Kiwi quilt

Kiwi quilt
My eldest son and other half have recently been on a "birding" trip to New Zealand and on my trip to India, I met a lovely lady from New Zealand, Margaret, who runs a patchwork shop in Christchurch.  As we spent many hours together, we worked out a plan, so that on their trip through Christchurch, they could stop by the shop and pick up some New Zealand fabrics to bring home for me. Margaret very kindly chose all the fabrics for me, and purchased the necessary luggage to carry it in too and then her and her lovely husband Gary met my other half and took him on a tour around Christchurch! My husband could not believe how nice they were and kept telling me when he got home, that if all my quilting friends are as nice as Margaret and Gary, that he would really like to meet them. Well … off course all my quilting friends are as nice, but I am not about to start sharing them around!

So far, I have sewn the quilt top together, this is what it looks like:

I have posted this picture on Facebook and one of my friends asked if I could describe each block, I will try

Tuatara

Fantails

Kereru - wood pigeons

Various native wildlife

Now extinct moa

Kiwi birds

Tui and flax

Pukeko Posse

Kaka beak

Kowhai blossom

Ti-kouka

Kiwi fruit

Bugs in undergrowth

Kiwi bird, tuatara and toad

Toi toi

Mamaku

New Zealand fern

Shells

Kiwiana

Pebbles

Saddleback

Riporipo with Ponga Koru around it

My son is very keen for this quilt to be finished, so when the one currently on the frame is finished, this one is next in line.  Fabric for the back is on its way now from New Zealand, so this will be finished shortly.

I just love that quilts can remind us of places we have been to in such a tactile and visual way and remind us of friends too.  I will forever think of Margaret when I look at this quilt and hopefully I will one day see all these lovely plants and animals for myself and visit Margaret in New Zealand :-)

Spring Fling

Spring Fling
The Win a quilt competition has ended on 21st February and the winner was Helen Groenewald. I handed the quilt over to Helen 2 weeks later and was so excited to meet her and her daughter, Chantelle, who was equally excited to receive the quilt.

I had so much fun quilting Spring Fling, doing a lot of free motion quilting, also using some of Judy Madsen's designs on some of the blocks and designing some of my own blocks to match and fit in with Judy's designs.

Thank you to every one who has entered into the competition, it is heart warming to see so many people enjoying seeing my quilts.  I hope Helen will have many years to enjoy this quilt and that it will become a heirloom in her family.