Quilt no 7

Mariner Compass Rose

18x18"

Hand pieced. Machine and hand quilted.

Quilt no 6

Nikaus

22.5"x19.5"

The Nikau palm is the only palm species endemic to mainland New Zealand. The worlds most southern Palm. Silk in centre, borders and backing in cotton. Silk is hand painted/dyed and stenciled, free machine embroidered and hand embroidered and seed beads (Pink seed flowers)

Quilt no 5

Autumn Blooms

18x18"

Origami flowers with beaded centers placed on a pieced background. Machine quilted in a swirly pattern. Machine appliqued leaves and stems.

Quilt no 4

Monarchs

23x20.5"

This quilt is machine pieced and quilted, and is called Monarchs because my patterned fabric is Monarch Butterflies and was the focal for the rest of the quilt.

Quilt no 3

Vintage Fragments

18x18"

Fragments of vintage wools, silks and rayons from century old Japanese kimonos. Some of the wool fragments were darned and patched during their useful lifetime, and I have hand stitched these frayed fragments onto a silk backing

Quilt no 2

Primeval

20x22.5"

This quilt has some rusted fabric which was almost impossible to hand sew through! and also some hand dyed and some commercial fabrics. Fused with hand and machine stitching.

Quilt no 1

Undersea Jewels

22.5x23.75"

It was inspired by an article in a magazine from 2006 by designer Susan Purney-Mark. The fabric strips are woven together then machine stitched on to the batting. I used variegated green rayon and a feather stitch to stitch along each side of every strip in the weaving. After adding the border I hand appliquéd some fish and seaweed, then added buttons for eyes and bubbles.

A few early photos...

Are in my inbox! I have three quilts with me (so to speak) so far, and they are all lovely (and very different from one another). I won't post them just yet, but when I get one or two more, I'll begin to blog them to the site. Those of you who haven't mailed photos yet (which is most of us), remember that photos need to be with me by the 3rd of October. Which is just a little over a month. Yikes!

Reminder...

Hello all - just a quick reminder that we have only a bit over a month to make our quilts and send photos in - the photo deadline is 3rd October, and it's nearly September now (yikes!). I actually do have one set of photos in already - but just the one so far. I look forward to seeing many more in the upcoming weeks!

Just a note to touch base

Everyone working on their quilts? (No, me neither!) Just been updating the list of potential players, and we are becoming truly international, with quilts possibly being made all over Europe (UK, France, Germany, Norway), as well as North (US & Canada) and South America (Chile) and Australasia (Singapore, Australia).

Please do spread the word in your quilting communities and on your blogs (if you have them) - the more the merrier and this swap does really work well for those who are "international" - some of the US based swaps are a bit harder for those elsewhere (to be fair, I've been in some great US based swaps, so it's not always a problem - but the centrally run ones or ones where mailing time is an issue are much harder for those who are far flung...)