Two Weeks in a Row

The dice rolled 6, two weeks in a row, dictating which particular UFO I work on.  Not that I’m complaining, it gives me a chance to hopefully  finish up my Jingle Table Runner this week.

When I left this project at the end of last week, I had completed the top,  made a pieced backing, using up some more festive fabric, and prepared the binding.  Yesterday I cobbled together a couple of pieces of batting, and  pinned the layers all together ready to quilt.  And today I started, using my walking foot, quilting in the ditch between the larger embroidered pieces and  the centre squares.

Quilting in the ditch

Deciding against quilting in the ditch between all those centre squares, instead I did lines of straight stitching using the foot as a guide.  Yes, it’s certainly a bit more work with these extra lines each side of the seam line,instead of in the ditch, but I quite like how it turned out.

Stitching in a grid

All the straight line quilting in the centre panel  is now completed.  Tomorrow I’ll have to decide what to do on the stitchery panels.

While I was sitting at the machine, working away, our cat Gemma was determined to get inside the wardrobe.   There are all sorts of things in here, summer clothes, and multiple crates with my sewing stuff.   Opening the door for her, she soon settled down to snooze, curled up on top of some batting, all nice and comfy! She wasn't at all worried about the various items of clothing hanging down all around her.   What a life, cats certainly like making themselves comfortable, don’t they?

Hiding in the wardrobe

Easter Greetings

Wishing you all a happy and restful Easter, wherever you may be.  We are currently camping in rural Manawatu, and popped in to visit my daughter yesterday.  She surprised me with this lovely Easter gift.

Easter surprise gift from daughter Nicky

I’ve managed to spend some time doing a little stitching outside in the fresh air.   Here I am doing some hand quilting on my snowman Christmas panel, with one of the resident chickens keeping me company.

Hand quilting

There are plenty of farm animals to see and admire.  Just look at this handsome fellow – who gets regular brushing on his long locks, we were told.

Highland Cattle

I don’t know why, but I’ve always rather like pigs.  I walked over to see the pigs while they were getting fed, and the pig man helped me over the fence and through the gate to take some photos.  All the time explaining all I wanted to know (and more) about his beloved pigs and their breeding.

Big boar and sow

The farmer is a bit of a collector and we were invited to have a look through the large shed housing all his “stuff”.  Having a reputation of being a bit of a washerwoman I was intrigued by this collection of wash boards in the galvanized bucket, luckily a bit before my time.  But I did have a wringer washer when my children were young, like the one at the back of the photo.

Laundry paraphernalia

We are making the most of such lovely Easter weather, and the Easter Bunny found us and left a few marshmallow eggs in the cupboards. 

Now I’m back home……..

It’s only been a few days, but it’s certainly great to be back home again.  To sleep in our own bed, have more room to move around instead of just a caravan sized dwelling, and to be able to have my own washing machine again without sharing!  And as I said in the comment section of my last blog post – thanks for all for the comments and good wishes, and I’m pleased that so many of you came along for the ride with us on our trip.  The South Island of New Zealand has stunning scenery, and of course, we who reside here are well aware of what a beautiful country we live in.  And it’s always good to catch a glimpse of Kapiti Island on the drive up the coast on the way back home.

Kapiti Island in the distance

After all that hot summer weather we have been enjoying, the clock has now ticked around to Autumn.  So down came my Christmas quilt which has been hanging up in the lounge since December – to be  replaced with my Autumn toned Baskets of Blessings wall-hanging.  To be honest though, we don’t see a whole autumn colour here in New Zealand.  Our native trees are evergreens, and it is the “exotics” (from the Northern Hemisphere) planted in home gardens and parks  which change colour and drop their leaves.

Baskets of Blessings

So what else have I been doing this week?  Some secret sewing, that’s what.  Although, as a secret, I can’t really show much until it is gifted in a couple of weeks.  We arrived home to find an unexpected Big Birthday  invitation so my mind went into overdrive thinking about a gift.  Here is a tiny sneak peek.

Secret sewing has been happening

I’ve been playing around with my New Zealand themed fabric holiday memory patches and have them all laid out on the floor in my sewing room.  As “something I prepared earlier”, I took a whole lot of these away, and each evening I would mark where we were staying, and places we had visited.  Not sure if it will become a wall-hanging or maybe a table cloth yet, but it’s always fun to look back and reminisce.

Holiday blocks

And lastly, I’ve done a tiny bit more hand quilting on my “Winter Quilt Festival” panel, stitching around the snow people. 

And a little hand quilting

So that's been my week so far.  Dare I say that we are off on another caravan trip on Friday – just a short weekend away with our caravan club buddies.  And….. we have to sneak away from the rally weekend for several hours to attend a Family Reunion!  So it’s all go, again.

Last few Days on Holiday

It’s hard to believe that our loooong South Island holiday is almost at an end.  We are currently at our last stop, Koromiko, for two days before we board the Interisland Ferry.  And I’m relaxing outside doing a little afternoon stitching.  This is a nice roomy place to camp, and the property is surrounded with huge Totara trees, one of our beautiful native trees.  The bird song is amazing, and so nice to listen to as I’m sitting outside under the sun shade.

As far as stitching goes, I’ve started on another New Zealand botanical block.  But I’m feeling all “stitched out” on these and have put it aside for a while.  I had planned it as a long term stitchery project, after all, so it doesn't matter if I put it aside for a while.

Another botanical bock

Instead, I’m doing a little hand quilting on my Winter Quilt Festiva panel, for a change.

Winter Quilt Festival

I’m pleased the weather has warmed up again. Over the last few days when we were staying at Blenheim the rain came down and the ground was just a mud bath – not nice at all to slosh through.  There was a washing machine available so I did a load this morning and brought it with me to hang up here.  So that makes me a happy camper indeed.  There is nothing nicer than laundry drying in the sun shine, is there?

Drying in the sun shine

Most of the places we have been staying at have a “Swap a Book” area, where you recycle your books or magazines and pick up something new to read.  Here the books are housed in an old fridge, which appears to be plugged into a power point on the tree.  Many visitors are fooled by this, we have been told, and some have been seen trying to plug their appliances into the power point!

It’s a trick, of course

We will be enjoying our last couple of days on holiday, and then we will be aboard the Cook Strait ferry on Saturday.  And it goes without saying that we are hoping for a nice smooth crossing.

Packing my Stitching Bag

Exciting news – we are away on a 10 week caravan holiday touring around the South Island!  You know what that means -  no rolling the dice, no sitting at my sewing machine, it will be hand stitching only. How much hand stitching I will actually do is debatable – as we will be travelling high roads and low roads, stopping to explore, and generally having a good look around.  But it’s good to be prepared for those times I’ll be relaxing with a little time on my hands and feeling the need to stitch.

So what have I got to take away?  I’ve traced out nine blocks of stylized New Zealand trees and flowers, designed by Jenny Hunter, onto the pale green fabric I’m using for the background.

Then I’ve got some hand quilting packed as well.  Remember this?  It’s my Winter Quilt Festival panel, and I plan to quilt around the snow people and quilts.

Ready for hand quilting

And then of course I’ve got my two small native birds blocks to quilt.  When completed, these will be hung in the caravan.

So that should keep me busy, and I’m sure I won’t get through that little lot.  Our journey starts on  Sunday, and there is just time for another social get-together or two before we head off on our adventure.

Tui Stitchery

Finally I’ve finished stitching my second New Zealand native bird, this time its a Tui.  Although tuis appear black when they sit high in the tree tops singing their hearts out,  their feathers are actually shades of iridescent dark green, blue and bronze.  They have white curled feathers at their throat, and wispy white feathers around their neck.  The early settlers to New Zealand called them the Parson Bird. 

My version of the tui

I have prepared my two native bird stitcheries and they will be my holiday hand quilting project, while we are away on our next caravan trip.  I don’t do a lot of hand quilting these days, so should just be able to manage something small like this.  Picture me sitting outside the caravan under the shady awning on a warm summers day with a cool drink in hand, doing a little hand quilting!  That’s the plan, anyway.

Finished in time for Christmas

The “Great All Breeds Horse Show” quilt is finished, in time to get it wrapped up and delivered for Christmas.  The last remaining side of the binding has been stitched down, and the heavy quilt was lugged outside for a few photos.  A bit difficult as it is too long to hang nicely on the clothesline so I had to drape it over the fence, and it was still too long.  But at last it it finished – oops, haven’t stitched the label on yet, but that will only take five minutes or so.

Great All Breeds Horse Show

I’ve made this for my grand-daughter Emma, and it will be a surprise for her for Christmas.  We talked colours last year about a future quilt I might make her “sometime” and she wanted black and grey.  So black and grey was what she got, nine patch blocks all with a plain black homespun centre.  But I decided  to add the raspberry batik sashing to give the quilt a pop of colour.

Emma lives and breaths horses and has several on the family small holding.  So she will love the addition of 18 different named horse breeds, with everything from an Appaloosa to a Welsh Pony.  These exquisite embroidered horse head blocks came from Kings Treasures.

And the beautiful freehand machine quilting was done by local quilter Paula of Rabbit’s Patch Quilting, didn’t she do a marvelous job!

One last photo

Lunch with Linda and Peggy

We spent a delightful time yesterday talking quilts at the home of Linda and Peggy.  Linda is the genius behind Razzle Dazzle Quilter (do check out her blog) and I had asked her to work her magic on the quilt top I had recently completed.  We had kindly been invited to lunch, and arrived, with the caravan in tow, as we were heading off to Rotorua after our visit.  It was just as well that the ladies were not watching too closely while Robin maneuvered our 4WD and caravan onto their property – that was certainly a bit of a challenge.

Show and Tell took place as Linda showed me several recently completed projects, plus a couple of others which were due to be started shortly.  A quilter cannot have too many things on the go, can she? (Ask me how I know.)  Then we discussed the quilting and batting to be used on my caravan quilt.  Linda had several ideas for hand guided custom quilting, and after seeing some of her work on her blog, I’m sure I’ll be really thrilled with the results.

Linda pondering the possibilities

Then it was time for lunch, thanks so much ladies, and we admired the wonderful view from the picture windows, looking out over the Waikato River.

Gorgeous view from the dining room window

Then it was time to say goodbye, and we were sent on our way with a little home baking to keep our strength up!  I took a photo of the two sisters standing in from of Peggy’s lovely quilt, made with a new fangled curved ruler.  Linda did the quilting on this beauty too.  Peggy is recovering from surgery, and we wish her well for a speedy recovery.  Do check out her blog too, she writes as Kiwi Klippings.

 Peggy and Linda

Arriving at our destination in the late afternoon the caravan was soon put on site.  And what a great site we have, looking across Lake Rotorua to Mokoia Island.  Happy Camping indeed.

Camping at Lake Rotorua

FMQ my Maple Leaf Quilt

How do the experts make it look so easy?  I have to say that I’m not really enjoying this free motion quilting business at all.  Probably because I don’t often do it, I always forget exactly how to start.  My Bernina machine has one of those BSR feet (stitch regulator) but I still have problems.  And I’ve done some unpicking too, so it hasn’t been an easy afternoon sitting at the sewing machine.

I’m not much good a FMQing

Today I’m been trying to quilt vein lines in each of my maple leaf blocks, which just happens to be my UFO number 3.  They are going OK, but are not perfect, by any means.  I’ve a few more leaves to work on, and I’ll hopefully finish them off tomorrow.

I know, to get really good at a skill, we must practice, practice and practice some more.  Perhaps, on reflection, I’m better just quilting with my walking foot.  Or maybe I should go somewhere for lessons to see where I’m going wrong?

1000 Posts!

It’s hard to believe, but this is my 1000th post on Romany Quilting, with it all starting way back on October 2009.  That’s a lot of blog posts, and many thanks to the everyone who keeps reading, and making comments.  Writing a blog is sometimes like writing in a vacuum, tapping away while writing about your thoughts, and things which are important to your life.  And hoping that you are perhaps making a difference, that someone, somewhere is reading and interested in your words, brightening up someone’s life, and making a connection all the way from little old New Zealand.

I was a latecomer to quilting and patchwork, although I have always sewn.  There are memories of saving up my pocket money as a young teen, buying yards and yards of fabric, and whipping up a full skirted dress to wear over my stiff petticoats.  Then of course there was the fun of attending the Sunday afternoon youth club, and rock’n’rolling the afternoon away.

Once I started work there was a little more discretionary spending available, and I kept sewing myself new dresses, and buying my first pair of high heels!  Marriage and babies soon followed, and my sewing changed to making sets of pyjamas, shirts, shorts and corduroy trousers for Michael, and pretty dresses and nighties for Nicky.

The years flew by, the children grew up, and I met and married Robin in 1983.  A few years later I took my first quilting class, and made a pinwheel quilt for our caravan. 

My first quilt

And as they say – the rest is history!  From that first quilt, I have made plenty more, plus accumulated quite a collections of UFOs, but I’m trying hard to get these in order.

On reflection, I’d like to finish this 1000th post with my thoughts of:

I Love Quilting Because……

• The fabric – looking, folding, fondling, buying, collecting, it’s all about the fabric.
• The patterns – whether a commercial pattern, from a book or magazine, or maybe from an idea that has been percolating in my mind.
• The excitement – of starting a new quilt, choosing the pattern and the fabrics.
• The process – cutting, pinning, measuring, stitching, pressing, watching it all come together.
• The joy – of finishing a project.
• To give gifts – to family and friends.
• To make quilts – for us, so that I can ring the changes on bed quilts and wall hangings.
• For Christmas – I love Christmas quilts and decorations.
• To stitch household items – table runners, place mats, cushions, oven cloths, aprons, they are all a joy to make and use.
• Individual artistic expression – making the design your very own.
• Social interaction – my local quilt club, and the Sew Wots friendship group.
• Relaxation – it makes me feel good, so it’s got to be good for me!

So thank you once again to readers and followers, and thanks also to all the other quilt bloggers out there who I avidly follow.  My life is richer with knowing you all.

International Maple Leaf Wall Hanging

It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I rattled the dice in a coffee mug this morning, before rolling it on the floor to see which UFO project I would be working on this week.  After all, number 5 had appeared three weeks in a row, and I was starting to wonder if it would be 5 for ever more!  But no, a new week brought along a new change in number, and this week the project of choice is number 3.  Which just happens to be my Maple Leaf wall hanging.

All pinned up and ready to quilt

I received these blocks way back in (gulp) 2000 when I took part in an international block swap using the maple leaf pattern.  The idea was to stitch it in fabrics which relate to our particular country.  Mine was done some time later when I finally got around to assembling the blocks, and I used a batik fabric featuring New Zealand birds.  There are keas, fantails and kereru on the fabric.

My block using a New Zealand inspired batik

Other blocks were received from Canada, Australia, Indonesia and USA.  When my sewing machine was away getting serviced I put the layers together and pinned it up ready for quilting.  About this time I decided I really must do something about my many UFOs and this quilt made the UFO list as number 3.

Today I have started stitching in the ditch (using my walking foot) around the sashing strips to stabilize the quilt.  I’m a great pinner, pin down each long seam, and stitch away.  Does pinning in place make much difference, I sometimes wonder.  It’s certainly slower, but I feel it helps me, so I’ll continue to pin, pin, pin away. 

Stitching in the ditch