Here we are in September already. My Instagram feed is full of kids going back to school, or spring blossoms, depending on where in the world you live.

September means two more months until the Big Reveal! It is getting real now - one of the sample quilt tops is done and the other just has one more bit to do, then they will go for quilting.

If you are feeling like you are a bit behind, take heart. This month I have gone easy on you and there's not too much to do. So why not have a catch-up session with any of those previous blocks you haven't got round to. Make the most of the days with kids at school , or the lighter evenings, and indulge in a little sewing time....

Here are the steps for clue eight of this year's Mystery. If you are just starting, the clues are available in my Craftsy store. These give you full instructions for picking fabrics, cutting and piecing the sections.

Here is step one

Step 2

Here is my section L1 all complete.

Now to make the extra parts ...

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Computer Day is here again! On Mondays I try to catch up with my website maintenance, blog, newsletter and pattern writing. Today's job was completing the final assembly instructions for this year's Mystery Quilt. It's a great feeling to have them done and ready for testing. I feel like I am getting better at juggling the diagrams and text!

I have just published a new pattern! This one is called Big Bear Hugs, and it is based on my Bears Paw quilt. You can buy this pattern in my Craftsy store or at Quilters' Lane.

Last year I made this Bears Paw quilt as part of the celebrations for the Capital Quilters group that I belong to. The group was marking its 30th anniversary, and members were asked to make a Bears Paw quilt, since the Bears Paw block is their logo. The Bears Paw is also known as the Hand of Friendship, a very fitting block to have for a quilt group!

For my quilt I used Philip Jacob's Japanese Chrysanthemum fabric in green, from the Kaffe Fassett collective.

I drool over Philip's fabrics, and had been wanting to use this one for some time.

The plan for the block colourings emerged as I made the quilt. I used lots of different fabrics in three colour groups - turquoise, green and purple, to reflect the main fabric colours.

Once the blocks were made, I added sashings in a blue Fossil Fern, similar t...

I decided to hand quilt each of the blocks in my Modern Triangle Sampler with big stitch quilting. There are twenty five blocks in all and each one takes nearly an hour to do, so it has taken a lot of Olympics watching time to get it done!

I used a different Sue Spargo Eleganza perle 8 thread in each of the blocks. These threads are lovely to sew with and there is a great choice of colours. These are the ones I used, some of them are the solid colours and some are variegated:

My next step is to do some straight line stitching in all the white areas. I will use Aurifil 50 weight thread for this as it sits down so nicely in the fabric.

What a busy month it has been! In July, we had Sew Marlborough, the New Zealand mini Symposium. Hundreds of excited quilters gathered together in Blenheim on the South Island of New Zealand for five days of classes, exhibitions, merchants and meeting up with friends old and new.

We were up before dawn to get to the ferry terminal in Wellington

What a view we had from our seats at the front of the lounge area! This is the beautiful Marlborough Sounds on the South Island of New Zealand.

Opening night arrived and I was up on stage to award the Hoffman Challenge prizes for 2015. Here is the fantastic winning quilt, 'Sarah and Getty', by Debby Williams.

You can see photos of all the quilts on the New Zealand Hoffman Challenge page.

Over the next couple of days I went to a class with Jacqui Karl of Kowhai View creations. Two days of art quilting, using freezer paper stencils, discharge paste and paints was just what I needed to completely relax and rest my mind from the day to day...

The sampler is done! Well, the quilt top anyway. It is now away being basted and hopefully I will get started on the quilting this weekend. We have been forecast some very chilly weather, so it might be the perfect time to sit in front of the sewing machine....

It's official. I am hooked. After having an idea buzzing around in my head that  wouldn't go away, I had to drop everything including the Splendid Sampler blocks (WAY behind now!), the Glorious Hexagons, and the Blocks on the Go, and sew, sew, sew. Oh, and draw, draw, draw.

The result is a whole pile of equilateral triangle blocks, and loads more drawn up. Here are some of the ones I have made:

These blocks are so much fun to sew, and quick to make!

There will be classes coming up to make the blocks. I have added the details to my teaching cv and I am now taking bookings to teach my Triangle Block Party Class. Click on Classes on the left hand side for more details.

I am also figuring out some other ideas, so watch this space....

Yes. I am the Triangle Lady now. But don't worry other projects, I will get back to you......

Happy July to you all. Here in New Zealand we are really starting to feel the chill of winter. My lemon tree was pretty frosty this morning!

You can just see the mandarins in the top right as well. Yesterday I picked a whole bowlful of these, it's the first year they have been edible.

Today will be a busy day in the shop. People will be coming in to pick up their month six Mystery packs, we have the Hoffman Challenge quilts on display, and this afternoon we are having a hexy stitching session. This is for the Katja Marek quiltalongs that we are doing. I have put the link to Katja's quiltalong pages on the sidebar.

We are rolling along with our Mystery Quilt! I hope you are enjoying putting it together.

Here are the photos for this month's sections:

Here are my half square triangles sewn together for sections I1 to I4

I added the rectangles, here are I1 and I2

And nice and easy - I1 complete.

Now onto sections H1 and H2

I like to chain piece my triangles, so I have do...

Every year around Matariki and the Shortest Day, I hold a Midnight Madness class in the shop.

This year we were making my new pattern, Propellors

(Thanks to Linda Graham for making the sample and Noeline Day of the Quilting Shed for quilting it). Pattern available in my Craftsy Store and in the shop

It was already dark when we got to the shop to get started. We had a full class, and it was great to welcome Heather all the way over from Wellington, as well as Ruth who is staying in the Wairarapa but visiting from the Waikato.

As this quilt uses a jelly roll, we were straight into sewing strips together

It was heads down, sewing machines going full speed ahead.

Lovely piles of fabrics started taking shape, and we were on to cutting out.

With the central counter cleared of sewing machines, we had plenty of space to stretch out.

After satisfying our appetites with Carl's delicious home made steak and cheese pies,  we were ready to get some blocks made up.

I had great fu...