Aztec

Just wanted to share my black and white cat and his gorgeous possum tail!

Countdown begins

With Christmas only moments away, well eight sleeps away, I thought I had better do my finishing touches to two quilts. They both needed to have their bindings sewn on and of course, that all important hand stitching to close the deal. When it comes to hand stitching the binding I am at a lost how people can spend time doing the tiniest of stitches to make them look perfection. I lump along and stitch ever so badly, more or less just wanting for the quilt to be completed. One day I will perfect the art of stitching, but in the meantime I shall plod along as before.

80x80 binding

 

The cat had to move first before I could continue...

Much smaller lap-sized quilt

Sports lap quilt

Back in April was my brother-in-law's birthday and I stayed focussed and managed to get this out in two weeks. I would love to go back and quilt it better, but overall it came out OK and the themed fabrics went together well, some of his favourite pastimes: soccer, golf, fishing and caravanning. The wonderful golf fabric came from my Aunt in Dunedin and the soccer fabric was a wonderful homage to his playing days. The kiwiana caravan fabric was an adorable addition for the borders and the backing.

What not to do whilst quilting!

Quilting complete

Caravan, fish, and fishing rod detail

My first attempt at quilting

Soccer detail surrounded by golf fabrics

Binding sewn on and all complete

Caravan detail

Still Life with Pears

When you patchwork, finding gifts for your friends for birthdays is a fun time to come up with inspirational quilts. This time was the chance to get inspired by pears, one of my friend's favourite things.

Firstly, I had to track down a pear pattern for a wall hanging. After some googling I came across this impressive pattern, 'Still Life with Pears' from a book called 'Modern Quilts Illustrated'. I estimated the block sizes and the sizing of the pear. After some mis-measuring, it came together in the end and my friend ended up with a sizable wall hanging!

Making sure I had all the blocks

Fun part deciding what pear went where

More options of where to place the blocks

One of the pear detail

Another pear detail

Label pocket

Sweet lil donkey inside

Label writing is on the back of the donkey

My chosen backing, pears of course courtesy of Grandmother's Garden

Final block pattern with pussycat on guard

Done!

Pussy cat minding

You know that moment when you need to plan your quilt and start deciding what fabric should go next, only to have your paw friends come along and announce that yes, this is possibly a good place to settle down for awhile and stop you from progressing any further.

This is the backing of a quilt I am working on, but have yet to quilt...

Continuing Farmers Blocks

Patricia. A Recipe for Keeping Young, I chose a blue Peter Rabbit fabric to go with the theme of taking nap time with baby.

Patricia

Patience. Talk about Grit! The green checked fabric is supposed to represent the water pump working hard on the farm.

Patience

Grandma. All Bravery and Brightness. All about farming and taking wings and flying away. The soft green fabric was taken from my Grandma's off cuts from making a blouse.

Grandma

Three more Farmers blocks

Aimee. The Magic Jar. New paisley fabric because I ran out of the last one. My points are pretty bad in this one, may do again, but I really liked Aimee and her angles.

Aimee

Jewel. Listen a Little. It looked good on paper! This was the first one that challenged me and many others I suspect. I liked its 3-D effect.

Jewel

Sara. Life has Loveliness to Sell. Looking through the kitchen window and seeing all the beauty outside. This is another one I might do again and tame down the conflicting fabrics.

Sara

More Farmer's blocks

Susannah. Earn Before Spending. I chose to select some football players, paying attention to the boots. The boy in this letter spent his earning on saving up for a pair of footy boots.

Susannah

Addie. Happier Than Ever Before. I quite liked this block. The family would see deer around the homestead often during their trips around the farm. The brown striped fabric indicates the fencing and the brown floral print are the wildflowers.

Addie

Margaret. Mom's a Whole Menagerie. I really loved how this block came out with its pretty fabrics. I tried to give a "rainbow of love", with a mixture of emerald, ivory, crimson, gold, silver and rose. I chose not to add the paisley fabric for this one.

Margaret

Millie. Blind Flying.  All about having faith. I decided to select soft colours and again chose not to add the paisley fabric.

Milly

A few more Farmer blocks

Old Maid. East, West, Home's Best. I added the coffee cup fabric because it was homely. Note, I'm still using the same paisley throughout. Some of the blocks didn't work very well with it, but I thought, what the heck!

Old Maid

Katherine. From ironclad shoes to Roses. This letter focussed a lot on hard work, children, sacrifice and roses. I decided some rose fabric would be best! Here they are among the green pastures.

Katherine

Granny.  Another Grandmother. The mother's faith and love for her children made me select these fabrics. For an added bonus I added another paisley...

Granny

Jenny. I learned to play. All about playing and having fun. Here, the family are having fun on the farm with the red stripes indicating fences.

Jenny

I had huge issues with Granny. I managed to mix up the templates big time and my points were way out. The above image was my third attempt. Below is one of my failed attempts.

An unusual Granny

I also had issues with Jenny by not noticing that I hadn't caught the seam with enough fabric. A lesson learnt. Use more fabric than you need.

My misplaced Jenny

By the way, I begun these blocks about December 2015, so it's a slow road.

More Farmer's blocks

Betty - A dream come true. I tried to convey "dreamy" colours. I don't think my paisley is working in this one. Can always do again. I don't usually patch with purple, but it tends to go well with green.

Betty

Caroline - When I behold the heavens. Here is my version of Heaven (the light) and Earth (the dark), mixed in with paisley!!

Caroline

Belle - Gift, fun, fellowship. Christmas time sharing the dinner table with family and neighbours.

Belle

Coral - Take time for enjoyment. My interpretation of the "blue jay bird" outside the window, spending time with Mother.

Coral

To fully enjoy the blocks/letters you will need to buy the book!

The Farmers Wife 1930's Sampler

I didn't think I would do this quilt, but once a few friends started it up and begun their blocks following a Facebook quilt-along, I was hooked! Firstly I had no idea how to build them using the templates, but once I got over that hurdle I was on my (slow) way.

My first few have the same paisley fabric in them, wanted to keep it slightly connected. I was reading the letters and trying to reflect that in my fabric choices. A lot of people have brought brand new fabrics, but I decided to use what I already had.

Becky

Bonnie

Aunt

Ironing board usage

Having such a small sewing room there is no room for the ironing board so it sets up camp in the lounge. On the days in-between sewing it becomes a nesting place for cats: high up and sunny!  I always tell myself to put a blanket over the top to stop it from getting "fluffy", but I always end up forgetting. Good thing I only iron my fabrics on it and not fancy dancy blouses!

Aztec feeling the warmth