Darcey's quilt and book pillow

Hi Ladies

A few of us must all be thinking the same.  I have missed my envelopes of fabric arriving each month and reading the blog to see what everybody has been up to.  I do drop into the blog every know and then just to see if anybody has added anything.  Really good to see some new postings.

I have at last finished the final baby quilt, until my friends decide to start round two!  I have loved making them all, and they have all been very well received, which is why we put the work into these projects.

The book pillow was from a recent purchase, 'Growing up modern' by Allison Harris.  I really wonderful book with 16 fantastic projects.  Aimed at children, but I personally would adapt to any age- young or old.

We have just had two and half weeks of amazing weather.  I don't think I have eaten so much BBQ food in such a short space of time.  You could sit out in the evening until 10 pm and not need a cardigan, a real summer for a change.  Even though the rain is very needed for the garden, it is a shame to see the temperatures drop, but it is still warm and we do need some rain, the water butts are empty.

 

 

 

Having worked on baby quilts for the last 18 months I was very excited at the prospect of starting something new, but the UFO stash called, and I am quilting a quilt I made about 3 years ago using a jelly roll.  It is from the book two from one.  Very pleased with the stencil I am using and I always quilt using the anchor pearl cotton.

 

 

 

I hope you are all enjoying the season that is with you?  Keep up the blog, it is great to share.

 

Wendy  xx

Summer is here....

Summer has finally arrived here in The Netherlands....


Time for sitting in the garden...

for enjoying the lovely colours....

for eating the local strawberries (Eton Mess)....

and for making a summer quilt....this one is for baby Isabelle Clara born on 6th June.

It's been a while.

Hi all, I have been very slack in adding comments to our blog sorry. I do enjoy getting yours in my email inbox.

I'm currently at the Auckland airport filling in time before our flight to Santiago for 3 weeks as a tourist taking in Easter Island, Iguazu Fall, Lima and the inca trail out to Macchu Pichu.

I confess my group quilt has not moved. I have not achieved a lot of quilting time of late but have finished my 5 year hand pieced Inner City quilt in time to enter it in the biannual NZ quilt Symposium in July.  Have yet hear if it has been accepted. I have also finished my Crystallisation wall hanging started 2 years ago at the last symposium.

A few weeks ago I went to a class by Sarah Fielke. She was with Material Obsession in Sydney but she and Kathy Doughty have parted and Sarah is out on her own now. It was a great class.  We could choose to make any one of her quilts (she has two books plus the two material obsession books). I chose one with 696 flying geese so got very speedy at making them. I found some cool funky bird fabric to go with them. I hope to one day show the top together on this blog, along with my group quilt!

I also have a 21st quilt to make for a nephew by Sept. He wants rich dark blues and greens with a shot of rich reds. So that's got the colours sorted just need an idea for the design now!!!

A lady in my quilting group here has lent me all the bits for a Handi Quilter.  That is a frame you use with a domestic machine to quilt like it is a long arm quilter.  I just have to buy a 3m x 1m board to set it up on and I'll be away - sounds easy!  But how does one get a board that big from the DIY store to home? And there is no instruction book with the Handi quilter. But I'll get there and will be machine quilting to my hearts content before you know it - I HOPE. Its good for getting quilts on beds but my real love is still for hand quilted quilts. I'm keen to get going on hand quilting my big orange and black "One Block Hexagon" quilt. I'm going to use orange pearl 8 thread - a la Sarah Fielke. So much to do, so little time.

Well that's me, nothing to show but lots to tell.  Keep the blog entries going. It's lovely to see what everyone is up to.

Keep quilting, Joanne.

Beach Quilt put together

Hi All
I have spent a productive weekend (a wet one) putting the final border on my quilt and I am so happy with it.  It took me a while to find the right fabric to sash it with and then I completed a border using a lot of my scraps and joining them together.  Now it is the backing fabric and how to quilt it, but we will leave that until next time.
I have not started any other quilting projects at the moment as we have been busy getting the house painted and a few other projects on the house before winter sets in.
Keep posting all your projects as it is great to check out what everyone is doing.
Thank you all again for your wonderful blocks that make my quilt so special.
Regards
Catherine

Some finished quilts....

We still seem to be in the grips of winter here in Northern Europe which means no time spent in the garden and more time spent finishing quilts indoors!  I have finally finished a scrappy quilt for my niece (it was supposed to be an 18th birthday gift last year) and I have completed a crib quilt for a new baby girl in the family.  Also attached, is a photo of the block I made for Liv.

Alice's quilt...machine pieced using Marti Michell's hexagon template set.

Below the quilt for baby Orla...

And the heart block for Liv - I added some fabrics left over from the crib quilt.

January Beach Blocks

Hi All
Thank you all so much for the lovely Beach Blocks that I received in the post.  Talking about the post isn't it lovely to be able to open the mail box and get a thrill to see a small package of either fabric or a completed block, thank you.
As yet I have not had the time to join all the blocks up but I have laid them on the floor and photographed them for you all to see, they aren't in their right place yet either as I can see some that don't look right side by side.  I intend to sash between the blocks with a dark/bright blue if there is such a colour, so keep watching and maybe after Easter I will have this done. 
Easter for that matter is not far away but we are still basking in lots of sunshine here which I love but many a farmer in New Zealand is not happy about due to the very dry land, no doubt when it does rain it won't stop.
I hope this brightens you up a bit in the northern hemisphere and I am sure your days already are starting to get longer and all the spring bulbs will be starting to flower, I really do miss that time of the year in Europe where everything comes alive again.
Happy sewing
Catherine

Looks like the UK isn't the only place that is cold...we saw the snow in Arizona on the TV! Did you build any snowmen Jenny? Thank you for my block and the notebook ....it is fun to get these little parcels!

Liv I have posted off your heart today and so comes the end of our Bee. My blocks are laid out on the floor and I am really pleased as you can put each block in any position and it works!

Hope everyone is well and Joanne is recovering from the party!!!

Mx