Quilt love

Long term readers of my blog might recall the quilt I made for my wonderful mother-in-law in 2008. It was a gift to celebrate her 80th birthday in 2007, but took a little longer than planned

My MIL is a very youthful octogenarian, extroverted and great fun, and she loves to wear bright colours, so I used lots of Kaffe (and Kaffe-like) fabrics in her quilt.

I love the fabric on the back far too much to ever cut it up, so this was the perfect way to use it.

She mentioned a few weeks ago that it needed a wash and I offered to do it for her. She drove by and dropped it in this morning on her way to work. Yes, she still works!

When I handed over the newly-completed quilt 3 years ago it was crisp, bright and the quilting lines were clear and sharp.

But today my quilt feels so different – it feels loved!

Holding it in my arms before I popped it into the washing machine for a gentle wash, I realised how much softer and smoother it felt after being used constantly. I could feel the love in that quilt.

I hope she feels it too.

Done!

But still under wraps.

 

Not much longer …..

Mug mats, and gratitude (1)

 

Mug mats are the talk of the quilting blogosphere, and with two of the most special quilting ladies I know having birthdays this month I decided to ‘get with the program’ and make them each a mug mat.

The first was for Margaret. She’s a soft pastel pink, floral, traditional kind of lady, but with a wicked sense of humour.

I’ve had that roses and ribbons fabric for quite a few years not daring to cut into it. We all have pieces like that don’t we?  This pretty fabric was just so Margaret that I took a deep breath … and sliced off just enough for her mug mat.

Can you guess who the other was for?

My whacky and gorgeous friend, Moo, of course! If you look back through my blog you’ll see I’m making rather slow work of using up this fabric I bought a few years ago just for making gifts for Moo!

Remember what I made for her birthday last year?

Moo’s mug mat is a little wonky, not perfectly straight up and down, because Moo herself likes to bend the rules and surprise us

Mug mats, and gratitude (2)

Two completed mug mats. But something was missing……

Co-ordinating mugs!

Happy birthday, Margaret and Moo!

You are both such an inspiration, as you live generous lives faithful to God, and I’m grateful to him for blessing me with your friendship.

Meanwhile, back in the hall…

Our February St Mark’s Quilters workshop was dedicated to making blocks which would eventually become Quilts for Queensland (you’ll have them soon, Corrie!).

However no-one could have foreseen the terrible destruction that would happen from the earthquake in Christchurch just a few days later and it seemed an excellent idea to spend our March workshop creating more of these simple blocks so that we might be able to help our Kiwi neighbours too.

After a quick refresher on the quilt-as-you-go method, illustrated with a slide show on the wide screen TV, we were quickly in the swing.

Fabrics were sorted and rotary cutters were wielded to slice the strips. Sewing machines whirred away busily, and our piles of blocks grew at a satisfying rate.

It’s not our intention to make quilts from these blocks since we’ll be sending them on to others prepared to do this, but quite a few girls have asked how they would go about joining quilt-as-you-go blocks, so I made a sample quilt from these blocks after our February get-together.

There are many methods, but if you’re interested in seeing how I did it, have a look at Linda’s tutorial here.

This is the back, fully reversible.

PS.  We had an extra little helper this month - the Princess! She’s quite expert at using my iPad, and I have a growing collection of apps I’ve downloaded just for her.

OK, so maybe my inner child can’t resist Talking Tom .

The Princess went on to quietly amuse herself with a spare fat quarter while we sewed, and Di B’s beautiful golden retriever Matilda patiently endured a game of dress-ups without a word of complaint.

Is it just me, or do you think the expression on Matilda’s face speaks volumes ?

Did you hear the bells?

Anyone in the vicinity of the St Mark’s Quilters monthly workshop last Saturday would have heard more than the usual peals of laughter coming from the church on the hill.

On this occasion there were peals of bells – eight in fact – as our bellringers rang a quarter peal in our honour!

Di B and I couldn’t wipe the grins off our faces when we were invited to join them in the belltower at the end. We had to negotiate a steep, narrow, Harry Potter-like sandstone spiral staircase to reach the chamber where the action took place.

Ringing down the bells at the end.

Apologies to the neighbours for the random ‘ding-dongs’ afterward when Di and I were allowed to try our hand at tolling the bells

That’s Amanda on the right. She’s a real bellringer, and a St Mark’s Quilter!

I think we’ll stick to quilting – just negotiating those stairs was challenge enough!

I wish I could show you what I’m working on…

More secret squirrel stitching going on here today.  All will be revealed quite soon though
For now I’m just surfacing to share with you some more cleverness by my non-blogging quilting friends.
Like Sue’s version of Kaffe’s Bordered Diamonds.
The pattern is in his book “Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts” – see my Amazon widget on the right.
 See the pretty pink hexy quilt in this Good Housekeeping article?

Rae made it for her daughter Jane, the former Fashion Director of GH, who proudly showed it off as part of her very stylish – chic and cheerful -  London apartment.
It’s entirely hand pieced and quilted, as is Rae’s latest finished quilt, Whirligig (from a Sue Ross pattern).  Just stunning!

                              
                                          
Back to work for me now!