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.

 

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Tauranga visit

Well, I went to Tauranga and it is a small world because I met my friend Helen who I first met 10 years ago when our kids were at school together in Wellington. 

I had a great weekend in sunny, warm Tauranga.  There were 15 people in my wool felt applique class on Saturday, and 17 in my big stitch hand quilting class on Sunday.  

We had a great time and everyone learnt new skills. Belinda from Stitch Makers in Greerton was there with a stand filled with Wonderfil threads and wool felt.  I think everyone found an excuse to buy something.  I stocked up on wool felt because the bright pink is hard to come by. 

When I mentioned using stencils for hand quilting designs they pulled out a huge pile from the library cupboard.  

I was fortunate to be hosted at an avocado orchard - and the harvest occurred the very weekend I was there.  These big bins are ready to be taken for packing and export now.  

And then, when the classes were over I had a brief stop at Mt Manganui before I had to go to the airport and fly home.  Nothing says summer like the white sand and surf at the Mount. If you've sailed around New Zealand on a cruise ship you will have sailed along this Bay of Plenty coast. 

As a final bonus I got to see a beautiful sunset from the plane.  It made up for the slightly bumpy landing at Wellington.  

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

 

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My Small World

People say that New Zealand is a very small place.  They don't just mean the size of the land mass, but the fact that everyone seems to know everyone else.  We didn't all marry our cousins, but the "six degrees of separation" rule is more like three or four degrees of separation here.  We can usually find a connection in common with fellow New Zealanders.  

I'm off to teach some classes in Tauranga this weekend and I'll be interested to see how many connections are made over the weekend.  

I'm taking My Small World quilt along with me because it's a good illustration of both wool felt applique and hand quilting.  I did enjoy making his quilt.  There are so many different elements within it.  Maybe I should make a 2024 version next year. 

My Small World is designed by Jen Kingwell and is available from Amitie Textiles here.  

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

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3 years later...

Wow! It appears to be about three years since I last worked on this quilt!!

And it's quite close to being finished.  So today I chose my leaves for the second panel and glue basted them down so I can hand applique them when the mood strikes. 

I did enjoy making the wool felt applique flowers.   

I'm hoping to get this top finished before Christmas and then I can add it to the hand quilting pile because I already have ideas of how I want to quilt it.  And as I mentioned a few weeks ago, our guild is having an exhibition in May 2024 and I want to have some new quilts to enter into that.  

The pattern is Don't Leaf Me by Wendy Williams and I bought my pattern from Material Obsession in Sydney, Australia. 

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

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Puddling around

When I got home from Tekapo I had a sudden desire to sit at my sewing machine and just sew.  

I bought some lovely Tilda fabrics at Fairlie on the way to Tekapo, so I cut into them before they could even make it into my stash. 

Now I'm not sure if I even like where this is heading.  

I thought I could be spontaneous and just put random blocks together like in the book, but I much prefer it when I place them carefully.  I've even considered adding sashing to this to separate the blocks, but I'm not sure how to progress yet.  I guess the answer is to make more blocks and see where it leads me. 

I'm foundation paper piecing these blocks to stop the triangles stretching.  

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

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Licorice Allsorts update

This week I started hand quilting my Licorice Allsorts quilt.  

I get my quilts basted on a long arm machine and when this one came back I was a bit concerned because it was more bunched up that usual, but I'm releasing the basting stitches as I quilt it and it's smoothing out nicely.

I'm using Aurifil 28wt and quilting in the ditch to start with.  I'll see what else it needs as it progresses.  

The guild I belong to, Capital Quilters in Wellington, New Zealand will be holding an exhibition in May 2024 and I need to get a wriggle on if I'm going to have new and exciting quilts to enter.  

Capital Quilters 2024 Exhibition—“A Symphony of Stitches”— Saturday 11 May and Sunday 12 May 2024 at the Lower Hutt Events Centre - where the Quilt Symposium 2022 exhibition was.

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

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Summer in Tekapo bag

Last week I showed you the sights of Tekapo.  This week I'll show you what we did at the retreat.  

I taught 14 ladies how to make my Summer in Tekapo tote bag.  We had a great time experimenting with wool felt, Perle 8 threads and ombre fabrics. Everyone's bags are going to look so different because they applied their own artistic flair to the design. 

Tula Pink lining

It was a great weekend with good people and very good food.  And of course the scenery was gorgeous with all the snow on the mountains.  I definitely hope to return to Stitching in Tekapo again. 

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

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