Hope and Christmas Wishes

I didn't really show you the label on our collaborative quilt but have been told that I should talk about what my daughter wrote on the quilt, and the hopes that went with them. The quilt recipient is one of my daughter's team mates from Waka Ama, which is a sport they both love, of Maori outrigger canoeing.

My daughter chose two whakatauki, traditional Maori proverbs, to use on the label which carried all her hopes for her friend.

He toka tu moana, ara he toa rongonui

Your strength is like a rock that stands in raging water - this affirms an individual's strength and courage.

 

He taru kahika

Walk on, as it is only summer rain falling - It is only a small adversity, so don't let it be a hindrance.

I think she picked particularly well, but I will admit that I am a rather biased mother, as we all tend to be.

My annual activity has been reaching fever pitch - I've been making my yearly Christmas decorations for friends. I know we all do it, but I do wonder why I don't start these earlier - one of the great imponderables. Even with the best intentions I'm sure I'll repeat the exercise again next year.

Four years ago I made black hands - it was not long after my dear friend Denys had died and I had no cheery words that year to embroider on decorations so I chose hands instead. One of my friends gave them the nick name "the hands of death" so this year I decided it was time to make some more with a more cheery disposition to keep them company.

I'm really keen on them - especially the one's with tatting and linen buttons on them. I will be making sure that I keep one of these back for myself. They are of course part of my continuing series of 101 things to do with an old doiley!

So the Christmas tree is up, most of the presents have been wrapped and work has finally ceased for the year. I'm starting to feel that the end of year wind down is almost upon us.

Best wishes to you all for a peaceful and happy time this holiday season, full of joy and hope.

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.

Messenger from Hogwart's maybe?

He's really starting to look rather settled in. There is some thought that once he's out of the room that a search for the letters from Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will be undertaken by our boys...

 

He really shouldn't linger near the pie box though - my husband is starting to have dangerous thoughts! Check them out here

Foiled Again!

Today was to be the start of a new collaborative quilting venture with my daughter. We have a quilt we need to get onto for a friend of hers....

 

However when she went up to the sewing room to get started we discovered a visitor in the sewing room - a morepork, which is a native owl in these parts. Even though we live very close to the centre of Wellington we regularly hear them calling at night. They sound exactly the same as their name. 

 

He terrified my daughter and was in turn, I am sure, very frightened himself by her arrival. We have no idea how he got in there or how long he's been there.

As he's nocturnal we are waiting for the sun to go down for him to move on. I don't like the thought of trying to drive him out...

So the new venture will just have to wait for tomorrow, but I pleased to finally have confirmation for the muggles that I live with that I truly am the magical one in the family.

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.

There be dragons and sea creatures this way

We had a few days away last week over the hill from Wellington, in the Wairarapa. Our timing could not have been better. Even through the weather was less than spring like, the Greytown Arts festival was in full swing giving us plenty to look at and to stow away for inspiration.

The highlight for us was the Great Tape Art project which Erica Duthie and Straun Ashby worked on steadily over the weekend. The created a fabulous mural on the side of the supermarket, all from blue builders tape. Do have a look at their website to see some of the other wonderful murals they have created.

We paid it several visits over the weekend so we could see it developing. They did life size portraits of a number of the local residents, telling their stories.

 
It was magical.

And then, with some sadness, we helped take it down at the end of the weekend. Of course our lads found this to be a particular highlight.

Over at the church fair we came across this wonderful creation - the Cinema for the Poor. Wonderful pictures were wound through telling tall tales of adventurous lives on the high seas.

All overseen by an angel - "On the last day the trumpet shall sound and forgotten souls shall rise up from their graves and tell their never heard before stories"

It was magical.

Unsurprisingly I was also rather impressed by these rusted feathers on a very large moa in the main street of Greytown

and by the paint on the front door of the house we stayed at in Martinbourgh. I'm sure the owners plan to paint it but I loved it just as it was.

There's nothing like a few days away to bring a spring to the step!

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....