Quilt Whangarei

Made in Cherry Quilt Along

2012-02-10T14:19:00.002+13:00

After finishing the top of my Orca Bay, I decided I wanted to make something quick and easy with BIG pieces. I’m kinda over sewing little pieces for a while! This quilt top has been really fast to make, the whole top has only 228 pieces total.
Compare that to the pieces in my Orca Bay top….drum roll please…3451. Yes that's right, Three thousand, four hundred, and fifty one pieces.

Not so windy today, only a light breeze! (yes lawn needs mowing again)

This is a 'quilt along', better than a mystery I think as you can see the pattern first, and decide if you like the design and if your skills are up to it. I noticed several people making this quilt, on different blogs so thought I'd give it a whirl too. Heres the link to all the info if you'd like to make one.

Made in Cherry Quilt Along

The back. I like how all the seams make it look like stain glass.

Whangarei quilters remember tomorrow is Club day. Visitors are welcome to come to our meetings, so if you are able to come please do. Bring a friend if you want, the more the merrier. (info of where and when at the top right of blog) See you tomorrow then,

Check out some other Orca Bays

2012-02-07T08:32:00.001+13:00

Hi Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville) is having a final linky, to blogs of people who have made her mystery quilt Orca Bay.
There are so many different colourways etc I thought you might be interested in seeing what others have done with the same pattern. Heres the link to take you there (I'm number 44)

Windy!!

2012-02-03T15:46:00.002+13:00

On Wednesday I saw a quilting friend Maria and she asked about my Orca Bay, and how it was coming along. So here it is Maria!

I have had the top finished for about a week I think, but have been humming and harring about maybe adding more borders. Well after auditioning heaps of different options, I have decided not too! They all distracted too much from the pieced border. And as there was a lot of work in that border, I don't want to do that!

It's windy here today but I thought if I waited long enough I might get an OK photo outside.

Mmmm maybe I should have done some washing this morning!

I changed a few things in the design, nothing too major though.

-swapped the positions of the black and neutral star blocks (as I said in a previous post).

-used a black fabric for the first border, instead of a neutral fabric.

-and lastly I have turned the hourglass blocks around the other way in the pieced border.

from the back with all the raw edges it looks kind of stained glass like

Oscar always comes and helps when I hang out the washing, but he didn't help with the photo shoot. He watched from the deck instead.

I don't think he likes this quilt as he hasn't helped with any of the sewing either, not like him at all.

Kerikeri Exhibition

2012-01-21T10:12:00.002+13:00

Pop over to Quilting in Kerikeri Blog to see photos from their exhibition.

Kerikeri Patchworkers & Quilters Club Exhibition

2012-01-13T19:40:00.000+13:00

Opps, I forgot this is on today and till Monday, hope you have a good time if you go. Note the NEW venue. Sorry I have family commitments this weekend, so I won’t be catching up with anyone up there. This is usually a great little show, and Kerikeri is a lovely town to visit so make a day of it.

_____________________________________________________

KERIKERI PATCHWORKERS AND QUILTERS CLUB EXHIBITION

Kerikeri Primary School Hall, Hone Heke Road, Kerikeri

Friday 13^th January 2012 to Monday 16^th January 2012

10 am to 4pm daily

Admission $2

Proceeds from Raffle to Project Promise, Northland Community Foundation

_________________________________________________

What I’m doing….

2012-01-12T11:46:00.004+13:00

Still working on Orca Bay quilt. Deciding how I’m going to set it now. On the left is the way Bonnie has set hers, and on the right is the way I think I’m going to go with.

Can you see the difference? The star blocks positions are reversed. I like the one on the right because then you get large black stars forming too, and I feel that it is a little less busy. This is one busy quilt, not sure if I’m in love with it, but have decided to complete the top at least! Then it might have to ‘age’ in a cupboard somewhere

Oh I have just seen that the group on the left has a mistake in it too. (bottom row centre red piece is upside down!)

I have been reading too. I have finished ‘The Wedding Quilt’ by Jennifer Chiaverini and really enjoyed it. It was a surprise whose wedding it was, when I started reading. But I won’t say anymore and spoil it for you.

Now I’m half way through Lee Child’s latest Jack Reacher novel ‘The Affair’. I love these books and have read them all. I remember telling my husband he would like them too. He resisted for a long time (usually he only reads non-fiction) but now he reads them all straight after me! I have to be careful not to say anything about the books until he is finished or he gets upset! Once I said Jack’s just got his leg over again! (does in all but one of the books, I think) But hubby was so upset I had let the cat out of the bag :-0

Oh and I got both these books from our Public Library. You can reserve books very easily on their website and then you get an email when they are ready to be picked up. I love using the Library, I get to read all the new books I want, without paying for them (more money for fabric) and not having to store them after reading (more storage space for fabric). Also if the Library doesn't have a book you would like to read you can ask them to buy it, and then you get to be the first person to issue it! If you live here in Whangarei check out the Library, they have heaps of new quilting books too.

I have done a wee bit of house worky stuff too. I went through the hall cupboard. Took everything out, threw out heaps and also took two large bags to the SPCA second hand shop. It is nice to be able to see everything now, without extras stuffed in and the door closed fast.

See my new Sign? This cupboard has sliding doors and a least once a day I would walk past and it would be open arrrrh. So I made a sign and so far it is working!

Orca Bay, Sesame Street Moment

2012-01-03T13:31:00.005+13:00

AKA….
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
One of these things needs Re-Sewing!
(just be grateful you can't hear my singing!)

Can you see the offending block! Below is the block all by itself, I don’t know how it happened but It will need to be re-sewn.

I did think about leaving it like a 'Persian Carpet' or Amish deliberate mistake but nahhhhh, I’ll be re-sewing it.

The last few days I have been production line sewing the clue I had missed (Part 5).
So most of the clues are done now.

Here’s some of the component's, and below are how they fit together.
You can check out Bonnie’s blog there is another Link Up and quite a lot of bloggers have the whole top together all ready. (My Link Up is number 69)

Just saw an email from Donna F (from my local club WP&Q) and she has started this quilt, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing her version at quilt club too.

Orca Bay Part 6

2011-12-30T15:24:00.003+13:00

Here’s some of my part 6 of Orca Bay, Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt. If you want to check out all the details about this Mystery Quilt click on the Orca Bay Button in my side bar, you can't miss it. It has a whale on it :-)

I have done most of the black stars and have started on the neutral stars too. I thought I’d do this quick post so I can add it to Bonnie’s blog link up before it closes (I'm number 95). Go and have a look at all the other bloggers (use link above) who are doing the mystery, some are doing different colour schemes, but they are all unique.

I haven’t done part 5 yet, but I’ll get there! The reason I’m behind in the mystery is because I went away to see my Mum. Here’s a couple of photos I took from the plane on the way home. It amazes me that you can get a semi decent photo through a dirty plane window.

I think this is the town of Feilding, flew over just after we left Palmerston North.

Can’t remember where this was but I love how you can see the shadows of the clouds on the ground.
edit; I had a look at google maps and I think this is Waiuku.

Show N Tell December 2011

2011-12-29T10:01:00.002+13:00

Hi everyone I've been MIA for a while, because of a trip to see my Mother. The trip involved late planes, two missed buses, and a bus with a flat tyre! Enough said, definitely driving down next time.
So now that life is back to normal (is there such a thing?)
I thought I'd better post Decembers Show n Tell while it is still December!

Jenny Gough started this a few years ago as part of her groups '96 piece challenge'. Yes there had to be at least 96 different fabrics in the project. She is teaching herself to machine quilt, and this is the first large project she has done. (And done very well too)

This is Dorothy Tersptra's amazing Australian Flower 'Balitmore'. It took 4 years to complete, & is hand appliquéd, and machine quilted by Dorothy.
This quilt won the Viewers Choice recently at The Country Yard's Exhibition.

Here's a couple of close up's so you can see the beautiful details. I love the bottle brush flowers below.

Lynne Wilson made this lovely quilt for her brother. This is actually the back of the quilt (sorry I didn't get a photo of the front, but it was made using fabric's that related to all his favourite things, like fishing etc.
Around the edges above Lynne has appliqued family photos.

This is the first quilt made by Raewyn. She has made this for her grandson and Sandy Robinson has quilted it for her.

Marie Finegan made this beautiful small quilt. Close up of the hand embroidered centre block below.

Donna Rowan made this for her niece for Christmas. It is a Lynnette Anderson pattern, called 'Live Your Dreams'.
Sorry I forgot to get a close up of the beautiful embroidery, arrgh!

Shelia made this set of placemats as a Xmas present for her son and daughter in law. She loves lady birds (daugther in law) so when Shelia found this fabric she thought it was perfect.

And lastly Sonya Prchal bought this sample she has made for a machine quilting class, that she hopes to teach in 2012. Click and have a look at the detail its amazingly detailed.

Hope you all had a lovely family time over Christmas.

Advent Calendar Challenge

2011-12-13T07:14:00.002+13:00

Last Saturday was our Christmas meeting at Quilt Club. We usually have some type of Christmas Challenge. This time it was to make an Advent Calendar. The winners were decided by viewers choice and prizes were donated by Itch to Stitch Bernina.
As it is a secret who made which, so you don't know who you are voting for, I only know who the winners are, but I thought you'd like to see all the entries.

This won 1st prize, and was made by Hazel Phillips.

Calendar on left unknown, the tree shaped one on the right is by Carol Mayes, and was 2nd equal.

Unknown again, but I like all the ribbons to tie gifts onto it.

This was made by Terri Mills, and was the other 2nd equal winner.

Unknown, love the teddy bears.

Unknown, love that Merry Christmas fabric.

More show n tell from Saturday to come in next post. If you'd like to feel a bit more of Christmasy scroll down to my last post and watch the video on that.
Later

Orca Bay Part 4

2011-12-12T23:27:00.005+13:00

OK this week I'm not going to hurry. The other weeks I have and then have finished the clue after a couple of days, and had no sewing to do later in the week. I don't want to start anything else at the moment, so have decided to go slow!
You can see I'm using an old phone book for the paper foundations and it's working out great.
Go and checkout Bonnie's blog with the links to everyone else's progess, there are a lot of these quilts being made around the world.

I don't know about everyone else, but I have been trying to feel Christmasy and it hasn't caught yet. This morning I made a dancing Elf Xmas card, and this afternoon had a look at Youtube and found this video which I thought I would share, in case you are like me and need a little help to get into the mood.

Got to love a man in uniform! Or half a uniform as the case may be.
Hope this puts a smile on your face, bye

Orca Bay Part 3

2011-12-05T14:20:00.007+13:00

Well part 3 was making 350 half square triangle in black and neutral! Here they are all sewn, in a heap waiting to be pressed. I used the Easy Angle ruler to cut them as Bonnie recommends, and found it easy and the units sewed up accurately.. yaaaayyy!

I sewed these blocks as I watched eldest Son decide what to take to Australia and what to leave behind. Not something I could do for him, but I kept him company, and was there when he asked what I thought.
We dropped him off at the bus to Auckland airport this morning, with over weight bags, extra money to pay for them, and a packed lunch! I cried, couldn't help it, but I did try not to.

I left the pressing till I came home. I knew I'd like something mindless to do when I came home.
It has been good to have this mystery to do, has given me something else to think about.

Here's all 350 of my half square triangles pressed and sorted into piles of like squares.
See in the background left over blue strips from my string blocks? I got a bit carried away with cutting blue strips, oh well if they don't go into this quilt they can go into a log cabin I have started.

And here are all the blue string blocks (72) finished from part 2 of the mystery.

It's still not too late if you'd like to join in. Use this link to see all the details of Orca Bay on Bonnie's blog.
Bonnie is having another 'linky' of blogger's who are doing the mystery , so go and check them out. There are lots of people doing different colour ways.
Last week it got up to 125 blogs linking up! I wonder if there will be more this time.

And I thought I'd show you these fat quarters that my eldest picked out for me, before he left Hamilton. I had a voucher but couldn't get there to use it, so I asked him to pick some fabric for me. He was a bit nervous about picking out fabric, but I said I'd be happy with anything. He did well, I like them all.

Part 2 Orca Bay Mystery Quilt

2011-11-30T10:50:00.005+13:00

This is all I have managed of part 2 this week. I need to make 72 of these little units, they are only 3 1/2 inches. I'm not worried if I can't do them all this week I will catch up!

Pop over to Bonnie's Blog and see how everyone else around the world is getting on with the mystery.

My link is number 101! So there are a lot of people doing this mystery, (this is only the people with blogs) think of the hundreds of people who are also doing the mystery that don't have blogs!

And this is why I'm kind of behind in my sewing. My eldest Son has returned home for a week before he moves to Sydney Australia. He was very proud of himself as he was able to pack all his worldly possessions into his Toyota Corolla. Now they are in my lounge! Oh well he flies out on the 5th so it has to be sorted by then.

First Quilts

2011-11-27T08:48:00.005+13:00

Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville is linking a whole lot of blogs today, with posts about the first quilt they made.

I have two first quilts. A bit confusing but it is because I was making a sampler in a beginners class, and before I finished that I started another! So My first quilt was kind of my first UFO too!

I started a second project as my Nanna had moved from Tauranga to Wellington. (From warm weather to cold for non New Zealanders). She was feeling the cold so I made her a lap quilt. I managed to made it in a few days, post it off and then continue with my sampler quilt.

You can see it was a simple quilt, that’s why I could run it up in a few days. I hand quilted it too. The white & black floral squares actually came from an old sundress of my mothers, and the red was a poly mix. I remember the poly batting bearding through the black backing fabric. I learnt why there is black batting through that! But with all those white squares maybe it was just as well I didn’t use black batting.

Nanna was a lovely lady who knitted and sewed all her life, so she greatly appreciated that I had handmade something for her. She enjoyed it for about three years before she passed away.

Here’s my sampler quilt that I finished not too long after the class! You can see my teacher taught a wide variety of techniques. There was hand and machine applique, curved piecing, hand piecing, english paper piecing, strip piecing, bargello, etc etc.
I had no idea what colours to use that’s why I did red white & blue. I thought all those flags can’t be wrong! And don’t you love the gingham border! It’s not even quilted, oh well I did learn heaps from making it though. I machine quilted this as I had just bought a walking foot and was keen to use it. Mostly I just quilted in the ditch and outline quilted around the appliques.

If you have enjoyed looking at my first quilts, pop over to Bonnie’s blog to she her first quilt, and all the links to other blogs featuring theirs.

The Hobbit

2011-11-25T17:27:00.011+13:00

I have been enjoying Junez Scrapz recent blog posts with photos from her son. If you haven't clicked though and had a look do so (link is on the sidebar too). He is working on The Hobbit movie, and has been sending marvellous photos to June of the scenery.

Today I was reading a story online about the sets for 'The Hobbit' & Professional Blogger Eric Vespe, who has been invited by Sir Peter Jackson to blog from the set.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/new-zealand/6031824/Hobbitons-Green-Dragon-tipped-for-pulling-pints

Hobbit Hole, Matamata New Zealand. Photo by Eric Vespe, Ain't It Cool News.

I love the book The Hobbit, I remember one of my school a teachers (Mr Elgar I think!) reading it aloud to the class. He would stop at the end of each chapter and our homework that night was to write a page or two on what happened next. We would read our versions aloud the next day. Some were close to the book, some we thought more fun, and others well there has to be a donkey in most things! But it was a great way to get us kids wanting write.

Anyway in case you are a fan like me I thought you might like to read Eric Vespe's blog posts.
As I have been to most of the 'locations' (long before they were taken over by Hobbits), I really enjoyed seeing these familiar landscapes turned into a mythical middle earth.

Here's links to the first couple of posts, from the set of The Hobbit.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/51787
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/51851

If you want to read more use 'unexpected journey' in ainitcool.com's search box.

I’ve been making Flags….

2011-11-22T08:39:00.006+13:00

Well not really but that's what it looks like coming out the back of the sewing machine!

I've decided to join in doing Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt Orca Bay. I've put a button to take you to Bonnie's instructions in my side bar, if you'd like to join or just have a look to see what it's all about.

Heres's the flags I was talking about!

I decided to sew this in the lounge so that I can look out the window, and watch TV in between. I love how this is so easy to do with my Sewezi table. Here in New Zealand we are going into Summer so the weathers good, so there's no snow outside my window!

Look at the circle the flags formed on the floor.

I was lucky that Oscar the cat was having his afternoon nap on the spare bed, so he didn't want to play with all these flags. I'm sure they would look very tempting for a cat! And before anyone asks, YES that is half a Lamington cake on my plate! I should have hidden the evidence before I took the photo ;-)
EDIT: Lamingtons are sponge cake dipped in chocolate icing (or red jelly for the pink ones), then rolled in coconut. You can cut them in half and add jam and cream too. Mine was a bought one which was nice but nothing on the chocolate ones my Mum used to make for Birthdays etc when I was a kid.

On the left this is what the flags make.

You see those triangles that won't match up, well I feed one thru the sewing machine upside down! No big deal I just sewed a new partner for it and moved on! (I then made sure that I feed all my pieces the same way up thru the machine!)

Progesss! I only have to make 224 hour glass units! Can you see these rulers on the left? Bonnie recommends them for the mystery, so I decided to get them. I had to order them from Australia as I couldn't find them for sale in New Zealand at all. :-(
So far I really happy with them, but you can do the mystery without them, so don't let that put you off if you would like to join in.

OK this is what 224 little hour glass units looks like. I clipped all my dog ears off last night while watching the Leaders Debate ( New Zealand's General Election is this Saturday ). See all the dog ears filled up a cup!

The next clue of Orca Bay is out on Friday, so come and see how I'm getting on!

Use this link to check out the other people with blogs that are doing Orca Bay.

Bye

Country Dawn’s New Store Opening

2011-11-20T13:52:00.002+13:00

Country Dawn opened their new store at 17 Gladstone St, Dargaville yesterday.
I was asked along by one of my quilting friends, (she was on the hunt for border fabrics for 2 quilts). My friend found just what she wanted, on the sales table too, score!
Of course I couldn't resist buying some sale fabric too. I have been trying not to buy fabric for the last year or so, as I do need to use my stash but sometimes you just have too buy something.....if you are a quilter you will know what I mean! ;-)

Anyway I thought you might like to see a couple of photos of the store, just quick snaps. Above is just one corner of the large front room of the store. There is a large back room too, with great natural light that they are going to use for classes.

Busy busy busy, there were a lot of quilters at the opening and the staff were running around returning bolts of fabrics to the shelves, after cutting fabric.

In this photo I managed to snap Sue & Chrissie of Country Dawn. They were very busy running about so it was just luck to get them together in this photo. Sue has the cute polka dot shoes and Chrissie has the strappy sandals.

Show & Tell, November 2011

2011-11-14T17:39:00.003+13:00

Well it was another busy meeting last Saturday!
We had Kerry Glen of Tulis visiting as a merchant. Kerry also showed us a few versions of the quilt she will teach in a class next year. Sorry I didn't get photos of that as it was dark in the hall (some problem with the lights)
Anyway I did get photos of the clubs show and tell. Some of the photos aren't the best as I had to use a flash which washed out the quilt colours a bit. But I'm sure you will still enjoy having a look at it anyway. :-)

Jennifer Cullen made this beautiful quilt called 'Coffee & Cream'.

'Baby Bargello' by Marie Finegan, quilted by Sandy Robinson.

Petra Pilkington was asked to make this for a friends baby. She found it interesting to use fabric that someone else had picked. It's not her usual colours or style but she likes it!

Bag (with lime lining) by Hazel Phillps,
this is another version of the bag she made last month as the pattern was so fun to make.

Doll by Sue Gillard. This is the first doll she has made and had fun learning to paint the face.

Maureen Jackson made this bag from a kit she bought at the Hamilton Craft Fair.

'Ferry on the Mersey' photo printed on fabric, quilted by Marie Finegan.

By Petra Pilkington, as well as tea bags Petra has used washers & beads.
Click on the photo to see more details. Petra drew all the bugs herself too.

Another smaller version made by Petra Pilkington.

Shelia Udjur made this bags from 5" squares from her stash.

'Crab Apples' by Shirley Julian, the result of Jacqui Karl's recent class

'Bugs' byTerri Mills. Terri started this in a recent class with Mary Transom.

Marie Finegan made this placemat for her four year old granddaughter.

Shirley Olsen started this about ten years ago when she was first a member at WP&Q.
She said she is pleased to have it finished!

Sue Gillard made this quilt for her 9 year old grandson. He's fascinated by Stars & Space.
Sue bought the fabric from The Country Yard, the stars on the fabric glow in the dark!

Opps can't find the details for this little stitchery,
please someone leave me a comment or email me so I can add a name to it!

Robyn Halverson painted black fabric with bleach (discharged) to make this image.

Shirley Julian embellished this wallhanging with copper shim flowers.

Tric Carter made this beautiful Stain Glass Table Runner.

Helen Barnes made this wall hanging from a kit she purchased from Tulis.

On The Edge

2011-11-04T15:07:00.005+13:00

Last night I attended the opening of ‘On The Edge’ a new Art Gallery in town.
I was invited to the opening by Textile Artist Francien Bot, as the gallery is showing several of her works.

Francien & Nymph

Francien works mostly with cotton fabrics but also incorporates more difficult fabrics such as silk, velvet, & organza. I especially like her subtle use of beads and metallic threads, they enhance her pieces without overpowering them.

On The Edge Gallery is upstairs at 69 Walton Street, Whangarei (across the road from the ASB).
Please take the time to visit the gallery, I'm sure you won’t be disappointed.

Slide Show of Coastal Sew ‘n’ Sews Quilt Show

2011-11-02T15:11:00.002+13:00

Tess from Coastal Sew n Sews (Ngunguru quilt group) has sent me a link to a slide show of their recent Exhibition to share with you all. I didn't get to go to the show as I was in Hamilton so I really enjoyed the slide show. Click on the photo below, to take you to see the Exhibition.

The Country Yards Exhibition

2011-11-01T16:48:00.005+13:00

Last Saturday I went out to the Country Yards Exhibition. It was a great show well worth seeing even if the weather wasn't very kind. I did manage to stay dry in between the spring showers though!
I took at few photos of items that appealed to me, to share with you all. So here we go.

I loved this it looks like it's straight out of a picture book.
Wall hanging by Ngaire Fleming.

I love kiwis and all things kiwiana so loved this. Wall hanging by Susan McRae.

The quilting is special too. Click the picture for a closer look
to see how the tui's tail is quilted in, and the palm's trunks are extended

This stitchery/applique wall hanging by Racheal, was Lynette Andersons Button Mystery.

This was a group quilt made for Leeanne's 40th Birthday (no not me!)

This Leeanne is the from http://quiltmekiwi.blogspot.com/ check out her blog it's good.
I thought this was a good idea for a gift quilt, with everyone making a bag block.
(sorry for the side way's photo as it was in a tight space!)

There were a lot of beautiful cushions, this one is made by Noeline.

And this cushion is made by Leeanne of quilt me kiwi blog (link above)

I was praised for this cushion, as several people thought it was mine, but I did put them right and say it was the other Leeanne's work!

This quilt is a sample made to showcase these fabrics for the shop.
It was very popular, and the cushions added a lovely touch too.

The Last week has been a blur…

2011-10-28T18:19:00.004+13:00

....days have just run into each other, but I thought I would post a few photos from my trip.

Warning this is more a family/trip post not much Quilty stuff going on.

If you look at my photos you may think I've been overseas to India & Italy or maybe even China.

But no I've been to Hamilton, New Zealand. (much cheaper option!)

We had some time to spare so decided to go to the Hamilton Gardens as this may be our last visit to Hamilton for a while (more on that later).

This is a close up of the floral carpet in the Indian garden.

Indian Char Bagh Garden

The 'Char Bagh' garden was beautiful. The flowers are planted close together so it makes a living 'persian carpet' and the colours were so vibrant, specially when they are contrasted with the pale walls and tiled floors.

Through the Pavilion's archways you look out on to the Waikato river. And when you look up there is this beautiful ceiling (picture below). With these designs I was 'putting my quilters eyes on' and seeing quilt borders in the freeze, interlocking designs and of course colour!

Pavillion's celling & freeze.

Italian Renaissance Garden

We all decided that the Italian garden was our favourite. It was very tranquil with the formal structure and the sound of the water. Everything just looked perfect.

Hubby lying down to photograph trellis roof. Silly I managed to get a good shot standing up!

My photo of the trellis roof (taken standing up!)

There was a Juliet balcony too

My turn to do something silly.

Path in the Chinese garden.

I really liked this path, but I think it looks too complicated to use as a quilt design!

Youngest Son's turn to do something silly (giant bamboo in China garden)

Mark - Birthday boy

This is the reason we were in Hamilton. We were celebrating our eldest Son's 21st Birthday. The Party went well, and Mark was pleased that several of his High School friends came down from Whangarei too.

This will be our last trip to Hamilton for a while as Mark is moving to Sydney in December to start working as a software engineer for Google.

All Blacks after winning the Rugby World Cup.

Of course there was another major event last weekend, the Rugby World Cup.

We watched the final with Mark and his flatmates. It wasn't the exciting game I had hoped for, but it was nail biting!

This was probably my favourite bit of the Rugby World Cup, Sony Bill changing his ripped shirt.

The shirts are so tight that help is needed to take them off, and put them on!

I think this 'event' got the largest cheer from all the ladies in the crowd too!

Excited Children!

Back at work (primary school) we had some exciting news. The School has won a competition for 'Backing Black' and will be receiving $5000 of sports equipment!

The best part is it will be delivered to the school by some of the All Black team.

All Blacks doing the Haka

So I'm sure there will be a lot of Haka practise at school next week. The kids will want to be ready for the All Blacks.

It’s School Holidays, so take over the Lounge!

2011-10-17T16:15:00.002+13:00

Last week I moved my Sewezi Table up to the Lounge. I got heaps of piecing done, just watching TV. I thought my hubby wouldn’t like it, but he thought it was a great idea, I quote “….if it’s going to help get some of that fabric used.”
Anyway yesterday I decided to set up my folding trestle table in the lounge to so I could tack out the latest quilt. It’s a large queen size quilt so it took a while. I started at about 3.30pm and finished just as the All Blacks V Wallabies kicked off at 9.00pm. I did have breaks, and dinner though!

This is tacking out using the method that Lynne and I demo’d at the September meeting. You can see that my quilt was too big for the table but I just got up and pulled the quilt & boards along the table when I needed to tack that edge. This worked out to be a good thing as it made me get up and move every now and then.

About half way done (that’s Wales V France replaying on the News). I think this is a great method as you can do it by yourself and you don’t have to crawl around the floor. I was all finished to give my full attention to the rugby ( I’m not usually a fan, but have been really enjoying the Rugby World Cup). The match was great NZ 20 points to Australia's 6, looking forward to next Sunday now.

Coastal Sew ’n’ Sews –Quilt Show

2011-10-11T10:44:00.006+13:00

Coastal Sew 'n' Sews Raffle Quilt

Coastal Sew ‘n’ Sews Quilt Show is coming up on Labour Weekend. It is always a good show so if you can go, do!

Coastal Sew ‘n’ Sews Quilt Show

Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd October

(Labour Weekend)

10am to 4pm

Ngunguru Memorial Hall

Entry $2, Merchants, Raffles and Trading Table

Ngunguru is a short drive (approx 30 minutes) north east of Whangarei, the Memorial Hall is on the left (when coming from the south) just after the bridge when you enter Ngunguru. It's a beautiful coastal village so allow some extra time to have a walk on the beach too.

Show n Tell, October 2011

2011-10-11T10:15:00.004+13:00

Olive Bryson has been making these bow tie blocks over a few years out of 1930's fabric.
It is machine quilted on a long arm machine by her daughter in law from Tauranga.
Excellent work by both of them.

Dorothy Terpstra made this beautiful baby quilt. This is the third one she has made using this pattern.
She has been enjoying using up her scraps making them and loves how colourful they are.
I love the flowers on the girl bears.

This is a UFO from 2006, and Beryl McDowell is pleased to have finished it. It is a really fun quilt of the animals all tucked up in bed in the barn. Each animal has something special with them.
Close up's below of the Rooster with his alarm clocks, and the Cow with her glass of milk.

This lovely quilt is Pat Woodman's first quilt. I'm sure there will be many more.

This quilt has been made by 'The Loose Ends' satellite group, for Project Promise (local Hospital fundraiser).
It was a real team project with Elaine preparing the butterflies, everyone blanket stitching them by hand. Margaret sewed the blocks together, Connie cut the borders/binding & provided the batting. Then Helen hand quilted & finished it. Well done Ladies!

Elaine Healey made these two pink quilts (above & below) for Starship (National Children's Hospital).
Elaine & Yvonne Davis have been making quilts for children at Starship for years.
Yvonne had made another four quilts too, but we didn't have room to hang them at Show n Tell. I didn't manage to get photos of them. SORRY. But they were great.

Shelia Udjur & Pam Carr are getting ready for Christmas already!
Shelia made this black and white wallhanging from a pattern she bought at Calico Xmas a couple of years ago.
And Pam has made this neat Christmas Stocking for her Grandson Cooper. Pam made the stocking at a class at 'The Country Yard'. I like how the bear is made from wool fabric, and Coopers name is added using little letter beads. ( click on the photo's to have a closer look)

This piece was inspired by the 'Wearable Art Awards' by Petra Pilkington.

These two were made by Petra too. These started as an old evening skirt, were stencilled, and embellished with washers and old used tea bags! (click on them for a closer look)

Dawn Dahlberg made this lovely wall hanging in a recent class taught by Mary Transom.
Dawn also added 3D waterlilly flowers.

And this was made by Margaret O'Leary at the same class with Mary Transom.

Top Left: Helen Poot Top Right: Dawn Dahlberg
Bottom Left: Lynne O'Donnell Bottom Right: Patricia Smith

Jacqui Karl recently taught her 'Layered Leaves' workshop and these are some of the finished wallhanging. There was another one at Show n Tell made by Shelia Udjur, but sorry Shelia the photo was just too fuzzy to use. Everyone who did this class really enjoyed it, and commented on what a good tutor Jacqui is.

Sonya Prchal

2011-10-07T16:47:00.005+13:00

Sonya is a fellow club member & friend, as well as a very accomplished quilt artist.
I have recently been helping her set up a site to promote the classes she teaches.
Sonya has now finished all the hard work of loading photo's etc, so go and check it out.
She has some very interesting classes available.

Click on the picture below to go and have a look.

PS: Looking forward to seeing you all at club tomorrow.

Do you have Favourite Colours?

2011-10-03T11:53:00.005+13:00

I have always thought that I didn’t a favourite colour. But recently I discovered this little thing about myself! It all started a few months ago when I bought this scarf.

I really liked the two colours together and thought it would be a ‘useful item’ to add a bit of colour to my mostly boring wardrobe.
Anyway I started enjoying wearing this scarf so I thought I would buy some more, so next time I saw some scarves these come home.

Then I thought it would be fun to knit some of that cool mesh yarn you can get now, so I knitted these.

Then I saw some nice scarves another day and bought them too.

Do you notice a theme? Well I didn’t until one Saturday I decided I would hand wash all my scarves. As they were hanging on the washing line to dry, I realised they were all either teal green or purple!
So now I’m re-thinking that idea that I don’t have favourites, ‘cause obliviously I do!
Anyway last week I decided I wanted to buy another couple of scarves, but was determined not to get the same colours this time. So….

I bought these. The top one is really a pink / burgundy colour not the pink / purple it looks here in the photo, and the bottom one is olive green. I know, still not to far from the original scarf! Oh well maybe next time I will have to buy a yellow scarf!

So do you have favourite colours that you don’t know about too?

PS: I’m making a quilt, but is a secret because it’s a gift. But as soon as I can I will share. And for WP&Q members remember it’s our AGM this Saturday.

PPS: Oh one important scarf wearing tip I have learnt this year:
Shake your lunch crumbs out of your scarf!

Show & Tell, & Club Meeting September 2011

2011-09-14T18:47:00.003+12:00

I hope you managed to buy some bargains from our Merchant Itch to Stitch Bernina. I know several members did. Don't worry my lips are sealed (in case any husbands read this)!! What did you think of the Go! Baby Cutter? I thought it was really cool, if you didn't get to see it, pop into Bernina and check it out. Also while you are there remember to enter the contest that Cushla announced. It is exclusive to WP&Q Club members, and closes on the 6th of October.

Go! Baby.

It was only a small Show and Tell this time which worked out good, because we had less space to hang quilts with Bernina at one end of the gym, and the schools tiered seating taking up a fair bit of space at the other end of the gym. So just the perfect amount of Show and Tell actually :-)

The first four quilts are club charity quilts, so have a look and see if you can see the blocks you made.Two members Wendy Magee & Jennifer Cullen have quilted these next four quilts for the club to donate. Thank you both very much for your time, thread, skills etc. It is appreciated

club charity quilt quilted by Wendy Magee & Jennifer Cullen

Home Sweet Home, made by Pam Carr. It's a row by row quilt. Hand appliqued and hand quilted.
The quilting is beautiful, I especially like the echo quilting on the cream background.

This quilt is made by Maureen Gray, she said it is made using some of her hexagons,
but she still has plenty more!

ABC Quilt made by Helen Barron.
Helen has made this for a friend to have at her house, for when the grandchildren come to stay.
Helen said she has too many to make individual quilts for them!

Angels at Christmas by Pam Carr.
It's an 'older project' found at the back of her cupboard when she recently moved house!
Ready for Christmas now :-)

Poppies by Gaylyn Barclay.
Gaylyn started this in a workshop with tutor Caroline Sharkey earlier this year.

Now these two bags were made by mother and daughter Gaye Miller & Jessica Fraser. Gaye simplified a pattern from a recent Homespun magazine so she could teach it to girls from Kamo Girls Brigade.

Now I think this one is Jessica's Bag (she helped her Mum teach the class)

And this I think this bag is Gaye's.
(Gaye let me know if I have got that wrong, so I can correct it!)

Gaye has been busy! She has also made these cushions
for a friend who is leaving on a exchange for a year to Canada.

Dorothy Terpstra made these Doves from a Patchwork & Stitching Magazine.
They are a gift for a friend.

Dorothy also made a beautiful set of Placemats for herself using a great Coffee Themed fabric. They were really nice and I'd like to have taken them home! But sorry I forgot to take a photo of them.

I hope you enjoyed the meeting last Saturday. If you are looking for the video of hand basting that Lynne and I demo'ed at club, I posted it a couple of days ago click here to go to that post.

Poroti Quilting

2011-09-12T09:36:00.002+12:00

My Friend Sandy Robinson (& WP&Q club member too), has a great longarm quilting business, Poroti Quilting. Many WP&Q club members have enjoyed using Sandy's services, with great results.
I thought I'd let you all know that Sandy has recently set up a website for her business.
It's packed with a lot of information, a slideshow of quilts she has quilted & more.
Click on the picture or any of these links, to go to her website.

PS I've added her link under Great Northland Merchants (right hand side of blog) in case you forget to bookmark her site!

Hand Basting

2011-09-11T13:04:00.008+12:00

Hi everyone there is Sharon Schamber's video of Hand Basting a quilt using wooden boards. (Sharon has many videos on youtube, if you click on her name above if you want to go to her other videos too.)

This is the method Lynne and I demo'ed yesterday at Quilt Club. NB I have done this a few times now and haven't starched the backing fabric like Sharon recommends, but it has still worked out fine. Also I have used ordinary thread too. What you use is up to you. I do think the key is the zig zag stitching so make sure you do that!

Lynne and I also used spoons to help us bring the needle up through the fabric and save our fingers. A lot of members had not seen this before, and really liked it. It is an old trick I learnt years ago, I can't even remember where I learnt this! Obviously don't use your best spoons for this as they will get scratched, but it does make it easier on your fingers.

If you are doing this on a table you don't want scratched by your needle, put a piece of card board, or your cutting mat (upside down) underneath the backing fabric to protect your table.

This a great method as you can do this by yourself, with no crawling around the floor and getting sore knees and back. So go and look in the garage or shed and steel your husbands wooden boards or visit Mitre 10 or Bunnings and buy your own.

TIP if you are buying your own boards look down them from the end to make sure they aren't 'curved', you want nice flat straight boards

Jacqui Karl Layered Leaves Workshop

2011-09-07T15:53:00.005+12:00

Jacqui Karl's class last weekend was a great success. I was an 'Angel' on the second day of the class, and all the ladies taking the class were buzzing.

Jacqui is a great tutor and everyone learnt new techniques and had a great time. I'm sure we will have Jacqui to tutor again, hopefully she can stay longer next time.

I'm pleased to say she remembered me from years ago when I used to live in the Hawkes Bay, and she worked at the Cloth Shop. (I must have been the annoying customer that stayed in her mind!) or maybe it was 'cause I liked a natter when I was at the shop. :-)

Anyway check out her lovely class samples, below

This is one of Jacqui's samples

close up detail

Another of Jacqui's samples (this has two types of 3D leaves and berries too)

close up detail- I love the 3D leaves and bead work.

Everyone was really hard at work, but enjoying themselves. They got a lot done in class so we may even see some finished for Club day on Saturday.

everyone with their heads down working hard.

layering the organza to make the fabric for the flowers.

this was kind of like doing a jigsaw or tetris.

sealing/cutting out the flowers with a soldering iron.
(the organza is fused to other side of the black felt)

Here's a few photos of the work around the class, I can't remember who's is whose, but you can see there was a lot of great work. I look forward to seeing all the wall hangings as they come to club for show n tell.

Parua Bay

2011-08-28T12:28:00.003+12:00

Yesterday we had a ‘Sunday Drive’ on a Saturday, and ended up at Parua Bay Tavern for a late lunch.
It was such a beautiful day we ate outside, overlooking the water and watching boats slowly coming and going.
The Tavern was quite busy and had a lot of day trippers popping in for lunch.
I thought the water had a 'painterly' look to it as it was calm with only a few ripples

The Jetty at Parua Bay Tavern, taken from our table.

The Coast Guard going out to cruise around the boats. (Also taken from our picnic table)

Now for a puzzle. When I took photos off my Husbands camera, there was this shot.

What do you think it is?

Cotton wool, batting, snow?

No it is looking out the plane window, on Husband's recent flight to Wellington.

He said it was very cloudy, now I believe him!

He took this photo especially for me because he thought it looked like quilt batting :-)

Sun rising over the clouds

Here you can see the Sun coming up.

He always takes photos from the plane and they usually come out quite good.

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend too,

How to make a 3D Bow Tie Block

2011-08-24T19:21:00.004+12:00

This is the block that Lynda demo'ed at our last club meeting. It's really easy, looks much harder than it is.

Start with 5 squares, 2 background and 3 bow tie colours.

Fold one of your bow tie fabrics in half.

Make a sandwich with a background square, the folded square, and another bow tie square.

(right sides together)

NB the arrow in the photo above is pointing to the edge of the fold, on the folded fabric square)

Sew your seam catching the folded fabric between the other squares.

This is what it looks like after you have sewn the seam, and folded fabrics back.

Now repeat and sew the other 2 squares to the other side of folded fabric.
NB make sure your fabrics are placed, the opposite of last time so you end up with this.

Lift it up and open the little pocket made by the folded fabric.

Pin the ends, then gently squash block together so the centres meet.

Pin the 'pocket' edges into the seam. Don't worry if this is wonky and not straight to works out!

See still looks a bit wonky when sewn, but take the pins out and....

Open it up to reveal a beautiful 3D Bow Tie block

Show n Tell & Meeting August 2011

2011-08-19T01:34:00.003+12:00

Sorry for the long wait, life has been busy and when it slowed down all I wanted to do was sit in front of a heater this week. Overseas readers won't know but we have had a Polar Blast from Antarctica this week in New Zealand. We have even had snow in parts of the 'winterless' Northland. No snow here but I have been wearing thermals all week, and today when it was 15C I felt warm for the first time in ages! Which is funny because I usually think it's cold when it's 15C ! Anyway onto the long overdue Show n Tell from last Saturdays Quilt Club Meeting.

These three pictures are in one wallhanging called 'Cruisers Capers' but I wanted to take close ups so you could all see the details.

This gorgeous little dog is Sonya Prchal's. She printed photos of Cruiser onto fabric and the thread painted them with free motion embroidery.

Sue Gillard purchased this fabric from our merchant at last months meeting (Country Dawn) and whipped up this casserole carrier.

Opps Camera was on the wrong setting! Sorry about that. Pauline Schon wanted to try a tessellated star technique, so made this placemat. That's a good idea to made something small when you want to try a new technique.

Carmel Spray made this table mat, to try out a pattern from a library book.

Shelia Ujdur made this stack n wack quilt using an Australian fabric she bought a few years ago. The large print was perfect for this technique, and when you have a close look there are a lot of Aussie bugs and animals. See the grubs n bugs in the close up below?

This is 'Fishy Tails' made by Sue Gillard for a yet to be born great nephew. Sue said she wouldn't attempt so many half square triangles again in a hurry! The pattern was from one of our club library books.

Opps wrong setting on camera again!

But this lovely Ryan McKenna quilt was made by Dorothy Tersptra.

Same deal with the camera sorry, must check photos before quilts taken down next month!

Carol Mayes made this quilt using the fabric her daughter in law gave her. Her daughter in law really liked the fabric so Carol decided to make this quilt for her.

Carol Mayes also made this incredible piece to go on the bottom of her bed. There is so much to look at, with so many different embellishments. Carol said she had been collecting items for years and started making this coverlet while recuperating from surgery. Below is a close so you can see all the work involved. Carol said she enjoyed every stitch, and couldn't put it down. (close up below)

'My Blue Heaven' by Shirley Julian inspired by a wall hanging made by Larkin Van Horn, that Shirley saw at Queenstown Symposium. Shirley said 'its really a machine quilting sampler, and was fun to do'.

Same panel two different looks. Wall hanging and quilt by Petra Pilkington.

These beautiful butterflies had no label & I can't remember who made them. Please someone leave a comment and let me know so I can update the post.

This quilt was really lovely, and very big! I couldn't get it all in the photo, but there are triangles on the left hand border too! (Also the wide border is a lovely yellow/cream not the white of the photo). It's called 'Sweet Dreams' and Shirley Julian made it.

It is the 3D Bow Tie block that Lynda Demo'ed how to make at the meeting, but instead of using matching fabric to make the bow, Shirley has made a scrap version with all the blocks having a 3D black centre. Sandy Robinson quilted it, and Shirley said she is thrilled with the results. (close up below)

This is one of the club charity quilts. It was put together by one of our satellite groups & quilted by Leonie Wihongi

'Cone Flowers' by Gaylyn Barclay. Gaylyn was inspired by a Quilting Arts Magazine. It's white fabric, free motion quilted & coloured by water soluble pastels.

Pam Carr made this from a sample pack of fabric, and hand quilted it using crochet cotton.

I love the large ric rac.

Also on Saturday we celebrated Audrey Cox's 90th Birthday. Here's Audrey cutting the cake & Fiona presenting her with flowers. (Fiona made several large cakes so we all got to have a piece. It was so yummy there were requests for the recipe to be in the next newsletter, so watch out for that.)

Lynne King (right) was our guest speaker at club. She spoke about flower pounding & gave a us all a demo too. Her last class was very popular so there maybe another held soon. So see Lynne Wilson if you are interested in doing the class.

Dargaville Quilt Show

2011-08-15T10:20:00.007+12:00

Fiona, Margaret & I went to the Dargaville Quilt Show last Friday.
We meet at Fiona’s and I thought you’d like to see Fiona’s baby lambs,
it means Spring must be coming soon!

Fiona’s husband said I could help him
cut their tails off soon.
No thanks I’ll just take photos.

OK on to the quilts now.
I just took a few photos, there were a lot of quilts at the show, and the venue was really nice,
so well done Dargaville Quilters.

This is an amazing quilt using different fabric and technique's,
sorry I couldn’t get a straight on photo.
(the orange at the bottom is from the quilt displayed on the other side)

Here’s a detail from the border.
The fabric is folded into 3D origami Kimonos.

Fiona really liked this one, and thought it could be a good way for her to use some of her
New Zealand fabrics.

There were several wallhangings on display made in this class. This was my favourite as the colours glowed.

I really liked this. The details are great. Click on the photo to enlarge it and have a look at the details; keys, woven baskets, tattoo, shells the more you look the more you see.
(on my computer I have to click on photo, and then click again on the photo that comes up to get an enlarged view, so try this if you only get a small photo when you click)

These wall hangings were really nice, this is just one of the feature blocks.
I’m sure they will be appreciated at the Hospital.

After the Quilt Show we had a bit of retail therapy with Country Dawn (who said they are thinking of moving into a shop in town). Then at the Dargaville Sewing Centre (Janome) which has moved to a bigger shop on Normandy St.

When we returned to Fiona’s the chickens were out, but they didn’t like having their photo taken and ran away.

PS: tutorial for the 3D Bow Tie Block we demo'ed at Club Day, should go on tomorrow and then Show n Tell from Saturday after that. Bye

Auckland Trip (the country mouse goes to town)

2011-07-30T09:50:00.178+12:00

Last week my husband had a business meeting in Auckland, and as it was school holidays and I wasn't working he asked if I'd like to come and go shopping. Well yes of course!

He knew I had been wanting to go to The Ribbon Rose in Ellerslie so he dropped me off there to start my day.
This is an incredible shop and if you haven't been before I'd allow at least an hour to look at everything. Just when you think you have seen everything, you find another room with more goodies. It was really hard to decide what to buy as I loved everything.

My purchases

In the end I bought some bias cut silk ribbon as I have never used this and I'm interested to see how it makes flowers compared to straight grain ribbon. Then these great specialty thread packs by Jane Van Keulen, and lastly I couldn't leave the perle cotton behind as they were in a bargain pack, 6 for the price of 2.

As my husband had a work vehicle (I'm not allowed to drive it) I had to use public transport. I had a little adventure travelling around Auckland.

The train leaving Ellersile Station, taken from the foot bridge over the motorway.

Off the train at Britomart

I really enjoyed the trains, and the conductors were really friendly and helpful. They have incredible memories too, every stop the passengers played musical chairs to get better spots but the conductors still could work out the new people who had boarded the train and needed to buy a ticket. Doing that for one carriage would do my head in, but they were doing it for several carriages!

Britomart. All you have to do is go up the elevators and you are in Queen St.

Here's some more photos from the rest of my day.

I crossed the road to get the ferry to Devonport, as I waited I shared a biscuit with the sparrows

The Seagulls were jealous, but I like the Sparrows better so they missed out!

The Ferry coming into to Auckland.

On the ferry looking back at down town Auckland

When I got off the ferry this was waiting, but I decided to walk around Devonport.

Window shopping at the toy shop. (Hey Lynne, Ron would love this!)

And here's the shop I had come over to see

I only purchased a small fabric pack, but it is an amazing shop.

Wandering around I found an emporium (Ike's I think) and bought some braids

Then I found an Op shop (thrift shop) and got a bit carried away buying wool

On the ferry ride back I thought this new building on the waterfront looks like a caterpillar.
I'm guessing it is 'party central' for the Rugby World Cup.

It was a nice day out and next time I might get braver and go on buses too!

Symposium Suitcase Exhibition at Bernina

2011-07-29T09:20:00.000+12:00

Hi I popped into Bernina yesterday and had a look at the travelling exhibition. Make sure you go and have a look too as there is plenty to see! Francine has done a great job hanging them all, it must have been like doing a hard jigsaw puzzle, making them all fit!

Here is a teaser, and the one that caught my eye the most. It is part of a triptych by Jean McLean

Jean McLean - Life's Journey Triptych (centre tree only)

Club members Shirley Julian & Robyn Halverson also have wallhangings in the exhibition, so make sure you read all the labels too.

Also while I was at Bernina I noticed a lot of sewing machines are on special at the moment, so if you have been thinking of buying a new machine now would be a good time!

Show & Tell, July 2011

2011-07-15T20:00:00.018+12:00

We had another full show and tell last Saturday. It's really nice that we have room to hang it all up for everyone to see. Much better than the quick look we used to have, when we had our meetings at St Johns.

Sonya does a great job hanging them all up too. Thanks Sonya.

Lynne O'Donnel has made this great wall hanging to be auctioned for Project Promise. (local hospital fundraiser)

'The Clog Maker' by Dorothy Terpstra

The next few wall hangings are by Gaylyn Barclay. Sandy met Gaylyn at the public library. Gaylyn was looking at the quilting books so Sandy invited her to come along to club.

'Seahorses' by Gaylyn Barclay.

by Gaylyn Barclay

'Crayfish' by Sonya Prchal. Sonya took her rotary cutter to a bigger wall hanging as she thought it was too busy! Her favourite part was this Crayfish, so he lives another day!

'Shannon's Quilt' made by Carmel Spray for her grand daughters 13th Birthday. I'm sure she will love it with all those girly things!

'Beaded Fusion' by Donna Rowan started in Gloria Loughman's class at Queenstown Symposium

'Doodle Quilt' by Donna Rowan, 'finished many times, just kept coming back and adding things!'

Gee Donna's been busy this is her's too! 'Anemones Cushion' wool fabric

Jennifer Cullen made this cute baby quilt using half a Jelly Roll

One of our satellite groups 'Stitch n Time' put together these charity blocks & quilted it too. Thanks ladies.

'The Cats Surprise' Kay O'Hagan finished this for her sister in law. It's really cute, see the close ups below.

Here's Kitty playing with the ribbon....

......and here's the gift. A new friend.

Crazy Block by Tric Carter. Tric is going to make this into a cushion.

Crazy block by Sheryl Schick. It's still a work in progress but is looking good.

And another one of Sheryl's blocks. The Butterflies look great.

July Meeting 2011

2011-07-14T19:29:00.001+12:00

Hope you all enjoyed the Saturday meeting, I thought I would post this photo to remind you all to make a pair of blocks for our raffle quilt next year.

Blocks for the raffle quilt.

Sue from Country Dawn (in blue) & her fabrics. Can you see the kitchen ladies in the background?
They were serving soup for lunch yum.

Hope you all made purchases from Sue of Country Dawn, if you are regretting not buying something just visit her website and buy it there!

If you are wondering where Show and Tell is I'm posting that tomorrow night, Bye

Body Art

2011-07-13T11:51:00.000+12:00

	Looking at a news site this morning I spotted this photo. It's from the World Body Painting Festival held in Austria, last weekend. If you want to see more use the link above and check it out.
new 'Costume' for the next Quilting Symposium?

Milton's Challenge

2011-07-11T10:19:00.000+12:00

Opps..... I forgot to post these photos last month!!!

We had a little Challenge to make something using the batik fabric we got at the xmas meeting last year.

As they were batiks we bought from Milton we had him pick some winners. I only have the names of the winners, as the entries were anonymous till they came and claimed their prize.

1st place. By Lynda Parker

2nd Place. By Bernice Spear

3rd Place, Treasure Boxes by Jenny Gough.
(Scissors Holder, and Hat were other entries)

Baby Blocks

Stars

I really liked this one! (no it wasn't mine, I didn't get around to making anything)

Merchant for July Meeting

2011-07-04T09:44:00.000+12:00

Sue of Country Dawn is coming to our club meeting this Saturday, so remember to bring some spending money!

I was checking out her website this morning and noticed she has a lot of fabrics that would be great for pictorial quilts like skies, stones, trees etc. Also there are some really cute novelty fabrics too.

She will being bringing a selection of fabric to sell. But if you are looking for something special check out her website and then flick her an email so she can bring the fabric you want over with her.

Crazy Block Class

2011-06-25T20:39:00.003+12:00

Well this time I remembered to take some photos of the class.
Some photos are taken with my camera and then my cell phone when my backup batteries were dead!
Also thanks to Donna who let me use her camera in case my cell phone photos didn't come out.
It was the first time I had used my cell phone for photos and they didn't come out too bad so that's a good save next time my cameras batteries die. ;-)
I really enjoyed tutoring so hopefully I'll get to do it again.
Here are a few photos I took of my students work.

We did some Silk Ribbon Embroidery.

We practiced Bullion stitches.

made some Iris's

Aren't these Spider Web Roses beautiful?

Love that curved blanket stitch it adds a lot of movement to this block, and the ribbon flowers look great.

Silk Ribbon flowers and Buds

Donna's concentrating hard, I don't think she knew I took her photo!

Tric bought her own magnifying glass / light to class and we were all jealous

Here's Lynne as well as doing the class, Lynne looked after us all by setting up the tables, sorting the tea breaks and cleaning up. Thanks from all of us Lynne, we all appreciate the hard work you put into organising classes for the club.

Looking Forward to Tomorrow

2011-06-24T14:48:00.000+12:00

Tomorrow is the second half of the Crazy Block class I have been teaching. I'm really looking forward to it and hope it goes well. When I taught the first class I was so busy I forgot to that some photos! Not like me at all.
I will try and do better tomorrow. Lucky Marie took a few photos last time so here's a little montage of them.

Here we are discussing stitches and I'm demo-ing some. Hope that's interest on their faces!

Sun Rise and Milton

2011-06-16T08:53:00.001+12:00

I thought I would share these photos I took just after sun rise the other day. The colours were glorious, not sure if it's because of volcanic ash (from Chile) or not, but I have been enjoying them anyway.

from my deck over looking Whangarei

from the kitchen window looking over the banana palms

As it was a 'red sky in the morning' day, I thought it might get stormy but it didn't.

OK I promised some photos of Milton in the last post, so here they are. Milton comes from Morrinsville, so it is quite a drive up to Whangarei, but lucky for us he doesn't mind.

To bring all his batiks he has an enormous trailer.

You can see we had plenty of colours to pick from.

It was much easier packing up as there was only half the fabric to go back, the rest of the fabric is hiding in stashes around Northland now :-)

Show & Tell, June 2011

2011-06-12T16:55:00.005+12:00

Club meeting was yesterday. It was a great day, we had Milton Wright visiting as a merchant, he also judged our small challenge. More on that on another post. But for now here's the Show n Tell from yesterday. There was a lot and I think I may have missed a few, so sorry if it was yours. A great variety and a lot of finished items from workshops, looks like no-one wants UFOs! Enjoy the eye candy.

'Purple Colourwash' by Tess Harris adapted from a design
by Deanna Springola (Water Colour Magic)

'Seahorse' by new member Dorothy Terpstra. Dorothy made this in a workshop
with Sally Smith at the Warkworth Quilters, using a 10 degree ruler.

Both of these poppy wallhangings where made in a class taught by Australian tutor Caroline Sharkey at Bernina recently.

The blue background Poppies were made by Dawn Dalhberg and the other is by Helen Poot.

Dawn really enjoyed the class and found Caroline to be a great tutor. Helen enjoyed it too and especially loved the 'pizza way of making fabric'.

This quilt top made by Helen Poot was designed by her 13 year old grandson Sam.

She said on her note, that she hopes to have it quilted within the next 2 weeks. When asked why (thinking it was going to be his birthday) Helen said 'If I don't put a deadline on it, it won't happen!'

Donna Rowan made this cushion using a Pohutakawa Wreath pattern from NZ Quilter.

She said to was intended as a gift but missed the deadline by a few years!

Charity Blocks made by club members, put together by Margaret Read.

'Japanese Triptych' by Carmel Spray, ideas and patterns from the book
Japanese Quilt Blocks by Susan Briscoe.

Poppy Quilt made by Sue Farrier from an Australian Patchwork and Quilting Magazine Pattern.
Really lovely embroidery on this quilt too

'Typical Northland Coast' by Lynne O'Donnell. Started at the Remarkables Symposium. Made with handmade felt and hand dyed silk. There's also real lichen on there too!

Several club members recently took a class with Lyn King on 'Flower Pounding'.

They bought their work to share with us. Sorry I didn't get photos of them all, these where all made by Jane Robinson (except the finished one in the top left hand corner, ~~let me know if you know who made that one and I will update this post)~~ Lynne O'Donnell just emailed, the finished flowers are hers!

Close up of one of Jane's flowers. The flowers where 'pounded' into fabric using small hammers.
The colours come from the flowers and leaves themselves.

Then the flowers/leaves were outlined using a pigma pen. This really brings them to life.

Beryl McDowell made this quilt for her grand daughter Nicole's 2nd Birthday.
Everyone loved the large rainbow rickrack.

'Autumn Leaves' table runner made by Terri Mills.
It was started in a drunkards path workshop taught by Kerry Glen.

'Trellis Cascade' by Robin Halverson. Robin said 'This is my of Karen Broderson's workshop sample. All fabric hand dyed, or painted. Flowers are made using wash away, leaves are silk.'

Made by Sue Gillard. Sue said 'This Sunflower panel morphed into a cushion cover,
a birthday gift for my sister-in-law in Auckland.

'Gulls' by Shirley Julian created in Barbara Weeks class at Symposium.
Felting and silk painting.

Framed Pukeko's by Sonya Prchal. Sonya said she painted these a few years ago and decided to was time they were made into a wallhanging.

This beautiful workbag and bead covered tape measure where made by Joan (a visitor from Christchurch). On her show and tell label she said the they where made under 'Shakey' circumstances. I hope you are enjoying your stay here in Northland, and having a nice break from earthquakes.

Made by Elaine Healey from a Handmade Magazine for the best reason- just because Elaine liked it!

Busy Busy Busy.....

2011-06-02T08:37:00.000+12:00

... not much to show for it! Sorry still not a lot of sewing going on as other areas of my life are busy at the moment.
Still doing heaps to sort out my Library at work, seems never ending, making signs and labels, and will have to re-catalogue some books, but that is boring to you all I know, but I'm lucky to enjoy my paid work so is interesting to me!
Also I have taken on a part time job, helping with a website so I don't seem to have much free time at the moment. But you know what? When you haven't time to sew, that's when you get all these great ideas, now I need to start planning some so they actually happen.

On the sewing front I taught a Crazy Patch class last weekend and it seemed to go well. I was so busy with that I forgot to take photos of it all to share with you! Hopefully people will bring what they have done to the next club meeting to share. I really enjoyed teaching the class, ( has been several years since the last time I taught some patchwork) so hopefully I'll get to do more of that.

Now so you have some eye candy to look at, check out this cool handbag.

The square sequins are actually solar panels, so you can charge your phone and laptop on the go! I love it.

Great how they have made an attractive feature of the solar panels.

Why I haven't been sewing lately...

2011-05-20T18:16:00.008+12:00

WARNING NOT A LOT OF QUILT RELATED INFORMATION!
Since I few people have been asking me what I've been sewing lately?
ie Why haven't I been posting quilty things on the blog?
I thought I'd show the other stuff I've been busy with. In my other life (work!)
The last few weeks have been taken up with dreaming, planning, ordering, taking down and putting up new shelves. So here's the 5 steps to a new look Library.

NB: I had help putting up the shelving from Jeannie* (National Library) & John* from
Keri Keri (both of them are camera shy). Jeannie is a new quilter too!

*Thanks heaps guys it wouldn't have happened without all your help!

1. You have to take books off the shelves! There were piles like this everywhere!

2. Take old shelving down.
(thats the old shelves leaning against the counter, see the empty wall they have came from)

More piles of books and the all the letters.

I did have to leave a little room so I could use the computer when needed!

3. Next open ~~Hundreds~~ lots of boxes of new shelving.

4. Assemble shelves.

5. Add books!

New face out display for Junior Picture Books

Quick Reads. Love the bins that hold complete book sets.

Senior Fiction. Face out display is so more appealing than 'spine'.

Now to make it quilty I grabbed out some quilt related books. Did you know there are a lot of pictures books with quilting/patchwork stories? They make great gifts to give kids, with the quilt you have made for them.

Still have some things to tweek in the Library, but as most of the work is done now, there might be some sewing in my future!

Show & Tell, May 2011

2011-05-15T16:26:00.005+12:00

The meeting yesterday was the first club meeting since the Quilting Symposium in Queenstown. So we had members who had been to Queenstown tell us about their trip and the classes they took. Sonya also spoke about being a tutor for the first time at a Symposium, she really enjoyed it and is looking forward Taupo Symposium in 2013.

Unfortunately the photos I took as these people spoke did come out (too much sunlight behind them), but I'm sure when the items are completed we will see them again at future show n tells. Anyway onto the photos that did come out!

Marie Finnegan started this Bargello quilt in a class
taught by Debbie Williams at Symposium

Helen Poot made this in a Symposium class 'Cascading Tyvek Flowers'
taught by Karen Broderson

Here's a closer look at the beading and stitching.

'Machining with Metallics', was another Symposium class Helen did.
It was taught by Cheryl Comfort.

And congratulations to club members Shirley Julian & Robyn Halverson who both won awards at the Symposium.
They didn't have their quilts with them yesterday as the quilts are now travelling the country in the Suitcase Exhibition of award winners.
The Exhibition will be in Whangarei in August at Itch to Stitch, Bernina.

______________________________

'Wonky Houses' by Maureen Gray.

'FYSH4T' made by Shelia Udjur for her husbands 55th birthday.

Crazy Patch Chicken Pincushion made by Sue Gillard.

Flower Pot Fairy made by Sue Gillard.

Sue has been busy again and made these hot water bottle
covers to showcase these folded fabric flowers.

'Henry the Heritage Bear' made by Tric Carte using old and precious fabrics.

Sue Farrier made this large play mat using a
fabric panel she purchased a few years ago.

Gaye Miller made this using a photo she took of her own sun flowers.
She said she learnt a lot about needles, and what fusible not to use!

This is the first quilt by new Member Mathea Daunhemier
(she has moved here all the way from Maine, USA and is pleased it doesn't snow here!) .
It's called 'Throwing Apples'

'Dock Ropes' By Mathea Daunheimer.
Painted with tsukineko inks & freemotion quilted.

'New York Beauty Circles' By Jenny Gough.

'Dragon Fly Summer' by Lynda Parker started in
mixed media class taught by Hazel Foot last year.

Quilt Frame

2011-05-07T13:12:00.001+12:00

OK I just read my Quilt Club newsletter and it says I have a photo of the quilt frame we have for sale by tender on the blog, so I thought I better re-post some photos as that was a long time ago!

Details of how to place a tender are in your Newsletter.

Wai-Quilt Show

2011-05-05T18:30:00.005+12:00

While I was in Hamilton at the weekend I popped into Wai-Quilts exhibition in Gordonton. Of course I took a few photos to share with you so lets check them out.

Horned Dragon by Lynda Bates of Te Awamutu Quilters

Close up so you can see all the detailed stitching, just beautiful!

This 'Affairs of the Heart' quilt was made by Betty Mclean and named 'In Loving Memory of Brian'

Reeling Reds by Mary Arvidson. The points are perfectly sharp!

'Nga Mihi Nui' by Mary Arvidson, made as wedding present for American friends.

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At the show they also had on display the Hoffman Challenge Quilts for 2011.

So I took a few photos of the ones I liked.

'The Gift' by Mary K. O'Hara Matheson of Dunedin. I really like the story book feel to this wallhanging.


'Ride With Me' by Joanne Mitchell of Geraldine.

This amazing quilt had LED lights in the silver circles on the top of the carousel and when a button was pushed they lit up and music played too! No wonder it won the viewers choice for the Hoffman Challenge & Best Overall.

'Indian Chief War Sheild' by Jenny Skudder of Timaru

In this close up you can see the different use of the challenge fabric as the base of the feathers and also the wrapped around the stems of the feathers

And this is why I was in Hamilton in the first place. My eldest Son Graduated on Monday. Can you see who is capping him? See if you can work it out, I'll put the answer in the comments.

Queenstown Symposium

2011-04-29T09:04:00.000+12:00

Symposium is over for another two years. I didn't get to go this time, but have registered for Taupo! Here's a link to Taupo Symposium so if you haven't registered, use the site and do it online. (I have also put a link to Taupo in the side bar -right hand side under Useful Websites).

Here is a little list of links to posts about the Queenstown Symposium.

A list of winners is now up on the Remarkable Symposium site.
'Life- The Tactile Journey' a blog by Wendy who lives in Queenstown has lots of photos of winning quilts.
Shirley Goodwin has several posts from about Queenstown (photos of Queenstown scenery, Quilts, Tutors etc) on her blog 'Dyeing to Design'.
Clare Smith has blogged about Queenstown too on her blog, Textiles on the Edge..(of the Planet)
Donna and Ashley Ward have posted about their time at Queenstown on their blog Donna's Quilt Studio.

Everyone Loves a Wedding...

2011-04-26T10:41:00.001+12:00

Not long now till the Royal Wedding of William & Kate on the 29th. I'll be watching, I'm not a royalist but I enjoy watching all the traditional stuff. I mean who doesn't like a wedding?
I can remember watching Diana and Charles getting married, and then a few years later Andrew and Sarah. I loved both gowns at the time, but preferred Sarah's. (I thought the big A for Andrew she had on the train was so cool). Luckily I had changed my mind about gowns by the time I got married!
Anyway here's a clip from Youtube, a bit of fun and it's got some 'Fibre' to it, enjoy!

ANZAC Day

2011-04-25T08:28:00.084+12:00

It's ANZAC Day here in New Zealand, so I thought I would share this beautiful quilt made by Lynne Wilson.

The poppy is a symbol of war remembrance the world over, and this quilt includes beautiful applique, embroidery and of course poppy fabric.

Jar Quilts

2011-04-15T15:45:00.011+12:00

A strange title for a quilt I know but I was talking to a friend Raewyn about 'Jar' quilts. You probably have seen one or two of them, they were a trend a few years ago. Remember Bugs in Jars, and Sewing Notions?

Well Raewyn was saying a food one would be good, and I said I have one in my kitchen.

To be honest it's been there so long I forget that it's there. There was the funny story of a friends husband who was visiting and had had a 'few'. He was trying to convince me to open up some of those preserves!

Anyway here is a photo for you and Raewyn to see what I mean.

I had to wrack my brain to think about when this was made (early '90s I think). I only made 2 blocks in it, the strawberry one and the raspberry one. The other blocks where made by others in a swap.

My friend Roz who ~~started all this madness~~ taught me to quilt, was one of the swappers and when the time came to make something with them she decided she didn't need another UFO, so gave them to me. Score!

I tried to make them look like they were on a shelf and even used wood grain fabric, shame I didn't look at a real shelf and see the grain lines don't go the way I made them! And you can see I thought just quilting in the ditch was enough. Anyway it still makes me smile, because it's cute and it reminds me of Roz.

Lets have a closer look.....

Isn't this centre block clever how the quilter stacked the two jars?

And this 'onions in a jar' is my favourite. I love this onion fabric!

At the time I made up this wallhanging, decorative preserved fruit and vege jars like this one above, were all the rage. I thought I was so clever making my own fabric version!
Now you have seen this blast from my 90's past, just think yourself lucky I haven't kept the leg warmers I knitted in the 80's to show you!