its not a quilt until it's quilted #2

Another little finish this weekend - my 'landslide' quilt
This was a great low-stress project for me, simple in both design & stitching.
And the fabrics are just so calming with all those scrappy neutrals

I had it professionally quilted in an edge to edge freehand 'continous 8' pattern
by Leeanne from 'quiltmekiwi'.

I've finally started to enjoy this part of the 'quiltmaking process'
hand stitching the binding down is such a lovely way to appreciate all the fabrics, all over again

I also had time this weekend to stitch down the binding on my 'values' quilt
so I made the most of a lovely spring day and got a little snap happy

Two more scrappy patchwork throws to add to the collection
- just until they find new homes of course

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

it's not a quilt until it's quilted #1

I dedicated a bit of time recently to giving my WiPs some focused attention, mostly to try and finish up a few things. I made up some quilt backs, selected options for bindings, made a few straight line quilting decisions on a smaller quilt, and also sent a couple of quilts off to be professionally quilted.

First up, my 'values' quilt. This little scrappy HST block was the beginning of my 'values' quilt, inspired by Blair's quilt in Blairs 'wisecraft quilts' book. 
I have a bit of a love-hate reationship with HSTs, but the simple half square unit really is so versatile and can be made quickly and accurately using various methods.
I used some of my favourite scraps and I really loved playing with the colour values in this soft palette, it never gets boring.

I decided I'd get this sweet quilt quilted by Leeanne from quiltmekiwi . She lives up north in Whangarei, NZ where she has operated her home based machine quilting business for many years. We chose an edge to edge pattern called 'mesmerize'  and I am very happy with how it's turned out. 

- at the quilters

It feels really good to be making some progress on a few of my quilts finally
. . . and yes, it's not a quilt until it's quilted.
However, it's not actually finished until that last little bit of binding is all stitched down, 

and so, you guessed it, I'll be busy this weekend adding the binding. 

Linking up with Kelly here at myquiltinfatuation for 'needle and thread Thursday'

and with Myra for 'finished (or not) Friday' here at busyhandsquilts

parcels in the post

Can't beat getting gorgeous fabric in the post but with the NZ$ sitting pretty low just now and postage being expensive, on-line shopping has not been practical. at. all. Like many, my shopping habits have almost come to a screaming halt. 

However, in the interests of activating my pre-modern stash, I do still try to add one or two current fabrics from time to time. I find they can add new life and interest, and often many fabrics in my stash will actually go with them too. Here's a couple of pics of fabrics I was recently tempted by from just across the ditch, in Australia.

First up, Julie from justjulielou drew my attention to a lovely piece of fabric from queenoffabric {ah, the wonders of instagram!}  It's a gorgeous foliage print in pinks & green, "leilani' Maude Asburry by Blend. No plans for it yet, but it's got heaps of potenial, yes?

And my other lovely parcel-in-the-post last week came from treehousetextiles. An octagon trip around the world, it's the 'June Dyson coverlet' pattern & starter fabric pack. I'm sure I can find heaps in my stash that will work together with this as well.

. . . looking forward to making a start on this!
But these new additions will have to wait as I've still got heaps of HSTs to make {see here}

Have you been tempted to do a little stash enhancement lately too?

quilters meet & greet

Hello and welcome to the Online Quilter's Meet & Greet
- hosted by Benita from benitaskinner and Victoriana Quilt Designs.

So here's a wee bit about me in case you are new to kokaquilts. I'm Linda and I live in Auckalnd, NZ. I was lucky enough to be able to retire early from nursing and now I quilt at every opportunity. Oh, and fit in a few childcare days each week too with our three granchildren.
I have been blogging since November 2012. I love my 1/2 hr in the morning with a coffee and catching up on what's happening on other blogs, enjoying all the sharing, the inspiration, the tips & techniques. I think all the interacting through the comments, from all the way around the world, is the best part of the blogging quilting community!

And my quilting style? Well, I love an eclectic fun mix of modern, florals, vintage and plaids. I do like to use everything, together if possible - dottie dots, flowery florals, strippy stripes all in bright happy scrappy colours, lots of colour!
I'm always looking for ways to use up my precious stash, and I've been experimenting lately with mixing & mismatching bright prints from my scrap basket. I tend to jump from one thing to another, having a few projects all on the go at once.
I do use patterns from time to time, and other times I simply look at a quilt and figure out something similer. My quilts are made to be used, and cuddled, dragged around, used as play tents and loved to bits.
I hope you'll take a look around.

One of my very favourite makes was my 'broken china mosaic' quilt. It was my take on Chris Jurd's 'emperors wheel' quilt. I did a little broderie perse for the centre section, and then paper pieced the rest. Those 'new york beauty' blocks steal the show in this quilt. I machine quilted it and then added some big stitch hand quilted details.

And another favourite finish is my 'queen of the May' quilt. On my last trip to Melbourne I visited Somerset Patchwork and fell in love with Karen's quilt 'Circle of Sisters' that was on display in the shop. It was such a bright recreation of a vintage quilt. The blocks were on a wonderful yellow cheddar background, the whole quilt simply glowed, and I've always loved the idea of making a quilt one day on something so bright too.

The 'printonprints' effect is quite wild and colourful, and such a fun way to go! My finished quilt measures 150cms x 150cms and was beautifully machine quilted by Leeanne from quiltmekiwi.

Thanks for visiting.
 To meet some other inspiring online quilters over the month
 simply click this Meet & Greet link over here
and if you'd like the chance to win some fabulous prizes click the link below this image

click here

bits & bobs from the sewing room

Here's a few pics of recent bits & bobs from my sewing room. First up, a little progress on my 'brimfield star' blocks. You may remember I started making the brimfieldblockstar quilt, aka
" Linda meets brimfield with love" back in early August, yes?

I had the idea of setting aside time on my Sundays for some slow stitching and enjoy making something by hand. Well today was the first chance I have been able to just sit & stitch. Linking up with Kathy for 'slow Sunday stitching' here at kathysquilts.

I'm really enjoying the hand piecing process. I'm trying out the 'flat back' stitch this time around to join along those curves, and it does seem to be easier & gives a tidier look. {thanx to Gayle from mangofeet for the suggestion} {and here's a video showing the 'flat back' stitching method}

I also stumbled across a post about 'fake EPP' during the week. It's by Allison from allison-sews and she explains how she's trying out this different technique with her 'brimfield' blocks.

And there's a few more of those 'triangle tiles' blocks up on my design wall now
I've started mixing in a few solid fabrics with the prints, to help calm things a little . . .

I'm loving how these fabrics all play together, so far. There's still quite a few more blocks to make though, I'm not even half way yet! Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' over here.

And finally, Benita from benitaskinner is hosting an online quilters meet & greet. To meet lots more other inspiring quilters visit Benita's main page on Tuesday 4th September.

HSTs as far as the eyes can see

Here's a few pics of what I've been working on this week
- my 'triangle tiles' WiP

You know, I must have stared at the inspiration vintage quilt over & over so many times, trying to work out just what it was that appealed to me about this quilt, {see back here}.

For one thing, it's scrappy, and I like the make-do look about it with the occasional non-matching 'rogue' squares. And I do love the clever colour palette.
To me, it's essentially a pink & blue quilt, with the blues being in the majority. There's a few other pink/peach combos and a red or three thrown in, and some greys. There's also a couple of really random bright orange-y/gold fabrics in the original quilt.

It's such a wonderful quilt.

Question is,
can I shop my stash and make it work?

After making a few blocks I could see things needed editing even a little more. So today I've been trying to bridge the gap between the really saturated colours with a few more blending blocks so things merge a bit and, as Julie from quiltdivajulie recently commented, so it all looks more cohesive.

With this in mind, I prepared a selection of blocks. Lots of blues with a wide range of hues & a few pinks, all cut and ready to sew . . . scrap fabrics & a simple block . . . sewday . . . I checked the time and a couple of hours had gone.

Here's how the design wall is looking now . . .

HSTs as far as the eyes can see
- and more underway!

Linking up with Kelly here at myquiltinfatuation for 'needle and thread Thursday'

weekend sewing

I love it when one thing leads onto another, don't you?

This was an unplanned project, inspired by a recent post by Julie from quiltdivajulie which then sent me searching for the vintage quilt in her story. I found it in the new separate pattern series from quiltfolk. When you download the pattern you get both the vintage 'source' pattern and a modern 'revival' pattern, in this case one made by Tula Pink. But I'm sticking to a version of the source quilt, "triangle tiles". 

{"triangle tiles" inspiration vintage quilt}

You know I have a bit of a love/hate thing with HSTs, but one thing I have learnt is to cut my squares larger than the finished half-square triangle size to give a little extra room to trim them square. Do you do this too?
I made up a few trial blocks, then narrowed things down just a little with my colour palette. And like the inspiration quilt, I still want it to be a confetti of scrappy colour, with two prints per block, and a few rogue blocks thrown in to add interest. There's heaps & heaps of HSTs, hopefully it'll make a dent in my blue stash.

Yep, I'm thinking I'll keep on making more of these. 

Great to have something simple to piece in those {precious} weekend sewing moments.

Pop on over here #quiltfolk to see more.

Linking up with with Sandra for dreami #19 

where you can see what other 'unplanned' projects people have been making this month.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, "Dreami" = DRop Everything And Make It"

J