Sashiko update and the Peacock Party

I'm delighted to say that I've finished the stitching on my Sashiko panel.  Now I just need to turn it into a table runner.

I enjoyed stitching this panel.  It was fun and quite easy because the stitching lines were already marked on the fabric. 

I used gold and pink threads so that my panel would match my dining room chairs.  I also swapped the white for cream, because the white was going to be too bright.

This panel is from Indigo Niche in Australia, but there are many companies making these types of panels. 

What's everyone else been up to? I've had a busy week watching Wimbledon tennis and the Cricket World Cup.  Our team is through to the final of the Cricket World Cup and that's very exciting.

Feel free to link up a recent blog post below:

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30 June 2019 check in

(If you're looking for the Peacock Party it's here.)

Well, the first half of the year has been and gone, and it's time to check progress against the priorities I set at the start of the year.

I've decided to mix it up this time and first talk about the four new quilts that weren't even on my list at the start of this year.  Then I'll whip through the 10 quilts I said I would work on this year, and perhaps offer some excuses as to why many of them haven't seen any action to date.

Here's what I've been working on in 2019:

1.  Shuttles by Kaffe Fassett
I dived right into my Kaffe box and made this pattern from Quilts in Morocco.  I love it so much that I'm hand quilting it already.

2.  Marshal by Jen Kingwell
This is the mystery quilt being run through QuiltMania.  I always buy QuiltMania magazines because they really are the best quilting magazines available, so it was easy to join the trend and start the Marshal quilt with fabrics from my stash.

3. Dear Jen by Jen Kingwell
This is another mystery quilt being run through Amitie Textiles - Jen Kingwell's shop.  I signed up to receive 6 block patterns per month by pdf.  They are all hand pieced which I enjoy.  I've made the first month's blocks, but need to catch up on month 2 and now month 3 has just been released.

They are all the same size - I just played with a photo editor

4.  Portraits Quilt by Anna Maria Horner
Well, how could I say no to this opportunity.  Completely out of the blue Anna Maria Horner asked if I'd like to make her Portraits Quilt to help promote her tour to New Zealand.  I'm not finished it yet, but I intend to do more on it in July and August.

What I'm aiming for

So, now for the more mundane stuff - the things I said I would work on in 2019 when I wrote down my good intentions on 1 January 2019.

 1.  Chic Country by Sew Kind of Wonderful
Not even started yet, but I do know what fabrics I want to use for this.

photo from Sew Kind of Wonderful

2.  Stars Upon Stars by Laundry Basket Quilts
Again, not even started, but I do have a fabric bundle set aside - and it's not these colours that I used for a trial.  I've got the fabric stamps now and I'm going to hand piece this.

3.  Good Fortune by Bonnie Hunter
This is the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt that I started in November 2018. It's basted and ready for hand quilting now.

4. Cartwheels by Kaffe Fassett
Again, it's basted and ready for hand quilting.

5. Glitter
A Jen Kingwell pattern.  I've joined about half of the 152 blocks.  I want to hand quilt this one too.

6. Cobwebs by Chris Kenna
Finished!!! And now called Carnival. The weeks spent hand quilting this justify slow progress on everything else.

7. Ballet with Kaffe by Willyne Hammerstein
I've made progress, but it's still not finished.

8. Green Diamonds by Kaffe Fasset
I got brave with this one and totally changed my plan.  It's no longer Green Diamonds - it's something totally different that I'll share at a later date, but here's a progress shot.

9. School Prize Giving Quilt
I thinking about abandoning this.  I'm not happy with my hand piecing, and I'm not sure where it's going.  It seemed a good idea at the time, but it's gone nowhere in 2 years.  Time to drop it.


10.  Wendy Williams Tea Party BOM
Still no action on this one. But I still love it.

So that's it.  Ten quilts that I wanted to work on in 2019.  I've finished one and got two others to the hand quilting stage.  But I've started four new quilts, so I'm not going to beat myself up over this.  I'm still having fun and that's what counts. 

What about everyone else? Do you write lists like this?  How are you getting on with your goals? Feel free to leave a comment below, or even link up to the Peacock Party - the one that's open now, or next week's.

Thanks for reading.

Marshal Mystery quilt plus the Peacock Party

I've been working on the Marshal mystery quilt this week.  Suddenly I'm overwhelmed with WIPs, so my solution is to pick one and work on it exclusively for a week. 

This is the Marshal mystery quilt by Jen Kingwell, published in QuiltMania magazine.  I picked up the latest issue of the QuiltMania magazine when I was in Sydney, so now I'm making the court house steps blocks. 

I've chosen to foundation paper piece my court house steps blocks to ensure they are accurate.  I designed my own paper piecing template on the computer.

There are a lot of blocks to make, but hopefully I'll be able to finish them next week.

I hope you've all time for a bit of sewing this past week.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.  Thank you for continuing to join in the Peacock Party.

PS - tomorrow I'm going to do a blog post about my six monthly check in against my 2019 quilting priorities.  Stay tuned to see how distracted I have become!

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Sashiko and the Peacock Party

I've been doing a bit of sashiko lately.  It was easy to do on the plane because I precut the threads and left the ends to be trimmed when I got home - so no scissors required on the plane.

This is a pre-printed panel that I bought from Indigo Niche in Australia, but I seen it for sale in other retailers too.

I'm mixing it up by using 3 colours to match our dining room chairs.

Some of you will remember that I made a full sized sashiko quilt back in 2012.

These blocks weren't pre-printed - I chose the patterns from books and the internet and scaled them to fit within my blocks.  You can read how I transferred the designs on my blog post here.
 (This is the advantage of having a blog - you can just refer to earlier blog posts for all the facts and figures!) 

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Did you notice that the link ups spilled on to a second page last week?  That's the first time we've had 25 people linking up to the Peacock Party.  Thank you, thank you everyone.  I know it takes time for these things to grow, so I'm committed to sticking with this link up.

Feel free to link up a recent blog post below:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

It's Carnival time at QuiltNSW Sydney Quilt Show

I'm very pleased to finally share some photos of my prize winning Carnival quilt on my blog. I just love how it's turned out.

This was my primary entry in the 2019 QuiltNSW Sydney Quilt Show - and it won two prizes!!!  Firstly I won a Judge's Commendation in the Pieced Quilt (Amateur) section, and then the Best Traditional Quilt Award (Amateur), which was judged across all of the amateur quilts in the show!

I was thrilled to win these awards, and very grateful to the sponsors and organisers.  My prize was sponsored by Lloyd Curzon Textiles who are wholesalers in the Australian market.  I won this wonderful bundle of Woolies Flannel from Maywood Studio.  These fabrics look like wool, but they are actually cotton flannel. I'm going to have fun making something special with these fabrics.  They remind me of the lovely quilts Sue Spargo creates, so I might just do something along those lines. 
 

I also won $100 from QuiltNSW and I confess to spending it five times over at all the retailers at the show! 

You can view all the winning quilt on the QuiltNSW website here.  I still can't believe my quilt is fourth on the list!

It was lovely to meet so many blog / Instagram / Facebook followers at the show.  Even though there wasn't time for indepth chats with everyone, it was still nice to say "Hello", and admire each others' quilts. 

My second entry in the show was my Tropical Hexagons which you can read all about here.

It didn't win any prizes, but it was lovely to see it hanging in the show.  Big, bold quilts like this do look great in big venues. 

Carnival quilt details:
I started this quilt in a Cobweb Quilt class in New Zealand with Chris Kenna - a New Zealand quilter.  This is her Cobweb pattern and I've noted further down how you can get a copy if you want to make one too.

Since the class in March 2017 I've spent an enjoyable two years working on this quilt.   The foundation paper piecing took many months, and then I spent a few more months hand quilting it myself. But I've enjoyed every minute of it.

the long orange threads are the basting threads applied by a long armer

The two colours of Aurifil I used to hand quilt Carnival.

I hand quilted Carnival with Aurifil 28wt and it was perfect for this quilt.  The 28wt is a very strong thread, and it worked well on a quilt like this with lots of seams.  I chose to quilt in the centre of each strip rather than in the ditch, however I did quilt in the ditch around the edge of each octagon.

If you'd like to read my earlier posts about this quilt you can click here:
How to joing the sections - March 2018
The top is together - August 2018

If you would like to make a quilt like this, the best way to get this exact pattern is to email Minerva Book Shop in Wellington, New Zealand. orders@minerva.co.nz  They can post you a copy (anywhere in the world), and will be sure to include the correction to the template published in the magazine. If you've got an old copy of the magazine at home, be sure to email or phone the shop and ask for the corrected template before you start sewing.  Otherwise your star points won't meet nicely. 

However, there are a number of similar patterns available - just google "cobweb quilt pattern". Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke have good ones in their book Material Obsession Two.  (Pop Stars and Maple Leaf Rag - page 116.)

Stats - Finished size 70" x 70" (177cm x 177cm)
Pattern - Cobweb Quilt by Chris Kenna in NZ Quilter magazine
Techniques - foundation paper pieced and hand quilted
Batting - wool
Thread used - Aurifil 28wt

Awards - QuiltNSW 2019 Sydney Quilt Show - Judge's Commendation in the Pieced Quilt - Large (Amateur) section and Best Traditional Quilt (Amateur).

The Peacock Party

I'm still in Sydney, but that doesn't mean no Peacock Party.  I set this one up before I went away, so do feel free to share a recent blog post in the link up below. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter