What's that happening at our front door?

Today I was trying to get together a nice photo of my latest quilt top and put it up on the wall just outside our front door for a photo shoot.

I wasn't entirely happy with the photos I had been taking and so walked away to check out letter box. As I walked back decided I liked the quilt from this viewpoint.

You may remember this was my 'nice bit of fun' from the 16th August.  Linda also showed images of it on her blog yesterday.

My 'nice bit of fun' has now become a completed quilt top.  Very bright and fresh and yet there was a time when I would never have worked with white.

Not possible for cat scans on this occasion but CiCi did feel the need to check things out.

Love those button jars

We have a rather large assortment of buttons at our place.

The extra large cookie jar was an op shop find and it has proved to be an ideal container for our collection which has accumulated over a number of years.

For the most part the jar sits on a shelf in our quilting studio but every now and then we find someone has a need for buttons and so out it comes.

Always a lot of fun to go through and share, lots of memories stored in these buttons.

Two of our Sweet Pea ladies, Andreena and Debbie, have been making Christmas ornaments and need buttons as a centrepiece.

The buttons were spread on a tray and they were able to sort through and take the ones they fancied.

We have given a lot of buttons away but sometimes we sell a few. Linda has some listed on Trade Me at the moment.

Although our numbers were few it was still an enjoyable morning for our group.  You can see some images of the show and tell from today on Linda's blog.

A nice op shop find

We have had hens at our place for over eighteen months and in that time have received a bounty of over 1800 eggs - not bad for three hens.

Originally we had four hens but just before Christmas one of them, Miss Penny, went to the big hen house in the sky.

The three that are left have continued to be faithful egg layers and we have been enjoying the fruit of their labours.

We have often said it would be nice to have a special bowl on the kitchen bench especially for the eggs.

It has taken a while, but last week we found this one in an op shop for NZ$3.00.

From the markings on the side and bottom I thought it would be nice to find a little more out about the bowl.

The inscription on the side, Le Petite DeJeuner, appears to translate as small kitchen bowl.

I looked up the inscription on the base of the place and Le Comptoir De Famille France have a comprehensive range of household wares.  A similar bowl to the one I bought sells for Euro 13.90 which equates to approximately NZ$22.00, so I suddenly felt quite pleased with my little NZ$3.00 purchase.

Spring is just around the corner

Late in autumn I planted daffodil bulbs below pansy plants in tubs on our patio.

The pansies did not really do that well during the winter but the daffodils are beginning to show their beautiful colour.

The mountains, with all their snow, would like to tell us that winter had not yet left us but the daffodils seem to be saying that spring is just around the corner.

Taking time out

Temperatures plummeted in the Taupo area this week and we have had a number of frosts at our place.

Our local mountains have had some of the best dumpings of snow for this winter season.

They look very impressive from our place but today we decided to take time out to get a different view.

We went to our favourite coffee store for take out coffee and then drove to a scenic lookout on the other side of town.

A totally fresh aspect, with much more of Lake Taupo in the foreground.

Great coffee, great view - so nice to take time out to enjoy what we could so easily take for granted in this lovely part of the world.

Isn't this a nice bit of fun

Take a couple of pieces of contrasting fabric - these ones are 10 inches square.

 Make 4 half square triangles from the two pieces of fabric and piece them together into an hour glass block.

Cut the hour glass block into 9 equal squares.

Turn all of the pieces around and suddenly you have a star block - now isn't that a nice bit of fun.

Here's my first four blocks pieced together - so far so good.

I plan to piece 30 blocks so I hope I still feel like it is a nice bit of fun by the time I get to the end.

Now this idea does not originate with me.

It is called the 'Disappearing Hour Glass Block' and you can see how to create this here in much more detail from the Missouri Quilt Co.:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXggafOP230

Hopefully you may be inspired to have a bit of fun too.

Precious new life

Not so long ago, Linda and I had the privilege of visiting with a newborn baby and his parents at the local hospital.

Young Jaxon is the latest grandson for our Sweet Pea lady, Debbie.

He weighed in at a very health 9lb 9oz and is doing very well.

Linda and I both got to give him a cuddle.

Lovely to see his Dad, Adam, being very hands on and changing Jaxon's clothes for him.

We took along a gift for Jaxon, a quilt panel that Linda had machine quilted and to which I attached magic binding.

Mum and Dad were very pleased to receive the quilt and have already put it in his cot in readiness for Jaxon.

Someone to watch over me

I am not sure why, but I have never been very fond of traditional angel images.

On the other hand, if I see one that is a little bit on the 'crazy' side it suddenly has great appeal for me.

Our local quilting group, Taupo Quiltmakers, recently held their quilt show and had a sales table.

I found this delightful angel and had to bring it home.

She now hangs in my bedroom - someone to watch over me.

Even better, I found out later that one of our very own Sweet Pea ladies, Margaret, had made it and donated it to the sales table.

Margaret makes some wonderful hand stitched items and so I am very pleased to call this one my own.

Going round and round

Life has been a bit topsy turvy for us around here in recent times.

However, things seem to be moving along and recently I received a lovely card and note that was very special to me.

I had been asked by my son to make a baby quilt for someone he used to play basketball with and it was to be in the team colours, black, white and orange.

There is not always the opportunity to get to see these sort of quilts being used but here is the photo of little Zoe enjoying tummy time on her quilt.

Mum and Dad were very happy to have received this gift and it was lovely to have it acknowledged in this way.

Man in action

If you have been reading my blog for a while you may remember when my brothers, Norman and Alan removed a tree from a garden using Norman's car.

You can read about their exploits here, just over two years ago.

We have had a walnut tree on the border of our property which is not particularly well located so we asked Norman if he could take it down for us and today he set about the task.

He is taking up the challenge little by little.

So far so good, we look forward to the final result.

Secret Society

Our Sweet Pea group have been involved this year with a number of secret projects, so much so I suggested to the group this week that maybe we should call ourselves the Secret Society of Sweet Pea Stitchers.

One of our group, Andreena, turned 70 this week.

She and her husband have been away for about eight weeks, travelling the South Island of New Zealand in a camper van and only returned about a week ago.

In her absence the remaining ladies of the group embarked on making a series of Swoon blocks in order to complete a quilt to gift to Andreena for her 70th birthday.

At times we wondered if we would get it together in time but somehow we managed it.  The blocks came back to us.  I pieced them together, Linda quilted them and then I did the binding.  We got there with just a day or two to spare.

The quilt measures 90 inches by 90 inches and has been hard to photograph.  I did the pink block in this image which shows off Linda's quilting very nicely.

You can see some very good further shots of the quilt on Linda's blog.

The baby has been born

I have received advice that the baby has born - Zoe is her name and so the quilt needs to be sent on its way.

I generally pass quilt tops to Linda for the machine quilting but as this was a small quilt and Linda already had enough to be going on with I decided to quilt this on my domestic machine.

Simplicity was the name of the game and using a zig zag stitch it all seemed to work quite well.

It is Sweet Pea day tomorrow so I will take this for show and tell before sending it on its way.

Round and round again

When I was busy making half square triangles to make up into Round and Round blocks I had a request come in for a baby quilt.

Last year I had a similar request.  My son asked if I could make a quilt for a friend who was having a baby.  They were acquainted through playing basketball and he asked that the quilt be made in team quilts - black, orange and white.

You can take a peek at the original one here.

The latest request was for the same team colours but in a different design.

How appropriate that I was working on the Round and Round pattern.  It occurred to me that I could make just the one block, add a border and cornerstones and so another baby quilt has taken shape.

The baby is due before the end of the month so machine quilting has begun.

Cats and bed making

I don't think Kaiser ever misses the opportunity to 'assist' with bed making.

He seems to have a sixth sense about what is going on and loves to be with you right through the process, even if it does mean he gets buried under the bedding.

In the end he found himself tucked in at the foot of my bed with the sun from the window just touching the tip of his nose.  Perfection as far as a cat is concerned, I am sure.

On this occasion I decided to put a different quilt across the end of my bed.

I bought this quilt at a garage sale in Sydney a number of years ago.

Even then it had seen better days but it had a charm about it I could not resist.

It needs to be folded to hide the parts that are perishing but it is still worth exposing the really good pieces of applique.

White backgrounds to quilts is usually more associated with modern quilts but part of the charm of this vintage quilt is the white background.  Everything old is new again, or so it would seem.

Hearts of love

A while ago I talked about the row by row projects our Sweet Pea ladies were working on this year.

The row by row is supposed to take the best part of this year to complete but we fast tracked Moira's as she wants to give it as a gift to a friend who is undergoing chemo therapy for breast cancer.

I felt sure that once Moira had the blocks back it would not be long before she had them pieced together.

She brought the pieced quilt top to Sweet Peas this week and the blue border really pulled together the colours in the heart blocks.

Linda had offered to machine quilt it for her and it has just come off the frame.

Here's just a sneak peek of some of the wonderful quilting Linda has been doing on the quilt.  The seams just seem to melt into the background as the hearts pop up as a result of the stitching.

I feel sure the recipient will be very touched by our combined efforts.

In case you were wondering

In case you were wondering whatever had happened to those polka dot half square triangles I was making, there has been progress.

Triangles have become stars and the stars are going round in circles - all a bit of a challenge to get the piece placement correct but it worked.

All very modern and bright.  This is the first of seven blocks needed to complete the quilt.

If the concept has taken your interest take a look at the pattern Round and Round.

I downloaded the pattern as a PDF and the instructions are well laid out.

All the half square triangles and cutting has been done, just a few more hours of placement of blocks and piecing to happen.

I have a few other things to be doing so it may be a wee while before I complete on this challenge.

Quillows and more

Our Sweet Pea ladies have been busy on some secret projects recently so our show and tell at recent meetings has been limited.

Rochelle, however, had a quillow to share with us this week.

Excellent execution of traditional blocks in bright, modern colours.  The placement of circles on the sashing strips add another modern touch.

Rochelle is very keen on the quilt as you go technique and completed the quillow using this method.

The quilt enclosed in its pillow pocket.

A great job on all those lovely circles.  I think I could be taking lessons from Rochelle, they are so well done.

I don't have any more images to share, but one of our ladies, Mary, had an interesting show and tell of a different sort.

We have recently had a visit from Prince William and Kate here in New Zealand and they were well received where ever they went.

On the last day of their visit an opportunity was provided for two of Mary's young great grand daughters to meet with the royals.  Mary is in her eighties.  What a lovely event to have happen in her family circle.

Love those triangles

Triangular pieces in all shapes and sizes form an integral part of many quilt patterns.

Sometimes in the process of making quilting blocks I end up with small triangle off cuts.

I have to confess I find it very hard to part with these pieces, especially if there is a whole batch of them in the same colour.

The blocks to the left are the result of left over triangles from quilt projects.

I just need to trim the rabbits ears and square them up for a scrappy project that is yet to happen.

Our Sweet Pea sewing group is in the midst of making a secret project for one of our members.

When I made my block for this project I ended up with 8 pink and 8 cream triangles which were too pretty to part with (in my opinion).

I pieced them together to make 2 pin wheel blocks,  joined them together, stuffed them, and made a cute little pincushion, 4 inches square.

Just my way, I guess, of justifying keeping those little triangle shapes - oh dear.

Surprising myself

If you knew me well you would know that, generally speaking, I am dismissive of spotted and striped fabric.

Amazing that I surprised myself by buying a set of 12 brightly coloured fat quarters all with a polka dot pattern.

My favourite colours lie within the autumn colour range but with exposure to lots of quilting ideas and trends on line I have come to appreciate brightly coloured fabrics too.

When I bought these fat quarters I was not even sure when I would be using them but I do have a pattern that I bought last year that lends itself really well to the use of these fabrics and so stitching is happening.  Half square triangles, lots and lots of them.

I am well over half way with the triangles and so there should be more developments real soon.

I am liking the spots and the bright colours.

A bit of a learning curve

When I embarked on this blue and cream curved piecing project I was quite confident about the piecing because I had been there before and the previous one like this had been much more intense.

I really enjoyed piecing the blocks but when it came to joining them together I did find it a challenge.  Matching up the narrow stem like shapes on the sides of each block proved to be quite tricky but I persevered and now all stitching is complete.

The final result was much bigger than I expected but at least it is done.

I love the flow of the curves throughout the quilt.  The pattern is called Urban Birthday.  Quite apt when you consider that the curved piecing tends to look like wine glasses.

The cream background fabric has a pattern of clusters of tiny champagne glasses - very cute.

The quilt top is destined for Linda's bed.  Not sure how much sleep she will get with the suggestion of partying all over the quilt.

However, the colours are lovely and soft and should be enough to induce a peaceful and calm sleep so we hope that this will be the case.

It will be great to see the transformation that happens once Linda's magic quilting takes place.

Our Sweet Pea group

Our Sweet Pea numbers were greatly reduced this week but nevertheless we had an enjoyable meeting.  Always nice to share with other crafters.

Show and tell was limited but Debbie had a lovely soft cat to share.  Debbie loves lime green and it seems to find a way into most of her projects.  This cat is no exception.  Debbie is very creative and talented and made a great finish to this cat.

Just for the record

If you are familiar with my blog you will know that I often talk about finishing off a quilt with Magic Binding.

Linda has been working on a quilt top that I made last winter and today she got to binding stage.

Magic Binding was not going to work, it would take away from the points in the border so today I found myself making regular binding.

I enjoyed the exercise and Linda is happily doing the final hand stitching as I write.

More photos of the finished quilt after it has been delivered to its new owner.

Curved piecing happening again

Last year I spent quite a lot of time completing this Urban Nine Patch quilt top.

I enjoyed the process of learning about curved piecing and always felt I would like to try the method again.

Linda has also made a quilt following the same curved piecing method.

You can see her completed Touch of Lime here.

Linda also had it in mind that she would like to make another quilt along these lines and had bought some yummy soft blue and cream fabrics to do so.

To move things along I offered to piece the blocks and so curved piecing is happening again.

The piecing is nowhere as labour intensive as the Urban Nine Patch and so the blocks have been made, trimming is underway and the design board process will be happening.

The soft, dreamy colours have been so nice to work with and already having learnt the technique it has been an enjoyable process.

A sampling of what the completed blocks will look like.

Sweet Pea catch up

 It was good to catch up with our Sweet Pea ladies once again today.

Maxie, on the left, had not been for a while so we all enjoyed meeting up with her again.

She came with a surprise for Rochelle, a lap quilt.  Rochelle was thrilled.  Nobody has ever given her a quilt before so it was rather special to see this happen.


We had another surprise in store for another member of the group,  Moira.

Our group has embarked on a row by row project for each other this year.

I received Moira's last month and the story she told was that her friend is having six month's chemotherapy and she wanted to make her a 'Hearts of Love' quilt for her.

The row by row project is not going to be finished until the end of the year so we decided to fast track her project and were able to present her with all of her rows today.

My photo is not too good but I feel sure Moira will be bringing back the completed quilt top and I may be able to get another opportunity to get a better result.

Margaret had some show and tell for us.  She recently completed these two quilts for her granddaughters.

They sleep in the same room and even though the quilt themes are different she has given them a common background of bright, bright pink.  The girls share the same bedroom and so these should look really good.

Happy Quilt excitement

Our Happy Quilt arrived at its destination today and has been well received.

David Kemey, Public Relations Officer at Middlemore Hospital wrote to our group thanking us for the gift and has also posted about the quilt on their FaceBook page.

If you like to scroll down on their FaceBook page you can see more about Sakurako, including a photo of the little girl who will own this quilt.

Happy Blocks quilt on its way

Our Happy Blocks quilt has been packaged and mailed to Middlemore Hospital today.

Linda chose a simple but effective leafy design to frame each block.

A little bit of stitching within each picture block helped to highlight them as well.

This giraffe was one of my blocks and I love the way Linda has highlighted the giraffe with her stitching.

Some soft pink minky fabric made for a lovely soft backing.

Minky is hard to hand stitch binding on to so once again I resorted to magic binding and it worked like a dream for another great finish.