Saturday, March 31, 2012

Last day of March post.

Quilts that have stitchery can be problematic from the angle of how to quilt?
Some quilts that have come my way do have stitchery blocks, like any block there needs to be some quilting to anchor the layers together, but how,  so no quilting goes over the stitching?
Because of the size of these blocks some quilting was needed in the blocks, for smaller blocks you can just quilt in the ditch & maybe around the stitchery.

*Note about the name and designers of this quilt: "Sunbonnet Friendship" by Liz Toth and Carol McSherry. I hope this helps for all of you who have contacted me about this quilt.


The three centre blocks I did a echo loop/chicken feather filler.




For the rest of the blocks....... my version of the well used stipple.
Jill did take several months to finish this quilt, just fitting sewing/stitching in & around her busy lifestyle.



I love this block.....so true! " A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are slightly cracked"
You can see the looping flower/heart filler for the pieced parts of the quilt. As well as the wandering loop on the sashings.


I finished a shop sample for The Country Yard.  This would make a nice quick gift to give some wee baby, I love the faces of the animals.
sorry about the washing in this shot! I was battling the wind.



Very simple quilting, bobbin fill top & bottom.



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Stitch in the ditch & come meet the team!

Jenny had me quilt her two mystery quilts she made through The Country Yard

Jenny only wanted ditch stitching & on the one with the red border she had me quilt a heart on the centre block & a meandering flowering vine on the border. here & here you will see I have quilted both these before for others.



Meet the 'Quiltme' team............................





My Bernina Aurora 440 is my main quilting machine, it is fantastic, I love the short term memory capability & the needle up/down setting too.
Next is my backup for when my 440 is in having a service.





My Bernina 830 another great machine. No short term memory or needle up/down setting, but a lovely stitch. I bought this a few years ago off Trademe. These machines date back to the early 70's but to look at it you would think it was new! Who ever owned it it hardly used it.
Next my piecing machine..............................





My Bernina 801, I have had this since I was ten. A great machine, absolutely nothing fancy on it, no bells, no whistles but it sews beautifully.


I have a  Bernina overlocker too..........do you reckon I like Bernina's?


Wishing all peace while you piece & quilt!



  






Saturday, March 24, 2012

A customer quilt & taking you to "On The Edge"............

This quilt has such beautiful colours, big prints & a clever design that it really does seem to suit an allover quilting design. Joan  made this quilt for her granddaughter, I'm sure it will be well loved.
The pattern is called "The Big EZ' by Bloomcreek. Joan chose cotton batting & bought a organic cotton for the backing.







I finally got to take my menfolk to the local gallery -"On The Edge"  to see some of my quilts on display.....& wouldn't you know it the batteries were running low on the camera, anyway have a wee look & see what you think?



My Under the Southern Stars





My, Lynette Anderson 'My garden' button BOM

 This photo shows my 'Stitching Round The Block' cushion as well
as Raewyn's & Kerry's ( see this post for more details). Also a bag I made. The quilt on the bales hay was made by Raewyn.





This quilt was made for our friend Jacki's 70th, we all made a block that we felt was related to our relationship we had with her personally. I didn't make a block but donated my time to do the quilting.





Dark as this photo is.....arrrrgg....low batteries! shows Noeline's 2 bolsters & cushion, Noeline's embroidery is out of this world stunning! The patterns Noeline used are by Crabapple Hill. The quilt is a Cinderberry stitches made by Jules.





The quilt laying on the table was made by Rachael, who also made another lovely one that missed out on getting a photo because of the battery situation! The quilt in the background was another 70th birthday quilt that was jointly made for Mary. Jule's , Mary's daughter quilted this one. Below is the block I made.....
 


 This display of quilts from The Country Yard as well as some beautiful photography & other art is on display for another week, after that the exhibit changes. Richard & Shari are wonderful host's that have a done a fabulous job of creatively displaying all work. So if you are in Whangarei  area pop along to On The Edge Gallery.
Raewyn has some nice shots of the gallery too, she didn't seem to have a problem with her batteries!!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Finding time to play


Trying to find times to play is sometime difficult, I'm sure you will agree very important to keep your sanity.
So with a big part of Sunday to myself I stopped procrastinating & did this make over...............





I bought this cupboard many years ago from a OP shop, it was some nice wood, I got bored with that, rag painted it with white paint then the teal colour. And now years later got bored with it & gave it a new look.
Notice the cushion sitting on the cupboard? I showed you a couple of weeks ago that I had started it, well there it is all finished.



My first go with wool felt, the stem & leaves are from a tweet jacket I found at the OP shop for $5. The flower is from the pack of wool felt  I won from Julie.
I have also finished a Eye spy quilt too, but will show you that later.
Our cat Brian has been doing well without his tail, just has the problem with cabin fever!
Thanks for all who have asked about his progress.
The rain is easing off here, some places have been badly affected.

Wishing you all a magical day!


Thursday, March 15, 2012

one of those weeks.......................!!!!!

Wow so much can happen in one week, can't it? Well it feels like it has been one of those weeks.
Our sweet big boy Brian has been to the vet many times this week. He has had a nasty injury to his tail, looks like a door slammed on his tail. The vets tried to save his tail, but this morning the they told me his tail couldn't be saved, too much nerve damage. I'm sure he is going to be fine, but I feel for this this proud cat.

On to quilty matters.........................

Ngaire's granddaughter has been at her stash again! look what she came up with.......................































I quilted "lion, Zebra, Elephant, Giraffe on the borders, orange peels on the squares, a leafy vine on some of the sashings, accented the panel blocks.









The next quilt was for Miranda, she made this one for her father. Using some Minkie for the large blocks & musical fabrics & other fabrics for the four patch blocks, has resulted in a very simple quilt. Miranda wanted me to quilt it as I did on the last one she commissioned me to do....































See you next time!

Leeanne

Thursday, March 8, 2012

More customer quilts...............................

Shireen finished this sampler quilt 12 years ago & thought maybe it was time to get it finished.
Made at a class at Bernina. Shireen wanted cotton batting, & gave me the freedom to quilt as I wish.

Once again my Madeira Polyneons did not get time to gather dust!

Apart from the feather wreath I did all the quilting free hand, the wreath is a stencil I have, I traced the basic shape & modified to suit the style of quilting I was doing.







Some close ups of the individual blocks....































































Next a wee wall hanging for The Country Yard
Made by Megan from a pattern by Natalie Bird from the "Birdhouse" called : "Old cat & Friends"



Monday, March 5, 2012

customer quilt

Cat gave me this quilt to work on for her. This was a swap quilt, you can read all about it on Cat's original post here
You may want a better view of what I did, so just click on the photo's & that should help.   
No Madeira threads were harmed in the quilting of this top.
this one was special to me, those of you who know me, will know why.


Cool wedding cake house! I think it is cat & her hubbies! Can you see I quilted "Here comes the bride"

The back! Each participant put a sigi block in as well.
 
Years from now this will hold some special memories for Cat.

I will leave you with a couple more pincushions I finished last night while watching American Idol.
P.S how is everyone feeling about this 'word verification' thingie? Some folks have it, some don't? Does it put you off leaving a comment? Ha....if it does, you won't leave a comment to tell me so!