A quilt show and a bit of rambling

I was lucky to be in town when the Tauranga Patchwork and Quilting Group held their show in June. It was a beautiful day, in a beautiful setting with beautiful quilts and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'd been staying at my sister's and the show was just a short drive from her house :-) 

There was a great variety of quilts and of course I took far too many photos so I'll share just a few here. (And in no order of favouritism, sometimes it's a case of which photos turned out better!!)
I was pleased to meet Ali Honey (of quiltingorchardist) who had alerted me to the fact that the show was on. Here's her piece Fancy Flowers - 

I love the wee real feathers sewn in —

Below is a clever FPP piece by Karen Livingstone - trying to work out the actual blocks was a challenge - I think they were triangles.
I thought it looked great in these fabrics —

There were several versions of Sarah Fielke's Coming Home quilt - a group of (at least) four had sewn it together and each quilt was different to the next. I really liked this version in Tilda fabrics.

(There were two more 'Coming Home' quilts around the corner I didn't photograph.)

Sound Waves by Jackie Southam (from the book Simple Modern Patchwork Quilts) —

The Rowdy Flat Library Book by Helen Purllant —

For the Love of Hexagons by Julie Brittain —

Gossip in the Garden by Ruth Couch —

Moody Blues by Julie Brittain —

A Skitch a Day by Chris McIntyre (Gourmet Quilter BOM) —

Unscrappy Windmills by Lynda Warn —

Also by Lynda Warn, 'Orange Into Vintage' —

I said it was a beautiful day in a beautiful setting. The venue, The Tauranga Yacht Club, is on the water's edge and I don't think you could have had a better setting than this......

Enjoying a cuppa and a piece of slice.

That mountain (Mount Maunganui) was in my view for part of June/July as I stayed for a bit while mum was in hospital (and then home) healing from a nasty leg infection. 

The area was a place of many happy childhood memories as my grandparents had a bach there. A lot of Mum's family (and my sister) live there and it's always comfortable visiting the area.

(This blogpost has been in the works for nearly 6 weeks!) 

I flew home and was really delighted to get some decent photos from air (I seem to always be over a wing when I fly so I don't see much!) which showed the Mount, the township, the harbour and the ocean off really well —

You see the ships in the above photo; back in March bloggy friend Janet, roguequilter, was visiting NZ on the big cruise ship below (in the same harbour) —

Julie, mythreadbearlife and I met her off the ship. We walked around the base of the Mount —

We talked, drank coffee, talked some more, splashed in the harbour - 

We had a fabulous day - my life has been so enriched through blogging- events like this remind me how special this whole thing is - and why I have to keep blogging!!!!

We exchanged gifts (of course).

Here is the special package from Janet —

The pineapple mug rug is amazing and showcases Janet's legendary small piecing beautifully!

And a couple of her handmade soaps —

Julie and I decided not to swap gifts. 

Here is what I made for Janet; a kiwiana themed pouch —

(As we are both Coeliac, I did some Gluten Free baking for her, wrapped in the tea-towel)

Okay, enough rambling, thank you for reading along!!

Happy stitches,

Raewyn

Chookshed Challenge

This month's Chookshed Challenge is #8.

My task is to complete the Christmas Gingerbread stitchery I started back in 2023.

The stitching is complete; I need to pop a border on it, quilt and bind it and gift it to wee Odie (in time for Christmas 2025!).

The trouble is, when I made this year's list, I was completely surprised that I hadn't finished it. PLUS I hadn't seen the stitchery floating around at all for a very long time.

My plan for this month is to find the stitchery and complete it.

If I can't find it, I will substitute another Christmas themed project that needs completing. Watch this space!!

This will be the first time I've linked up to Deana's Chookshed Challenge this year. Last year's participation in it was a write-off so I'm trying really hard to do better! 

The number drawn out of the January's Challenge was #6 which was to complete the 2024 Scrub Stitching project/kit.

✔ Done and blogged about *here*

Here is a group of the finished sewing cases at this year's retreat —

February's challenge was #10; to work some more on my Great Scrappy Star Adventure. I located the box and that was about it!!

My Antarctica quilt was March's challenge (#2). This one needs creative time and headspace so also remained untouched.

April's challenge was #4; On Williams Street. A free motion quilting sewalong from 2023. You make the blocks and practice different quilting designs in each one, Quilt As You Go style.

A great idea, but I never got all the blocks made.

But CELEBRATION - one more was made in April so I am counting that as success :-)

This is the block - each block is the same and they will all be quilted differently. (Luckily the instructions are all still up on their blog!)

I found a bunch of Kansas Trouble style fabrics which I am using —

The group so far, I have another seven to go!

So that gets me up-to-date. 

Hopefully I will find May's challenge stitchery soon and report back at the end of the month :-)

Linking up with the Chookshed Challenge on Deanna's Dreamworthy quilts blog *here*

Happy stitches,

Raewyn

Show and Tell at Scrub Stitching

There were plenty of impromptu Show and Tells throughout retreat as tops or blocks were finished.

Lianne —

Stephanie had a big production line happening, making bags, pouches —

Janice with a baby quilt —

More Janice busy-ness —

Sandy —

Harriet —

Lou (Down In The Garden by Leanne's House) —

Jenny (Sunshine and Lollipops) —

We also followed the coat-making for Tilly and Rosie very closely....

.....which culminated in a special dressing ceremony —

(While I am keen to make my own Luna Lapin rabbit, I am very mindful of the point that both Christine and Sharmayne vow and declare that their rabbits will not be getting any more coats!!!)

We all also really look forward to the Official Show and Tell on Saturday afternoon. This was the pile of quilts after the event! —

Sue and I shared our wee Sashiko bears (which we challenged each other to make —

This was a top I finished this year - also a challenge project — 

Stephanie with a sized up Omigosh! —

Sue —

Lou with two versions of the same tablecloth - one her grandmother made, the second her mother started and Lou finished —

Annette —

Mary with Field Journal (Cottage Garden Threads) —

Maureen was working on this last year - all FPP - great to see it finished!!

Jenny and Miranda share notes —

Jo (finally) put this together - it was an internet block swap —

Janice changed the centre wording to suit her surname —

Di with a crochet masterpiece —

Of course I can go on and on with more photos - I sure took plenty. SO much inspiration and creativity from all these special ladies.

See you next time,

Raewyn