A little Christmas quilt

I'm going to donate this little Christmas quilt at our guild meeting tomorrow. Each year our guild members make a special donation of Christmas sewing to our local hospital - Hutt Hospital.  

The hospital staff like to make Christmas Day special for the children stuck in hospital for Christmas. Our members donate more than 50 stockings each year. 

One of our guild members passed away quite suddenly this year, and her friends have been working through her stash trying to ensure it all gets used.  A couple of months ago they gave each of us a brown paper bag with 4 pieces of Christmas fabric in it. Their simple request was to sew something for Hutt Hospital.   

In my paper bag were the rabbits, the kiwis, and red, white and gold piece and the blue stripes.  I added some of my own fabrics to make a big enough quilt. 

I decided to make a baby quilt using the Trip Around the world pattern that can be used on the cot or on the floor as a play mat.  It can even be used as a table mat in years to come.  

I had it quilted at Busy Bee Quilt Shop because I was already going there to get my nephew's baby quilt quilted.  

2025 Baby Quilt

My nephew and his wife have just had a baby girl so I decided to make a quilt for their new baby.  

I chose the Charlotte Quilt pattern by Erica Jackman of Kitchen Table Quilting because I had seen a few quilts made from it at the Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Christchurch and I was keen to try it myself.

The pattern can be made in a random fashion, or a carefully planned out version and of course I chose the more complication version.  I managed to get the strips weaving correctly on this baby sized quilt, but I wouldn't try that method on anything bigger.  I had to keep checking back to ensure I had the blocks up the right way and the strips were placed correctly.  

I'm really pleased with the finished quilt.  Hopefully the baby will still be happy to use it when she is 3 or 4 years old.  

Blue Monday

I'm very pleased to report that I've finished the bear paw quilt that I made to celebrate Capital Quilters 40th anniversary. I used the Archie pattern by Penelope Handmade.

I wanted to try something different and I've always liked the Irish Chain effect.  I used Essex Linen for the chains, and an Anna Maria Horner print for the blocks - Coreopsis in Shadow | Made my Day by Anna Maria Horner.  The background is all white and pale blue low volume scraps from my stash. 

The pattern has four size options and I chose the throw size so it is 70" x 70".

 I had this quilt quilted by Busy Bee Quilt Shop with a simple Baptist Fan pattern and I think it suits it well.   I called it Blue Monday, continuing my tradition of naming my quilts after my favourite songs from the 80's. 

Our guild's logo is the bear paw block - also known as the Hand of Friendship block.  So when our guild had our 30th anniversary we were all encouraged to make quilts using bear paws.  Here's what I made then - my Scrappy Bear Paw quilt.  You can read about it here. 

And now, 10 years later we were encourage to make another bear paw quilt for our 40th anniversary, so I made Blue Monday. What if I'm still a member in another 10 years time at our 50th? What will I make then? 

And what if I'm still around another 10 years after that for our 60th? I sure hope I'm still quilting then.  

Sue Spargo pin cushion and needle rolls

On Sunday night I was cleaning up my sewing table and I stumbled across a cute little pattern.  I'd bought it back in May, at the Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Christchurch. I'd also bought a little bundle of wools that I planned to use on it.  So I decided to start it there and then.  

But my background piece wasn't a wide as in the pattern, so I had to consult another book and turn my pin cushion into a jumbo pin cushion.  Or maybe it's more of a "pillow" like cross stitchers make. 

I had fun making my version of the Canna Blossom pattern.  I even used some of my precious Kaffe Fassett buttons for the flowers.  

While I was hand sewing up the gap on the side, I realised that my new pin cushion matched the Sue Spargo needle roll that I made earlier in the year. 

I used Sue Spargo's Tranquil Garden needle roll pattern but I did my own embellishment on the cover based on a thistle image I saw in a book.  I can't remember if I got the pre-printed labels with the needle roll pattern or by purchasing a complete set of Sue's needles.  But it's very helpful to have all my needles labelled in this way.

The wool felt applique piece is one I made before I taught at Coastal Quilters back in 2022 and it matches too! You can read about it here.   I wouldn't even say these are my favourite colours, but somehow I've made three matching pieces.  

Funnily enough I have made another Sue Spargo sewing roll and it's in a similar colour way.  I don't use this one alot, but it's still in my cupboard.

Sliced Charm Runner

While I was at the Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Christchurch I picked up a pattern for a quilt as you go table runner.  

I didn't really need a table runner, but I wanted to experiment with the technique because I bought some Japanese jacquard fabrics in Japan that I think I'm going to have to quilt as I go.  They look like they will fray very easily so this may be the best method for working with them.  

The pattern I bought came with a charm pack of Kaffe Fassett fabrics so I followed the instructions and sewed it up quite quickly.  I'm really pleased with the result and I learnt a few tricks along the way.  

Now I need to firm up my ideas for my Japanese fabrics. 

Licorice Allsorts

There's nothing like a quilt show deadline to make me hurry up and finish a quilt.  

I've been working on this quilt since 2021, but now it's finished and it was even displayed in the Great New Zealand Quilt Show (TGNZQS) in Christchurch in May 2025.  

I'm really pleased it's finished because it's a lovely little quilt.  The colours are just so soft and the black is very dramatic against the pastels.  The coloured fabrics are Quilt Quality Chambray by Tilda . 

Licorice Allsorts is a Wendy Williams design and I love it.  I did it as a block of the month through Material Obsession in Sydney, Australia.  I loved all the hand stitching with Sue Spargo Eleganza Perle 8, but machine piecing the blocks was a bit trickier.  

Once I had finished the quilt top I hand quilted it with Aurifil 28wt in complementary colours.  fortunately my local quilt shop found a piece of black woollen batting big enough for it because I was worried that white batting might show through the black linen blocks. 

Finished size is 53" x 53"

It's Business Time

As part of Tote n Gloat in Palmerston North, I entered a mystery Row by Row challenge.  

I thought it would be fun because each person could choose their own theme and use their own fabrics.  The only rules were that each row had to be 40" wide and each row had to comply with the clues announced month by month.  

I wanted to use my husband's business shirts, so I called my quilt "It's Business Time". 

The clues were wide and left plenty of room for interpretation.  

1. three of a kind

2. curved piecing

3. embroider

4. applique

5. mirror image

6. recycle it

7. maker's choice

The Beehive - a famous Wellington landmark which is part of the Parliament buildings

I didn't win a prize but they very kindly gave each entrant a ribbon, which feels as good as a prize to me.  

I had my quilt long armed by Sue B from Busy Bee Quilt Shop in Wellington. 

 

Two new project bags

I had a big list of things I wanted to sew over Easter, and first up was two new project bags.  I use these bags to store hand pieced or hand embroidered blocks that I'm working on.  I've currently got four Sue Spargo Block of the Months on the go!!! So I need four project bags.  

I love the mesh because I can see what's in each bag without opening it.  And it's stretchy!

I like to try new patterns with my quilting on the back of the bags. 

Patterns by Annie used to have a free pattern for a project bag called Piecekeeper.  (I can't find it on her website now). I use that pattern as my base but I've made a few modifications to suit my style of sewing.  

Patterns by Annie have great instructions for installing zips and working with mesh.  I've used techniques from the Zip It Up pattern on my project bags. 

Annie's zips really are the best quality so I use a 24" single sided zip on my project bags. 

I've learnt to give the corners a gently curve because it's easier to sew the binding on.  And I machine sew my binding to the front and then hand sew it to the back.  

Two project bags started and finished in one day.  That's good going.  

Prairie Schooler Santas

I've been doing a bit of cross stitch over the summer holidays. I've now completed 5 Prairie Schooler Santas.  The company releases a new Santa pattern every year and I bought about 30 of them when I decided to join this craze.  I keep them all in one project bag so it's easy to pick another one when I finish one. 

2021 Santa

1996 Santa

2003 Santa

2005 Santa

1984 Santa

I haven't turned them into FFO's yet (Finally Finished Objects) because I want to stitch more of them first and then finish them all in a similar manner - probably mini pillows but I'm not totally sure yet. 

I do like having something small and relatively easy to stitch.  The design all use a limited palette of colours so I keep a good supply of cottons and my chosen linen in the my project bag too.