From little acorns grow mighty Oaks

Early in 2013 one of our oldest friends (and his gorgeous partner) had their first child. Naturally it was the cause for great celebration, as all new children are (or at least should be!). The first time father was 50 - my husband and I drew a deep breath....

Coincidentally Pete was an attendant at our wedding, just as David who I made the quilt for in March had been, so of course I started stitching. We went up to visit Pete, Catherine and the new baby, Oak, at the first opportunity. They live very near the top of the North Island in Paihia (we live at the very bottom of the island) so the visit didn't occur until April. Unfortunately the quilt wasn't ready so we took cushions for Oak - one with sailing ships to represent his father the boatie and the other with Union Jacks to represent his mother's heritage. I can't really imagine giving a non textile present so was pleased to be able to give these.

While we were visiting my boys took to referring to Oak as "mum's favourite drug". It appears I may have demonstrated signs of "cluckiness".... surely not....

Oak arrived a little early so he has a big name to grow into and I decided that he should also have a big quilt. I used the same round the world pattern that I had used for Sophie's quilt but used more boyish fabrics and lots that referred to his parents interests in the sea and the environment. It probably goes without saying that it also featured oak leaves which introduced the orange tones to the quilt. It passed muster and will keep him covered for quite a few years to come.

One of Oak's aunts had given him the most lovely eco dyed woollen shirt which was made by Helen Millen from Marlborough. It was fabulous! Another thing I need to try my hand at....

And this leads to a whole other story which I am yet to tell - my fabulous workshop with India Flint in Nelson....

Hello 2014! Starting with a recap on 2013....

Well it seems that last year I fell off the blog-o-sphere. This year I'm going to get back on it!! I blame pinterest and the ipad I bought myself early last year.... easy trap to fall into. However I did manage to keep stitching while I was off the air and I thought that there was no better place to start than with a recap of what I haven't posted about.

Having just been through the photos I took last year, in an effort to work out just what I did do and make last year I've realised than one of the downsides of not blogging is that my memory of what I made is hazier and also much less thoroughly photographed. Given than one of the major reasons I do this is to actually keep a log for myself on what I'm creating (and usually then giving away pretty quickly) it made me realise it's a habit I really need to keep up.... so

In March last year I had a wonderful weekend in Christchurch with friends I had been to school with to celebrate a 50th birthday - at this point I will hurriedly add that I am by far the youngest! One of our party was over from England for the celebrations and the last time he was here I had told him I would make a quilt for him to celebrate his civil union. 

Of course the hitch was I found out he was coming to the event only three weeks before hand. I had to get my skates on! First and foremost I wanted it to be a masculine quilt so I reached for a pile of my kimono fabrics.

I also wanted a quilt that reflected something of New Zealand. David has lived in London for several decades now and although he visits home every few years he still misses NZ and particularly the bush and the song of our native birds. This fabric features Saddlebacks on flax flowers.

Above all the quilt had to be simple so I could meet my deadline. I recalled a Denyse Schmidt quilt that I had long admired and used this as a starting point. Here's what I came up with.

David loved the quilt - in fact I don't think he quite believed it as he was starting to give me a hard time about when he would ever get his quilt and so I disappeared inside to get it, calling his bluff. He was speechless! This next photo is the back of the quilt. I called it "Into My Arms" from the Nick Cave song. 

I know he loves the quilt and it gives him a lot of comfort when he is missing home. I like knowing that at times when I would like to be able to give him a hug that he can wrap himself in it and know it carries my love and ongoing friendship.

 

Stay tuned  for more updates - and Happy New Year!

 

Scrappy Trips

A couple of weekends ago I went to our first Guild retreat for the year. It was a last minute decision for me - we have had a summer seemingly without end and I wasn't sure that I really wanted to spend a weekend inside quilting when I could be enjoying yet more sunshine without a hint of a breeze. What won me over was the prospect that, if I put my mind to it, I could probably just about finish a quilt for the new niece that was due to arrive shortly into our wider family.

I had wild ideas of making up a quilt pattern that I'd been holding onto - however it is always useful to read instructions properly before starting on somewhere new, especially if you are away from home. I had nothing to make templates from so I needed to think quickly.

I'd seen lots of the Scrappy Trips Around the World quilts and the tutorial from Quiltville 

and thought I could probably remember, off the top of my head, how to make this. So off I set.

  

I had taken lots of soft colours with me so I started cutting these into strips and sewing

and before I knew it I had enough blocks to start playing with. So many options

so much fun to be had,

and best of all, so quick. Just after lunch on Sunday I put the final quilting stitches into the quilt.

And a week later Sophie Grace made her appearance over in Townsville. Perfect!

Friendship is the backbone of life

I'm pleased to report that although I've been sadly missing from this blog, I have not been missing from my sewing room. I've been having a highly productive summer - as ever I seem to perform well to a deadline, and this has certainly been the summer of deadlines.

This has been the summer that I have become the parent of a school leaver (one down, two to go) and it's therefore been the summer that my daughter and her friends have prepared for the transition from school students to university students. Many of her friends  have chosen to go to universities outside of the city we live in. It's a big transition for all considered - for the students and for their parents.

For some I've been able to help them on their way with a quilt. This is the third of what I am increasingly thinking of as part of my university series. You might recall that several years ago I made a quilt to remember a special friend who had died of breast cancer - I wrote about it here.

This quilt is for her eldest daughter - it uses a number of the same fabrics I used in the quilt for her mother and a similar pattern based on an idea from Kaffe Fassett. I think of it as a related but different quilt, just as Alice is related but different to her mother.

When I gave her the quilt Alice was stunned speechless, not something I have often seen from her. It was lovely to be able to send her off with something special, but the reason that she raced to the 'top of my quilts to be made list' was due to an off the cuff comment she had made a month or so earlier to my daughter when they had been out together.

My daughter had told her that we were making a quilt together for her friend who was having chemotherapy and Alice's response stunned us both - she asked if she would have to wait until she was ill before I would make a quilt for her.

Needless to say, I didn't think that was necessary and she raced to top of the list. The label carried the same words I stitched onto her mother's quilt - Friendship is the backbone of life. 

So that's three quilts that have gone off to universities with new owners - two to Dunedin and one to Christchurch. A good output for a summer - and there are still more to come.

Searching for Sunshine

It's been a busy few days here since Christmas. We had a lovely couple of days catching up with family and friends over lots of great food. The weather then took a turn affording me the perfect excuse to hit the sewing room. I wound up sewing just the sunshine I was seeking.

 

Last month I bought this wonderful Valori Wells fabric, planning that it would be the main feature of a quilt for one of my daughter's friends who is heading off to do a Fine Arts degree.

 

 

However quilts do seem to have a mind of their own in my experience. I've been looking at various modern quilt sites to find some ideas for some quick quilts as there are a couple I want to make for close friends who are heading away to University over the next few months. I really liked the Lemon Squares quilt pattern by Faith on Fresh Lemons blog and decided this would be just the thing - bright, clean and speaking of sunshine.  



 

 

 

It sewed up quickly and best of all almost all of it came straight out of my stash with only some additional white fabrics needed to add to what I had.

 

 So the focus fabric was re-purposed as a border,

once the central blocks had been framed by a thin border of pencils, designed by Kaffe Fassett. Not only were their colours just right but of course it was a natural choice of fabric for someone embarking on Fine Arts.

This rather vibrant print will be the backing - I picked it out for the colours. They compliment the front well. The funny thing is that the more I look at it the more certain I am that I've seen this fabric before in the home of the very person who will soon own this quilt - I'm almost certain her mother has bought this fabric and shown it to me.

 

As I say, quilts do seem to have a mind of their own.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year to you all.

Let's look forward to lots more creativity and colour in the year ahead.

Collaborative Quilting

I'm pleased to be able to tell you that our guest Morepork eventually left us and my daughter and I were then able to get onto the new project that had been our plan. One of her friends is currently having chemo so of course we decided that a quick collaborative quilt was in order to cheer her up. We couldn't get started until her end of year exams were over and time pressure has been on us to get it done.

We picked a pattern by Valori Wells called Olive Rose which is one of her free patterns available on her blog. It uses some large scale fabrics in very big pieces so goes together quickly and looks effective. The quilt is 60 x 80 inches.

Of course I didn't have any of the fabrics Valori had designed for the project but pulled together some that we felt worked well together and that my daughter was certain would appeal to the eventual owner.

My job was to cut the fabrics and to plan layout in consultation with my daughter, while she pieced it together. This basically took a couple of afternoons - quick by any measure.

I then gave her a drawing of what I thought the back could look like with some fabrics we had at hand - this is what I gave her

and this is what she turned it into. Nothing shows our differences more. I would have just started piecing and kept going until it was big enough - she worked out the measurements of all the required pieces so I could cut them. She has a strong maths background - mine is rudimentary.... need I say more!

Of course one of the best parts of working together like this was that I could contract out the bits I don't enjoy - like the pinning!

Here's her masterpiece of a back, complete with label.

 

And here's a small view of the quilt complete with binding. I did most of the quilting in the interests of a speedy finish.

 

We delivered off the quilt on Monday and the owner was delighted. She has spent much time over recent years telling me how much she likes my quilts - and it clearly paid off as a strategy. It was lovely to see her smiling and with it wrapped around her shoulders.

And that's what makes quilting so rewarding! I have a feeling this won't be the last of our collaborative ventures but I sincerely hope it's the last quilt I make for a friend facing chemo. I know I've said this before but I can only hope not to have to repeat myself. Hope is a powerful emotion, so who knows - maybe this time it will work.

Still Quilting

I'm steadily working away on my quilting at the moment. I wanted to do something quite detailed on this quilt, which is why I'm experimenting with doing this quilt in segments - quilt as you go. There is no way I would even contemplate attempting this on a king size quilt that was all in one piece. Just too much bulk to wield around and too much turning of the quilt.

 

The pieced blocks are being quilting to echo the lines of the tilted crosses so that the crosses will pop up above the surface a bit more. The solid blocks are being quilted either horizontally or vertically, depending on their colour. It all adds up to a lot of turning of the quilt but it is so simple in the narrow bands it is currently in.

The first segment is completed - 25% of the quilt, not counting the sashing. At this rate I should have it finished sometime in 2015....

I've always been quite keen on fine tightly spaced quilting, as you can see from these small sample pieces....

Again - not ideal for a king size quilt....

But you get the idea - I like lots of quilting. No doubt that's why it takes me so long. Just as well I enjoy it!

Happy quilting to you all.

Slowly, slowly makes the Quilt

I've never claimed to be a quick quilt maker and it's just as well really as this quilt is taking its time to find its voice. However, I am cautiously optimistic that I am getting there.

I now have four panels for the front. I was particularly pleased with the striped silk kimono fabric that I found for the sashing. it wasn't in my favourite $5 bin at Asia Gallery but was worth splashing out for.

Then I moved onto the back. More kimono fabrics and all from the thin strips rather than the full width. 

I like the softness of the colours on the back compared to the front.

 

I'm planning to quilt it in the four panels and then join them with vertical sashing. I've never used the "quilt as you go" technique before but thought that it was perfect for this quilt as it is rather large. This weekend it will be pinning up the quilt panels. Hopefully I'll even get some stitches into it.

Of course, this will undoubtedly take me some more time....



Quilt Guild Exhibition

I don't often talk about the Guild I belong to but we have just opened our biennial exhibition and it would be great to see you there, if you happen to be in the neighbourhood.

We are back in the Academy Gallery for the exhibition and our quilts are looking wonderful hanging on the gallery walls.  Its' a great spot on the waterfront in Wellington and very close to where they hold the WOW show each year (if you don't know about WOW do have a look - it is a veritable visual feast and brings a whole new meaning to creativity!).

Above is a view of the gallery - the quilt in the front is by my stitching buddy Marilyn, Scully Series #4 Protection Blanket. A wonderful quilt that I keep mentioning to Marilyn that I would happily own... Marilyn won a merit prize in the Upcycled category.

Behind it is a quilt that you may recognise of mine - Gateway. I made it early last year and I am thrilled at how fabulous it looks hanging. It's been quite a while since I made it and gifted it to my friend for her birthday so it is lovely to be able to spend some time with it again.

And here I am - the proud maker, out from behind my peg apron. I was incredibly lucky and very surprised to also win a prize - Best Contemporary Quilt. Such a thrill.

 

 

If you in Wellington I hope you will be able to drop by and see many of the other lovely quilts - the exhibition is on until Sunday 7 October. I hope to see you there!

 

 

Absent but Active

I've been away for far longer than I ever intended but I'm pleased to say that this time it's not due to stitching inactivity. In fact, I've been steadily working away on my Kimono crosses and now have most of them stitched and up on the wall while I play with layout ideas.

This stage is always fun, if a little challenging. Somehow it never quite looks like I imagined it would. I started off thinking I would alternate all of the crosses against blue kimono squares, so it would look something like this

Then last week I had another thought - maybe I could also use red squares and do one half red and one blue, so it would look something like this

Now I'm not so sure - I think maybe it needs some central sashing to divide the quilt visually

Maybe some of the red kimono squares are too loud, too patterned and demanding more attention than I want them to

Maybe.... I need to just keep playing. Any thoughts???

Regaining my Quilting Mojo

I've been very off the pace lately with my stitching - and I've been really missing it. So over the last month or so I've been taking concerted actions to get back behind the machine and moving on.
I started slowly - went to a few quilt events, tried to find some inspiration among the fabric - and low and beyold its starting to reap dividends.

I'm pleased to say that Frida Kahlo is finally finished - and even better it is currently gracing my bed and keeping me warm as the cold weather hits. Of course once I pulled finger it really didn't take that long to do - funny that! It's simply quilted with mostly vertical lines in a verigated red thread.

I'd chosen this thread almost before the quilt was even begun because red thread is a amulet worn in a number of cultures. So it adds another layer of meaning, and protection, to my quilt which is already loaded with protective amulets. If it is to be taken away to university with my daughter then a quilt of protection and motherly love will be just what she requires - of course we are yet to see whether it actually makes it off my bed!  I'm quite pleased with the back too.... if I do say so myself!

As part of the grand plan to get me going I went to my first ever weekend quilt retreat with our Guild and spent a whole weekend sewing, laughing and doing more sewing. It was great and definately got me moving onto my next project - my next kimono fabric quilt.

I started off with the idea of doing nine patch quilts with a off balace cross cut into these with a cream fabrics - my dear quilt friends kindly told me it looked like masking tape.

 

They were right - it caused more laughter, but then I came up with these... I cut very thin strips and stitched them staight over the top with three rows of my exceptionally useful red verigated thread.

Much better. At this stage the plan is that they will be alternated across the quilt with solid blocks of kimono fabric. They need the space I think otherwise it all looks a bit frenetic. Here they are just pinned on top of a few strips of kimono fabric - it was my experiment to get a feel for how it might look.

I'm very pleased with how it is all shaping up - just need to get myself up into that sewing room to keep up the good work.

Thanks for perservering with me and dropping by to see if I am still around - I'll endeavour to keep you posted.....

Borders for Frida & the Amulets

A few hours of uninterrupted stitching was all it took to get the black borders onto the Frida blocks and to get all the blocks put together. Sunday afternoon's are my favourite time for stitching if I can manage it - the National Radio has it's Arts Programme on so there is always something good to listen to while I am working away. 

I enjoy this part of the quilting process - It's always exciting to see the blocks  start to come together.

The black borders provide a real frame for each of the fabrics and for the block as a whole and make all the colours seem richer.

I'm yet to decide on whether there needs to be another outer border, or maybe even more than one - I suspect so. Something colourful and lush befitting the garden that Frida had with Deigo. It's going to add some real colour zing to our guest bed - assuming I can keep it off my daughter's bed! Mind you I am the one who has recently been given Frida socks, all the way from the US, so if anyone should be wrapped up in it I think it should be me.

My friend who I made the applique quilt for confessed to me yesterday that she had been reading my blog, although not until after she had been given it. She said she was showing it to her mother to try to show her how long it takes me to get a quilt together. Her mother was apparently amazed that there was a quilt on the computer that looked just like the one her daughter owned! Not sure that she managed to convince her of the work involved really but it gave us all a good laugh.