MINECRAFT

 I finished this quilt Cat made for her son a couple of weeks ago. Cat asked me to hold up on blogging about this quilt until she had given it to her son, I happily obliged.
Ok, time for some honesty here. I had no idea what 'Minecraft' was! Luckily I had on hand the technology....................Google,  my ole pal came to my rescue! Then things began to click into place, as last time I saw my granddaughter she was rambling on about 'Minecraft'...................now I know!

 Simple quilting of straight lines and some modern boxy echo's on the vintage sheet border, this design was inspired this time by Angela Walters from her book 'Free Motion Quilting'. All this over cotton batting, Maderia threads and measuring 63" x 63".

Thank you Cat, so pleased your son loves the quilt he had a hand in designing!

This fellow seems to enjoy sleeping at my feet while I work, in my sewing machine cover no less!

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." 

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.

 

baby quilts, road trip with friends, presents........

Marcelle has been making baby quilts for gifts, these two both have polar fleece backings. The first one I used a Gunold variegated thread & with inspiration from Angela Walters book, I did wonky scattered squares.

The next quilt I simply quilted in the ditch, this has kept the quilt soft & feminine.

I will have an over load of quilts to show you soon, but they have to remain top secret, but if you pop over to The Country Yard's Facebook page you will see a few sneak peaks..............................

I had a lovely weekend taking some special friends to one of the most fabulous little shops around. Do you remember my visit earlier in the year? Well I knew some friends of mine would love Julie's shop as much as I did!
Check out the vehicle when we were about to leave!

Poor Julie will be working hard out to replenish her stock! We couldn't help ourselves, I'm counting down to my next visit :-)
Most of the things I bought are for gifts, which I see Raewyn did the same......check out her post.

But I have kept some yummy potpourri in a heart shaped hanger & this cushion.

Isn't it cool! Enjoy a few more photo's of the shop & grounds, if you are ever in the Waikato region, please make a stop at Threadbear Cottage, you won't be disappointed!

Julie gave me a parting gift to say thank you for bringing my friends.................

This little bag was filled with beautifully wrapped goodies for me!...........I feel very spoilt.

When I arrived home another sweetie friend had left a bag of more goodies for me..........................

25 fat 1/4's by Kaye England called 'Back Home Again'.......ironic name! This was an unwanted prize!! Who would not want this??? Drool.....................still drooling!

Happy Dresden's

Happy sunny Dresden's, machine pieced by Cat & quilted by me. Bamboo batting for warmth.
 Cat gathered her inspiration from this book.....................

Part way through quilting I text Cat & said I had a fun quirky idea for the solid red sashings & asked if she trusted me? She text back YES!!!! Not sure if you can see from the following photo, but I quilted the 'LOVE' around the red sashing & hearts & XX........apparently Cat loves it! Thanks for trusting me. Sometimes I just get an idea.....& I like to run with it, or in this case quilt with it!!

Click to enlarge

back of quilt

For the red spot sashings I did wonky layered triangles, I got the inspiration from Angela Walters book, 'Free Motion Quilting'. The pink spot sashings had a treatment of curling ribbon.

Thanks again Cat!