Monday, April 29, 2013

Merry Christmas!



Sharing a Christmas quilt sent to me by Maree who lives in Christchurch. Last week this was already to send it back to Maree, lucky I didn't, as I got an email to say she was on her way to South Africa! So how sad for me I have to hold onto to it for a couple of months! I will enjoy Christmas early in the 'Quiltme' studio.

This quilt is called 'Scandinavian Christmas' - designed by Lynette Anderson. Maree gave me free range to as I pleased. I felt the quilt had a traditional feel to it, so I wanted my quilting to be in keeping with that, but with a few whimsical touches. (click on the photo's for close ups )



my fav block!



With the four main applique blocks ( are needle turned) I crossed hatched the middle, ditch stitched then on edge of the cross stitched 'sashing' I did a whimsical feather. Several different linens were used in this quilt.


Cross hatching, echos & pebbles...........................................................





Thursday, April 25, 2013

1 xmas item, log cabins & Anzac day.




April's 1 xmas item a "C" for the start of my Christmas bunting. From now until December if I do one letter from CHRISTMAS, I will have my bunting ready for this Christmas. Thanks again to Narelle from Pins & Whiskers for hosting this groovie idea!


Barbara made this quilt at a class at The Country Yard. This is the second time running this popular class, back in 2010 was the first class, remember I quilted the class sample? Also another one from the class can be seen here, all the same but different!



The centre block was a stencil I had that seemed to look nice to me. This quilt, measuring 68" square has heaps of ditch stitching!!!!



Tiny 'scribbling' & echo stitching to define the stencil design. This quilt is now proudly displayed on the bed at Barbara's house that is especially for her grandson.......lucky fellow!




It's hard to tell from these photo's but I quilted a feather on the checker board border. The cream logs have feathers, the red logs only have ditch stitching.
Here's the pieced backing Barbara made......................


Here in little New Zealand it was a special day called ANZAC day.






Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Customer quilts




Another sample to showcase new fabric in at The Country Yard called 'Fieldnotes' by Blackbird Designs Moda. Designed by Kerryn, owner of The Country Yard. 'Warm & Bright' polyester batting.
Some of my quilting inspiration came from Angela Walter's book 'Free Motion Quilting'.


 Diane Gaudynski. gave me the inspiration for this design called 'Celtic Bubbles'. I had a go at drawing the design when I saw it on Diane's blog, but I hadn't found the right quilt to try out this design, I really like it, how about you? ( what's with the finger in the photo? )

 Sometimes when I have a nice big open quilting area it is nice to divide the area up, this is what I did in this case. I used my curved ruler to mark the curves, then I echoed. For the inner section I did some large pebbles. I quilted rope on the crimson sashing, orange peel on the checker board & a hook feather on the 'Chinese coins'.


.........some double loops on the busy flower fabric..................

.............some loop feathers & another finger!

 For a quilt that has birds, you can't go wrong with feathers!


Apart from the curved ruler & the stencil for this Celtic knot, everything was free formed, no marking......just the way I like it.

Another sample for the shop, this time a panel called 'Baby Zoo Crew'.
Simple quilting, all over double loops for the centre using a soft variegated Gunold thread. Some cross hatching & straight lines & of course ditch stitching.

 







Monday, April 22, 2013

product trial



The other day I was gifted a Ecolux light to try. I had heard mention of them from Cindy Needham, Cindy spoke very highly of these lights. So I thought I would like to try one too.

So here is the before photo........




And the after photo....................
A subtle difference, but a significant one for the quilter! I love it!! This awesome little light is easy to install using 3M technology and is safe for your machine. At the moment they are only available from the Ecoluxlighting website
But hopefully they will be available in New Zealand soon! I will keep you posted.
 
 
Last weekend when I was visiting my adult children I slept under one of the quilts I made my youngest daughter  in 2003. Hand quilted, wool batting.
 
Wonderfully waving & well loved!

 
Do you think I needed to do a wee bit of hand quilting to the centre of the hearts!!! Teehee...........
Oh well we are all learning. Lots of tiny echo hand quilting around the hearts.
See the wool batting peaking out on the green sashing? 
 
 

 
 
Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, April 19, 2013

book finish...................




Another book finish, this is the second in a trilogy, read about the first here.





Christopher Marlowe travels to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to speak with Jenny who he met while recovering from a bombing while serving as a soldier. There he meets Hannah, Jenny’s sister-in-law, and the two are immediately attracted. But can they overcome their differences? Matthew is one of the walking wounded, and Hannah is a spirited young woman who has been raised Amish. A reviewer wrote, “Like its predecessor, A Time to Heal hits on hard themes, such as doing the right thing even when it hurts, forgiveness, and trying to understand God’s will. This is Amish fiction with an edge.”



The Travelling Stash Box was organised by Cat , now I have passed this box of goodies to Leonie
Here is what the box looked like when it arrived on my doorstep.



Thanks for stopping by....have a fantastic weekend! 


Friday, April 12, 2013

team playing......................



When a few friends come together to make a quilt for a special friend that is having what some call a milestone birthday, it is all about team work. The featured quilt was all about teamwork, a few secret meetings, some sneaky swaps of fabrics & conversations.........but all for a good cause. My part in this birthday quilt was the quilting, six other friends made the blocks, or 'rounds'.


The centre block was inspired by Leanne Beasley's block she designed for Breast of Friends for the Australian Homespun magazine then in a traditional manner the next 'rounds' were added by each friend. As you can see I 'doodled' to my hearts content!



A few feathers here & there, some micro-scribbling, some echoing. I used bobbin fill, Madeira poly neon's , Gunold & Glide threads.


 
 
More feathers for the border........then off for the binding to be attached.

So what do you do when you are left with scraps??????????
.........................Make a scrappy backing of course!


Now I'm off for a very special weekend..................I hope you all a great weekend too!

Monday, April 8, 2013

a massive quilt!!!!




This quilt is a whopper! 104" x 92". Jacki made this quilt from a block swap she was involved in last year. Jacki has made some extra's to get enough to make this quilt that is going to be gifted to newly weds. Jacki wanted very simple quilting with straight lines. I quilted straight lines on the sashing & borders, then with the same Maderia poly neon ( brown ) I crossed hatched the plain & pinwheel blocks. Maybe if you click on the photos you will see the quilting better?
 As you can see I had problems getting this on my washing line for a photo!


A view of the row of pinwheels for the backing...............a fun quilt!

I picked up my next Sewing Essential Project from work the other day & put the final stitches in it today.


A handy scissor keep & cute scissor fob/pincushion. They go beautifully with my block holder.

Thanks for stopping by!