Singing the joys of quilting

I have had the most fabulous couple of weeks with my quilting projects I thought it is worth singing about.  So without any further ado let me show you.

       

I have started a sampler of my hand quilting, it is really quilting fast, this is only 14.5".  I am so happy with it and am hoping to have it complete in about 24 hrs time.  I am using 28wt Aurifil thread and Kona Solids with Hobbs Tuscany Wadding.  It really makes the design pop. 🎉

Once I finish my wholecloth sampler I plan on finishing this Hawaiian Style cushion.  It is also a joy to work on.  With this I am using 12 wt aurifil thread and Kona Solids again with Hobbs Tuscany Wadding.  I really love the echoing quilting, what about you?

I had an order for some more vintage bunting so I got to creating these again,  they are so much fun

Then all of my tea towels had sold out so back to the drawing board for some more cupcakes

Then these delightful will eventually form a new quilt I am creating.  What do you think of this one?

This should have been published a few days ago but I got carried away quilting so here is the finish of the sampler and where I am with my Hawaiian 

Thanks for reading and leaving me a hello, I love hellos! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as it is the start of our here down under

Have fun quilting, and keep smiling!

Wendy

Sydney Swans quilt

Welcome to my post for the Autumn Quilt Bloggers Festival 2015

Thank you all for taking the time to read, vote and nominate my quilts for the following.  I would like to thank Amy for hosting and for all of the supporters for their generosity into making this a wonderful time of the year to celebrate our quilts.

I would appreciate if you could please click here and nominate me for viewers choice by filling out the form, this is open now.

My Sydney Swans quilt is entered into original design category here, please click on and vote by clicking the heart button once voting opens

I have also entered my Charm Dance in the Modern Quilt section here, once again click on the little heart once voting opens.  thank you

Now let the story begin

So here is my quilt complete

So let me begin at the very beginning.  My youngest daughters partner is an avid Sydney Swans Football Fan.  It was his upcoming 21st birthday and my daughter and I decided he needed a quilt for this celebration in the form of a red and white quilt.

Starting of the arcs

I had a little bit of a design forming in my head.  I figured that the Sydney Opera House which is in their emblem wasn't so far removed from the traditional block called New York Beauty.  So with a bit of drawing and tweaking the above arc was the start of my blocks for the main part of the quilt.

lots of arcs complete

I had decided the centre of the quilt would be like the Jumper the footy players wear.  So I went about making this.  It required a bit of appliqué work and was lots of fun.  Except I thought I had it all looking fabulous and my husband pointed out that part of it wasn't quite right.  So back to drawing and re working the opera house in the emblem and all was good.

here is the Centre of the quilt ready for construction

Starting to take shape with additional blocks

Start of the border quilting

start of the arc quilting

moving along ready to start another block with some of the background grid showing

another photo of the quilting advancing

This was the centre of the quilting 

Centre of the quilt coming to life with the quilting

During the quilting I decided this would be good as a quillow, incase you do not know this term it is when a quilt becomes a pillow or cushion.  As my daughters partner used to play for the juniors I decided it would be cool to make the cushion the back of a jumper as if he was still playing.

Binding being completed

I had been quite busy with life matters leading up to this quilt being made.  I had two weeks to complete this quilt.  I did not have the quilt quite done for the party, It was all quilted and ready to bind and assemble as a quillow on the night.  So it was presented in a box and I then brought it home and finished it and he received it a couple of days later.  I hand quilted this in 10 days.

all folded up as a quillow

This Quilt measured 80' x 60".  It was made using Kona Solids and quilted with Aurifil 12 weight thread using Hobbs Tuscany Wadding.

Thank you for taking the time to celebrate this quilt and the reason it was made.  I do thank you very much for voting for me and I do thank Amy from Amy's Creative Side for making this all so possible.

Until next time thank you and remember to check everyones quilts out and enjoy the eye candy of all.

Quilting makes me smile,

Wendy.

Love Calms the Seas - A blog for Spring!

Please vote for Love Calms the Seas for Viewers Choice Thanks

Please vote for Love Calms the Seas for best Large Quilt Thanks

Thanks must go out to Amy's Creative Side for hosting the Spring Bloggers Quilt Festival.  What a wonderful opportunity of joining blogs together and gathering a lot of magical eye candy.  I like to thank all of the sponsors and also all of the bloggers who are linking to make this a wonderful interactive festival such fun.

Completed Love Calms the Seas

Love Calms the Seas Quilt was made for my youngest daughter as she completed her final year at Secondary College. I planned to finish this so she could have it with her on her new journey in life at University, to have a little bit of home and me with her.

starting of the piecing and placement of colours

I decided to piece this on the machine using the freezer paper foundation method.  This really helped as it was a very large quilt.  In fact this is the largest quilt I have ever made measuring 93" x 96".  Initially it was to only have one heart in the centre, but my daughter loved it so much we decided to put four more hearts in the quilt.  I am so glad we did for I feel it is very balanced now.

Quilting the waves

I love to hand quilt so with Aurifil 28 wt thread, in a blue, green and a purple and a turquoise. and my John James needles quilting began.  I was using the storm at sea quilt block but as the quilting  flowed I decided this quilt really needed to be called 'love calms the seas'.  I quilted waves into the quilt with blue going one way and the green areas going the opposite direction.

another shot of the waves being quilted

after the waves are quilted ready to quilt the hearts

When it came to the quilting of the hearts it called for something different.  I felt like the waves needed to be calm within them, as my desire for her life ahead to be full of more calmness than stress.  I was quilting my love into this quilt, so she can forever have a hug from her mama bear.

starting the quilting on the centre heart

another heart in the midst of quilting

Label just had to be a purple heart

At last the label screamed to me to be a heart.  This quilt took me 18 months to make and another few months of planning and gathering fabrics.  Whilst my daughter had completed her first year of University before I finished it, she now has her quilt and loves it very much.  I am so glad I took the time to quilt it the way I did.

here she is hiding in my back garden

Thanks for reading my post and for voting for my quilt, I also have another quilt entered in the hand quilting section - Hand quilting 'Time Warp' and I would appreciate your vote over here also. 

Please enjoy the eye candy and be inspired,

Keep on quilting and quilting,

Wendy :)

Hand quilting 'Time Warp' - Spring bloggers quilt festival!

Please vote Time Warp here for:- viewers choice

Please vote for Time Warp here for:- hand quilting

Thank you to Amy's Creative Side for hosting the Spring Bloggers Quilt Festival and for all of the wonderful sponsors and you the reader for visiting and voting for everyone.

Time Warp

Let me introduce my Time Warp Quilt.  This quilt was made for the Pantone 2015 Quilt Challenge and I made this quilt using the Creative Grids Hexagon Trim Tool and Pam Buda Prairie Gatherings and for the border I found Judes Album Quilt fabric by Jude Rothermel.  My hand quilting thread of choice for this was Aurifil 28 weight thread Numbers 1103 red and 2315 cream as you will see in the close ups.

some detail of the quilting

a little more detail

love the sunlight dappling in the shade

Time Warp measuring 52" x 44"  has Hobbs Tuscany Wool wadding to highlight the quilting design.  I decided to quilt hexagons in the border and pebbles and swirls in the negative space with the main hexagons of the quilt being quilted with perspective to create a three dimensional effect.

hexagons in the border

upper part of the quilt

lower area of quilt with pebbles and swirls

centre of the quilt

Just another fun shot in the back of the garden.

Thanks so much for reading my blog and for voting for my quilt.  I also have another quilt entered in the Large Quilt Section - Love Calms the Seas and I would love you to check this out also.

Until next time, enjoy all of the eye candy available this week.

Quilt and keep on quilting

Wendy :)

Gelato for the Spring Bloggers Festival

quilt measures 21.5"

This is Gelato my most recent quilt finished.  I really enjoyed creating this quilt and thought I would share it here in the Quilt Bloggers Spring Festival.

This is the back of the quilt.
I think it is just as fun as the front!

 This is my first ever Bloggers quilt festival entry.  I have been quilting for about 16 years and have fallen in love with hand quilting.  I try and do some each day.  I live on the outskirts of a small country town in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia.  I belong to a wonderful group on Facebook called Celebrate Hand Quilting, it is worthwhile joining if you are interested in hand quilting

This is the start of the making of Gelato

The Centre of this Quilt was inspired by an unusual flower which i came across in my newsfeed on my Facebook page

This is the basting and the initial quilt design being drawn

Here is the flower

Aurifil Thread auditioning

I love to get my Aurifil Thread in Australia from Always Quilting

A feather template I made for the border

I have a very detailed blog on how i make my templates from freezer paper and if you would like to read more about it you can here.

just a fun shot of the texture i achieve with the quilt

I had so much fun using the Emma Louise Fabric with the Hobbs Tuscany Wool Wadding, it became a dream to quilt such a fun design onto. Such a fun quilt with the name of Gelato needs a fun label and with these beautiful colours i couldn't help myself. So I decided to make a label in the shape of a Gelato in a cone.

so here is the finished cone

I initially was thinking of making an Amish Bar Quilt so it seemed fitting to do a backing in this style

Thank You for viewing and voting for my quilt

I would like to thank Amy for hosting this on her blog.

Thank you for taking time to read over my post.  Until next time I trust you will enjoy the festival,

Wendy