Back home in New Zealand

I am back home after our long trip to the USA. It was a shock to my system to arrive to such chilly weather after the intense heat we experienced on the east coast before we left. But, cold weather is quilting weather.

Someone asked me once for tips on quilting a bed-sized quilt (not that I'm an expert). One of my tips is to save this job for cold weather because it can be quite physical and you inevitably get wrapped up in your quilt. So, the cold weather prompted me to do some quilting. My quilting corner is also in my bedroom which is the warmest and sunniest spot in the house.

Butterfly hearts: I started this over a year ago and then set it aside while I tried to figure out how to move to the next step. Yesterday I machine quilted slightly random parallel lines across the whole quilt. Next, I am appliquing hearts cut from many (many) butterfly fabrics that I have collected. I decided to do raw edge applique. I tried out 2 using chunky running stitches with 2 strands of embroidery floss. I like the look (front and back) but am worried that it won't be durable enough. Now I wonder if I should machine sew them on and then do the running stiches on top of the machine stiches. Any advice?

Plaid Block Lotto winnings: I went to my local fabric shop looking for something to use on the border. I was committed to only selecting fabric from the clearance rack, so my choices were limited. I came home with this grey/red/coral/black large scale plaid and a matching bright red-coral print. I think I will do a narrow strip of the bright print and then a border with the plaid. I've only used half of the blocks so far, so I should be able to do a second quilt with the remaining blocks. I am considering donating at least one, maybe both.

Blue snowflakes: I finished one block and started a second, this time blue on white. My needle-turn applique is improving and the silk thread my mother recommended is really good.











Auckland Modern Quilt Guild (AMQG) raffle quilt: We have 56 wonky stars in bright colors on white. The original plan was to make the backgrounds white and light grey but nobody used grey except for me. I admit to having quite a few in my stash, but looking around the shops lately, there's not many on offer. There's a lot of white in these blocks, and I feel like they need some neutralising. We have a few working sessions scheduled to piece the front and back. The quilting is still TBD.

I have a few ideas in the pipeline but have promised myself that I cannot start anything else until I get through these ongoing projects.