Celebrate Onehunga - Pukeko take 2

So, I'm running out of time to get this finished! I changed my plan and had to redo this panel so that it fits. I decided to make it slightly less pink and also you can see a bit of Cabbage tree has crept into this block too!

Melanie asked me what I meant by "blocking". Blocking is stretching out a piece of quilting or embroidery to make it lie flat. I dampen my wallhangings by pressing them with a very damp tea towel. I don't press hard with the iron, just enough to get the steam into the quilt. Then I pin the quilt to a bit of ceiling board with very sharp pins, smoothing the quilt as I go, and leave it to dry.  That makes them nice and flat.

Here is the detail on the bird.

Celebrate Onehunga - second Cabbage tree

A busy weekend in Hastings playing steelpan so no sewing done. I have managed to finish panel number 5 today. This is a continuation of the Cabbage tree panel, one of the first panels I made. I love the way that some Cabbage trees look like they are straight out of a Dr Seuss book.

I keep trying to do less intense quilting so that this goes a bit faster. As you can see, I'm failing!

Celebrate Onehunga - Onehunga Bay Reserve

Panel number 4. This is Onehunga Bay Reserve, a great place to go for a walk with the dog. This is an off-leash park, which may explain why I've never seen a Pukeko there. So a bit of artistic license here!
The colour is slightly less magenta than the picture above but not as orange as this one below.

Celebrate Onehunga - mosaic table and chair

I've been having fun making new quilting patterns. Probably not new to the world but new to me!




I love the back!


Three panels done! Only six more to go...

Hearts for Christchurch - TV interview

Hearts for Christchurch:
Have a look at the link in Evie's blog. It's a news article from Canterbury TV about the display of the Hearts For Christchurch project.  The display is superb!

Celebrate Onehunga - colour sketch

I've been working off a scruffy pencil sketch and was having a hard time thinking what colour to make the next panel.  So now I have a scruffy pastel sketch. I've also decided to cut down the final size (so I have some hope of finishing!) so the One Tree Hill panel has had a bit chopped off either side. That makes the middle panel a more manageable size.
I haven't decided what's going in the bottom right corner but it's going to be red!

So here are the panels at the right dimensions. This will look very different once the black lines are added.  I couldn't believe the difference when I did my sketch.

I've finished the quilting on the Cabbage Tree.