Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween.  I hope my gingerbread Haunted House makes you smile. 

It's 8pm on Friday 30 October here, so it's Halloween tomorrow and it's time to bring out my Gingerbread Haunted House again.  

This Gingerbread Haunted House was designed by Thea Dueck of The Victoria Sampler in Canada.  Here's a link to the pattern here.  

I've made most of Thea's Gingerbread Village, and I've got a full page on my blog detailing all my tips and tricks (click here or click on the tab at the top of the page).  The patterns give great instructions for assembly, but it's always useful to hear from someone who has done it themselves, so pop over and read my tips if you're considering making your own Haunted House.  

I always buy the accessories kits when I buy Thea's patterns.  The little buttons that she sources are just so cute, and I know I will never find them in my local shops.  The accessories kits also include all the beautiful silk threads - in just enough quantities to stitch the houses.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been up to lately? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Don't Leaf Me

This week I've been working on "Don't Leaf Me" by Wendy Williams. 

I've had this kit for over a year, but due to many other distractions, I haven't got very far with this one.  I decided that I needed to show it some love this week.  

I've done a lot of wool felt applique in the past, but I haven't done much needle turn applique. There's so many different ways to do needle turn applique! Everyone has a different method.  In the end, I asked one friend to show me her method, and that's what I'm going with.  I won't explain it here yet (because I've only appliqued 2 leaves so far), but this method seems to be working for me.   

Kits for this quilt are available from Material Obsession in Sydney - however, when I bought my kit they had run out of the green Anna Maria Horner print on the borders, so they substituted it for the same print in brown.  However, I love the green colourway, so I managed to track it down, and repurposed the brown into the backing for another quilt.  They also sell just the pattern which you can buy here.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been up to this week?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Aotearoa Quilters Aqua Challenge

The Aotearoa Quilters Aqua quilts were on display at the Taupo Exhibition. 

I always enjoy studying how different quilters interpret the theme.  I didn't enter this time, but the next colour is Lime, and I'm definitely going to enter that one.  

Here are some photos from the exhibition.  

The winners

First Place went to Fyvie Murray

These quilts will be travelling around New Zealand, so if they come to a venue near you, please do go and look at them.  There's so much detail packed into a very small space - 12" wide x 16" high.

There's a full gallery on the Aotearoa Quilters website here. but they're so much better in real life. 

Thank you for all your kind messages on my previous two posts.  It really was a thrill to have my quilts recognised and to win prizes.  Some of you are no reply bloggers so I couldn't email you back, but I've read all the comments thank you.

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Glitter in Green

My Glitter quilt is finished! And it won a prize in our guild's exhibition. 

Yes, I won Best Hand Pieced and I was thrilled. Glitter is designed by Jen Kingwell from Australia.  I started my Glitter quilt in a hand piecing class with Jen Kingwell at the Christchurch Symposium in October 2017.  I did promise Jen that it would be finished by October 2019, and the top was finished by then, but I didn't start hand quilting it until January 2020.

Now it's finished, and it will look just right on our bed. I chose the greens and grey colours to match the gorgeous wallpaper in our bedroom. 

Here's photo taken outside in natural daylight. 

I used the acrylic templates from Amitie Textiles to hand piece my quilt.  If you haven't tried hand piecing yet, you might like to watch my videos on the Hand Piecing tab at the top of my blog.  I love the relaxing nature of hand piecing, and the accuracy that can be achieved with it.

I used Aurifil 50wt shade 2605 for all the hand piecing because it blends well with everything.

Turning the seams is easy with hand piecing.

The back view

I chose wool batting and quilted my Glitter quilt with Aurifil 12wt and 28wt shade 2615. I use 12wt for the visible stitches, and 28wt in the ditch.

So my Glitter quilt is finished! And I love it.   I'm so pleased it finally got to hang in an exhibition.  

Finished size:

167cm x 182 cm

66" x 72"

We Built This City

What a thrill it was to see my quilt hanging in our guild's exhibition last weekend.  It really glowed in the dark exhibition space. And the rosette on it matched the colours in my quilt perfectly!

Some months ago I mentioned that I was going to repurpose my blocks from Jen Kingwell's Marshall Mystery Quilt - published in Quiltmania during 2019.  I didn't really like the layout in the magazine when the quilt was finally revealed.  I came to the conclusion that I would prefer to make two quilts with my blocks, rather than to try and use them all in one quilt.  

I pulled out all the courthouse steps and appliqued circles and laid them on a piece of pre printed hexagon fabric.  Yes - the hexagons are pre printed!!! It's a print by Michael Millar, and probably out of print now, but it did the trick for me in this quilt.  

I liked the simple design, and I knew I could make a bright quilt that would make someone smile.  

Once I'd finished piecing the quilt, I decided to hand quilt around the hexagons with variegated Aurifil 12wt. It was fun to see the hexagons popping up due to the hand quilting and the soft wool batting.  

I also hand quilted the Marshal blocks, and in the ditch down the long columns.  I like to use Aurifil 28wt when I quilt in the ditch. 

As part of the Joanne Johnson Colour Award I won a little trophy.  It's the first time I've ever won a trophy for a quilt, so that was exciting.  

Finished size: 62" x 64"

Thank you for all the kind comments so many of you have sent already on social media already.  It was a great weekend with so many beautiful quilts on display.  I'll talk about my Glitter in Green quilt in another post tomorrow.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What have you been working on lately? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I won prizes!

I'm just writing this very brief blog post to let you know that won some awards at the Capital Quilters show this weekend.

First up is my "Glitter in Green" quilt - it won Best Hand Pieced quilt.  I was thrilled because I do love this quilt.  I'll do a proper blog post soon with ALL the details, but suffice to say it's a wonderful pattern by Jen Kingwell.

Next is my "We Built This City" quilt and it won a Merit in the Build It Up challenge, and also the Joanne Johnson Colour Award.  This quilt was made with some of the blocks from the Marshal Mystery Quilt designed by Jen Kingwell. 

I met so many lovely quilters in both Taupo and Wellington this weekend.  Thank you for supporting our quilt shows.  And for those in countries who still have restrictions - we certainly do appreciate how lucky we are.  

Strangely that reminds me of this famous NZ song 

How many famous faces can you spot in the video?  

I'll be back with more photos soon, but I'm off to Auckland tomorrow morning, so I have to go and pack again now.  

Thanks everyone. 

Two quilt shows in one weekend!

Yes, I'm planning on visiting two quilt shows this weekend.  I'm off on another holiday and this time I'm going to the Chateau Tongariro Hotel in the central North Island.  

This hotel was originally built in the 1920's, but it's got all the mod cons now.  I've never been inside, so it will be something new for me.  

I know a lot of you have been to New Zealand, but you've probably never been here because it's right in the middle of the North Island.  It's below Lake Taupo, but off the beaten track (as we like to say). 

I'm also planning to attend the Taupo Quiltmakers exhibition on Friday - see their poster above.   I really should be at home in Wellington attending Capital Quilters exhibition, but I'll be back in time to attend that on Sunday.  This holiday was booked long before we had to postpone Capital Quilters exhibition. 

The other side of Mt Whakapapa, viewed from the Desert Road

We're in the middle of one final winter blast this week, so I hope there's plenty of snow on the mountains.  

I'll report back next week with lots of photos from both exhibitions.  

Meanwhile, it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter