But wait.... there's more

This was the view across from our house this morning - we've never seen snow on these hills in 15 years. My brother in law, a genuine weather forecaster, tells us that what is remarkable about this is that we are now in day three of snow, and it looks like there is another two days still to come.... rest easy - I will spare you any more. However, I thought you might like to see more of the treasures I found in the South Island. These came from a tiny town called Murchison - it has a population of about 800 which is mainly focused on 'white water' tourism. Clearly there were plenty of stitchers there in the past.

I particularly like the cloth with lilac on it. There are two of these, so they were clearly by the same stitcher. And of course this is one of my handbags from Nelson - made in Huntly, NZ from deer. I thought it was irresistible and will have to guard it from my daughter who has already has eyes on it.

This was the other that begged to come back to Wellington. It was made in New York and the owner told me she had only recently bought it back from a buying trip in the US. She said she was approached several times while still in the US with people wanting to buy it straight off her arm. I've used it a few times already and adore it. I feel a new collection coming on...

My last treasure from Nelson was this lovely laundry bag. If only the family washing was so glamorous! I will have to improve my act to keep up with this.

Stitching Stories

I've been steadily working away quilting over the last few days and have made tremendous progress - makes me wonder why its taken me so long it get to this point really! The quilting is making a big difference to the quilt. I thought you might like to have a look... I particularly like toile fabrics so often tuck a few into my quilts. They add a point of interest and a difference from the mainly floral fabrics that I put into these quilts. This woman looks as though she is turning back to her friends to share a story or a joke, while she does to me anyway.

I thought you might also be interested in a couple of the pieces that I have put onto the back. Below is part of the label for the quilt. As you can see it is a large embroidered piece that compliments those on the front. It has the usual things written on it that labels have but on this one I have also drawn a diagram identifying which of the embroideries were done by family members, Mavis and Jill, and also noted their full names and dates of birth and death. All documented so that they won't be lost in the mists of time.

One other piece that I was thrilled to find is this linen tea towel was a calender from the year of my sister-in-laws birth. I embroidered around the date of her birth - you can easily see how late I am running with the quilt! The tea towel was in mint condition - never used at all. And best of all in Kay's favourite colour, orange, as befits a child of the 70's. She hasn't seen this part yet - there have to be a few surprises after all.

Once I've given her the quilt, which won't be long now as I've started stitching down the binding, I might even let her know about the blog!

If you are in Wellington on Saturday Coast to Coast is on in Lower Hutt. Its a great day for quilters from the wider Wellington region to get together for a massive show and tell, speakers and merchants and to catch up with each other. There will be door sales, so do pop in if you are close - I'll be there, with my quilt which will be complete with binding. Hope to see you there.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

It was an exciting discovery last night that the Blogger's Quilt Festival is back on again hosted by Amy at Amy's Creative Side. I took part in this last year and its fun to be able to do so again - infact I had a lovely time last night browsing through some of the quilts that people had already posted and discovering lots of new interesting blogs in the process. So much for an early night!

So here is my quilt for the festival. I blogged about it really recently, finally telling the story behind Friday Morning Coffee, which I made as a celebration of friendship and as a memorial quilt for my dear friend Denys who died two years ago of breast cancer. You can read that post by clicking on the quilt name.

Going through my stash to make this quilt I was pleased to discover that I had so many fabrics that seemed perfect for the quilt - speaking to me about Denys, our friendship, the things and colours she loved. The quilt is full of colours from her clothes, her garden and plants she had, many teacups to remember the cups of coffee we so regularly shared, and even a plaid fabric from a shirt of her husband.

The quilt incorporates embroidered pieces. I just love these and have been putting them into a few quilts that I have made lately - my view is that it is better to have these beautiful pieces sewn into quilts than sitting in cupboards and drawers where they aren't seen. The embroideries in this quilt all belonged to my Aunty Dorothy, my mother's best friend. It seemed so appropriate to use some of her linen's in a quilt which was all about friendship.

The experiment of this quilt was to include some embroidered quotes that speak to me, both about Denys but also about how I believe a good life is lived. These were stitched onto napkins which had also belonged to my Aunty Dorothy - she was a provider of food beyond compare, so these bring to me memories of so many shared family meals from my childhood. When Aunty Dorothy cooked she always made sure there was enough food for twice the number of people she knew were coming - in her house you could never be sure who would arrive for a meal!

So its a pretty special quilt for me, and one I'm glad to be able to share (again) with all of you.

Enjoy the festival - and thank you Amy for providing such a great chance for us all to be able to get together and share.

Promises Are Made to Keep

Many, many moons ago I promised that I'd tell the story of Friday Morning Coffee, the second quilt I made with lots of embroidered pieces and with tatting to boot. Just like In My Grandfather's Den it is based on a Kaffe Fassett pattern and features lots of wonderful florals that I'd been collecting up for a special something.

It all started off with an idea that I wrote about at the time and called What If. I had the idea of using the embroideries that had belonged to my mother's dearest friend, my Auntie Dorothy, to create a quilt that honoured friendship and the central role that it plays in my life, my mother's life and, I am sure, the life of most people. It is also a memorial quilt.

At the time of having my "what if" thoughts I had very recently lost a close friend of mine, Denys, who had died after 5 years of living with breast cancer. She was a friend that was loved by many, many people and who, two years after her death, is still greatly missed by her friends but especially, by her family.

I met her through the local kindergarten where our eldest children were friends. They are still friends and were recently discussing the possibility of flatting together when at University. That would have made her smile. She was part of the special group of friends that I meet with and have coffee with every Friday morning, hence the name of the quilt which was the idea of my daughter.

My quilt recently hung in the Wellington Quilters' Guild exhibition and was hanging there on the second anniversary of both her death and funeral. This felt right and was my tribute to her. Losing friends is awful, infact it is 1000 times worse than that - but it has also helped me to really confront what is important in life.

For me that is love, friendship and laughter - without those life would be truly impoverished.

Poor neglected blog

It's been one bout of illness after another in our house - if it isn't bad enough looking after children getting ill in sequence I finally succumbed and this cold is a beast to shake. Its a true plague house here if it ever was one!

However I was very surprised when downloading the latest photos off the camera to discover that life over the last very weeks hasn't been completely full of bleakness and illness. I was reminded that at some point I found my way to the sewing machine and made this banner, inspired by much loveliness over at Ravenhill.

I made mine out out of old Japanese kimono fabric that I had and some of the many, many crochet doilies that appear to be breeding up in my sewing room. As I recall I'd gone to the sewing room with the intention of starting a new quilt but couldn't settle on what to do. So I decided that something small and easy would be the thing to get me stitching again. And it has worked as I now know what the next quilt will be... should I ever get shot of this cold enough to get cracking on it....

I also had a real flying visit to Christchurch which was a wonderful 20 hours of indulgence with fantastic food and wine and uninterrupted strolling in the Arts precinct, to be tempted by the creativity of others,and in the Christchurch Art Gallery, which is always full of interesting exhibitions. And even if the art isn't to your taste (not sure I will ever fully get my head around Et Al...) there is always the building to just marvel at and enjoy.

Blogger Quilt Festival - My Favourite Quilt

How exciting - a quilt festival that I can put my quilt into! We have just finished our National Quilt Symposium here in Wellington (lots of posts to come on that) and I can tell you that it was wonderful. My only regret (and it is a small one) is that I wasn't able to submit my quilt into the exhibition. Unfortunately it was just a few months too old to be eligible.

So I was very excited this evening when I found this quilt festival that is being hosted by Amy at Park City Girl. What fun. What a great idea.

I have posted about this quilt before, and it features on my banner, but it is very special to me as I made it in memory of my maternal grandfather, so I think it bears repeating. My grandfather was a fantastic embroiderer, but it was the family secret. He never wanted people to know that he stitched and would hide what he was working on if anyone ever came to visit - it was the 1940's after all. He used to stitch with my mother and my grandmother, who was also a wonderful seamstress. My mother has dozens of pieces of linen that he stitched and I regard them as priceless family treasures.

Its a large quilt - so not the easiest to get a good shot of it all, so I thought details would be just the thing....This quilt has one piece that was stitched by my grandfather - it was very worn so my mother had cut the cloth up a long time ago. His stitching really was perfect and in many pieces it's difficult to tell the back from the front. The other pieces in the quilt are ones that I have found in second hand shops or been given by friends.

"In My Grandfather's Den" has also started me off on a series of quilts which are similar. It brings me so much pleasure - and really, you can't ask more of a quilt than that.

Have fun at the Festival - I certainly intend to. Make sure you visit them here.

Time for Tea

I'm in a small group which has agreed to make a journal quilt each month this year using scraps from what ever we have been working on that month - today is reveal day for the January journal quilt and I have just confessed my failure to the group. I have failed to make a journal quilt of the required size and instead come up with a Journal Tea Cosy!

It was inspired by the ideas behind my 'Friday Morning Coffee' quilt - sharing friendship over a cup of something, whether that be tea or coffee. It uses an old piece of stitching on the back that I recently found in a op-shop while on holiday - it really is the oddest shape so this seemed like a good way to use it.

I'm sure that the germ of the idea for this lies with the very talented Tara Badcock, who is an Australian textile artist and self described teacosy revolutionary. I found an article about her recently in Textile Forum (Issue 1, no 85, 2007) which led to me searching for her on the Internet - isn't it a wonderful thing! And there Tara was complete with blog and lots of wonderful tea cosies. Do have a look - its really special. How I'd love to have one of her creations to grace my dresser!

And here, for you enjoyment, are two vintage tea cloths which are well on target for the tea theme of this post. Boil up the jug, make a brew and enjoy.

The stitching continues

All progressing well here - I've been busy getting on with the quilting of Friday Morning Coffee and enjoying the chance to spend more time with the piece ans I man handle it through the sewing machine (why are my quilts so large?). I'm trying out a much smaller grid pattern on this quilt that the previous version - its looking good so far but of course will take more time...

I passed through the gardens a couple of days ago and the tree is looking resplendent in its doilies - so I tried for some different types of shots which in time I may even try putting them onto fabric to experiment with.

Just so you don't think that the only places that I can ever find mosaics are in Australia, here's a particularly fine example made by the children of Thorndon School, here in Wellington. They obviously have some really creative and talented teachers there, with a real bent for art making, as some of the works that spring up around the school really are impressive.

Diversions and Action

The brain is a marvellous thing - just as you are really winding yourself up with "the last list" of things to be completed before the working year winds to a close, it is also capable of noticing the extraordinary that is so often right under our noses. I mean to say - just look at this - how's this for a fantastic use for spray cans?? So much better than the graffiti and tagging that seems to be endemic.... I found it on my regular route to work - and one day I even remembered to bring my camera with me to share this fabulous sight. I think it definitely qualifies as gorilla art.

So I'm feeling pleased with myself that I noticed it and then remembered to photograph it - an all this while my brain too resembles that lace that Jude, from Spirit Cloth, referred to in her recent post. I'm afraid that my mind also appears to be all holes and patches - nothing that a good holiday can't start to mend... after all, where there is life there is hope...

But before the holiday there is "the list" to be got through... so here are a couple of the more recent things I'm pleased to be able to cross off - another use for doilies... this time as part of a doll quilt for a particularly adorable two year old, who had such fun playing with some of my lace doilies while I had coffee with her mother last week that I thought she definitely needed a small something to keep her dolls warm. If I remember rightly, the butterfly fabric was the backing on the quilt I made her when she was born.

and the prototype for the annual Christmas decorations that I'll be making this year. Here's the full confession - I pinched the idea from an advertisement in the current edition of Selvedge magazine - I can't credit the inspired person who came up with it as it was part of the advertisement for their next edition. It took my breath away and I immediately took to the sewing room. I have altered it, but the full acknowledgement for the idea rests with Selvedge - my favourite of all the international textile magazines - and that is really saying something!

On the home stretch

Serious countdown time now and it's starting to come together nicely - wedding quilt is all completed with only the label to go.... I'm so pleased I decided to get it quilted by Sue - she's done a marvellous job in super quick time. It has a large leafy vine pattern all over it which really suits the colours and feel of the quilt. Without her I'd have been turning up at the wedding without a gift for my brother and almost sister in law. Never a good look!

Of course I made too much binding (I always seem to have this problem) so decided to put it onto a few small pieces which have been sitting around. I'm so pleased with the improvement its made to them that these are also destined for the gift giving pile. I will never think of excess binding as a problem again.

I've even been putting the odd doiley on the back in preparation for labels. I particularly love this Lily.

It's quite exciting really - its probably the most organised I've ever been for Christmas and it feels rather good.

Now there's just the children -that will be another story altogether....

The perils and pleasures of mid-winter

I've been having a bit of break from blogging while the school holidays are on here and the focus has instead being on how to successfully entertain three children simultaneously. It hasn't been a complete success. I generally seem to only succeed with two of them at once, leaving one claiming terminal boredom. I find that this winter holiday is the toughest - the weather is generally miserable and the kids seem to think that the weather means they should be able to watch non-stop DVDs and play computer games. I suspect it is slightly harrowing for all four of us and that we are all looking forward, in one way or another, to the start of the new term next week.

Having got that off my chest, so to speak, I have managed to fit in a couple of textile related pursuits. I got the card quilt completed and submitted in time to meet the Guild deadline. Here it is temporarily hanging at Guild last week. I'm pleased with it and will be happy to have it back home, which is a lot more than can be said for some of my challenge efforts in the past. One memorable effort was so grim that it was confiscated by friends for serious rework with the injection of multiple brightly coloured strips. As it was they considered it looked like "something my cat had vomited in the middle of". I kid you not - that was their exact words. They are burnt onto my memory. It was duly returned greatly improved. Hopefully they won't think that similar action is required this time!

I've also managed to add to my vintage embroidery collection. When I found this Dutch piece on Trade Me it was a "must buy" for me. If anyone can tell me what the Dutch text says, I'd be most grateful!
I've also found a new winter activity to join the knitting. I've been thinking of doing this for a while and started it this week after finding the perfect blanket locally in an op shop. I'm embroidering the English translation to a Maori proverb at one end, and it will have the Maori text at the other end. The proverb comes from the Maori tribe that my husband and children whakapapa to (are descended from). It is about the rewards of hard work so I'd always thought it would be good to send children off to university with. However, given the kids are only 13 and 9 I decided that I really couldn't wait that long! Must have been the preoccupation with getting them out of the house and away from the tv which led to my fortuitous find.... funny how things work out. I'm very pleased with it and think that there are likey to be more coming along, providing I can find the blankets. I have a collection of quotes just itching to be stitched.

Those seductive curves

Once you start looking for them they are everywhere - in nature and the creations of others. I always enjoy finding curves while on my strolls around town, and especially when they are made from wrought iron. There is a grace about it I find appealing. They are quite tricky to cut with the same sort of grace using a rotary cutter - more practice is the only answer I think. What a prospect.

Hope you are enjoying the old embroidery - I think this piece may be destined to become a tea cosy some day - its what the shape suggests to me at the moment. Any other bright ideas? Let me know...