Tauranga visit

Well, I went to Tauranga and it is a small world because I met my friend Helen who I first met 10 years ago when our kids were at school together in Wellington. 

I had a great weekend in sunny, warm Tauranga.  There were 15 people in my wool felt applique class on Saturday, and 17 in my big stitch hand quilting class on Sunday.  

We had a great time and everyone learnt new skills. Belinda from Stitch Makers in Greerton was there with a stand filled with Wonderfil threads and wool felt.  I think everyone found an excuse to buy something.  I stocked up on wool felt because the bright pink is hard to come by. 

When I mentioned using stencils for hand quilting designs they pulled out a huge pile from the library cupboard.  

I was fortunate to be hosted at an avocado orchard - and the harvest occurred the very weekend I was there.  These big bins are ready to be taken for packing and export now.  

And then, when the classes were over I had a brief stop at Mt Manganui before I had to go to the airport and fly home.  Nothing says summer like the white sand and surf at the Mount. If you've sailed around New Zealand on a cruise ship you will have sailed along this Bay of Plenty coast. 

As a final bonus I got to see a beautiful sunset from the plane.  It made up for the slightly bumpy landing at Wellington.  

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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Hand Quilted Sampler

My Hand Quilted Sampler quilt has a long and chequered past, but it's finally finished.  

I started this quilt in a class with Kaffe Fassett in Wellington, New Zealand in January 2018.  Yes, five long years ago!!

January 2018 in Wellington

We set out to make the Green Diamonds quilt from Quilts in Ireland, but when I got home and started to piece my diamonds together I found they my cutting hadn't been very precise, and it was going to be difficult to piece the quilt top.  

I don't give up on things easily, so I set it aside for a while.  Then when I was at Tote and Gloat in Palmerston North in 2019 I had a good long chat with Racheldaisy from Australia, and it dawned on me that I didn't have to make Green Diamonds if it wasn't working out.  I could take the pieces that I had cut and repurpose them into something new.  

So that's what I did.  I pulled out all of the red and green fabrics I'd bought for the Green Diamonds quilt and I designed my own pattern.

Then I decided that I could turn it into a hand quilted sampler and use it to show people all of the options that are available with hand quilting.  So I quilted each section with a different thread and a different design.  

quilting along the lines in the fabric

using the lines already drawn in the flower

following the fabric design to fill in the area

1/4" inch from the edge for the triangles

I took this quilt to Stitch Witches in Dunedin and they can display in the shop until I next visit Dunedin in 2024.  

Finished size 47" x 47"

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

My Kantha pouches

I finished my Kantha quilting challenge for this week.  A couple of weeks ago I told you I was experimenting with Kantha quilting for an Aurifil Artisan challenge here.

Well, I finished my panels and I turned them into Openwide pouches (pattern by Noodlehead here).

I love the easy, relaxed look of Kantha quilting, and I enjoyed making these bags.  I'm definitely going to use this technique again in the future. The joy of Kantha quilting is that you don't have to draw lines and precise - it's meant to look rustic.

Just a reminder - I used Aurifil 12wt in contrasting colours.  I even used the variegated threads and they look good against the Kaffe Fassett Fabrics too.

I chose to make the medium size pouch, because that allowed me to get two pouches out of one fat quarter (with another for the backing, and a third for the lining).

Once I'd finished quilting my panels I knew that I needed to secure the threads, so I machine stitched just inside my cutting lines with a short stitch length.  Only then did I cut up my fat quarter into panels for the bags.  I didn't want my lovely Kantha quilting to unravel!

I chose some other cheery Kaffe Fassett prints for the lining. I like the interiors of my bags to be light colours so I can find my stuff in there!

So, there you are.  Two quick and relatively easy Open Wide Pouches made from Kantha quilted panels.  I encourage you to give it a go.

Updated: I bought the zips from Studio Mio in Australia - https://studiomio.com.au/zippers/

I've made this pattern previously, and it makes a great pouch for when you want to take some hand stitching along with you. 

What have you been up to this week?  Feel free to share a recent blog post below.

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Oh! Christmas Tree

I haven't made any Christmas quilts this year, but I'd like to show you my Oh! Christmas Tree quilt that I made back in 2016.  This quilt is a great example of how you can take your quilting lead from the design in the fabric.  See all those snowflakes in the backgroud? I hand quilted over them with Aurifil 12wt and now they stand out beautifully.

This is a wool felt applique pattern designed by Wendy Williams of Flying Fish Kits.

I loved making this quilt because I got to play with all the brightly coloured felt.

My background fabric contained snowflakes, so I just hand quilted the snowflakes with my favourite Aurifil 12 wt in a soft grey colour.  It was so easy! The snowflakes really stand out because of the hand quilting and the wool batting.  I wanted the texture to be focal point, not the stitches.  However, I did use red Aurifil for the hand quilting around the edges.

If you'd like to know more about how I hand quilt, you can click on the tab at the top of the page, or click here. 

For the wonky stars around the edges I echo quilted each one in the 12 wt grey, and then echo quilted again around the inside of the square with a matching Aurifil 28wt thread.

If you're keen to make this quilt, I recommend that you pop over to Elizabeth Eastman's blog OP Quilt and follow the steps in her quilt along.  Quiltmania did publish the pattern in Simply Moderne, but there were some errors that Elizabeth corrects in her posts.
I provided some of the information and photos in Elizabeth's posts, so I can guarantee the instructions she has provided are correct.

You can read my previous posts on this quilt here.

My quilt is bright and colourful to represent Christmas down under.  I live in New Zealand and it's Summer here and all the plants are flowering.  This is what Christmas looks like in New Zealand and Australia:

Don't you wish you could celebrate Christmas in summer? Or would that just feel wrong?

Merry Christmas.

Aurifil's Whole Cloth challenge with Paintbrush Studio Fabrics

A few weeks ago Aurifil sent some of their Artisans a spool of thread and some fabric from Paintbrush Studio Fabrics Paintbox Palette.  The challenge was to use these two items to create a mini whole cloth quilt. About 20 of us took part in the challenge, and Aurifil will  blog about all of the results at the end of August.

Here's what I made:

It's a bright orange cushion / pillow that I hand quilted freehand.

The colour is actually "Goldenrod" which is one of Paintbrush Studio's Trend Palette colours for 2019. I have to admit that I didn't know what Goldenrod is, but a quick Google told me it's a plant with bright yellow flowers. Thank you Wikipedia.

The Artisans could specify which weight thread we wanted to receive, but we had no idea which colour fabric we would receive.

I requested 12wt thread because I knew I'd be hand quilting my whole cloth.  I received thread 4150 which is variegated and matches the fabric very well.

I decided I would try to quilt free hand - which is harder than it looks.  I took inspiration from this piece of Alison Glass fabric, and drew some outlines with my blue wash away pen.

Then I proceeded to fill in the gaps.  I kept drawing more lines to get the quilting denser.

I always use a hoop when I hand quilt, and my favourite needles are John James Chenille size 24.  They have a large eye for the thicker threads, but a very sharp point.  I also wear an open clover thimble on the third finger of my right hand (I'm right handed).  I use it to swivel the needle and push it through.  You can read more about hand quilting on the tab at the top of the page or by clicking here.  

As the idea to make a cushion / pillow started forming, I decided that I needed to border my whole cloth centre piece with something with pattern.  I dived into my Kaffe Fassett stash, and found Kite Tails which was just right.  I machine quilted strips onto my centre piece with Aurifil 2145 as shown above and below.

So there we are! A fun challenge successfully completed.  Thank you Aurifil and Paintbrush Studio Fabrics.  I've tried something new and I enjoyed it.

Aurifil will be putting up links to all the Artisan's whole cloths at the end of August.  You can follow their blog Auribuzz, or wait for their posts on Facebook or Instagram.

Picnic Quilt

My Picnic Quilt is finished.  I love how the pattern emerges when it's viewed from a distance. 

This quilt is made from blocks that I won in our Block of the Month draw at Capital Quilters.  I did add a few more blocks myself to balance out the colour scheme in some areas.

I hand quilted it with Aurifil 12wt.  I initially intended to just do straight lines running through each block, but I felt it needed more stabilising, so I added echo quilting in grey in the opposite direction to make each of the darker rows stand out. 

I chose a brick red colour for the binding because it works well with the red spot I used on the internal border.

the binding, before it's turned to the back

This quilt has more red in it than anything I've ever made before!

The finished quilt is 76" x 76". I used wool batting so it's lovely and soft.