1 xmas item

Well it's that time of the month, the 25th, so I need to show my finished project for the month, as I am participating in Narelle's ' 1 Xmas item'.

My idea came Pinterest, which was pinned from http://onesimplecountrygirl.blogspot.co.nz/. Take some cinnamon sticks, frayed plaid fabric, rusty bells, rusty stars, string & a hot glue gun.........& after a bit of playing this is what you get!

A couple of months ago a few friends & I set a challenge to make something from some cute little blocks found on Pam Buda's blog. This is what I made........................

Some pebbling & Celtic Bubbles for my background filler, I really love this table setting. Thanks to Pam for the online tutorial & Raewyn for the hands on lesson!

Last but not least a customer quilt, made from Joicelin's fathers & husbands old shirts. Quilted the same as the pattern found in a magazine.

I will have a lovely quilt to show you in a few days that I have nearly finished for one of my customers........think English paper piecing, think appliqued houses...................

Happy days to you all..............loving your comments as they are my fuel!

Butterflies & Metalic thread

I have had a steady stream of new customers the past few months, Catherine is one. When Catherine saw Lois' quilt she gave up the idea of doing the quilting herself & asked if I could please quilt hers just like Lois'.

Catherine's quilt is larger than Lois'.
 Using Mettler's gold Metalic thread, Madeira poly neons, I did loopy stipple, Celtic Bubbles, straight lines & echo feathers over cotton batting.

if you click on the photo you will the gold!

This quilt is actually bright, but it was the end of the day, the sun was disappearing when I took the photo's. I hope Catherine's granddaughter is happy with her quilt.

A sharing & swaping quilt......& 1 xmas item

Cat said I could go ahead & blog about her quilt that she just received back from me. I did the quilting for her, plus some of the centre block, which was part of Helen Stubbings 'Stitchin' Round the Block'. There were four of us in the group, Cat, myself, Kerry & Kerryn . Cat is the only one to make a quilt, the rest of us made cushions, to see mine click here.  So fun to see this 'round robin' finished. Cat was also involved in a block swap, these have been stitched around the centre block, to create a fun quilt.

 

 

Knowing Cat loves the modern/ Tilda- ish look I did a few smooth fancy moves!

Celtic Bubbles, inspiration from Diane Guadyski

 

iconic New Zealand bird, the Kiwi ( they aren't usually pink )

 

do the clicky thing for a better look!

 

gotta pop a few feathers in!

 

 

aren't some of these blocks fun?

 

inspiration from Angela Walters book

 

Can you see the backing fabric? Cat gave me a vintage flannel sheet for the backing & I used cotton batting, Madeira, Gunold & Mettler threads. I'm sure I had a sheet just like that when I was a kid?

 

the backing.....roll on the 70's!!

 

 

My 1 xmas item finished......well two of them, but I won't win any " wow Leeanne you have done so much for your 1 xmas item " will I ? These are pretty quick & easy to do!!

I'm sure the other SAL girls are putting way more effort in then me!

Pop over to Narelle's for a peek at what everyone else's efforts are like.

 

I have another quilt finished ( you might have seen it in my Puddling post ) but I will have to wait a couple of weeks as the owner is away.

 

It is a bleak, wet, wintery day here in Whangarei, I have put a big bacon hock in the crockpot for the day, then I will make a big pot of warming winter vegetable soup.

 

Thanks for taking the time to stop by, enjoy your weekend, I will leave you with the following sentence I found.....................

 

"Happiness is a thing you have to find for yourself, but dog hair ( in my case cat hair!) is something that finds you." 

Mettler Metallic threads............... :-)

Difficult to show the quilting with these darker quilts, but I did use Mettlers Metallic gold thread as well as an aqua poly neon & black threads. The first gold I tried was an old one I had, that in the past I had always had problems with, but I thought I would try it again.......but I had problems again (AKA.....get grumpy & throw the thread in the bin!), so I went to my local & bought Mettler Metallic, popped in a metallic needle, & off I went, no problems!!!
 I quilted Feathers, curling ribbon, straight lines & Celtic bubbles.
Lois has made this quilt for her daughter.........lets hope she likes it!

A view of the back...................................

I have finished another book, the first in the series called "A Someday Quilts Mystery" The Lovers Knot, by Clare O'Donohue

Nell Fitzgerald is looking forward to her wedding, and her grandmother’s gift of a wedding quilt, but things don’t go as planned, especially when Nell’s fiance calls off the wedding and Nell finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation – with her former fiance the chief suspect

I borrowed from my local Library, but unfortunately the second book is missing from the Library, they have book 3 & 4. So I have ordered it from the Book Depository, when I have read it I will donate it to the Library.......nothing worse in a series that needs to be read in order, one missing.

Enjoy the funny video!

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.