Town & Country Quilters - Quiltfest exhibition

Details for the Biannual show are

9 am - 4pm
Entry is $5 per person. under 12 's free.
Paid entry gives you a free ticket in the door prize which is a fabulous batik fabric pack from Wrights fabrics in Morrinsville.

 Horowhenua Events centre Victoria street,
 Levin

 Quilt stop cafe on site, exciting merchants and a wonderful exhibition of Members work, displays and tempting raffles.
Dont for get we have the main raffle of a Bernina sewing machine and the stunning raffle quilt.

 See you there.

Catching up

Gosh . . . i have to apologize.. It has been almost 2 months since my last post. Time flies when you're busy.  So what has had me so distracted from the world of blogging?

 I probably have to say wearing  too many hats as of late. There is finalising the details of the Quilt Symposium Manawatu 2015 exhibition categories and conditions of entry. So watch the space to the QSM15 web site as those details will be out soon.

Then there is the customer quilts. I love seeing all the quilts that are made, and of course seeing them quilted. it just seems to complete the quilt and I love quilting.

 My son asked me recently "If i ever get bored working and quilting as a hobby". I had to say "No, I actually enjoy it."

Then there is organizing our Local Town & Country Quilters "Quiltfest" exhibition. I'm almost there with typing up all the labels for the exhibited quilts. It is a wonderful opportunity to see what some of our member's have worked on over the past couple of years.

There will also be the quilts entered in the cot quilt challenge. The entries have already been judged and will be announced on Wednesday night. It will be very exciting to see all the entries and winners.

And last but not least when you're organizing the exhibition for an exhibition it is not a very wise idea a month out to decide to become a merchant. I have been flat out completing quilts and writing & printing patterns. My problem is I need another month as I have a whole pile of scribbled notes and ideas for more creations.

So I'm off to hit the machine and finish quilting a lovely Christmas wall hanging. Look out for it at the Town & Country Quilters Quiltfest show this Saturday at the Horowhenua Events Centre , Victoria street, Levin.

Be sure to check back soon as I will be loading all of my patterns from Rabbits Patch Quilting as well as those of  designer Luchelle of "Play time quilts" on to the blog for purchase.

Happy stitching. P

Coming Soon

Keep and eye out over the next few weeks where I will be updating my patterns, creating some new ones and there may even be some surprises which I will let you know about soon. So make sure you check back in to see what's happening.

The official launch will be just in time for "Quiltfest" -  Town & Country Quilters in Levin bi- annual quilt show.
 This is an event not to be missed. Saturday 12th October at the Horowhenua Events Centre in Levin.

 With a wonderful exhibition of members work over the past 2 years, displays, challenges, many merchants - too many to count on one hand, raffles - including that wonderful coastal quilt as seen below & Bernina sewing machine and the Quilt Stop Cafe, it will be a great day out.

New santa

Check out my latest Santa below. Not my own design, but one of Stephanie Cameron's of Cameron James designs.
 I have now managed to clear 1 project from the wall of PTM's (projects to make) Santa has plastic head and hands and beautiful Tibetan lamb's wool for his hair , beard etc. His coat is made from cotton ( I'm having a moment here - I can't think of the name of the fabric  - you know the stuff that bedspreads were made of- Oh . . .  It will come to me later) any way his coat feels so soft and Cuddly.

 I know it is seriously geeky to be making christmas projects now, but the way this year has gone past. I will still be looking at these PTM"s next year if I don't start now.

So . . . what Christmas projects do you have in mind?

Town & Country quilters raffle quilt

Just last week I finished quilting the raffle quilt for Town & Country Quilters Quiltfest exhibition  to be held on Saturday 12th October 2013 at the Horowhenua events centre.

Blocks were made and wonderfully pieced together by members of the club. Then it was my turn to quilt it. I have to admit I wasn't sure at first where to start. But as you can see it all came together. The quilt looks amazing and would suit any beach home or child's room. I loved quilting it and had loads of fun seeing it all come to life. Check out the pictures below:

Quiltfest raffle quilt

 

I Love these fish.

I will let you know as soon as tickets are available.  We have a surprise for you, as part of the same raffle, we have a wonderful Bernina sewing machine to be won.  

The first drawn winner gets to choose their prize. How cool is that!

Great space

So in my last post I let you know about the rather different purchase than was originally intended. Yes I purchased online a bigger than normal unit to house some of my ever multiplying stuff stash. There's a reason I'm named "Rabbits Patch Quilting". Clearly it is not just quilts that increase.

but . . . any how. I brought this unit and spent the next 6 days cleaning up the mess I had created. Not a task I wish to repeat. So I've finally got round to taking a picture . . . so you don't think I'm cheating the organization system.

 Part of the change was, I had to decrease my magazine collection by over half. Yes . . . over half. 

I love my magazines and growing collection of valuable books, but in getting the newer classy unit ,

 I had to let go of my very trusty under bench bookshelves. 

What you can't see is that my Christmas and anything rabbit magazines still have their own shelf under Penelope's table.

 You can see here in the above photo, is the latest additions to Rabbits Patch Quilting. Two lovely knitted rabbits.  I purchased the patterns from Cameron James designs in Auckland.  Holly Bunny in red and Sunny & Petal bunnies in Green. These were surprisingly easy to knit (I've made all three in the past month)  and fun to make. I would recommend the knitting patterns of Cameron James designs, they are well written and beautiful detailed colour photos included.

Now you can meet Thread shelf and his side kick bead shelf.  Thread is currently feeling a little bare. He's been hard pressed helping Penelope. If you look close enough (but please don't) I've pinned to the wall the projects I would like to complete before Christmas. That's this Christmas. Clearly it has not been projects of christmas's past, but I'm hoping with them in my face they may just get done!

Last up is Penelope, the unknown star of Rabbits Patch Quilting. I would be lost without her now.

 As you can see here, I have a plastic draw phobia or is it another addiction?  Don't panic. . . There is more on the other side. These are great!  Important collections (a polite way of saying "stuff") is organised and labelled. I like to put my hand on something when I need it  and not after wasting time rummaging.

 What you can't see here is Penelope sitting on a table / frame 3.7 m long and 1.2 m wide, Penelope is not computerised and all quilting work is hand guided, so all quilting work here comes down to how well I draw while pushing around a sewing machine.

Hanging on Penelope is the next customer quilt. A lovely bright scrap quilt stitched by Carol Franklin.

 So unfortunately I can't hang around here much longer and chat.  

There's loads more customer quilts waiting patiently for their turn to play with Penelope.

 So I'm off to put more wood on the fire to keep Bella kitty and Molly pooch warm in their favourite spots and make a nice cupa.

 Till next time - Stay warm and Stitch.

Taking stock

Ok. So I've realized there is never a worse time to re-arrange and organize the workroom than during a family crisis, when you are already cleaning out and dealing with stuff. But  . . . Yep, I had to go and do it. It all started off when I took a quick peek online looking for a small shelf to home all the little rabbit ornaments that were cluttering, I mean decorating the button jar shelf. Well that was my mistake .
. . instead of a small little shelf. I brought a huge unit about 2.4 meters long complete with some lovely glassed shelves and loads of cupboard space to hide, sorry, store my stuff.

The worst part was really yet to come.

Shuffling the heavy Long arm machine (Penelope) was the most difficult. It took me over and hour (Not my brightest idea at 1am - I'm a stubborn person trying to do it on my own instead of waiting for help ) And the only way to move it without taking it off the frame is to roll it to the opposite end at which you want to lift & shift. After only moving around 40 cm in an hour -probably my lowest point. I battled on through the week. It took me 6 days, a sore back a whole lotta mess which was quite an understatement.
 I embarrassingly came to the conclusion, that I don't need any more fabric, quilting arts  embellishments, beads, threads, magazines, scraps or backing fabrics and was almost to the point of apologizing to the significant other for my past purchasing sins. Now I did say almost . . . . as in the end I decided it was probably better for my long term health benefits if I didn't declare my sins - Just in case I still didn't have the right thing to complete my project.

 Now that it is all completed, organized and cleaned (I even polished) I don't want to mess it up !
Maybe later today I will post a photo, but for now, Penelope & I have a quilt to finish. But first I think a cuppa is in order.