A Mill Hill Finish

As I said a couple of posts ago, I'm going to try and finish one Christmas ornament a month in 2022. I'm joining Carol from Stitching Dreams on her #12in22ornamentstitchalong

So, I've started by looking at my WIPs.  I found this cute Mill Hill Button and Bead kit in a box while I was looking for something else.  I think someone gave it to me because they didn't enjoy stitching on the perforated paper. 

I love these little kits, and don't mind the perforated paper at all.  If you haven't tried it before, just be very careful with unpicking, because the paper can rip if you pull too hard.

I've ordered a dark green frame for this one, and once it arrives it will be ready to join the others on the shelf at Christmas.

I feel quite pleased with myself that I've finished the first ornament for my #12in22ornamentstitchalong

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

Mid-Summer Quilts in Motueka/Tasman

I'm finally home from my holiday in beautiful Northland, but now I'm wishing I was in Nelson at the top of the South Island. Then I could go and see the quilt show in Upper Moutere. There's only tomorrow left o catch the exhibition now, so if you're in the area, make plans to go to the Tasman Bible Church in Upper Moutere tomorrow - Saturday.  It's open from 10am til 4pm and only costs $4.

I was invited to be a guest exhibitor, so you'll see some of my quilts there too.  Here are some of the ones that I sent over, plus links to my blog posts about each of them:

Tongariro Crossing

We Built This City

You Spin Me Round

I was looking forward to attending the Auckland Quilt Guild's Festival of Quilts in February 2022, but they've had to defer it again to November 2022 now.  My mum has entered two quilts and they are ready to go, but the inevitable arrival of Omicron in NZ has event organisers hesitant to plan too much at this stage.  

I do have the Taupo Quiltmakers Exhibition in my diary, and I'm planning to be there between 24-26 June 2022.  

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

My Embroidery priorities for 2022

My love of cross stitch was rekindled in 2021, so I thought I should write a list of my embroidery priorities for 2022.  

My mum's Holiday Wreath

My first goal is a big one - #12in22ornamentstitchalong

Carol from Stitching Dreams blog and @caroling55 on Instagram, has put out a challenge to stitch 12 ornaments in 2022 - She's using the hashtag #12in22ornamentstitchalong

I think I might just join in and then I'll have a lovely little basket of ornaments in time for Christmas 2022.  I checked my linen stash and I've got tonnes of linen in all sorts of colours. I've also got a wide range of DMC threads, so I just need a few patterns and I'll be off.  

Some of my current WIPs could count for the 12 in 22 challenge because they are Christmas themed. 

Here's what I already have in progress:

1. Twelve days of Christmas by Liz Mathews

I received the first three of these patterns for Christmas and I'm going to make some of the little trees - not all twelve, just some. The finished stitching is about 10" high on 28 count linen. I bought my patterns from Stitch Witches in NZ - just message them on Facebook if you're interested. 

2. Christmas Village by Victoria Sampler

This one is quite close to finished now, and should easily be finished in 2022. 

3. Holiday Wreath by Laura J Perin

Each year when I see my mum's Holiday Wreath, I come home determined to finish mine.  I think 2022 is the year that I should finally make it happen.  I know what my problem is - the defining feature of this piece is the velvet bow at the top, but I have to finish all the more boring stuff before I get to stitch the bow.  

4. Gingerbread Flower Shop

2022 will be the year I finish this one too. 

5. Pandemic by Long Dog Sampler

I should be able to finish this one by Easter I think.  But I have left the back stitching until the end, so that could take another week or two.  

6. Shades of Indigo by Northern Expressions Needlework

This was my new start on 1 Jan 2021, but I wasn't happy with one of the colours I'd chosen, so I set it aside.  On 1 Jan 2022 I pulled out the stitching I didn't like, and re-did it in a new colour. I love the new colour so I'm up and running again. 

So that's six WIPS before I even start looking around for new things to stitch for the #12in22ornamentstitchalong

Thank goodness I asked my mum to finish knitting my cardigan for me! I don't have time for quilting, embroidery and knitting.  

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

2022 - My quilting priorities

It's a new year, and that means a load of new possibilities.  Of course I still have some of last year's quilts to finish, but I love dreaming about new possibilities.  Here's some of the things I'd like to work on in 2022.

1. Licorice Allsorts Block of the Month from Wendy Williams

I enrolled myself and my mum in this Block of the Month back in July 2021.  We're meant to be making it together, but I haven't even started mine yet.  I've been trying to get a few other things finished first. The block of the month is sold out, but Material Obsession may offer it as a kit or a pattern later in the year when the block of the month is finished. 

Photo from Material Obsession website

  

2. Ruby Star

This is another version of the Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head pattern by Willyne Hammerstein from Millefiori Quilts 4.  I've finished my first version of this quilt which I've called Bollywood, and I'll post about it soon.  But I wanted to try the pattern again with quite different fabrics.  These fabrics are all from the Ruby Star company, so I'm calling this quilt Ruby Star. It's all hand pieced, and there's lots of fussy cutting. 

3. Starry Night

I like to make a Kaffe Fassett quilt each year, and this year it's going to be Starry Night from Quilts in an English Village.  It's a great pattern to showcase some of the larger prints in my Kaffe stash.  I'll do mine in a different colour way from the book.  In fact I made a sneaky start on it this week while we've all been at home on holiday. 

Of course there are still some quilts from 2021 to finish up, so I'll add them to my list now:

4. Tea Party BOM by Wendy Williams

I need to do the wool felt applique on 8 big blocks and then sew it all together. 

5. Neptune and the Mermaid

This one is so close to finished.  I might just finish the hand quilting while I watch the Australian Open on TV in the last two weeks of January.  

So, my list is quite short this year, but next week I'll be posting my embroidery priorities for 2022.  I wish I had two sets of hands so I could everything on my wish lists. 

Now it's time for the Peacock Party. Have you made a list for 2022? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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!

Click here to enter

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a lovely Christmas day with family and friends.  

This Christmas I'll be in Auckland with my husband, our two sons, and my mum and dad.  I'm really looking forward to seeing mum and dad and our eldest son again.  They've all been stuck in the Auckland lockdown since mid August, and I've missed seeing them.   

This year I've changed my decorating around a bit. I've only included one house from my Gingerbread Village this year - it's the Retreat Cottage, and it's sitting on top of the piano, next to my beautiful house from Department 56 in USA.  

In case you're missing my Gingerbread Village, you can see a photo from last year below, and read all about them on the Gingerbread Village tab at the top of my blog.  I promise to have the Flower Shop finished for Christmas 2022!

Merry Christmas to you all, and thank you very much for your support over the years. 

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

NZ Quilt Shops - a helpful journey planner

It's nearly Christmas, and almost holiday time.  I know a lot of Kiwis will be hitting the roads and exploring new parts of New Zealand over the coming weeks.  

I've complied a very handy list of quilt shops in New Zealand.  You might want to make a few stops or detours on your road trip. 

The quilt shops are all listed in a separate tab on my blog here:   https://wendysquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/p/new-zealand-quilt-shops.html

Be sure to check the Christmas hours of the shops before taking any big detours! 

Have fun exploring new quilt shops, and enjoy your summer holidays.