My current Project

I belong to a facebook page called  Millefiori - La Passacaglia.  This world wide group is named after the last quilt in book one Millefiori Quilts by Willyne Hammerstein.  I have written a previous post about her books and these quilts.  Willyne has injected excitement and interest back into English Paper Piecing (EPP) and for this I would like to thank her.  So using Willyne's ideas from both her books, I am making my first EPP whole quilt.  Here is my progress on my design wall.

Still a very long way to go, and so much fun.  It won't be a millefori using only three colours but it will still create mini kaleidoscopes.

Joan (one of our regular customers) brought her latest project for show n tell today at work.  The jersey is knitted in black tekapo yarn and she has embellished it with a strand of  "French Knitting".  The fun part about this is the story - its for her granddaughter and the French knitting was made by her daughter when she was a child.
Notice the buttons that secure the start and end of the French knitting strand.

front

back

Very cool.

Show and tell from previous classes

Tonight was another inspiring evening at Pinestream Quilters.  I was excited to see two members show their quilts/pieces as a result from attending my classes.

I only had my mobile phone camera with me and with the dim lighting, these aren't best photos.

Pamela's six sided kaleidoscope quilt top from a Pinestream Quilting class held at the end of May at Silverstream Retreat.

Last year I was invited into Alison's home to teach her quilting group Japanese Meshwork.

Alison has just completed these placemats and I know she had been busy making a Meshwork wall hanging for her home.  Alison did mention tonight that she learnt a lot about working with colour using this technique.

I'm of on a quilting retreat tomorrow for the weekend (hooray).  I'll be stopping at several quilting, fabric and yarn shops (so exciting) but I Will make sure I pack my camera so I can post inspiring pics to share with you.

Shirls

Knitting tip from a customer

What can you do when you do not have enough yarn from the same batch and you are unable to purchase/ acquire any more.

One of our customers shared with me her idea.  The back and the front are made from different batches of yarn so she has cross stitched the seam to take your eye of the difference.

Quite clever I think.

Spinning Stripes - Results from last Saturday's class

I love puzzles and especially those that you have no idea how they will turn out so Kaleidoscopes, and anything spinning fascinates me especially when using just one fabric.

Here are the results at the end of Saturday's spinning stripes class.

The majority of the day is cutting the fabric and laying out.  Only one person got her machine out near the end of the day.  The best tool for laying out is the camera on your phone.
It was fun for me is watching these quilts take form.  Everyone on this class will now look at striped fabric differently.

Auckland festival of quilts

This event replaces Calico Christmas.

Mark your diaries.  Could be a road trip girlfriends.....

Black and white fabric - watch out for this new trend

My daughter recently bought this book.  It's a colouring book for adults!

Now this idea is starting to come through in fabrics but more illusional pattern designs rather than images as in this book by Millie Marotts.  I saw some fabric samples this week and these will be available in the shops later this year.  However there are currently other black and white fabrics for sale now if you want to  started colouring in using peminant fabric pens.  Imagine wearing a black and white dress with your own unique splash of colour placed randomly over it.

Here are a couple of images from this book.

Why should children have all the fun?   The detail is fine, as with the new fabrics and so it may take a little time to colour.  It may pay to use good quality perminant colouring fine tip fabric pens.  Always do a test piece and wash it.

Now of to explore more fabrics

Shirls

Machine embroidered Quilt

Once upon a time, I hadn't regarded machine embroidered quilts as true quilts. Over the last three years working in an environment where these machines are sold, I have begun to understand where they fit in the quilting world and have a new respect for them.

Choosing an embroidered design takes the same amount of research as choosing an appliqué design.  Choosing the thread colour is the same as auditioning fabrics for a block. The slightest shade can make or break a block.  It's easy unpicking an appliqué but not so easy with machine embroidery.

Earlier this month I attended Coastal Quilters retreat where I was introduced to Gloria Wilding and saw her quilt she had just completed.  She has been very  clever with her thread colours and chosen pattern designs. Gloria has tied these in beautifully with her feature fabric.

This quilt is very precious to Gloria.  She made this while nursing her sick husband so we are very lucky that She has allowed us to hang this quilt at Welllington Sewing Services so that others can enjoy her quilt to. 

Meet Gloria.

I hoped you enjoyed viewing these photographs and if you can, come into the shop to view this quilt.

Happy stitching.

Shirls