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. 

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.

Evie's quilt

Back in January I made a new quilt top for my grandaughter, you may remember it from this post here. My colour palette was a pretty pastel combo of pinks, brown/grey and blues with gold accents, and was inspired by the lovely ways Susan from hopewoodhome combines colour in both her home interior stying and in her quilts.

It's been great working with this lovely calm palette. And there are so many of my favourite fabrics in this, including a little Liberty, Anna Maria Horner, Outback Wife, a basic blue & white check and of course the Kaffe border print mauve Guinea Flowers, which I've had in my stash for some time now.

I have recently had it machine quilted by Sandy Mayo from 'quilt me creations' (see here for her details). She used a twirling floral edge to edge pattern, one that gently flowed over the edges of all those 'bricks'.

I used a vintage floral sheet for the backing and the dusky pink binding that I think really finishes it off nicely - in a girly sort of way.

The finished quilt measures 150cms x 110cms
- love sewing the small-er stuff! 

And it's all ready now for Evie's first sleepover.

Linking up this week with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here at quiltingismorefunthanhousework

with Julie for 'sew stitch snap SHARE' over here with Julielou
with Lorna for 'let's bee social' here at sewfreshquilts
. . .  and for the first time, linking up with Dione for 'Colour Inspiration Tuesday'
over here at cleverchameleon where there's lots of colour & inspiration!

mixing things up: a barijqal update

My barijquiltalong quilt has come back from the quilters.
Sandy from 'quilt me creations' did a lovely gentle flowery pattern all over my quilt
(see here for her details)

I'm mixing things up a bit, adding a little 'boho' flair to this quilt.

There's lots of extra embroidery touches already . . .

and I'm now adding some big stitch handquilting,
a good way to slow down & be present . . .

. . . while I wait for the binding fabric to arrive.
For more photos & details of this QAL pop on over here to southerncharmquilts

Linking up to 'finished {or not} Friday' over here at busyhandsquilts

up & down geese

 My 'flying geese overload' quilt is finished.
Meredithe from pomegranateandchintz
suggested last week that maybe I could try every second row of geese flying upside down

- thanks Meredithe, such a great idea, I love the effect!

After getting the backing pieced and the layers all basted, I did some machine quilting.
Lots of parallel straight lines, evenly spaced across the quilt.
And I used a teal solid for the binding, it seemed to tie the whole quilt together really well. 

The fnished quilt is approx. 45" x 60" a great 'throw' size for the couch,
and that's another project crossed off the long list!

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here

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

throwback Thursday {photo overload}

I thought I'd join in with Sandra for a little trip down memory lane this week. This quilt is one I made many years ago, in my preblogging days. It is well loved and well used, and some bits along the binding are starting to fray now.

The little 'square-in-a-square' blocks are 4 1/2" and the finished quilt measures approx. 70" x 70". I quilted it with simple straight line machine quilting.

There are heaps of older smaller pieces of fabric in this, scrappy bits from my days of being a quilt shop owner. Patchwork wasn't as popular here in NZ back then and my partner and I struggled to make a go of it. We ran classes, attended every show that was happening, and printed out a monthly newsletter to drum up interest.
It was great initially. I had trained as a nurse so being self employed was different and exciting, and it felt good to be back working after babies. But as time went on and things didn't pick up, it became a really difficult three years. And we never actually managed to pay ourselves. I remember the last few months were very tricky, and we ended up pulling the last few bills out of hat one at a time. I went back to nursing after that.
It squashed my love of quilting for about 10yrs or so, but the lure of fabric, colour and creativity eventually won me over again.

Back to the quilt . . . it's definitely a pre-modern quilt! However, looking at it now, I'm still loving the soft gentle low volume palette, with all its quilty memories.

Linking up with Sandra here for 'throwback Thursday'