Little Quilt

This weekend I made a Little Quilt - 20" by 24" for a newborn extended family member.

Josh was born on Friday but he wasn't due until well into next year. 

So he is in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) in Wellington.

As soon as I knew he had arrived I knew exactly which fabric I needed for him - but there was just one fat quarter left but that worked when I found the matching spots in my stash.

I wonder if he will end up being a keen bike rider!

This is the back of the quilt - more bikes!

I straight line quilted with my walking foot using the width of it as a guide to 

sew down both sides of the diagonal seams. And used a plain turquoise as the binding.

1930s Star

Having finished my 100 Modern Quilt Blocks and decided that I really need them left as 

they are so I can teach from each set of ten next year, I returned to my English Paper Piecing.

And that was quite hard as I would have loved to gone off and chosen a sashing fabric

for my blocks and made them up into a quilt right away, but no.

I have been making these stars for months now and have quite a pile made - ready 

to make into a single bed quilt or maybe just a generous cot quilt. 

These are all made from my collection of 1930s Reproduction fabrics.

I must say English Paper Piecing has had a huge make-over as I am now 

using a Sewline Glue Pen to stick the seam allowance to the card. This is so 

much quicker than the old way of tacking - I love it. The seam allowance is 

easy to lift up when your star is all together.

You can see the seam allowance glue down here. I can take the white hexagon card 

out now as that piece is all surrounded, but I leave the other shape in until it 

too is surrounded.

Then the stars get joined together with white diamonds. One thing that have learnt 

is to sew with a strong thread - I have been using regular Polyester thread 

as it is stronger than cotton. The constant rubbing against the edge of the card 

as you whip stitch the pieces together can be touch on your thread. 

So I also use shorter than usual lengths.

And more and more.  A fine needle helps to just pick up as tiny sliver of seam 

allowance as you whip stitch.

Have you become a follower to my Blog so you can comment on the projects that I post?

There is nothing like a short comment to keep a Blogger posting. 

100 Modern Quilt Blocks

I thought I  had better get one post in before the end of the month.

I seem to have been so busy lately and haven't fitted in Blog posting.

So this is what I have been doing instead.

I have been working on these during November and now literally have a book 

full of pieced blocks.

I have been trying to make 3 or 4 blocks each day and it has worked. 

I now have all 100 blocks made.

It has been so much fun - most of them are so quick and easy to make.

This is Block 50 - the half way point.

You can see Tula Pinks Block on the left and my version on the right.

Block 72.

The slowest ones took about 25 minutes from selecting the fabric from the pile, 

cutting, sewing and pressing. But most were so much faster than that.

These are the first twelve blocks. 

We are going to be doing this as a Breakfast Club at the shop on a Saturday mornings 

once a month during the next year. You can see details on the Classes page of our website: www.patchworkpassion.co.nz

Back soon I promise.

Santa Monica Airport Antique Market

We have just returned from the Antique and Collectibles Market set up at the 

Santa Monica Airport on the first and fourth Sunday each month.

Apparently the fourth Sunday is the biggest one, but this one was worth a visit.

It wasn't crowded with shoppers so we were able to get a good look at each stall.

I would have loved this market to have been close to the shop as there was so 

much in the way of vintage furniture and bits and pieces that would have made 

great additions to the shop, but I just had to dream!!!!

I did however pick up a quilt top - cot sized that was probably pieced in the 1930s.

I have photographed in two halves so I can get it all in.

    

Some blocks are made from all of one fabric while others are a mixture of fabrics.

    

Some are hand pieced and others are machine pieced, I can't see any pattern 

in the hand or machine work - it just appears to be random.

We are off home soon so the next post will come from NZ.

Las Vegas Quilt Shop Tour

Yesterday I went on a Quilt Shop Tour and it was great. It was run by 

Susan of www.quilttoursoflasvegas.com

She picked us all up from various hotels down The Strip and off we went for a day of fun fabric shopping. We visited four stunning quilt shops all with a different feel and specialty lines.

The first stop was at Fabric Boutique and the closest to the city area on 

Charleston Boulevard. Here I bought some 1930s fabrics - surprise surprise

 – it seems to be my current passion. The shop was very big compared to 

NZ standards – I was just so envious of her space – so much room 

for stunning displays. Look at this. And she had the Mills Girls Quilt 

hanging behind her main counter.

The second stop was the Christmas Goose in South Durango Road and it was

 gorgeous - lots of ideas for using wool, along with patterns for 1800s quilts and 

a lovely Halloween display. Unfortunately my photos of her shop were 

useless – I don’t know what setting I had my camera on but it wasn’t right! 

(I took photos of Susan’s van too which was covered with a huge quilt photo and 

sorry that was no good either.)

Then it was on to lunch as a Salad Buffet so you can imagine what was 

available for lunch there – or probably you can’t as meals here are just so big.

Stop 3 was up in the old part of Boulder City. This is was a lovely area full of 

antique shops that I could have spent a whole day browsing in too. But back to 

the shop - it lovely with a good range of 1800s fabrics, brights, batiks, colour 

walls – it was a smaller shop but packed with great things to inspire us all.

The final shop was the largest – in fact huge. It was Quiltique which specialises 

in modern fabrics and has the most amazing layout and displays. It is located in 

Henderson. Once again packed with ideas, fabrics and patterns. 

We will be starting a new Club early on a Saturday morning as a result of this 

visit – I was able to chat to one of the owners, Jennifer about how she ran this 

Modern Club so watch our website for more info later in the year 

as plans get finalised.

As a result if this day I have lots of ideas for next year, lots of new patterns, projects, 

a Block of the Month, new group formats and classes. So it really was an

inspirational day and I bought fabric for me – 1930s and 1800s.

Vintage Quilt Find

I was lucky enough to find this quilt at the Charleston Antique Mall in Las Vegas yesterday. I think it was probably made in the 1930s judging by the fabrics. It isn’t signed or dated.

These are some of the fabrics.

Do remember to sign and date your own quilts so when someone

finds them in the future they know who made them and when.

Back tomorrow with some of the local quilt shops that I visited

on a Quilt Shop Tour today.

Quilts in Las Vegas

Hi from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

What an amazing city - full of colour, people, casinos and massive hotels all along The Strip.

But out in the suburbs we found a true American Antique Mall - lots and lots of individual 

stalls within a huge warehouse style building. It was beautifully laid out with each individual 

stall holder making a fabulous display of their wares. 

The first stall - all in black and white. And in amongst the stalls were quilts.

Nine Patch on green

The green background fabric and the price -  yes $85.00

Irish Chain

Tree Quilt

Purple Quilt - $48.99

Purple Quilt Block

Purple Quilt Signature and dates

Simple Squares

Cushion - $18.95

Rag Rug

Tomorrow - feedsacks and the 1930s quilt that I bought.

And feedsacks

Hexies In The Grand Canyon

How is this for a cool hexagon design?

This photo was taken a the Grand Canyon, USA and I haven't cropped it as I 

thought you might have fun trying to figure out where it is taken!!!!

OK - those are my shoes at the bottom of the photo but what is at the top?

You might be surprised.

We are having a great holiday in the Canyon area of America but most people 

don't take photos like that one!!!!!

Other people's are more like this:

or this:

That first one was taken in restroom floor - that is the loo bowl at the top!!!!!!

Sorry I just couldn't resist not cropping it out.

But wouldn't that make a great border on a hexie quilt.

San Fran - Fabric and America's Cup

This was just a morning’s deviation on the way to watch the Amercia’s Cup 

Racing – which by the way we lost and the second race was postponed 

due to too much wind. Hopefully tomorrow Dean and his team will bring it home.

Britex is a four floor shop just off Union Square in San Francisco and it is full 

of fabric of various kinds.

Of course I headed for the quilting fabrics on the second floor and 

found these two. I was looking for 1930s fabric but this was as close as I 

could get – not actual reproduction, but I liked it.