that's it people.  Up to date sort of and I must away.  I shall try and be back a little sooner next time, but we will see what life throws at us next.  Hope you are all well and enjoying those wonderful little moments that constantly amaze you about being alive!

Blessings
Clare

Hexagon Quilt finished & a busy time...

Hi everyone, sorry it has been an age since I posted and lo and behold, tomorrow is April.  Life has been very busy with our two great grandsons born at 30.2 weeks in Wellington due to a lack of incubators in the Waikato.  I travelled down to support Tonya and the babies were born about an hour after I got to the hospital. The littlest boy (Jayden) was 1.1 kg (approx 2.4 lbs) and the bigger twin (Jordan) was 1.9 kg (approx 4 lbs).  Although the little one was struggling to grow, he is now doing extremely well and the bigger twin is still needing a little help with his breathing. Both are feeding well, although still via a tube.  Tonya loves the tummy time she has with each twin.  They have definitely grown as we were down a week after they were born and I could see the difference.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

I finally managed to finish Lyn's fabulous hexagon quilt.  Here are a couple of photos, but my best ones are on my tablet and I have to buy a new cord before I can take them off.  Loved quilting this one.

I used my favourite So Fine 402 Pearl, which looked great over all the colours and the background too.  Lyn made each flower from her scraps, but used the same colour in each flower.  Looks awesome.

Did a free motion leaf  feather around the brown inner border of hexagons and used a Magnifico thread in brown.

A close up of the flower.  Very basic but looks good and so easy to do.  Chose the leaf design in the background as it gave such good motion to the quilt.  The outer border was a creamy/tan paisly pattern and I did a McTavishing type quilting on that.  Will post a picture soon.  All in all, this quilt came up beautifully and it was a pleasure to quilt, thanks Lyn.

On our way back from Wellington the first time (when the babies were born) I stopped to take this photo.  Have always had an urge to do this, ha ha.  Lynda took the photo for me.  Lynda is DIL Kea's mum who came at a moments notice on the drive with me to keep me company.  We also had great fun admiring our granddaughter Marcy, as we stayed with Richard and Kea.

It was very kind of them to name this spot after me, lol.  It sports a great bakery, and a couple of other minor industries.  A little further up the road is the A & P Showgrounds.  As a young girl/teenager, I used to play hockey there. Ouch, lots of sore ankles come back into memory.

That's it for now girls.  I am rather tired at the moment and need to catch up on beauty sleep.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter and that you are able to spend time with your families.  May you also have time to reflect on the amazing free gift that was given to us all through Jesus and the cross.

Hugs and blessings to you all,
Clare

Hexagons, washing machines and bits & pieces...

Good grief, now it's March.  What happened I ask.  Hmmmm.   Well, we have been plodding on with the renovations and I can now report the most interesting washing  machine plumbing that you would have seen for a while...lol.  Dh is so inventive!!!

Well, you have to agree, it certainly makes life interesting, and we are definitely going to appreciate the finished bathroom and laundry.  Last night I needed to wash my hair, so knelt in front of the shower base and Kerry held the shower rose while I did the shampooing and conditioning.  We at least found out that the plumbing works.  Gonna be nice to have walls on the shower though...hehehe.
I am working on a hexagon quilt and it has been a bit of a mission deciding on the pattern.  I decided to use this flower and then had to play around with what to do in the plain muslin hexagons between the flowers.  This leafy style gives lots of movement, and I really happy with it.  Now to just do it.

I have started on the border and took my design from the border fabric.  It has paisley shapes and all sorts of other interesting things so "McTavishing" it was.  Lots of fun.  In the brown hexagon frame I am planning to do a freehand leaf feather.  Will take some more photos as I go.

I did manage to get an other block done in my Farmers Wife... maybe I have already shown you this one.  Also completed the bowtie block but forgot to take a photo.  Wow, only 99 to go now!

This is a truly gorgeous block.  It is called spider legs.  A quilt done in this would be quite stunning, but would take quite a bit of patience.  Mind you, once you get the hang of the block it's not so bad.

Had a very busy day/week. We had a visit from Linda of razzle dazzle quilter and Peggy from Taupo called in to see us too.  What a lovely time we had talking at 90 miles an hour.  We lingered over a delicious lunch at the Zinc Cafe in town.  The girls then went back to Napier and attended the SoleMio concert the next evening.  Wonderful I'm told.

Our granddaughter who is expecting twins in May has been admitted to hospital today and they may have to be delivered early (28 weeks). The experts are still mulling it over.  Do hope they can keep them growing for a little bit longer, but depends on them both being safe.

Thanks for stopping by.  Would appreciate your prayers for the babies.

Blessings,
Clare

Animals, tulips and a few blocks...

I have been busy since we last chatted, with quilting two customer quilts and finally getting to do some piecing.  My resolve to get some projects finished is finally getting a bit of a shove.

First off, here is Rae's beautiful quilt of tulips.

 I used So Fine 410 Charcoal, and it went beautifully over all the colours,  with bottom line black in the bobbin.

I love the texture this swirl pattern gives to a quilt, without taking away from the fabrics.  Rae's beautiful quilt was being gifted to a close friend for his birthday.  Such a lovely gift.  Still need to practice more on my spacing though.
Then it was on to Janice's baby quilt.  This gorgeous wee baby animal quilt was lots of fun to do.

The thread was King Tut 941 with Bottom Line Sage Green in the bobbin.  Looked really great with these colours.

 I took the designs for the alternate blocks from the wee sashing that is around the animals and kept it really simple.  Definitely had a great time.

 Gorgeous backing fabric that Janice used, which gives the quilt two sides.  Thanks Janice for such fun.

Then I got a little bit of me time.  Managed to finish some more Farmers Wife blocks - this is number 8

Number 9 now completed.

And lastly today I managed to complete No. 82.  Yes, a big jump in numbers, but one of our FW group is roaring ahead as the quilt will be for her bed.  This block gave her some problems so I had a go at nutting it out.  Phew!!  It took some doing, but at last a few pennies went clunk and the block was sorted.  I now have 11 blocks finished...you know what that means dont you?  There are only 100 left to go!!!!

Last night I managed to complete some more of my Blue  Scrap Quilt blocks.  These are the accent blocks with the inner red circle.  Just loving the contrast from the red.  Only 7 more blocks to go and I will be able to start assembling the rows.  Yippee!  It almost feels like I am making progress here.

So there you have it.  My list remains to same, but at least there has been stuff happening.  Now that things are settling a little in the housing department...like sleeping in our own bed, I can pop into the shop and do some stitching.  Sort of like my own personal studio/shop all wrapped up in one.  We wont look at the pile of stuff in the corner of my lounge/kitchen/longarm/ everything room!!!

Hope you are all having a great week too.  Have to go to a funeral tomorrow.  My close friend lost her husband to cancer on Friday.  It is so awful when these things happen.  Thank heavens for faith in a better life after this one.

Take care and blessings,
Clare

We have a Winner and the Chicky Bag...

Thank you to those who entered the giveaway.  I appreciate you coming to visit and journey with me via this blog.  The winner of those delicious fat quarters is.... Number 3 (drawn from the hat by my dh Kerry) and is "tawa" who has been notified.  Tawa has some precious linen given to her by her grandmother...it was embroidered by an Aunt who was traumatised by the Napier earthquake.  Thank you for sharing Tawa.

There is an interesting connection here, as my favourite (and only piece) of linen from my paternal grandmother was stitched while living in Hawkes Bay.  My father was in the Napier earthquake also and was at school at Napier Boys High.  We always remember Dad telling us that he and the other boys only survived because the timing of the quake was during interval and they were all playing outside in the yard.  Their schoolroom collapsed in on itself.

On patchwork things...I have spent a wonderful weekend stitching in a class run through Delbrook Quilt company and the tutor was Dianne Fussell.  We had a lovely time and were certainly looked after extremely well.  Light, airy and delicious cake and a superb bacon and egg pie with salad among other tasties.  Christine made the cake and Liz the pie and Pat kept us well plied with drinks (no not that kind) and serving us both days..thanks girls.  Met some lovely fellow stitchers too.

Here are some pics of what I am supposed to be turning into a fabulous bag.  Lots of work with your machine which helps to get know all those stitches that usually we just stare at!!

 This is the front and back, but there are top and bottom borders to go onto the ladies panel yet.

 We played with our free motion on zigzag to get the gorgeous looking hair.  I am also quite proud of the satin stitch going around the blue scarf...managed to go right down to 1.3 width.  There is hope!!

Oops the stars a falling off the hat band.  Might have to stitch those again.

Of course you realise that this has added another project to the list of "to be completed" items.  Oh dear, there is not much hope is there.

Well, a little bit tired after two days of stitching so I'm off to have dinner at sister in laws as we are not quite ready to be back here.  We have slept here the last two days and I have to say it is heaven to be back in our own bed (sigh) there is nothing like it, is there?

Tyson has got the right idea, so I shall leave you with him and say thanks for calling and hope to see you again soon.

Blessings
Clare

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