Grandmother's Choice

That's the name of Barbara's beautiful quilt. The design is by Barbara Brackman. This was put together as an online week - by - week sew along. See here.
No more sneak peeks, this quilt is all finished and at home with its maker and owner.

The bulk of the fabrics are French General,from several different ranges with a few others thrown in the mix, they work well. The batting was bamboo/cotton, I used only a couple of different threads. Measures 86" x 86".
Lot and lots of ditch stitching went into this quilt, but well worth the effort as it makes the blocks more crisp and defined.

this house block makes me think of Little House on The Prairie!

Each week those participating were faced with several different techniques, but Barbara is not shy of a few challenges!

happy Sunbonnet Sue!

Barbara seems happy to let my creative juices run to full force, with only a couple of consultations of choices for the sashings and border, thank you for the trust Barbara.

fussy cut French General fabric

Are you still with me? Lots of photo's! I hope you are enjoying what you are seeing. Only a few more to go.

A nice big spiral in each outer corner stone to finish the quilt off.

If you are on Facebook, remember I am having a giveaway...........so like 'quiltmekiwi' so you keep up to date with what I am up to.

Wishing you all a happy weekend...............oh and a big hello to my new followers! Lovely to have you following along.

sewing with a friend

When nature gives you bucket loads of rain, what's a girl to do? Sew of course!
  Kerryn & I had organised a sewing day sometime ago, but as we all know life gets in the way sometimes.
Anyhow friends, yesterday was the day. I stopped on the way to grab us both a nice coffee from a local Cafe, then we set to work on our samples for an upcoming class.

My sample will be from my favourite fabric : Kansas Troubles & Kerryn is using her favourite too : French General. Kerryn & Raewyn came back with some lovely new treats from Spring Market in America, so this sewing day was founded on doing something with a new gadget & book. Something a little different, but fun. I will show you more when I can, until then you will have to settle for the teasers I have plonked here for you all!!

The sun is now out in all it's glory, but boy did we have heavy rain last night! Although I am a winter lover, it is nice to have the sun on me, it has re-vitalised me.

quilted mysteries

For all the years worked part time at The Country Yard there has been a mystery BOM running. For all that time I have been fortunate to quilt the samples. This year was a lovely stitchery designed by my boss/store owner & friend Kerryn, called "Friends". Every year these mysteries are a huge success! See why...........................................

2013 mystery stitchery "Friends"

Starting with one stitchery pattern, background fabric, thread & some instructions, the mystery starts. Our regular customers know to get in quick as these are a limited edition & places sell as quick as you can say 'Lickityspickitydodarh'........twelve times!!

The following months the packs have more stitchery patterns, background fabric & the slow introduction of the fabrics, in this case a lovely French General range, just to keep the girls guessing.

Kerryn wanted the quilting kept fairly simple, so we came with up with never fail cross hatching, orange peel & a few feathers thrown in for a wee traditional splash.
Using Glide thread, Madeira poly neon threads over 90/10 wool/poly batting.

If you are interested in seeing some previous mysteries go here , here & here for some.

It's all systems go here, quilts, quilts & more quilts, Christmas is coming in case you didn't know!
I have more to show you but it will have to wait a couple of days until the owners have received their quilts in the mail.
Until then I will leave you will a little sneaky peek of something I am working away on & nearly finished.

customer quilts

A busy day of deliveries of finished quilts today...................................

Made by Rachel for her niece, who is turning 21. Pattern by Annie Downs, called 'Some Kind of Wonderful' with a few added personal details by Rachel. Warm & Bright poly batting, with Gunold variegated cream/mocha thread.
( I quilted another one back here )

Look at this lovely cake, complete with a bunting with the recipients name.

And just because.............................

who took this photo?

the back

Thanks Rachel!

Lois has completed last years mystery stitchery from The Country Yard, YoYo's to be added. Cotton batting & Gunold & Madeira poly threads. Simple quilting. Stitchery/embroideries stitched with Auriful 12 weight thread. See here for the shop sample.

Well done Lois, we look forward to seeing this on display at our annual exhibition.

Next is a lovely simplistic quilt made by Norma for her adult son.

Made from a couple of French General fabric ranges, quilted simply using Gunold & Madeira poly threads over cotton batting.

the back

 

Thank you ladies for your custom :-)

More quilts............................

Are you sick of me yet?? This is the last of the shop's New Years Launch quilts to show you.

Another BOM for you, this one is by The Birdhouse simply called "Love". The fabric range is "Fellowship" by Brannock & Patek. A yummy mix of piecing & sweet stitcheries.

Taken here under my old sweet apple tree, when the grass was green!

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few close ups of the stitcheries, aren't they lovely?

For the quilting I kept things pretty simple, ditch stitching, a must! Some mini stipple, straight line stitching, some of the loopy swirls I seem to love doing on sashings........did you notice that?

For the sashing around the centre block I wanted a bit of a feature, so I did a nice feather. All my quilting is done free hand, no marking, just the way I like it best.

Also included, ( which you see me do a bit of ) is orange peel, this time I echoed the first line of stitching.

For the border, a larger version of the feather I did in the centre.

 

 

True to form, Madeira & Gunold threads are the stars in the quilting arena! I love em!!!

Are you a fan of French General fabrics by Moda? Then I'm sure you'll love this next quilt.

 

"Chateau Rouge" is the range of fabric, the design is from the 'Simple Home' book, by Sweetwaters........a fabulous book by the way, one of those books that has many "must make projects!" 

 

Simple all over meander, using Gunold variegated thread for the centre section of the quilt.

Finished off with a simple hook feather ( I saw recently a similar feather called a banana feather ).