Tag Archives: quilting

The Iconic Kiwi + “Little Kiwi” Pillow

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New Zealand, where I am from, is very well-know, of course, for the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, the scenery and its nature. New Zealand has one of the largest native bird populations in the world. The most famous of which is the Kiwi (which for those that don’t know we refer to ourselves as kiwis,  it’s after the bird not the fruit 🙂 ). They are a flightless bird and represented through New Zealand culture:

  • Used to be the character that said Goodnight when the tv channels ended (1981-1994 before Tv went 24 hours)
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  • Used in the popular Kids books – The little Kiwi
    little-kiwi-flies-to-the-rescue-p
  • As the image for “Buying NZ made” products
    nz-made-logo
  • On our coins
    101416355_-com-1950-new-zealand-one-florin-coin---kiwi-bird- images-1 images-2
  • A mascot for the Commonwealth Games
    games_pastGames_1990_Mascot
  • Represented in the symbol for the Royal New Zealand Airforce
    air_force_roundel3…….

The list goes on, obviously we love the little guys. What do you remember as a iconic symbol of your country and childhood???

Why did I cover the significance of a kiwi you might be asking….Well, Juliet over at Tartan Kiwi has had a paper piecing pattern for a kiwi, which I used before in this cushion/pillow and loved!!!
IMG_7005

Well, she is expanding that pattern to do a complete line of New Zealand Native Birds….I am so excited and delighted. She revamped her Kiwi Paper piecing Pattern, and I decided to give it another go, using colors a friend requested.

Finished Kiwi Paper Pieced BlockKiwi_RedBrown_CloseUp

Little Kiwi Pillow TopKiwi_RedBrown

Her other paper piecing patterns for New Zealand Birds are available on Craftsy and include:

  • Kiwi (free pattern)
  • Pukeko (free pattern)
  • Kea (soon to be available)
  • Fantail (soon to be available)

Over the next week, I am going to give a couple more a go and I will post the finished blocks. These are so much fun and definitely helps grow and improv your paper-piecing skills….I have loved them. Hope you give them a go.

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day hosted over @ Lily’s Quilts and Paper Piecing Party over @ Quiet Play.

Lily's Quilts Paper Piecing Party

Triple Zipper Pouch Swap + Winners!!

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The two winners from last week’s give away are:
Screen Shot 2013-08-02 at 7.22.57 PM

Which is Sara who wrote: 27. Wonderful! I love the fabric! She has won the 2 fat quarters.

And….
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Which is sarahschraw who wrote: 8. Wow! I love that fabric. and you have one the 12 swatches.

I will email both of you to get your mail addresses.

For a quick Finish it up Friday, I have finished my triple zipper pouch for the Triple Zipper Pouch Swap. It is a secret partner swap where I know who I am sending it to but they don’t know who they are getting it from. I will be posting tomorrow 🙂

Fabrics:

  • Lining: Straw hat blue, Cloud 9 (purchased from Joann)
  • Small pocket front: Flirty Flowers Tonal Dots in Pink, Robin Zingone, Robert Kaufman (purchased from Fresh Modern Fabric)
  • Small pocket front: Crosshatch in Plum, Architextures, Carolyn Friedlander, Robert Kaufman (purchased from Westwood Acres)
  • Back + large front pocket: Hexo in Kryptonite, Technicolor, Emily Herrick, Michael Miller (purchased from Fat Quarter Shop)
  • Zippers (purchased from Zipit)

I love the technicolor hexo fabrics, don’t you??

Front Side
TripleZipper_Technicolor_front

Front with LiningTripleZipper_Technicolor_Lining

BackTripleZipper_Technicolor_back

Linking up with AmandaJean @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Color and Design Inspiration at our vacation location

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I am always finding inspiration around me every day. While on vacation at Boone Hall Plantation Gardens took some great photos of flowers that made me wonder what the color palette would look like. Could that palette be used for quilts or sewing projects?

Anne over @ Play Crafts has developed a Palette Builder, you just load your image and then you can play around building your palette…moving the selection dots around to change the initial colors, add more colors or remove colors  etc. My favorite new feature is the ability to match the color palette to a list of Kona Solids.  Here are the photo’s and the corresponding palette I favored…

Photo 1BooneHallPlantation_Flower1

Here is the new Palette Builder view that shows how your color palette can be converted into matching Kona solids. This new feature just came out this week, you can copy and the paste the list to product a shopping list for your online store of choice or your local quilt shop ;-).
Screen Shot 2013-07-31 at 1.30.43 AM

Photo 2BooneHallPlantation_Flower2

Here is the saved color palette I chose. I liked adding the additional grey (Coal), works perfect with the Ash selection that I could use as the neutral sashing/ negative space.BooneHallPlantation_Flower2-palette-6

Photo 3
BooneHallPlantation_Flower3

BooneHallPlantation_Flower3-palette

One more example, where I want to know what Kona solids I should buy with a particular fabric selection. In this case, I am using my new Heather Ross Briar Rose fabric. Look, No having to carry the fabric to the store to match up 🙂 Genius!!
Screen Shot 2013-07-31 at 10.43.45 PM

NOTE: If you are on Chrome or Safari make sure you are on the current release.

What do you think, which one do you like? I love them, but I would like to start with 2 or 1 first?? Go over to Play Crafts and give the Palette builder a try, it is free and lots of fun to see what you can come up with. I also shared my palette selections on Pinterest on my design board.

I am using this process as part of the design phase for at least one quilt idea, as such linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday.

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced