French Fancy

I've called this one 'French Fancy' because it is made using a jelly roll of 'La Belle Fleur' (by French General for Moda Fabrics) that my son had given me for Christmas in 2013 and the pattern is the Moda BakeShop's 'Fancy' pattern by Australian quilter Keera Job of live.love.sew

I made the flimsy during the Christmas holidays of 2014-15, and then quilted it up this year, with a soft medium-blue tone-on-tone print as the backing, for my lovely mother-in-law for her 80th birthday present - that was in September, but I had decided to do pebbling as the FMQ design in the negative spaces and it seems like it took FOREVER!!!

So instead Olive will receive it today when we meet up with her for a Christmas lunch before we head on our summer holiday.

It is a single/twin size quilt and I used pebbling in the neutral areas, with a stylised FMQ floral design in the print blocks. The binding is a soft sage-green and tan print.

My mother-in-law has a heart of gold and I found this very apt quote on Google:

I'm pretty sure she will love the muted tones of this quilt, and she loves flowers and gardening, so I think this quilt will suit her well.

Later...and here she is on Christmas Eve, very thrilled with her gift!

With this being the first week of my summer holidays, I have been busy making yummy treats for our Christmas Day celebrations as well goodie parcels for the babies/families in the Southland Hospital Neo-Natal Unit.

After getting all that done and delivered I took a few hours to quilt and bind this 'Kyss Me By The Garden Wall' quilt top that I put together in 2015 (a pattern by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts) using a layer cake of Riley Blake Designs' 'Fancy Free' and some stash fabric for the backing and binding - I'll make a proper blog-post about it when I get back from holiday...

So Merry Christmas everyone! It's summer down here in New Zealand, and we're heading off to camp/waterski/read/relax/be merry in tents at Lake Te Anau in the beautiful region of Fiordland (where a lot of filming was done for the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit movies). Have a great day tomorrow and a Happy New Year!!

Compliments of the season to my quilting friends visiting via Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday link-up!

Apple Patch

A baby quilt made from a charm pack of 'Little Apples' by Anita Hoey - it's been sitting on my stash shelf for about three years so I grabbed it a couple of weekends ago when I wanted a quick project.

I found some soft teal and grey fabrics to use as the four patches in between the charm squares. I love the little pictures: the apple trees, the children, and especially the turtles!

Last weekend I quilted it with a simple diagonal and sewed on the polka dot binding...so good to have another completed finish.

A hearty Southern NZ hello to any 'party' visitors via Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday  or Angie's WIPs Be Gone or Myra's TGIFF- as well as those via Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday or Sarah's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!- welcome to the deep south of New Zealand!

Bloggers Quilt Festival - large quilt b

Linking up with the 2016 Bloggers' Quilt Festival large quilt category...

Jan's Flower Patch is a large quilt of 62" square, made to celebrate my lovely cousin's significant birthday...

Bloggers' Quilt Festival - small quilt

Linking up with the 2016 Bloggers' Quilt Festival small quilt category...

Easy As (Summer) is a cot quilt made from a My Sister and Me quilt pattern, with Kate Spain Terrain fabrics...

Bloggers' Quilt Festival - large quilt

Linking up with the 2016 Bloggers' Quilt Festival...

String of Pearls (Remixed) is a 66" x 66" square quilt made for my cousin, using Remix Ovals fabric (by Anne Kelle for Robert Kaufman) and the pattern from Christa Quilts.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - home machine quilting

Linking up with the 2016 Bloggers' Quilt Festival...

Blanche's Barn Star is a quilt made for my Aunty Blanche, using an Amy Gibson pattern.  I quilted stipple in the white 'triangle' shapes, grid lines in the corners borders, border lines around the print triangles, and echoed the star design of the quilt by quilting stars in the white squares and corner squares. 

All done on my Elna machine at home.

Measures 72" square.

Tote bags #8 and #9

The last two in my series of tote-bags, this time using some cool Paris-themed fabric...

This bag has a red strap and a teal strap.

This bag has two teal straps.

The free Coates pattern is so easy to make...I made all of these over a period of about three weeks.

A warm Spring hello to all those visiting via Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday! And a sunny Spring hello to my friends visiting via Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish It Up Friday!