a stippled sunday...

This is what I have been working on today....
I am making it to go in my Etsy store....
But I'm falling in love with it....

Carole ;)

to wash or not to wash, -that is the question for you to answer.....

I have read on some blogs, and I can't remember which ones, but after a quilt has been completely finished it has been washed before it's been given away.
I have never washed mine, mine have always been given in 'brand new' condition however, I used to always wash everything before I started a quilt.. The staff at my local quilting store are not fussed about washing the fabric before making a quilt either.
I wonder if the washing of a quilt after it is finished helps to 'puff' the fabric up a bit?

What do you girls do? Do you wash the fabric before cutting and sewing, or do you wash the entire quilt once it is all finished? Or maybe you don't do either?

I'd love your feedback on this!
Thanks,
Carole ;)

some recent mail...

I recently participated in the F-R-I-E-N-D-S swap where we were assigned a partner and we had to swap 7 gifts, one for each letter of the word. My partner was Debbie from Canada, and this was how she handled the challenge! (It was a bit overwhelming to get all these gifts! ) Thanks so much Debbie for going to so much trouble to put these together for me. It was really interesting to see if we matched any of the items.
F: a flower hot pad and a face mask, (just what a tired student will need, will save until exam time!!)
R: rick rack, ribbon and a recipe book full of chocolate recipes! (also good for tired students)
I: indigo coloured fabric and ribbon with inches marked on it! (great for students when not doing student things!)
E: some lovely embroidery and some earrings, (a feminine touch for the drab student who studies in slouchy track pants and sweatshirts!)
N: some needle pullers, a hanky for the Nose and a very cute notebook. (all ideal for the student who likes to do a bit of stitching)
D: some lemon drink sachets, a dip mix and a pretty cool doily, (stored, going and gone!)
S: a lovely souvenir tea towel from Canada, a pot scrubber, a strawberry huller and a gorgeous sewing kit! (for the spoilt student!)
And then Debbie added a few extras which was so kind of her considering she must have had to mortage the house to be able to afford the darn postage! LOL
Although I loved everything!!!! This wee thimble was my favourite thing, don't you think it's totally gorgeous?
And so too was the lovely tissue paper it was all wrapped in. Thanks again Debbie, and I hope this is the beginning of a great friendship!
Carole ;)

Atc's

I recently completed an ATC swap with Doreen, Debbi, Annie and Ann. It was Doreen's turn to set the challenge and she decided we should all make an ATC using only black ,white and one other colour. The above ATC is my one. I found an old book that was full of Russian writing. Quite cool!
The ATC above was made by Ann in the Netherlands. It's 3D, very cool!
The ATC below was made by Doreen, cool button. Good to see we didn't double up on colours!

The ATC above was made by Annie in Australia, a pink girl!
The ATC below was made by Debbi in Australia using a serviette and fabric. (love the C button)
I love them all, thanks girls for a great swap!
Carole ;)

working on my ducks!

I've been working on my McKenna Ryan ducks and now have them finished, (except for their eyes, which I might dot with a marker pen). I have also done a lot of free-hand top stitching over the pieces. And then last night was able to stitch the panels together. Now I am onto my last block! WooHoo!!
Here's the 3 blocks together.
Hope it's coming together for you too!
Carole ;)

it's been a busy week, I'm feelin a little tired.....

(photo of Henry)

I need some zzzzzzzzzzz......

Carole ;)

certifiably tea bag mad!!

Well, here it is, this is what I was saving tea bags for. Yesterday I did a class with South African Griet Lombard. She has now made NZ her home and lucky for us she lives in Levin, only 30 mins from Palmerston North. She is an international quilt tutor and has won many prizes with her quilts. She is a very talented woman. (there was an article in issue 67 of the NZ Quilter mag if you want to know more about her. www.nzquilter.com)
This is a friendship quilt she made after shifting to NZ, and is all about migration and the friends she was missing from her home country.
The background is made of used teabags, (great for those of us who like to re-purpose! lol) The background alone was quite nice, I could have just stippled that and I would have been happy!
Anyway, before we knew it, it was time to stop for lunch break. A time to browse the shelves of the Cloth Shop while being nourished at the same time. This pic below is the work room, you can get a peak of the shop thru the door.
Katherine's hubby makes all the lunches for us girls doing classes, and he always, without fail, brings us a lovely lunch. Yesterday we had yummy bread rolls, and kiwi fruit and grapes with dried apricots and macadameia nuts and coconut ice!
Back to getting my girls made/created/developed! Some of them are already taking on personalities. (mind you I did think for a while they looked like robots lol)
I like this girl below, I think she looks very intelligent, don't you think? I might have to put glasses on her and perhaps some long flowing locks.
Here is Griet going over the processes for making the faces. Each face is individually hand stitched, and here is the point which it slapped me in the face and said WAKE UP! I have 14 of the little people to hand embroider!!!!! This is going to be another of those "plodding along slowly" projects! (to add to the others LOL!)
Anyway, this is my first person almost finished. I am not very good at drawing and I feel this is drawing, so I am probably going to butcher their personalities at this stage. I think this little lady has boggly eyes and very large lips, so she has either just had botox or her dress is too tight!! LOL.
All in the name of fun. (or perhaps madness!)
Carole :)

ok, ok, so you want to know what I was working on....

Yep, you caught me out! I was beavering away on some hand stitcheries! I am working on my 2nd quilt from Leeanne's House, Ruth's Quilt it is called. BUT this one will be machine quilted!!!
There are 35 stitcheries to do, and are quite relaxing to work on while listening to tv at night time.
All my fabric is cut and ready to go, but I do think this may be the last large sized quilt I make with stitcheries in it. I think from now on it will be limited to wall hangings!
So there you have it. I have now (publicly) officially broken my New Years resolution I made a couple of years ago. I vowed I would not start or work on more than one quilt at a time, and here I am, with .... ah........5..........quilts on the go! Well I bet some of you have broken new years resolutions too!!

Oh well, I'm a very happy stitcher!!
Carole :)

a wee gathering

On the weekend I was lucky enough to be able to visit with some blogging friends, you may know them, Deb from The Angel and the Pukeko, Darlene from Stitching by the sea, and Shiree from Kiwifruit-shiree. I also got to meet two girls from Wellington, Colleen and Jackie who don't have blogs. These girls were on retreat, staying at Cherry Pie Quilts in Levin. (The link is on my side bar if you want to check them out), it's a great place to stay, as Cheryl (the owner) is a fabulous cook, and provides yummy morning and afternoon teas, and the lunch was delicious! However, she also runs a quilt store on the property and is on hand if you need help or advice on anything. What more could you want?
I went down to meet the girls and spend a day stitching with them. It was a really wierd feeling, I don't really know these girls, but yet I felt like I was catching up with old friends. It was lovely, and I guess another reason I have to thank my adventure in blogland!

Ok for the line-up. From left to right: Jackie from Wellington, yours truely, Colleen from Wellington, Shiree from Dunedin, Deb from Christchurch and Darlene from Christchurch.
You can check out their blogs for more photos.

Well I hope your week is progressing well!
Carole :)

Order finished

This weekend I managed to finish the order for Johanna's gift shop, A Little Bird Told Me. She wanted some post cards, some book marks and some wee gift cards.







I hope she likes them!

Carole ;)

WOO HOO! Spring is coming!

The first of my spring bulbs are flowering! Just a small bunch fills the kitchen with their heady perfume. I love spring bulbs, they offer such a promise of things to come!

Have a good weekend folks!
Carole ;)

couldn't ya just hug them to bits???

When I come home from University at night I like to check on my babies
and make sure they are ok. They are usually asleep on the sofa.
Tonight I couldn't find Wednesday, she wasn't on her favourite chair,
or in any of her usual hide-away places,
and then I spotted her....

Move over teddy!

Hmmmm, don't know about that tongue poking out! Not sure if she was lickin her lips cos she was thinking about dinner, or if she was poking it out at me cos I found her little spot! LOL

Carole ;)

If you're in Wellington....

A touch of NZ scenery

While up visiting my daughter in Inglewood, we went for a drive up the mountain. I am drawn to the mountains like a magnet, lol. Every morning while I was there I had to get up and look out the window at the mountain, to check if it was still there and see what it looked like. As if it might shift south a bit!
We went for a short walk while we were on the mountain and then went further up to the visitor centre.
The wee building above used to be the toll house for the mountain road. You had to pay to use the road, which in turn kept the road maintained. These days you don't have to pay to use the road, and I think you can stay in (hire) this little house.

It was lovely blue sky when we entered the national park. When we got to the visitor centre we could only just make out the mountain. It was drizzling and very cold.
In the other direction it was a complete white-out. The cloud appeared thick and murky. We should have been able to see the sea!
However when we turned around there was the mountain, in all it's beauty!
Beautiful and dangerous!
Carole;)