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.

Magic Binding happened again

Mary, from our Sweet Pea group, has a growing clan of great grandchildren.

To try to keep ahead of the game she has decided to make some quilts to have on hand for impending births.

This quilt is a simple but effective design in the modern style.

Linda quilted it in modern style and you can see her blog entry here.

When the quilting was completed I felt that a magic binding would complement the quilt and so offered to do it for Mary.

Another pleasing completion.

Just in case you would like the how to for the magic binding you can find it here.

Birthday blocks

Today was another of our delightful Sweet Pea sewing group meetings.

Amongst the items I took for show and tell was my birthday blocks quilt top.

My birthday was in December and I did not get around to sharing the block I wanted constructed until our first meeting in February.

Our ladies were great at getting the blocks back to me in good time and so all that remained was for me to put the blocks together.

I would have liked to make more blocks for a bigger quilt but having run out of the gold fabric this was not possible.

In the end I was more than happy to be able to share the collective result of our efforts.

Ladies of the Orient completed

At last our Ladies of the Orient quilt is complete - well, the binding needs to be hand stitched down, a hanging sleeve and label are required, but virtually completed.

I gave Linda the freedom to experiment and she did not disappoint.  These blocks were given to us by a friend who had experimented with foundation piecing and decided they were not for her.  Their inclusion in this quilt top seem to provide balance to images of the ladies.

This is one of my favourites - I love the motion of the stitching within the image as well as the border.

So many different elements in this quilt.  A new curved design in the border, patchwork style fabric that lent itself to faux stitch in the ditch, outlining of the ladies in their activities, highlighting a four patch block and incorporation of the clam shell design into one of the image frames.

Using the cotton kimono fabric for the backing has given the quilt a very nice soft texture.  I was in a quandary as to what to use for the binding and in the end I decided to use the kimono fabric for that too.

This quilt is going to be a firm favourite hanging in our home.  Such a wonderful result from a bit of stash busting last winter.

Happy Blocks

One of the members of our group asked if we could make a quilt for a special young girl.

We each had to make four blocks and in no time at all we had collected enough blocks to make a quilt top.

Linda sourced a pattern called Happy Blocks from MaryQuilts.com and this is a great block for community quilts.

The blocks are very easy to put together and assembling them all to make the top went really well.

We bought some soft pink minky fabric for the back and together with some batting it has come together as a cuddly, soft and bright quilt.

I made some magic binding for it today and once that has been stitched on I should be able to come back with an update of the final result.

The stars have fallen into place

The star blocks I wrote about on the 3rd March have fallen into place on my quilt top.

After I placed the stars I pondered for a while about what to do next.

I added a narrow border but decided it was too dark.  I then found some pink in my stash that seemed to suit the project much better.

One more row and in the end I made four patches on point in the same fabric as the star blocks.

I find I derive a lot of pleasure from creating quilt tops in this way, starting at random with some orphan blocks and working out what to do as I go along.

In true cat style at our home the quilt top had to pass cat scanning.

Koko took her turn and from the second image I think she gave it her approval.