Still Around and some Quilt photos

Hi there everyone,  so sorry for being away so long but my health has been a bit of a major issue lately.  After five days in hospital though I am like a new woman!!!  Feeling great, and dont expect to have any more hassles for a long time (I'm speaking severely to my gall bladder as I type!)

Have quilted a couple of small quilts only, and forgot to take some photos, so posting a couple of oldies for you to look at.  I have loaded a gorgeous medallion quilt today but didn't get started as my brain did not want to co-operate at all, so felt I should not even try to quilt.  Tomorrow I will be into it.

Hope you are all very well and avoiding all those horrible winter ailments.  If you are in summer, don't forget the sunscreen!!  It is so exciting watching the trees starting to bud up and the bulbs pushing their way through the cold ground.  Spring is getting ready to burst through!!

This was the Shop Hop quilt I designed in our last year of trading as a patchwork shop.This photo is unquilted...forgot to take one of the whole thing quilted.  I quilted this one on my Janome Horizon 7700 just to prove you can do a large quilt on it.  Didn't like all the handling of the quilt of course as I am spoilt by my longarm.  This quilt  now adorns the bed in our guest room.

I never did like the quilting in the vase...it's too crooked, but as always I was under pressure to get it finished in time and it has stayed crooked!!

This was one of my all time favourite Shop Hop quilts as it uses Kaffe Fassett fabric.  It was very bright and colourful and I gave it to my close friend who just adored it.

Definitely delicious, dont you agree.  And last but not least, this was our Block of the Month featuring New Zealand fabrics.  My friend Maria Travers from Masterton designed it exclusively for us and it was most successful.  It is a favourite quilt of mine.

So there you go my friends, a bit of a walk down memory lane for me, and a heads up to you all that I am still in the land of the living.
We are now anxiously awaiting the arrival of our 16th grandchild as Mum has gone into early stages of labour today.  We are so looking forward to the joy of a new child to join our family, and Mum is deciding on what colours she would like for this one's quilt.  It will help to soothe the pain of our loss of one of our wee twins...went to sleep and woke up in heaven.  Your prayers for the Mum would be lovely.

May you have an awesome weekend.  Don't forget to make time for those you love while you have time to love them.

God bless,

Clare

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