My first finish of 2019 - and the Peacock Party

I have a new quilt to share - Spotty.
This was quite an easy finish because I'd made this top back in 2015. Although it's a very pretty quilt, it's not exactly my style for my home.  So, I'm going to sell it.

The quilt measures 90" x 70" (229cm x 178cm).  It's multi directional, so can fit long ways on a single bed, or across a queen sized bed like this, with substantial amounts hanging down each side:

Here's some closeup photos of some of the blocks.  The main fabrics are from a range designed by Denyse Schmidt exclusively for Spotlight Australia / New Zealand.  That's why I've called the quilt "Spotty", because Australians refer to Spotlight as Spotty.

The quilt has pure cotton batting.  Here's a view of the back:

The quilting shows up really well on the back.  I had it quilted on a long arm machine at Busy Bee Quilters Wellington, NZ with hot pink thread:

These blocks were all made as part of a block of the month programme I participated in in 2015.  The shop that ran it has closed down now, but a number of us enjoyed making the blocks each month.

I intend to list this quilt on TradeMe next Wednesday 17 April.  If you live in NZ, and are interested in buying it, you can send me an email before then, and we can discuss.  I'll post the link to the TradeMe listing if it hasn't sold prior to Wednesday.

This sale is open to New Zealanders only.  I am not willing to post this quilt overseas sorry.
Repeating the vital stats:
Size 90" x 70" (229cm x 178cm)
Cotton batting

And now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What's everyone else been up to this week? Feel free to add a link below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Women of the Bible quilt

Towards the end of last year I thought about making the Modern Building Blocks quilt. I don't really use a lot of solids, so I thought it would extend me.  I liked the idea of a modern sampler quilt, but in the end I decided it wasn't for me.

While I was waiting for the Modern Building Blocks to be sent the Women of the Bible quilt came to my attention.I cancelled my order for the Modern Building Blocks and started receiving these patterns for free. The patterns were sent out by email every second week, from Little Quilts in USA.

The programme has finished now, and I have received all the patterns. I made a big effort a week ago to finish all 40 of the blocks and here they are:

I used Denyse Schmidt fabrics from Spotlight New Zealand.  Her range came in blues and pinks, so I decided to use a bit of both in my quilt.  I think most other people have chosen quieter fabrics, but these appealed to me.  I didn't make it for religious reasons, I made it because I like the patterns.

It felt like a major achievement to get all 40 blocks finished, but then I realised that the pattern included lots of 5" blocks as fillers.  I tried to lay the quilt out without the fillers, but it would end up 60" x 90" if I just sewed it together as it is. I did play around on a piece of paper trying to think of layouts that could incorporate as many blocks as possible.  There are 12 very large 15" blocks and the smaller blocks are 10".

Here's a picture of someone else's finished quilt top, with all the filler blocks. It's more square than mine.

Yvette has made all the filler blocks and it does look good. I think I will have to do them, but they might not be flying geese and half square triangles. I think my fabrics are patterned enough that I could just cut 5" square in some cases.

Sorry about the poor lighting - it's winter here and it just keeps on raining at the moment.  If you would like the patterns for these blocks you can buy them on a DVD from Little Quilts for USD 10.