Quilt of Valour

After 2 years and with the help of Mary (mum)

 my Quilt of Valour is finished.

I fell in love with is quilt and the cause it supports.

 

The brave men and women who have made 

the ultimate sacrifice to bring peace to the world.

The men and women who have made a choice to enter a 

service to ensure that we are kept safe and

 that those who do not have the luxury's

and freedom's that we are lucky to have get a chance in life!

I don't often make quilts for myself, but this one is a keeper! 

I know Donna has her eye on it, but it looks like Atticus

has beaten the two of us to it!

I'm extremely happy with the way this quilt has turned out. 

Hand sewn and hand quilted by me (Kathryn) and binding by Mary aka Mum!  

Winter sit n sew

We braved the windy, wet, and cold Gisborne weather to gather at Christine's this month. We were all stitching away happily, supervised by Medley.

Jean (in hiding!) had completed this stunning little number, a blue and raspberry coloured log cabin with a twist. Love how the layout produced different secondary patterns, and the colours just popped!

Christine (also in hiding!) had finished the top of her new knee rug, all in warm flannels; I can see her rugged up against the cold in this! Very cute moose and bear flannel among that lot, too.

Kathryn was working on her "When Sochi met Bali" quilt. Coming together very nicely indeed. It'll be a stunner when it's finished. We'll wait until she's ready to reveal.

Mary was working on her Christmas project (secret woman's business, this!). It's looking very nice already.

And Donna was putting the binding on her 1600 Stonehenge quilt. A label to go on, and then it's all ready to go.

Alleyne couldn't attend today, and we look forward to catching up with her next month. She missed out on Christine's delicious caramel cake!

Having fun - just not in Mt. Beauty!

 Kathryn and I initially had planned to go to Mt. Beauty for a few days, however, circumstances meant we had to change to Plan B. Plan B involved having a few relaxing days of sit n sew in wintry Gisborne!
We armed ourselves with quilts to quilt and wool to knit, and occupied my loungeroom and kitchen for some - not so serious - fun. Mr. B had kindly laid on a roaring fire, I'd made a big pot of cauliflower soup, and Kathryn provided fresh bread and - wait for it - whoopie pies!! Yay!

 We were very productive - here's Kathryn's American quilt, which she finished quilting on Wednesday. It looks magnificent, just needs the binding now.

 Mr. Pretzel made use of the winter sun streaming through the windows, moving from sunny spot to sunny spot, and inspecting our work every so often. I think it passed muster - his fur deposits on our work kinda says so...

Friday was another good say for sit-n-sew; it was cold and blustery outside, and we kept warm and enjoyed some nice music - and more food. The lunch today was vegie curry, and Kathryn brought some very nice afternoon tea.

Kathryn was cutting out a new quilt today; she's making the "When Sochi met Bali" quilt, and it's going to be spectacular!The colours are just stunning. I don't think I could give that quilt away.

 In the meantime, yours truly was knitting, making a couple of scarves. They're both nearly finished, one is a Moebius (infinity) scarf, the other a man's scarf in a beautiful Patons wool blend.

I loved the days we sewed together, nothing better than doing what you love with good company, good food, good music, and a cat!

Blog Design

Months, and I mean months after Donna setting up our blog and asking us to go and have a play with the blog, change what we wanted I have finally found some time to play with the look of our blog!

While writing this post I am also texting Donna to make sure it doesn't look to dull!!!.....Lol

So, what do you think??? New look, same ladies!......Lol

The May Gathering

Our May gathering started with lunch. Donna had made Osso Buco with polenta and sugar snap peas, followed by apple/passionfruit crumble and icecream.

Happily stuffed, it was time for show and tell. Jean started off with her brilliant Ricky Timms "Rhapsody" quilt, and what a wonderful treasure that is! The Balis look fabulous in this, and the quilting is spectacular.

Below is a close-up of the some of the gorgeous quilting. Jean has done such a fabulous job!

Then it was time for the unveiling of Nancy's challenge quilts. Nancy had kindly sent us some lovely Canadian fabric last year, and we said we'd hold a challenge using the fabric. Four of us had finished our quilts (two are yet to come). Hope you like what we've done, Nancy!

Here's Christine's quilt, with her 'wandering moose' taking a stroll around the edge. It really does justice to the fabric, and Christine found a spot fabric in just the right red colour. Still needs quilting,  so we look forward to seeing the finished quilt - maybe next time?

 This is Mary's quilt, with prominent moose in the square. Good use of that gorgeous moose fabric! Makes a lovely table topper.

 Jean also had the 'wandering moose' idea, and incorporated beautiful maple leaves in her quilt. I like how the upside-down moose legs make up another pattern.

 And yours truly is very happy to have finally finished a "Canada quilt" - on the plan for a long time! It's a large maple leaf with Nancy's fabric, some of my stash, precut maple leaves, and makes a good pin holder for all the Canadian pins collected over the years by myself and received from friends.

Here they all are! It always amazes us how differently we approach our challenges, and end up with very different quilts.

A small gathering

Yesterday, it ended up being Jean and I for our monthly sit n sew. The others were unable to come due to Anzac weekend activities. But the two of us had a lovely time nattering and sewing. Jean had brought her latest table runner along, in lovely cool blues. Must make another one of these sometime, they're so nice.
Peeking out is a little teaser - Jean finished Nancy's challenge quilt. But perhaps we'll unveil next month. Mine is just being quilted.
Jean started the binding on that beautiful strip quilt, with all the points (I think it was a Judy Niemeyer one). I didn't feel like quilting, so I started a new knitted scarf.
When I say I started - I had to undo it 4 times before I got the pattern right!! My brain wasn't in it...

March madness

 Another Saturday and the Village Quilters met at Christine's place. We were greeted by a very excited Medley, flopping herself on the floor in anticipation of tummy rubs.

Christine had outdone herself and made lovely scones with blackberry jam and cream - yum! All my good intentions to maintain my diet flew out the window when tempted with these goodies! And served on such beautiful tableware.

 Christine used her new birthday present, a lovely big teapot. The tea tasted extra special.
And amid all this yumminess, we even quilted! Below are some of Christine's hand quilted borders, can't wait to see that one finished.

 Christine also showed us a couple of her finished tops, soon to be quilted. This one is a black, white, and red art deco quilt. The detail on the panels reminds me of the Great Gatsby.

Christine's other quilt top used up some large print fabrics, which are sometimes difficult to incorporate. This worked extremely well though, and I think once it is quilted, it will be a heirloom!

Jean and Kathryn were not able to come this time, but Alleyne, Mary and I enjoyed the afternoon. Mary was working on a challenge quilt, which we can't show off just yet, and Alleyne was working on a block of the month. As for myself, I continued to hand quilt my Native American quilt. It's very time consuming, and I can't quilt for long, because my fingers get sore. Still, with patience I shall get there eventually.