Quilt Delivery Weekend

This weekend I took the opportunity to head up to Central Otago to deliver some very important recent projects...we nearly lost "Fizzy for Lizzy" into Lake Dunstan at Cromwell (it was more than a trifle windy up at the look-out, thank goodness Kieran had hold of at least one corner of it like I told him to when he made like a Hobbit and hid behind the rock for the photo!)

Great to be able to spend a long-overdue evening with my lifelong friend Ali and to be able to wish Fairy Princess Elizabeth a happy 5th birthday...

 

Then on Sunday, Kieran and I enjoyed a drive over to the Ida Valley in the Maniototo district, to deliver two more birthday presents...

"String of Pearls Remixed" for my cousin Kaylee...

The land here is quite a bit drier than here in Southland! Everywhere I passed, farm paddocks were being irrigated, while back here in Southland we've had an overload of rain!

And "Birds on High" for her daughter Claudia, just turned four...(I had to include the blue sky as proof that the sun does still shine somewhere in NZ!)

Birds on High - for Claudia

A wall-hanging, 20"square, and one of my Littlest Thistle Finish Along 4th Quarter challenge projects:  made from various pink and green-toned fabrics bought on sale from Kitz'n'Thingz or Spotlight...with my cousin's little girl about to turn 4, I wanted to do something with applique and saw a similar design (as a pillow I think) on Pinterest...the birds are ironed on and then I stitched in black around them to give it a 'sketched' look...

I used a 16.5' square for the background, and each border has 16-22 strips of 1.5" x 4".
The birds range between 8-12 cm in height. 

I used an embroidery stitch on my machine to add a little detail to the border, which is quilted with various widths of straight lines, while the centre background is filled with swirls...

Here is 4 year old Claudia, my cousin's youngest child (and sister to three older brothers), with her wall-hanging...she's a real character! I really enjoyed my weekend in Central Otago to deliver this gift and another quilt gift for another gorgeous girl...

Linking up with: Amanda Jean's (Crazy Mom Quilts) Finish It Up Friday;
Shannon's Modern Tradition Quilts KISMIF party      and      Lorna's Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social

Our four-six weeks of Spring rain has battered the garden somewhat (I considered building an ark about two weeks ago as we'd had so much rain), and the paddocks everywhere are totally soaked, but the flowers are still blooming...rose 'Alison', such a gorgeous deep pink...

 With a close-up of 'Iceberg'...

Fat Quarter Fizzy for Lizzy

This is one of my Littlest Thistle Finish Along 4th Quarter challenge projects: I love this one SO much, I went a bit photo mad! And it is Spring, so I wanted to have some spring flowers in the photos too...and I am also linking up with Crazy Mom's Finish It Up Friday and Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Modern Tradition Quilts...

I completed my version of the Fat Quarter Fizz pattern...(update: to see who received it click here!)

...remember, when I'd first laid it out I wasn't happy and did some random cuts to resize some of the rows, so have renamed it Fat Quarter Fizzy, (as that was preferable to Fat Quarter Fizzer!)

It is made from two fat quarter bundles of  the Merry Little Girls Stonehenge range by Deborah Edwards and Linda Lucovico for Northcott Fabrics (purchased online at the FQ Shop) and bound with a purple polka dot cotton (which I think was from the Amelia range by My Sister and Me).

The back has a lovely white/cream flannel with tiny pink and green flowers. I quilted it all over with loops and flowers in a multi-colour thread (purple, turquoise, green, pink) on the front (which ran out right on the last stitch with about one inch of thread left - phew!) and a white thread on the back.

The completed quilt is about 58" x 68", just right for a large lap quilt or single bed.

And while wandering around the garden I HAD to take these photos...the peonies began to open up last week...

Just to prove to Brian that Rumbles DOES go outside...

Latest finish!

More details later...the iPad is running out of power!

Today the purple polka dot binding was put on by machine. 

2014 Bloggers' Quilt Festival entry #2

And this is my second entry in the applique section of Amy's Quilt Festival, my hand-appliqued queen-sized Bear Family Album...each bear was hand-appliqued with blanket-stitch...

 ...with twelve different members of the family, this is  photo-heavy post, but worth it!

You can nominate my quilt for the Viewer's Choice here (if you like!)

...this was a block of the month quilt from Whichcraft in Invercargill, created over a period of months during 2008-2009. In 2012 I was able to sash the blocks and it was beautifully long-arm quilted by Barbara Joyce Quilting in Otatara...

Naturally, the teacher is my favourite!

Pre-quilting photos of each block...Sporty Bear...

Teacher Bear

Mama Bear

Papa Bear

Engineer Bear

Jogger Bear

Quilting Bear

Fishing Bear

Techno Bear

Gardener Bear

Nurse Bear

Dancer Bear

2014 Bloggers' Quilt Festival entry #1

 

I'm entering my Comma lap quilt in the Modern Quilt section of Amy's annual festival...voting begins November 11th...

You can nominate my quilt for the Viewer's Choice prize here (if you like!)

...it is made with the Comma range by Brigitte Heitland from Zen Chic for Moda, plus a green spot from the Free Bird range by MoMo for Moda...

Pattern: Charm Pack Cherry from the Fat Quarter Shop

I fell in love with the fabrics back at the start of the year and knew I would have to create something for our sitting room.  I love the citrus colours with the charcoal.

The Cherry Charm Pack pattern was so easy to follow...and I quilted with randomly spaced straight lines in different colours of grey, cream, orange and lime.