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Something about my crafts...As a Kiwi living in New Zealand, a major wool producing nation, I was taught to knit and crochet from the age of 4 years and was soon creating my own patterns, later developing a serious interest in advanced and ethnic techniques in both crafts. I learnt to card, spin and ply my own yarn from the raw fleece, then to weave on the rigid heddle loom. A variety of embroidery techniques captured my interest for a time, but then I discovered quilting. More recently I added an interest in beading as well. These days, with my interests spread over more things, I spend less time with the knitting needles and crochet hook. It has become a trade-off now, and less time for those hobbies has meant that when I do knit or crochet, it is now just the natural fibres and more luxury yarns with which I work. Pure wool, mohair, alpaca, and various mixes of fine merino wool with silk, possum fur or angora. My favourite would have to be possum, a wonderful way of recycling an imported Australian pest that must be culled to prevent the devastation that it causes to our native forests and thus our native bird life as well. Possum fur is a hollow fibre, therefore light and particularly warm. It must be harvested by hand so that the fibres do not break in the process, and combined with wool for greater strength. That makes it expensive, but it is well worth the effort for a special handknitted garment. It is said... "When life gives you scraps, make a quilt with them." I was shown the first quilt I had ever seen back in 1990, and suddenly recognized who I was... a passionate quilter! There was no separation anxiety for me when my young son started kindergarten. Within minutes I was down at the local quilt shop absorbing one technique afer another, returning home with bundles of delicious fabrics to build my own quilter's stash. After learning traditional piecing, I discovered the creativity of needle-turn appliqué, and my quilting took a new direction. The four appliquéd quilt blocks on this page show what can be done with a palette of wonderful fabrics. These are Jacobean fantasy creations, inspired by quilt book authors Patricia Campbell and Mimi Ayars. At the time the photos were taken, two of the blocks were basted but not finished. They are destined, with complementary appliquéd borders, to be assembled and hand quilted by me... er, in the fullness of time. For needle-turn appliqué I find a toothpick is handy to turn under the raw edge while stitching each piece down with the tiniest invisible stitches and the finest silk thread. That perhaps explains what I am doing with a toothpick holder here on the same page. My toothpick holder has been beaded with tiny glass beads using "One-drop Peyote Stitch" directly on to the item which was first covered with felt. The two tins (standing 2¾ and 5 inches tall respectively) in another photo help show the variety of patterns that can be created by this particular stitch. The little pincushion was made from an old wooden cotton reel for the base, finished with a dupion silk cushion on top. The little strip of beadwork at bottom left is a different form of Peyote Stitch as done by Native Americans, and also called Gourd Stitch. For those who share my interests in quilting and beading, you may like to follow this link to where a number of book reviews have been posted on these topics. There is plenty of interesting reading available for these particular hobbies. And follow this link to where several tutorials have been posted. They will have you making your very own beaded pincushion, if you feel so inclined, even if you have never beaded before. |
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Afghan Gallery
The story of these crocheted and knitted afghans can be found on Judah's Journal here and here.
Quilt Gallery
 1. Floral Railroad Crossing pattern ~ The graduated coloured sashing, made up from six small squares sewn into a strip, set between each floral square, is responsible for the name of this quilt - a Railroad Crossing block variation. I made this with my late lady mother in mind, these being the colours that she chose for her bedroom. Had she survived the making of this quilt, it would have surely become hers. 2. Rail Fence Pinwheel design ~ The Pinwheel design is created by four 3-strip blocks set at 90 degrees to each other and sewn into a four-patch, then assembled "on point" to create this quilt. 3. Barn Raising setting ~ I never particularly liked this quilt, the blocks being made at a Quilting Workshop, and rather too high in contrast for me. The "Barn Raising" setting (from the Amish way of doing things) produced a quilt resembling a board for target practice! But my son liked it and happily took ownership of it.  4. Lavender & Lemon Courthouse Steps ~ The blocks for the Lemon and Lavender Courthouse Steps were made by a number of people in a "Log Cabin" Quilting Workshop. We made numerous blocks that day. They were all grouped according to kind, and lots drawn for each group of blocks. I was very happy with my prize and assembled and machine quilted those blocks as shown. 5. Half Log Cabin with Cats ~ This is actually a length of printed fabric. I painstakingly hand quilted all the printed seam lines, and around the cats, to give it a pieced appearance. It was great hand-quilting practice, and my son became the proud owner of this quilt too. 6. Scrappy 9-Patch ~ This quilt was also made for my son. It is made with alternating blocks of red/orange with blue/green plus light colours, and you can pick up these if you look very carefully. But particularly in the half-light another effect appears, that which is more obvious in this photo. The light squares in each 9-patch block run together to form a grid. The eye then can move from one effect back to the other and back again, as in a Gestalt image experiment, thus giving the quilt an appearance of movement.  7. Log Cab Scrap Quilt ~ This one reminds me of the vibrant colours of South Australian rural scenery. The setting suggests a game of tic-tac-toe if one had some counters big enough! 8. Log Cabin ~ This traditional Log Cabin quilt is a large King-size one. Having pieced it, I put it away for a number of years, too daunted by its size to attempt to quilt it myself. Finally the local quilt shop came to the rescue and it was given a wool batting and machine quilted for me. 9. Log Cabin close-up ~ I had made this quilt at a Quilting Workshop and discovered my ability to do perfect quarter-inch seams. This made the points meet where they ought, and the quilt came together quickly with ease. The left-over "logs" told me themselves (haha, you think I'm hallucinated!) that they should be made into a braided border, and so that's exactly what happened to them, finishing off the quilt nicely. I earned no brownie points at that workshop, the other participants believing I was a cad and must surely have made many beforehand - which I had not. This was my very first Log Cabin quilt.  10. 3-Dimensional Bow-ties ~ A friend was having difficulty figuring out how to make the 3-D Bow-ties block, and I decided to have a go at that block myself. It wasn't hard once figured out, and from that first block I created an on-line tutorial showing how it is done. A great many blocks later I had enough to assemble into this quilt which has been carefully machine quilted to avoid stitching down the folded centre of each little bow-tie. 11. Half Log Cabin ~ An attempt to reduce my fabric stash resulted in this quilt, but I think fabric has a habit of multiplying like rabbits when kept together in large bins in a cupboard! This quilt scarcely made a dent, and I guess there must be many more quilts-to-be in that cupboard. 12. Half Log Cabin close-up ~ A close-up of the previous quilt, showing the machine "meander quilting" detail and the piecing pattern.  13. The Very Blue Pusscat Quilt ~ This lovely quilt was made for me by my friend, Nancy. More of this quilt can be seen on Judah's Journal here. 14. close-up ~ A close-up view of the "Very Blue Pusscat Quilt". 15. Left Overs ~ The second quilt I ever made! The first was a hand-pieced Sampler quilt and from the left-over fabrics this second quilt was created. It was originally going to be a duvet cover for an old eiderdown, but the eiderdown was made larger and re-covered so this became another quilt instead. |
