Bloggers' Quilt Festival - Mini Medallion

It's time for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival again, and once again I'm entering two quilts.

The first is my Mini Medallion, which I finished earlier this year.  I'm entering this quilt in the Hand Quilted section because I hand quilted it all with beautiful Perle 8 threads.

The hand quilting category was almost dropped from the Bloggers' Quilt Festival last year, but Amy listened to her audience and retained it.  I'm a member of the Celebrate Hand Quilting facebook group, and more and more people are turning to hand quilting to give their quilts a unique look. Celebrate Hand Quilting is a private facebook group, but anyone can ask to join, and the members are very supportive. There are more than 10,000 members in the group now, so hand quilting is alive and well.

This quilt is made from a free pattern which you can download from here.  I did it as a mystery quilt along, so I didn't know what it was going to look like until the final month.

I love bright colours so I used bright Perle 8s for the decorative quilting, and regular quilting cotton for quilting in the ditch.

Fortunately I had the perfect backing fabric in my stash.

Finished size: 36" x 36"

You can read more about this quilt in my earlier post here.  My other entry in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival is my Flower Garden table runner, and you can read all about that quilt here.

Voting isn't open yet, but I really encourage you to go and check out all the other quilts in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. More and more will be added to the linkup until entries close on 21 May. Then voting will be open from 22 May until 29 May. Winners will be announced on 30 May.  It really is a great way to see a huge range of quilts from the comfort of your own home.

Possum Magic round up

Nearly 12 months ago I met some lovely Australian and New Zealand bloggers through a new bloggers group, hosted by Beth at Plum and June blog.  Over 100 bloggers from all over the world joined that new bloggers group, and we all benefited from advice about how to make our blogs better.  There was a lot of talk about round robins in the group, and a fair bit of resistance from those in North America to post to those of us "down under".  So, some of us in Australia and New Zealand got together online, and formed our very own round robin group called Possum Magic.  A few months later a USA / Canada group started up called Round Trip Quilts, and their round robin is progressing too.

One of our members, Jo from Riddle and Whimsy, had been in a round robin before, so she put forward some guidelines and we modified them to meet our needs.   We each made a centre block using whatever design we liked. We then sent that block off to the next person on the list on the agreed date.  The quilts are now travelling round in a circle and we will each receive our own quilt back at the end in July 2015.

You can see more photos and read the back stories of each step on the Possum Magic tab, just under my header, but here's some recent photos of each of the quilts:

Alice's quilt - Blossom quilts

Carla's quilt - Granny Maud's Girl

Jane's quilt - Where Jane Creates

Jo's quilt - Riddle and Whimsy

Rebecca's quilt - One Wee Bird

Serena's quilt - Sew Giving

My quilt - Wendy's Quilts and More

Sharon's quilt - Motherdragon's Musings

Aren't they all fabulous?  There's still one or two more borders to be added to most of these so they aren't finished yet.  I'll keep you posted on progress.

It's funny as I scroll through these photos. I can see my input into each of them, except this very last one which I'm due to receive next week.  They bring back great memories, and make me think of the friendships that have developed during the course of this round robin.

Giveaway winner

The May edition of the Sew Mama Sew giveaway has now closed and the winner of my giveaway is Kate Yates from Florida, USA.  Kate's blog is Thread Everywhere, and she gets to photograph her quilts on lovely calm sunny days in Florida.  I hope you can make something nice and colourful with the fat quarters Kate.

Progress on my hexie blanket - because I don't like blog posts without photos

The answers to my question about whether you can knit or crochet were very interesting.  Many people have the skills, but find quilting more interesting, and faster.

The most commonly made items were scarfs, hats, socks and dish cloths! (who knew).

The most interesting comment was from Pauline who learnt to crochet, and 3 weeks later started to crochet her own wedding dress!  Yes, she finished it and she wore it!!  Well done Pauline.

Now I'm off to prepare my posts for the online Bloggers' Quilt Festival which opens on 15 May. You can read about it here, and enter 2 quilts if you're a blogger.

Give away day

This giveaway is now closed.  Thanks to all who entered.

Welcome to Giveaway Day 2015.  Sew Mama Sew are kindly running their Giveaway Day again this week. Lots of bloggers join in an run give aways at the same time. After you've left me a comment below to be in to win on my blog, head on over to their blog to view all the other great giveaways on offer. 

If it's your first time here, hi, I'm Wendy.  I live in Wellington, New Zealand with my husband and two sons.  I love to use bright colours in my quilting. Here's a few of the things I'm currently working on:

Women of the Bible quilt

Crochet with this lovely wool

la passacaglia - English Paper Pieced

crochet hexagon blanket

 You can see my finished quilts by clicking on the tab above. You can also follow me on Instagram at @wendysquiltsandmore.  I know you're really here for the giveaway, so I won't take up anymore of your time.  Here's what I'm giving away:

5 fat quarters in my favourite colours

To enter just tell me if you can crochet and / or knit, and if you can, what type of things you make - hats, scarves, jumpers, booties, blankets, cardigans, socks or gloves.

Followers old and new can get a second entry by leaving a second comment telling me how you follow. It could be bloglovin, feedly, GFC, instagram etc.

This giveaway is open to everyone (including international participants). If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your email address in the comment.  The giveaway will stay open until 5pm Sunday 10 May 2015 (PST Time), and I will use the random number generator at random.org to pick two winners then. Good luck everyone!

By the way, I usually respond to all comments, but giveaways can generate a lot of comments, so I may not be able to respond to you all. Rest assured, I will read them all though.

Check out Sew mama Sew to see a full list of participating blogs. Good luck! 

And where am I up to with my embroidery?

Examining my quilting list proved that I have made progress already this year. I'm not so sure about my embroidery though, so it's time to examine that list too.

Was this on my list for 2015? NO

Back in December I wrote a list of things I wanted to work on in 2015. Here's what was on that list:

1. Frost Pumpkin Stitchery Christmas Celebration Sampler - Finished and framed!!

All good stitchers know that it's one thing to finish the stitching, but it's another thing to actually get it framed.

2.  Mill Hill beaded ornaments.  I finished the ones on my list and even made some more as well. They are a Christmas tradition which I really enjoy.

3.  Your Place or Mine? - it was on both my quilting and embroidery lists due to the hand sewing involved. The top is finished and will be going to the long arm quilter very soon.

4. Northern Expressions Needlework Celtic Snow - Finished and framed!!!  (again)

5. The Victoria Sampler Gingerbread Etui.  I've finished one of the four sides.

6.  Elizabethean Sweet bag.  I got it out, and I put it away again. No progress.

7. The Victoria Sampler Haunted House. I'm about 65% done and it will be finished before the start of October.

8.  The Victoria Sampler Needlework Shop.   I don't want to start this until I've finished the Etui and the Haunted House.

9.  Wool felt applique bag from Flying Fish Kits. Finished and in everyday use. Love it.

10.  green Needlelace and 11. purple Needlelace - no action but I have started white needlelace.

12. Heirloom Christmas Tree decoration - no action.

13.  Sundry other projects.  I did make The Sweetheart Tree Blackberry Heart and it's now a cushion and finished. There are still quite a few others in this category.


New additions in 2015:
14.  white Needlelace. You might wonder why I'd start another needlelace when I have two unfinished. This one is a stitch along with my new found Russian friends on Instagram. Daria is providing detailed instructions and photos, and I thought having others stitching the same time would keep me motivated.

This is what I'm aiming to make

15.  Peacock tapestry cushion. This was a Christmas gift that I chose for myself.  I'm desperate to start, but must progress some of the things above first.

16.  Crochet.  It's not really embroidery, but it's not quilting either. I've already finished my ripple blanket, and am now working on a hexagon blanket, which won't be anywhere near as big as the ripple blanket.

So, time to stop talking and time to get stitching. I guess the situation isn't quite as bad as I thought. I have finished a few things, and there's still plenty of time to finish more in 2015.

Where am I up to with my quilting?

Way back in December I wrote down some plans for 2015. The overriding aim was to Sew My Stash in 2015.  By that I meant to finish some of those things that I had already bought.  At first that might sound boring, but I actually still love the things in my stash, they just haven't risen to the top of the to-do list yet.

Was this on my list for 2015? NO.

To help me remember what I wanted to achieve in 2015, I wrote two lists - one for quilting and one for embroidery.  I know it's not the end of the quarter, or the six month mark, but I feel I need to assess where I'm up to on those lists.  At the moment I feel thinly spread across many projects, and not finishing anything. Earlier this week I started to think that I might not even make a serious dent in the lists in 2015 and might have to carry them into 2016!

So here's what I wrote on my quilting list back in December 2014:

1.  Your Place or Mine. I've finished the top - just waiting for the machine quilter to return from holiday.

2.  Halloween mini - done

3.  Kaffe Christmas tree - done

4.  Mini medallion - done

5. la passacaglia - started and really enjoying it. There's no rush with this one. I always knew it would take time because it's English Paper Pieced, am I'm spending an age chooosing the perfect fabric for each rosette.  I'm not alone in that - I'm part of the Millefiori / la passacaglia group on Facebook, and everyone talks about how hard it is to choose the fabrics for this quilt.

6.  Stacks of colour - no hand quilting yet, but it is on my Q2 Finish along list, so I'll hopefully start it this quarter.

7.  Possum Magic - I'm still keeping up with our Possum Magic round robin. There's just two more quilts for me to work on, and then I'll get my own quilt back in June / July.

8.  Women of the Bible - it's still progressing in fits and starts. I'm up to date with it again now. Here'a photo I took at the weekend. This isn't the final order, I just laid them out for a photo to make myself feel better about it. It's a large project spread over 42 weeks. The shop only release 2 patterns every second week.

9.  Wendy Williams Christmas Tree and 10. Folded Star haven't been started yet.

new additions in 2015:
11. Bear paw quilt for Capital Quilters' 30th Anniversary. I'm loving these blocks and could drop everything else and work on these, but I'm being good.

I guess overall I'm not going too badly, and there are still 8 months of the year left.  I see lots of tempting patterns and designs everyday, but I'm trying to be strong and resist temptation.  I'm thinking about starting my list for 2016 already, starting with the Jen Kingwell pattern in the latest QuiltMania.  The magazine hasn't made it to NZ yet, but I've seen photos of the pattern and I love it.

My embroidery list will follow tomorrow - I fear it's in a worse state than my quilting list.

I'm linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Ripple Blanket

My crochet ripple blanket is finished, just in time for winter.

On my son's bed to show the size

I started to become aware of crochet again in the lead up to Christmas last year.  I saw that Jane in Sydney (@queen_babs on Instagram) was asking for people to make purple crochet mandalas for a yarn bombing event to raise awareness of fibromyalgia.  I thought it was a great idea, so I crocheted 3 mandalas for her and sent them off.  You can read my blog post about them here.

Ripple blankets made m by my Nana after she'd had a stroke

Then I started to see people making beautiful crochet rugs. They reminded me of the rugs my Nana crocheted 40 years ago.  Internet searching led me to Lucy, of Attic24 fame,  Lucy is a very popular crocheter. She provides great instructions on how to make her patterns, and has lots of photos to help along the way.

Lucy released a new pattern towards the end of last year called the Cosy Blanket. Some people in the northern hemisphere started a crochet along, but it was too hot for those of us "down under" to crochet in our summer, so we tried to hold off until 1 March.  Of course we all love a new project, and with my wool sitting there I just had to make a sneaky start in February when I came down with a cold.

I added the optional border to stop the rug from stretching

You'll notice that I didn't make the Cosy blanket after all, but instead I used Lucy's Ripple Blanket pattern to make a new, bigger version of those ripple blankets my Nana made all those years ago.

I've used Cleckheaton California 100% wool by Australian Country Spinners. It says it's double knitting (8 ply) but I feel it's thicker than that, so I used a 5mm hook.  I just love the verigated wools. There's some new colours now that weren't available when I bought my wool, but I'm happy with what I used.

This rug is really for my side of the bed at nights. In winter I need more blankets than my husband, and this pure wool blanket will ensure that I keep warm.

Of course there was wool left over, so I've started a second blanket using another one of Lucy / Attic24's patterns. This time I'm doing a hexagon crochet blanket.  I've bought 2 new balls of the new verigated colours, but otherwise I'm just using what I already had.  I'll show you that one next week when I've done a few more hexagons.

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Sew Cute Tuesday.

This rug was the first item on my Finish Along List for Q2.