Wendy's Quilts and More: May 2022

Friday, 27 May 2022

Quilts for Ukraine

Look at what we've done! Eleven quilt tops and 140 loose blocks are heading to Germany today.

Thank you New Zealand and Australian quilters. (Full sized photos at the end of this post.)

Two months ago I decided to make a few blue and yellow blocks for Ukrainian refugee quilts. I never imagined it would grow to this. We've made 360 blocks in total. I received blocks from:

Tauranga Patchwork and Quilters

Capital Quilters

Howick Quilting Friends (both groups)

Glenys in Auckland (the kiwi blocks)

Marina in Feilding

Jeanette in Australia

Vivienne in Napier

Mary in Ashburton

Sue in Auckland

plus kind people in Dunedin and Lincoln.

As I received more and more blocks, and saw how many Claudia was receiving every day in Germany, I decided to make up some quilt tops to ease the load on Claudia. As the blocks rolled in I made more and more quilt tops. I started to run out of fabrics for the sashing and borders, so Jenny Hunter from Plume Art + Stitch very kindly donated some blue and yellow fabrics and that allowed me to finish 11 quilt tops for Ukrainian refugee children.

Four different people have kindly contributed to the cost of postage. So it's been a real team effort. Thank you everyone. Claudia is a very busy lady sorting all the blocks, quilt tops and donation events, but if I see photos of our finished quilts being donated to children I will be sure to share them with you.

Here are some close up photos of each of the quilts. If you donated blocks I hope you can see some of your blocks in these quilts. There are another 140 loose blocks that I'm sending over too. Every block is going to Germany.

Thank you everyone.

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

Number 5

Number 6

Number 7

Number 8

Number 9

Number 10

Number 11

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

Friday, 20 May 2022

Wool Felt Applique

A few weeks ago I was invited to teach wool felt applique at Stitch Witches in Dunedin. My good friend Sue Lucas is one of the owners of Stitch Witches.

The inspiration table

I had a great time and met lots of lovely ladies. It's always interesting to see everyone else's ideas, and I was inspired by the woollen blankets and woollen suiting fabrics that some of them bought along to the class.

I had a quick look in a local op shop, but they only had plain green blankets and I wanted pattern and texture (of course!). I think woollen blankets are possibly more of a Dunedin thing, even though it definitely gets cold here in winter too.

So I ordered a gorgeous bundle of Sue Spargo's woollen pieces from the Ribbon Rose. I spent Mothers' Day play with my new woollen pieces and I started the bouquet of flowers above.

I don't know what this is going to be yet, but that's the beauty of a small piece. It could be the start of a bag, a cushion or even just a mini quilt. I'll see what I think as it develops.

I loved seeing all the autumn leaves in Dunedin, and exploring all the tempting items in Stitch Witches. The classes were held in the classroom at the shop, so we could just run back and forwards if we needed a slightly different shade of thread or felt.

They've said I'm welcome to come back next year, but I just need to think about what I can teach next time.

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

Friday, 13 May 2022

Floral Bouquet

It's finished!

I'm proud to reveal "Floral Bouquet" made from Kaffe Fassett's "Starry Night" pattern in Quilts in an English Village.

I loved the Starry Night pattern, but I wanted to use some of my lighter floral Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics, so I teamed my fabrics with Tula Pink's pastel solids for this pattern and I love the result.

The Cactus Flower print has some great motifs that are just crying out to feature in large blocks like these.

The Y seams were a little tricky, but I wrote a post back in February showing how I dealt with them. You can read it here.

I no longer have time to hand quilt every quilt that I make, so I must thank Rayna Clinton from Tui Song Quilting for quilting this quilt for me. I chose a Baptist Fan design and a variegated pastel thread, and I'm very happy with the result.

It was fun to make a summery quilt during our summer months here in New Zealand. I started with the intention of giving this quilt to my mother in law, and she has received it now and loves it.

Finished size: 75" x 75" (because it has 4x 4 = 16 blocks where the one in the book has 5 x 5 = 25 blocks)

Backing: Millefiori wide back in pastel by Kaffe Fassett

Now it's time for the Peacock Party. Thank you to all the loyal people who keep linking up week after week. Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

Friday, 6 May 2022

I'm teaching at Quilt Symposium 2022

Yes, the Lecture and Class information has been published, and I'm teaching at Symposium in October 2022. You can find all the details on the Sympoisum website here.

I'll be teaching Raindrops are Falling on my Head (2 day class):

Dancing Cheek to Cheek as a one day class:

Finish your Millefiori Quilt workshop (one day class):

This class is for all the people who have started a Millefiori Quilt,
but need help forming a plan to finish it.

and finally, Social media for quilters and quilt guilds.

So, I'm going to be a busy lady because there's also the opening and closing ceremonies, happy hours, fancy dinners and lectures to attend. And so many people to meet!

Usually we have international tutors at symposium, but due to all the COVID-19 uncertainty, we're only having Australian and New Zealand tutors this year. However, there's still 45 different tutors attending and a wide variety of classes to choose from.

So dive in, read the Lectures and Classes Information Ebook, and if you can't come to Lower Hutt for Symposium, just dream about what classes you would do if you could attend.