Auckland Festival of Quilts

I'm writing this post in advance because I'm going to Auckland Festival of Quilts on Friday with my mum, Joy Hill. 

Mum has two quilts in the exhibition so we're going along to see them hanging, plus everything else of course.   

Here's mum's first entry - her blue and white Lucy Boston, all English Paper Pieced and hand quilted.

Mum loved making her Lucy Boston quilt and was naturally a bit sad when it was finished! 

Mum's other entry is a wool felt applique design by Wendy Williams called "Over the Hill".  I've only got these photos taken before she put the binding on, but isn't it beautiful? It's a very cute design, but mum's Kaffe border just sets it off perfectly.    

So if you're in Auckland I hope you get to visit the Auckland Festival of Quilts too.  There's going to be merchants (of course!) so we'll enjoy looking at their stalls too.  

Next week I'll show you my highlights from the exhibition. 

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

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

Quilt Symposium - the shopping!

A key part of any NZ Symposium is the Merchant Mall.  More than 20 businesses set up their stalls in the college gymnasium.  The Merchant Mall was open all day from before classes started in the morning, until after classes finished in the afternoon. People taking classes had a 90 minute lunch break so they could go to the Merchant Mall (again) or go and look at the exhibitions.  

Here's what I came home with.  

Day 1 and 2 below:

• Dazzle threads from Wonderfil - the ones with the sparkle in them.    
• 2 metre precuts of some woven strips and Denise Schmidt fabrics (from Jet from Greytown).
• Kindred Sketches embroidery panel by Kathy Doughty (from Annie's Country Quilt Store in Ashburton).
• Some soft pastel fat quarters for mum to make a baby quilt for someone (from Busy Bee in Wellington).

Day 3 and 4:

• Quilt Recipes by Jen Kingwell (from Minerva in Wellington). After listening to Jen's lunchtime lecture I was so inspired, so I just had to buy her book.
• The remaining items are all from Annie's Country Quilt Store in Ashburton:
• Pin Pals book and Bitty Bowlers patterns 
• Little Poppins Bags pattern and hard ware.  Again, after seeing these bags in real life, I feel I need to make one for myself.  
• Tapestry fabric that's so real you'd swear it is a tapestry.

Day 5 - the final day

• Fat quarters from Annie's Country Quilt Store, Jet and Bowerbird (from Tamahere near Hamilton.)
• The Sue Spargo wool felt pack, Double Zip Wristlet pattern and zips and Tula Pink ribbons are all from Bowerbird.

I don't think I went too crazy on the shopping.  It was spread over five days, and there were so many tempting things on offer.  

I haven't used any of these things yet because I've got work to catch up on after spending a week at Symposium, but they are all lovely additions to my stash.

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

Quilt Symposium 2022

What a week that was! I walked a million miles, I met a thousand people, I shopped til I dropped, and I was inspired to try new quilting techniques.

Yes, Symposium is over and it was great.  Here's a photo of me teaching my Millefiori class.

Our committee decorated the school foyer so everyone felt at home as soon as they arrived for registration.  

My fiesta flags were hung behind the stage that we used for Happy Hours. I showed some close ups in a blog post during the week, but here's a link in case you missed it.  

This giant fishy flag with feathers is my favourite.  It was very messy to make, but it looks great.  The feathers are from Spotlight in New Zealand.  

We had a lot of fun at Happy Hours.  There were raffles, and plenty of Blocks of Symposium were given away to people who had entered the draw by making a block.  Many friendships were renewed, and new friends were made.  

Block of Symposium

There's a load more photos on our Instagram and Facebook accounts, so pop over there and take a look if you're interested.  https://www.facebook.com/quiltsymposium2022

There's been no announcement of future dates or venues yet, but I'll be sure to let you all know as soon as I know something.  It was a wonderful week and I'll report back with more updates in future posts - I'm still recovering!

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

Neptune and the Mermaid

My Neptune and the Mermaid quilt is finished and currently on display in the Quilt Symposium exhibition at the Lower Hutt Events Centre.  

I started this quilt in a class with Wendy Whellum at the Auckland Quilt Symposium in 2019.  We made our own plastic templates and hand pieced each of the blocks.  

Here's some close ups of the blocks for those who can't make it to the exhibition:

I chose to use some gorgeous fabrics called "Neptune and the Mermaid" by Tokyo Milk for Free Spirit Fabrics.  And some Tula Pink too as required.  

I finished the blocks reasonably quickly, but I spent months hand quilting it all with Aurifil 12wt.  I used quilting templates for the first time and I'm very happy with the orange peel design in the borders and sashing.  

you can see the lines I made with my hera marker

I finished this quilt months ago, but I couldn't show it to anyone because I wanted it to be a surprise at Quilt Symposium.  

Finished size is 70" x 70" (180cm x 180cm).  

Pattern is Pieces of the Past by Wendy Whellum - Legend and Lace on Etsy.

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  I've just realised that the colours of Neptune and the Mermaid fit the peacock theme beautifully.  That's why they call me Mrs Peacock!

Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My Symposium entries

Symposium is open and now I can now show you the quilts I have entered.  

 

Gone Fishing by Brandon Mably for Kaffe Fassett Collective

First up are my Fiesta Flags.  This was a great idea by the committee to liven up the Sacred Heart College foyer where the Happy Hours will take place.  Each entrant had to make six double sided flags to the exact dimensions and then thread them on to a 2 metre long rope. 

I wanted my flags to be bright and colourful to reflect the Fiesta theme of Symposium.   So I chose my brightest fabrics and make them even brighter with feathers, ric-rac and baubles from Spotlight.  I had a lot of fun making my flags.  

Smitten

My second entry is in the 12" x 12" Resene Paint Chip Challenge which will be hanging at the Hutt Art Centre, just around the corner from the Lower Hutt Events Centre.  

Each entrant was given two paint chips to base their mini quilt on - a colour and a neutral.  My colour was a pretty pink called Smitten, and my neutral was Double Dutch White.  

I didn't have a lot of time to devote to this challenge, so when I saw some fabric in my colourway, I grabbed it and turned it into a mini quilt with both machine and hand quilting.  

My REAL entry is my Neptune and the Mermaid quilt that I started at the 2019 Auckland Symposium.  It's in the "In the Beginning" challenge section - for quilts started at the 2019 Auckland Symposium.  

I'll show more photos of this quilt in my usual upcoming Friday blog post, but in case you're looking for it at the Lower Hutt Events Centre, this is what it looks like:

Neptune and the Mermaid

It's hand pieced and hand quilted by me, from a pattern designed by Wendy Whellum.  More details on Friday. 

If you see me at Symposium with my fancy floral head band, do say hello.