Dear Jane II

……….continues:
I have all the between block sashings stitched down now.

Rather than just stich straight lines I have run diagonal lines through the sashing. This makes an elongated star appear. Can you see it?

….looking good

As I worked my way down the quilt I kept looking at the blocks and thinking about how I will quilt them. I have been looking at the “Dear Jane” book and I see that the original is quilted in quite a minimal style. I will have to try to not quilt Jane to death!
I’ve started some ruler work on the borders. I have decided to do piano keys at ½” intervals along the outer border. That’s about 150 lines per border. Phew!
 
I’m happy with how Jane is looking so far. What do you think?
Bye for now

Please allow me to introduce

Dear Jane


She’s been visiting at the Razzle Dazzle spa for a while now.
In all her tiny piecing glory:


Thursday it was time for her to start her beauty treatment:
On to the spa bed she went:

A gentle start with basting stitches top to bottom.

Oh, look at this pretty corner block at bottom right.

This will be the last block I will stitch. I’d like to stitch it right away but it’s back to the top for more foundation work.
More tomorrow……
Thanks for popping by

add a dash of lime

Remember when I told you about receiving a new ruler from America? Well this is what I made:

The ruler is from Jenny at Sew Kinda Wonderful.She has several different patterns you can make using the ruler. The ruler is a very cunning tool. First you use it to cut fabric, then after sewing a block it becomes a straighten up and trim tool. Very clever! The curves are not too difficult to sew once you get the idea. How Jenny thought this all out I will never know – my head hurts just thinking about it! Jenny has excellent videos on her site to help you through the process.

The pattern I have used is Urban Pods. I love the way the blocks flip over half way down the quilt and create that row of curved diamond shapes.

The curved border is just a little add on of mine. A nice opportunity to add some piano key stitching.

Some modern quilting:

Don’t you just love the texture?

Next up for me will be the Urban Birthday quilt. I have the fabric already.

Thanks Jenny for sharing your creativity with us. As you can see I love my quilt so much it has become my new banner!

Thanks for popping by

Ain’t love grand!

Our two cats Kaiser and Koko have been together for 14 years now. We often think they are like an old married couple:

 

Besides loving on our cats I have been stitching. Cat of Catalina’s Cottage sent me a Opshop treasure top to quilt. You’d like to see a sneak peek wouldn’t you?

I’m so excited about how this quilt has stitched up.I think it’s a “Mintage” quilt. Vintage fabric meets modern quilting. More photos later when Cat has seen it.

Thanks for popping by.

Pattern Testing II

Team work will get your there every time.

Remember this?

Well Andreena finished her stunt sewing and today I have been quilting the wall hanging:

It was fun to quilt, quick and easy and my machine just hummed along.

I was wondering what to do with those small red corner stones in the sashings. Then I realised a bit of magic had happened – the lines in the sashing create a wee star around each square. Can you see it?

Just the binding to go and we’ll have a nice piece for show and tell.

Thanks for popping by.

Pattern Testing

This year I have the role of Librarian at Taupo Quiltmakers. Recently we received some new books. I have distributed them to “pattern testers” The idea is that the first person to read the book commits to make something from the book, bring it along to Club for Show and Tell and review the book.
Andreena (member of Sweet Peas) loves all things Christmassy so she was the obvious tester for this book:


I spent yesterday morning at her house helping her get this under way:

She’s going to complete the assembly and I’m going to quilt it.
BTW this book is hot off the press. We bought it through the Book Depository. It has some very nice projects in it. Let’s hope our efforts get some of our members inspired to sew for Christmas.Our next meeting has a Mid Winter Christmas theme so this will be very appropriate.
Got to get a wriggle on now, it’s my morning for the Opshop.
TTFN

Time for a change

Remember Sunbonnet Sue?
Golly she was our Summer pinup girl. We’re in the depths of winter here! Time for a change:


The big quilt is Peggy’s “Back to Front” Kiwiana modern. I wish I could show you better photos of this quilt but being so dark it doesn’t photograph well.











See that jam jar quilt on the of front the rack? I made that many years ago (2002). One of the first tops I machine quilted. Back then then it was difficult to buy themed fabric – so some of the fabrics are a bit bizarre.

The quilt hiding at the back is “Amish Wildflowers” which I made for Mum in 1992. Loved and faded. Back then I couldn’t get 100% cotton solids for everything and some parts are part poly and they have faded more than the cotton parts.

However check it out – it’s hand quilted!!!

Today we had a yummy lunch of Beef Stroganoff accompanied by a nice red wine. It’s a dreary rainy day but life in Taupo is good!
TTFN

While we were busy at the Quilt Exhibition…………

……….we remembered that a very special cousin would be celebrating a Birthday this coming weekend. Peggy and I decided a quilt would be in order. Monday we pulled the fabrics, decided on a pattern and got stitching.
By Monday evening we were well on the way and ready for Cat scanning:

Tuesday we finished piecing and Wednesday I quilted.


Thursday Peggy stitched the binding on.
Ta dah quilt finished:

How’s this for back art?

If you think you’ve seen this pattern around here before you have, it’s Pineapple Blossom which you can find the pattern for on Bonnie Hunter’s site. This pattern has become a favourite go to for a quick but always interesting quilt.
In the Post and on its way.
Happy Birthday Special Cousin
Love

Kiwiana quilts

For my final show of quilts from our exhibition I took some photos of quilts with a Kiwiana flavour.

This stunning New Zealand Baltimore was made by Kathy Mc Caffrey. Kathy does the most exquisite work. All needle turn applique and hand quilted. The two birds are our  Tui and Kereru (wood Pigeon)



For more Kiwiana you may like to pop over to Peggy’s blog and check out her Kiwiana modern quilt.
To finish I just have to show you Margaret’s Kaffe Fassett quilt – so vibrant!

That’s it – no more show photos. I hope you enjoyed them.
Thanks for popping by

Taupo Quiltmakers Exhibition….

…………….More about the Black and White Challenge:
This is how the challenge worked. Members selected a colour from a box crayons, they could use that colour plus Black and White to  make any sized fabric creation they liked. The entries were so varied, big quilts, small wall hangings, cushions, bags, runners.
The winner was
Evening Joy made by Barbara Lovie


2nd Milton Friedman made by Kathy McCaffrey

That Challenge Bag made by Fiona Hussey

and a little peek at some more entries:




This is a personal favourite. Go Hurricanes!!!!!

…………..more eye candy coming up