Merry Christmas!!

A jelly roll for me!! Kieran picked this La Belle Fleur, French Connection by Moda jelly roll for me as my Christmas present!! Lovely to get a surprise ( even if it was only half a surprise) and I can't wait to make something from it, thanks son!! Good choice!! 

 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! All the best for 2014!!

Holiday time = sewing time! Gifts for Lorena and Olive...

#1 Black and red bag Side A - gift for Lorena (Mum)

No school ( or at least no need to rush to be at school) means I can get more hours of sewing into my day...what I call 'Jenny heaven'!!

So here are four tote bags to tick off from my list of holiday projects...

• two tote bags (Christmas gifts) - TICK!
• two more bags made from the leftovers of the fabric I bought for the red and black bag -TICK!
• three quilt tops that have been sitting in the UFO pile and I intend to do the quilting
• three giraffes to finish off. 

Six weeks...tonnes of time huh?!

#1 Black and red bag Side B

This red and black bag is for my mum and it is about 12" x 15" in size, made from an assortment of fabrics that I bought at my favourite Kits'n'Things shop in Invercargill. I used what has become my standard tote bag pattern that I adapt to suit my mood (and I am hoping to put together a tutorial on how to do it so watch this space!)

The strips have been quilted in a diamond pattern
and I did a meandering stipple all over the floral print. 

This pastel bag is made from a beautiful set of fabrics that I couldn't resist and I think it will suit Olive, my mother-in-law, perfectly...Life is Beautiful by Helen Stubbings of Hugs n Kisses for Red Rooster fabrics. Both sides are the same.

I based it loosely on a pattern from the Australian magazine 'Country Patchwork and Craft' Volume 5 Number 1 2006, called Scents of Spring.  I liked the layout of the patches but used my own method for construction.

I quilted a simple set of straight lines across the top panel and then did straight lines in a diamond pattern across the blocks.

I think I will leave these hanging in the lounge for a day or two so I can admire them before I wrap them up and give them away!

 These are #2 and #3 black and red bags. I think I will sell these next year or give them away if I find a good cause. Again they are made from my basic bag design method and are both about 12" x 15".   

Oct 2014: UPDATE: #2 was given to my third-year teacher trainee from Otago University, Candace Adams, as a 'well done' for finishing her teacher training and a 'thank you' for all her hard work (she taught the class sole-charge for a total of about six weeks this year, meaning I could do other things!)

Bag #3 has been given to my netball buddy (and our school office manager) Broni Tumataroa for her birthday.

 #2 side A

 #2 side B

 #3 side A

 #3 side B

Not bad for just four days work, considering I have also been busy those past four days with: re-setting my classroom furniture after the cleaner finished in there, taking my mother to the hospital for her pre-op tests, getting the Xmas shopping finished and making sure the community pool databank is up to date and all members have paid their fees. 

Speaking of presents - as you can tell if you scan my blog and see how many items I have made for giving to others (and as backed up by the book The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman) I usually show my love for others by gift-giving.   But over the past twenty years I have learnt that I have not married a likewise gift-giver!  ;-(

After a few disappointing years of gifts (and yes, I know it's the thought that counts, but seriously...camping cooking pots for a girl who doesn't really do the great outdoors more than once a year?!)  I have worked out that the only way to have a suitable (ie I'll love it and use it) present under the tree for myself (or on birthdays) from my darling hubby is to give him very specific instructions (ie circle items in a catalogue, point them out at the shop or simply to buy it myself on his behalf!) So I sorted that one out last week when I went past the jewellery shop, with a delightful sparkly, and on sale, dress ring now wrapped and sitting there for me on Christmas Day.

There have to be some surprises under the tree though so I am, however, training up our 12 year old son to be a gift-giver - yesterday I 'dumped' him into the hands of the friendly ladies at Kits'n'Things and they helped him select a jelly roll for me (which I then went in and paid for once it was wrapped) - so while I know it is a jelly roll, I have no idea what the fabrics/colours will be - yay! A surprise awaits me!!

Presents aside, family and good health is all that matters really...have a Merry Christmas everyone!!

Black and white tote bag for Marena

A thank you gift for Marena, my totally awesome and hard-working teacher aide (who is also our school cleaner). A wonderful lady who has been an absolute support over the past three terms.

I used my favourite b&w birds (still have a little bit left - mental note to self to make a bag for myself with it!)

Bag is about 15" x 12".  I just made up the pattern, deciding on having random widths of strips for the stripy panel.  Small pocket on the inside.  Large stipple pattern for quilting. 

Finished! Jelly roll quilt - Moda: Circa 1934

Got the binding done on this last night and gave it a wash today...

Fabric designed by Cosmo Cricket. Lap quilt is 48" x 62" in size. Backed by some pieces in my stash from Spotlight. 

And even the hens came to give their approval...

WIP jellyroll quilt and a Blog Hop giveaway

Friday 29th November - congratulations to Anna from Alberta, Canada - your comment (number 143) was drawn as the winning comment! Anna wrote: I live in Edmonton Alberta Canada and I love the beautiful river valley and the seasonal changes. Canada is a huge country with so many gorgeous places to visit- Perhaps one day you will get a chance to visit Canada.
 Thanks for visiting my blog Anna, and yes, I would love to visit the grand land of Canada one day!

Original post: Welcome to my blog-post for the Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop of November 2013!

It has been a busy few weeks thanks to end of year school reports, a four-day weekend in Auckland with three friends to cheer, dance and have a general great time at the Fast5 Netball World Series, the local Friday night lawn bowls started up, and there are all the preparations for pupil goal reviews and getting ready for our end of year school concert.

Phew. I am TOTALLY ready for a Christmas break!

In between all that, and using this blog-hop as a target date, I have been aiming to finish this jelly roll lap quilt...

 

I have straight-line quilted a quarter inch in from each edge of some of the strips, have FMQ'd a kind of daisy chain or four-leaf clover pattern and or chains of large circles along some strips, and plan to do a large zigzag along the leftover strips. 

 

Watch this space to see how it all finishes up (which will hopefully be before the end of the blog-hop!)

My giveaway is celebrating all things New Zealand as I am a proud Kiwi and it is a pleasure to have visitors to my blog from all over the globe: up for grabs I have a 250g block of NZ-made Whittakers' L&P white chocolate - this chocolate has been infused with the taste of the world-famous-in-NZ fizzy drink known as L&P, which is set into popping candy that fizzes and crackles in your mouth - some love it, some hate it, but I think it is fun to try something different!

Our national colours are black and white so I have added a pack of 5" charms - forty squares in black and white prints or plains - great for a special project or to add to the stash.

No big tricks to entering - just leave a comment telling me one of your favourite things about where you live and I will do a random draw at the end of the blog-hop! (Thursday - hi! I have sat here on the computer two nights in a row to reply to everyone's lovely comments, only to find that for some reason the comments are not showing up even though the website said it had published them! So please, I do read your comments and am trying to reply to them (or you may end up with two replies - goodness knows what is happening in cyberspace!) Thanks everyone - I am loving reading about where you live!

Elephants Baby Quilt

 Completed this baby quilt with some simple straight line quilting; 

was a Spotlight pattern called Tweet Christmas quilt;

measures 48"x56"

The binding looks very bright in the lovely Southland Spring sunshine!

 I ADORE elephants so could not resist this fabric from Spotlight.

I kept the quilting simple as wanted to keep the quilt nice and soft.

Loving purple and teal! Two bags...

Bess just had to be in on the action (after all, Rumbles was in the last post!)

The satchel on the left is from a pattern called Handy Satchel by Catherine McMurray, published in Australian magazine Handmade (vol 27 no 9 2010). The bag on the right is from the Friends Hanging Out Together pattern ( I didn't do the stitchery from the pattern) in Creating Country Threads vol 10 no 12 2010.

This bag was made for Kieran's girlfriend at the time, Tyla Adams. There is a pocket on the front. 

This bag is about 26 x 36 cm in size.

The satchel was just a spare bag, made so I could try out the pattern - I sold it in 2014 at the annual car-boot sale at school to one of my pupils, Kimberley Clearwater.

Has a pocket on the back.  The satchel is about 40 x 43 cm in size. Fabrics were bought at Spotlight (the hearts) and the rest are from Kits n Things. 

Linking up with Amanda Jean's Friday Night Sew-in...

Batik jellyroll race lap quilt

Finished the second batik quilt (after moving the cat off it - he obviously felt he needed some love while I was stitching the binding on!)

 

So good to be able to complete all the free motion quilting on my new machine without having to stop all the time to re-thread it (as my old machine was doing!). I did a leaf motif all over, with a wide stipple in the border.

 

Linking up with Leah Day's FMQ Friday and Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday!

Elephant baby quilt!

A quilt for a baby made from elephant fabrics to be exact rather than a quilt for a baby elephant! And my first quilt-top on my new machine - exciting!!!

It was easy easy easy...about 30 mins to cut the pieces, about an hour of sewing last night and about two hours tonight.  Fabrics were from Spotlight and the quilt pattern was called Tweet Christmas quilt; it was in a Spotlight Get Creative Quarterly magazine. 

I love elephants so couldn't resist this range. I will have to find a stuffed toy elephant pattern and make it too! I am sure I have one in the folder somewhere. 

My new machine!!

So excited! My new Elna excellence 720 has arrived via Wellington Sewing Services (it was on special too!). Got sick of arguing with my trusty 20 year old Elnita dressmaking machine when free motion quilting and decided to finally treat myself to a specialty quilting machine. I think I will need a license to drive it though!

Bags #4 and #5 of On-the-Move set!

The final two bags from the Moda Bakeshop pattern On The Move set of five (all made from just one layer cake of 'Frolic' by Sandy Gervais for Moda, plus a yard of fabric per bag to create lining and handles etc)...

Bag #4 side A

(Slightly shorter than the others due to a minor mishap with shaping the base - was watching Grey's Anatomy at the time and got distracted! - meaning there had to be a bit more trimming of the base end than the pattern usually calls for!)

Bag #4 side B

Bag #4 - the gorgeous orange lining

And the final bag in the set...is the regular size but has shorter handles just for a point of difference...

Bag #5 side A

Bag #5 side B

See the free motion quilting and links to the other bags in the set here.

Work in progress - two more tote bags underway!

Got some free motion quilting done today on another bag panel ... the last two of my set of 'On the Move' bags (five bags made from one layer cake plus extra yardage) - you can see the others here and here and here!

Tote bag d

Tote bag e

And some close-ups of some of the fmq...