Civil War …

I am dodging my way around…..between Dear Jane Blocks, my Civil War Blocks and my Nearly Insane Blocks. I set myself a target of having my NI quilt finished this time next year, but I think its too big an ask. :-)
I have finished these Civil War Blocks. I am abit behind with these so have to be more focused.haha!

Civil War Block – 27 Irish Chain

 

Civil War Block 31 Empty Spools

Civil War Block 32 – Carolina Lily

I wanted to make this flower in Yellow, but now I find its the only block with yellow in my collection, so I’ll have to add some yellow to the next blocks.

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A new blog added..

I have added a new blog - Sue's Dear Jane Journey. If you click on the picture on the side, it will go to my Dear Jane posts.
Sue :-)



http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Really Bad Weather…

Unbelievably cold, very windy and raining here in Auckland where I live.
I got up this morning to find the rose pruning's, which I hadn’t as yet gotten rid of, blown all over the lawn, and the rubbish bin upside down in the garden.
This photo is of Wellington, the capital city of N.Z. which is about 5 hours south of where I live. They don’t usually get snow there.  We have a cold wintery blast coming from down South.






Anyway, a good day to share with you the work I have done this last week.
I got stuck in once again with my Nearly Insane Blocks, and have managed to make these.

Block 12



Block 24



Block 30
 

 I might have to make an alteration to this block as it turned out wrong. I should have had the pink triangles on one side going the other way.
 

Not too sure about this one as the colour in reality is very black.  Might be too dark.


And, last but not least is Block 18
This took me 3 days on and off – 229 pieces

As I am writing this we are having a hail storm. The weather here in Auckland is the coldest apparently for 50 years. Brrr….but wait - now the sun is trying to shine.

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I Spent a Happy Day…

last Saturday, with 14 friends each making our own version of a tessellating quilt. The one we made was from the book called “Square Dance” by Martha Thompson. It is so much fun to make, although a little tedious sewing all those squares together.



I made mine using 6” squares from my stash ( hurrah – a bit more used up) After sewing them altogether, you re-cut using a template drawn from the book. After the blocks are re-cut they are so forgiving to sew back together as all the seams are on the bias.  You loose about a third in Size I was told – in actual fact I measured Before and after, and my squares plus first border measured 78”. After re-sewing it measured approx. 58”.


Sorry it wasn’t held very straight ( it’s hard to get good help these days – haha)
Its small for me, although I still have a couple of borders to add, and I wanted this little quilt as a quilt for my bed, when I go to Retreats.

I also found a top in my collection, that needed to be quilted so I did just that for my MIL who is 93.


Below are a few photos of my friends tessellating quilts

 

As you can see they are all looking good. The two on the right were made with 10” squares.
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On A Lovely Winters Day…

a couple of weekends ago a friend and I went to a Quilt Show of one of the many smaller groups in Auckland.
The Show was really lovely and the morning/afternoon tea, which was provided by the quilters was divine. There’s no doubt that quilters can also bake!
I took photos of some of the quilts, but sorry am not sure who made them. 
You’ll see some of the quilts look a bit elongated, as I couldn’t get far enough back to take the photos, so some of them are taken on a bit of an angle. Unfortunately I’ve also missed off a few borders, but you can get the general idea that they were lovely.
 


 

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I think these two cushions were part of a challenge.  







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Gosh the time flies…

I have been meaning to post for about a couple of weeks, but other things get in the way. Then, I had a delightful visit from 3 grandchildren, all for different days/nights, so everything in my world was good.
I also went to my favourite retreat location. There are 2 different quilting retreats a year run at this particular venue, plus one at another venue in the same area, so I have to try and put the brakes on, as I could be away from home a lot, and that isn’t good!! I managed to take some pics of different quilts that were being worked on.
20 or so quilters attended this year, which made for a very friendly and intimate gathering.
But first a couple of photos of the lovely Bay
 
Every-one hard at it – The sun shone so much we had to pull down the curtains – and its the middle of winter. Certainly makes a change from all the rain we have had!
We have so much fun, laughter and devine food. Its so good for the soul.
   Oh my gosh! this is all I managed!!   

 
On the Friday night we traditionally make a small item that doesn’t require much thought. ( usually some of us have indulged in some wine by then.)
This year we made a block roll for all those stitcheries or hand applique we want to cart around.
Here is a photo of all the finished rolls. I never actually got to make mine.   The rolls partially opened..These are the rolls closed.
I have some photos from a Quilt Show I attended last week, but I’ll save those for next time.
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