What I’ve been up to lately…

As I have been such a lazy blogger and only posting the clubs Show n Tell, I thought it was high time to do a little update about what I have been doing.
I have started working part time at Bernina Northland, (but I still work at the School too!)
Working at Bernina Northland is great fun, and I have been busy learning heaps. I thought I knew a lot about quilting/sewing/knitting but there is so much more to learn! Some of the questions that customers ask really make me think.
Another great thing about working there is that Sandy has been teaching me to longarm quilt. I have quilted three quilts on the longarm, the last was my Orca Bay quilt (Bonnie Hunter design).


This is me trying out a couple of panto's on top of Orca Bay, I went with the flowers.


And this is Orca Bay on the Q24. I used the red thread on the top and black in the bobbin. It is such a busy quilt, never doing one with so much piecing again.

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I went to The Bernina Fashion Awards.


It was very hard to get photos with the lighting, models walking etc. So these are the only ones I have from the night. There are lots of great photos on the Bernina Fashion Awards facebook page, so go and have a look there.



This is the Overall Winner on the runway, the only photo that came out, I know it's a terrible photo.
Luckily it was on display at Bernina Northland for a few days so I got these better photos below.


The front of the dress had a wonderful diamond design made from green and blue bread ties.


And the back was made from yellow ties. I love how it is fastened using jewelry closures.
You can see that every tie (except the hem) had six holes drilled into them so they could be joined together to form a fabric.
It looked amazing on the runway, it shimmered as the model walked, similar to sequins.


                   On The Rise
Designer-   Fran Spick
Model -      Tena Ford Mason

Winner-      Designer of the Year
                   Trash to Fashion Category
                   Model of the Year
Made from 1150 bread ties and 3300 metal rings

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I prepared some applique blocks, to take on Retreat at St Francis in Auckland.

Lots of mess is made when using steam a seam.
I

I'm hand stitching the edges with a blanket/button-hole stitch, and adding random embroidery like french knots, and whatever else takes my fancy.


I need hobby glasses now for this stitching. (getting old).


And to finish, here is of photo taken from my deck looking over Whangarei, towards Mount Parahaka.

So what have you been doing? Let me know in a comment.

Show n Tell August 2016

Star Quilt made by Tess Harris, for her Ngunguru group challenge. Hand and machine quilted. Close up of some of the lovely machine quilting below.




'The Not So Perfect Circle' by Petra Pilkington. Close up below so you can see all the great stitching and embellishments.




'Winter Scene' by Robin Halverson. An exercise on texture, taken form Wendy Dolin's book 'Layer Stitch & Paint'


By Lyn Madden. This is the result of attending Susan Brubaker Knapp's class at club.
Lovely work Lyn.


Four mini quilts by Marion Lees, inspired by Jeanne Williamson's book 'The Uncommon Quilter'


Large table runner made by Patrica Smith.


Rug made by Marion Moon after Donna Rowan's rug making demo.


Bow Tie quilt made by Maureen Gray, quilted by Charlene Kerr of Tauranga.


Kotuku- a kit from Grandmothers Garden, made by Shelia Ujdur.


Stitchbird- a kit from Grandmothers Garden, made by Shelia Ujdur.


'Let it Snow' made by Shelia Ujdur in Susan Brubaker Knapp's class.


Thread stitched snow flakes made by Lynne O'Donnell at Susan Brubaker Knapp's class.


Scrap quilt made by Jenny Gough. The squares came from Joan Cooks stash that was sold at club. Jenny longarm quilted this quilt herself at Bernina Northland.


Charity scrap quilt made by Jenny Gough.


This scrap quilt and the next were made by Leonie Whihongi as 'physio therapy' when she was recovering from her shoulder injury.



Made by Leonie Wihongi in a class with Donna Ward.


Helen Barrow's friend had a stash of flannel fabric she didn't want anymore, so Helen said she would make quilts out of it. This is the first.


Then Helen made another one.....


And from the scraps of the first two she made this tumbler quilt.......


And this strip quilt......


And even the backs were pieced with flannel fabrics.
Well done Helen that's a lot of quilts!