Christmas, bunnies & hydrangea quilts......................

Welcome and thank you for stopping by! Today I am sharing Elaine's Hydrangea quilt, Marcelle's Bunny quilt & Sue's lovely Christmas quilt.................

Quilt information:

 Pattern by Gail Pan " A Merry Christmas Garden".
      - put together as a Block of the Month by The Country Yard.
 Measurements 61" x 71"
Batting - cotton - purchased from me.
Backing - red - purchased from me.
Threads - Glide & Superior's Fantastico.
Quilting - light custom quilting - Sue's request.

There was a certain touch of 'Deja vu' when working with this quilt. When I worked for Kerryn at The Country Yard this quilt was my 'baby' if you like. I got to choose fabric, take it home and cut it up, bag it month by month times the amount we were selling as a Block of the Month through the shop. Then I made the shop sample and quilted it. When the shop finished with it, back home it came to me. Last year I donated it the Whangarei Girls Club - Hospice House Tour for them to raffle.
If you want to see my blog post about my quilt see this post.

Next to share Elaine's quilt........................

Quilt information:

Pattern - unknown to me.
Measurements - 71" x 83"
Batting - wool/polyester - purchased from me.
Backing - supplied by Elaine.
Thread - Glide
Quilting - Edge to Edge - "Espalier".

        Last but not least, Marcelle's quilt.............

Quilt information:

Pattern by - Art Gallery Fabrics "Cross the Seas".
Measurements - 96" x 96"
Batting - Cotton/polyester - purchased from me.
Backing - Grey swirl - purchased from me.
Threads - Glide.
Quilting - Edge to Edge - "Modern Squares".

                             Thank you Sue, Elaine & Marcelle it was a pleasure!

        Back soon to share another four quilts, just as soon as they are back in their makers arms.

As the year winds down, why does everything feel so wound up?

That's a question to ponder. Why does there seem to be a rush and almost panic when I head to town for my usual shopping? People driving like there's no tomorrow, shopping like they think the world is ending and they won't get bags of potato chips anymore!

Anyhow you can visit with me awhile for calm and a look at a pretty quilt................
Gillian's charm quilt for a grandchild is ready to have the binding attached and gifted with love. Gillian asked for the all over quilting design (edge to edge quilting -e2e) "Splash" as that is the pattern she had last time and she loves it!

The quilting is over Matilda's Own polyester batting and the variegated thread is by Superior - Fantasico called "Playhouse"..........which is a perfect name for a child's quilt! I had the perfect backing, a lovely vibrant blue with little swirls. Thank you Gillian.

A sneak peek of the lovely quilt I am working on at the moment, my Facebook page will have follow on sneaky peeks if you are interested.

Most of you know I work one day a week at The Country Yard, my local quilt shop, well one of our visiting fabric reps - Claudia was retiring so a special gift was made by the four of us "Country Yard Girls".

Store owner Kerryn and Raewyn and Bernice completed the sweet little stitcheries and pieced the top together leaving me with my part: the quilting and completing the construction of the cushion.

I loaded the cushion front and backs together and quilted fairly simple classic quilting, straight lines and a bit of stipple and of course feathers! You can see in the next photo the two back pieces that I did a rambling feather over both pieces.

When all the quilting was completed I sliced the three sections to their correct sizes, attached binding to the back pieces made button holes, sewed the front and back pieces together, sandwiching the prairie points in between, then stitched on the buttons and binding on the edge of the cushion.
Raewyn made this cute label from a re-purposed doiley, sweet aye!

The cushion was made with a new range of Tilda fabrics. I have been told Claudia was delighted with her special gift!

I have had my Christmas tree and decorations up for a week now and thought you might enjoy a look-see.............................

My Santa display, the next photo is taken at night with the fairy lights shinning merrily!

My upside down Christmas tree hanging from the ceiling, why you ask? Because I can....simple!

              Christmas is even in the bathroom...........ok so I'm bringing out my inner child!

I enjoying seeing all the very special decorations made by friends, myself but the ones I love the best are the ones my kids have made over the years, the chewed bauble - my son asks why I don't throw it away? Because it's special, so it's got a hole in it? So what, it symbolises life, us as humans, we aren't perfect are we, we have our faults, our 'holes'.

Lynette Anderson's 'Christmas Fun'

 

Gail Pan's 'All Things Christmas'

Gail Pan's 'A Merry Christmas'

So with that completed, there is still a bit more quilting to be done before I take a small break over the Christmas/New Year period. Thanks for stopping by, be calm, stay safe.......................and remember there are plenty of bags of potato chips at the supermarket! :-)

Christmas quilts and decorating.

Today I have spent some time looking at some Christmas quilts I have quilted in the past, some are mine others are made by my lovely customers.
First to make an appearance is a Round Robin quilt that Jenny had me quilt back in 2009. I love the long slender snowman with the buttoned front.

                      A Buggy Barn Christmas present quilt, as sample for The Country Yard.

The following quilt was made by my own hand back in 2008 and gifted to a family with four young children. I have lost touch with them, I wonder if they still have the quilt to enjoy over the festive season?

Another one of mine, made a few years back, a Gail Pan design. This year I have this quilt draped over my log fire (no fire's going this time of the year here in New Zealand)

Cat's Christmas sampler, from memory this quilt graces one of her children's beds over Christmas.

Lynette Anderson's Snow Ball Fun quilt. I was very excited and humbled when Lynette asked me to quilt for her!

                                                   Marcelle's Christmas jelly roll quilt.

                                      Marcelle's Christmas present quilt under my apple tree.

             Lois' Christmas tree quilt, the trees have since been embellished with trims and buttons.

                                 My "Merry Christmas Garden".....a Gail Pan design.

                Marcelle's "Twas the Night Before Christmas"................a Hugs & Kisses deisgn.

                                               "Noel".................  a design by The Country Yard.

                                                 Another Country Yard exclusive quilt.

Maree's "Scandinavian Christmas" .............another design by Lynette Anderson.

More recently from Maree, "Merry Merry Snowmen"............a Bunny Hill design.

My Christmas Fun, this was one of Lynette Anderson's button mystery quilts.

Do you have many Christmas quilts? Have you been fortunate to be given a Christmas quilt? I haven't put the tree up this year except for my tiny one, it it about 8" tall. This tree has the little decorations I have been given. I have since added another that I was given.

                      My log fire is hidden by Christmas quilts, cat's, dolls, reindeer and Santa's.

A little nook that was calling out to be Christmasyfied! My eldest daughters cane chair that was given to her by my Mum is the perfect resting place for the Santa my pal Julie made me.

Lastly my snowman collection......................................I love these guys, they make me smile!

I have a snowmen table runner, a snowman on a penny farthing, a peppermint s.m, two wooden s.m, a s.m holding a Christmas tree and a very musical s.m playing what other than icicles!
Are you decorating for Christmas? I would love to see if you are sharing via a blog or Facebook, share your link in the comment section ~ along with your comment :-)

It's not a quilt until it's quilted................................

The following three quilts are now quilts! All three customers asked for all over quilting designs.

 First up is a quilt created by Christine for her ten year old granddaughter.The pattern came from a book called " Jellyroll Inspiration", compiled by Pam & Nicky Lintott. The pattern was designed by Joanne Ridley, the design is called " May Flowers".

Christine was running out of time to get this quilt finished in time for her granddaughters birthday, so she chose all over quilting instead of the more time consuming custom quilting.

I quite fancy this quilting, called "Camellia's". The quilt measures 59" x 68", the thread is a soft pinky/mauve Glide thread. Christine had the prettiest backing.

Thank you Christine.
Next is Suzanne's Swoon quilt. Suzanne was keen to have a Baptist Fan quilting. Facebook followers will remember my sneak peeks.

Isn't this a lovely quilt! So fresh and revitalizing. I used a white Madeira poly thread top and bottom.

Thank you Suzanne, no doubt we will see this lovely quilt featured on your blog when you have completed the binding.
Next up is Elaine's group Row by Row quilt. Made several years ago as a group effort, Elaine was keen to get this fun quilt quilted!

Elaine was happy to go with an all over quilting design, there is a lot going on in this quilt, so it is probably the best choice.

A fun quilting design called "Splash"............seems appropriate for a beachy themed quilt. The backing looks good too, a soft blue flannel. Thank you Elaine, enjoy!

A few weeks back I was very fortunate to win Gail Pan's latest Christmas Stitchery book!! Whoopwhoop!

I am a big fan of Gail's designs, I have made several of her quilts and stitcheries, so I was delighted to win her book. Gail signed my copy for me, thanks Gail! I look forward to stitching up some of these beautiful designs.

Simon has been up to his usual mischief, sleeping in places he's not meant to, scratching, just the the usual stuff to get our attention. In the following photo he was having a cute moment sitting on the stairs.

The next customer quilt I am working on is a custom job, very pretty.........I am still working on the ditch stitching.

 Until next time......................................