Teddies, and a Giant Moa

 At our last Sew Wot get-together, Heather had a table of free stuff she wanted gone.  I swooped on two teddy bear cushion panels that took my fancy.  Just the thing for a couple of cushions for kids in care, I thought. These are now layered with batting, and pinned up, ready for me to do big stitch quilting around the motifs.  

Two cushion panels from Heather, ready for quilting

I've made a start of Father Teddy sitting on the window seat, reading his book.

Father Ted

I've also hand stitched a label on two secret quilts I've recently finished.  These are secret because the recipients don't know I've been making them, and they are due to be passing by, and meeting up with me shortly.  I'll be pleased to gift them at last, then all will be revealed.

Stitching on simple labels 

I met my daughter for lunch the other day at Sanson, a distance of 50km from home.  We were trying The Wool Shed Cafe, neither of had been there for quite some time.

In the grounds was a statue of a large moa.  These huge flightless birds  used to roam New Zealand and there were other smaller varieties as well.  The moas became extinct between the 14th and 15th centuries, after the Maori people arrived and settled in New Zealand.  Evolving in isolation without predators, the birds were ill adapted to human hunting, habitat burning, and introduced predators like the Polynesian dog.

Giant Moa

Our lunches were nice, the coffee was great, and as usual there was plenty of news to catch up on.  Nicky had brought me down a bag of the last of her feijoas, and a pumpkin/sweet potato pie from GD Emma, and I had some things to pass on to SIL Robert and granddaughter Megan from Robin's shed.  The day was beautiful indeed, sunny with a clear blue sky and reasonably warm for the time of year.  

Today is the shortest day of the year here in New Zealand, which of course means we have the longest night.  On the other hand, from tomorrow it will slowly but surely be counting down till Summer, so that's got to be good!

The Final Step

 The final step to quilt making is to stitch on a label.  (Although I don't do this on donation quilts).  Adding a label is like "signing off" a quilt, giving the details, and I always add one to those quilts I gift to family, and those I'm keeping for myself.  I've just finished hand stitching this simple label so Birthday Bouquet is now finished.

Like a lot of my projects, this one had a long gestation period.  Way back in the year 2000 I took part in Southern Cross Quilters Birthday Block Swap.  We were matched to 11 other quilters and during their birthday month stitched and posted a block to each one, with me getting 11 blocks back for my birthday.  We had already swapped any fabric we wanted included, and because I wanted a big bed quilt, I took part in two birthday block swaps that year.  I had sent a piece of the floral fabric in the label to each participant, which also gave them some idea of the colours to use, and they could stitch whatever block they liked.  I was so thrilled when the blocks were returned on my birthday month, but they sat in a bag for sometime.  Why?  Goodness knows, guess I got caught up doing other things. 

 A year or so ago, the blocks were finally stitched together, and I added the border, using up the rest of the floral focus fabric.  Then it was sent off to be commercially quilted. Another wait for a while, then the  binding was added, then I stitched the final step, the label.  I really love how this has turned out.

Birthday Bouquet

So it is a rather belated thank you to all those (mostly Australian) quilters who took part in this block swap so long ago.   I had fun stitching your birthday blocks, and love what you have done for me too.

Hand Stitching

I've been busy doing a little hand stitching lately.   On Saturday I attended a stitch-in day, organized by my quilt club.  The weather was miserable, wet and drizzly, but the hall was nice and toasty with the heat pumps working hard.  Others were machining away, but I don't like to take my sewing machine away from home theses days, it is just so heavy for me to load into the car and take it out at the other end.  So I make sure I have plenty of hand work instead.  Yesterday I starting  hand stitching the binding down on one of the big quilts I had commercially quilted a while ago ago.  I didn't get it all stitched down, but I've made a good start on it.  

Binding time

Eight ladies braved the wet and cold conditions to come and stitch for a while.  We stopped for a mid morning cuppa, and a lunch break.  It's always nice to stitch with company, isn't it.  By 2.00pm we all decided to pack up and head home.

Today, Sunday, I decided to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  I'd found a Jamie Oliver recipe, knew I had some frozen blueberries in the freezer, so whipped them up.  It was a nice simple recipe and I served them with whipped cream, extra blueberries and a drizzle of genuine maple syrup, all the way from Canada.  They didn't turn out perfectly round, but I must say they were absolutely delicious!

Blueberry pancakes for Sunday breakfast

I've been stitching away on a quilt label today, almost there.  I had just written the info with my pigma pen, but decided to stitch over the words.  Then I can attach it to the backing and share a photo of my completed quilt.  

Stitching a quilt label

As for my socks, they have come to a bit of a standstill.  I'm up to the heels, but need to spend a bit of time, sitting quietly on my own, while I read the pattern and mark off each row.  I've knitted heels plenty of times, but really need to concentrate.

Perhaps you remember the oven mitts I completed recently?  I posted them to my granddaughter Megan last week and received a thank you snap chat.

Thank you from Megan

My daughter Nicky has asked if I can make her oven mitts for her birthday, so I'm not finished with them yet.  That's next on my list to do.

Friday Finish

My Sampler top is now finished, once I had decided what to do with the border.  Although I had some floral fabric left, used in each block, it wasn’t enough to go right around.  I know, I thought, I’ll make some four patches, using  shades of red which tone in with the colour of the focus fabric.

Four patches

Once again, I had help when I was measuring up the borders before pinning each one in place.

A helping hand from Gemma

 

Job done – borders attached

Today I’ve prepared the binding, always like to get that done and out of the way.  Then thought about a label.  I wanted to use the “signature blocks” I received from quilters who took part, as well as having an area where I can write the details myself about the block swap.  This will be quite a big label so I will incorporate it into the quilt backing fabric, when I go and buy some.  Our country has now dropped restrictions to Level 2 meaning most shops can now open, as long as they adhere to the physical distancing, santitising, and customer record requirements.  I’m not in too much of a rush to venture out into the big wide world, so my shopping for wide backing fabric can wait for a while longer.  After all, this quilt has been hanging about since the Year 2000, so what's another few weeks in the scheme of things?

One of the Signature blocks sent

Stitched Label

A little Slow Sunday Stitching happened yesterday, when I had the urge to stitch a label for my Alphabet Noel quilt, designed by Michelle Ridgeway of Rag Tag Stitching.   Out came the light box and I used the design on one of Michelle’s Pocket Minis for inspiration.  My label is in the “naive stitching” category, certainly not fine stitching, but I’m quite pleased with it.  Once I get my Alphabet Noel quilt completed, this little label will get stitched onto the back.  That’s one little job done, still have to prepare the binding, I like to get that ready ahead of time if I can.