Happy 10th Birthday to my blog

I can hardly believe this, but I started this blog 10 years ago today.  Here's a link back to my very first post.  

I started my blog because my friends and relatives had told me that they really looked forward to receiving my Christmas letter and seeing photos of the things that I had made during the year.  And also because I wanted to keep a personal record of what I had made.  

Some pears I finished last week

I've made 689 blog posts since 16 December 2013 - that's at least one a week, every week for 10 years!!

Five years ago today I started the Peacock Party - a weekly link up party for fellow bloggers to share what they have been working on. 

Since December 2018 I've blogged and hosted the Peacock Party every Friday.  When I've gone away I've scheduled posts in advance.  I'm really grateful to all the people who link up to the Peacock Party week after week, and to all the people I meet who tell me they look forward to reading my blog.  

But hosting the Peacock Party has been a big commitment so I've decided that this will be the last Peacock Party for the foreseeable future. 

BUT, I will still continue to blog on Fridays when I do have something to share, so please continue to check in, and you can always follow me on Instagram or Facebook because it's easier to share a quick photo there.

Another decoration I finished last week

I've been working on a at least three secret quilts this year and it's hard to find things to blog about when all my time has been spent on projects I can't to share yet.  Some of these projects are secrets because they are Block of the Months and we are not allowed to show anyone yet, and some are my own quilts that I want to keep a surprise until they are shown in exhibitions.  

So there's going to be plenty of eye candy on my blog in 2024 when I'm finally allowed to share these secret projects. 

I will not let my blog die - it's been a great way to connect with so many people, and it's also my own personal record of what I make.  I'm still going to do my recap of 2023 before the end of December because I like looking back before we start another year.

So, for the very last time, feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

Thank you to everyone who has linked up over the past five years. 

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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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2022 - My quilting year in review

It's the end of the year, so it's time for my end of year wrap up.  At the end of each year I like to look back on the goals I set myself at the start of the year.  

Here's what I planned to work on in 2022:

1. Licorice Allsorts Block of the Month from Wendy Williams

I've finished all the embroidery, and pieced about 40% of the blocks.  These blocks are tricky! But I love it and am keen to finish this quilt in 2023.

2. Ruby Star

I've finished this quilt and you can read about it here.  

This is my second quilt using the Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head pattern by Willyne Hammerstein from Millefiori Quilts 4.

3. Starry Night / Floral Bouquet

I like to make a Kaffe Fassett quilt each year, and this year it was Starry Night from Quilts in an English Village.

I finished this quilt and gifted it to my mother in law.  You can read about it here. 

4. Tea Party BOM by Wendy Williams

I'm ashamed to say that there's been no work on this one this year.  It deserves some love in 2023.

5. Neptune and the Mermaid

I finished this quilt and it was accepted in to the Quilt Symposium exhibition which was great.  You can read about it here. 

So I finished 3 of the 5 quilts on my list for 2022.  That's quite good for me!

I also made:

6. Quilt tops for Ukraine x 11

I spent most of April and May assembling blocks from around NZ into quilt tops for Ukrainian refugee children. 

I offered to collect and post quilt blocks from around NZ to Germany, but as time went on I could see that Claudia in Germany was getting overwhelmed with quilt blocks, so I decided to help her out and assemble the NZ blocks into quilt tops before I sent them over to her in Germany.  

7. Bordered Diamonds

This is another great Kaffe Fassett design.  I made this quilt all from my stash. You can read about this one here.

8. Pine Hill

This was a tree quilt along with our guild.  You can read about it here. 

I was less productive in 2022 than in previous years because I was on the Quilt Symposium committee.  I spent a lot of time doing the social media and newsletters for Quilt Symposium 2022, but it was a great event, and many people told us they appreciated the clear communication, so it was all worth it.  

So that's my 2022.  Did you have a good year? Feel free to link up a recent blog post in the Peacock Party below. 

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2021 - My quilting year in review

It's 31 December, so time for my end of year wrap up.  At the end of each year I like to look back on the goals I set myself at the start of the year.  

2021 finishes

My priorities for 2021 were:

1a, 1b, 1 c, 1d and e... Millefiori Quilts

I've done quite well on that goal.  My Raindrops are Falling on my Head quilt is just finished, and I'll blog about it soon. I've called this quilt Bollywood. You can see it in the background on this photo.

I also finished Dancing Cheek to Cheek, Bont en Blauw, and Fiesta Gitana - all from Millefiori Quilts 4.

Trans-Tasman Bubbles (Dancing Cheek to Cheek)

Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Bont en Blauw)

2. Topsy by Sheila Christensen

Finished, and gifted to our son for his 21st. I called this quilt Mirage and you can read about it here. 

Mirage

3. Cross Country by Anna Maria Horner

Finished and now called Material Girl.  You can read about it here. 

Material Girl

4. Ballet with Kaffe Fassett

I finished my Ballet with Kaffe Fassett quilt in February 2021 and it hung in the Aotearoa Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Rotorua in May.  I've called my version "Fireworks". I love this quilt.  It took three years to finish, but the time spent getting it right was well worth it. You can read more about it here.

Fireworks

5. Neptune and the Mermaid by Wendy Whellum

This one is so close to finished.  I had to stop hand quilting it when my finger flared up in August, and I haven't got back to this since, but maybe it could be my first finish of 2022. My last blog post about this quilt was in April 2021 and you can read it here. It looks a lot better than this in real life!

Neptune and the Mermaid

6. Prize giving quilt

This one is still languishing in a box.  I think about it from time to time, but it hasn't seen any action in 2021.  

7. Smoyg by Yvette Stanton

It's finished! And just back from the framers.  This one will be hanging on the wall as soon as I take down our Christmas decorations.  You can read about my Smoyg here.

8. Pandemic Sampler by Long Dog Samper

Well, just as the Pandemic has dragged on, so has my cross stitch.  I lost a few months when my finger flared up, and I've been very careful with my hands since then.  So progress has been slow.  But I am 85% finished now, and I think I will make a new goal to finish it by Easter 2022.

  

Pandemic Sampler

9. Gingerbread Flower Shop by Victoria Sampler

I haven't made much progress on this one either.  I feel sad because Thea Dueck is retiring and there aren't go to be any more houses in the Gingerbread Village.  When I finish this one it will all be over.  Maybe that's why I'm stalling, because I don't want this lovely journey to end.  

Gingerbread Flower Shop

So that's what was on my list in January 2021.  I think I've done quite well.  

I did start something that wasn't on my list for 2021.  When New Zealand was thrown into a Delta snap lockdown in August 2021, I decided to start the Wendy Williams Tea Party block of the month that had been sitting in my stash for quite some time.  There's still plenty more to do on this one in 2022, but here's how it's looking right now. 

Tea Party block of the month

So, 2021 was a good year for finishes for me.  I got to work on lots of bright, colourful quilts, and I got to share my quilts with others at Rose City Quilters in Palmerston North, and Capital Quilters in Lower Hutt.  I also shared my embroidery with Wellington Embroiderers Guild when I was their guest speaker back in June. 

I'm already forming lists of what I want to work on in 2022, and I'll share that with you next week.  

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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Pandemic Sampler

My Pandemic Sampler is not going to be finished in 2021 after all. I've only got 4 more pages to go, but each page takes me about two weeks when I'm working on it every night.

Everything was going fine when I last posted about it back in July, but then in August I started having real problems with my right hand.  My middle finger became really swollen, and then the tendon in my palm tightened up.  I couldn't do any hand work for about 10 weeks.  

Fortunately my hand is better now (thanks to 2 steroid injections and a round of prednisone), but I'm taking care of my hands and operating on a strict rotation schedule so I don't do too much of any on thing. 

That means that I've had to let go of my goal of finishing this sampler in 2021.  Given that the Pandemic is still lingering on in our little corner of the world, maybe it's appropriate that my sampler completion date will drag into 2022.  

Here's a pretty rose from my garden to end on a high note.  It's Heart of Gold, and new in my garden this year. 

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

 

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Something different

This week I'm throwing it over to you.  I've been super busy this week organising a conference and dinner for 160 people, so I haven't had any time for quilting.  

Almost ready for the big reveal

Yes, contrary to popular belief, I do have a job! I work for a great group of people, but once a year I have to organise a full day of professional development training and a fancy dinner. We're holding it somewhere quite special this year, so I'll take some photos.  

I'll have recovered by next weekend and have something good to show you then, but in the mean time, why don't you check out some of the links in the Peacock Party and see what other people have been up to. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Holidaying at home

I'm currently on holiday in the South Island of New Zealand, as some of you will know from my posts on Instagram and Facebook, 

We flew to Christchurch, and then drove to Dunedin for a few nights.  I was born in Dunedin and lived here until I was 13, when I moved to Auckland.  My husband also lived in Dunedin for a while, and he went to Otago University.  

I'll have more quilting photos to share next week, but this week I'm throwing it over to you to share what you've been up to recently.  

Feel free to link up a recent blog post in the Peacock Party.  

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It's Christmas Time

My work is finished for another year, and I'm looking forward to some quality quilting time.  Long, warm summer evenings, and lots of sport on TV - that combination makes for great stitching time.  

I've got so many things on the go at present, so I really hope I can finish some of them before the end of January. 

I thought I'd show you some of my previous Christmas quilts today.  Of course it's summer here in New Zealand, so we don't need Christmas quilts on our beds.  Instead we tend to make wall hangings and smaller decorative quilts.  

1.  First up is Oh! Christmas Tree by Wendy Williams.  I love wool felt applique, and when I saw this pattern I knew it was just right for me.  It really does represent Christmas down under.  The flowers are bright and the birds are happy.  

The thing I like most about my version of this quilt is that I found the perfect background with snowflakes, and I hand quilted them to make them stand out.  

You can read more here.  

2. Second is Flocks by Night - another pattern by Wendy Williams.  I love the little sheep on the hills, and all the lights on the trees.  You can't see it in these photos, but I used a sparkly thread to hand quilt the night sky.  

You can read more about this one here.  

3.  Holiday Patchwork Forest by Amy Smart.  These trees started out as test blocks made from scraps! But then I thought that they looked OK, so I carried on and made a quilt from scraps.  Of course the Kaffe Fassett Millefiori on the border wasn't a scrap, but it was in my stash and it finishes this quilt perfectly.  

This quilt shows that you don't need Christmas fabrics to make a Christmas quilt - as long as it's red or green shaped like a tree, people will think it's a Christmas quilt.  

You can read more here.  

4.  Finally, my Holiday Homies quilt made from my own design to show off Tula Pink's special Christmas range, Holiday Homies.  

I'm not usually one for cutesie prints, but those dogs in jumpers really appealed to me.  

This small quilt works as a wall hanging or as a throw over the glory box in the hall. 

You can read more about it here.  

So that's a quick look at some of my Christmas quilts.  Feel free to link up any recent or Christmas posts below.  I know this time of the year will be frantic for some of you, so I don't mind if you just link up a post with your favourite Christmas quilt.  

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