Back to autumn colours

Late this afternoon I hung this quilt top up for a photo shoot.

Normally I would crop the background but somehow the colours of the quilt top seemed to make friends with the wintery background.

At the end of May I was given a bag full of quilting remnants. 

A lot of autumn colours and plaids included.  Favourite colours but I was not sure about how to use the plaids.

Linda pointed out a quilt that she had seen on the internet and somehow it seemed the perfect project for the fabrics.  Seven Shirts, Seven Steps was originally designed as a way of making repurposed men's shirts into quilts.  I decided to use the plaids and combine them with other autumn fabrics from the collection.

Very happy with the outcome.  Another masculine theme quilt top to my way of thinking.

No home for this one yet but I am sure that one will be found.

The top has been 'cat scanned' so it must have been approved for ownership.

P.S.  Plenty of fabric left from this selection to make maybe two or three more quilts.

Time to look for more ideas that might work for me.

Destination London

On the 15th June I wrote about the challenge of making these little booties.

I sent them on their way to London and today there was a photo on FaceBook of Anna-Clara wearing a pair of the booties.

Seven weeks old already - how time flies.

Lovely to see the booties in use.

Special to me too, the quilt that Anna-Clara is lying on.

I made it for Aaron a number of years ago and even though Aaron and Marcele went to London with a minimum of belongings they managed to fit this quilt in somehow.

Lovely to see it still being used.

A Sneak Peek

Yesterday's project that I shared had a retro look to it.

Today I am sharing a sneak peek of something very sharp and modern looking that Linda and I have been working on. The top is complete and we look forward to sharing more later.

A little bit retro

The ducks that feature in the centre of this quilt top remind me of the days when it was popular to have flying duck ornaments adorning lounge room walls.

This top has been a UFO for some time but this week I was able to put the effort in to completing it.

Masculine theme quilts are generally in the minority so it will be nice to bring this one to completion for a local community quilt.

Some machine quilting and binding to complete and it will be a UFO no more.

The beauty of sharing

At one of our recent Sweet Pea meetings Andreena shared with us her work in progress on a handbag she is making.

Debbie was very taken with the idea of the wavy lines that had been created.










She went home with the idea and came back with these three cushions, the centre one based on Andreena's project - the beauty of  one friend sharing with another.  We just love that about our stitching group.

Pink Pizzazz

Linda and I have been working on an exciting project over this past week or so.

Our local quilt shop, Clever Hands, is doing a Beginners Class on the 3rd and 10th August, 2013 and Linda is going to be the teacher.

I had the task of making the quilt and Linda has used some very modern quilting techniques to bring it alive.

This is a very easy quilt pattern but looks very effective, especially with the lime green squares popping out.

Such a fun project.  I am so pleased to have had a part in this project and I am sure that participants at the class will love it too.

Off to London

No, not me, but the quilt left yesterday winging its way to London for my son's birthday.

Linda gave it the treatment with lovely, soft overall quilting and then I could not resist having another go with Susie's Magic Binding.

With hindsight, I probably never would have finished the quilt if I had not used this binding method.

I needed to be able to finish the quilt quickly to get in the post before close of business and thankfully we made it.

Hottie Loot!

Look what happened at our place today.

Our Sweet Pea ladies came for our regular meeting and with them they brought hot water bottle covers.  We now have 26 covers to contribute to the Hottie Project for children in Christchurch this winter.

Colour co-ordination

It is pretty much a given at our place that if you bring a new quilt into the room and place it on the floor to have a look at it, a cat will be there in seconds to 'cat scan' it for us.

Not only did CiCi present for cat scanning duties, but, I also suspect that she thought that a quilt in these colours must have been specially co-ordinated to match the colourings in her fur.

Nice and easy quilt binding

Just when you think you can't learn anything new about quilt binding someone comes up with a really good idea that works!

Linda found Susie's Magic Binding on the web just recently and I just had to give it a go.

This particular binding trick gives all the appearance of spending time making a flange, when it is just part of the way you construct the binding.

The flange is a great idea but the fact that this particular type of binding lends itself to a machine finish rather than having to hand stitch is even better.  Invisible thread used as stitch in the ditch along the flange speeds up the finishing process.

Admittedly you have to spend extra time preparing the binding but the outcome makes that more than worthwhile.

I have really enjoyed completing these two quilts in this way and anticipate using it quite a few more times in my quilting life.

A different sewing project

I have been wanting to make some cloth baby booties for some time.

Today I completed booties 3 and 4 and have decided that the desire for this sort of project has been fully satisfied.

I probably could have made a whole quilt top in the time it took me to make these.

They do like rather cute and so they will go to London to keep my grand daughter's feet cosy.

A Scrappy Dilemma

When does a scrap become scrappy enough to throw away?

Recently Linda cleaned out our hall cupboard.  

Part of the process revealed a lot of batting scraps that needed to be sorted out.  Some of them were big enough for me to piece together for future quilts.

We had some wool batting scraps too small for this but somehow I did not want to throw them out.

Then the hottie cover project came along and I was able to use some of the smaller pieces for the covers.

Resulting from this exercise I had smaller scraps but I still could not face parting with them and today I embarked on a much smaller project - making some cloth baby booties.  Absolutely ideal to use some wool batting for these.

As I cut out the pattern pieces I actually discarded the offcuts into the waste bin.  The scraps had finally become small enough to discard.

One down, two to go

I set out to make three hot water bottle covers today.  My ambitions were greater than my abilities.  I have completed this one and have a twin to this one to complete.

I made some progress on this one with a Sesame Street print.  I bought this fabric for another project some years ago and was disappointed at the time with the quantity and quality of the item.

Although I did not use it I somehow could not part with it and so finally I found a use for it today.

I will return to the drawing board tomorrow in the hope of completing covers two and three.

Linking to:-

The Hottie Project

Jacobs Ladder Revisited

The last time I wrote about these Jacobs Ladder blocks I said I thought they needed a border.

Today I managed to complete the border and am very happy with the outcome.

The next challenge is to get the top machine quilted so that I can post the finished quilt to London in time for my youngest son, Richard's birthday.

With a bit of help from Linda in the quilting department I might be able to make it.

Ah, those mountains

When I went to feed the hens this morning there was a definite icy chill in the air.

I looked south towards the mountains and there they were with a fresh coating of snow.

Never get tired of this view and quite magical on mornings like this with the mist rising off the river and the mountains in the distance.

Back to the stash busting story

When I decided to make this scrappy chevron I chose to use the aqua/blue fabric I had bought in my recent stash busting exercise.

For the scrappy rows I wanted to use floral fabrics and was about to start sorting and cutting some of my stash when Linda said to me, 'You can look through my 3.5 inch squares if you like.'

135 x 3.5 inch floral squares later from Linda's stash and I was away.

No need to be looking through my stash any further.  So whose stash am I really busting here?

This is Linda's tray of 3.5' squares after I had removed the 135 pieces.

I think we could make quite a few scrappy quilts before they are all gone.

This is not to mention the various other trays she has with squares of varying sizes and the large box of strippy fabrics as well.






Had planned to get the binding on this quilt today but it did not quite happen.

Never mind, we can enjoy it until it goes to its new home.

I love the way Linda has incorporated heart shapes into the overall soft sculptures.

Bottoms up in the garden

With the onset of winter the walnut tree has been shedding its leaves and when we let the hens out in the afternoons they like to scavenge amongst the rustle of the leaves.

With their brown colouring and the colour of the leaves the surroundings could almost be the perfect camouflage.  Regardless, the hens must be about their business, with bottoms up, seeking and retrieving whatever they can find of interest.

They do keep us entertained with their antics and we are very grateful for the four eggs they provide for us each day.

Another scrappy chevron

Just over a week ago Linda had a request for a quilt for local lady.  Her daughter has died recently, suddenly and unexpectedly.

I decided to resort to making a scrappy chevron quilt, using floral fabrics. 

A quick and easy quilt top to make, other events intervened and it took a little longer than expected.

However, yesterday I did finish the top and before I knew it Linda had popped it on the quilting frame and it will be finished very soon.

The machine quilting is soft and pretty, accentuating the floral fabrics. 

I will blog more about the finished top once it comes off the quilting machine.

Sweet Pea Day

Our Sweet Pea ladies met here again today.

We talked about The Hottie Project.

Linda gave a demonstration on how to make the covers.  She shared some of the woollen blankets among the ladies and I gave out the pattern pieces so that they are set to go to for making covers as well.

Rochelle brought along this quilt she finished recently for her daughter.

A very bright and modern interpretation of traditional blocks.

A major achievement for Rochelle and very nicely finished too.

Andreena loves all things Christmassy and she likes making yo yos as well.

She has made this delightful wall hanging from yo yos.

All her own creation - very clever.

Andreena and Rochelle are attending a craft class about making a handbag.

They both have Pfaff sewing machines and the class is designed to help them learn to use their machines to a greater level.

These bright wavy lines are just a sneak peek of a great project and we look forward to revealing more of their creations at future meetings.

Retro Flower Power - Hottie Project

While Linda has been busy making a lovely collection of hottie covers from wool blankets I have been waylaid playing with fabric flowers to make just one.

It all started with Linda having a clean out of our hall cupboard.  Part of what needed tidying up was some scrappy pieces of batting.  I started by piecing them together so that we could have large pieces of batting for future quilts.

Then I came to some wool batting scraps - too small for piecing but large enough, I thought, to make batting for hottie covers.

That lead me to think about making some fabric flowers and the colours I chose were orange and yellow.

I then found this oriental style fabric in my stash.  Part of the design was vertical lines between the clusters of flowers.  I followed these lines to stitch and keep the wool batting in place.

I did not put any fabric flowers on the back of the hottie cover

but I did put them on the front.

Reminds me of the '70's, those orange and yellow flowers on a brown background.

If you would like to participate in anyway please take a look at:-

The Hottie Project

The Hottie Project

A group of New Zealand blogging ladies are getting together to raise interest in making hot water bottle covers for the children of Christchurch for this winter.

It has been three years since earthquakes ravaged our southern city and many, many families still live in appalling conditions as we face more chilly weather this winter.

My mother was a huge hot water bottle fan and loved to have one on her knees regardless of the season.

Linda and I made quite a stack of covers for her and feel quite familiar with a project like this.

Today we have been cutting and making and these two cats are just a sneak preview of some of the ideas we have come up with to make some bright and cheery covers to be sent.

If you can help in anyway you can follow the suggestions on their link.

We are going to be sharing this project idea with our Sweet Pea ladies this week and hope that, with a joint effort, we can all help towards making lots and lots of hot water bottle covers for the children of Christchurch.

Cats own quilts too

Temperatures have plummeted this week and we have had our first real dose of winter like weather.

Heaters have been turned on to warm the house and the cats seem to know how to zero in on the warm spots.

Cici is very good at disappearing at times but yesterday morning I found her, tucked under my quilt on my unmade bed.

I was reluctant to disturb her so there she stayed for the morning.

It was no surprise to me when she returned to exactly the same spot at the same time today.

It would seem she has laid claim to ownership of my very favourite quilt.