Teddy Bear Picnic lap quilt

I started this quilt back in April 2016 and finished stitching the binding on Christmas Eve. Nothing quite like a bit of last minute rushing. It was actually a gift for my sister's birthday back in July. Being the avid bear collector for decades I decided the best option was to include bears! For the backing I selected her favourite things; netball, tigers and more teddy bears. The teddy bear fabric on the back came courtesy of a dear Aunt in Dunedin.

This quilt pattern came from a wonderful book, Singular Sensations.

Fussy cutting the bears

One Teddy

More Teds

Setting out the teds and the corners

Adorable Teddies

Ironing the inner blocks

All sewn together

Lots of variety for the backing

Pussycat guarding the quilt

Safety pins at the ready

All done!

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