Wednesday 9 July 2014

2014 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop - Hello and Welcome

Hello, and welcome. I’m Wendy and I’m a modern hand quilter from New Zealand.

What does that mean? It means I make modern quilts and I hand quilt them with colourful Perle 8.

I’m part of the New Bloggers’ Blog Hop hosted by Plum and June, and my blog is one of the lucky ones to be featured this week. (Please check out the others at the end of this post when you’re finished here.) We've all been encouraged to reveal a bit more about ourselves, so I'll jump right in with a few lesser known facts about me:

·         I’m Wendy Welsh and I live in Wellington, New Zealand. I just love it here. It’s a beautiful clean green country, with great beaches, bush and mountains, and 5 million friendly people.
·         I met my husband during an audit on a tropical island. We were both selected to audit the Cook Island’s Government in Rarotonga, and stayed there for a whole month. The weekends were so hard – swim first, or sip a cold drink on the beach for a while?  

Six members of the audit team taking a break - I"m second from left and my future husband is in the centre. 

·         We’ve got two teenage sons aged 14 and 16, but I’ve promised not to mention them on the blog, so I’ll say no more about that!

The one and only photo you'll see of my family - taken at a wedding in March 2014
·         I’m a Chartered Accountant / CPA, but I’ve also spent a number of years working in IT on financial management systems. I currently work for the New Zealand Institute of Patent Attorneys.
·         My dream holiday would be a trip to Melbourne to watch Roger Federer play Rafael Nadal in the final of the Australian Open. That's looking more possible since Wimbledon 2014.
·         My favourite movies are Bridget Jones’s Diary 1 & 2, and Love Actually (note the common theme of Colin Firth and Hugh Grant)
·         I love embroidery as well as quilting, and feature both on my blog.


Now to show you some of my quilts. 

First up is the quilt I made earlier this year for the Pantone Radiant Orchid challenge.  I started with the poppies fabric, and chose other fabrics to complement it. I hand quilted in the ditch and then quilted diagonal lines in Perle 8. You can read more about it here.
 
Radiant Poppies - made for the 2014 Pantone Challenge

Next is my Flower Garden wall hanging. This is wool felt applique flowers, hand stitched onto the background. I really enjoyed making this quilt and have since made cushions using the same method. I loved doing all the hand stitching in this quilt. 

Flower Garden

The last quilt I'll feature here is the black and white tumbling block quilt that I made for my younger son. I chose the Kaffe Fassett pattern, and he chose the colours. It was mathematically challenging, but I like a bit of a challenge in my quilt making. You can read more about it here.

Black and White Tumbling Blocks

So that's a quick trip through some of the quilts I've made. You can see more on the Finished Quilts tab at the top of my blog. My quilts take time, so I don't finish many quilts in a year, but I'm always working on something, and I like to share my progress on my blog.

Before you go, we've been asked to share a couple of tips with readers. So here are my tips:

Blogging tip. If you don’t already use a system such as Bloglovin or Feedly to follow blogs, I’d really encourage you to do so. I only started using Bloglovin to follow blogs earlier this year, but wish I’d done so ages ago.  I had thought I’d receive emails every time someone I was following posted something, but that’s not the case. You can choose how often you get notified – instantly, daily or not at all. If you choose not at all, you just see a list of unread posts from the blogs you follow when you login. 

Quilting tip. My quilting tip for you – don’t rush, and make your pinning and seams as accurate as possible.  No one likes to open up their seam and see that it doesn’t match where it should. A few more minutes spent measuring and pinning can save you unpicking later.  

my embroidered Goldwork Elizabethean 'W'
I've met some great online friends through blogging, so if you'd like to leave a comment, I’d love to know where you’re visiting from, and what project you’re currently working on (don’t list them all though, just your top one please).

Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you feel you know me a little bit more now, and might come back to visit again in the future.

Plum and June



I'd really encourage you to visit these blogs too. They're all members of the New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop and have written special introductory posts too:






33 comments:

Oops-Lah said...

How nice to get to know you a bit better. I wasn't aware that you are a relatively new blogger. You've done really well. Lovely to see your family too and I can completely understand that your boys don't want to feature too much on this blog ;)! I love your quilting style, modern and hand quilting makes a perfect duo. Funny, both my husband and myself are accountants and we too met on the job. But that's a very long time ago. And my current project is Auntie Greens Garden and will be for a long time!

Granny Maud's Girl said...

I am a slow and painstaking quilter too! Great tip ... and great film choices too!
My current project is hard to pin down as I have too many half-finished things on the go. Last night I was basting hexagons for a small bag.
I am in Perth, but you knew that. :)

Marlene said...

Good to get to know you better Wendy. Love your projects and didn't realise you hand quilted them all. I have never hand quilted but do have the perle cottons to give it a go. I have just finished, and posted today, about 20 hot water bottle covers for the Hottie Project-they go to children in Christchurch in case you haven't heard of it.

margaret said...

good to learn more about you Wendy, oh yes I cannot see the the flower garden photo, not sure if anyone else can. very disappointed that Federer lost at Wimbledon I am a big fan of him. Project for the next couple of days is the hexie ice cream cornet for the hexie BOM

Joanna @ Riddle and {Whimsy} said...

How did you survive a whole month on a tropical island?! Must have been torture!

I always love looking at the bright colours in your quilts! I didn't realise your handquilted all of your quilts though, wow! How long does it take you to finish one?

Wendy @ Wendysquiltsandmore said...

Well Jo, we survived the whole month so well that we were invited to go back again for another 3 weeks, just 6 months later! I had the best tan I've ever had because we had all of October in the Cook Islands (at the start of southern hemisphere summer), and then 3 weeks in April at the end of that same summer. By the end we knew some of the locals quite well, so we just partied until we had to go to the airport at 5am.

My quilts take time, but I'm fine with that. The Radiant Orchid challenge quilt was the fastest turn around I've ever achieved - all done in less than 2 months, but I was stressed. Most have taken at least 12 months, but that's mainly due to me taking breaks and working on other things. My current top priority (Bordered Diamonds) has been on the go for 1.5 years, but I had the main fabrics for it a year earlier - so 2.5 years. It will be finished in 2014 I promise.

I've found a new group on Facebook called The Slow Stitching Movement and I identify with their philosophies! Good things take time.

Helen@Till We Quilt Again said...

Always fun learning more about the bloggers that we have grown to know, even in a short time. And it puts a personal spin in it--such as I have two sons as well and I always love seeing your beautiful color choices.

Pam@SewingWilde said...

I have been a fan for a while, introduced via this hop and stayed loving your fabric choices and detail. Hand quilter I didnt know, its all beautiful

Pam@SewingWilde said...

I have been a fan for a while, introduced via this hop and stayed loving your fabric choices and detail. Hand quilter I didnt know, its all beautiful

HeathersSewingRoom said...

Lovely to get to know you and hear your story. I notice how great your quilt photos look taken outside in that beautiful clear New Zealand sky. Well done to hand quilt all those quilts, you are a real inspiration. I am currently hand piecing a small piece by Laurel Burch it is her Christmas cats design.

Janet @ Simply Pieced said...

Wendy, I love that you hand quilt. I use to hand quilt my quilts until last year. It's nice to be able to finish a quilt quickly, but the slower pace of hand quilting is nice as well. I've got a hand quilt project going on now and it's a nice change of pace when I sit behind the loom. It's so nice to officially "meet" you!

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl said...

What a wonderful story about how you met your husband, Wendy! When I first met my husband I didn't think he spoke English and I decided in my own head he must be a foreign exchange student. Turns out it was love at first sight for him and it took a while for him to work up the courage to talk to me. Goodness, the memories! I am visiting your blog from California, and I am working on a quilt inspired by a photograph by another California, Frans Lanting. :)

Jasmine said...

Your quilts are beautiful. I love all the color. I enjoy hand quilting, but have never tried it with the thicker thread. That is a skill I would love to learn.

Ruth said...

Blog looks fantastic - love the header! I've only handquilted Halloween motifs onto a quilt before but have 2 in mind I'm thinking of slowing down for! Great advice!

Shauna said...

Such awesome quilts, I admire your handwork, I hate doing that. I really love the flowers, they are so cute. I'm from Texas and am working on a Texas quilt right now that I am really loving.

Jane said...

So nice to see more of your work Wendy. And your handsome boys - I have a 14 year old son too so know how hard they can be to photograph!

Judy@Quilt Paradigm said...

I'm still in love with your tumbling blocks quilt!! :) All of your work is beautiful! I was an IP Paralegal for to many years to count and worked with many a patent attorney. I have to say, if you have to work with attorneys, patent attorneys are probably the easiest to get along with!! LOL

Liz said...

Your hand quilting is beautiful. And I love that you are a modern handquilter. It can be so soothing! The story of how you met your husband sounds lovely, too. My current top project is to finish a dress I'm working on - although I think it's too small! I guess I'll just have to wait and see!

Anonymous said...

Visiting from the New Quilt Bloggers Hop, thanks for sharing your quilts!
Carole @ From My Carolina Home

Lin's Quilts said...

I'm also visiting from the New Quilt Blogger Hop. Your tumbling blocks quilt is outstanding. I made a single block (maybe 24" x 24" with a star on it (on my blog)) and want to make a full size tumbling block quilt like yours. Add it to the list.

schmidt1016 said...

Hi Wendy, I'm a first-timer to your blog and am enjoying myself a lot. Your quilts are wonderful, and the fact that you hand quilt is pretty impressive. I live in Minnesota, USA where it gets really, really snowy and cold in the winter. I think our summer must be over already. I am working on a wall hanging for my husband to give to a friend. They met while working on a service trip to the southwest US. This quilt is appliquéd with native American motifs. I'm doing the quilting right now.

Leslie S. in MN, USA

Sue Jennings said...

Hi Wendy
Beautiful quilts! I love the hand quilting on your quilts. Such a lovely looking family, too. I'm Sue and live in Kent, England. I belong to the Celebrate Hand Quilting group, too, but my hand work is no where near as accomplished as yours!

Serena @ Sewgiving said...

Lovely intro post Wendy ... I'll book a seat next to you at the Australian Open :)

Rachel @ Quiltineering said...

Wow! Your quilts are absolutely stunning! I can't imagine all the time that goes into your hand work. I'm visiting from the blog hop - thanks for letting us learn more about you :)

Leanne Parsons said...

Your tumbling blocks quilt is stunning! I'm visiting from Newfoundland, Canada and I'm currently working on quilting my Canvas quilt, which I tested for Leanne of She Can Quilt, among other projects:)

Sarah @ Berry Barn Designs said...

I have been in love wit that poppies fabric since the first time I saw it months ago... I love how you used it in your Pantone challenge piece, Wendy. All your quilts are gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Your black and white tumbler quilt is amazing!

Barbara Konkle said...

I am in love with your wall hanging! That is gorgeous!

Vera said...

Your quilts are lovely. Fingers crossed for you to go to Australian open. I haven't seen any major stars while being there but it was great anyway! Greetings from Czech Republic and I'm currently working on old UFO and I'm eager to have it done :-)

Jehnny said...

I love that you hand quilt your modern quilts- it's a great smash of old and new. Someday I want to do something as lovely as your flower garden quilt. Currently though I am trying to complete a quilt for my brothers wedding, which is in Canada, where I live.

DeborahGun said...

Hi Wendy, I am super impressed that you hand quilt all your quilts. I love the look of hand quilting, but my hands get really sore after a while. I am visiting from Indonesia, and I am currently working on an ABC quilt - I have embroidered the panels but now just need to make them into a quilt!

Diana @ Red Delicious Life said...

Wow Wendy, your quilts are amazing! I think you might be the only hand quilter in our blog hop group. I try to avoid hand sewing at all costs. I even machine sew my bindings. I'm starting to get curious about hexies though so maybe that will convert me. I love your tumbling blocks quilt. It is just amazing, especially with just the black and white fabrics.

Karin Jordan said...

Hi Wendy! You have such incredible attention to detail and your quilts are wonderfully vibrant. I am in love with your Flower Garden quilt and have pinned it. :) I'd consider auditing something if I could hang out on that beach! lol. I can't believe you hand quilt everything, although I understand why you do it - it's gorgeous. I do love hand stitching but it's hard to do with two kids (5 and 3). Nice to 'meet' you.