Sunday 12 July 2015

Winter Holidays and la passacaglia update

It's our winter school holidays here in New Zealand so I've been to visit my Mum and Dad in Auckland for a few days. My sons get 3 weeks of holidays which is a long time in the middle of winter when it's cold and wet. They appreciated a few days in Auckland, even though it wasn't much warmer up there this time.

I got to see my mum's progress on her la passacaglia quilt. She's using floral fabrics, so her's will look quite different to mine. These rosettes remind me of the old cups and saucers that people used to use for afternoon tea! Mum has a fair few of those in her china cabinet.



We laid my rosettes out next to mum's to imagine we had a whole quilt. Although our styles are quite different, it was nice to see how much of the floor we could cover.


 I've been working on mine slowly. The next step is to complete the four large rosettes by adding stars around the outside edges. I glue basted the pieces for the stars this week.




Tomorrow we're all off to Melbourne for a family holiday. I know it will be cold there too, but we wanted somewhere relatively close that the kids haven't been to before. I've been there quite a few times for work, because the company I worked for had their head office in St Kilda Road.

I've got a list of quilt shops to visit and instructions on how to get to them. The males in the family want to go to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) so they can do that too. I want to go to Melbourne Park, the Tennis Centre. The major highlight for them will be going to see Real Madrid play football (soccer) on Saturday night at the MCG.

Yesterday I sorted out what I'll work on while we're away. I pulled out this lovely Laura J Perin design that I've had for ages. I've now finally got all the right threads, so I will take it with me.


I had to make a little start last night just to be sure I understood the directions. It's going to be lovely.


So, please forgive me if I don't get back to you over the next week. Access to the internet will be very limited while we are away. See you next week.

17 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

your La Passacaglia and your mothers look really great - I decided quickly that this quilt wasn't for me though and quit working on it and sold all the papers etc to another.

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

When I saw the first photo I thought of tea cup saucers, and I loved it when you said that in your post, too! Both the quilts look stunning and it is really clear that you and your mom have a vision for your quilts and the colors and fabrics for each one work very well. And the sparkly thread for the Fandango Sky pattern is awesome - it looks like it will be a fun pattern to work on during your holiday.

margaret said...

all the La Passacaglia pieces look lovely, it really is a mammoth project you and you Mum are working on. Love the Fandango piece too, have a lovely time in Melbourne, when there in 2002 I went to the Australian open tennis at Melbourne Park, we are now enjoying Wimbledon, men`s final today so will be in front of the tv.I am sure you will have a good time even though it will be on the chilly side, my sister lives there and complains about the weather some times.

Manuela said...

Your La Passacaglia project looks great. Wonderful colours and fabrics.
Greetins, Maneula from Germany (your new follower)

Oops-Lah said...

I love both your versions of the Passcaglia project. I must be nice to have a mum who quilts and with whom you can do quilty things together. Have a lovely holiday and keep warm (where as here it's unusually hot, crazy weather).

Her Indoors said...

I agree with Oops-Lah above - in our family, craftiness skipped a generation. My sewing and knitting buddies were my grandmothers, who are both long gone. I love the fabrics your Mum has chosen - those pansies! Hope you have a great holiday.

Helen@Till We Quilt Again said...

What a beautiful project this is. Creativity runs in the family. My first thought is---I want all of your designs in a set of dishes!!! Wouldn't that make a amazing table?

Rochelle aka Bella Quilts said...

I love the progress on la passacaglia and the view of your mom's choices of fabric. I have my mom's tea cups and they really do look like that. Your trip to Melbourne should be fun. Look forward too hearing about all of the quilt shops and any great buys!!

One Wee Bird said...

They both look lovely! Your mum's reminds me of my Great Nanas embroidered table cloths that I have stashed away, so pretty! Ooooh Melbourne...you could get some ink from my Big Boy LOL 😉

Katrina said...

Hi Wendy,both are looking fantastic, wonderful colours! Have fun working on your new project in Melbourne - wishing you a wonderful trip and have a good time tracking down the quilt shops. Safe travels :)

Serena @ Sewgiving said...

Enjoy your trip to Melbourne! It's my favourite city to visit in Oz ... just couldn't live there though because of the weather! I really enjoyed looking at the photo of your mum's work along side yours ... so different, but both so beautiful. I love that about quilting. Same pattern, different fabrics but both give awesome results :)

Granny Maud's Girl said...

It is fun to see how different your mum's quilt is from yours just because of the different fabric choices.
Have a great time in Melbourne@

Carol Q said...

dont the 2 quilts look good Wendy? it must be fascinating seeing the rosettes come together. I love your Laura J Perrin. She creates some lovely designs. Mine's in hibernation at the moment but it will come out again once the nights close in.

Ruth said...

Great to see the two different takes on the same thing together. Both look fantastic!

Jan Ward said...

Simply gorgeous. I'm trying to get started on the Katja Merek , the Quilt on the go... I know what to do, but don't know really how to begin... HELP!
Yours are amazing, your Mothers too... Such a powerful thing to have envisioned the whole thing, as a goal, and everything go into place!

browkat said...

Those are absolutely beautiful. What shape are using in these. I am doing Grandmother's flower garden right now in hexagons. I have the triangle shapes to use with the hexagons to make stars, but would like to add more to my collections.
The shapes I see are unusual and would love to know what they are called.

Wendy @ Wendysquiltsandmore said...

Hi browkat. These are pentagons and elongated diamonds. They are from the book Millefiori Quilts by Willyne Hmmerstein - her first book - there are 4 books published now.