Real Country Quilt finished from a class in 1998!

This is Jean's beautiful quilt that she began in a class taken in Palmerston North in 1998!!!  Now that is a year or two ago.  It took me some time to get my head around the plaids and strong colours and exactly what to quilt where.  However, in the end I am pleased with the result and Jean is too, which is the most important thing.  A happy customer is my aim after all. There are lots of photos as it was quite a large quilt...72 x 90 inches with lots of ditching to do and I found it hard to choose which photos to show you.  I do have to apologise for the quality of some of them...couldn't find my camera and used my phone.

I used Superior's So Fine #50 Tan 454 over the whole quilt.  I found it worked really well.  It was a bit scary when I decided to use it on the dark green and red, but it looks really great and this colour was perfect for a country quilt.  I had Bottomline tan in the bottom.

Lots of applique blocks too with some buttons and domes already sewn on, so had to be a little careful.  Loved the block of bugs, hehehe.

Mr Scarecrow puzzled me for a while, then my friend Catherine came calling and flung around the fact the I should just do some pumpkins in it.  So here you are then Catherine, I have done pumkins in the sashing and one or two flung around the background among the small loops.

This was a quite large group of blocks and once again it took a bit of thinking to get cracking.  Thank goodness there was lots of ditch work to do while I was trying to think, otherwise I would still be working on it lol.

Two sets of these little blocks to keep me occupied.  Everything had lots of sashings around and between it, and of such a width that something had to be done in them all. Hmmmmm......

This watering can was a lovely block.  Jeans applique was very well done.  The apples were cute too.

The village.  The trees were fun to do as they had perfect lines on the for criss-crossing and it made them look great.

More plaids to play with!

I was really pleased with the way this Wheelbarrow full of vegetables came up.

The birdhouse blocks looks really nice with the buttons on the flowers...just had to be extra careful going around them.  A lovely block...here's another view...

Did these lovely leaves around the sashing.  Was hunting for inspiration and found this tutorial on Pinterest.  The quilters name escapes me, but I will hunt it up and let you know.

At each bottom corner were these star blocks.  Went to a wonderful book by Eva Larkin called "Free Motion Quilting Made Easy" and put two shapes together plus one of my own to make a one start one stop design.  Loved it.
Along the bottom of the quilt was this great animal collection.

I did a feather in the border, but it is very hard to see with the colour on this plain.  You can see a little of it in some of the photos.  No photo of the back because it was patterned and you couldn't see anything.

So there you have it...the grand tour around Jean's beautiful quilt.

Thanks for stopping by and look forward to seeing you again.

Take care and blessings to you all.
Clare

A Scrap Quilt top finish

I can finally say that I have finished the scrappy blue and red quilt top for my grandson Caleb.  Now it gets to move to the "waiting to be quilted" pile, but the birthday is coming up in September and that aint gonna take long to get here.  What made it even more delicious to finish, was I found the lovely fishy border fabric in my stash!!  Yayyyy, using up my stash with this quilt.  As this does  not happen too often we must celebrate.

I only just had enough border fabric so did the corner square thingy.

Caleb often goes fishing with his Dad, so it was a very appropriate fabric.

Our walnut tree is always the last to lose it leaves in winter, but we have had about five giant frosts in a row, and on the morning of the heaviest we woke to a carpet of leaves.  (The lawn had only been mowed the day before and there were no leaves in sight.)

This is quite a young walnut tree at 10yrs.  Fruited for the first time last year, then this year we had a few more, but only one walnut survived!!  Patience.  In the mean time good old Clair Matin doesn't know that it is supposed to be a rest time for her.  Next month will give her a good prune which will make her rest up a bit.

I am linking to Oh Scrap which you can find  here and see other gorgeous scrap quilts.

Short and sweet catch up.  Hope you are all well and snuggled up on these cooler days.  Alternatively, you may be sunning yourself at the beach and loving the hot weather.  Wherever you are, take the time to ponder on your blessings.

Take care
Clare

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