the weekend in brief

• I resuced a few flowers from the garden before the wind ruined them
• A package arrived from Hawthorne Threads... a few fabrics from the Honor Roll range, AMH
• And a rather mellow collection of Persimmon BasicGrey, Moda arrived from Fat quarter Shop. I began mixing things up straight away, not too sure where this is headed yet!
• We braved the weather, went into town to see "My Old Lady" at the Lido, I think everyone else in Auckland had the same idea!!  
• Finally, the beginnings of a vege garden.

Auckalnd Festival of Quilts & different points of view

My son & daughter-in-law are staying with us for a couple of months until they go over to Melbourne to live. Charlotte came with me to the quilt show this weekend, the Auckland festival of Quilts. She has just finished her Bachelor in Design, majoring in fashion with honours and it was very interesting to see which quilts caught her eye!
She chose quilts that were rich in colours like the oranges, greens and purples. She liked that some quilts actually make a picture rather than something more abstract. She loved the colours in the fractured 9patch and also liked the way that there were both straight & wonky lines to it, a sense of controlled chaos! The desert one made her think of Australia, where they are headed all too soon! Her favourites were...

{sorry names not all captured}
There was one wall hanging that we both loved ...

Pyjama Party, Annie White

funky flamingos made in metallic & fluro threads

My picks for the day were really rather different! I just loved a few of the more old fashioned ones, the workmanship & time to make them was impressive. 

And so some of my favourites- in no particular order- were...

Perseverance, Alison Hartley

Mrs Billings Returns, Sue Flego

Serendipity, Jocelyn Atkinson

What was the front is now the back!

... and this...

Windmalls of my Mind, Julia Vazel

...and then three more "fresh," more modern looking quilts...

Inside Out, Judi Schon

variation of log cabin - look at all the ribbons!

Brain Waves, Robyn Rognstad

Fractured, Heather Basset

Oh, and both Charlotte & I were quite impressed with this hands-on-book. She did a bit of a sales job for them while we looked thru' it!!

Farmer Joe's Quiet Book, pattern made by Kids Quilts right here in Laingholm.

It's an activity book/play mat

and Charlotte bought the pattern!

We had a lot of fun together at the quilt show. I shall miss them both heaps when they go - but still it's easy enough to pop-over-the-ditch, isn't it?  

around the world blog hop

What a lovely surprise to get an email from Kathy in Boston asking if I'd like to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop! She writes over here @ http://kayakquilting.blogspot.co.nz/ I enjoy reading about her quilty adventures and her FMQ is lovely, pop on over for a little look! So here we go, here's a little bit about me...

1. What am I working on? 
Well, the next couple of weeks are a bit hectic for me so my priority just now is finishing up a few things. I have a couple of quilts that I want to gift for Xmas but they need quilting first. I struggle with FMQ so will opt for simple straight line quilting on both on them.
I am a bit of a multi-tasker I must admit, often juggling a few things all at once, so I also have a couple of other WiP's up on my design wall! I am doing two BOM's, Ginger Crush which uses lots of soft  muted colours and Classic meets Modern which finishes up next month. I have just started a new quilt using my lovely Liberties. But I've been held up with any further progress as I am waiting for more Kona cotton to arrive. And I have also got one quick piecing fun quilt that I'm making whenever I get a moment to sew. It's a version from Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 15 Minutes of Play book, creating made-fabric from scraps. I should tell you thou' if you do give this a go, it's a lot of fun and it's very addictive sewing!

2. How does my work differ from others of its gene?
Over the years, I think I have made what some would call quite an eclectic selection of quilts! I love making scrap quilts the most, I enjoy mixing up fabrics from different ranges, playing with the values and experimenting a bit. I have found from experience thou' that a scrappy quilt can sometimes get a bit out of control and sort of lose some of it's charm, but I've worked out a few ways to tame my results! {e.g. common background fabric, or using a multicoloured print as a focus, or using a limited colour palettte,or maybe repetition of an accent colour.}
I haven't, so far, made an "all solid" quilt. And I don't really enjoy using all white as a background, I much prefer mixing assorted creams, whites & greys together from my stash to get an interesting effect.  

My tastes have definitely changed a little over time, mainly due to all the inspiration that's out there in blogosphere! I feel I'm kinda moving away from the traditional to a sort of happy mixture somewhere inbetween the old & the new! I also belong to a little group of quilters called "Monday Modern." We meet each month and I have found this to be a great source of inspiration and a wonderful way to share & meet like minded quilters. 

   

3. Why do I write/create what I do?
I love colour.. and fabric! And like many, I love to gift my quilts, to learn new techniques, and to have fun using up my stash. Years ago I didn't take photos of the progress I made with making any of my quilts or of my actual finished quilts, it was way too expensive! So for me now, blogging is such a great, easy way of documenting my quilting journey! And it's alot of fun, I've met lots of new quilty friends, and my photography & computer skills have increased heaps! (many thanx to Megan @ http://jaffaquilts.blogspot.co.nz/  for initial afterhours assistance!)  

scrapbox delight

 little cot quilt all layered up, pinned & all ready for me to quilt

retro flowers quilt, home machine quilted

mixing the old with the new!

gypsy wife quilt.. done!

4. How does my creating process work?
Again I guess like many, I start with either a colour scheme that appeals, or have a particular fabric that I want to use, or maybe a pattern I want to try out. But while I often may have some initial concept in mind, I always seem to end up changing things along the way... sound familiar? Luckily, I really enjoy the actual processes involved in making a quilt, you know, all that fun of choosing the fabrics, all that trial & error of what works & what doesn't, all that fudging your way thru' new techniques! I do get there in end and usually have a quilt I'm happy with, it just takes a bit of time, which is ok!

curved star hexagon quilt, a long term WiP

Thank you Kathy for tagging me and in turn, I am tagging Robyn who also belongs to the Monday Modern group too. She blogs over here @ http://www.robynie.com/blog/  I love her fresh approach, and you should see all those tiny bits of piecing in her Brain Waves quilt, it really is quite amazing! Pop on over and check it out on her post later on. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished Brain Waves quilt in-the-flesh at the quilt show this coming weekend... for those overseas, here in Auckland, NZ we have the huge Festival of Quilts happening, the annual show of the Auckland Quilt Guild. 

I am also tagging Juliet from http://www.thetartankiwi.com/ I love her unique paper piecing patterns (haven’t as yet got into paper piecing myself!) and her attention to detail is amazing, pop on over sometime to check it out!

Linking up this week with Let's Bee Social for the first time over at  Sew Fresh Quilts

making a list

I woke up this morning and finally made a list of things to sew! After a couple of weeks of not actually sewing I seem to have a lot of new ideas running round in my head! I also have a few almost finished quilt tops lurking around which I want to gift for Xmas so I better get a wriggle on! Time to reassess & prioritise... and to make the list! Do you have lists too? do you find you actually follow them? and do you religiously tick things off as you go?

lots of lovely sunshine today!

Priority this morning was to finish up making HSTs for my neutral quilt. I rumaged thru' my stash to find as many geometric prints as I could for added interest, and I tried not to over think what-would-go-with-what as I made the HST's! Some combinations have been repeated and I have used one particular yummy fabric quite a bit too-that vogue new trends back to tradition one-just to help with continuity.

And like Cheryl, I've also tried to make the value difference in a couple of the blocks quite subtle, where they almost blend right into each other which I think is nice. I think this is one quilt that will be very easy to live with... so soft & peaceful!

My inspiration for this simply pieced quilt came from a couple of places, here

http://naptimequilter.blogspot.ca/2014/03/modern-paris.html

(if you look closely Cheryl has also added cheeky little yin/yang halfcircles in some of her blocks!)

and here too

http://maryhueyquilts.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/my-tribute-to-mary-ellen-hopkins.html

(scroll down a little to see Mary's lovely scrappy triangles)

a bit more #23

and in the evenings
I've had fun trying out a little bit of fussy cutting with my curved star hexis


I'm off to do some long overdue gardening now
Have a good weekend everyone!

gotta love those neutrals (WiP)

Linking up with Lee for WiP Wednesday
{see sidebar for link}
and Sew Cute Tuesday

every quilt tells a story

While I'm not back into sewing just yet I thought I'd share with you a few of the older quilts I have made over the years. Be warned, some content may make you laugh out loud! Things were certainly very different when I first started quilting 30yrs ago! Fabric & colour choices way, way back then were very limited, you wouldn't have contemplated internet shopping for fabric, & we didn't have all the inspiration that's available now out there in blogosphere! We all made our initial sampler quilts of course, which was a really good way to learn all the basics. But I felt people were obsessed with perfectionism {you've heard of the quilt police!}, getting the exact fabric if they ran out, and layouts were often standard & methods limiting.  Over the time I've been sewing, alot in the quilting world has certainly changed -thank goodness- and there are some things that I think are really great now... it's lovely that so many younger people also love quilting too, I love that there's more colour, more patterns, more techniques to explore, and I really enjoy being able to document my own quilting journey in this way! So here we go...

lots of little 4 patch square-in-a-square 4" blocks
the first of many scrappy quilts

I bought the fabrics in Auzzie at a quilt show 2008, a couple of lovely liberties in there!

actually it still kinda looks "fresh & modern" to me! 

1930's little prints Fan Quilt with a touch of yellow batik

ha-ha, seems to me I had more time for handquilting way back then!

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Whether a Kaffe fan or not, one of his earlier books Museum Quilts is really worth having a look at. It showcases some of those wonderful quilts in the Victoria & Albert Museum in England. I have made a couple of quilts using his patterns from this book.

Gypsy Throw, gifted to my daughter's in-laws

Snowball Quilt, I love a blue quilt
but sadly it's still a UFO ! 

another Snowball Quilt
oh dear - I must have been going thru' a very brown phase!

so glad now I added in that turquoise & grey stripe as well!
Gifted

 

Brick Path Quilt
while simple in layout it's still a favorite of mine
now all quilted & gifted

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And here's a couple of pics of earlier quilts that are now being very much used & loved on little Olive's bed.

I drew up the pattern after seeing something similar at Material Obsession



Ice Cream Quilt

from the "Gentle Art of Quiltmaking" by Jane Brockett

I really enjoyed raiding my stash to find similar medium toned fabrics 

then threw in the darker pink spot to add interest  

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I made this top ages ago, never finished it

BUT it's my inspiration for something a bit more "modern" that I am planning at present

As you can see my quilting style has been all over the place, over all these years! Fast forward to today and it still remains a great hobby, full of creativity & challenges, full of new quilty friends and full of lovely fabric! Hey, I'm sure you will all have lots of stories about your first quilting ventures too - I'd love to hear about them!