Welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy your visit.

Catch up on the day to day work I do, and the occassional thought. It's ok, I wouldn't subject you to all the gory details. For more of the handmade art and craft, jewellery and textiles I make and sell, see my online store.



Monday 24 September 2012

On Safari

 

African Delights

Maureen created this lap quilt from a panel with some added extras. And then wanted an interesting 'African' designs quilted on it. Especially Lions!
 
 
 
After much searching and researching I found a group of Safari designs from www.annnebright.com and I have been able to join together the ones I wanted. I chose the Lions (of course), birds and rhinos.

 
The stripe on the back does make it difficult to see the quilting clearly, but look closely and you will see the male lion in the centre and the head of the lioness just below.
 
I have many more designs from this series, so if you have an african style quilt, or perhaps a child's quilt that could do with some animals to enhance it, give me a call. I would love to be able to help you.
 

Keep cozy
Helen.

Friday 21 September 2012

Welsh and Kiwi Unite

 

This quilt is amazing.

 
Thank you Jalaine Armstrong for bringing this wonderful quilt to me to add the quilting. And what a wonderul story.
 
 

The Wedding Quilt

Jalaine's Kiwi daughter is engaged to a Welsh lad. They love Rugby. They became engaged at the Rugby World Cup.

 
 
Quilting this was interesting. Can you see the rugby balls surrounding the Welsh Dragon?
 


Harder to see, but the background of this flag is grey tikis etc on a black background. And the quilting has a definite tkit/koru flavour to it. And all surrounded with a cable design.

 
Sometimes it is easier to see the quilting design from the back. I'm not sure, but you can make up your own mind.
 
I wish the happy couple all the best and hope they really enjoy their wedding quilt.
 
 
Keep cozy
Helen.


Thursday 20 September 2012

Cat Chase

 

Can you see the quilted cats?

 
I finished this quilt earlier in the week. Take a good look at the back and see if you can figure out where the cats are going.
 
 
It is a small lap quilt for a cat lover. Thanks Maureen for asking me to quilt it for you.
 
 
Keep cozy
 HelHO Machine Quilting.





Wednesday 19 September 2012

Rethinking the Blog

It appears I'm not very good at keeping this blog. Either I am not a good 'journaler' (is that even a word?) or I have chosen the wrong things to journal about.
Whatever the reason, I have not been good at keeping my blog updated.
I thought I would keep it to textile related items, or art related, but they are all intrinsically woven into the fabric of life. Well, they are for me. So I need to change the aim of my blog a little, and while I don't want to get bogged down with the minutiae of life, I think there are times when life events are part of the fabric.
 
So with that in mind, hopefully there will be more blogging. Some posts may be brief. I will endeavour to include photos where possible. They do make life more interesting.
 
Some of the things that have kept me busy recently:
  • machine quilting on my longarm machine. The number of customers I have continues to increase, which is very gratifying. This may become a sustainable income earner soon.
  • Son and dear daughter-in-law visited in July from USA. Along with their 4 children, this made a pretty full on and fun family time.
  • In August I celebrated my 60th birthday (there - I have now gone public with it).
  • And over the past few weeks we have been fighting this really nasty virus. And we are WINNING!
 

Twisted Fibres.

This exhibition is currently on at the Estuary Arts Gallery in Orewa and these are the 2 pieces I entered.
 
"I Did it My Way'
Textile Beads made from ribbons, yarn and beads.
 

 
"The Strong House"

 
Begun in a Creative workshop with Ailie Snow (wonderful tutor) 'The Strong House' features a different woman of influence on each side and the roof.
 
I hope I will visit this blog more often and add interesting events and textile art. I would love to hear from you. Comments are always good to have.
 
For now: another quilt awaits my attention.
 
Wrapped in cosy quilts, Helen.