I've been doing a lot of this lately...

I just do the stars for my star quilt in little batches because I find the trimming a bit tedious. I'm wondering about how I will lay them all out and organise them for sewing. I don't have a design wall - just a design floor that doubles as the lounge floor so they wont be spending a lot of time in the design space! One giant jigsaw puzzle coming up!

School starts in earnest tomorrow. Sigh. No more late nights, sleeping late, dawdling off to do a couple of leisurely hours on the thesis before swimming or sewing or just hanging out. Still, it's always nice to see everyone and the routine time reminds you to appreciate the non-routine time. Happy Auckland Anniversary everyone!

Latte and a cinnamon brioche!

I got up this morning determined to get a quilt basted. This takes some special equipment (see photo above). It was then time to get on with the kneeling...pinning...ironing...

I had hoped by early afternoon the sun would be out and I would reward myself with a swim at the beach. Alas only clouds and wind, so what to do...? Time to start the dreaded quilting. Not that it's a horrible task in itself, it's just that I long to quilt long straight lines but I have a way to go before I achieve that lovely crisp look.

Happily I found a few little 'intersections' that look quite tidy. I guess it would be honest if I photographed a wonky one too, but as I'm trying to encourage myself to keep going at the quilting I just need to block the 'uglies' from my mind!

I haven't finished the quilting yet but not too far away - am having a think about binding options. I really like putting the binding on, maybe I'll push on and get it done before the end of the weekend.

The school holidays are ending...

The school holidays are drawing to a close. I ventured into school today just to break the ice, and stopped in to Patchwork Passion to collect the cushion I made for our Auckland Modern Quilt Guild challenge. The design I used was based on Elizabeth Hartman's Mod Mosaic.

I don't think this fits into the category of 'great photos' but I wanted to see how my stars looked when I put them together (It was night time but I couldn't wait.) In addition, it took me an embarassingly long time how to work out how the star pieces interlocked - being too lazy to turn my computer on, I had to do it as if it was a puzzle and I have never been that good at Tetris haha - this possibly does not bode well for my quilting future.

Marmalade

I have finished piecing the top of my HST quilt - the colours remind me of yummy citrus fruits. I hope the birthday girl likes it. Now I just have to get on to the part I struggle to enjoy - the actual quilting...


And just to prove I absolutely can't finish any thing without starting one or two things more first...

I fell in love with Elizabeth Hartman's Sparkle Punch Quilt, and the beautiful version Karyn made, so I have selected my fabrics and started cutting... These fabrics are sitting on the lovely Kona grey that the stars will be set against. The colours are very NZ moody-sky-blues.

Megan's Star

Christmas saw the arrival of a new quilt book for my modest collection.

Flicking through the book I noticed a block called 'Megan's Star' - of course I had to try it! I like the block but I'm still wondering if I like it enough to make more blocks. So it will stay up on my pinboard for a bit while I ponder.

Something exciting in the mail!

A lovely mail delivery today! Ballarat Patchwork in Australia are selling these fat-quarter bundles and I just could not resist.

The answer is yes!

The question: Do I have the most annoying cat in the world?
The answer: Yes!
Say hello to Coco who has a very paws on approach to quilt-making (read - does not like playing second fiddle to anything).

This is the fabric I am using for my first attempt at a half-square triangle quilt. The collection is called Treasures and Tidbits by Piece O' Cake Designs and when I saw this on the web I knew my sister would love these colours. It's a birthday quilt and February is coming up fast...yikes!! I'm trying to work slowly (not my natural inclination) and followed the advice of more experienced quilt bloggers online by making my squares slightly larger than needed and then trimming them carefully. It seems to be going together ok so far...