Auckland show and tell

Last week I had to go to Auckland for work.  Yes, contrary to popular belief, I do have a day job. I work for the NZ Institute of Patent Attorneys.  I am the only paid employee, so I do everything from taking the minutes at meetings, to managing the finances, to organising social events and conferences. As a result of that, I get to travel around a bit.

Because my mum and dad live in Auckland, and my eldest son is studying there, I stayed a few extra days to spend time with them.  My mum asked me to do a little show and tell for her quilt guild on the Saturday morning - they're called Howick Quilting Friends and they meet at Howick once a month.  Here's some of the things I took to show them:

 1. Halloween table runner made from The New Hexagon book by Katja Marek.  I used Cotton + Steel Halloween fabrics for this.

2. Sue Spargo Instastitch blocks.  These patterns are available free from Sue Spargo's website. She's releasing one block per month and we've already had 3 months.  They are embellished with hand stitching using perle 8 cottons - preferably Sue Spargo's variegated eleganza threads.

3.  A modern hexies table mat.  You can find step by step instructions on how to do this technique here in this tutorial on Nicole's blog.

4.  Honeycomb spin modern hexie quilt, which I've only just finished. I learnt to do this in a class run by Anna Hicks at Nancy's Stitch Studio.  I'll write a full blog post on it soon (when I've got some good photos).

5. Oh! Christmas Tree quilt top which is finished now, and about to join the hand quilting queue.
The pattern for this quilt is in QuiltMania's Simply Moderne issue 3, or available directly from Wendy William's online shop - Flying Fish Kits. If you're interested in making this quilt you should pop over to my friend Elizabeth's blog because she is running a quilt along and has written very detailed tips and tricks to help you out.

6. My Small World - which they loved.

7. and of course my la passacaglia, which is still just a quilt top, but is next in the hand quilting queue.

It was a whirl wind visit, but everyone enjoyed the show and tell, and insisted I come back next time I'm in Auckland.