Share your Christmas tree.

I've gone for a change of colour this year. Usually I have a red and gold tree, but for the past few years I've been collecting blue and silver ornaments and I decided that I have just enough.

I also added the ribbons which were tied to the gazebo at our wedding, I think they look just perfect up there on the tree. Now I need to make a matching tree skirt and there is a distinct lack of bells, I need my early warning system! Click on the image for a closer look.

The gifts gathered around the trunk of the tree are all my SSCS from Lyn and that huge one there beside the tree is for my DS Joe.

I'm off into town now to see if I can get my paws onto any more blue and silver ornaments! LOL

*

Please share your tree and let me know you've done it. I love Christmas tree inspiration as much as I love quilty inspiration.

*

Gratitude's

1) We had a fantastic party on Saturday.

2) A quiet and peaceful recovery day yesterday.

3) I have today off work!

SSCS

I've been a bad blogger!

With all that has been going on since we got home, I forgot to mention that my SSCS package had arrived while we were away. Look at all these parcels.

The lovely Lyn at Bluebird Quilts was my SS. I'm a good girl and all these lovelies will wait for me until Christmas day. I don't know which one is the ornament, so that will have to wait for Christmas day too. Thank you Lyn, and thank you Chookyblue for organising a Christmas swap yet again.

I finally found time to sew!

Monday was the first chance I had to get back to my sewing machine. Thank goodness fro pre printed panels! You get that sense of satisfaction from a finish sooooo quickly with those. LOL

*

The first piece I tackled was an advent calendar I picked up in Birmingham earlier this year. It went together really quickly.

I even dug about in my ribbon tin and added some 3D extras. It's kind of hard to see here, but rather than quilt around the bows on the gifts I stitched on ribbons and tied them into bows. The only thing I find disappointing is the wavy edges! It was perfectly flat when I had finished quilting it and adding the bows. I used the backing fabric to bind the layers by turning it to the top and after I had finished that, the waves appeared. Did I do something wrong? I've had it hung since Monday night, just pinned to the bottom of another quilt, until I get out to get a rod and decide where to hang it for real, some of the waves have settled a little, but as you see, it's not all calm yet. Oh Yeah! I was out shopping yesterday and forgot to get lollies to fill the remaining pockets!

*

The second piece I started is one of the kiwiana projects I bought on my holiday. (Waving to Lee and Debs, they are waiting for this stuff to appear).

This panel just needed borders adding and the instructions in the kit called for the layers to be bagged out, which is all done.
So now I just need to slip closed the bottom and quilt as desired! I think for now I'll pop some black thread onto the machine and quilt in the black areas around the individual elements, then later I can take more time to play about with the images and perhaps even have a go at hand quilting. For now though, the quick machine idea is what I'm going with as I want this one on the wall by Saturday night, when we're having a bit of a party to celebrate our wedding with just a few friends and family.

*

Hmm, what else can I tell you? We had to purchase another set of drawers to contain all the extra fabrics I acquired in recent months! It's full already. I see some reshuffling in my future. LOL

*

Gratitude's

1) More time off work.

2) Time to sew.

3) Christmas shopping is nearly finished.

A Quilt Show

As I have mentioned once or twice already, while we were in NZ I visited a town called Geraldine. They were having their annual Craft and plant fair, part of which was an exhibition of quilts. I took my camera along and snapped a few photos.

*

These three....

'Kinky Ladies'
were sewn by a lady named Janis Kearns, who created and embellished them using an embroidery pattern as inspiration.
I thought they were great fun and just a little difficult to photograph because of the glass!

*

'Autumn in Geraldine', was the first piece which really caught my eye as we walked through the door.
It was created by a lady named Marie Temple during a class.

*

This beautiful black and white piece simply entitled 'Quilt' was created by Georgina Whitchurch. My sister in Law Lee particularly liked this one.
'Butterflies' was made by Micheline Soufflet. You know I'm a sucker for butterflies!
I love this one, 'Christmas Bargello' was made by Alice Jones, she used it as an example in a class she taught.
This one named 'Mums Quilt' was machine embroidered by Joanne Mitchell, and it has butterflies! The rhyme in the centre panel begins.....Happiness is like a butterfly.
'Colourful Rectangles' was made by Julie Stevens for her son, she says she was using up her scraps! This is the type of pattern I wanted to use that big bundle of Kiwi fat quarters for, that was, before I found the kit!
There was a whole collection of these little Christmas tree quilts, they were made with all manner of bits and pieces, scraps, selvedges and lace were just some of the components I saw. This particular one was made by Pamela Rafferty.
There were many more quilts, all lovingly made, Lee and my nieces enjoyed the show with me, the girls got very excited at times and wanted us to hurry because there was something we just had to see around the next corner! LOL.

If anyone form Geraldine is looking in, I thoroughly enjoyed my day, especially the quilts, thank you.

Got New Stash!

I found time to visit several quilty shops while we were away. Some have websites and some don't, but I do remember them all!

*

This pretty little bag I purchased at Obsession 2 Quilt in Temuka,

It contains all I need to create a beautiful Kiwiana quilt.The shop itself was wonderful, as it was only small every corner seemed to be packed with quilty goodness in fact, there were so many goodies crammed in that the shop samples had to be pinned to the ceiling!

*

The Timaru sewing centre, (No website) was worth a visit, though I only bought two fat quarters in there. Both pretty batiks. You can't see it here, but the greener of the two has Kiwis on it. Cute!
This next batch of goodies I purchased in Oamaru. I'm fairly sure the store was on Thames street. It was packed with all kinds of fabrics from dress making to quilting to upholstery. What a great place. 11 more kiwiana fat quarters.
The very first place I found and visited was Needle and Thread at Geraldine. The ladies there were very helpful and offered to mail my purchases home to me. Sadly they don't have a website, but I'm guessing they supply these ladies!
Two kits were waiting for me when I got home.
The one above is a single panel with borders, batting and backing all supplied, all I have to do is decide how to quilt it.

The one below is an appliqué quilt, no backing or batting supplied. All the fabrics to create the individual elements are bagged separately within the kit and there seems to be plenty provided.

I went back to Geraldine later during our holiday, Lee and I took the girls to the Geraldine Arts and Plants festival. A quilt show was a small part of a long weekend celebrating all manner of wonderful crafts and the Kiwi love of gardening.

My lovely sister in law Lee purchased this sunflower fabric some years ago, with the intention of making some pretty sun tops for her girls. I'm sure we can all remember doing something similar! LOL
On our visit to Dunedin we went out onto Otago peninsula to visit with the albatross and have a look around. I knew about and planned a visit to a place called Happy Hens. I knew about the chooks, and was delighted to find Happy Hen fabric too!
On our very last day, as we were heading to the airport, I spied out of the corner of my eye a place called Annie's Country Quilt Store. Heaven.
Every inch of the place was packed with patterns, samples, items for sale, she had a whole room dedicated to Christmas quilts and decorations. I was spoiled for choice and spent more than I should have. But who cares, it was my last day of my holiday! LOL

*

At every opportunity I looked in the shops for magazines and books. I brought home about 10 quilty and crafty magazines. I think it's safe to say that I came home with plenty of inspiration and more than enough fabric and kits to keep me busy for a year or so! LOL