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

Saturday, March 8, 2014

No more sneaky peeks...

... for now!!

This afternoon sees me a little jaded but happy! The lovely quiltshop I work at (The Country Yard), has just had its New Year's Launch. We always have a lot of fun with this, the planning of new projects, cutting into brand new fabric, trying new ideas, and of course the frantic sewing of block of the months, kits, class samples, shop samples 'for inspiration' and so on.
Somehow we always seem to get everything made and the day before the launch is spent turning the shop upside down and inside out and putting it all back together again.
Partway through the day!
 We pull down our 'old' displays and we reorganise shelves. We move fabric. (Actually we move everything!) We hunt out the 'back shed' for fresh display units and props. We bring out the ladders for the hanging of new quilts. We stand in the middle of the shop wondering where everything will go, but as the day progresses, it all falls into place. We spend the last hour or so finding homes for the little gift items or extra kits that appear homeless. Of course there is the paperwork; newsletters, class list, sign-in sheets, signage and so on.
Ahh, it's all worth it in the end!! —
And then launch-day dawns and we have a fabulous time with our customers who come and visit. There's lots of excitement; often we feel like we are welcoming old friends. Did I mention the baking and the cups of tea in the marquee out in the parklike grounds? As well as 'us girls behind the counter' we have a wonderful band of helpers who meet and greet, pour the tea and help the day tick over smoothly.
So that was this morning, and now it means I can share some quilts I have been working on here at home.
The sneak peek (in the first photo of this post) which I shared last post morphed into this quilt below —
"Paint box" by Laundry Basket Quilts.
I absolutely love this quilt. It was fun to make and was the first time I had really used batik fabrics. Edyta Sitar has a wonderful knack of combining batiks and the prints and this range is testimony to this.
Quilting was 'swirls and twirls, Raewyn-style'. It worked to help the
baskets shine; the baskets just needed a bit of straightline quilting to
stabilise them.
I also finished this quilt by 'The Buggy Barn' which I started last year. It was for a class we decided to delay holding so it got put on the bottom of the pile for a while. One of the things that slowed down the finishing on it was my indecision as to how to finish quilting it. It is mostly straightline quilting around/within each star but I really didn't know what to do in the border. Finally, very simple, wide 'piano keys' won the day and I was pleased that they didn't distract from the 'stars of the quilt'.
Another finish that I really love!
The Buggy Barn quilts are fun as you layer the fabrics, lay a freezer-paper template on top, cut along the lines of the template, then (in an orderly fashion) shuffle the piles. By the time you have sewn it all together you have lots of unique blocks.
I've done several smaller projects as well but I think I will save them for another time. I love the photo below so will leave that with you for now :-)
When photo-shoots go wrong!
Happy stitching, have a great day!
And thank you for stopping by,

30 comments:

  1. It was a wonderful morning Raewyn and your quilts etc were wonderful as were all the others. A great team of talented women. It was so hard to be disciplined and not enrol in everything!! Thank you

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  2. Sounds like a very busy time but such fun to spend a day with like minded ladies~ I love your basket quilt, using the batik fabric I hear about so often......Now I think I'll be paying more attention! Ot looks great in your applique blocks. Have a good week end:)

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  3. That sounds like a lot of fun! The shop and quilts look great.

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  4. How exciting, a whole new shop appears by changing displays etc.
    I love the Paint Box quilt you made Raewyn, that is absolutely stunning.

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  5. Your basket quilt is wonderful ! I love baskets :)

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  6. what great fun as well as hard work getting ready for the launch you must have all had, shop looks amazing so much to see and your quilts are a delight, I do like the way a few baskets have flowers in them, have not seen that done before.

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  7. Beautiful basket quilt, Raewyn!! You did a wonderful job on the combination of prints and batiks. It is a very pretty, happy quilt!
    The stars quilt is fun, too.
    Sounds like your local shop really knows how to kick off a new year! Would love to see something like that!
    I'm looking forward to seeing your little projects. : )

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  8. what a hive of activity.
    Love your laundry basket quilt it looks fantastic and the applique is wonderful. Love the little birds too.
    buggy barn quilt is great too.
    such great finishes!

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  9. How exciting. It looks fabulous! Such beautiful quilts...love the basket quilt. All success for 2014.

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  10. These events are so much hard work; but worth it. Always lots of fun hours for everyone. The pieces are gorgeous!

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  11. That sounds like a major transformation, but it looks great.

    The quilts are both beautiful, but those batiks are amazing.

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  12. I love the laundry baskets quilt. It is so pretty
    Cath @ Bits 'n Bobs

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  13. Phew Raewyn - I am sure you girls have all worked so hard for the launch. Wouldve loved to have come up for it but family matters prevented it. Looks like you had a great day & the shop looks amazing. Your quilts are beautiful - love the flower basket one especially. You can take a breather now :-)

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  14. Wasn't it a great day! Such team work, I hope you have your feet up?

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  15. Lots of hard work but a wonderful result. Love seeing the finished quilts.

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  16. Hope I've fixed the problem with my blog now :)T Y.

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  17. What a lovely day that was, Raewyn! Beautiful photo, and what a stunning quilt, your basket quilt! Love the photo of the quilt with the doggy, good you have such warm dry weather, for its paws I mean. And while I'm writing I suddenly see who he/she sees, great photo!
    Happy stitching, Cisca

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  18. It all looks amazing Raewyn. Lots of inspiration. Great to see your finished quilts. Well done. Love the last photo .

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  19. I just love those baskets and applique what a great job you have done, hope the launch day was successful, sounds like fun

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  20. I so wish I could have been there. It looks like all of you did a great job and I'm sure there is a ton of new things to see. The basket quilt turned out gorgeous! I like the buggy barn pattern. I don't think I've seen that one before. The simple quilting looks perfect on it.

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  21. Oh my eyes have been feasting as I was reading!! Raewyn, the shop looks wonderful & yes I always suspected that setting it all up to look so stunning, is no easy thing!

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  22. The quilts and the shop look great. I wish I could just pop over and visit...

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  23. Great day Raewyn. Love seeing the pictures of your basket quilt close up - did Kerryn tell you that I missed seeing it Friday night, so had to go back for another look on Saturday! Hopefully there'll be more Laundry Basket quilts coming up in the future.

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  24. the shop looks like a lovely place - I would love to visit it someday. And your quilts are wonderful! I especially like the star quilt!

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  25. Crikey you've been so busy! Looks and sounds like a great weekend :)

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  26. the shop looks wonderful!!!your quilts are beautiful Edyta's quilts are on my to do list.

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  27. what gorgeous quilts Raewyn and the shop looks awesome.xx

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  28. What a fantastic place this shop!
    Lovely and cosy quilt :)

    Hugs,
    Tatyana

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  29. WOW it all looks amazing! Your basket quilt is beautiful, it's so pretty with the little touch of flowers here and there, well done, I hope you're enjoying a well-earned break now!

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