Christmas Quilts

I am so pleased to have finished work for the year, and to have given away my last two quilts, this time to two of my colleagues.

The pattern for Random Ohio Stars comes from Bonnie. This is the first of her quilts that I have finished, though there a couple in progress including another Ohio Star which my little group have been working on as a swap for about 2 years. Thank you Bonnie for your inspiration and generosity in sharing your designs. For the backing idea I have to thank Mary. I didn't offset the pieces enough, but will know better next time. This is a great way to make quilt backings when you don't have enough of any one fabric and want something a bit different.

The centre blocks in the baby quilt are taken from a panel, and I had lots of fun choosing the bright fabrics to go with it. It is actually much brighter than the photo suggest. The little black and white border was a real challenge 'cos the print wasn't exactly straight but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Giving away lots of quilts this year has been lots of fun, and I've really reduced the pile of unquilted tops. I wonder what I should aim for in 2008!

Choose Day Challenge

Cat over at Stone House Quilters has set up a challenge to make a small quilt each month based on a word that she will "choose" at random from a list. I seem to be in "sign up" mode at the moment so I have signed up, and hope to make several small pieces that will be added into a bigger project which plays with different techniques and styles.

The first month's word is... CONNECTION... I've been playing today and this is what I've come up withThe colours are not as bright as they look in the photo, and the blues and purples are bluer in real life. The CONNECTION is that this piece is meant to connect together the oranges and purples that I want to use together for the bigger project. It needs lots of quilting to add texture (I'm not sure whether I'll do that while it's small like this or once the various parts are together) and maybe I'll add some of the big copper coloured glass beads I bought at the Hamilton show.

Two sides of the same quilt

This is a baby quilt I made for a workmate for her new grand daughter. The pics are the front and back of the quilt respectively.

My quilting friends politely say that it is "over achieving" to piece both the back and the front but I have a good excuse. She was paying for the fabric, and I had seriously miscalculated the the amount of fabric I needed (I think I converted it from inches to metrics twice!!!) so piecing the back used it all up.

I have joined Tonya's winter/Christmas class to challenge myself to make a quilt without a pattern - I'm excited but apprehensive because I'm not exactly overflowing with ideas but I guess that is the point of taking the class. Right? You can check it out on her website.

I Have Been Quilting

I've been looking at Bonnie's blog and feeling like I get no quilting done compared to her but I have done a few things lately.

The top picture is is Mystery Quilt 11 from the Quilt Mystery group, and will be my first Quilt of Valour once it is finished.

The sampler is the 2004 "Saturday Sampler" from the now closed Quilters Cabin. It has been a UFO for a long time because I have had trouble getting the right borders. The first borders were pieced and then sat for a year (or 2) before being taken off. Some of the fabric ended up on the border of Sam's birthday quilt, which you can see here.

Last is the red sampler made from blocks my friend Helen made a few years ago in the "Saturday Sampler" programme at the Cloth Shop. She hates them! I love them! Once DH has quilted it, we will choose a charity to give it to.

And now I should go and do some more quilting instead of sitting at this computer - I'm sure the computer is to blame for me not being able to keep up with Bonnie - VBG.

Hamilton Trip Part 2

The purpose of the Hamilton was of course to attend the Craft and Quilt Fair to get inspiration from the quilt show and the merchants, and to shop :o)

I actually didn't take a lot of pictures, I think I was enjoying looking too much, but these were two of my favourite quilts.

The squares are made with the chenelle technique, using different colours for the underneath layers. The effect was incredible and made it look like the top fabrics were different. I think you should be able to see what I mean in this close-up.

The 2nd quilt was called "Rhubarb". I loved the bright colours and strong shapes.

The other highlight of the trip was the chance to visit my favourite quilt shop, Grandmothers Garden at Gordonton. At this shop it is not just the fabric that makes the visit worthwhile, though there is certainly plenty of that. Hazel who owns the shop is an enthusiastic cook, and when there are big events on she serves homemade scones with jam and cream, and cups of tea in beautiful china cups and saucers. These are served free throughout the day, and her scones are just divine. We visited 3 times (once a day for the 3 days were there) and were lucky enough to also partake of Hazel's vegetable soup on the Friday night. This shop is a joy to visit - it is busy and vibrant, the staff are lively and helpful and there are inspiring quilts everywhere. The only fault I can find with Grandmothers Garden is that it is not closer to where I live! Mind you, I bought quite a good selection of their fabric home, so it feels a little bit like I am there anyway!!!

Hamilton Trip

At the end of September we drove to Hamilton for the Craft and Quilt Fair (more about that later). We were lucky enough to have some beautiful weather for the drive up through the Desert Road so we took some photos that I thought I would share.


Just a week after our trip Ruapehu erupted! Only a "minor" eruption - it blew large rocks up to 2 km from the crater.

We stopped at Tokoroa because I had read about a quilt shop there (it helps to have a book called "The Crafty Girls Road Trip Guide" because you can read about quilt shops everywhere you go).

The quilt shop had a fabulous selection of Christmas fabric which I just had to indulge in (!!!), and I found a really cute baby panel which will make a quilt for a colleague. But possibly even better than the quilt shop (oh okay, maybe just as good as the quilt shop) were the Talking Poles - Tokoroa's version of totem poles. The town has been holding and an carving symposium for several years, and these poles are the outcome of it. They are a great symbol for the town which has been built up around the forestry industry. I especially liked the one with leaves and flowers on, and have some ideas for a wallhanging based on this.

Quiet but quilting

This quilt is going in the mail to my friend Sandy tomorrow (I hope she hasn't found my blog or this will really ruin the surprise). Sandy and I both participated in a swap several years ago where each participant chose the block they wanted to receive and the others made it for her on her birthday. This quilt is made from Sandy's blocks - she gave them to me because I was looking for quick quilt ideas to make into samples for the quilting business. Finally, 2 years later, I've turned those blocks into a quilt which is going back to Sandy for her birthday.



The Sunflowers are now hanging in the hallway. I wont say they are finished because when I walk past them I see places where I could do some more stitching but I'm trying to take a "wait and see" approach.

The last picture is the layout of a baby quilt I'm making for a friend at work who is about to become a grandma to a little girl. The border fabric is pink, purple, orange and lime with hearts and flowers - very girly, and something of a challenge to work with, but I'm hoping it will all come together.