Cranes (the Bird kind) in Old Indigo

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately as I have been working on things that we will be releasing at the Waikato Quilt and Craft Fair and I am not releasing any info on them

until the Show - I will post photos of them after Septemebr 10. Sorry about the long wait.

Plus I have been quilting my Amish Bear's Paw.

Tonight will try to get another of my Japanese Blocks stitched - it is all ready to go,

so I will have a photo for you soon.

Oh but wait -  I did put together another project that has been in the wings for ages - maybe nearly a year. I had all but two of the blocks done - I just added another stitched crane and the words. Now it too is ready for hand quilting - there is a bit of a back-log in the hand quilting stakes at the moment.

Some of the cranes are appliqued

and others are stitched.

In Japan the cranes - Tsuru in Japanese - is a symbol of longevity.

The fabrics are some old, some new, but have all been made in the old traditional way. I bought them in a super speciality shop in Kurashiki in Japan.

Shop beside the river in Kurashiki - the family probably live upstairs

Typical white washed house in the old area of Kurashiki

Bridge over the river in old, central town of Kurashiki

Amish Bear's Paw Quilt

Over the last few weeks I have been working on a new Amish quilt for my Amish Club. 

This month we have been looking at one block quilts that were popular in the Mid-Western Amish communities. I have always wanted to do a Bear's Paw quilt having made one block in my second ever quilt - a Sampler Quilt - way back in the 1980s.

This is a photo of the quilt partially hand quilted - not  a great photo but it gives you an idea.

I was going to put black where the grey/blue is but decided this would be a lot of black to 

quilt with black quilting thread at night! And all my quilting is done at nights. Black is the traditional thread to quilt with no matter what colour fabric you are going up and over. It certainly makes you take more care when the quilting stitches are going to be so obvious.

I am hand quilting it as you should do to an Amish quilt. 

The solid blocks are quilted like this - parallel lines 3/4" apart - marked with masking tape.

And the Bear's Paw blocks like this - well it is not quite quilted all over yet. 

These lines are 1/2" apart.

I seem to have my quilting fingers in so many pots at the moment with the groups that I run at the shop. I  go from Reproduction to Amish to Arty and then squeeze in my Japanese passion. I  really must get onto another Japanese block!!!!

Redwork Pin Cushion

On Thursday night I had the next meeting of our Pin Cushion Club and this is what they made.

They even made their own braid from DMC Stranded cotton - how cool is that!

They now have a collection of four Pin Cushions. A sewer can never have too many - I have three in regular use - one by the sewing machine, another at the ironing board and the third beside my hand sewing chair.  I guess the rest will just be for display! 

Passion For Taupe

I managed to get a full photo of my quilt "Passion For Taupe" while it was hanging at our Quilt Show over the weekend - it did involve twisting the quilt stands around so I could get far enough away from it - but at least I got a full photo - much better than the one I got on Saturday.

This quilt is made with a selection of the Japanese woven taupes that I love so much. And it is big - covers a double bed and well down over the sides. I used the biggest variety of taupes as I could - many pieces came from scrap bags that my friend Hitomi in Japan gave me. The outside squares are pieced but the little one in the middle of each block is appliqued on. The blocks are 10" finished.

This is a small version of the same pattern made in 1800s reproduction fabrics, the blocks are  half the size. I called this one "Worn and Loved" as many of the fabrics came from a range by the same name put out by Windham fabrics and these fabrics reminded me of the colours of the clothing that would have been worn by the women crossing across America to the West in the 1800s. This one I have  as a pattern or kitset at the shop.

Auckland Quiltmakers Show

I had a great day at the Show today - it is always good to catch up with other members 

of the group and all our customers who visit. We had good numbers through the door 

and lots of really good comments about the quilts in the Show.

I promised photos of the other quilts I had in the Show. 

One - Windows on Colour I included in my 11 April post, so check it out there.

This one below was designed by Jane McDonald and is made in Japanese woven taupe fabrics. It is a small wallhanging.

Luminescence

The next one is a large quilt also made in the Japanese woven taupe fabrics. Unfortunately it was impossible to get far enough away from it to get a full photo so this about half of it.

These are some photos of our stall at the Show for those of you who weren't able to make it.

We don't have  lot of wall space behind for display as you can see with the windows running the length of the area that we are in. This is the entry point to our area showcasing our Modern Quilt Guild fabrics and quilt designs.

The view down the length of the stall with another Modern Quilt at the right hand side of the entry.

The far end with the woven taupes, the Lucky Owls, French General fabrics 

and some Japanese bag books.

Amish area with fabrics, books and colour tools.

Kaffe Fassett and Modern fabrics, with the Dr Seuss range in the middle.

Quilt Show

I will be spending this weekend at The Auckland Quiltmakers Show - I am a member of this quilt group and we have a Quilt Show and Sale over the first weekend in May each year.

 I have four quilts in the Show this year. I have photos of these two Amish style ones and I will take photos of the others hanging tomorrow and post them tomorrow night.

This one is called Amish Bars and is a variation on the traditional Amish Bars design, but has a little touch of a Kaffe Fassett fabric added in. I must admit that I love the touch of Kaffe in an "Amish" Quilt.

This one is called Lancaster Diamond and is a very traditional Pennsylvanian Amish quilt in colours, design and and quilting. I just loved doing all the hand quilting on this, once I got over the fact that I would have do all the stitching in black - even on the pink, so individual stitches would show!

The shop also has a stall there so I will take some photos of that for you too.

The Show is at the Jubilee Building, Parnell Road (the old Blind Institute)  and is on on both Saturday and Sunday from 10.00am - 5.00pm each day. We look forward to seeing you there if you are living close to Auckland.

Have a great weekend full of stitching,

Robyn

New Modern Style Quilt

Well I had a busy weekend sewing  - just as well the weather wasn't that great so the 

garden wasn't calling!!

This is the cot quilt that I made with those stunning modern fabrics. I am really enjoying 

working with these clean fresh colours - quite a change from the taupes I have been 

working in for the last few years.

This traditional design - Rail Fence - is quick and easy to make and it is only cot size and totally machine made which is also a change for me - I do love my hand stitching and quilting. So it was a manageable project for a weekend. Plus I had a deadline which always gets a project going. I want to take it for display on our stall at the Auckland Quiltmaker's Quilt Show and Sale this weekend.

So enough chatter - here it is.