Trying this out

Hi all I thought I had worked out how to use my iPad and add a photo from my iPad to my blog ...the first try did not work now trying something different. 

I have been making bits and bobs for gifts and here are some of them 

Just a sneak peek....now to send this to blogger.  

Thanks for checking my blog

Churn Dash

One of my favourite traditional blocks is Churn Dash, so with the fabric left over from the Turning Twenty what better then a small Churn Dash quilt.

I had several pieces of Fairy Frost in shades of cream which I felt showed the block up nice just enough for a small quilt.

Of we went Fudge and I stitch stich sew sew.. trim this join the rows together and whoop dee doo all done..add a border or two and its ready for quilting….well…..there was something about it that was not right…the pattern did not do for me what I wanted it to ….

so i unpicked the rows and sashed them with a narrow brown sashing…much better…I am about half way thru the quilting…very traditional quilting outlining the cream pieces to make the Churn Dash stand out.

On two corners I have reversed the border and used the floral fabric I will embellish these corners when the quilting is finished.

Turning Twenty Quilts

Kia ora friends I have been asked to blog about my turning Twenty Quilts…I have so far made two.

A couple of years ago my quilting club..Pinestream Quilters from Upper Hutt had a club day and one of the classes was the Turning Twenty Quilt. This quilt required 20 fat quarters or in my case I used 16.

Off to Spotlight I went for the fabrics….great summer colours orange, teals ,green, blue ,Lemon ,brown, spots, stripes, florals, geometric patterns and believe it or not it only took me ten yes ten minutes to choose these fabrics.

The pattern and method was supplied to us on the day but if you use your favourite search engine you will find lots of info available on the net.

There is a lot of cutting required as each block has 11 pieces to it… once cut there is a special way of taking fabric from each different cut to make up a block…each block will have one piece of each  fabric used, different sizes and in a different place in the block.

The block is made up into 4 units then joined to make one large block..approx 16 x 16.

I made my quilt using 16 blocks.

When joining the blocks together each block is turned a different way the the one next to it…hence the name Turning Twenty…

I hand quilted mine using a big stitch and pearl Cotton in all sorts of different colours….I quilted half a block going up and dwon and the other half across..this gave a very nice textured look.

Now for the photo.

showing top corner the peg is where the block joined to the next one

this is a very summery quilt just love the end result

My second Turning Twenty is quite different in colouring…more subtle  it has been quilted the same .big stitch using brown pearl cotton number 8.

as I wanted that same textured look

and here is  part of the back showing off the label

Thanks for checking out my blog

fudge and kiwi Jan

Jan Cotton

Just trying this out.

Kia ora, a none quilt related entry, have been reading blogs and read where a friend had a app for blogs and now she could  put a entry on her blog direct from her iPad, must admit I had not given it a thought that one could not make a entry to your blog direct from ones iPad so had to give it a go.
Well so far it's working I don't have a photo to try and add that as yet....one thing at a time.
Right now I am in Melbourne Australia ...aa surprise for my daughter ...who had a big birthday surprise evening out arranged for her... We went to Draculars for dinner and their show..a very good night out must admit to ringing in my spears for some time after.
We now have a week staying at my daughters in Scorsby
I will try and add some photos later if this goes thru ok.
More later
Kiwi Jan

White and Stripy quilt

Some time ago at Pinestream Quilters club night I won three pieces for fabric. Pale and  pretty, one was flowery, one stripsof colour and the other spots. I took them out of the cupboard many times but they did not sing to me. Then one day tral lah lah I added more pale fabrics plus a main background white----I decided to use the technique quilt as you go. Sewing the strips direct on to the batting and backing.

But first was to play with these strips on my  design wall.

these are not sewn yet just pinned., ready to stitch—oh dear not enough need to cut and pin more.Before I could start sewing to the backing I had to make the backing.

Lots more stitching and here we are all finished

Back

and a little label

This is another quilt suitable for a little person. Very little!! Crib size .

Thanks for looking

Kiwi Jan

Jan Cotton

Quilts for little people

Kia-ora to whoever is reading, Fudge and I have been busy quilt making.

I had been given some fabric off cuts , all these lovely pieces begging to be made into a quilt for a little person. Naturally this meant a trip to the local quilt shop –some yummy stripes caught my eye and I was then all set to go. Lots of pieces, lots of  measuring, trimming, sewing, pressing and the quilt was finished.

The blocks left over were used for the backing of this wee quilt for a little person

 

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In all the years I have been quilting possibly around 15 or so I have never made a Eye Spy Quilt and now was the time.

Small problem. I did not have the fabrics needed. Being quilters we help each other out with swapping fabric –I helped out a couple of friends and they helped me out with the Eye Spy fabrics. Many thanks you two, you know who you are.

I did have the fabric for the corner blocks and away we went again, Fudge and I. Lots of cutting and stitching and pressing and measuring and more sewing and the Eye Spy quilt took shape.

Among the fabrics given me was the  delightful fabric I used on the backing. I am sure a little person will have much fun Eye Spying this quilt

Of course there were blocks left over and I felt a big pillow case would be great –to help the little person sit up or ---

The backing of the pillow case is the same as the edge’s on the front.

Thanks for looking at my stitching –more to come.

Kiwi Jan

Jan Cotton

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My Mark

At Queenstown Symposium  2011 -- the classes I took were all hand work. There was no way I was taking Fudge with me – she would have taken all my luggage allowance  not going to happen. So Fudge stayed at home –while Irene and I went to Queenstown for a whole week stitching stitching and more stitching!!!

The piece below is the last of my three class samples to be finished.

I have used a piece of old calico that I rusted several years ago. I found some of the rusted marks were in fact in the shape of a heart. So what better shape to use as my mark then a heart.

This wee quilt is my life. Hearts joined ,  new hearts added ,hearts broken,colours represent my family and are colours that played big time in my life. Blue for boy that’s easy.Red for Girl  red you ask  red rag to a Bull!more hearts later in life.It has taken me a while to finish this definitely  must be in the right frame of mind to work on this .Not a big quilt but one with feeling.

The top has a Battenberg lace table centre as backing and then is set on a finished quilt  both these just happened to be something I had and were exactly the right size.

The label has been tea dyed  again by myself.

All the work on this top is hand work. Fudge sat waiting.

The quilt backing was made using Fudge

A special top for a special daughter.

Kiwi Jan and Fudge.

Janome challenge

On the Janome challenge forum one of our challenges was to use take your initials [ two] mine are JC,  find two fabrics whose names started with the same initials as your own  and make something using just those two fabrics. or use your initials and find a colour that started with them.

Would you believe almost every piece of fabric in my collection did not have a name. Find a colour that started with J!!!! C was easy Cream comes to mind.

OK lets go shopping and this is what I came up with.

I chose the black and white and the coloured stripes and decided to make a pin cushion. One can never have too many pin cushions ---can they!!

These Janome challenges –are one every month and sometimes we have little ones in between . The challenge is to actually do these  we are not judged in any way but have to complete so many challenges each year to stay in the Forum.One learns such a lot when involved in these challenges.

again thanks for looking.

Kiwi Jan and Fudge.

i Pad case.

Yes at last I relented and want versus need won. I have a i Pad and love it but admit to using my laptop for some things like my blog.Mainly I guess because I am more confident on my laptop – the i Pad is very touchy haha!Of course I had to make a case for it and what better colour then green and again used Fudges Deco stitches as embellishment

First photos -- the back

Flap opened up

Next photo are the front with i Pad inside and case open

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Last photo is front of case closed

 

Goes with my green accessory bag—s!!!so now what else have Fudge and I been making!!!

Check out it out

Thanks for looking at our stitching.

Kiwi Jan and Fudge.

Fudge and I have been busy.

Kia-ora or hello, as the title suggests Fudge and i have been busy sewing up a storm as the saying goes.Since finishing Kerri's and Alexa-Mays bag we have been away to a family wedding in Queenstown and had several visitors.In between i have kept Fudge busy with different projects and started a online free motion quilting class, more on that one much later.

for Christmas  made my daughter and daughter in law sets of place mats photo coming and my DIL asked me to make her a oven mitt to match. Sadly no fabric the same anywhere so with a little improvising  here is her oven mitt, the red strips represent the flower on the placemat.My DIL was delighted.

 

I have been working on a accessory bag one to keep chargers and batteries, and cords and all things that are required to help run these electronic gadgets we all love.

When going away I thought it would be great if they had their own bag. Took me a while to perfect the pattern one of my own and maybe it will become a good bag for a class at my local quilt club

The first one I used Deco stitches on Fudge.[Janome 6500]

The next ones were for a Janome forum challenge using crazy pieced blocks and again embellishing with Deco stitches .I had to do a little improvising here again as my blocks were a little small –I added a piece across the top and bottom to make it big enough for this bag.

These ones are for one of my stitching friends. Some time ago Jann stitched these scraps together and then had no idea what to do with it. I said I would make something out of it. Must admit it took me a wee while to think about what to make.

this is the sample for a class hopefully and I made one the same fory friend in Florida. no its not pieced –super fabric which I quilted using a sparkly thread.

the bag has a shaped side, when looking at it sideways its rather like a waist line across the middle of the side.A little unusual but a good size for those electronic bits we have to take away orkeep in one place at home.

Enough on bags for now.

Who likes my Accessory bag?

Thanks for checking out my blog.

Kiwi Jan and Fudge.

Second Bag for 2013

This bag is for my Grand daughter who lives in Melbourne Australia—She asked me could I make her one like the orange one but in Animal prints  This time I shopped for fabric in the new shop opposite Pak n Save in Lower Hutt—VIC corner—I must find out the name its a cool shop—Yes found what I wanted and away we go Fudge and I busy stitching again.

This bag is super and a real teenager’s bag—Its my granddaughters birthday—[19 years   not a teenager for much longer] in a week or so so NZ post do your thing and deliver it on time please.I also made a Mug Rug in Black n White  Hope she likes it again I know a few folks who loved it.

 

Kerri’s Orange Bag.

Kerri hope you like it.I know several folks who would have it in a heart beat!!

Kia-ora,  Happy New Year to all. I am back home after a few days  with friends in Thames and visiting my sister and  family in Auckland. The weather was kind to us while we were away and we came home well rested and ready for another year --of stitching with my best friend Fudge. We did manage lots of stitching last year hope for more this year.
While in Auckland my niece almost --I said almost managed to walk out with my super orange bag--She loved it so much I said I would make her one--It had to be exactly the same--First stop to  the fabric shop in Kilbirnie where I bought he fabric for my bag and my luck was in--They had two pieces of that floral  --Just enough for what I needed and they also had the fabric I used for the side panels as well as the black n white--
Ok Fudge here we go-- bag number 5 of this style--
There is a lot of work involved in this bag but its well worth it when you see the finished article

Kerri this ones just for you.or it will be if I can find the link to my computer for the photo.