NIcky's BIrthday Quilt

 My secret sewing is completed, I've finished and gifted the birthday quilt to my daughter Nicky for her 60th birthday.  Nicky had quite specific ideas for her birthday quilt, nothing sharp and spiky such as stars, she wanted 9 patches.  And in pinks and greens.  I could do that for her.  I had started the quilt some time ago, gathering up fabrics in the required colours, cutting and assembling the nine patch blocks.  In between times of course I stitched away at other projects and challenges.

Slowly the blocks were completed.  I stitched pink nine patches with a centre green square, and green nine patches with a pink centre square.  Webbing them together, I assembled the top.  What about the border, I pondered, and decided on a curvy ric rac with appliqued flowers and leaves.  That was a bit of a disaster, I didn't have enough ric rac!  All those curves were using up much more of the trim than I had calculated.  There was nothing for it but to drive down to Pete's Emporium in Porirua and hope they still had it in stock.  Luckily they did, so I purchased some more, and stopped off at a local cafe for a coffee and cheese roll as a reward, and thanking my lucky stars it all worked out.

I'd run out of this

Then I set to work on the borders, cutting out flowers and leaves, and then machine appliqueing them in place.  Gemma checked them out for me, she is such a big help.

Mmm, what's this, flowers and leaves.

The applique took me quite a while, then at last the top was finished and I dropped it around to get it commercially quilted.  But there was a problem, Deborah wasn't happy with the ric rac on the borders and was worried that the foot on her long arm would get tangled up on it.  The weeks were ticking by, and I was getting concerned about the timing.  Luckily Jacqui took the job on for me instead, and sketched out what she planned to do in the blocks, sashings and borders, all free hand guided quilting.

One step closer, quilt top and backing

I got the quilt back in time, and got on with the binding, stitching it on by machine, then turning it to the back and hand stitching it down.  I really enjoy this part, knowing I'm almost at the finish line.

Binding time

I used a pretty doiley for the label

So here it is, all finished.  I'm thrilled with it, and Jacqui did such wonderful quilting, it really makes the quilt come alive.  It's  on my bed while I took some photos before it was packed up and given to my daughter.  There were spare blocks so I made two cushions as well.

Not too bad, she's thinking

Last week the quilt was packed up into a bag, and traveled with me on the bus to Palmerston North.  These twice weekly off peak buses are great, and are free to oldies like me.  I really appreciate them as it saves me driving up there.    Nicky had taken her birthday week off work and met me at the bus terminal.

Birthday gift for Nicky

She had a quick peek in the blue bag, then put the bag in her boot to take back home.  Morning tea was first on the agenda, I was looking forward to a coffee by this stage,  then a little shopping to get some necessary items, and before we knew, it was time for lunch.  This was a "new to me" place that Nicky sometimes goes to.  I enjoyed some yummy prawns, and another cup of coffee.

My lunch

By this stage it was time for her to drop me back to get the bus home.  It was a lovely day out, catching up with my daughter and delivering her gift, spending time together and enjoying a tasty lunch.

A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies, and Elvis

Kaleidoscope, such  a lovely name for a group of butterflies, although I quite like the alternative name Flutter as well.  I've just put a top together featuring butterfly blocks.  This completion ticks two boxes this month, first for the Chookshed Challenge, as butterflies was on my list for number seven.  Plus, I made the blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, way back in 2022.

I know I've mentioned my former neighbour Dorothy many times.  I received a whole lot of her fabrics when she moved away, including a great pile of her beloved butterfly fabrics.  I stitched four blocks sets using her butterflies in 2022, and still have a lot of fabric left, enough for several more butterfly quilts, I imagine. 

All these still waiting for me

I assembled the butterfly blocks together over the last week or so, choosing purples, blacks and pink, using spotty neutral fabric for the sashings and border.  There are still enough of these blocks in blues, yellows and tan for another single bed quilt.

Lots of pretty butterflies

Then today, I laid it down on the carpet and pinned the layers together.  That's always hard on my back, but the weather wasn't nice enough for me to pin it up outside on the patio table.  Gemma gave it the once over and decided she would quite like to catch a fluttering butterfly outside one day.  She has been known to catch a moth occasionally.

Mmm, just look at those butterflies, but they are not all a flutter, are they, she's thinking.

And look what I received in the mail this week, Elvis is saying hello to me.  My daughter's friend Heather is having an extensive USA trip, and went to Gracelands.  She knows I'm a great Elvis fan so sent me this postcard, how kind is that!  "Elvis says Hi", she wrote on the back.  I'm sure if he was still around he would know I was one of his greatest fans, I've been smitten since I heard him singing "Love me Tender", and that's going back a long time now.

Elvis says "Hi"

The Keeper of the Quilt

 My niece Lisa called in for a visit the other day when she was passing by on a holiday trip.  I had asked her if she would like to become the "keeper of the quilt".  This is a family quilt, one I made for my mother for her 80th birthday back in 2002.  I had sent pieces of fabric out to everyone and asked them to write, embellish, or embroider something of themselves as a message to go on the 80th birthday quilt.   It was exciting to see all the individual blocks being returned. Lisa was delighted to take the quilt into her safe keeping.

Lisa and the family quilt

There were blocks from us four siblings, two son in laws, and all the grandchildren, and a very special nephew.  The youngest grandchild had his baby hand traced.  I added extra blocks in the names of my mother's sisters.  There were several photos printed on fabric, a special one of my grandmother who sadly died when my mother was about 8 years old or so.  The largest photo is of my mother and hung in the family home when I was growing up.  And underneath are three smaller photos of her over the years.

The 80th Birthday Quilt

I really enjoyed putting this together and making extra blocks to fill in spaces as required.  We had a family get together for this special birthday, and the quilt was presented.  All those very special family blocks were inspected, oohed and ahhed over, and admired.  

Sadly, as often happens, this quilt was deemed "too good to use" and was folded up and put away.  Many thanks to Lisa for taking care of the quilt now, and she told me she plans to use it and snuggle under it.  That's a nice thought, knowing that Lisa will be surrounded by all those family members, some have passed away and all the little ones are now well grown up.

And now, 23 years later, I will be turning 80 this year.  Goodness me, how did that happen?

Purple Haze

 My purple clam shells are finally finished.  This quilt started way back in May 1993 when I attended the 5th National Patchwork and Quilting Symposium in Upper Hutt.  This was a very exciting time for New Zealand quilters.  Big name American quilters like Caryl Bryer Fallert and Ruth McDowell were taking classes, along with Australian and New Zealand tutors.  Sadly, I can't remember the name of the tutor I had for the clam shell class.   We were shown how to cut out the clam shell shapes with an acyclic shape and a small rotary cutter, and how to stitch them in rows.  I had selected a range of purple fabrics, and wanted to arrange my rows in  lights and darks.  I got this far, and then it got put away, lost and forgotten for many years.

I made a start way back when

The  bag of purple clamshells finally surfaced and I decided to  just get on and get it finished.  Needed lots of pins to get those curved pieces in place before I stitched.  This must be why the project got put aside, presumably.  But I persevered, and slowly, row by row, the clamshells were stitched in place.

I needed plenty of pins

In between times, I had lots of other stitching taking place.  The monthly Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks to make in the nominated colour of the month, the monthly Chook Shed Challenge, donation quilts, and knitting to do.  But I pushed on with the clam shells, finally completed the top, and added a light border.  As for the quilting, what to do?  Big stitch hand quilting, I decided, was the way to go, and I used a variegated pastel thread.  I don't do a lot of hand quilting, but really enjoyed working on this quilt.

Big Stitch hand quilting

Stitching the binding down, and adding a label is always the best part, in my view.

Binding time

Finally, I added a hanging sleeve, and there she is all done, hanging over the sofa.  What's 32 years in the scheme of things between starting and finishing?

Purple Haze, 32 years in the making

The Birthday Quilt

I've been working hard to get a birthday quilt finished.  It all started with a bag of shirts I received from my niece Lisa when my brother-in-law Dennis passed away.  Dennis was  my late sister Kathleen's husband, and I started to make a quilt for their grandson Adam, in memory of his Poppa.  Just a simple four patch, I decided, with red and black frames.  Then my beloved Robin passed away late last year, and this got put on the back burner.

Making a start

The birthday invitation to Adam's 30th birthday in March gave me a bit of a shake up.  Goodness me, perhaps I can get this finished in time for the birthday.  So I worked away, stitching the blocks together.

Hard at work

Gemma is helping while I added the borders

The top was finally done, but being too big for me to comfortably handle, I needed to send it away to get commercially quilted.  Would it get done in time?  Of course it did!   While it was away, I got the binding prepared, and the label.  And here it is, all finished in plenty of time.  Deborah used a leaf quilting pattern, you can glimpse it in the black border.

All done, ready for Adam

Two extra blocks made a couple of cushions

Gemma a had a trip away as well, to the cattery.  She wasn't at all impressed and did a bit of hissing when she arrived.  "Don't worry", the owner told me, "I'll spend a bit of time with her to help settle her down".  As a former traveling caravan cat, she hardly ever went to a cattery, but now there is no option.

She is not at all happy

The drive up to Hastings was difficult, as I haven't really done long journeys on my own.  Obviously, I was a bit nervous, rather tense and ended up with a sore muscle on my side!  I drove through  drizzly rain, and the never ending road cones on the side of the road.  But where were the workers, I wondered?  The road cones are set out, together with the signs to reduce speed, with not a single worker on the road side in sight.  My little car behaved well on the trip, and as a bonus, I had discovered some petrol vouchers tucked away in the caravan when I cleared it out, so that filled the tank for me.  After a couple of stops along the way I finally pulled into the motel, pleased to have arrived.  It wasn't the best motel I've stayed at, but I guess you get what you pay for.

My home for the next two nights

Adam was having his birthday celebrations at home on Saturday evening, nice company and a home cooked meal, together with a birthday cake.  I'm pleased to say that he seemed very pleased with his 30th birthday quilt, and recognised the fabrics as his Poppa's shirts.

Adam and his sister Kate

Happy Birthday Adam

It was a very pleasant evening indeed and I'm pleased that I made the effort to make trip up by myself.  My niece Lisa presented me with this lovely quilting fridge magnet, those words are so true.

A gift from Lisa

Valentine's Day

 Happy Valentine's Day.  Celebrated on 14th February, Valentine was a priest who defied the orders of the Emperor and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war.  He was martyred in 270 CE.  This is my first Valentine's Day without Robin.  We always used to do something special, go out to dinner, or in later years, out to lunch.  Or just stay home and cook a special meal.  Whatever we decided to do, the day was celebrated together in our own quiet way.  

As a quilter, I only have one quilt with hearts.  This is "Hearts of Love", made for our 25th Anniversary.  I put it on our bed during the months of February, to celebrate Valentine's Day, and again in November, the month we were married.

Hearts of Love

So this year is quite different for me, but I celebrate our love each day, lighting a candle in the evening for him.  There is a photo of Robin beside the bed, and I say a few words to him each evening, and pat his pillow before I go to sleep.  Little rituals which seem to help in the dark times.  But we had 41 years of marriage, that certainly is worth celebrating, and remembering the good times, our travels  and adventures together.  

Changing Quilts, and a Movie

It's taken me a while, but at long last, I've taken the Christmas quilts down.  With such gorgeous weather, what better to display than "My New Zealand Bird Quilt", made back in I'm very proud of this one, especially as it is hand appliqued and hand quilted, and was designed by NZ designer Mary Fletcher.  I'll let you into a little secret.  The design had a creepy crawly weta together with the iconic tuatara (lizard) block, but there was no way I was going to have one of those on my quilt!  

New Zealand Birds

Of course, the quilt ladder needed changing too.  On the top is the Tee Shirt quilt I made for Robin's 60th birthday.  He passed away in late November and this quilt was on display during his memorial service, and I decided I will leave it out on permanent display on top of the ladder.  On rung two and four is my own work, and hanging on rung three is a row by row quilt made for me some years ago for a big birthday.  It's good to ring the changes and get to see some quilts which have been hidden away for a while.

Quilt ladder, made by Robin

So what else have I been up to?  I went and filled my car up, not such a big deal for most of you, but Robin used to do this for me.  A couple of weeks ago my friend Dot came along to the petrol station at the supermarket with me, to run through all the steps I needed to take.  The first one was to pull up at the pump on the side where the filling cap was!  Then she showed me what I needed to do, read the instructions which guided the customer through, and how to enter the discount code from the supermarket into the machine.  And most important to remember, my little car takes diesel, not petrol.  So now I can be trusted to do this job for myself!

I took myself to the movies today, to see "A Complete Unknown", which tells the story of 19 year old Bob Dylan arriving in New York with his guitar.  I'm not really a Bob Dylan fan, but this film was very interesting and I found out such a lot about his early song writing life, and some of his really early songs are still so well known today.  The film touched on the Kennedy, Cuba, Khrushchev, and the Cuba blockade.  Even down here in far away New Zealand, we feared for a nuclear war, and held our collective breaths, as did the rest of the world.  I was 17 at the time, working for an insurance company in Wellington, the capitol city of New Zealand, and remember attending a lunch time church service held to pray for world peace.  Scary times indeed. 

 Another part of the film that I particularly remember was when "Dylan went Electric".  In 1965 he teamed up with different band members and started recording and performing with electric instruments.  The folk music community and audiences were appalled, accused him of turning his back on the genre, booed on stage and pelted him and his band mates with bottles and cans!  My favourite Bob Dylan song was not written till 1975 so didn't appear in this film.  It is "Shelter from the Storm" full of dark lyrics of love and loss.  I hear it occasionly on the radio station.

Another part of the film which 

Mid Month Chookshed Challenge

Here we are half way through the month - let's see how I'm doing on my Chookshed Challenge for January.  The number chosen was 6, Wheels on the Bus whole cloth quilt, a boy's donation quilt .  I'm making this from a rescued duvet cover I found in an Op Shop (thrift store).

Duvet Cover

The first thing I did was to stitch a red border around the edges, that was easily done.  Then find some backing and batting.  The backing I had planned to use was much too small, so I decided to use a single sized sheet I had tucked away in the linen cupboard.  It was a nice colourful yellow, so toned in with the front of the quilt.

Then it was pinned up.  I usually start this inside on the floor, then carefully carry the quilt outside to the patio table and finish up the job there.

Pinning up the quilt

I've made a start on the machine quilting, and of course Gemma likes helping too.  Her idea of helping is cuddling up  on top of the quilt when I'm finished for the day.  That's fine by me, it's always a nice soft spot for her to rest and relax.

 

Of course she is helping

The quilting is coming along quite well, so hopefully I will have it all finished and bound by the end of the month.

 

A Little Show and Tell

 My friends Robyn, Shirley and myself take turns hosting a lunch every few months.  Sadly, their husbands have passed away, but the six of us used to get together in earlier years.  Robyn was the hostess this week, so it was us three girls plus my Robin.  The last man standing, they joke.

After our tasty lunch and a good catch-up we had some show and tell.  Robyn and Shirley both do a little quilting and Shirley had brought along a couple of things to show us.  She had recently finished this top featuring nine patches and snowball blocks on point, a donation quilt.  I must remember this design, it's very nice and simple, and would use up all sorts of bits and pieces of fabric lying about.

Donation quilt top made by Shirley

Next was a child's quilt with the individual blocks made by members of Shirley's quilt club.  Shirley took it home and did the binding - another donation quilt.

Shirley did the binding on this one

And I had  brought along my two recent finishes.

My recent quilts

Robyn then brought out the nine patch quilt she is working on for her daughter.  Another great use of scraps.

Robyn's quilt top

Then she showed us the lovely quilt on her bed, no we hadn't seen this one before.  Lovely restful colours and I'm always rather partial to stars.

On Robyn's  bed

After a very pleasant afternoon we said our goodbyes and dropped Shirley home.  It's always so nice to catch up with these old friends, we go back quite a long time.

Then in the evening I went to my quilt club meeting.  We were asked to bring four strips of fabric, 14 in by 4 ins to make "No Sew Christmas Stars".  The club member showing us how to make these was very patient, a lot of us were all fingers and thumbs as we struggled with our strips of folded fabric.  But we got there in the end, and here is mine.  I think the secret is to keep the strips pulled up tight.

No Sew Christmas Star

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.