What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I'm so close to finishing the main body of this quilt.

Pattern = Raindrops are Falling on my Head from Millefiori Quilts 4 by Willyne Hammerstein.

There's just two long seams to hand stitch now, but they will be slow going because there's a lot of places where the points meeting along these seams. 

Once the body of the quilt is done, I can think about the borders.  I want to use more of the feature fabric in the borders, but I'm not sure how I'll do it yet.  

And then I need to think about ...

About six years ago my mum started to make a Nearly Insane quilt.

I told her at the time that she had to finish it before she died, because I didn't want to have to finish it for her! That seems a bit harsh now, but back then she was only 75 and she was still doing a lot of quilting.  

Recently mum pulled all her blocks out again, and decided to add some sashing and be done with it.  Don't worry, I get it, and I wouldn't have pieced all those blocks either. 

Of course when ...

Yes, it's winter here, and the raindrops certainly are falling on my head.  

Strangely enough though, my quilt is full of hot colours, so I might have to think of a new name for it before I finish it.  

I'm hand piecing this quilt.  I used to do a lot of English Paper Piecing, but I found it ...

Here's my latest finish, Trans-Tasman Bubbles.  

This quilt is all hand pieced and hand quilted by me.  The pattern is by Willyne Hammerstein from her book Millefiori Quilts 4.  In the book it's called "Dancing Cheek to Cheek", but I called my quilt trans-Tasman Bubbles, because the circles keep disappearing and re-emerging as you look at it.  

The trans-Tasman bubble is an agreement between the New Zealand and Australian governments that lets citizens of those countries travel between the two countries without having to stay 14 days in managed isolation/hotel quarantine on arrival.  

However, as soon as ...

The Great New Zealand Quilt Show opened today in Rotorua, and I can finally show you my entries in the Aotearoa Quilters Lime Challenge.  

First up is "Not Your Grandmother's Garden".  

12" wide x 16" high

At first glance you might think these are hexagons, but they're not! Hence the name, and the fact I'd just bought some new jeans from Not Your Daughter's Jeans. 

I love experimenting with geometric shapes, and I wanted to try the Fiesta Gitana pattern in Millefiori Quilts 4 by Willyne Hammerstein. 

I hand pieced this mini quilt, and then I ...

My hand pieced Raindrops quilt is coming along nicely. I've been experimenting with other fabric combinations because I don't want all of the blocks to be the feature fabric.  

I'm not sure if all of these rosettes will make it into the final quilt, but I need to see all the options before I start joining the blocks.  

The plainer blocks are good because they give our eyes a resting place.  However, I can see that the dark green in the centre rosette might be too dark. 

Last week someone asked me how I calculate how much ...

My quilt is finished and I've called it "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", after a favourite song by Tears for Fears. Click here for a trip down memory lane - or to hear something new.

The colours and stars in this quilt remind me of flags; the Union Jack from the UK, the Star-Spangled banner from the USA, and our own New Zealand Ensign. 

The USA and NZ both held elections last year, and the UK left the European Union, so "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" seems appropriate at this time.   

I machine quilted this quilt with both ...

Firstly - You may have heard about some strong earthquakes off New Zealand, and associated tsunami risks.  Fortunately I didn't even feel the earthquakes, and I don't live in the risk area for the possible tsunamis.  Many people have spent the morning on high ground, but the risk of tsunami has now passed thankfully. I don't think any buildings have been damaged.

Back to quilting.  

I've made a small start on Raindrops are Falling on my Head from Millefiori Quilts Book 4 by Willyne Hammerstein.  

I bought this beautiful Art Gallery fabric from Material Obsession in Sydney ...

 Apologies to all the Dutch quilters out there.

"Bont en Blauw" does not mean "Black and Blue", but rather multicoloured, which sounds so much nicer.  Google translate put me wrong on that one! But a number of you messaged me to let me know, so thank you.  

As my quilt is only going to be three colours (red, white and blue), I'm going to have to think of another name anyway.  

Some of you asked for more details about this sweet quilt.  I'm hand piecing it using the method shown in my hand piecing videos here.    But, there ...

Yes, finally I have something new to report.  

I've made a start on a pattern from Willyne Hammerstein's Millefiori Quilts Book 4.  

The pattern is called "Bont en Blauw", which translates to English as "Black and Blue" - which is a bit unfortunate because that brings up disturbing images in most peoples minds.  So I'm going to come up with a different name for my happy little quilt.   

There are only 2 shapes in the pattern, but there are lots of opportunities to play with colour and pattern.  

When I want to plan a quilt, I just use ...

Remember this Big Hexy Flower?

 A look back at 2020...

January 2020

I needed a fresh start for 2020.

My sewing area went from this:

to this:

February 2020

Calving Season begins @ the Kessi Ranch

Playing with Rayon Threads

March 2020

The Turkey Vultures are BACK

Calving Season....continues:

Fertilizing the Hay Fields

Playing with Improv

April 2020

Improv Technique 2

Improv Technique 3

Improv Technique 4

Improv Technique 5

Improv Technique 6

Improv Technique 7

Improv Technique 8

Sunflower Quilt Finished

May 2020

Zipper Pulls

June 2020

Improv Quilt Top

Messy Painted Canvas

July 2020

Tassel Necklaces

Haying Season ...

This week I've been hand quilting my Neptune and the Mermaid quilt.  I usually use a hera marker to mark my quilting lines, but this time I've used a blue washout pen because it was hard to see the marked lines on the highly patterned fabrics. 

I always use a hoop when I hand quilt, but I must have taken it off before I took the photo above.  Here it is on another section of the quilt.  

Aurifil 12wt is my favourite thread for hand quilting

I like to experiment with my quilting, so I'm going to ...

Remember these JUMBO fabric flowers ?

I pieced two of these quilt tops three years ago.

My Glitter quilt is finished! And it won a prize in our guild's exhibition. 

Yes, I won Best Hand Pieced and I was thrilled. Glitter is designed by Jen Kingwell from Australia.  I started my Glitter quilt in a hand piecing class with Jen Kingwell at the Christchurch Symposium in October 2017.  I did promise Jen that it would be finished by October 2019, and the top was finished by then, but I didn't start hand quilting it until January 2020.

Now it's finished, and it will look just right on our bed. I chose the greens ...

In the evenings I have been doing

some hand stitching...

On Mondays I spend the day with the

Harlan Valley Quilters

@ the Quilt Palace

I am making progress on the 

Horse Quilt Panel

The English Paper Piecing continues

on this Horse Quilt Panel...

Our power has been out for several days so...

I have been english paper piecing

the borders on this horse panel quilt...

The deer have begun to come in the yard at night

and munch away on the petunias and hollyhocks.

Now that the power has ...