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.  

Exhibition shopping

After promising you I'd always do my blog posts on Friday nights NZ time, I slipped one in on Sunday, so if you missed seeing my Purple Zone quilt you can click back and read about it here. 

I've got more quilts from the exhibition to blog about, but first on to my shopping from Capital Quilters' exhibition last weekend. 

We had five retailers at the exhibition and I think I bought something from nearly every one of them.  

my haul from the exhibition

First up was this very interesting fabric from e bond for Free Spirit Fabrics.  It's unlike anything I've purchased before, but I want my quilting to continue growing so I'm going to challenge myself to use it.  

I also bought a bundle of Peppered Cottons from Studio E which will work well with another project I've been collecting fabrics for. 

These purchases were both from Jenny Hunter at Plume Art + Stitch

Catherine McDonald from Mallee Textiles brought a great range of her hand treated fabrics and there was a tempting discount if you purchased five.  Here's my five fabrics. 

I feel like I haven't been to a quilt shop in ages, and my lovely friend Lyndy from Stitchbird at Kilbirne had lots of pre cuts on her stall, so I bought a layer cake of Backyard by Ruby Star Society and I will enjoy thinking about what to do with that.  I do like the Ruby Star Society fabrics.  

I haven't unwrapped it yet because I know that when I do I'll want to start making something with it immediately and I have lots of other things I need to do first - including housework!

And finally, I bought some Sue Spargo wools from Fox's Cottage from Foxton. I've mainly used wool felt to date, but I'm participating in some Sue Spargo BOM programmes and I'm really enjoying seeing the different results felted wool produces.  Wool felt vs felted wool.  They are different - trust me. 

So, in between looking at all the wonderful quilts and talking to friends from around New Zealand, I managed to do a fair bit of shopping too. 

Spooky Darlings

It may be Thanksgiving where you live, but I've just finished my Halloween quilt!  I've called it "Spooky Darlings" after the fabric range that I used.  

The design is very simple 60 degree triangles, but what makes it special is all the hand quilted spider webs and the quirky fabrics.  I used a stencil to mark the spider webs and hand quilted in three different shades of grey Aurifil 12wt. 

I only had a fat eighth bundle to play with so I made the biggest triangles that I could and combined them in alternating dark and light rows.   

The selvedges on these Ruby Star Society fabrics are so cute and too pretty to throw away so I included as many as I could on the back. 

Finished size is 48" x 66" so it will be good as a throw quilt for winter evenings or on a single bed.  

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

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Halloween 2023

Well, it's that time of the year again.  Halloween is still viewed as an American tradition in this part of the world, but more and more people are getting in to trick or treating each year.  

My Spooky Darlings quilt won't be finished for this Halloween, but it is progressing well. 

I live on a street that is well known for Halloween because it's wide and straight and a safe place for kids to trick or treat.  It's Spring in the southern hemisphere and it doesn't get dark here until after 8pm at the moment, but the kids can't wait that long so they start about 5pm. 

I need to get my Haunted House out again and enjoy looking at it before it's time to get out the Christmas decorations.  Help!!!

It's been a while since I've shown my Haunted House so if you're after more information you can find all my notes about the Victoria Sampler Gingerbread Village on the Gingerbread Village tab here on my blog.  And more specific information about the Haunted House here.  

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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Club Tropicana

I've finished my Swatch quilt and I've called it Club Tropicana. 

A while ago I started naming my quilts after my favourite songs from the 1980's and I loved Club Tropicana by Wham.  Here's link to the video in case you need a reminder.  This quilt does have some palm trees it in and the bright yellows remind me of pineapples, so Club Tropicana seemed appropriate. 

This was a quick and easy quilt to make and it will be perfect for my older son.  I won't have to worry about it living on the floor!

I'm proud to say that I made this one from my stash.  I got it quilted at Busy Bee Quilt Shop in Wellington with a modern design.

It's quite a big quilt, and I didn't want to have to piece a backing, so I chose this wonderful Kaffe wide back and I love it.  My son can use it either side up now.  

Finished size 60" x 72"

I cut my blocks at 5.5" x 9.5"

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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Swatch Quilt

Remember those fabrics I showed you last week? Well, I cut them up and made the world's fastest quilt pattern - the Swatch Quilt by Ruby Star Society. 

I chose some fairly bold prints for this quilt, but I think they all work together because I've limited the colour palette to blue, yellow and pink/red/orange, with black to break it up.  I resisted my usual urge to add green because it would have been too much.  

Plaids: by Kaffe Fassett Collective and also Kathy Doughty

Yellow spots: Alison Glass

Blue birds: After the Rain by Bookhou for Conservatory Craft

Orange stripes and red/yellow check: Denyse Schmidt

Palm trees: Cotton + Steel

So you can see I have a very eclectic mix of fabrics in my stash. Yes, this quilt is 100% from my stash.

 

I tweaked the measurements and pattern slighty because I wanted my quilt to be big enough to cover the top of a queen sized bed. I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It's currently at the Busy Bee Quilt Shop for long arm quilting because I'm know it's going to be well used, and I prefer machine quilting for quilts that are going to be thrown on the floor.  And hand quilting would just get lost amongst all of this pattern and colour.

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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Quilts for Ukraine - an update

This week I spotted two of our New Zealand quilts that are ready to donate to Ukrainian children in Germany.  The kiwi block makes the first one quite recognisable! But I also recognise the borders because I assembled our quilt tops before I sent them over to Claudia in Germany.  

Claudia received far more quilts and blocks than she ever could have imagined, and she has been donating quilts as quickly as she can.  I'm not concerned that our tops from New Zealand are still working their way through the finishing stages.  It's lovely to see that they have been quilted beautifully, and have matching binding applied by a volunteer.  

I'll keep an eye out for more photos in case they pop up. 

My fabrics for the Swatch quilt

I had a great weekend away on my work social weekend in Kapiti Coast.  They weather is starting to get a bit cooler now and I'm starting to think about quilting again.  I was inspired by the Ruby Star Society Spring sew along I saw on Instagram this week so I looked in my stash and cut blocks for the Swatch quilt:

I see that they have designed their blocks to fit across one width of the fabric, but I wanted my quilt to be larger than 48" x 60", so I've cut my blocks a bit bigger and added two extra rows.  

I'll show you next week when I have it all sewn together.  

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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Quilt Symposium - Kawandi Class

My Kawandi is finished!

I took a one day Kawandi class with Lorena Uriarte at Quilt Symposium 2022.  We learnt to make Kawandi and here is mine.  

Kawandi are meant to be scrappy, but I used a charm pack of Koi Pond by Ruby Star Society.  I knew the colours would all work together and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  

But the process used up the fabric more quickly than I anticipated, so I ran out of Koi Pond fabrics before it was finished.  I had a Ruby Star Society panel in my stash, so I bravely cut in to it and put these lovely ladies in the centre.  

Lorena recommended Aurifil 12wt for Kawandi and I had a few spools in my stash to choose from. I chose a variegated one and I'm very happy with the outcome. 

Here's the back - I like it as much as the front.  The night before the class I quickly grabbed a fat quarter for my backing and it's worked out really well.  This is an Anna Maria Horner print, again from my stash.  

So, I've made a Kawandi piece.  I struggled a bit with sewing without a hoop, and without line markings, so I succumbed and started using masking tape to keep my lines parallel.  However, my masking tape was only 1/4", so my lines are quite close together and the whole piece took longer than I expected.  But I'm pleased with it and I learnt a new skill.  

I'll be taking it to Capital Quilters tomorrow for our Symposium Show and Tell.  

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