Where do you get inspiration for your quilts?

I have some quilts under way from patterns, but I just can't resist changing the pattern to better suit what I want to do. I'm also really interested in taking images and using them to inspire a quilt, not just literally by attempting to reproduce the photo, but also by taking lines, shapes, colours and textures from the image and playing with them in fabric.

This quilt I made for the 12 by 12 challenge on the theme of 'Spring' was quite literal in reproducing the image. I even traced some of the flowers.

The butterflies and some of the leaves were decoupaged from a paper napkin, and the background is a fabric I hand dyed. I used fabric paints for the flowers and leaves and parts of a pack of silk waste for the stamens.

For my 'Leaves of Autumn' quilt I went walking and gathered some leaves to work from. Here are some of the 'prototype' versions:

And the finished quilt:

I will be teaching workshops on this quilt...

It's so good to feel the warmth of the sun again! The sky is blue and the birds are singing away merrily - and it's reminding me that Christmas is not far away. If you're from the northern hemisphere like me that sounds strange, but I have been here 11 years now so am gradually getting used to the idea of Christmas in the summer. The Shop Hop is only three weeks away and we are getting all the fabrics ready for those that have registered.

This week at Masterquilters our 12 by 12 group presented their quilts on the theme of Spring. There were some beautiful and very creative quilts, unfortunately I didn't think to take my camera but there will be photos later in the year as we are taking all of our quilts to the Christmas meeting. The other group had worked on the challenge of 'Baking', and came up with a great range of wonderful ideas from baking hot earth to scorched cakes!

Here's mine - I experimented with fabric dyeing, paints and decoupage.

Talking of dyeing, I have been...

Today is a day of catching up in all senses of the phrase. The world seems to have been spinning a little faster lately!

I have been going through the few photos I have had time to take to get up to date on what's going on with my quilting, as well as in classes.

The other week we started a class in hand piecing. It has launched a number of us on an exciting journey, which I started half-heartedly as a way of having stitching to take with me when I travel, and I am now thrilled to be on the journey with others, and not necessarily worried about reaching the destination! I am talking about the Dear Jane (tm) quilt. So far I have completed these blocks:

This is a picture of the quilt in its entirety:

This is the quilt made by Jane Stickle and completed in 1863 - this year is the 150th year of its completion. The blocks were all documented by Brenda Papadakis in her book, Dear Jane, and now there are hundreds of 'Dear Jane' addicts around the world. Our little group has just...

Two years ago I had only just bought the shop, and was getting to know people in the local quilting scene. Among those lovely people I met was a group of shop owners who like me felt that we needed to offer more exciting activities for quilters. Owning a quilt shop is not just about buying and selling fabric. Quilting is really an entertainment industry. Yvonne of Sawmillers had seen Shop Hops happening in the States and thought we could do something similar over here. And so the Quilters Friend Shop Hop was born. The first year was such a success that we decided to run the event again, and now we are into our third year.

Each year the shops create a quilt that you can make. For the registration fee you get blocks from the quilt which you can put together as you like, or purchase a finishing kit to make the quilt as done by the shop. The creativity of the shop owners is put to work as we try to come up with interesting quilt ideas for you.

This year we decided instead of sampler...

The last two weeks have been all about catching up. I have been making blocks for the Masterquilters raffle quilt, the block of the month, the retreat and for our 25th anniversary quilt. Belonging to the club is great fun and taking part in all the activities is what it's all about.

The raffle quilt is being made by most of the members creating one or two small snowball blocks each. It's only a little task for each person, but in the end there will be a beautiful quilt to be raffled off at our exhibition next year.

The block of the month is done at every meeting,  all the names of people who have made a block go in the hat and the winner gets to keep all the blocks. The only catch is they have to make a quilt from them by the following year. Again it's lots of fun and is part of what keeps the spirit of the club going.

The third block I made was for our retreat. Every year a number of us go away for the weekend and have a guest tutor, we have so much fun not only sewing...

Hello again everyone, just to let you know the new class list is on here under 'Information and Quilting Tips'.

Sheila

Phew, what a few weeks it has been! First the Taupo Symposium - , then on my return my 'beginners' had their 'finishing day' - a bit like a quilting bee of old. Then I spent the weekend helping my husband with his new catering business. It has been so busy I had to hide from the shop for a couple of days just to catch up!

Symposium:

I have just returned from the Taupo symposium. What a fantastic event! It was the first Symposium where I have attended classes. The open evening was lovely, with a powhiri for all the tutors – many of the international tutors were on their first visit to NZ and were blown away. I spent two days learning about colour from Joen Wolfrom, author of Adventures in Colour and Adventures in Design among other great books. Who knew there was so much to learn? After that I took a three day class with Gail Garber from New Mexico. Gail is an expert at paper piecing and curved piecing, and taught us how to draft stars, design our own quilts and paper piece...

My 'instant' landscape made in Joen WOlfrom s class

Greetings from Taupo and the Quilting Symposium! This is just a short post as my connectivity is limited. I hope all of you back home in the Wellington region aren't having too scary a time with the recent swarm of quakes.
Symposium is amazing, so many quilters all in one place. I spent the first two days in class with Joen Wolfrom, queen of colour. There were many new ideas to learn and take in, I looked at my fabrics very differently afterwards.
I am also taking a class with Gail Garber. Watch out for the next twelve by twelve quilt! We are making flying geese curve and swoop all over the place.
That's all for now, off to pick fabrics for tomorrow's stitching,
Sheila

Last Friday night was cold and frosty, just the sort of evening when you want to curl up on the sofa, light the fire and watch TV while doing a bit of hand sewing or knitting. Not so for our plucky ladies who braved the elements to come to the Midnight Madness class.

We were working on my 'Elegant Table Runner' pattern. It was time for the 'bling' to come out as the ladies cut into some gorgeous oriental and metallic fabrics. We had a good laugh at my pattern subtitle 'will grace any dining table' - I must have been waxing lyrical the day I wrote that , but these runners really will be gracing some tables in the Wairarapa -

Karen's cool greens, blues and silvers

Yvonne used Stof's Golden Elements in the maroon colourway.

And look at how the Stonehenge fabric is working.

After a good feed of delicious Blue Cod and chips  we were back at work

Pressing

And by midnight some had quilting well underway and table runners nearly done.

The carriage turned into a pumpkin and yawning...