Waitangi Day

In New Zealand today is a national holiday to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the Maori and the European settlers. It also happens to be our  29th Wedding anniversary so we get a public holiday every year for our own celebrations.

It is a very overcast day today but on the actual day it was raining steadily. It was up in another part of New Zealand from where we live now.

Some of you will know I have been having problems accessing my blog in the last few days. I have managed to find my admin rights attached to another Google account that I have for Work so I can at least get in but there are a few issues that have been caused because of it. Hopefully I will get them sorted out.

Have a lovely day,

Sue

Julie's quilt

A few years ago my daughter went to America to be an au paire for a family. During that time she started a patchwork quilt and set about basing it on Jan Mullen's Making Roman Stripez  like mine. This is found in her book Cut loose quilts.

Towards the end of last year she brought it home and asked me to finish it for her. I put a navy narrow border on and then made more blocks for the outer border. I then quilted it and bound it. She was thrilled when I turned up with it finished for Christmas. What are Mum's for?

The individual fabrics she had chosen were very nice and worked well together. It is just the right weight for this time of year where she lives so is sleeping with it every night. I think it will be well loved and used.

Bye for now,
Sue

Happy New Year

Happy New year to one and all. My intentions over the holidays have all come to nought with a series of events which have prevented me from sewing or posting on my  blog.  I have enjoyed reading some of your blogs and getting inspired by what you have been up to.

A highlight was going to Milford Sound in New Zealand's South island on a glorious day. On the way  home we passed through a valley with Lupins as far as the eye could see of all shades of pinks and purples. The scent was amazing. I could have stayed amongst them far longer but work called my husband on.

Juts a small selection and it doesn't do them justice. They lined the banks of this river and you can just make them out in this shot if you look hard.

A lovely trip that now seems so long ago.

Next post I will put up a photo of my daughters quilt that I finished and quilted for her.

Bye for now,
Sue

Christmas Mini Swap

I have participated in a 12 Inch Mini swap for the first time in Cheryll's Christmas Mini. I was thrilled to receive mine that Lyn made for me. It looks lovely on my frame bought especially to display it. I enjoyed making the one that I sent to her. I think I would like to enter this swap again.

I am enjoying seeing it displayed and love the intricate stitching  that it has and the sentiment behind the words.

 

This is the one I made for her:

A close up of the centre with bead detail.

Well I have signed up for the Friday night with friends so I had better 

get on with my plans for that.

 

I may get to post again with what I managed to do. Lets hope so.

Bye,

Sue

Spring

My dh has just got a new macro lens for his camera and on a recent trip to the gardens we found these bleeding hearts nestled in the undergrowth. I do love them.

Our Apple blossom in the backyard on the apple tree. The new lens certainly makes a clearer image.

 I know this looks familiar but it is a new one that is bigger then the first one.

 This is made from all the old floral fabrics from my mother's stash. The colours don't look quite right but I love it because it makes me quite nostalgic as it reminds me of her.

This is the top of a strata star quilt. It was fun to do and quite effective.

I am planning to bag it out and then quilt on top.

 In the recent school holidays I got out my new Ricky Tims convergence quilt. I tried it with a single piece of fabric but have lots of other ideas spinning around in my head.

I have got a few hexagons done last weekend while having a nostalgic watch of Mary Poppins which was on TV.

It has been ages since I posted anything so thought I would show some of what I have been doing over the last few weeks.

I am looking forward to the next FNSI to sit down and finish a  couple of these projects.

Bye for now,

Sue

A weekend away

Last weekend I went away with a group of fellow quilters on a retreat. It was a fabulous weekend where all meals and dishes were done for us and we could sew from daylight until very late. The facilities allowed us to  carry on with our projects and real progress was made by all.
In my last post I was going to finish  a wall hanging and this was one of the things I was able to complete. This meant sewing on two blue circles  to the centres of each circle, attaching batting, backing and quilting it. I spiralled the quilting lines to echo the colour spiralling.I also made bias binding and attaching this to the outside. I am really pleased with how it has turned out.I now have it pinned on the wall in the hall ready for visitors arriving from Australia on Friday. I think the permanent mounting will have to wait until after they leave.

I also managed to sew  binding onto a large quilt I have just finished quilting. For the first time I attached it and have done mitred corners so it feels good to learn a new and improved technique. 

Now I just need to hand sew the binding down. I will post a photo once the quilt is finished.

All in all I highly recommend getting away with like minded people to inspire and learn from each other.

Until next time.

Sue

  

Preparing for Friday night sew in

I have  a few UFO's that I should tackle.(well actually more than a few. Haha)
The one that I think I will settle on for this Friday is this wall hanging:

It needs to have circles in the two centres and then to be quilted and bound.
I have tried this once before but had trouble getting  perfectly round circles. The fabrics are all  batiks and are quite vibrant.  Wish me luck!

Working with fabric strata

Last weekend I went to a 2 day class to construct a quilt using a jelly roll of Batik fabrics. The strips were sewn into a piece of fabric and then cut into shapes with templates and sewn back together.

It was an enjoyable class and everyone's quilt ended up looking quite different.   

My photo is 90 degrees to the left. For some reason when I up loaded it, it turned around and I couldn't change it.

Friday Night Sew in

I enjoyed my evening with FNSI (Friday night sew in) with Heidi and last night I made a sewing companion using this pattern I  found on the Internet.

This is my one:

I think they must have made their needle case a little smaller as it goes down lower into the companion in the picture.
I used a snap instead of the button and tassel (as I didn't have one) . 
This is the website I got it from.
http://www.popularpatchwork.com/news/article/simple-sewing-companion/210/

I also did some more basting of Hexigons and started making a flower. Not enough to show it yet.
I'm looking forward to seeing what others did.
Sue

NZ quilt

This is a wall hanging I made for my daughter when she lived in America for a year and the red heart buttons are placed where we live where her grandparents lived and a special friend. It was the first time I did a stipple in the border