Colours and Critters (In The Garden)

This is an FPP (foundation paper-pieced) double/queen quilt that I began in 2022 and finally completed in 2024. 

It was a block of the month quiltalong called In the Garden, with patterns by Kirsty Lea @QuietPlay - and I sewed the blocks on my Elna 720 domestic machine. I have done a sample block of FPP before, and have got a pattern for a gorgeous zebra that I intend to create one day, so felt that this project would be a good chance to build my skills with a technique I have not really used.

All of the fabrics were pulled from my stash and scraps bins, with yardage of a white organic cotton from Spotlight, and then I started in 2022 with the lily blocks:

They were super easy, and I'm keen to one day make a quilt just using this block, using up scraps.

Then I began the large blocks; I chose to do the 15" size (the other option was 12" but I felt that they would be too fiddly for me as I am not always the most patient of sewers!)

I love this little bug!

October 2023 - finally all done, ready to assemble and quilt!

Measures at 67" square

I quilted it on my Bernina Q20 longarm frame, free-motion quilting using an allover motif that I had seen as a panto online (but I don't have a panto so practised freeehand drawing it first until I felt ready to do that with the machine).

I used a wide-back gingham for the backing, a practice lily as the label, and a polka dot binding.

This one is definitely staying with me - it gives our bed a lovely, fresh look!

And while it was laying on the floor to dry, Bess decided she had the right to test it out!

Megabytes for Meg

A young lady who we have known since she was born, Miss Meg Kenny (nicknamed 'Megabyte' by my hubby when she was a baby) turned 21 in August this year - the lockdown NZ was in at the time meant she couldn't have the 21st celebration that she had planned, and then it has taken me and her mum this long to coordinate ourselves to get my gift delivered to her (all three of us live in different towns).

I used a jelly roll that I had purchased from Donna's Quilt Studio here in NZ and I used Michelle Cain's 'Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt' pattern from her Bolt to Beauty website.

And yes, it was a super-easy quilt to put together (I actually made this in February and finished it April, before realising Meg's birthday wasn't until August, so I was well ahead of myself for once!)

For quilting (it measures 57" x 68") I did straight line echos of the coloured strip blocks, and free-motioned simple up and down loops across the white background strips.

The backing is a blue print that has been in my stash for a while too, so it is good to be using some of that up!

Meg Kenny, we wish you all the very best for your next 21 years!  xx Jenny, Brian and Kieran

And, how coincidental, I am linking up with Michelle's Beauties Pageant linky party, with one of her own designs (wonder if she'll notice LOL!?!)

Also linking up with Wendy's Peacock Party - so great to finally be able to share this one!

2020 Temperature Quilt

 

Towards the end of 2019 I was seeing posts, on social media quilting sites that I follow, of the temperature quilts that people were completing for the year; I decided I would like to have a go at making one during 2020.  

First I looked at different block formats that others had used and decided to go with a rectangle block for the daily high, with a triangle at one end to represent the daily low.  The biggest headache was working out a temperature scale; I then selected and bought a range of Moda Grunge colours to use.

I also bought a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer that would show the daily high and low (and double-checked these temps for accuracy against local weather reports).  I recorded the high/low numbers on a calendar and during our school holidays throughout the year I would construct the blocks and columns for the previous months, so was doing two or three months at a time.  

You can see we had a fairly consistent, mild climate through the year. The months run across the top (being in New Zealand, Dec/Jan/Feb are summer months so they are on the outside sections, with winter months being in the middle of the quilt).  Sadly, we had such miserable weather that I had to use my 'cooler' colours a lot more than I had hoped in the summer month columns. And from a distance, two of the blues look very similar so don't show some differences in days as much as I had hoped. 

When putting the blocks together, I decided I wouldn't worry about having the blocks always facing the same way, as would have it looking a bit more random (but now that it is all finished, my orderly quilting brain is telling me it would have probably preferred each block/triangle to be in the same place! #nexttimeifthereisanexttime)

The quilt measures 60" x 64" and I used a pink print from my stash for the backing. 

I was a bit busy during the January holidays of this year, so didn't get the final months finished, and the whole quilt completed, until May or June.  It has taken me this long to finally get the photos done for sharing.  

Linking up to share with Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday.

Vanilla Kisses and Wedding Wishes

This is a double-bed quilt I made in December as a wedding gift for my cousin Simon McGowan and his partner Kate Pavitt, who married (on a VERY hot summer day) in Wanaka on the 14th of January 2021.

Kate had requested whites/creams/off-whites, so I had been collecting fabrics since about September, to use in a pattern called 'Out of the Box' that I had found in my stash of patterns. It had been ripped out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine (May 2019).

The quilt measures 64" x 72" - the photos aren't great for colour as the weather had been fairly ho-hum during the start of January and I simply had to take the photos at the last minute, just before we headed away to Wanaka for the wedding.

I quilted with a simple wavy 'check' and the binding was made with leftover strips of the different fabrics. 

The backing is yardage of a tone on tone print in a soft white/cream.

Joining up with Cheryl's Favourite Finish Monthly Link-up so I can share this with my quilting friends around the world!