Topsy Quilt by Sheila Christensen

I told you I got inspired at the Kapiti Quilt Show last week.  I saw Sheila Christensen's Topsy quilt on her stall, and I remembered that I had bought the pattern back in October at our own guild's exhibition. 

I had promised that I would make new quilts for the bedrooms when we had them painted four years ago, so I decided "this is it".  And I started cutting all my blue fabrics to make a quilt for the room with a blue feature wall.  

I'm making the Queen sized version of Sheila's Topsy pattern, and I can get the 12 triangles out of a fat quarter - provided there's no fussy cutting required for pattern direction.  

Here's my progress to date:

I've made all of these blocks from fabrics I already had on hand! Don't worry, blue is the biggest colour in my stash. But I weakened today and went shopping for a few more blues. 

Here's some links to Sheila's Topsy pattern if you're interested in making Topsy too:

Etsy for the physical pattern

PDF for downloads.

The pattern recommends the two triangle rulers above and I'm very glad I've got them.  I already had the one on the left, but I bought the one on the right and it makes cutting the segments so much easier. It's CGRT30 - Half Sixty by Creative Grids.   

There's usually a complication with my quilts, and this time I've decided to make the quilt bigger - more like a King size, but with the Queen sized blocks.  The advantage of this is that I can keep using up unloved fat quarters from my stash, but I do have to make a lot more blocks to keep the pattern nice at the edges and the top and bottom.  

So I'm plugging away here, churning out blocks and covering the lounge floor with them.  Soon it will be time to lay them out and start planning the assembly.  

I do love how quickly this quilt is coming together.  It's a big change from my usual style of quilting, but I'm enjoying it.  And to get this quilt ready for use this winter, I'm going to get it machine quilted.  I've got a backlog of quilts waiting for hand quilting, so I'll take the easier road with this one.

Now it's time for the Peacock Party - note I'm using my peacock colours above! What have you been up to this week? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

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Kapiti Quilt Show 2021

I went to the Kapiti Quilters Exhibition last weekend.  It was great to see so many people there supporting the guild.  

There were many lovely quilts on display and I'll show you my favourites.

These first three quilts were all made by the same person.  I found myself smiling as I stood in front of the first one, because I don't like doilies, and I don't like orange, but this arrangement just works and I liked it! What struck me first about this quilt was the finishing because the edges are straight and the quilt sits flat.  Congratulations Dianne on winning best Traditional Quilt - One Person, and a Judge's Award.   

The next two quilts are Kaffe quilts, so of course I was drawn to them, but again, the colours work perfectly together, and the finishing is perfect .  As I read the label and saw "Dianne Barnden" as the maker again, I wasn't surprised.  

Next up are some other quilts that caught my eye.

Best in Show went to this beauty by Vickie McGoverin - Congratulations Vickie!!

Finally, this quilt by Chris Bongiovanni deserves a special mention.  Isn't it amazing?

So, that was the Kapiti Quilters Exhibition.  It was lovely to meet up with friends too and do a spot of shopping. The best bit was that I was inspired to start something new! More on that next week.  

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!

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Neptune and the Mermaid update

Well, believe it or not, I haven't cut any houses for the Little Houses quilt yet.  

On my way to my quilt storage room I have to walk past my quilt ladder in the hall.  Neptune and the Mermaid has been hanging there since November, and as I contemplated starting something new, I thought that I should really do a bit more hand quilting on Neptune and the Mermaid first.  

I did a LOT of hand quilting in January and February as I worked quickly to finish two quilts for the Aotearoa Quilters' exhibition in Rotorua next month.  My hands needed a break after that, so I didn't do any hand quilting for a few weeks.  Now I'm enjoying easing back into it again.  

There are nine blocks in this quilt.  I seem to be dabbling in all of them, and finishing none! I guess my approach could be described as "incremental".  I add a bit of stitching, and then wait a few days to see if that's enough, or I need to add more. 

The three blocks above are the closest to being finished.  Although I still may add more quilting yet. 

The two below are still in progress:

And then there's another four in various states of completion.  

I'm really enjoying this different style of quilting.  These blocks have made me step outside my comfort zone. 

The pattern is by Wendy Whellum (Legend and Lace) and it's called Pieces of the Past.  Wendy has some of the blocks in her ETSY shop. I hand pieced these blocks in a class at the NZ Quilt Symposium in Auckland in 2019.  You can read an earlier blog post here. 

This weekend it's the Kapiti Quilters exhibition at Southward Car Museum.  I'm going up for a look, and possibly a bit of retail therapy because they have a good lineup of merchants.  I'll take my Kaffe/Brandon Octopus bag, so if you see me, do say hello.  

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!

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Little Houses Quilt

I was flicking through Kaffe Fassett's "Kaleidoscope of Quilts" at my mum's house over Easter, and I saw the Little Boxes Quilt. I liked the way that the maker had chosen stripy fabrics for some of the houses, and I started thinking about what I could use to make something similar in a different colour way.  Here's the photo from the book:

Then I remembered the beautiful Kaffe wovens I'd bought from a guild member at our January sales day.  

As soon as I returned to Wellington, I dug out the wovens and started adding some complementary fabrics.  I always like to pull too many options, and then narrow it down later.  

I don't know what I'll use for the sky yet, but I do like these colours together. 

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!

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Rebel Rebel cardigan

It's Easter Friday and I'm in Auckland again.  My previous visit was for work, so it doesn't really count right?

This time I'm really hoping to see the new Kaffe Fassett range in real life.  It looks beautiful online, but I want to see it with my own eyes.  The new colourways for Cactus Flower look incredible.  

I usually only buy fabrics when I have a plan in mind, but I might just have to make an exception this time.

Unfortunately I left my hand luggage bag in Auckland when I was there two weeks ago.  I remembered to take my handbag with my phone, car keys and wallet, but I forgot my bigger bag with my Smoyg, Pandemic Sampler, hand piecing, magnifying glasses and my work video camera! There was no time to drive back and get it, but I knew I'd be returning in two weeks so I could get it then.  

The only upside of that episode was that it forced me to start knitting my Rebel Rebel cardigan, because I don't need magnifying glasses to knit.  

The Rebel Rebel pattern is designed by a New Zealand woman under the name Truly Myrtle.  The patterns are written in the modern style of knitting where it's done on a circular needle and you start knitting from the top down. I had to google "provisional cast on", but I found a video that I liked and I got started.  

I'm using wool that I purchased from a local hand dyer called Yarn Therapy. Jo makes lots of gorgeous colours, and it took forever to make my final decision. 

Here are some socks that my mum knitting from a ball of the same (or similar) wool.  I can't exactly remember which shade I bought for her.  

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter