June Update

Wow, I can't believe that we are in to July already. Hubby and I went away over the weekend and there were serious frosts throughout much of the country and we had -2 degree in Coromandel where we were staying, it was very cold and a shock to system as the temperatures have been extremely mild especially as the shortest day has indeed passed. There will be more on our road trip in an up coming post, so check back to read all about that.

Tonight at club we have the second Top 5 show and tell for the year and I am really disappointed that I still haven't completed anything for this. I didn't think that I had achieved a lot in June until I made a list while getting ready to compile this post. On reflection I haven't done too bad at all, however none of it is for the Top 5.

This is what I have accomplished for June, I have completed the purple and green quilt - yay. I will do the label and wash it today so it is ready to go to Australia.

Purple and green quilt

I completed some blocks and then assembled two quilt tops for gifting as goodwill or charity quilts. I have also sorted through several projects that have been gifted for completion for more goodwill quilts.

Goodwill quilt top

Waste not, want not quilt top still waiting for borders

The Presidents Challenge has been handed in this month and wow what a fantastic collection of creativity we have in our club, I am so glad that I am not judging these. We have 14 entries out of 21 indications of interest and these have all gone off to the judge and all will be revealed later this month.

We had the two day Rosemary Rush class and what a fantastic class that was. All completed versions of these quilts will be displayed at our open weekend in October, more information on that will be posted here closer to the time.

I have also got a lot of tracing and organising done for another project that I have committed to this year and although the progress there is a bit slow right now, what I have done will speed up the progress on this as other projects get completed.

Bearing in mind that I have been sick throughout June and two lots of antibiotics have helped but haven't cured my ills, I don't think I have done too bad for June.

The other thing that I have done is change the direction that I was going with my hexie project. I had originally thought that I would do The Insanity Quilt and while I really like that pattern still I have decided to travel down a different path. Using what hexies I had done already for the insanity quilt I have added to them and this is my progress so far.

Hexie tranformation

All in all I am happy with June and I just hope that July can be just as productive. It is an amazing feeling completing projects and seeing the result. I feel very blessed to have a passion that helps me create beautiful works of art, are stitched with love and keep our loved ones warm and cozy. Soul food for sure.

Until next time everyone, happy stitching.

Donna-Maree

Purple and green quilt nearly done

We had typical winter weather this weekend with frequent showers. We did get to the Farmers Market on Saturday but there were definitely fewer people about and you had to have an umbrella. Sunday there were bursts of sunshine for which I am always grateful for.

The weekend saw some progress on the purple and green gridlock quilt. The quilting isn't perfect but it is done. Interesting how the quilting is always better near the end of the quilt compared to the beginning. Today should see some tidying up and the binding going on.

Nearly done.

Quilting in progress.

It will be so good to get this quilt done and ready to go to Australia. Deadlines can be a good thing especially when you are slotting extra projects in. I am looking forward to getting back to what I should be working on though, the pile has been growing while working on these gridlocks. 

The next show and share for the Top 5 is next week which will be the second one for the year and so far I have had nothing on my list completed. I had been working on them until I made the decision to make these gridlock quilts. Both of the ones that I have been working on need the quilting to be completed. I will try hard to get one as close to completion as I can by the club meeting next week.

My sewing machine is calling, I have some stitching to do. Until next time, happy stitching everyone.

Donna-Maree

February is humming along

January 2016 has been and gone and February is definitely humming along. The wild weather that we had throughout January seems to have settled and summer has returned with high temperatures most days. I can't believe it is a month since I last blogged, there has been so much going on lately and don't worry the fingers have been busy too.

There have been meetings and get togethers to start the organising for the year ahead and indications are that 2016 is indeed going to be a very busy year. 

Here is the bright strings completed and on the back of the couch. So pleased to see it done and yes it is my first completion for 2016. I made the strings using a calico foundation and I like the stability that using the calico has given this quilt. I am super proud of having one completion already for 2016.

I made some bunting for my granddaughters 2nd birthday - it was so fun and easy to make. 

My daughter didn't waste any time hanging it in Scarletts room. It really brightens up the dark corner and pulls all of the design elements together. I just love the little snuggle book reading centre that Kelsey has created for Scarlett.

I registered my Top 5 list and photo at the club meeting yesterday, it will be interesting to see how many people register for this club. We do have quite a few ladies in the club that don't have any UFO's, they only have their current WIP's and I really admire their self discipline and perseverance. I am already working on two of my top five quilts and I really can't wait to get rid of my list totally. 

I have realised that I don't want to work the way I have in the past and I have a new approach to my patchwork and quilting for any new and future projects and so I am planning not to end up with a large list of UFO's again.  I have a plan and we will see as the year progresses how I get on, but don't worry I will keep you up to date with where things are at.

I have decided on one new project for this year and I have already started this, the inspiration and incentive came out of nowhere and was a very pleasant surprise. So far I am enjoying it but I will tell you more on that a bit later when I have more to show you. When I said earlier in the post that my fingers have been busy, this is one of the things that I have been working on.

The only other thing that I am doing this year is a BOM that we are doing at club for our members. The ideas started off with us doing a Baltimore quilt but we also wanted to make it a New Zealand inspired quilt, hence the name for this project has become 'Baltimore to the Bay' due to us living in the Bay of Plenty. We also thought that if we kept it to a 9 block quilt including a border that we would get more members participating in this project. This is going to be our main project for the year instead of doing smaller projects like we did last year. I will show you the blocks for these as we go though the year, I have started working on the first block as we are wanting to show a variety of ideas and techniques when we launch this in the next few weeks and I will be able to show you mine after then.

My fingers are itching to do some more stitching and these quilts aren't going to get made sitting around, so until next time, happy stitching everyone.

Donna-Maree