What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Do you remember my Licorice Allsorts block of the month designed by Wendy Williams?

I barely remember it myself because it's been so long since I worked on it.

But last Saturday I made a quick trip to Auckland to support my mum for a few days.  As I was throwing a few things in a suitcase I suddenly remembered that she had asked for my help with some of the trickier blocks in this quilt. 

When I first saw this block of the month advertised at Material Obsession in 2021 I knew that we would both enjoy making ...

At Easter I went to Tekapo in the middle of the South Island of New Zealand.  The mountains and lakes are amazing there and the weather was beautiful.  The place we stayed at had great views and a big deck off the lounge.  

I took some quilting along because our Capital Quilters exhibtion is fast approaching and I'm not ready!! I still have two quilts in progress and this is one of them.  It's the Trip Around the World that I started in January.  You can read more about it here.  

It's quite a bit colder in ...

It may be Thanksgiving where you live, but I've just finished my Halloween quilt!  I've called it "Spooky Darlings" after the fabric range that I used.  

I only had a fat eighth bundle to play with so I made the biggest triangles that I could and combined them in alternating dark and light rows ...

Well, I finally feel that I'm making some progress with my quilting.

Don't Leaf Me - pattern by Wendy Williams

I finished the applique on the second panel of Don't Leaf Me and joined it all up.  It was great to open the box and have the centre panel already pieced and waiting for me. I took it in to Busy Bee Quilt Shop to be basted on the long arm so I can hand quilt it during January and February.  

While I was there I picked up a quilt that I've had custom quilted by Sue ...

Well, it's that time of the year again.  Halloween is still viewed as an American tradition in this part of the world, but more and more people are getting in to trick or treating each year.  

My Spooky Darlings quilt won't be finished for this Halloween, but it is progressing well.

I live on a street that is well known for Halloween because it's wide and straight and a safe place for kids to trick or treat.  It's Spring in the southern hemisphere and it doesn't get dark here until after 8pm at the moment ...

 I'm on my way back to New Zealand today but here's one more blog post prepared in advance.  this is my Shuttles quilt that I made to showcase some of my beautiful Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  You can read all about it here. 

And I hand quilted it with bright yellow Aurifil 12 wt.  

Now it’s time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog ...

I won't be able to attend the QuiltNSW Quilt Show this year, but I have very happy memories of the three years in a row that I did attend - 2017, 2018 and 2019.

My Carnival quilt won Best Traditional Quilt Award (Amateur) in 2019 and I was thrilled.  You can read all about it here. 

Now it’s time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

You are invited ...

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you'll know that our river cruise on the Rhine will be coming to an end shortly. I've taken a little bit of hand piecing with me, but I'm not sure if I'll get any of it done while I'm away.

In the mean time, I'll show you my Lady Wigram quilt that I made for my mother in law.  I hand pieced it using the Bella Ruby templates from Treehouse Textiles in Australia.  You can read all about it here.  

Can you believe this is my most viewed blog post ever? Click here to read about my Scrappy Bear Paw quilt.  

Yes, people just love my Scrappy Bear Paw quilt.  I suspect it's because of the bright colours that I chose, and the simple hand quilting with Perle 8. 

Maybe I shouldn't have allowed my son to take it to his university hostel.  Actually, I don't mind.  I can always make another one when our guild turns 50 years old which is now only 12 years away.  

The display at Capital Quilters when the guild turned 30 ...

Yes, it's true - I've escaped New Zealand and like many other Kiwis and Aussies I'm travelling in Europe right now.  In fact by the time you read this I think I'll be in Amsterdam.  You can follow my travels on Instagram - @wendysquiltsandmore  or Facebook - Wendy Welsh - if you're interested.  

But I know a lot of you look forward to reading a blog post from me each week, and linking up to or following the Peacock Party links, so I've prepared five weeks of blog posts to keep you covered while I'm away.  Each ...

 Today we've had a public holiday to celebrate Matariki.

Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. It rises in midwinter and for many Māori, it heralds the start of a new year. From Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.  

Back in 2018 I made a quilt called Matariki +/- 1.  I entered it into the QuiltNSW Sydney Quilt Show and I won a Judges Commendation for it.  

I don't have this quilt any more because a very kind grandma bought it to go on her grandson's bed when he ...

It's been a long time coming, but I'm very pleased to advise that my Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt from 2018 is finally finished.  It's called Good Fortune. 

I like it, but I wouldn't say that I'm in love with it.  I did learn some useful lessons along the way though; 

- beware of mystery quilts.  This isn't the first time I've said this, but I think I started this quilt before I really learnt my lesson on Jen Kingwell's Marshal mystery quilt. 

- if you're going to change the colours or layout, be ...

My Hand Quilted Sampler quilt has a long and chequered past, but it's finally finished.  

I started this quilt in a class with Kaffe Fassett in Wellington, New Zealand in January 2018.  Yes, five long years ago!!

January 2018 in Wellington

I don't give up on things easily, so I set ...

Last week I told you about Cyclone Gabrielle that has devastated parts of Hawke's Bay in New Zealand.  

I'm working on quite a few mystery projects this year that I just can't share on my blog.  I know a lot of you come here each week for inspiration, so from time to time I'm going to share some of my earlier quilts that you might have missed.  

This is my sashiko quilt that I made 10 years ago when my son went to Japan on a school exchange trip.  

I started with a pattern from Nancy's Stitch Studio, but then I used library books and the internet to research sashiko patterns. I found lots ...

 Day 23 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my "Oh! Christmas Tree" quilt designed by Wendy Williams.  

I loved choosing all the bright colours for this quilt, and then ...

Day 21 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my Flocks by Night quilt - pattern by Wendy Williams.

 Day 13 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my Holiday Patchwork Forest quilt. 

This quilt still makes me smile because it started out as just a few test blocks from scraps in my stash.  I didn't have an overall colour plan before I started, but I really like how it's turned out.  

I did some basic machine quilting on it, but then accentuated the trees with hand quilting. Both Kaffe Fassett borders were from my stash, and the thin red strip border adds a finishing Christmas touch. 

It's another small lap type quilt that I can ...

Day 10 and it's my Tula Pink Holiday Homies quilt.  

I made this cute quilt back in 2017 when Tula's Holiday Homies range was first released.

I didn't want to lose any of the motifs so I designed my own pattern which you can find here in my original blog post. 

Tula Pink has re-released Holiday Homes in flannel, but I was fortunate enough to get the original cotton version. 

We got a lovely surprise when we walked in to the Festival of Quilts and saw mum's Lucy Boston quilt had a ribbon it!

I was so pleased for mum because it really is a beautiful quilt and deserved something I thought.  

We met lots of friends at the quilt show, and made some new friends too.  Everyone was so nice, and I felt very relaxed because I wasn't involved in organising it.  

We even went to the prize giving on Saturday evening and mum received a monetary prize for her efforts.  We weren't expecting that!