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

Monday, July 29, 2013

Finally....!

This year I signed up to complete "1 Xmas item a month' with Narelle (Pins and Whiskers blog). I've been a bit hit and miss and my item hasn't always been finished by the 25th of the month.
Like this month.
BUT, we do have a finish!
You've seen a few shots of this lately in various stages of 'nearly doneness'; it is "Stockings Were Hung" by Nikki Tervo of Brandy Gully Designs.
You may be able to see that I did a simple cross hatch in the  border after all those busy curves.
I love these Cottage Garden Threads - and love the naming of the colours too......listen to the ones I used...Hugs and Kisses (red), Latte (brown), Sweet Gum (green) and Pumpkin Seed (gold).
I've recently discovered and used a new (to me) battting...80% wool and 20% polyester (not sure of the brand) ---oh my goodness--- I LOVE it! The photo below may show the puff achieved with this batt. Yum.
I haven't tried it in a big quilt yet nor given it the wash test but I am keen to.

Still plenty of activity happening on the farm......
"Spot the twins"!
Yes, our calves come in all shapes and sizes.
"Have you seen my mummy?"
Brilliant Green Moth. 
I think this may be a Puriri Moth (but stand to be corrected). If so, it would have emerged after 7 years as a grub in a tree, then died after 2 days. If so, wasn't I lucky to see it?!

Ok, back to work :-)
Thank you for visiting. Apologies to those of you I haven't replied to after my last post. I am endeavouring to catch up :-)
Have a great week everyone, and happy stitching,

27 comments:

  1. Such sweet stitching! Love all the photos!

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  2. Love your quilting on your wall-hanging. I'd be interested to know where you got that batting from if you can remember. Bet those calves are keeping you busy - the one with one white leg is distinctive, and did you really get twins?? How common is that?

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  3. Love your stockings! Especially love how you quilted it. Gorgeous!

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  4. Yes it is a Puriri moth. I have a cool book "Pepetuna" about it's life cycle. It's illustrated with beautiful pictures made from lace etc. The story follows what a human baby is doing in the time that the moth is in the tree.
    http://www.fishpond.co.nz/q/Pepetuna?rid=1069080234

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  5. great photography! the calves, moth & xmas wall hanging. The Cottage Garden threads do have the loveliest names.

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  6. Love, love, love the finished little quilt!! Adorable!!!! Love the calvies!! How are the twins doing? Look like they can hold their own!! LOL What a great photo of the moth!! I got a photo the other day of a large brown moth that was hanging around the porch - pretty interesting! I know you are busy, and I think of you every day and wonder what you're up to - rearing calves I bet!!

    Hugs and Blessings sweet friend!

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  7. P.S. I have hand quilted with Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly before, but I'm machine quilting a baby quilt now with the same batting - and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it, too!! So easy to stitch!!

    Blessings

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  8. While your Puriri moth is beautiful it is also destructive. The grub stage is inside a covered 7 shaped burrow in the wood of a tree - sometimes Puriri sometimes fruit trees or copper beech. The branch if thin may later die and break out which is not great in ones fruit trees. One year we had a huge emergence of moths they were attracted to outside lights.

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  9. Congratulations on a lovely finish for Christmas , great job on the stitching and quilting . The calves are so cute :-)

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  10. oh my Raewyn that is so awesome,well done.xx

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  11. sweet little embroidery.
    that moth is so neat. yes, you are very lucky to have seen it before it died.

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  12. A beautiful wall hanging - the quilting is perfect for it. How sad to be a grub for all that time to only spread your wings for two days - nature's rules!!

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  13. I love your Christmas finish, beautiful! It's always nice seeing photos of life on the farm too.

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  14. Congratulations on your finish! It's lovely, and the quilting is so beautiful. The size difference of the twins is amazing.

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  15. Hi Raewyn, I have used a few Nicki Tervo patterns before & I really love her work. Your wallhanging is just beautiful :-) So are those twin calves who look to be drinking quite well. We are full on into it too, makes stitching time a bit more tricky :-)

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  16. The Christmas project is gorgeous! I bought some of the 100% wool batting but I haven't used it yet. I plan on using it in my bone carvings quilt. Good to hear that you like it!

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  17. love your Xmas wallhanging and the quilting is so good.
    Twins now think that is unusual for cows, Mum must have been enormous.
    The moth is beautiful, sad to read on a post that it is destructive though to the trees.

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  18. gorgeous finish, it is a beautiful stitchery design and the cottons do add a special touch.
    love the calf pics, the last one looks like he has his leg in plaster.
    very interesting moth.

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  19. Adorable calves! Thanx for the pics! I love that wallhanging, too.

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  20. A wonderful Christmas finish, Raewyn. It is very cute, and such a fun quilting pattern, too. Nice job!
    Fun to see the young livestock.
    Wow, that is a moth I have not heard of before now. Interesting!

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  21. I just love your stocking wall hanging and you did a wonderful job of the quilting on it--way to go!!!!
    hugs, di and miss gracie

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  22. Beautiful work from the first stitch to the last.

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  23. Congrats on the finish. Your quilting is awesome! Love the farms photos. Twins! What a moth! You got a great photo of it.

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  24. Such a sweet and cute stocking mini-quilt!

    Hugs,
    Tatyana

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  25. I just love your quilting design. It's just right! :-)

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