And the ideas began ...

Well I went to Tauranga with hubby and spent four days looking at houses and re looking at houses. It was a very difficult decision but we have a result and we are moving in the school holidays, when exactly we don't know yet but should do in about a week.

We had stitching group here at our place last Monday night. What a fun evening we had. With show and tell by all, we also discussed our project for 2013.

We are doing triptychs, any size we like. Several ladies discussed their ideas and one even had her drawings done already. I have had trouble settling on one idea for the triptych as I have had a lot of ideas and couldn't choose.

After the ladies had left at the end of the evening as I flicked through a book I had borrowed from club I instantly knew what I wanted to do for my triptychs. Well at least two of them anyway. No, they aren't any of my original ideas.

On the left will be one panel and the design on the right will be another. I haven't thought too much past there yet.

These designs are from Material Obsession Two by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. There are some awesome designs in this book. I just love the fabrics too.

Any ideas or feedback, please leave a comment as I would love to hear from you.

Until next time, happy stitching everyone,

Donna-Maree

Wow .... look what I got .....

Hi everyone,

Last week our stitching group met for the first time this year. There are a few changes taking place as the night we are meeting is changing as well as the week of the month - so instead of meeting at the end of the week at the beginning of the month, we are meeting at the beginning of the week at the end of the month. This will take some getting used to, but I am sure that we will get there.

It was lovely catching up with everyone and hearing what we had all been up to. There was quite a bit of show and tell but I was so blown away that I didn't get any photos. But look at what the girls presented me with ...

Isn't the cover on the book just lovely. I think someone knows that I really, really like blue and look at that fabric - Inthia how did you know? The stitchery is awesome too. I feel very honoured!

This book was created with information and photos of our group over the last 12 years which is how long I have been involved with these lovely ladies. It truly is an amazing record of meals we have shared, projects we have worked on, our history. It is truly a very special gift - one that I will treasure. 

We have been working really hard getting the house ready for the market and we are now there. The house is looking really good thanks to all of the good hard work that hubby has put in over the past few months, years actually. The house has been listed and hubby has gone to Tauranga to start in his new role. Our youngest daughter and I are remaining here at the moment with the cats, and things will be reassessed in due course. 

While I am still here I am attending all of the normal quilty things that I am involved in, which is rather nice and a true gift. I haven't had much time do any stitching in the past few weeks but I am intending to squeeze some stitching in during the next few weeks. I am trying to decide what I want or should work on first. There is definitely enough to choose from.

I found it interesting tidying up the house and sorting through things, especially the places that I found some things. I know that my memory isn't that great but goodness I am pretty sure I never put things where I found them. I also found some items that I had totally forgotten about. I will pull them out and share them with you in future posts.

So on that note, come back soon to see what I decide to stitch first, and what I found in my sorting out. Oh and we should be hearing about our classes for symposium soon - very exciting and I can't wait.

Until next time, happy stitching everyone.

Cheers Donna-Maree

An unusual week

This last week has been a very unusual week. The weather is definitely cooling down and extra layers are being worn. There has been a lot of life things going on which has led to a time of re-assessment and reflection.


My night with my stitching group was very enjoyable and I really appreciated the conversations with the discussions on rotary cutters, blades and scraps. 


It seems that everyone is indeed sick of the sight of their own scraps. Speaking for myself, some fabrics seem to be in every scrap quilt that I create and it is a great feeling when I know that I have used the last of a particular piece of fabric, whether it is an ugly or highly prized fabric. At this stage I remind myself that it allows for the introduction of more fabric (which might even require visiting a quilt shop and leaving with a purchase).


Through the generosity of one of my friends who offered a bag of scraps from a quilt that she had done with particular fabrics that she didn't think that she would use in anything else, an interesting discussion started on how we view our own scraps and how when given the opportunity to work with other peoples scraps, we find it exciting and fun. It was decided that next month we would have a scrap swap. 


After much discussion and weighing of fabric, it was decided that for those wanting to participate we would supply one 250gram bag of scraps over a certain size. This first month will be a trial to gauge interest and usability of the scraps and then we would decide where to go from there. I have to say that I am really looking forward to it. But which scraps don't I want any more?


I attended our local club day last Saturday which I thoroughly enjoyed. We had a shared lunch for Mother's Day which was really nice. It was a lovely opportunity to celebrate being women and remembering that many of us are mothers, grandmothers and caregivers. This is often recognised by the significant others in our lives, but this is the first time for me that it has been celebrated with my peers and I enjoyed it.


Our guest speaker was Catherine Davies-Colley who spoke about her recent achievement in completing her Masters of Fine Art. It was totally fascinating and it was over all too soon. Catherine's passion and enthusiasm shone through and she is an incredible lady. Her works are going to be exhibited later in the year locally here, so watch this space for more on that.


To check out show and tell from club, go on over to Leeann's blog (click here). It is well worth a look as we have some very talented and gifted ladies in our club.


Until next time
Happy stitching everyone
Cheers
Donna-Maree

Stitching group with the girls ...


Last night was stitching group night, we meet once a month on the second Thursday of the month. I was really looking forward to last night as for a change I had some show and tell!


I haven't achieved much stitching in the last three years due to making a commitment to study. However, I have been stitching whenever I can since then and I have something to show for my effort.


So here is my progress so far:

This is my version of the Log Cabin Quilt from Quilt along with Emilie Richards - Lover's Knot Book 7. 

I had completed the top at some stage last year, but finally made a decision about the border and added it last week. It is now however waiting to be quilted.

I saw the pattern to this quilt on the front of a magazine and liked it immediately. I made this quilt using 2 Jelly Rolls plus extra lights and are quite pleased with it, another waiting for quilting.

I took this quilt last night for some advice on borders. This is Bonnie Hunter's pattern Pineapple Blossom, isn't it great. http://quiltville.blogspot.co.nz/2005/06/pineapple-blossom.html

This one is another Bonnie Hunter pattern, Weed Wacker which you can find here: 
http://quiltville.blogspot.co.nz/2005/06/weed-whacker.html
This one is waiting for borders and was another one that we discussed the border options on last night.

These are my Barrister Blocks that I have completed so far.  I read about Randy and these blocks on Bonnie Hunter's blog and couldn't resist making a few myself. I do need to catch up though as I am way behind.

The first block is Jacob's Ladder and the second one is Bears Paw and are the first two blocks that we are doing in the stitching group this year. Each person in the group got to choose one block each. The maker can use whatever colours and size that they like, they can also make more than one of each block - the choice is theirs. These are my blocks. The Bear's Paw will have tramming around it. The next block is a house block - this can be pieced or appliqued. The block after that is a star block - any kind, again your choice.
So watch this space to see what I do for those. I keep changing my mind with the house block ...


Cheers
Donna-Maree