Puddling around

When I got home from Tekapo I had a sudden desire to sit at my sewing machine and just sew.  

I bought some lovely Tilda fabrics at Fairlie on the way to Tekapo, so I cut into them before they could even make it into my stash. 

Now I'm not sure if I even like where this is heading.  

I thought I could be spontaneous and just put random blocks together like in the book, but I much prefer it when I place them carefully.  I've even considered adding sashing to this to separate the blocks, but I'm not sure how to progress yet.  I guess the answer is to make more blocks and see where it leads me. 

I'm foundation paper piecing these blocks to stop the triangles stretching.  

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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Licorice Allsorts update

This week I started hand quilting my Licorice Allsorts quilt.  

I get my quilts basted on a long arm machine and when this one came back I was a bit concerned because it was more bunched up that usual, but I'm releasing the basting stitches as I quilt it and it's smoothing out nicely.

I'm using Aurifil 28wt and quilting in the ditch to start with.  I'll see what else it needs as it progresses.  

The guild I belong to, Capital Quilters in Wellington, New Zealand will be holding an exhibition in May 2024 and I need to get a wriggle on if I'm going to have new and exciting quilts to enter.  

Capital Quilters 2024 Exhibition—“A Symphony of Stitches”— Saturday 11 May and Sunday 12 May 2024 at the Lower Hutt Events Centre - where the Quilt Symposium 2022 exhibition was.

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

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Summer in Tekapo bag

Last week I showed you the sights of Tekapo.  This week I'll show you what we did at the retreat.  

I taught 14 ladies how to make my Summer in Tekapo tote bag.  We had a great time experimenting with wool felt, Perle 8 threads and ombre fabrics. Everyone's bags are going to look so different because they applied their own artistic flair to the design. 

Tula Pink lining

It was a great weekend with good people and very good food.  And of course the scenery was gorgeous with all the snow on the mountains.  I definitely hope to return to Stitching in Tekapo again. 

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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Away again?

Yes, I was away again last weekend at Stitching in Tekapo, and I'm away again right now in Auckland for my annual work conference. 

Tekapo is just beautiful.  If you've ever driven from Christchurch to Queenstown you would have gone through Tekapo.  It's just a small town, but it looked so pretty with the snow on the mountains and the blue/green water of the lake. We may be going in to spring in the North Island, but it was still winter in the South Island. 

Here's a few photos  of Tekapo.  I'll blog about the stitching retreat next weekend when I have more time.

The Church of the Good Shepherd

Frosty!!

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

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Shades of Indigo

I haven't managed to do any quilting since I've been back from my holiday, but I am making progress on my Shades of Indigo cross stitch. 

There's still one more wide border to go after I finish the one at the bottom of the photo above. 

Part of the problem for me is deciding which colour thread to use for each new border.  Once you deviate from the pattern you have to make all the decisions yourself!! And sometimes that requires stitching a bit to see how it's going to look on the fabric and against the previously stitched areas.  

in May 2023

Now you can see why I called my link party the Peacock Party - blues and greens are my favourite colours.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

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Liberty

I'm back from the most amazing holiday.  We did a river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest, and then spent time in Edinburgh and London.  I loved it all.

While we were in London I had to visit Liberty - even though I don't use a lot of Liberty in my quilts.  

It was hot on the day we visited and the store doesn't have air conditioning.  It's such an old building that we didn't even think to look for a lift, so we hiked up to the top floor to look at the fabrics.  

Fortunately I knew what I was looking for because it was busy and we were hot. I chose this iconic Liberty print, plus a few extras that will have to wait until my birthday in October.

I loved walking in the parks in the centre of London.  The trees are so big and established. And the flower beds were in full bloom.

Thank you to everyone who continued to read my blog and link up to the Peacock Party while I was away.  

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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Shuttles

 I'm on my way back to New Zealand today but here's one more blog post prepared in advance.  this is my Shuttles quilt that I made to showcase some of my beautiful Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  You can read all about it here. 

The pattern is the one on the cover of this book. My version looks so different because I chose to us a consistent background fabric - Aboriginal Dot in brown. 

And I hand quilted it with bright yellow Aurifil 12 wt.  

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

Carnival

I won't be able to attend the QuiltNSW Quilt Show this year, but I have very happy memories of the three years in a row that I did attend - 2017, 2018 and 2019.

My Carnival quilt won Best Traditional Quilt Award (Amateur) in 2019 and I was thrilled.  You can read all about it here. 

It was all foundation paper pieced and then hand quilted.  It took a while, but I tried really hard to balance the colours.

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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Lady Wigram

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you'll know that our river cruise on the Rhine will be coming to an end shortly. I've taken a little bit of hand piecing with me, but I'm not sure if I'll get any of it done while I'm away.

In the mean time, I'll show you my Lady Wigram quilt that I made for my mother in law.  I hand pieced it using the Bella Ruby templates from Treehouse Textiles in Australia.  You can read all about it here.  

I really had to try hard to keep the palette soft for this one.  I knew my mother in law wouldn't want my usual colour palette in her bedroom. 

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