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Here's my latest finish, Trans-Tasman Bubbles.  

This quilt is all hand pieced and hand quilted by me.  The pattern is by Willyne Hammerstein from her book Millefiori Quilts 4.  In the book it's called "Dancing Cheek to Cheek", but I called my quilt trans-Tasman Bubbles, because the circles keep disappearing and re-emerging as you look at it.  

The trans-Tasman bubble is an agreement between the New Zealand and Australian governments that lets citizens of those countries travel between the two countries without having to stay 14 days in managed isolation/hotel quarantine on arrival.  

However, as soon as ...

I loved seeing all the lime challenge quilts at the Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Rotorua. I was really pleased that I had two entries in the mix. 

The winning quilt was made by Camilla Watson and it was amazing.

There were three or four Merit prizes, and I liked this one by Fyvie Murray.

Here's some of my other favourites:

by Brenda Gael Smith

by Lynne Rowe

by Helen Beaven

by Anne Adams

by Shirley Sparks

by me - Wendy Welsh

(You can read more about my entries in my previous post here.)

So you can see that ...

My Pandemic Sampler by Long Dog Samplers is coming along nicely. 

This is a BIG sampler.  The pattern is 20 pages! Back when I started in August I was stitching one page a fortnight (two weeks), but I'm now happy with just one page a month.  That allows me to stitch or knit other things too, and gives my hands a break from cross stitching.  

I'm really happy with my fabric and thread choices. So many people in the Facebook group question their choices, and opt to start again with different threads or fabric.  I love the simplicity ...

I've been on a hand quilting mission since I returned from our holiday on 11 January, but I'm really looking forward to taking a break from it next week.  I love doing hand quilting, but not every single day.  

This is what I'm going to work on next.  My Cross Country quilt by Anna Maria Horner.

I've known for months that the Great New Zealand Quilt Show would be in Rotorua in May 2021, and I had planned to enter some quilts.  But I didn't realise I would have to submit photos of my finished ...

Yes, I'm back from our lovely holiday, and I'm enjoying some lazy summer days at home. 

I'm working on my entries for Aotearoa Quilters' Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Rotorua, 14-16 May 2021.  

All entries have to be 100% finished by 15 February.  (Conditions of entry are here.)

Of course I've decided to finish a couple of quilts that have been in my WIP pile for months.  Nothing like a deadline to make me quilt faster!