Waste Not, Want Not!

When I was making the friendship bags last week, I made a boo-boo with the very first one - all rush, no think! It wasn't until I had quilted it that I realised what I had done wrong. But, not wanting to waste such a lovely piece of work, even if I say so myself, I added more batting and offcuts of fabric to the sides, added some more quilting and hey, presto! A mantle runner!
It measures 7.5" (19 cm) x 23.5" (60 cm). All it needs are some little scented candles in the same colours, and in the box as a present (phew! another one down).

Almost Time to Tidy Again

Finished 2 of these Christmas table runners - one is a present, the other for sale. But I've made a mistake and was in too much of a rush to sew it, that at the time I was cutting and stitching, I didn't realise what I'd done. See if you can spot it!

I've Finished a Few Things

Aren't these Christmas Puddings fun? I found the pattern in a newsletter and had to make one - did get carried away and as you can see I have made 4!
Here is another colourway of the last table runner - I also added another border under the Prairie Points to make it easier for finishing off. I didn't even quilt this border, just the corners - lovely citrus-y colours. Used some of these fabrics in the strippy runner, next. I love how fresh they look together - have made 3 in these colours. They measure approximately 34" x 17" and the tutorial can be found here.
I think that these give you a great opportunity to practice quilting designs, although I was lazy with one and just meandered! Lovely gifts!

Getting Ready for the Day Trip

My quilting group girls are having a 'Christmas' day trip and lunch on Saturday. So as my gift to them I have made each a little friendship bag with some goodies to help us through the day. Tutorial for the bag is here.
I have included in the bag, some sweets, for energy, tissues, for wiping away tears of laughter and a notepad and pen, for ideas and patterns.
We are planning some stops along the way for refreshments, window shopping, fabric shop shopping, lunch and a visit to Ruth Pretty's shop at the classroom (Ruth Pretty is a chef. She runs great classes which are very quickly booked up, especially the Christmas classes).
We are taking a van which should give us plenty of 'shopping bag' space if need be!

A Table Runner

This was made from leftovers from a quilt that is waiting to be quilted - it's very big so I need to use a long-arm machine to do this. Very Parisian chic colours I think. Anyway, the pattern is by Judy Gray in Country Favourites No. 2 magazine, a 2007 edition. I think it should have been finished a day earlier, after all, the cutting out took longer than the piecing. I found that the instructions for finishing were not very good and had to have some help in figuring it out - if I was to make another one, I would add another border which extends past the prairie points and the binding would be so much easier to do. As it was, I bored myself silly fiddling around with it and I was distracted to do other things [sigh] I'm supposed to be finishing things not leaving them until later!
Measures 37.5 inches x 21 inches (95cm x 53cm). I used bamboo/cotton mix batting.
Here is a close up of the quilting:The pattern said stitch-in-the-ditch, but I can't see the point in that. This is simply stitched 1/4 inch either side of the seam line and I used both rayon and cotton thread through the needle at the same time, giving it a little bit more definition. Of course, wavy feathers in the outside border.

A Very Pleasant Lunch Time

Yesterday, the Palmerston North Public Library had organised an hour with author Diana Gabaldon (author of the Outlander series - Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, etc.). This was originally going to be in the library AV area, but there was such a large response that it ended up being in the Convention Centre. Diana was very entertaining, talking about her background in research, how she came to write a novel and her style of writing. She even read an excerpt from the latest, An Echo in the Bone, which had me flushing, um, I mean blushing! After all, I knew at least 1/4 of the people there!
Whitcoulls had a stall selling copies of An echo in Time, and there was even a 'raffle' to win all the books in the series (sadly I didn't win that!). Afterwards, Diana signed copies of her books and spent a little time talking with each person getting the autograph.
What a way to spend lunch.
Thanks to the Palmerston North Public Library for a great time.

Another UFO Finished!

An Oriental Bay Sunday

This is as a result of a yellow charm square swap in 2000. I even received squares from overseas! I didn't want to cut them up too much, so settled on this simple block. Now, I don't really like yellow and blue together, but this is growing on me! Anyway it is simply quilted - meandering on the blue, and leaves and vines on the yellow, then finished with half feathers on the outer border. I called it Oriental Bay Sunday, because the teal blue makes it sparkle like a summer's day at Oriental Parade/Bay in Wellington.
Measures 64 inches square.
This is my favourite fabric in this quilt - birds on a wire.