Lost in Translation

 Apologies to all the Dutch quilters out there.

"Bont en Blauw" does not mean "Black and Blue", but rather multicoloured, which sounds so much nicer.  Google translate put me wrong on that one! But a number of you messaged me to let me know, so thank you.  

As my quilt is only going to be three colours (red, white and blue), I'm going to have to think of another name anyway.  

Some of you asked for more details about this sweet quilt.  I'm hand piecing it using the method shown in my hand piecing videos here.    But, there are also English Paper Piecing papers available from www.paperpieces.com

I always buy hollow templates now, because I can draw the cutting line AND the stitching line for hand piecing.  I've always used 1/4" seam allowance for hand piecing and EPP.  I find that that's enough, and I think 3/8" would leave too much bulk on the back when the pieces are small. 

Photos from Millefiori Quilts 4 for Bont en Blauw:

I love how Willyne Hammerstein designs interesting borders for her quilts.  Many of us finish the centre of a quilt, and then we think it needs a border, so we find a complementary fabric and put long strips around the edges to finish it off.  Easy.  But, Willyne has created the illusion of a border by continuing the piecing but changing the colour placement.  Clever!!

That's my plan too, even though my rows aren't all sewn together yet.  

In other exciting news - all three of my entries into the Great New Zealand Quilt Show at Rotorua were accepted!! 

And, I finished my Lime challenge ahead of schedule, so I've started a second Lime mini quilt.  The Lime quilts will be unveiled at the Rotorua show too.  

I'm going to Rotorua for the show. It's a good excuse for another little holiday, and a good way to meet up with other quilters from around NZ.  Will I see you there? 

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Something new!

Yes, finally I have something new to report.  

I've made a start on a pattern from Willyne Hammerstein's Millefiori Quilts Book 4.  

The pattern is called "Bont en Blauw", which translates to English as "Black and Blue" - which is a bit unfortunate because that brings up disturbing images in most peoples minds.  So I'm going to come up with a different name for my happy little quilt.   

There are only 2 shapes in the pattern, but there are lots of opportunities to play with colour and pattern.  

When I want to plan a quilt, I just use a pen and maths paper.  I can't be bothered learning another software package like EQ8 - my brain is full.   

I had a piece of Cotton + Steel fabric that I knew would be good for fussy cutting, so I cut as many pieces as I could from it.  The quilt will be small because I only had about a metre of the feature fabric.  

I'm hand piecing this quilt and I'm enjoying working with different shapes and colours.  I love seeing it grow. 

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Looking forward to something different

I've been on a hand quilting mission since I returned from our holiday on 11 January, but I'm really looking forward to taking a break from it next week.  I love doing hand quilting, but not every single day.  

This is what I'm going to work on next.  My Cross Country quilt by Anna Maria Horner.

I've known for months that the Great New Zealand Quilt Show would be in Rotorua in May 2021, and I had planned to enter some quilts.  But I didn't realise I would have to submit photos of my finished quilts in mid February!  I only became aware of that requirement in December (although there was a link to the full conditions of entry in the November newsletter).  

The QuiltNSW Sydney Quilt Show allows members to submit photos of partially completed quilts when they open entries for their June shows in February each year, so I was more used to those rules.  

But the Great New Zealand Quilt Show is a juried show, so they need photos of the finished quilts to determine which quilts they will accept.  So, I've "gone hard and early", and finished my Ballet with Kaffe quilt.  I'll be entering it into the Great New Zealand Quilt Show, and the Sydney Quilt Show too if it goes ahead.  The Sydney show may be in doubt because they haven't opened entries yet which is unusual.  I can fully understand QuiltNSW's hesitancy, especially with another lock down in Victoria, Australia just being announced right now.  

Even if the Sydney Quilt Show does go ahead in June 2021, I won't be going this year for a variety of COVID related reasons.  

I'm really pleased that my Ballet with Kaffe quilt is finished, but I'm not going to show any photos of it just yet. I'll certainly let you know if it gets accepted for the Great New Zealand Quilt Show.  

Three versions of the same Cross Country quilt by Anna Maria Horner

I'm really looking forward to pulling out my Cross Country quilt next week.  I've got plaid fabric to fill in the large triangles now, but I need to decide if I'm going to add applique or not.  I might even get this one machine quilted because I've got plenty of other WIPs I want to work on in 2021.  

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

The Say Yes to Kaffe Collective winners

Free Spirit Fabrics have announced the winners of the Say Yes to Kaffe Collective online competition, and I'm thrilled to say that my Turkish Coffee quilt was one of the winning quilts.  

The aim of the competition was for fans to make any quilt from Kaffe's Quilts in Burano book in their own choice of Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics. Then the Kaffe Fassett Collective team chose their favourite quilts and the winners will receive some Kaffe fabrics from his upcoming 2021 release.  

You can view all 10 winning quilts here on Free Spirit Fabric's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/freespiritfabrics/posts/4899251733481549

or, you can view them as a slide show on Free Spirit Fabric's website (make the slide show full screen to see the quilts better). 

My favourite winner was this beautiful version of Shimmer Star by Peggy Gelbrich.  Congratulations Peggy!

I don't think that the fabrics have been sent out yet, but they have my address and I will be sure to show you my fat quarter bundle when it arrives.  

In the mean time, what have you been working on this week? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter