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!

Time Flies! Caity is 21!

Wow! I cannot believe twenty years has gone by since we first met Caity Kenny as a cute little one year old when she and her parents returned to NZ and her mum Kath began teaching at my school; she has grown into a lovely young lady with her whole future ahead of her!

Halfmoon Bay (Oban township) - Rakiura National Park/Stewart Island, NZ

Last weekend we travelled over to Stewart Island to help Caity celebrate her 21st; of course, I had to make a quilt for the occasion - luckily, she LOVED it.

I made it in under two weeks (thankfully had school holidays to give me time). The pattern is Moda Love (layer cake size) - it finished at 72" square. The pattern is super easy to sew together (I think working out the colour layout took longer than sewing it LOL!)

I had the perfect layer cake in my stash of Riley Blake Designs 'Flora and Fauna' by Amanda Herring, just waiting to be used for the right person and the right quilt. It has such pretty colours and a nice mix of florals and prints - aren't the deer cute?

For the batting I used a white flannel as the backing is a lovely grey minky - super soft and snuggly! And the binding is a cute dotty print.

The quilting is just simple stitch-in-the-ditch, with half inch echo lines, along all the seam lines; holds it all together nicely without being too dense and stiff.

We all had a wonderful time on the island - it is a unique and special part of New Zealand. 

Bri and I stayed the night in Horseshoe Bay:

Sharing my latest finish with my fellow-crafters 

via Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday linky party  

and also with Cheryl's Favourite Finish linky at Meadow Mist Designs

- kai ora tatou!

Fancy Free

This single bed quilt was first patched in 2015 and I found time to quilt it just before Christmas. It is one of my 2017 Finish Along First Quarter goals.

The fabric is a layer cake of Riley Blake Designs' 'Fancy Free' and I used a pattern by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts called 'Kyss Me By The Garden Wall'.

I used a large all over stipple to quilt it.  Of all the fabrics, I love the bicycle design the most...

The quilt measures 60" x 74" and the backing is made with more of the multi-print that I used for the long strips on the front, as well as a panel of  'Passion Flower' by Bella Roo Designs for Fabric Editions (that I pulled from my stash). I used an aqua gingham for the binding.

In 2020 I gifted this to my cousin's daughter, Claudia McNally.

#2017falq1geminijennz #2017fal

And I am sharing this at Lorna's very own "Let's Bee Social" quilt party link-up! Hi everyone! And also linking up with Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday party.

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!