Author Archives: mlwilkie

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About mlwilkie

Software Developer, Mother, Wife with keen interest in art, design and crafts of all kinds.

My mum’s mad skills

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My mum has been visiting the last few weeks, and has done a wonderful job looking after my son and us, during track out (school vacation). This past week we had a blast in New York….that’s my Mum!!!MumNY

My Mum is a fabulous seamstress, who has made our kids clothes, my ball gowns and 1930’s outfits for the Hawkes Bay Art Deco weekends in New Zealand. This is the first time, my mum and I have talked about fabric and sewing. She had mentioned that a woman in her book club had this great teapot skirt. We raided my fabrics and next thing you know she has a finish….FullSkirt

I love the waistband on the skirt and how she has finished it off with the edging and the bias. It breaks up the print wonderfully.Hem_biasHer fabric choices are:

That’s my Mum first Friday finish, is it not a pretty finish. I am linking up with Amanda Jean over @ Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday.

 

 

 

Sew Down Nashville: Paper piecing and hand appliqué

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Sunday, the last day of sew down continued the wonderful classes, lectures, socializing and food. The first class of the day was Carolyn Friedlander’s paper piecing class using her aerial quilt.  We had a chat about layout, as I had chosen my fabrics based on the full quilt and the class was a mini quilt. Carolyn_Michelle_AerialQuilt

This mini version of Carolyn’s aerial is my favorite layout, and it is the one we are making in class. Paper piecing was not new too me, so this class was not challenging but I love the pattern. I was so excited and knew I would be using my Lotta Jansdotter fabric stash, that I had been saving up.CarolynFriedlander_AerialQuilt

I managed to finish 3 of 8 blocks in class, which I was thrilled about. The other 5 blocks will be all grey, black and white. I loved how my first blocks turned out. You can check out some of the other people’s blocks on Carolyn’s blog.AerialQuilt_LottaJansdotter

After lunch, our final class commenced with Anna Maria Horner. Of course, we took advantage of a photo-op. with Anna Maria – who wouldn’t right??Michelle_AMH_Daisy_Antionette
(Photo Left to Right: Me, Anna Maria, Daisy, Antoinette)

Anna Maria’s class was on Modern Corsage where you could choose to use either:

  • Structured design and piecing
  • Or fussy cutting and hand appliqué techniques.

This project definitely took me out of my comfort zone…way beyond my comfort zone. I decided to do the fussy cutting and hand appliqué, as this was all new to me. It took me a while to decide on my background fabric and then from there it came together.

I added the low volume prints with the focus print for the complete background. The flowers were fussy cut from a variety of Anna Maria’s fabrics. Currently, they are pinned but will be basted on, then hand-appliquéd. I was so surprised how this turned out….I am not huge on flowers but I can picture the end result and I am excited. ModernCorsage_AMHClass

To finish off the day, I took a couple of celebrity shots of our wonderful organizers. Elizabeth, Heather and Jen did a fantastic job all round. The classes were so great, the food was wonderful and it all ran so smoothly. ElizabethDackson_Michelle
(Photo: Me, Elizabeth Dackson)

Heather_Jenn_Michelle
(Photo Left to Right: Heather Grant, Me, Jen Carlton Bailey)

WiP Wednesday: Too many projects to count

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Folks, last night I got to see, for the first time, Ashley @ Wasn’t Quilt in a Day. Can I just say that it was so wonderful to finally put faces to names of some of my blogging friends lately. We had a great time over dinner in NJ, talking mostly about fabric and quilting. I am sure, my Mum, who gracious agreed to dinner (while I am showing her round NY), was thinking I might have a slight addiction issue. At least it is a “healthy” one, right??

P.S. to Ashley, you do know what we forgot to do though….take a selfie for instagram….what kind of social media butterflies are we ???

I have so many unfinished projects at the moment and these are what I stress about. Not what everyone is doing….the pile that is constantly growing. This week my focus is still on this block which I need to sew up and make one more of:
MarchScrapbeeliciousBlocks

Finish my Mum’s pillows before she leaves on Saturday – just need to finish the border on the right block and add the back…probably doable on Friday??
TapaStar_Solid_Pillow TapaStarBlocks_complete

Complete at least another two blocks from my sampler quilt….I have this one done thanks to sew down:
HST_OpenSewBlock

Linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday (see button on right).