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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 ...

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 ...

Wow! It appears to be about three years since I last worked on this quilt!!

And it's quite close to being finished.  So today I chose my leaves for the second panel and glue basted them down so I can hand applique them when the mood strikes. 

I did enjoy making the wool felt applique flowers.   

I'm hoping to get this top finished before Christmas and then I can add it to the hand quilting pile because I already have ideas of how I want to quilt it.  And as I mentioned a few weeks ago, our guild ...

This week I started hand quilting my Licorice Allsorts quilt.  

The guild I belong to, Capital Quilters in Wellington, New Zealand will be holding an exhibition in May 2024 and I ...

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 ...

Yes, my Licorice Allsorts top is finished.  I'm really pleased with it.  I took my time and really tried to make all the blocks perfect. As a result of that, the rows went together quite easily.  

I want to hand quilt this quilt myself, and I usually choose ...

Easter felt like my own personal quilt retreat just for me.  I got so much sewing done!

I thought it might take me until the end of April to piece all the blocks for the Licorice Allsorts quilt, but I sewed every day over Easter and they're all finished now.  

I revisited Month 3 and remade one of the blocks, but it's not a lot better than the first time around.  I've made a note on the pattern to cut the pieces bigger if I ever make that block again.  

Now I'm sewing the blocks together ...

It's Easter 2023 and we're staying at home for once.  Last year we were in Queenstown, and the year before that in Auckland.  Easter 2020 we were at home, but that was during lockdown so we had no choice. 

I've decided to pull out my Licorice Allsorts block of the month and make some progress over the long weekend.  

The block of the month was issued in 10 monthly installments.  I've made the blocks for months 1-5, although I'm not 100% happy with the blocks for month 3, and I will remake them if there ...

 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.

Each of the tutors at Symposium were invited to bring a quilt for the Tutors' Exhibition.  

Collectively the quilts formed a wonderful display in the school library.  I visited the Tutors' Exhibition quite a few times and enjoyed studying the quilts up close.  

My favourite was "Looking Up" by Wendy Williams from Australia.  I took a lot of photos because I wanted to remember:

- the range of stitches Wendy used on the wool felt applique

- the number of different fabrics Wendy used in the quilt (it was made during lockdown so Wendy had to use what she had on hand ...

I'm writing this post in advance because I'm going to Auckland Festival of Quilts on Friday with my mum, Joy Hill. 

Mum has two quilts in the exhibition so we're going along to see them hanging, plus everything else of course.   

Here's mum's first entry - her blue and white Lucy Boston, all English Paper Pieced and hand quilted.

Mum loved making her Lucy Boston quilt and was naturally a bit sad when it was finished! 

Mum's other entry is a wool felt applique design by Wendy Williams called "Over the Hill".  I've only ...

I've finished all the hand embroidered blocks for my Licorice Allsorts quilt, so now it's time to start machine piecing the other blocks.  

There's actually one more embroidered block in my cupboard, but how do you fit 10 photos in to a grid!

Here's the first machine pieced block that sits in the centre of the quilt:

It's only 6" finished which is smaller than I imagined.  But I do love these colour combos and am looking forward to making more blocks next week.  

Here's what the finished quilt will look like:

I must have been living under a rock because I didn't realise that Bloglovin is dead! I still get my daily emails updating me on new posts from blogs that I follow, but I didn't realise that everything is frozen in time and we can't select new blogs to follow.  

Follow by email seems to have gone the same way.  So how do you keep up with blogs that you follow? Or do you just keep checking back until there's a new post to read? 

Anyway, on a brighter note, I've finished another two blocks ...

Material Obsession in Sydney, Australia sent out the last package for the Wendy Williams Licorice Allsorts Block of the Month last week.  

I love that this quilt ...

I made a lot of progress on my Tea Party quilt this week. 

The next round is the 16 feature blocks - I've finished 8 of the blocks already, but ...

 I did it! I started the centre block.

It's quite hard to hand applique on a piece this big, so I'll be pleased when I'm finished this block.  Then I can machine sew on two borders that I've already got ready, and then suddenly I'll be able to see real progress.  

Here's what I'm aiming for.  There's still so much left to do!

I've been quietly working away on my Tea Party quilt in the background.  

I've now finished all 8 of the plainer blocks that will alternate with the tea and coffee cups.  

Next up is the centre block which I might start this week.  Strangely enough, I'm worried that I might stuff it up! I really want this quilt to be beautiful - I guess that's why it's taken me years to start it.  I think I'll just prepare some flowers and leave them on my "design floor" for a few days before I start stitching ...

Shirley from Zipzog blog in the Netherlands got in touch after my post last week, and told me that she had made the Tea Party quilt with some friends.  Here's Shirley's finished quilt.  It's gorgeous!

by Shirley of Zipzop blog

You've inspired me to keep going Shirley!

I've finally chosen my fabric for the tea pot.  I feel that the tea pot sets the tone for the rest of the quilt, so it needed to be right.  I've chosen the flowery fabric at the bottom in the photo below. 

There are 16 large blocks ...

 If you've been following my blog for a while, you might remember this one.  It's appeared on my annual To Do list a number of times, but somehow I've never got round to starting it.  

This is a Wendy Williams Block of the Month from 2016.  I didn't enroll in the programme, but I came across someone else who had, but then decided she would never make the quilt.  So I purchased her unopened packs, and I have had them in my quilt stash for five years.  

I initially thought that I might substitute out some ...