Slow Stitching a Sea Bird

 My quilting club had a "Stitching Day" and I tool along this big bag of slow stitching to do.  I made this bag in a class  many years ago when we lived in Upper Hutt, and I think it might be called a pumpkin bag.  I can't manage my heavy sewing machine these days, it's much too heavy for me to unplug, put in the case, carry it to and from the car, then the return trip home.  So I always take some hand stitching along instead.  Plus a packed lunch - that's most important too.

  Mmmm, what's in here

After quite a long time I decided to work on my Land and Sea Panel, which I am big stitching.  I really like this panel, and plan to hang it above the sofa in the sitting room, where I rotate seasonal quilts.  It really doesn't matter how long it takes me to stitch, I'm enjoying the process.

Land and Sea panel

There was plenty going on during the stitching day.  Two of the ladies were finishing up their table runner tops from a recent club class.  Another was hand stitching a Sue Spargo design bird using wool, so pretty.    Hexagons were tacked up ready to stitch, and as usual there was plenty to chat about.  

I finished stitching the sea bird, he might be a gull, I think, then stitched some of the surrounding background.  It certainly was slow stitching,  but peaceful and enjoyable.  The gecko will be next, I think.

Big stitch quilting

It was a lovely day indeed.  One of the ladies brought along some freshly baked muffins to share at morning tea, and another had a big bucket of feijoas to give away.  How kind.  As for my hand quilting project, I'll have to make sure that it is not tucked away, out of sight - out of mind, again.

Final Quilt Club Meeting of the Year

 I had to make sure I took everything required for our final quilt club meeting of the year.  Into my bag went a wrapped fat quarter, batik blocks stitched for the block draw, an item for the food bank, and something for show and tell.  I hoped I had remembered everything.  We were welcomed to the hall with a glass of bubbly grape juice, that was a nice touch.  There was a basket for the fat quarters, and a box for donations for the food bank.  Raffle tickets were purchased, and our batik blocks were handed over and hung on the wall.  They looked stunning, all pinned up.  Mmm, I'd rather like to win them, I thought to myself.

Batik blocks made by club members

It certainly was a fun night and we started off with a couple of games of Skittles.  Plastic bottles were arranged and we used Jelly Rolls as the ball.  One through each, to see who could knock the most over.  Mine missed completely, as did several others.  You could tell which ladies had down serious bowling , their concentration and arm action certainly got results.  Kay was the best dressed elf and she was running around rearranging the bottles, with Sandra's help, after each throw.   Don't you just love her stripy stockings!

Who's a cute little elf, then!

Then we were all put into a circle, with a fat quarter in hand and listened to a story being read out.  Whenever the words left or right were used, and they were used very quickly as the story progressed, those fat quarters changed hands very rapidly.  At the story's end, we kept the parcel we had in our hand.  That was a lot of fun.

The raffles were drawn, no, nothing for me, but my name was called out as the winner of the batik quilt blocks, all 74 of them!  How wonderful.

There was some show and tell, I took along my recently completed memory tablecloth from my Far North trip, and then supper.  And what a wonderful supper it was.  Home made meringues, strawberries and cream.  A delicious home baked Christmas cake, and fruit mince pies - a delightful Christmas supper indeed.  It was a very special night, and thanks to the committee for their hard work in putting it all together.  

Off to the Quilt Show

I had to make sure I was up bright and early on Sunday morning, because I was going to a quilt show, how exciting!  My quilt club had hired a mini bus  and 11 of us climbed aboard, settled down, and we headed south to Otaihanga to Southward Car Museum.  The morning started off well when the bag of lollies was passed around.  "Lollies at this time of the morning?", someone asked.  And why not!

We've arrived, and that's our little bus in front

The ladies taking our entry fee warmly welcomed us, and then we checked out the raffles.  I do love those gift baskets full of quilting goodies, maybe I'll win one of these, that would be so nice.  We admired all the Community quilts that the Kapiti Coast Quilters make, and then headed inside to the adjacent hall to see the exhibition.  Where to start?  I wandered up one way and back the other.  Here are a few quilts which took my fancy.

"Lulu the Elephant" was stitched and beautifully machine quilted by Sue Elliot.  Such a beauty and I loved the intricate machine quilting, this is not something I am capable of doing myself.

Lulu the Elephant

I do love big, beautiful bed quilts.  "Bedroom Garden" was made in Kaffe's World class by Belinda Nixon and Felicity Neate, and quilted by Bobby Duncan.  Just look at all those lovely fabrics.

Bedroom Garden

I rather liked this quilt, titled "No Dogs on the Bed", possibly because I've stitched something similar.  But then, who doesn't love cats?  This was made by Pat Webster, using Kaffe Fassett fabrics, and quilted by Suzanne Sage.

No Dogs on the Bed

After wandering around a while, I took myself upstairs to the cafe for morning tea.  The cafe looked down onto the car collection in the museum.  We had visited the museum in earlier years and there are lots of interesting cars on display.

Bright and shiny cars on display

Downstairs again, and I checked out some of the many vendors.  Although there was lots of lovely fabric on display, I only like to purchase for particular projects these days.  

Ladies checking out some of the vendors

So I was very restrained but fell in love with this gorgeous  printed panel full of native wildlife.  I have plans for this.

My only purchase of the day

We all met up again upstairs in the cafe at lunch time and I was thrilled to win one of the raffles from our little group.  There were some pretty floral fat quarters, and two lovely hand made greetings cards, many thanks to Sandra and Lois for organising this.  I've yet to hear if I won one of those lovely quilters gift baskets from the show, so I guess I haven't.

My raffle prize.

Downstairs again, and one last look around the quilts.  There were several ladies gathered around this gorgeous wall hanging, so I stopped to have a look too.  "Bygone Era" was Di Barnden's way of show casing her collection of doilies set between Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  Such a beautiful setting and this was my favourite quilt in the show.

Bygone Era

Thanks so much for the friendly blog reader who approached me to say hello, so nice to meet you.  And I also caught up with several members of my former quilt club, Pinestream Quilters, of Upper Hutt.  Seems that  several of these ladies have moved north from Upper Hutt, and have joined the  Kapiti  Coast Quilters. 

We were all getting a little weary by this stage so agreed to leave a little earlier than planned.  But first the friendly bus driver had a very important job to do, we asked him to take a photo of us all.

A happy bunch of quilters

I have to say that some of the ladies had more shopping than others.  We climbed aboard the bus, the bags of shopping were tucked away safely, and we traveled north back to Levin.  It was a lovely day, and thankfully my back wasn't too bad after all that standing around.  Thanks so much to the committee for organising our day out for the members.

Christmas Jar Challenge

Last year mt quilt club announced a secret challenge.  We were to bring in some fabric in a jam jar, with our name under the lid so you didn't know who it belonged to.  The idea was for another club member to take your jar home, make whatever they liked from your fabric, adding one other fabric if necessary, and bring it back on the last club night of the year.  This is the anonymous jar I chose to take home, it had an interesting mix of colours inside.

Wonder what's in here?

Tucked inside was a lovely piece of linen type floral fabric.  As soon as I saw it, my mind was made up, I was going to make a tote bag.  My extra fabric was purchased, turquoise Grunge for the back, straps, and lining of the bag.  I started work on this project straight away, and this is what I came up with.

  Bag front

I used the pieces of fabrics provided, making an inside pocket on the lining, and using this pretty floral strip down the back of the bag.  And I must say, I'm rather pleased with how it all came together.

Back of the bag

It's just as well I finished this project in good time, as Robin passed away in late November and I didn't feel that I could attend the Christmas meeting.  This bag was dropped off to the recipient, and challenge was delivered to me last week, thanks to the Sew Wot girls involved.

I had filled my jar with New Zealand themed fabrics, and was thrilled with what I received back.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined the club member would make me a rope basket.  Such a lot of work, and it was beautifully done.  Colleen had placed the beautiful native Tuis in the base of the basket.  The early settlers named these parson birds because of the white feathers at their throats.

My beautiful rope basket

Collen had also made me two lovely little coasters.  I think her creativity and skill is amazing indeed.

Rope basket and two coasters

In my view, the Christmas challenge was very sucessful.  I'm pleased with what I made although  it was a big responsibility making something really special from the jam jar fabrics.  And I'm over the moon with what I received back, thanks again to Colleen.

Sew Wot Tuesday

 This time Sew Wots was held at Helen's rural property.  There was a bevy of cute heifers looking over the fence at me as I came up the drive, watching me with their big soulful eyes.  It was nice to see Sandra again, she hasn't been feeling too bright lately.  We spent the morning chatting away, as we got on with our various knitting projects.  Heather received a couple of belated birthday gifts, so it was exciting seeing the parcels being opened.

So.... what did we have for show and tell.  Carol had been busy again, with more knitted toys which will be donated to the Neo Natal Ward.

More knitted toys from Carol

There were two pair of men's knitted socks to admire, from both Helen and Heather.  Both their hubbies seem to have very big feet indeed.

Knitted by Helen

This pair knitted by Heather

And I had taken my Batik  Beauty quilt to show.

I'm very pleased with my batik quilt

Helen then showed us a couple of UFOs she had rediscovered and was working on them again.  The first was started in a class at Crazy Cow quilt shop, which has since closed.  This is a mixture of piecing and applique and has a real Kiwi flavour, with pukekoes, Maori designs and little lizards.  Looks like it is all pinned up ready for some of Helen's clever machine quilting.

This one is so nice

The second one Helen showed us is a Jelly Roll Race quilt top.  Very effective indeed, but I must admit that I have never made on of these.

Helen's Jelly Roll Race quilt top

Morning tea was served, and as usual was very tasty indeed.  Helen's husband calls us the Eat Alots, goodness knows where he gets that idea from!

Morning Tea

Many thanks to Helen for being the hostess for the day, as usual it was a lovely morning.

The next evening I attended the Town and Country Quilt Club monthly.  The speakers were a couple who talked about and showed us his beautiful woodturning.  And his lovely wife told us about their trip to the Outer Hebrides and her love of the Harris Tweed produced there.  My batik quilt got another outing as I took it along for Show and Tell, together with many other items on show by club members.

Show and Tell at the Quilt Club

Last Quilt Club Night of the Year

There was a great attendance at our December Club Night, with some faces which I hadn’t seen for a while putting in an appearance.  Our guest speaker for the evening was Diane Southey, owner of Village Books and Crafts in Palmerston North.  Her talk was all about “Modern Quilts”, the new quilting movement sweeping the world.  Modern quilting is defined as the use of bold colours, high contrast, improv piecing, and lots of negative space to show off our creative quilting.  Diane then showed us slides from Quilt Com of some of the prize winning quilts.  And to show us that perhaps we are already making our own versions of modern quilts and not realising it, Diane had several of her own quilts to share with us. Her talk finished with “Do what you love, and enjoy your quilting”.  Great sentiments indeed.

Quilts by Diane Southey

Understandably perhaps, there wasn’t a great deal of Show and Tell.  No doubt all the Christmas goodies made have been wrapped up, ready to gift.  I loved this version of a Christmas Tree, stitched by Sheryl, it certainly looks very “modern” to me. 

Cheryl’s Christmas Tree

And another Sheryl had made the Plus quilt for her daughter, goodness me, it’s huge.  Perhaps they are not pluses, but crosses, maybe?   Made to fit a Californian King bed, we were told.

Cheryl’s quilt for her daughter

And of course, there was a Christmas theme to the evening.  Members brought along many  donations for the Food Bank and the basket was overflowing.  I’m sure there were many more goodies deposited here as the happy quilters entered the hall.

For the Food Bank

There was entertainment galore.  Pass the Parcels did the rounds with two lucky members having their hands on the parcels with the final wrapping to come.  Then we had a game of Bingo, and the raffles were drawn.  The girls from Foxes Cottage gave us all a Button Challenge and little brown paper bags were handed out to us all.  That looks interesting.

Button Challenge

Supper was rather festive and extra special too.  Bowls of strawberries and cream were eagerly consumed, hot savouries were passed around, followed by my favourite, Christmas Cake.  So delicious.  As the meeting drew to a close we were reminded to collect a parcel from the Fat Quarter swap on our way out.  Mine was beautifully wrapped, and contained an interesting yellow fabric, one I hadn’t seen before.

Such pretty packaging

Such a busy night, with all sorts of things arranged for our final meeting of the year.  Many thanks to all the Committee and helpers for making it so special.

Town and Country Quilters Show

Last week my quilt guild held their bi-annual quilt show.  There’s always such a lot of work going on  behind the scenes to organize such an event.  With two guest exhibitors, and plenty of quilts from club members, there was plenty to feast our eyes on.  Then there were the merchants, all ready to entice us with all sorts of goodies.  I did make a few small purchases, I must admit, things which just had to come home with me.  Here are just a few of the quilts on display which caught my attention.

Centre Point, by Faye Davis

Summer Sweets in Springtime, by Paula Shailer

Frogs by Dianne Walker and Baa Baa Bedtime  by Sheryl Meech

Infinity, by Fay Davis

Positivity, by Paula Shailer.  Making a Plus Quilt is on my Bucket List

Our guild members are a very talented bunch, and there were plenty more which I loved.  We wandered up and down the rows, checked out the many merchants, stopped and chatted to friends and had a great time.  Then the cafe beckoned for a most welcome sit down, and enjoyed a delicious sandwich and scone for lunch.  Congratulations to all involved for all the hard work in organizing and running the show.

Almost there, and Quilt Club Night

I’m almost at the finish line with my current UFO, the Christmas Mystery Quilt.  All the blocks have now been quilted, and the borders have too.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I don't really enjoy machine quilting, but I’ve persevered.  How I would love to be able to do fancy feathers, swirls, and bubbles, but sadly all that creative stuff is beyond me.

Straight line quilting on each block

The borders were quilted using the variegated thread with gently waving lines.  Next step was to stitch the blinding on – something I had prepared earlier, as the TV cooks say.  But where was it?  I looked here, I looked there, and it was nowhere to be seen.  Then I checked another hidey hole, but no, not there either.  How frustrating.  With one last place to look, the missing binding was finally found, thank goodness.  I even found a little label I had made for this quilt.  It won’t take too long to machine stitch on, then I can sit and enjoy hand stitching the final stage.

The missing binding, found at last

I attended the evening meeting of my quilt guild during the week.  Due to travels and other commitments I had missed several monthly meetings, and in the interim, the wooden forms have been replaced with lovely comfy upholstered chairs.   Erilyn McMillan from Palmerston North was the guest speaker, and what a delightful lady she was.  Well known for her War series of quilts, she described each one in detail, relating background stories from her extensive research.

The story behind the red and white quilt was particularly sobering.  On a visit to Gallipoli she was told “the blood of 10 thousand men flowed here”.  On her return home she felt she just had to to make a quilt to commemorate those Anzac soldiers who had perished there.

The brown and gold quilt honours the many animals who served and lost their lives in the Desert Campaign. 

Last Post was the first war quilt Erilyn made, and started her on the journey of her War quilt series, and has made 15 or so.   She said that there was one more idea percolating in her mind which will be started shortly.

The meeting concluded with supper and drawing the raffles – and lucky me, at long last my number was called, so I got to take a lovely squishy parcel home.

Pretty tea towel and two FQs