My quilting thoughts and inspirations sprinkled with a glimpse of life down on the farm

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A Floral Mystery

How time flies!!
We've all said that before, I know, but when I realised that this is my first post for August (and it's halfway through the month) I couldn't believe it!! Seeing as I use my blog as a bit of a diary, that means theres's now a pretty big gap in my life :-)
A couple of posts ago I hinted at busy times coming up with the arrival of our first calf... well it's been all go since then. All of a sudden we are nearly three quarters of the way through calving - boy, have we been busy, but thank goodness, everything has gone fairly smoothly and we have lots of healthy calves and cows.

Sewing time recently has been spent finishing a quilt I made this year -I was lucky to make the shop sample for this year's Country Yard Mystery Quilt.
The fabric was a gorgeous Robyn Pandolf range, 'Fancy Hill Farm'.
I put together the quilt top a while ago but then needed to franticly quilt it in readiness for the grand reveal.
I sweated over the quilting - after all it had to hang in the shop so needed to be of a reasonable standard - and those of you who know me, know that I am still a "beginner quilter"!!
So I did a bit of stippling, free motion style. Then I carefully used the darning foot to go around the appliquéd and embroidered flowers.
I got stuck next, as my fmq wasn't up to fancy stuff in other blocks, but finally decided to use the walking foot to fill more gaps.
Megan made a second version, using a Nancy Halverson range. Here is her's (below), quilted by Leeanne (see more of it here).
As always, amazing to see two versions of the same quilt in different fabrics.
I've finished ONE more block of my Life Is Beautiful quilt. This is the project I pick up in between other ones - there's no time pressure or obligations with this one!!
The appliquéd heart appears grey, but is actually blue. There seemed to be more light than darks in the variegated thread this time.


 And it's back to Beanies by the Fire weather again!!!  We aren't as affected by the Polar Blast as other parts of the country (see here and here) - although we thought we saw a little snow on the hills in the distance this morning (??) - but for us it's still been pretty cold and miserable.
Once the farm jobs are done it's nice to come inside and stitch by the fire!




16 comments:

  1. Gor-ge-ous quilt you made, I love the applications in combination with embroidery - well done on the quilting as well!

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  2. Your Quilt is Lovely as is Your Quilting...
    Love the Variegated thread in your Life Block it's very pretty...
    Your Fire looks so cosy..I miss our Log Fire don't have the need for one here in Qld...
    cheers

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  3. This time 2 years ago my daughter and her boyfriend were in NZ and loved it so much that they contemplated staying.They were having a great time skiing, skydiving and all the rest of it. Great projects there Raewyn.

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  4. I love the quilt, the colours, the stitchery everything. Just lovely.

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  5. The quilt is adorable...very nice work on it..

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  6. Your quilt looks great great and your quilting beautiful.
    Yes it has been very cold over you way and coming in to a nice fire is so cosy.

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  7. Well done and such beautiful fabric too!

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  8. Great work... the colours looks so greate
    Have a nice Day
    Diana

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  9. I LOVE all you made, Raewyn! What a difference between the two quilts, they are so different. The quilting is lovely, too, you should not worry about it. By the way, how do you manage to quilt with so many baby animals.
    Happy quilting, Cisca

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  10. Interesting to see the two different versions - amazing how different they look! Hope calving settles down for you soon. I think I must have started reading your blog a year ago, I'm sure you were in the middle of calving.

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  11. Love, love your Life is Beautiful block! Your stitching is sew neat.
    Your quilt turned out so lovely and your quilting is something to be proud of.
    I hope all your calves have nice beanies too?

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  12. The quilt looks great, you've done a lovely job!
    It's been beanie by the fire weather here too... brrr... thankfully it's a nice day today though just what I needed! Enjoy your week...

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  13. You did a great job on the quilt and your quilting is very nice. I love the stitchery.

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  14. Raewyn, your creation is wonderful. What a difference between the two quilts, they are so different. The quilting is awesome. By the way, how do you manage to quilt with so many baby animals.

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  15. Raewyn, everything you make is so beautiful. I'm really enjoying catching up with your wonderful blog this afternoon.

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  16. Looks like you have been busy as usual. Your Kansas Dugout blocks are spectacular. Some of the simplest blocks can be so versatile, just a matter of working with them.

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