Tekapo - Capturing Memories

I'm on a roll with finishes at the moment.

I asked my long arm quilter to do some very simple quilting on my Symposium piece while she was quilting a couple of other quilts for me recently.  

Then I added some facings because the quilt is only 27" x 27" and I didn't want  binding that could appear bulky on such a small piece.  

I love the backing because it looks like deep blue water.  

I've called my quilt "Tekapo" because as soon as I saw the design I thought of Lake Tekapo in the South Island of New Zealand.  I've stayed there twice and I love the special colour of that lake.  I made sure that my lake was the colour I remember and I changed my background from grey to blue as well.    

    

So now I have a finished quilt and very fond memories of a great class with Veruschka Zarate - Pride and Joy Quilting.  If you ever get a chance to take a class with Veruschka then I recommend that you grab it.  She is such a a lovely person and she shared so much of her quilting knowledge with us.  

You can read my earlier post about the class I took at Symposium here. 

Her "Dignity" quilt has been juried in to QuiltCon in February 2025 so I'm sure you're going to hear a lot more about Veruschka then.  You can see it here https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A27Nc8UHP/

Symposium recap - my class with Pride and Joy Quilting

I'm home from Symposium and I'm so glad that I decided to go.  I really would have had FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) if I'd stayed at home.  

Here's what I've made:

I took a 3 day class with Veruschka Zarate of Pride and Joy Quilting and it was great.  We worked on the New Zealand image from her Capturing Memories Landscape Quilt Pattern Series. This is one flat quilt designed to look like two Polaroids laid on top of each other.  You can't see the quilt underneath because it's doesn't exist!

Veruschka developed the idea of creating scenes for the locations she teaches in - so there's a Sydney quilt because she taught at the Bernina Academy in Sydney before she came to New Zealand, and there's a Scotland scene because she's going there next. 

Here's a link to a California scene because the New Zealand one hasn't been uploaded to her website yet - but it will be very soon.  

There were only 9 people in the class so we had 2 tables each and plenty of room to spread out.  There were 18 people in the previous 2 day class so that must have been very cramped. We paid more because it was 3 days, but we had more room and an extra day to really lock in all that Veruschka taught us.  

At Symposium we can hire brand new machines from Bernina NZ and they sell them off at reduced prices after Symposium

This is how far I got after 3 days.

I've worked on my piece on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday since I got home, and the top is now finished.  

I think I'll machine quilt this one myself because it's only 27" x 27".

Veruschka shared so much about her quilting processes - from designing the images, to choosing the fabrics and threads, to quilting it on her long arm and even the backing.  It was great to just work away on our own pieces and listen to all of her useful information at the same time.  

Her amazing "Girl With A Pearl Earring" quilt hung on the wall at the back of our classroom so we all got to examine it close up. I see that the PDF pattern costs NZD 64, but I'm sure it's worth every cent because Veruschka's patterns are written to a very high standard.  

The Girl with the Pearl Earing by Veruschka Zarate

During one of the lunch breaks some of the other overseas tutors came to visit:

Veruschka Zarate (@prideandjoyquilting), Rachelle Denneny (@rachelledennenydesigns)
 Jemima Flint (@talesofcloth), Luke Haynes (@entropies), Nicole Leth (@myaffirmationproject)

Overall, it was a great class and I'm very glad that I went to Symposium.  Thank you Helen for allowing me to stay at your house.