Ocean Squared

 This is a 60"sq lap quilt that I made in June for my cousin Helen Burgess on the occasion of her 60th birthday.  She and her hubby frequently stay at their crib (aka bach/holiday house) at Riverton on our southern coast so I thought the beach words print fabric that has been in my stash for a number of years was a good starting point for selecting the colours/fabrics.

The pattern was a Courthouse Steps block design in my to-do folder,
originally called 'Christmas Lights' by Linda Douglas
(ripped out of an Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine,
so I am not sure of the year but it could be as long as ten years ago).

I used my Bernina Q20 longarm machine (on 10' studio frame)
 do some simple line quilting in the courthouse steps blocks,
and did a ribbon loop motif in the outside border.

The backing was made with the leftover solids and the beach words print.
We drove to Oreti Beach (about three minutes from home) for the photos.
If you walk around the entire bay you will eventually make it to Riverton!

It was a lovely Southland winter day, very mild, and Bess enjoyed a bit of a stroll too.

Lazy Sunday bassinet quilts

 

Some catch-ups from earlier in the year - these bassinet quilts were created in the April school holidays after I had a big tidy-up of my fabric stash, and decided to use up a heap of off-cuts/leftovers of flannel by making backings for neonatal unit bassinet quilts, then creating tops for them out of scraps or other leftovers or stash fabrics.

'Lazy Sunday' 20" x 24"

Simple straight line quilting on my Elna 720 domestic machine.

Cute whale flannel backing and a pinstripe binding!

'Another Lazy Sunday' - 20" x 24"

Changing directions with the straight line quilting.

Hopping bassinet quilts

Some catch-ups from earlier in the year - these bassinet quilts were created in the April school holidays after I had a big tidy-up of my fabric stash, and decided to use up a heap of off-cuts/leftovers of flannel by making backings for neonatal unit bassinet quilts, then creating tops for them out of scraps or other leftovers or stash fabrics.

'Hopping Around' - 19" x 23"

Free-motion quilting done using my trusty domestic Elna 720 sewing machine.

Cute bunny rabbit flannel backing and a polka dot binding.

'Hop To It' - 19" x 23"

'Jenny' doll

My sixth finish for this year is a rag doll for my wee cousin, Florence McGowan.

Her big sister, Lucia, received this version in 2020, so it was only fitting that I make one for Florence too.

I've insisted that this one is called Jenny, due to the first one being named Dana (my sister-in-law's name -see the post for the first version) - so I think it is only fair that we have one doll each!

I used a pattern called 'Pip', ripped out from Australian Patchwork and Stitching magazine, Vol 11 No 1 2010, and she is about 21" tall.

Sharing with my quilting and crafting friends via Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday linky party!

Home 'twin-set' lap quilts

 Finished projects #4 and #5 for 2024 were made from the same pattern and the same layer cake, with a variation in the colour layout, to create a 'twin' or 'sister' set of lap quilts for my cousin's two young grand-daughters.

Both quilts finished at 45"sq, and I used this Riley Blake layer cake 'A Little Sweetness' by Tasha Noel that has been waiting in my stash for just the right people to make quilts for - two sisters seemed ideal! 

The quilts were made with the 'No Place Like Home' pattern by Sue Pfau (aka Sweet Jane) in her book 'Quilts from Sweet Jane' (one of my favourite pattern books for using precuts, I think I've made nearly every pattern in it!)

With the two little girls relocating with their parents from NZ to Australia this month (we will miss them so much, but at least they are only 'over the ditch'), I thought the pattern name was very apt. 

I also liked the block design and could easily see how to switch it around to make two variations of the same design.

For Florence's quilt, 'No Place Like Home', I used the pattern as laid out in the book:

For the quilting I used Heidi (my Bernina Q20 longarm), and did a meandering loopy daisy chain:

This quilt has a backing of mostly aqua polka dots, with a strip of pink polka dots:

You know I LOVE a stripy or spotty binding!

For her big sister Lucia's quilt, 'Home is Where the Heart Is', I swapped the placement of the white sashing:

I quilted it on the longarm, this time using a loopy string of hearts design:

And the backing on this one is mostly pink polka dots, with a strip of the aqua polka dots:

The quilts were gifted last weekend, and winged their way to Queensland with the girls and their mum during the week.

Here's how they looked while waiting to be taken to their new owners...

Kia ora to all my quilting and crafting friends at Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday linky party!