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My Ruby Star quilt is coming along nicely.  I like hand piecing because it's very portable.  I keep a few of the joining star pieces in a little bag and I take them with me when I know I'm going to be sitting still for an hour or so.  

This pattern is Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head by Willyne Hammerstein from Millefiori Quilts 4.  I almost wish some raindrops were falling on my head right now - it's been so hot in Wellington and Auckland this summer.  

Here's one of my favourite blocks in this quilt ...

I know I should have blogged last week but I have an excuse – I got my booster shot and it packed a bit of a punch! I’m glad it did as that means my immune system was busily making antibodies to help fight COVID but still – I wasn’t expecting to feel like I’d been hit by a bus!

However, two more Christmas Fireworks blocks are done, both the off kilter or not centred stars. First this one, which I think may be one of my favourites – so far, that is.

And then this one:

Today I’ll ...

I actually thought that by the middle of January I’d be finished making these blocks? Ha! Not a hope. It took me most of the week to make two blocks.

This one with the star straight up and down.

And this one, also with the straight star. Now I have 16 of the 35 blocks done. If I continue at this rate of two blocks a week, it will be at least another 10 weeks, if not more, before the blocks are done which puts this into mid-February at the earliest. I think. If I don’t get distracted ...

I decided to get all the red diamonds pieced into pairs for the remaining 21 blocks of the Christmas Fireworks top. There were stacks and stacks of the diamonds like this one.

Each group in the stacks contained 16 of the diamonds.

So I loaded up the needle case with needles threaded with red thread.

Then it took just a few minutes to get each stack pieced into pairs like this.

Each stack turned into stacks and stacks of pieced pairs of red diamonds. Now all the piecing left to do is either continuous piecing or curved piecing or both ...

Christmas Fireworks, that is – my take on Willyne Hammerstein’s Midnight Fireworks quilt in Millefiori Quilts. Which, of course, I’m making with the Inklingo Midnight Fireworks collection.

First up an off-centre fireworks.

Then a centred one.

And finally another off-centre one.

Now I’ve used all the red diamond pairs I had pieced so it’s time to chain piece more of them. I’ve decided to do these blocks in groups of 8 or 10 so this time I’m going to chain piece (by hand) eight pairs of red diamonds for each of 10 blocks.

I had ...

So far I’m still sticking with the Christmas Fireworks and two more blocks are done.

First one with the star pointing straight.

Then an off-centre one.

The back of the straight star after grading of the seams and pressing it. When I was taking the photos, I happened to scroll through my camera roll really quickly and it was fun to see how much movement the block that seems off-centre adds. Now I’m really glad I decided to do the blocks both ways!

I’m also very grateful that I caught on to the effect of the two ...

This block was done in March. Of. 2010. That’s right – 2010. That was when the first block of Stormy Seas was sewn, although I just watermarked it now. And the project is still not finished!

These 25 blocks were finished by 2012, and there it appears to have sat until 2018 when a handful more blocks were finished. Blocks like these ones:

And these:

And these blocks as well:

That was September 2018, well over three years ago. Now there are only ten blocks left to make. Each envelope in this box has all the pieces needed for one ...

My Christmas Fireworks, that is, which is what I decided to call my version of Willyne Hammerstein’s Midnight Fireworks in Millefiori Quilts.

Notice anything? I realized after I had put together a few more of these blocks that I have been adding the black framing pieces two ways – one has the centre star’s central point pointing right up while the other doesn’t.

And while this picture isn’t very good at all – I laid the blocks out on top of the duvet so there were lots of hills and valleys – it shows an example of what the ...

I know, I know – last time I said I was going to blog more often. Ha! Then I vanished for ages – again. However, here I am again and hopefully will get back into a blogging routine.

Remember this clamshell block with sashing?

I finished another of the blocks.

There’s one more of those to make and then I’ll add more of the sashing – assuming I can find that black and white fabric which I had used and know is somewhere – and that will be it for that clamshell project.

BUT — there will be loads more very colourful clamshells ...

 I'm so close to finishing the main body of this quilt.

Pattern = Raindrops are Falling on my Head from Millefiori Quilts 4 by Willyne Hammerstein.

There's just two long seams to hand stitch now, but they will be slow going because there's a lot of places where the points meeting along these seams. 

Once the body of the quilt is done, I can think about the borders.  I want to use more of the feature fabric in the borders, but I'm not sure how I'll do it yet.  

And then I need to think about ...

It’s 9″ by 12″ and I absolutely love how it turned out! It’s destined be a Christmas gift but I’m pretty convinced that I want to make a lap quilt using these fabrics. This was made using the 3″ Inklingo Winding Ways collection. I’m thinking if I do make the lap quilt, I may use the 4.5″ size instead — although maybe not. These little 3″ blocks were pure bliss to piece as every seam involved curved piecing and each block seemed to be done very quickly. So I’m thinking a lap quilt made up ...

Now that I have nine of these little 3″ Winding Ways variation blocks done, I’m tempted to make a lap quilt using these fabrics and blocks of this size. These blocks are destined for a mug rug but the temptation is almost impossible to resist. I may change my mind once I get these all sewn together but somehow I don’t think that will make a difference.

The back of two of the blocks, after the seams were graded and the blocks were pressed.

I’ve been jumping from project to project over the past week and rarely ...

When I saw this variation in the 6″ Deluxe Winding Ways collection, I knew I had to try it. It’s fun to piece with all that lovely curved piecing. I think I’ll make enough of this one for a table topper or wallhanging. The variation is available in all the deluxe Inklingo Winding Ways collections.

The back after pressing and grading the seams.

I’ve made a couple more of the little 3″ blocks with the floral and green fabrics. I think I’m just going to make 12 of them and then turn them into a mug ...

The two boxes were finally full of the completed blocks late last week. When I was counting them to make sure I had enough, I was really surprised at the amount of yellow in the blocks. At least 50 per cent, if not more, of the blocks have yellow in them.

I am joining them by hand. I know it would be much faster by machine, but I’m enjoying sewing them together and can substitute blocks easily if I see that a block is too close to another block with the same fabric. And, truth be told, the disaster ...

Hello there! 

Last weekend I went to Queenstown with my husband.  We had a lovely weekend away.  It was cold, but it was also very calm.  We're used to a bit of wind in Wellington, so it was amazing to see reflections on Lake Hayes every day that we were there. Here's just one of many photos I took of Lake Hayes. 

We also went to Glenorchy at the head of Lake Wakatipu.  When we were growing up in Otago and Southland, the road to Glenorchy was not much more than a dirt track, so our families didn ...

Other projects were found as the sewing area was moved. One is these very colourful 9-patch blocks on point. I love the look of these so don’t have any idea why I’ve let the project just sit for so long. However, now that I’ve got it out I’m hoping I finish at least one or two of the blocks every week. The 9-patch blocks are all done. All that’s left to do is add the triangles.

Then the various Silent Garden projects were unearthed, starting with the blue and brown Silent Garden project. I’m ...

This was one of the projects I unearthed during the relocation of my sewing area. The block was made with the Inklingo 3″ clamshells and clamshell sashing collections.

A second block was done, but it has no sashing.

A third block was done as well.

I also found two more sets of clamshells for the fourth and fifth blocks. Once they’re done along with sashing this will turn into a small table topper.

The blocks are all nicely pressed, but the seams aren’t graded – yet. I’ll do that before I start sewing blocks 4 and 5.

I ...

I know, I know. I vanished again. This time I had sort of a good excuse – a computer that was just not cooperating and needed to be replaced, which has now happened.

What have I been doing? Other than making more masks, I’ve been playing with lots of little blocks. These little 4″ blocks have been my focus for a while as I was determined to finish making them. And finally – it has been a very long time since I began this – the piecing of the 276 little blocks is done. Next they need to be sewn into rows ...

 Yes, I'm going on another retreat this weekend.  This time it's for quilting.  I wasn't intending to go, but someone has had to pull out, and her place was up for grabs.  

As I said last week, it's winter here, and wet and cold, so I'd just be quilting at home all weekend anyway.  This way I get to do it with friends and see all the exciting things that they are making.

I'm not even sure what do at retreat yet.  Often I just take hand sewing because I can't be bothered ...

The Great New Zealand Quilt Show opened today in Rotorua, and I can finally show you my entries in the Aotearoa Quilters Lime Challenge.  

First up is "Not Your Grandmother's Garden".  

12" wide x 16" high

At first glance you might think these are hexagons, but they're not! Hence the name, and the fact I'd just bought some new jeans from Not Your Daughter's Jeans. 

I love experimenting with geometric shapes, and I wanted to try the Fiesta Gitana pattern in Millefiori Quilts 4 by Willyne Hammerstein. 

I hand pieced this mini quilt, and then I ...