Atearoa

   In 2002 my husband and I had the great joy of visiting New Zealand and Australia. We were met in Auckland by our son-in-law's parents who were Kiwis by birth and given the best tour of the North Island that anyone could imagine. Of course, I visited quilt shops whenever I had the opportunity and came home with quite a few fat quarters of  beautiful fabric with unique New Zealand designs, mainly from the Maori culture.
   In the years since then, I've often thought of how I could put all these different fabrics together in a quilt. Many different patterns came to mind, but I was never sure enough of any one pattern to start cutting up those lovely, colourful pieces. To begin with, they were all very different in colours and designs and I only had one fat quarter of each. So I wanted a pattern that would blend them all, but still show each of them to advantage.
   Finally, fourteen years later, I decided to "take the plunge" and what you see below is the result.
Although the pattern looks complicated, it is really very simple, being a "disappearing four-patch." After I had the top completed, I decided to add a border of "prairie points" to finish  it off. All the fabrics, with the exception of the black sashing/ border is from "down under." I called it "Atearoa", the Maori name for New Zealand.  I'm happy with the result and glad I've finally put those lovely fabrics into a quilt where they can be seen and appreciated. I hope you like it, too.

February Post

     Although I'm a little late with the post, this is the quilt I made in February. I had purchased the package of multi-colored fabrics some time ago and the Royal Squares pattern seemed to be the perfect pattern for them. I made the quilt using the "quilt-as-you-go" method. I also tried glue basting for the first time and it has the advantage of stabilizing the fabrics before they are sewn together, so they don't stretch. I used some of the extra blocks left over from the front for the back, which makes the quilt reversible.

Until next time Happy Quilting!

And Now For Something Completely Different...

     This is the year of our bi-annual sale for World Missions. The date has been set for November 5 and I'm already trying to make some smaller items, different from quilts, which, I hope will be popular items. This is one idea that I've come up with so far. It's called "Bear in a Bag" and here are some knitted bears happily settled into their bags, waiting for someone to carry them home and cuddle them.

New Year, New Quilt

      It's only the first of February and already I've got another quilt to share. Actually, I finished it in January but didn't have the picture ready for the last post. This quilt is called "Cherry Blossoms" and is based on a pattern by a Hiroko Nakayama, a Japanese quilter. All the materials for the front, along with the batting and book containing the pattern were given to me by a special friend. I put together the quilt top, without the appliquéd cherry blossoms and leaves, and my quilting friend, Linda LeDrew, quilted it beautifully. After I sewed on the binding came the really hard part.
     The cherry blossoms are double sided and are loosely, but securely (I hope) attached to the quilt top using French knots. It was quite a challenge, as I didn't want any of the stitches to show on the back. The buds and leaves are also hand appliquéd, which was a much easier job. The quilt is for a double size bed, so working with so much bulk added to the difficulty.
     It's been "in the works" for quite a few months and I have to admit, it's great to have it finished.    It will be for sale at our bi-annual Mission Possible Sale later in the year.

December/January. Mission Accomplished!

     With all the excitement of Christmas, having all our family and other guests with us on Christmas Day, and coming and going for weeks afterward, there wasn't time to do a blog post in December. Now it's mid-January, but I'm happy to say that I did reach my goal of a quilt a month for 2015!  Hooray! In, fact, I exceeded it, by making a second Bird of Wisdom wall-hanging, as well as finishing the disappearing nine-patch I was working on in November. This a a pattern I found on the Missouri Star Quilt Co. website called the Window Pane Disappearing Nine-Patch. I wanted to try it, to see if I enjoyed making the pattern. So I choose a mixture of softer coloured pieces from my scrap stash, with one brighter fabric for contrast, and got to work. I used white fabric for the window-pane sashing and made it a crib-size quilt. Here it is:

Window Pane Disappearing Nine-Patch

This was a fun and easy pattern to make and if I try it again (there are so many patterns waiting to be tried!) I'll use a darker fabric for the sashing, which should change the look substantially.

Until next month, 

Happy Quilting!

November Quilt

     Another month, another quilt.

     The pattern for this one is "Pioneer Braid," also sometimes called "Prairie Braid." I've wanted to try this pattern for quite a while and when I saw a picture with the diamonds in the middle of the braid, I decided that was what I wanted to do. Purple and teal is one of my favourite colour combinations and I've had the striped fabric for the sashing and borders for quite a while. It all came together with the white diamonds and black binding echoing the pattern in the border fabric.
It's about double the size in the photo, as I draped it over my ironing board to take the picture.
     December is always a busy month, so it will be quite a challenge to complete another quilt, but I still have a baby quilt top made, which I just have to finish off. So perhaps I'll make my target of a-quilt-a-month in 2015.

October Quilts

October has found me busy quilting. I've actually been working on three or four projects but have only finished one. The rest are in various stages of incompletion. A full size quilt has gone to be quilted before I finish hand appliqueing some cherry blossoms to the surface.  A single bed coverlet is basted ready to be quilted by me; and a third is a little baby quilt top which I decided to make from scrap fabrics, to try a pattern before I used it in a larger quilt. Hopefully the last two of these will be finished in November.
But I did complete another "bird" wall-hanging. This is my own design and I love its simplicity and  the effect of the red cardinals on the white background is striking. I called it "Let there be Peace." Here it is.

So, far I'm on track for my "quilt-a-month" plan. 

Check in November to see what's new.

September Quilts

Moving (slowly) along with my attempt to finish a quilt-a-month through 2015, I must admit that I didn't finish anything in August, due to travel and visitors. So I'm trying to make up for it in September. So far I have finished one lap quilt and two wall-hangings.

Floral Pizzazz

     The first quilt is  a bright, bold lap-quilt which I called "Floral Pizzazz". The pattern is from Judy Sisneros' book "9-patch Pizzazz". This is a great pattern for using up large-scale prints and I had fun putting the quilt together from some fabrics which have been lying in my stash, just waiting for the right pattern to come along. Judy's was just perfect.
     I wanted a change from the more traditional quilting that I have been doing and when I saw Kim Caskey's "Bird of Wisdom" wall quilt at Earthly Goods quilt shop, I had no trouble deciding to buy the pattern and make my own version. It was a lot of fun to make and while I was finishing it, my mind was roaming among the possible variations of it that I could make. The words on the side are "Live, Love, Laugh, Listen, Learn."
      I finished it the second day and inspired by Kim's ideas began another one almost right away.

Bird of Wisdom

As you can see, I changed the bird to an owl and decided instead of strips to use a pieced panel below the bird. The words of wisdom on the side are: "Coincidence is God's Way of Doing Miracles Anonymously. " I still have more ideas and can't wait to start the next variation. (Sorry the angle of the photo distorts the quilt.)

Wise Old Owl 

How thankful I am to other quilters whose patterns are such a pleasure to work with and which stir my own creativity in the process.

To all my friends who like quilts and quilting, have a great day!

Quilts for June and July

     June and July haven't been very productive for me, as far as quilting goes. What with visitors, summer activities and general  lethargy, I haven't accomplished much. In the meantime, here are two "multi-fabric" quilts I finished earlier in the year to be counted for June and July, so I'm still on track for my "Quilt-a-Month" project.
     The first is "anything goes" Wonky Diamonds sewn from an over-flowing box of strips with no particular colour pattern beyond  using lighter fabrics for the diamonds and darker ones for the background stripes. A quick and easy pattern with a "piano-key" border.

Wonky Diamonds

     The next is made from a lot of fabrics I collected on a trip to Australia many years ago. I cut out the initial pieces and arranged them on my design wall according to a picture I had seen in an Australian magazine. That pattern just didn't work very well with the fabrics I had, so they were put away for a long time. Always, in the back of my mind, was the feeling that I must do something with them. I finally chose to use the " quilt as-you-go" pattern, and after using the same pieces, but rearranging the fabrics, I ended up with the quilt below. The back is a mixture of fabrics from my stash, including some Australian and Indonesian fabrics.

Aussie Multi-fabric Quilt  -front

 

Aussie Quilt back 

 

 

I've recently started another quilt - a much more elaborate pattern - which I will have to send out to be quilted and then

 add three-dimensional floral appliques to the quilt top.  This will take a while, and, as I'll be travelling in August, I'll have to play "catch-up" in September to keep on track.  In the meantime, there's no shortage of patterns and ideas to play with.
That's the fun of being a quilter!

Two more quilts for March and April

 March's Quilt:  Zig-Zag Rail Fence

Zig-Zag Rail fence

Here is my take on a "modern" quilt. I used the traditional rail fence pattern, but put the blocks "on point. "  It is laid sideways on a bed in order to get the whole quilt in the photo.
The second picture below is the back of the same quilt.

 

 

April's Quilt is a simple Disappearing Nine-Patch baby quilt. Easy to do and quick to finish. A fun project.

 

 

For May's Quilt I'm finishing a UFQ that I started several years ago. The pattern I had in mind for a collection of fabrics on hand  just didn't work, so I had to re-think it. Check the blog in May for the finished (I hope!) project.

Resolutions

     I don't normally make "New Year's" resolutions, but as a quilter, I make resolutions all during the year, such as: I will try to make all my seams even; I will try to work more slowly and carefully to prevent " reverse sewing", I will use up as much of my stash as I can, before buying more fabric. In fact, I find myself making these resolutions over and over again, year after year!
     But this year, having got off to a good quilting start with "Grace's Butterflies" quilt in January, I decided I would try to finish at least one quilt a month. They don't have to be large quilts. I don't make many large quilts any more, but at the end of the year I would have the satisfaction of having achieved my aim with twelve quilts completed. So far I'm right on target or perhaps even a little bit ahead. Below are photos of two quilts I completed in February. The first is a "baby-size" quilt using bright pinks, white and a dash of lime green. The block pattern is a traditional album block.

 

      While in Hawaii in January I purchased a packet of pre-cut five-inch squares of Hawaiian prints. I combined them with fabrics from my stash to make the quilt you see below. This quilt is larger than the one above; approximately 50 x 60 inches. The photo is slightly at an angle. The quilt is actually even on both sides!

 

 

I've already started on my next project. With any luck you'll be able to see that in April.

Happy Quilting!

 

 

Butterflies

     The month before and the weeks after Christmas were very busy. Apart from the usual festive activities, I was trying to finish a quilt for our little three-year old grand-daughter, Grace, whom we were to meet in Hawaii in early January. Happily, I was able to complete it in time for it to travel with us to Hawaii and from there to Singapore where Grace and her parents live.  We had a lovely time together in Hawaii and now are trying to adjust to the winter weather again in Edmonton. Fortunately the temperatures are above zero, which makes it a little easier. With the fabric I bought in Hawaii (not to mention what I have already on hand!), I have lots of options for new quilts and the only problem now is to decide where to begin.
     Apologies to all my friends, who never received an invitation to our home over Christmas. With any luck we'll get together in February!
     Here's the quilt I made for my grand-daughter called "Grace's Butterflies."

 

 

Praise the Lord!

Yes, I'm happy to say, the Mission Possible Sale was a success. This is the third time we've held it  (we only do it every other year) and the best so far. We have a very dedicated group of ladies who work very hard to organize it and with help from lots of others in our congregation it went well. It's so great to know that my quilting not only gives me great pleasure, but can be used to help others who don't have the resources to help themselves.
Here are some photos of my corner of the sale room. I was very pleased to be able to sell all but one of my larger quilts and all but one of the baby quilts plus quite a few of the smaller items, as well.

After taking a VERY short break from quilting I'm now working on a "Butterfly" quilt for our little grand-daughter Grace who has turned three and needs a quilt for her "big girl bed." Pictures of that next time.

There and Here

It's been nearly six months since my last post, and you may be wondering if I'm still around. The answer is, happily, Yes, and I'm still quilting. The summer passed quickly, as we spent a lot of it in Newfoundland and then were fortunate enough to have a trip to Ireland at the end of August, which included a stop-over for a week in London, England. Difficult as it may be to believe, I didn't do any quilting during that time, but have been making up for it ever since.
In two weeks time, we will be having our bi-annual Mission Possible Sale at the Salvation Army and I've been very busy finishing some quilts and making other items for sale.  After finishing a double-size Ohio Star quilt on my basic home machine, I turned to smaller items for a change. Here are some of the items I've stock-piled for the sale. The tree ornaments were lots of fun as they make up fairly quickly and gave me a rest from the sewing machine. The next blog will be after the sale and I should have more pictures and I hope to be able to tell you that it was a great success!

 

Ohio Star Quilt 

 



 

Table Runners and Coasters
 

 

Christmas Tree Ornaments

Christmas Aprons

 

More Quilts, What Else?

"And thick and fast they came at last
And more and more and more."
(from The Walrus and the Carpenter by
Lewis Carroll )

Well not quite, if you're thinking about quilts, but in spite of (or maybe because of) the delay in blogging, I have been finishing up some quilts. Here they are.
    
The first two are made from two identical panels I bought intending to use them for quilts for our two little grandsons. By the time I got around to using them, the boys had outgrown the designs and so they will go to some other children. I did use  different coloured fabric in the inside border, so if they go to twins, they can easily tell which quilt is theirs.



Twin Quilt One

Twin Quilt Two

The next quilt was the result of my buying a jelly roll in a variety of blues. I had no definite plan in mind, but was thinking it might work for something simple like a strip quilt. It didn't and the quilt went through a few designs and quite a bit of "reverse sewing" before I finally decided on a pattern I could live with. It is about 52 inches square. I call it Sky and Sea.

The final quilt is made from fabric given to me by my quilter friend Linda. It took a couple of years before I got around to using it, but I finally made it up into a crib-sized quilt and called it Linda's Stars

 



 

Mug Mats

     Mug Mats have me hooked. These little quilts are easy to make and can be addictive, as I've learned. I started with the idea of making a couple or three and had so much fun choosing fabrics and deciding how to use them that I ended up with 17 so far and while I'm taking a break from them at the moment, I expect I'll go back to them before long.
"What is she going to do with them all?" you may be wondering. Of course, they make ideal little gifts for any occasion and for anybody who likes a cup of tea or coffee and a snack during the day. Which is a lot of the people I know. They're just the right size to hold a mug and a cookie or muffin. .
     However, I have another purpose in mind. In November of this year, the Ladies Ministries group at our church will be holding another "Mission Possible" Arts, Crafts and Bake sale in aid of  work in developing countries. This is the third such sale and as the other two have been very successful we have decided to "have another go".  So I'm hoping these little mug mats will be a "hot" item at the sale.
     Mug Mats can be made in a variety of shapes and sizes. As a novice mug mat maker I decided to make mine all the same size ( 8" x 10" finished).  Like all quilters, I had lots of left over small pieces of fabric and batting which were perfect for the mats. You can also use left-over odd blocks or try out a new quilt block pattern to make your mats. Or if you like, you can just buy some of mine! Contact me for details at www.mom

     Here are photos of some of my favourites.

Black, White and Red

       After the painstaking designing and intricate sewing of my Newfoundland quilt. I was ready for something much simpler. This black, white and red "square-in-a-square" quilt was the answer. The blocks, as you can see are simple and the sewing was straightforward. In fact this would be an ideal pattern for a beginner quilter or someone who just wants to make a quilt in a hurry. The blocks (five across and seven down)  are 9 inches square when finished and the red centres are 3 inches. I used strips 9" x 3" (finished) for the borders and the four corner blocks are made of four 3" (finished)squares.  I didn't have a pattern but  just figured out my own measurements. The finished quilt is 60" x 80". This design and colours would probably appeal to a man in your family. It did to mine.

 

 

 

On the wall.

The blocks of my Newfoundland quilt are put together and the finished product is hanging on the wall. As is customary,  I used the Newfoundland tartan for sashing, borders and binding. I think that perhaps it needs a little more quilting, and like many of my projects I've learned from this one, and would make some changes in technique if I were to do it again. But knowing myself, I probably won't make another one. So here is MY Newfoundland quilt, wall-hanging version.

 

 

 And as we are now in December and this will be my last blog post before the new year, I wish each of you all the blessings of  Christmas and love, joy and peace to continue with you in the new year.    

 

Final blocks for NL quilt

All twelve blocks are now completed for my Newfoundland Quilt/Wall-hanging.  Some worked out better than others, but I am generally happy with the lot. Having to make my own patterns  for a lot of them, or downsize patterns I had been given was a challenge. Next to be added are the sashing and borders of Newfoundland tartan. You can see the tartan in the map of NL block.  Here are the last five blocks.

This block shows two cod fish. In NL if you talk about "fish" you are talking about the cod. These cod somehow seem to have strayed into tropical waters. Or is it global warming?

 

 

Next is a typical dory tied up to a stage -  a shed where fish are cleaned and salted or packaged and where fishermen gather to mend nets and have a chat.

 

 

 

 Icebergs are very common around the shores of NL in the early spring and summer months. They can be small or huge, towering over boats and houses on the shore.

 

 

 

 The map of Newfoundland in the NL tartan. (Sorry, Labradorians about leaving out your  part of the province!)

 

 

 The pitcher plant is the floral emblem of NL.

 

 

And that`s all for this time. With any luck and time to sew, the next blog will show the finished quilt.

My Newfoundland Quilt

Here are a few more of the blocks I've been working on for My Newfoundland Quilt. I use a combination of fusing and applique to make the blocks. They still need some embellishing and quilting but so far so good. I'm halfway to my goal of twelve blocks which will make a good-sized wall-hanging.
The colours in the photos aren't exactly as the fabrics, but close. The first block shows the lighthouse at Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America.

Next is an old-fashioned stove with fire showing in the firebox, a warming oven on top, where you put your bread to rise, a wood box and rubber boots warming by the side of the stove. There was a cat there at one time, but it disappeared!

Every Newfoundlander (and others too, I hope) will recognize a moose. There are so many moose in NL that everyone's farewell as you leave for the highway is "Watch out for moose!"

 

 

The block below shows a boy with a Newfoundland dog standing on a beach looking out to sea. Small boy but big dog.

 

A seagull on a rock is a common sight in Newfoundland, although you don't see as many these days, since the cod fishery collapsed.

 

That's it for this month. Keep watching. You may see some puffins or an iceberg floating by, if it hasn't all melted before I get it finished.