What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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, I went to Tauranga and it is a small world because I met my friend Helen who I first met 10 years ago when our kids were at school together in Wellington. 

I had a great weekend in sunny, warm Tauranga.  There were 15 people in my wool felt applique class on Saturday, and 17 in my big stitch hand quilting class on Sunday.  

People say that New Zealand is a very small place.  They don't just mean the size of the land mass, but the fact that everyone seems to know everyone else.  We didn't all marry our cousins, but the "six degrees of separation" rule is more like three or four degrees of separation here.  We can usually find a connection in common with fellow New Zealanders.  

I'm off to teach some classes in Tauranga this weekend and I'll be interested to see how many connections are made over the weekend.  

I'm taking My Small World quilt ...

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 ...

Last week I showed you the sights of Tekapo.  This week I'll show you what we did at the retreat.  

I taught 14 ladies how to make my Summer in Tekapo tote bag.  We had a great time experimenting with wool felt, Perle 8 threads and ombre fabrics. Everyone's bags are going to look so different because they applied their own artistic flair to the design. 

Tula Pink lining

It was a great weekend with good people and very good food.  And of course the scenery was gorgeous with all the snow on the mountains.  I definitely hope ...

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 ...

Two weeks ago I went to Christchurch to teach Wool Felt Applique to Canterbury Patchwork and Quilting Guild.  

I took along a number of my samples so the ladies could see how wool felt can be used in quilting.

My version of Flower Garden - designed by Wendy Williams

Flocks by Night - also designed by Wendy Williams

We had a lovely day exploring all the different ways that wool felt applique can add colour and whimsy to cushions, bags and quilts. Attendees learnt new stitches to embellish their work and went away filled with new ideas.  

We all enjoyed browsing through ...

 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 ...

 It's Friday again, and what have I got to show for this week? 

I've embroidered one more block for my Licorice Allsorts quilt.  There's just one more block to embroider now, and I'll be sad when they're all finished.  

My wool felt applique class at Coastal Quilters went well last Saturday.  The ladies all came with different ideas, so it was fun to see their designs emerging.  Coastal Quilters owns a Sizzix machine so we experimented with all the templates and cut lots of different shapes.

I came home with some snow flakes that I ...

Firstly - thank you for all the answers to the question I posed last week.  How do you follow blogs in 2022?  I haven't had time to digest all the answers yet, but I will.  

This week I've been busy finishing up this piece so I can take it to Coastal Quilters tomorrow.  

It's something that I started when I came back from Dunedin all inspired by the local's use of woollen fabrics.  The maroons in the centre are from a small bundle of Sue Spargo woollen fabrics, and the borders on the side are flannel that ...

A few weeks ago I was invited to teach wool felt applique at Stitch Witches in Dunedin.  My good friend Sue Lucas is one of the owners of Stitch Witches.

The inspiration table

I had a great time and met lots of lovely ladies. It's always interesting to see everyone else's ideas, and I was inspired by the woollen blankets and woollen suiting fabrics that some of them bought along to the class. 

I had a quick look in a local op shop, but they only had plain green blankets and I wanted pattern and texture (of course ...

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!

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 ...

This week I've been working on "Don't Leaf Me" by Wendy Williams. 

I've had this kit for over a year, but due to many other distractions, I haven't got very far with this one.  I decided that I needed to show it some love this week.  

I've done a lot of wool felt applique in the past, but I haven't done much needle turn applique. There's so many different ways to do needle turn applique! Everyone has a different method.  In the end, I asked one friend to show me her method, and ...

I haven't made any Christmas quilts this year, but I'd like to show you my Oh! Christmas Tree quilt that I made back in 2016.  This quilt is a great example of how you can take your quilting lead from the design in the fabric.  See all those snowflakes in the backgroud? I hand quilted over them with Aurifil 12wt and now they stand out beautifully.