Monday 21 December 2015

crafty blog catchup....

It feels like ages since I have blogged, it seems my bloggy mojo has gone on a holiday.
The school year is over and I can recharge and get my act together.
I have been crafting as I am sure you all would expect and occasionally commenting when blog hopping but more often than not I have just been visiting seeing all the beautiful festive crafting travelling to and fro.
It is all very inspiring and I am hoping that I will get some christmassy crafting on track next year as this year has been a dismal failure in that regard.
I will give a warning that there are a lot photos in my catch up so hold on and come along for the ride...


firstly mum's lovely gift quilt got quilted by Jemima's and I did the binding for her. It is winging it's way to France..... Bon Voyage!




 The last two Baltimore blocks are done and dusted..... now to decide how to put it all together. I would really love to applique traditional sashes on the outer borders but just can't decide whether to add sashings between blocks?                    to ponder another day...
I have really enjoyed making these blocks and enjoyed the classes at Jemima's a lot.

 The little cottage stitcheries got done and put together into a table runner and was gifted on Saturday to my KK at craft group....



 The 'redo' Lucy Kemper block is done and dusted and the centre sewn together. I am loving this so much!! now to work on the border blocks.
I received a lovely parcel in the mail from Els in the Netherlands, it included this lovely little dilly bag for sewing goodies and another surprise giftie received was from the lovely Susan (of thimblestitch) one of her gorgeous little thread keepers. Perfect in the blues and don't they all go together well, even my wool needlecase fits in the colour scheme perfectly.  There were some other goodies sent by Els but I haven't taken pics yet.


well that is a hooly dooly big post....
Not sure when my next post will be..... will wait and see.
I'd like to wish everyone a most wonderful Christmas and safe and crafty new Year.
Thankyou to you all, my bloggy friends for visiting and supporting my crafting endeavours.
Hope to see you all soon....
cheers
Marina




Monday 9 November 2015

this and that

thought I would share some pics of what I am working on last week and also this week.
I am hoping to get this baltimore block done so I can get to the lucy kemper redo block...
there were some initial hiccups due to not tracing the flowers accurately enough but I borrowed mum's ones and the results are so much better. the light blues were in a mail of lovely blue scraps from Susan (thimblestitch) that were meant to go to miss Lucy but I couldn't resist using some in this block, there is still plenty for Miss Lucy. lots of leaves to go.....
 these stitcheries will be a KK pressie, they seem to be taking ages, there is a third one traced but I don't know if I will manage to get it done in time.

 Here is a finished top... my pretty clamshells. I finished the applique border a few weeks ago and hadn't shown it. I like it a lot and it will make a pretty baby or dolly blanket. Don't trust those around here for it to be a table runner!

Now for some pics from the quilt show. There were quite a few people through which is great for such a small group. Rosalie and Liz popped in for a look and a cup of tea and chat which was great.
On to the pics... there were more quilts hanging but I didn't  snap them all...







have a great week
Marina.

Thursday 5 November 2015

if you're in the area...

Pop in and say Hi, the city girls will all be there as will I.
It's the first time I have had some quilts in a show ever so I am excited. I quickly put some sleeves on them this week, last minute of course. The quilts will be displayed in the church and placed over the rows of seats and on stands, it is a lovely set up.
Anne picked up my quilts to take for set up tomorrow as I have to work.
cheers for now
Marina

Saturday 31 October 2015

shirt challenge reveal....

Today was the day for the big shirt challenge reveal. The venue was the beautiful home of the lovely Marg.
It was bring a plate and your shirt challenge project and also the Kaffe Fassett challenge for those that took part.
It was a wonderful day spent with inspiring ladies as the following photos will show...
Be warned there are quite a few photos.
first up was the kaffe fassett challenge quilts...

Sue's gorgeous Samoan fabric top

Annette and Marina's completed quilts.

Tania and her gorgeous start to her top

Donna's beautiful top all basted ready to start quilting.
 There were some other finishes that made it to show and tell..
Sue's beautiful Batik sew along top, quilted waiting for binding.

Marg's amazing 'message in a bottle' flimsy. So love this!
Now for the shirt challenge.....

This stunner was Marina's, and I so wish it was this Marina's, but it belonged to Gisborne Marina.

Marina's other shirt challenge quilt.
Tania's challenge was going to be a mini but she enjoyed it so much she is going to let it grow

Annettes stripey delight. Even had a pocket for keeping the remote.

Marg's stunning quilt. this was amazing.

This was Helen's 

Sue's stripey quilt with lots of pockets. This will go to the Orangutans at the zoo and treats will be hidden in the pockets.


 Forgot to take a pic of my own quilt so here is one I borrowed from Sue (kiwikid's) blog. Not quite finished but together at least as a flimsy.

Here we are all together.
Thankyou all for a wonderful day and to Marg for hosting us all in her home.
There were a few of the usual suspects absent and were sadly missed. Hopefully it won't be too long till the next get together.
Cheers
Marina




Sunday 25 October 2015

some applique and some pincushions...

I made some pincushions last week to give to the sales table at the Bluegum Quilt show which is coming up.
I had hoped to make more but I have had some glueing malfunctions with the glue gun glue not sticking to the glass properly. Does anyone have any ideas what glue will work well to stick the fabric to glass?

 these ones utilised some cross stitcheries and I backed them with felted wool.
I am afraid the little blue one at the front is staying with me as I just can't part with it.

Some applique has been keeping my needle occupied too.
I was worried I wouldn't complete September's baltimore block in time but I did manage to get it done before the class this week.
Quite a pretty design but sooooo many leaves! at least they were larger ones. We received our last block too. I will complete mine at nine blocks. We will be given 3 extras in case we want to make it a 12 block top.

.....then I worked on my fourth Lucy Kemper centre block so this one completes the centre. This afternoon I marked the cutting lines and trimmed the blocks down.
When I bought the background fabric I didn't realise there was a direction to the pattern. There was only an exact amount left on the bolt when I bought it so there was little margin for error, but murphy's law......I did make a mistake with the direction on a block. I have ummed and aahed as to what to do but looking at the photo in this post I realise I can't leave it and have to redo the non conformist block. I had tried to mix the blocks so it would be random but no go.....so after some reverse sewing of the centre I have prepped the pieces to redo the block.  I was lucky to find a yard of the background fabric on ebay so I have enough to redo. The side blocks won't be able to match the direction of the centre but I can live with that., hopefully.
If only I had thought this out before starting I could have used several didn't fabrics...... but that's the way the cookie crumbles

I am hoping to have my clam shell top ready to show soon, just appliqueing the last border of leaves and berries. I am quite happy with the overall look.
Won't be much longer and the Shirt challenge project will be revealed by those taking part. Considering I had most of the top done early in the year it has taken way too long to get the borders on. It won't be quilted but the top will be done for the reveal.
Hope you all have a great week.
Marina

Wednesday 7 October 2015

a little show and tell..

There has been stitching happening here, slow progress makes boring blogging.
I have been happily appliqueing the border vines for my clamshells and even dabbling in some cross stitching, pics will eventuate.
For now I'd love to share a pic of a little quilt mum is working on. I am not sure which magazine it is from but it was a pattern for a wall hanging which has been enlarged and added to to make a childs quilt.
So loving the bright colours..but the wind wouldn't play nice to allow a good photo. 

I delivered a quilt on Monday to a work colleague that had commissioned the make.
Beautifully quilted by Jemima's. 
No matter how hard I try I can't seem to get a photo that shows the true colour of this quilt.
It's so pretty and bright in real life and was happily received.


It was back to work this week and I am missing the free time to craft that I enjoyed the past few weeks but that's life!
Baltimore class is next week and I haven't even made any progress since the last class, think I will get a red cross next lesson......unless I get to it this week and change that cross to a tick.
Have a wonderful week
Marina

Saturday 26 September 2015

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.....

Well with that gushy title there can only follow a post about one thing.....Sweet William.
Click away now if you feel you cannot handle the barage of photos of my dearest.
 this is the last block that was finished on Wednesday afternoon.
Below the blocks are all trimmed and ready to sew together. Maisie is just doing a last minute scan to make sure it's ok to proceed..
And huge drum roll please...My version of Sweet William by Susan Smith....
I made 18 appliques from the pattern and improvised the other 7 by using designs found on the net and other patterns I had at home.
I picked out the fabric for the alternate blocks Wednesday with some help from Liz (the village quilters) who was up for a visit. I probably wouldn't have bought the fabrics so soon had she not wanted to visit Jemima's. I thought may as well take the blocks with me to get some help with selecting possible colours.
The beautiful apricot colour used for the outer triangles was the first to jump out at me and the yellow was the last. We auditioned about 6 fabrics with Veronica and when these were together it was love at first sight. Absolutely meant to be. Quite by accident as things often are as I couldn't decide between the two fabrics and had to have them both.
Finished size is approxiamately 150 cm square. A little smaller than the  pattern but will be more than big enough for my purposes. I hope to hand quilt this lovely in the future.
 Here is the whole top.
 I couldn't resist this photo of the back in the sunshine.. I love the stained glass effect.
Well that is that. A project that almost wasn't to be, has become a completed top. It was commenced in September 2014 but was restarted in January 2015.
Of course thanks to Elyte for turning on the light bulb, the pattern will be happily going to live at her place whenever she is ready. That's the least I could do.
I'd best leave this post at this stage of the photo overload I am over the moon to have finished this top.
There is some progress on some other projects but they can wait till next post.
you bet I'm happy dancing
Marina

What is new....

 Now that a few projects have been completed and delegated to different quilters I can share my new projects. It was not easy finding the in...