March 2026 Show & Tell

 Hi everyone

Thank you to Donna for taking photos for me while I was away attending my son’s wedding in Ireland. I had a fabulous time and the wedding was magical from start to finish.

First up is a blackwork stitchers, Halloween House, from The Steady Thread. This was stitched by Carol.

Frances made Microscopic Monsters for the Palmerston North Quilt Symposium held in 2015. She used the club Go Cutter to make the Winding Ways blocks.

Julie hand stitched and hand quilted this lovely quilt.

Pam made this beautiful rendition of a Rainbow trout for Andy’s 80th birthday. Andy has always been a fly fisherman.

Hanna made this table runner from a pattern.

Judy Y made this lovely bag for her sister. It contains matching sewing tools and the pattern is “Open Wide” from ByAnnie.

Judy also made this sewing kit for her granddaughter. It contains a needle book and hexagon pincushion.

Judy has been very productive. This swing machine cover was made by her using newly purchased fabrics used in a project, several years overdue.

Sue F has also been very productive. The next 6 items were made by her.

Black and White dresses made in a Foxes Cottage class, made for herself.

Pansy Dresses, for a person Sue supported.

“Dump Purse” bag made for a person Sue supported.

Bunnie bags big and small. Sue made these for Easter.

Uma the Elephant, pattern from Cool Crafting UK.

Sugar Plum Fairy, a Luna Lupin pattern from Cool Crafting UK made for Christmas.

Well done, Sue. Now to the Birds quilt made by Donna. She made this pattern along side the late Carey H. It was the last project Donna and Carey sewed together.

These two blocks were made by Carol and Judy using a club Go Cutter die. I think the intention is for other members to volunteer to make extra blocks so they can be assembled into a community quilt.

That’s it for this month. See you next time.

February 2026 Show & Tell

 Happy New year everyone.

It was great to see everyone today. We had a good turnout of attendees but Show & Tell was short and sweet today. I imagine everyone has been busy holidaying or gardening.

First up is Veronica’s Peacock quilt made with wool appliqué and designed by Sue Spargo. Veronica’s finished stitching the top last year and has now had it layered and quilted by Jacqui Karl. It looks fabulous.

Frances has been working on Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville’s most recent mystery quilt, Lupine and Laughter. The top is smaller than the pattern called for and the borders are being worked on. Frances toned down the pink corners in the star block by sewing a smaller stitch and flip triangle in each corner.

Yvonne also loves doing Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilts. She also made her version smaller than the given size and changed the pinks to yellow and used green as a background instead of  white, and she finished it. I’m still working on clue 2.

Hearts and Pinwheels was made by Judy P for her bestie friend’s Great Granddaughter. Judy had fun making it and it was a nice easy pattern.

Judy used a panel for the backing. She said she could have just quilted the panel instead of making the blocks. I say it’s a two-for-one quilt.

Colleen started this large runner in a class with Christina Barrington around 2011. Good,things take time.

Karen C has a bit more time on her hands since she retired from work . Connected Stars is one she finished over Christmas. Karen says there are about 10 more tops to do to get caught up ;-)

I (Helen) am not really a bag maker but I have made these two as gifts. The recipients will get them in a few days, when I arrive in Ireland for my son’s wedding.

That’s it for now. Have a very quilty month.

December 2025 Show & Tell

 We had a fabulous final meeting of the year, with a great turn out and a yummy Christmas lunch at St John’s Club.

This year we did a paint chip challenge. I didn’t take photos of each individual entry, there were over 30! A wonderful response to the challenge. We had to use the two colours we were given but there was no restrictions on what we could make. There was a wonderful variety of colourful items. At the end of this post I have put photos of the ladies with their entries.

The winner of our challenge was Hanna Snelling Berg with this stunning entry.

First up for Show & Tell is the quilt I made from the Laundry Basket Quilts recent mystery sew along. This is a wedding quilt for my son and his fiancé. The bride-to-bee’s favourite colour is green and her surname is Kelly, so I am calling this “Kelly Green”.

Dianne H did Betty Carrick’s flower class at Hidden Hollow in Palmerston North. Beautiful.

Dianne also made “Quirky Birds” as a picture fo her husband. Something to make him laugh.

Dianne also did Amiee’ Homestead Quilts beginner class to as she said, learn the bits that I missed in my early classes at Mt. Isa in Queensland.

This beautiful wee bag was made by Maureen L using a Jenny Hunter kit. Marvellous Maureen says as everything was supplied. Lovely colours.

Maureen has also been busy doing Christmas embroidery at the Embroidery group. A gorgeous pyramid Christmas tree and 2 bells.

Bag making is very popular around here. Veronica made this By Annie bag pattern.

She also made this tote bag from a pattern by Jenny Hunter. Clever incorporation is a panel in the bag, I think.

Donna completed this Christmas Pear using a kit she got from the Cambridge Quilt Symposium. Finally stated and finished, Donna says.

Frances also did the Laundry Basket mystery sew along. She incorporated a couple of changes so it is not exactly as the pattern. Having said that, I made also made a couple of changes to two of the rounds, so she doesn’t have that on her own! I love the colours Frances chose.

This next quilt is made by Dianne Hay for a grandchild and Dianne used Kiwiana fabric.

I don’t remember who made the nest quilt. I don’t have an information slip for it to jog my memory. Please let me know who made it and I will correct my error.

Belinda loves paper piecing intricate designs and the following quilt is no exception. The pattern is by Cotton & Bourbon and it was quilted by John Neilson.

Next up is a bag by Gail J (I think, correct me if I am wrong.) it is machine embroidery on vinyl. Lovely!

Then we have an oldie, but a goodie, A cross stitch Christmas Shop scene stitched by Jo C. This pattern was very popular when it came out.

Finally, here are all the Paint Chip Challenge ladies with their entries.

Have a peaceful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. See you in 2026.

November 2025 Shw & Tell

It was a lovely meeting yesterday and our AGM. Thanks to all those who stood for committee and to those who had been on but did not stand for re-election. Congratulations to all who were elected.

First up for Show & Tell is not a quilt at all. A lot of members enjoy other fibre arts as well as quilting and we love seeing what they have been making. Donna has been knitting socks and this is her latest pair. It is done with variegated wool and so the colour patterning doesn’t always match. With Frances on Donna’s shoulder suggesting she should try and make them match, Donna did make an effort and the ribbing does. The rest is more like a translation down 😀

I do love the colours even if the socks don’t exactly match each other and I would certainly wear them!

Donna has also finished her table runner from the Modern scrap quilt class. It is for her friend who has a really long table, hence the extra length.

Donna and Lesley have both been working on the Candy drop quilt pattern. Lesley used a grey background.

Donna used a dark grey/black for her background

Susan is having a ball making items in her favourite colour of green. The latest is this sweet flower wall hanging. Susan got inspiration for the design from the quilt show held in Featherston earlier this year. I love the flowers.

Dianne Harries is an embroiderer extraordinaire and her Autumnal Toadstool was done at a class at Stitch Tūī in Cambridge with Sue Lucas. Everything is stitched with single strands of silk embroidery thread.It is fine, detailed work and stands about 3-4 inches high.

Dianne also showed us her latest canvas work called Amadeus variations. She used hand dyed threads by Steff Francis.

Yvonne has completed the latest Laundry Basket Quilts Mystery quilt. The clues were given out weekly over 9 weeks. Yvonne used vintage reproduction prints collected over the years, mostly fat eighths making it scrappy, which Yvonne likes in a quilt. It is a big quilt, 90 inches square. Some others of us are also doing the same pattern but we are a bit behind Yvonne.

Yvonne is also a member of Rose City Quilters and started this quilt, Can Can Snowball, in a class with Chris Jurd after Tote and Gloat in 2023. She fussy cut Kaffe Fassett and Kathy Doughty fabrics for the blocks. The inset edge triangles are from an Ikea duvet cover. It the fabric pattern works for your quilt top use it, I say. Yvonne won a ribbon at the recent Rose City Quilters show.Best use of colour, I think.

Hanna is well on the way to finishing her Modern Scrap Quilt from the class. She just has to add a border. Lovely colours.

Lesley, Judy and Rosie have made the Take a Stand bag, a By Annie pattern. Rosie also made the smaller bag, also a By Annie Pattern. These ladies love making the very popular By Annie patterns. 

Last up is a quilt made by Caroline for her son and daughter in law. It is called mushrooms and has very cute mushroom fabrics in it. Caroline did a pieced backing in green and pinks which was the wedding colours of the couple.