changes & a bit of "print mixing"

Well hello, welcome to another week

After much deliberation and discussion, Julie and I have decided to stop hosting Sew, Stitch, Snap, Share our fortnightly linky party. Lifestyle changes, time constraints, and a drop in numbers linking up have all contributed towards this decision.

Over the past year we have been hosting this, we have been continually amazed and inspired by the creative quilters and stitchers who have linked up each fortnight. Thank you all for linking up over the past year or so, it's been great to see such a variety of projects. Here are a few photos of what caught my eye as I was reflecting back today.  

First up - a little mix from kiwi & auzzie quilters . . .

 'parson's geese' blocks made by Meredithe from pomegranateandchintz in Australia too

But wait there's more . . .
'sweet surrender' made by Gretchen from gretchenslittlecorner.
- such a stunning quilt 

and another collage mix from various quilters around the world . . .

"Long Time Gone" quilt by Katy from lethargiclass

and finally maryse's 'courthouse steps' 

. . . we would like to thank you all
for supporting us and sharing your work with us and other readers.

Blogger's current nightmare is also certainly frustrating just now. Judging from the drastic drop in blog post readership, comments and postings, I think many quilters are quietly concentrating on other creative outlets.
For me, blogging will continue to be my preferred choice of social media . . . at least it helps keeps the momentum going! If you comment on any of my posts and have a profile with email addy, I will get back to you!

*****

Onto what's been happening in my sewing room this weekend. I'm still making more 'star crossed' quilt blocks. I'm "print mixing" combining 'love story' fabrics by Maureen Cracknell with other prints from my stash. Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here.

Oh, and one more thing before I go . . . here in NZ we're moving very quickly into winter, I love this time of the year! Lots of homemade soups, long beach walks all rugged up warmly, matariki celebrations. And again this year in Auckland 'Give a Kid a Blanket' is running it's winter collection right now if other #kiwiquilters (or knitters/crochet) are interested. For more details & drop off points check out this link here.

Thanks for stopping by,

Linda

what's happening in my sewing room

Today I've got a random collection of things I've been working on playing with lately.

My latest project, "star crossed" is a utility quilt from "utility style quilts for everyday living" by Sharon Holland. The quilts in this book are a lovely blending of vintage and modern. I'm starting out using a new fabric stack 'Love Story' by Maureen Cracknell and will add in other fabrics from my stash as I go.

And it feels like these scrappy flying geese blocks have been flying around my sewing room for ages. I've made heaps of them, and I want to get them together. now. But I can't decide if my geese should fly up & down like this . . .

 or maybe they could fly a little like this . . .

Decisions, decisions! 

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

and with Julie here at julielou for 'sew stitch snap SHARE'
- if you have a project to share, pop on over & join in too. 

over halfway

Making some progress on my 'flying geese' quilt,

I'm over halfway now

I’m loving lately that there is still a place for pretty fabrics & pretty colours! 

. . . joining up starts very soon

Linking up with Em for 'moving it forward' over here at emsscrapbag

a few more flying geese

It's a very wet & cold long weekend here in NZ, 

perfect for hiding away in the sewing room and sewing up another flock of geese . . .

. . .  or is that a gaggle of geese? 

This is what I found out when I googled flying geese - A group of geese on the ground is called a gaggle. A group of geese in flight is called a skein, wedge and /or team and a group of geese flying close together is called a plump.

This 'no waste flying geese' method makes four at a time and it's quite addictive making them {there are heaps of tutorials online, see here for one}. Like last time, I'm adding some extra blocks to a few of them, it's another chance to mix and match the fabrics even more and gives it a bit of extra interest.

I'm using a real scrappy mix of fabrics, digging deep into the stash, combining prints from everywhere. There's spots & stripes & checks teamed up with light to medium florals, with the occasional darker fabric thrown in too.

Loving this softer vintage inspired look. I'm planning on making this quilt a bit bigger than the last version. It needs to be a useful size as this is a quilt that could live anywhere I think. So, it's back to cutting out more pretty combos, and more piecing . . .

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

sew stitch snap SHARE #27

Welcome back to 'sew stitch snap SHARE'
- where you can see what other quilting bloggers are up to.

I've got a bit of a mixed bunch to share today. And lots of photos. And, I'm a little early posting, we have grandchildren throughout the day tomorrow, including the littlest one Johnny for 2 hours too, so I'm going to be very busy! #lovebeingagranny
The linkup will start as usual Wednesday 8am.

After finishing my bright 'flying geese overload' quilt I think I might have mentioned that I really wanted to try a second quilt, same design, but in a more softer pastel palette, yes? 
So here we are again, déjà vu . . .  something you've already seen . . . but just a little bit different from before, and I'm just a little bit happy with this!

'Flying Geese' quilt - vintage inspired

I've also been spending some time adding the last few finishing touches to my barijqal quilt. It's a lovely sampler quilt, and I used quite a selection of different Art Gallery fabrics plus low volumes.
I learnt a few new techniques along the way, explored the 'bohemian' style a little, and I added in some big stitch hand quilting. I finished stitching down the binding over the weekend.
It's a big quilt, 65.5" x 80.5" and it'll fit nicely on our bed over the winter months.

And finally, I managed to source a fabric I'd been after for a while, thanks to Julie from justjulielou.
This lovely Liberty came from thefabricstoreonline. The flower is approx. 8" across and is such a pretty blending of vintage and fresh. I've no plans just yet but have a little peek . . .

That's it from me this week.Time now for 'sew stitch snap SHARE'

My pick from last time was this cheeky emu made by Raewyn from stitchingfarmgirl
Raewyn lives on a dairy farm in Northland, NZ and her blog is always a treat to visit.

She has been busy pattern testing for Juliet from thetartankiwi

Her emu is 18" square, with lots of character, and he certainly made me smile! 

Do you have a project to share this week too?
Just follow the simple guidelines:

• Link up any post from the past week that features a sewing or stitching project you have been working on, whether they are WiPs, starts or finishes. You can write as much or as little about your project as you like, and snap off a pic or three, and share here. 
• Somewhere in your post, please link back to this one. 
• Also please comment on other quilter's projects too, a little quilty love goes a long way 

Thanks for joining in, Linda & Julie

pinwheel rosy quilt

I have a finished quilt to share with you. Actually the quilt top was finished a while ago now but with all the moving & all the unpacking, things got a little lost.

The pattern I used was Kaffe's 'Sarah's Pastel Quilt' in his Museum Quilts book. I did alter the sizes of my pinwheels & borders to use my pink Anna Maria Horner fabric in the most economical way.  I've made this quilt twice before (and both quilts are now gifted) and it always amazes me how changing the palette completely transforms the quilt.

I'd been obsessed with this particular colour palette for weeks, totally inpsired by a quilt I saw on Judy Newman's IG feed, her amazing Rose Trellis quilt. I just had to make a quilt in those colours too. Oh, and I contacted Judy and she was happy for me to share my {very much simplified} pinwheel version!

I recently had it machine quilted in an all-over floral pattern by Sandy Mayo from 'quilt me creations' (see here for her details). I backed it in a scrappy selection of green & grey Denyse Schmidt fabrics and used a black & white Riley Blake stripe for the binding. The finished quilt measures at 145cms x 145cms.

So true what they say, isn't it?
There really is nothing new under the sun
but {insert smiley face} there's always a fresh way of looking at something.

Linking up with Myra for 'finished {or not} Friday' here at busyhandsquilts
and with Amanda Jean for 'finish it up Friday' here at crazymomquilts

Addit: It seems your comments are not coming through into my email, so I will endeavour to answer them either here on the blog or respond directly to your email address. 

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