Yayyyy.....I've just worked out how I can be lazy and post my Instagram posts to blogger so I don't have to rewrite them!

Trimming my Orca Bay Quilt. Starting with squaring the corners with my 15 inch square, then I'll use my long ruler with Gypsy Gripper Handle for the sides.

A photo posted by Leeann (@leeann.hansen.nz) on Sep 16, 2016 at 8:13pm PDT

All done. Now I have to decide if I want a red, blue or black binding. Thinking it might be a black print with a scrappy red peeper. What do you think?

A photo posted by Leeann (@leeann.hansen.nz) on Sep 16, 2016 at 8:51pm PDT

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.

My Quilts at WP&QC Show 2016

Here are my Quilts that I put in the Show.













I had a few quilters asked me about my Split Nine Patch Quilt as they would like to make their own version. 
So I made an Information Sheet up. 
Use THIS LINK to go to a printable version, which has more lots more details.

This is the Split Nine Patch Block. My Block finished at 6 inches.

It is a very versatile block that can be set multiple ways.

Here are a few I drew up in EQ7 

Sneak Peak

I've been busy quilting, hope to do the binding this afternoon.

UFO Progess

I have been making some progress with my UFO's.

I finished quilting my Split Nine Patch, so that will be in the Quilt Show in April.

This is what happens when you don't see a safety pin needs to be removed before quilting.

I sewed right over it. Amazingly I didn't break the needle!

Here it is on the washing line, sigh... the lawns need doing again :-(

I did the Magic Binding thing again, I've fallen in love with it. 

This time I used a low contrast peeper, it is actually a little teal compared to the outer binding, but is not really showing up in this photo. Instead of sewing it down with a straight stitch I used a small button hole.

Next I got out my Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt top. I decided to add another 2 rows, (it was 6 x 6 blocks). Now it's 6 x 8. 

Here's Oscar putting his seal of approval on it as I was making the extra blocks. All those seams are much more comfy than the carpet.

  

Deciding if needs a border or not is the next step. It really needs an iron too.

Lastly I have had another Birthday

(this is what happens when your birthday is close to Valentines Day :-)

 PS No Show n Tell photos from our last meeting sorry. Camera batteries died.

Cross Terrain - A Long Neglected UFO

I finished a long neglected UFO on Friday, so I thought after catching up with my other posts I'd share it with you all.

It's pattern name is Cross Terrain, which was a free pattern at Moda Bake Shop a few years ago

I made all the blocks at a retreat, and then pieced the top when I came home. 

The poor thing has waited a very long time for me to quilt it. 

If you look hard you can see when I made the blocks in this photo. (It really is a long time ago)

 

I made Magic Binding for the first time and it is so easy so I will be doing this again. It's so great not to having to hand sew the binding down, and I really like the faux flange.

Use the link above to go to the written Magic Binding tutorial by 'Aunt Marti', or watch her You Tube video below.

Some of My Sewing

I have been making these nine patch blocks for a while, I sewed them all together the other day, but I'm thinking of sewing a couple more rows to make it bigger

When I was in Bernina a few weeks ago I picked up some background fabric squares to make 'house blocks' for a Hospice fundraiser quilt. Here's what I did with my two backgrounds.

A made a little Wharenui, using some fussy cut fabric.

And a little red brick Dunny! 

I hope they are not too Outside the Square :-)

What I’ve been up to

A couple of weeks ago I sewed together my Scrappy Trip Around the world blocks.  I've put it aside since then, to think about maybe adding a border or not.
When I make up my mind I’ll show you the top, till then here it is folded up and waiting.



I am now busy sewing little nine patch blocks for a double nine patch quilt I am making.



Here are some of the completed blocks, about another 11 or 12 to do, then I can sew them all together. I haven’t pressed them yet. I'm planning on having a big ironing session one night while watching TV.

What are you doing? Leave me a comment or send me a photo.

Where did February go?

Can't believe it's March already! February has been busy, lots of stuff going on from a quick holiday in Tauranga (which was lovely). Very busy at work with a large increase of the school roll (there's a promise of more hours, but we will see). Mum has finally got a placement at a Resthome, lots more to do now with clearing her house and putting on the market, one step at a time everyone keeps telling me.... & Brad has returned to Hamilton, to a new flat, glad all that moving/buying/planning is now done, though I will have to take more stuff down to him as everything didn't fit into the car!


Trying to keep sane I did a little bit of sewing. I made the blue square border for my Split Nine Patch Quilt, and now it is in the "Top" pile.


I also pin tacked my red and white quilt top that I made in 2012 (looked back on the blog to find that out!) It doesn't seem nearly two years since I made it. I pinned it at a UFO class at Northland Sewing Centre (Bernina). I really need to do some quilting now so when I go back this month I have something to show!