Back to Needle Books

When I put out the call on my blog for people to join in with a needle book round robin a lady called Lynda happened to be searching the internet and found my entry.

She asked if she could join in and this week I have had the pleasure of adding to the embroidery on her block.

My contribution is a gold metallic thread feather stitch bush, some blanket stitching with silk thread and a floral creation that began with a green hand dyed leaf tucked into the seam line.

After a recent sojourn in Australia I am somewhat behind on my commitment to round robins but part of my target for this weekend is to bring them up to date so more postings will be happening.

First touch of winter

We have had a few days of not very nice weather but today the skies cleared and when we opened the curtains this morning there were our mountains with their first real coating of snow for the winter.

Our brother is staying at the moment and he has this theory that to have energy you have to put into your energy bank to draw from it and one of the ways of doing this is to go for daily walks.

Well it was a bit nippy down on the lake front but it certainly was nice to go for a 20 minute walk there this morning and with a top up of coffee to finish it off we did feel energised by the time we came home.

Linda wrote about this on her blog as well and she took far better photos than me so you may like to check her out as well.

Have car - tree will come down

We needed to find space in our garden for two new fruit trees so one tree had to go to make way.

Our brothers were visiting and so they spent quite a bit of the morning chopping away at the roots of the tree.

When they were satisfied they had cut away sufficient roots they attached a rope to the tree and the tow bar on my brother's car.

It took more than one turn but eventually the tree succumbed...........

and they had success!

They look well pleased with their efforts and rightly so.

However, the show must go on and so there is more chopping and hacking before the tree is completely gone.

We look forward to seeing our new fruit trees in place.

Quilts as gifts

A while ago I wrote about winning some lovely orange fabric in a raffle at our quilting group.

My friend from Sydney, Cherie, left a comment to say how much she liked the fabric.

Little did she know that the fabric was destined to be incorporated in a quilt especially for her.

Yesterday I met up with her and was able to give it to her.

From completion I had been coveting it for myself but it really was time to see it move along and go to its new owner.  I am sure Cherie will enjoy having it as part of her possessions.

Sister Linda has also written about this quilt on her blog and she cleverly quilted this for me after I had finished the machine piecing.

Taking the plunge

Part of participating in a needle book round robin is the challenge of making the first imprint on the naked block that arrives in your letter box.

It is a bit like a blank canvas for the artist to contemplate - where to start, will the first mark be right or wrong - you just have to get on with it and take the plunge.

This block is the first I have received from my Blog Round Robin.  Lorraine sent it and it is all in purples, a colour that I do like working with.

In the end I decided to do this floral spray which incorporates a floral motif, feather stitch in gold metallic thread, sequin flowers, grub roses, beading, an iridescent butterfly and french knot stitching.

The block is on its way to Cherie, in Australia.

I look forward to sharing more as other blocks come my way.

Needle books - again

Last week I posted this image of Michelle's needlebook.

It already had work on it by two other people and now it was my turn..............

I couldn't resist adding a couple of green beaded flowers to the ones on the right but then I turned my attention to the left side of the block.

I attached a hand dyed motif and added floral silk ribbon embroidery.

There was already another hand dyed motif and I added some silk ribbon work and cotton thread french knots.

I must have taken these photos at different times of day - the second image is more true to life.

My time with this block has come to an end so it is time to move it along with the previous one I mentioned a couple of days ago.

I still have another block to do before I am all up to date once again.

Before Winter Sets In

Before winter sets in we are really enjoying some beautiful autumn weather and the flowers of the season.

We were given a pot of red and white chrysanthemums at the end of last year and when they finished flowering we planted them in the garden.  They have come back with a lovely spread of flowers and this monarch butterfly must have appreciated them being there as it rested there for some time.

Not far from these flowers we have a dahlia bush which has just come into flower recently with the most delightful dark shades of burgundy blooms.  The centres look little seed beads.

Our mornings are crisp and the days clear and sunny.  So nice, and the flowers just add to the loveliness of it all.

More about needle books

Last week I shared with you what Win's block looked like when it arrived.

That is Rayna's beautiful silk ribbon work on the right.

With other needle books in the pipeline I thought I had better get moving along so I have added to the left of the block.

Some feather stitch work in gold metallic thread with dark red beading and to the left of that some scrolling work in chain stitch in blue finished with pretty pink sequin flowers with gold beads at the centre.

A close up of my work just in case you want a closer peek.

Time to move on to the next one now so I can keep things moving along just like I should.

Another challenge

Yesterday this needle book block arrived from Tokoroa.

I have not finished working on the one I shared yesterday so I have time to contemplate what I might do with this one.

Two people have worked on this block so there is already quite a bit more work than on the other one.

Still more to come - maybe tomorrow..............

Needle Book Progress

Having set two groups of needle book round robins into motion I was very keen to have a block to work on and then this one arrived last week.

Rayna forwarded it from our Tokoroa group and the silk ribbon work she has done on it is just beautiful.

She has hand dyed the silk ribbon and the tonings of the pinks and greens are so nice.

Silk ribbon work is such a lovely craft once you have mastered a few basic techniques and if you have the opportunity to dye your own silk ribbon you have another dimension altogether.

My challenge now is to add to what Rayna has started.  I have done some but my work is not completed yet.  I will share when it is ready to be on its way.

I need to move along now, because, after waiting and waiting for one block I now have three to work on - two more arrived in the post today.  More images for me to be sharing with you.

Twelve months ago I thought that my crazy quilting days were over because my wrists were not in good shape.

I pulled back from doing a lot of hand work and I have been attending bowen therapy once a fortnight and I am happy to say that my wrists have improved a great deal and I am enjoying participating in this form of hand work again.

Looking forward, looking back

Sometime back, when I was still living in Australia, I participated in a needle book round robin.

I created the block in autumn colours and look what came back to me!

I especially love the silk ribbon roses on the top right side of the block and if you look carefully you can see a spider's web complete with spider below.

Looking forward, with our latest needle book round robin, my friend from Sydney, Cherie, has created an autumn shade block which I just love.  You may like to take a peek and see this 'naked block' for yourself, and while you are there, have a look around all the other things Cherie is interested in.

Cherie has posted this block to the next person on the list today so the fun is starting to happen.

Needle book progress

When I put out a request via this blog for people to participate in a round robin it did not look like it was going to happen and then one by one the names came in and suddenly, there is was, a group of six of us committed to join in.

Two weeks have been given for the actual block to be created and mailed for the recipient to receive on the 13th April.

My block has to go to Australia so it has occurred to me I had better get mine in the post as soon as the Easter break is over and so here it is in pinks and greens and I imagine it being embellished by the others in similar colours.

Let the round robin begin!

Free Form Embroidery

I think I am going to be busy with needle book round robins over the next few weeks so my one of a kind free form embroideries have come to a halt for the time being.



This is the most recent one I made.

Something quite special about cream and gold

More needle booking

Yesterday I started working on Rhena's needle book block.

I had some variegated silk thread which I stitched across two blocks in stem stitch.

I wanted to add some green silk leaves but upon searching my stash found I had none so what is a girl to do?

I hunted through my stash for some undyed 4mm silk ribbon.

I got out my favourite Olive green dye, diluted it with 50% water and wet the ribbon using an eye dropper.

I popped the ribbon in the microwave for 1 minute on high.

Checked it and popped it back for another 20 seconds.

 I took the dry silk ribbon and steam pressed it with my iron and, as a result, have the most lovely variegated olive green silk ribbon to do my stitching with.

Back to the block I went and added ribbon leaves to the stem stitch I did yesterday - did some loose french stitching at the base of each leaf in soft pink thread.

To the right of the block I then added a soft green velvet leaf that I bought in a craft shop in London about five years ago.  I decided it was about time I used it instead of just keeping it to look at.

A couple of grub roses, a little bit of silk ribbon work and some more loose French knots and I am all done.

Rhena's block is ready to move on to the next person in the round robin.

Thank you to everyone who responded to my request to begin a round robin through this blog.  I now have enough participants and so, over the coming weeks, I should have lots of different bits and pieces to share as various blocks come and go from the two different round robin groups.  I hope you will find this to be as interesting as I do.

Needle book project underway

The needle book project with the ladies from Tokoroa is underway.

Rayna has made and sent her 'naked' block to me and I get to start embellishing.  One could get a little nervous about being the first to have a go on some one else's block but I have done this a few times before so I am sure it will be alright.

I did put out the idea of starting another needle book project from people who read my blog and so far I have had 3 responses.  Including myself that makes 4 people but we really need 6 to make a go of it.

If you have been thinking maybe you would, it would be lovely to have you join in and we could get to know each other through a fun project.  I would be so pleased to hear from you at peggy.crazyquilter@gmail.com if you are at all interested.

I will be watching out for your e-mail.

One Thing Leads to Another

On March 1st I wrote about my early days in crazy quilting and then on March 9th I told about my inspirational visitors from Tokoroa.

When the Tokoroa ladies were here I shared with them about making needle books as a round robin and they have taken me up on the idea so today I made my block for our round robin ready for posting tomorrow.

Next time I see it I expect it to have all sorts of wonderful embellishments I would never have dreamed of doing myself.

It also occurred to me that although I only have 30 followers that maybe, just maybe, 5 of you would like to join me in a similar round robin. I think if 5 of you were interested the project could have quite an international flavour and because it is a relatively small project postage should not be too high.

If this idea appeals to you then you can e-mail me peggy.crazyquilter@gmail.com and if I get enough interest I can be in touch by e-mail and we can, hopefully, get another round robin under way.

Inspirational Visitors

On Wednesday we had a delightful visit from a group of ladies with a common interest in craft.

They came from Tokoroa (about 66kms away) and it was so nice to think they would come that far to share with us.

Linda wrote a lovely entry on her blog about their time here.

During this time I shared a few things I have learnt about crazy quilting and when they left I had this piece of silk fabric with a few silk ribbon stitches that I had been showing them.

What's a girl to do with something like that? Well, just keep adding until you have a nice little creation and so a new one of a kind piece of embroidery was born.

The ones I have been making recently have all featured a piece of lace but this one began with silk ribbon work and I extended it with grub roses, beading and more stitching.

Nice to make something along the same theme of what I have been doing but different.

Raffle Time

Linda and I attend Taupo Quiltmakers meetings every second Thursday evening.

Everybody pays NZ$2 as they enter and sign against a number in the attendance book.

This time I put my name against no. 8.

During the evening a couple of raffles are drawn against the numbers in the books.

The first raffle was drawn and as my eye caught what was on offer for the second one I could not help thinking how much I would like it to be mine - and it was!

No. 8 was drawn out of the hat and so I became the lucky owner of 4 lovely pieces of fabric in shades of orange - and, I do have a project in mind for them - real soon!

Early Days in Crazy Quilting

My interests in crazy quilting came about some twelve/thirteen years ago.

At the time I was fortunate to come across an e-mail group, Southern Cross Crazies. This group caters for persons interested in crazy quilting based in Australia and New Zealand.

I hadn't been on the list long when someone suggested a Round Robin. Interested persons created a piece of crazy quilting and it was then sent around the group for each person to put some embellishment on the block before sending it to the next one in the group.

Totally new to me, I decided to make 9 x 4.5 inch block suitable for making up into a needlebook. I had some pink tone silk scraps and so that is what I used for construction.

I really enjoyed embellishing other people's blocks but also enjoyed very much, receiving my own block back all beautifully embellished with their work for me. Really lovely examples of tatting, beading, embroidery and even some waste canvas embroidery.

I found this to be a great way to learn about the things that can be done in crazy quilting and went on to host a number of these round robins. A lovely phase of my crazy quilting life.

Have to confess that the pink block is still a pink block and has never been made into a needlebook but I treasure it nevertheless and it is a happy reminder of my adventures in crazy quilting.

A Bit of This and a Bit of That

Some time ago one of the ladies from our Sweet Peas quilting group gave me a box containing oddments of lace and included was this lovely little piece of vintage embroidered lace. It measured just 8cm (3.5inches).

Not much to be done with a piece of lace that size, I guess but I did think it might be nice, incorporated into one of my miniature one of a kind embroidery pieces.

Today I finished the piece - lovely soft pink silk dupioni for the background and bits and pieces of silk ribbon and thread.

So nice to think that a little bit of left over vintage lace could be repurposed into a new work or art.

I have just listed it on Trade Me.

Another Quilt for Christchurch

On the 18th January I wrote about a quilt in progress.

Although some time has passed this quilt was actually completed within 2 weeks which I think was pretty good as far as quilting projects go.

Through my sales on the New Zealand auction site, Trade Me, I am often surprised by the percentage of sales that go to the South Island of our country and in particular to Christchurch.

Since the earthquakes and the many, many after shocks the percentage of buyers from Christchurch (especially in the earthquake affected suburbs) remains high and I often wonder if people are seeking to do craft as an outlet to help them through difficult times.

One lady who buys from me from time to time, often buys pansy prints to use in the making of greeting cards for family of friends. I asked her at one time how she had fared during the earthquakes and she had suffered personal injury and was keen to get better so she could resume her craft interests.

I often think of her, especially when we hear of another round of earthquakes and so I decided to make this quilt for her. Linda and I got together and raided our stashes to make a bright and cheery quilt. I took a punt on her liking the pansy theme due to her purchases of pansy silk prints.

I did the machine piecing and Linda added her quilting magic to finish off the work. Linda has written about this project as well on her blog and there is an image of the whole quilt there.

I did not know it but purple and orange were two of the recipients favourite colours. She said that she had been going through a particularly difficult time and the quilt was a real boost to her morale.

February 22 is the 1st anniversary of the 2nd major quake but the trauma has been such she said the first six months were just a blur.

One can only imagine there must still be many more people in Christchurch who have ongoing needs for our encouragement.

Soft and Romantic

This week I had a request through my services advertisement on Trade Me for some soft pink velvet flowers as well as some hand dyed silk ribbons in soft pinks, green and cream for a project she had in mind.

Colours after my own heart, I thought, so whilst dyeing some ribbons for her I dyed some for myself.

I was glad when she let me know that what I sent was exactly what she had been looking for.




With some of very own hand dyed silk ribbon in lovely, soft colours I set about making another of my 'one of a kind' embroidery pieces and am very happy with the result.

More Stitching Has Already Happened

The last time I wrote I said I was stitching a pansy quilt project. However, I did not say that prior to that Linda and I had already embarked on another stitching project.

For some time now we have been talking about making a quilt for a relative in Christchurch but the other week we actually sprang into action and made a quilt top together.

I got to do the stitching while Linda did pressing and pinning. We managed to complete the top over two days and then Linda went on to machine quilt it and yesterday I finished stitching down the binding. The only thing that is left to be done is a label.

We really enjoyed working on this project together and one of the things we really liked about it was that it was done from our stash, no running out to the store for extra yardage to complete.

Linda had been given some cat blocks for Christmas one year and we decided to incorporate them into this quilt having checked first that the recipient is a cat lover.

Part of using our stash included using the repurposed woollen blanket for the batting. It can be cold in Christchurch in the winter and so the wool warmth will be very much appreciated.

You can see more pictures of the quilt being machine quilted on Linda's blog.

Stitching is Happening

Today was the first day of the year for our quilting group, Sweet Peas, to meet at our home.

Just a small group, five of us, but we had a lovely time regardless.

I had been thinking about a sewing project for a few days and Linda and I had been putting together the fabric and so today I started cutting.............



...........and then some sewing...............












and then some more cutting..............












before some more stitching...............















By the time I stopped stitching for the day, I had completed four blocks, with just twelve more to go.

Very bright and cheery and definitely for someone who loves pansies.

Summer in the garden

So far this summer the weather has proved to be quite wet.

A lot of things in the garden have gone quite rampant.

We have more of this dark red poppy than ever before. We think it would be nice to harvest the seed and have a big cluster of this particular poppy somewhere in our garden. I have saved some of the poppy heads so maybe, just maybe we can do something about this.









These shasta daisies were planted last year and have only just come into bloom in recent weeks. They are making up for lost time as they are there in abundance.

We have found them to be a good vase flower as they last quite well.






From where I sit in my bedroom using my computer I can see this lovely hollyhock plant.

The image is probably more blueish than the real colour, which, to the eye looks a very dark chocolate brown.

It is the dark, dark colour that fascinates me. Not many plants with flowers like this.

A Gentle Reminder..............

Yesterday morning our brother, Norman, rang from Christchurch to let us know that another round of earthquakes was shaking up their city.

He was ringing to ask if we would do a care package, not for himself, but for his son and daughter-in-law, who he felt needed some encouragement during such a time as this.

We had sent boxes of baked goodies before but it had been some time so we needed a gentle reminder to get the baking gear out again.

A couple of hours in the kitchen and Linda and I had made family biscuits (affectionately called donkey drops by some members of our family), chocolate crunch, butterscotch slice, ginger nut slice and fruit cake.

Chocolate crunch has been a family favourite for years. Our Mother used to make it on a regular basis. It is egg free and if you are interested, the recipe is as follows:-

Crunch 3 weetbix in a bowl

add

1 cup coconut
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 dessertspoon of cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
6oz (170gms) melted butter

Mix well and spread into buttered slice baking tray.

Bake 10 - 15 minutes in oven 180 c or 350 f - cook further 5 minutes if necessary.

Before cold make icing:-

250g (8oz) icing sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
50g (2oz) soft butter

Mix together adding sufficient hot water (approximately 3 tablespoons) to make a stiff mix.
Heat in microwave for 30 seconds
Spread on crunch before it is cold and cut into portions.

Enjoy!