Update on Crazy Blocks

Hi Just a progress photo of a couple of crazy blocks I am doing. Heres the first one.

To see the next one you will have to complete the puzzle. Have fun!

June Show and Tell

I'll start off with the finished Mosaic wall hangings.

This is Bernice Spears, lovely blues with silver leaves and flowers.

Kath Hunt's with sequins beads and a beaded fringe.

And this one is made by Carmel Spray. Carmel made hers from the tutorial on the blog, using the fabric and beads she won in last months raffle. I'm especially pleased to see it, as it means my instructions where clear! I also put together the raffle prize of fabric and beads she won last month!

If you want to have a go at making your own here's the link to the tutorial.

Marie Finegan made this queen size quilt for her daughter & son in law, using a black and white jelly roll. It was started in a jelly roll class at the last Symposium. It has been beautifully machine quilted by John Nielsen of 'Quilt Fairies' at Baylys Beach. Below is a close up, so you can see block design. The red sets it off nicely.

Lynne Wilson has been working hard at reducing her UFO pile. The next few items are hers.

Twisted Log cabin, started at Palmerston North Symposium (2007)

Quilt made for Lynne's Niece's baby Kael. The family is Rugby crazy so Lynne thought this fabric was perfect. Close up below so you can see the Kiwi's playing Rugby.

This was a row by row quilt made by Lynne's satellite group 'The Remnants'. Each member added a row. Lynne wanted it for a grandchild so the group came up with this counting theme.

These are close ups of two blocks from Lynne's wall hanging called 'Life's Little Luxuries'. Unfortunately the photo I took of the whole quilt was very blurry, so I only have these to show you all. The hand stitching is wonderful and this is the first time Lynne has done silk ribbon embroidery. Other blocks had shoes, perfume, chocolates you know all the essentials really. So I don't understand the tile of quilt at all! ;-)

And finally I think this is the last item by Lynne! This is a bag that has been sitting in the UFO pile for a long time. All ready to use for classes, or retreats now. Gee Lynne is there anything in the UFO pile anymore? (I'm just jealous as my pile is too big)

These Puzzle Blocks were made by Barbara Storey. This is the second set she has made since Lynne Wilson taught her how. The first set went to the grandkids, but this one is staying with Barbara. She said they are a lot of fun to make, and people of all ages love playing with them.

This quilt was made by Helen Barron for Middlemore Hospital. I like how she has added different borders of teddy's and stars. Helen makes a lot of charity quilts. Do you remember the cute piggy quilt she made for Hospice?

Shelia Ujdur made this wall hanging for her grandson. He's dinosaur crazy so will love it. Isn't it funny how boys go through a dinosaur stage? I remember both of my Son's loving them. I think it's because dinosaurs are so big, and the kids feel so clever being able to say the long names! Below is a close up so you can see the fabric.

Carmel Spray made this Hibiscus Flower wall hanging and mounted it on a canvas block her daughter gave her. This is a really nice way to finish a wall hanging.

Carmel's also made this cushion from a pack of 5 inch squares. Very nicely hand quilted too.

Margie Descroizilles made this bag from water proof fabric she bought from Mary Metcalf (Kiwiquilts). Its a great NZ print of Tui's and Flax flowers.

Marion Roke bought this panel when she was in the UK to make a quilt for her grandson. When she returned home she found the same fabric in our local Spotlight store! But it was good because then she could buy the matching green spot fabric for borders, and a co-ordinating print for the backing. Close up below, I really like this panel. Is retro and modern at the same time.

Lex Geange won the kit to make this bag in a club raffle earlier this year. It has made up lovely. The kit was from The Country Yard.

Another by Lex this was made using a stain glass/reverse applique technique. Pattern from Gail Lawther's book 'Glimpses of New Zealand'.

And I think that's all. What a marathon post!

June Club Meeting- Guest Speaker and Merchant Milton Wright

Gee we had a great day at our meeting yesterday. A big 'Show and Tell', merchant Milton Wright with his beautiful batiks, mini challenge from our 'xmas present' batik fabrics, binding demo and more! Here's some photos I took from the stage of everyone having fun.

As well as Milton being the merchant, we also asked him to speak. It was interesting and funny listening to him. He started selling fabrics for Pollock & Milne in 1967, and did so because he thought it would be a good way to meet girls! He was only going to do the job for a couple of years and then move on, but fell in love with the fabrics, so opened his own business and 43 years later is still selling fabric. He spoke about specialising in batiks and his trips to Indonesia to source them, and he also had photos of the fabric being made. He has started to design his own New Zealand themed batiks which are proving popular. Here's a photo of Milton tidying up his fabric after a frenzy of buying. Milton has a great website that you can order fabric from if you missed out yesterday, check it out.

Milton also judged our mini challenge (which was to make anything using the fat quarter of Milton's fabric that we received as xmas presents). Bernice's 'lizards' and Jules 'seahorse' won.

Here's the other entries to the challenge

Encrusted Crazy Quilting

I'm doing an online Crazy Quilting class 'Encrusted Crazy Quilting'. The tutor is Sharon B of 'Pin Tangle'. This is the first online class I have taken and I quite like the format. Lessons are posted once a week and then there is a forum to ask questions, and see other students work.

Here are my blocks 'naked' without embellishment. As I do more to them I will post update pictures. The 'white' fabrics are actually pale pink and cream! They didn't photograph well.

Have you taken any online quilting classes? What where they? Did you enjoy them? Leave a comment and tell me about your experiences.

I've Been Playing...

...with EQ7. Haven't done much yet (not much time), but thought you would like to see something. So I have made a few little quilts using the new 'Clip and Flip' feature. With this you start with a block and then EQ7 cuts it into quarters, the clip part and flips these units around to make new blocks.

 

So each quilt has the starting block in top left hand corner, and then I used 'clip and flip' to create the other blocks. There are many more combinations for each block I just picked four I liked to make these little quilts.

 

I've used the sashing between these little 4 block quilts, so you can easily see each new block. Now lets try picking 2 blocks and combine them without sashing. 

I think the possibilities are endless so that's it for now, I better go and cook dinner!

For everyone waiting for their EQ7 to be delivered, I hope you enjoyed this quick peek at 'Clip and Flip'.