Quilt show this weekend in Orewa

This weekend, 19th and 20th August 2017, I am involved in the Hibiscus Coast Quilters Quilt Show. This show marks our 25th anniversary, so it is a special one for us all. There are many foundation members who still belong to the club, plus lots of newer members.

Come along to see the quilts, and find out how the club helps out in the community. Make a day of it with your quilting friends or family.

There will be 3 Patchwork merchants and loads of raffles for lots of goodies.

Check out the flyer for details. I do hope to see you there.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Quilt Show and Sale Now on.

Sometimes you think you never finish anything. Last night I set up my stand at The Auckland Quiltmakers' show at 545 Parnell Rd, Auckland and I realise I do finish things. Lots of things! 

Come and check it out today and tomorrow.

Memory Quilts

Recently I was asked by Candice Fraser if I could make a quilt from her mother's clothes. Candice has recently lost her mother, and she wanted to be able to cuddle up with her memories. Such a great idea, how could I say 'no'?

There were, however, one or 2 obstacles. The biggest of these being the small number of cotton garments and the large number of polyester items. There were also some rayon options. So we decided to put the polys aside and work with the rest. Fortunately,  it seems Candice's mum had quite a coordinated wardrobe. I cut a lot of pieces into 6.5 inch squares. Of course,  as soon as I moved the rayons they had wriggliest sides imaginable. Piecing them was like piecing jelly worms. I still have not found a spray that will stabilise rayons, but I have tried a few.

Some extra squares were needed - enter the ever versatile 9 Patch.  A sudden idea to put a lopsided diagonal through the quilt top, and things started to come together. 

We had decided on a cotton backing fabric, and a quilting design that reflected her mother's love of sewing. Candice wanted a wool/poly mix batting for cosiness and washability.  As several of the fabrics were less than robust, I chose Matilda's which has a scrim base for added stability. 

Quilted with Eggplant coloured thread and bound with the last of the black and white cotton shirt, it is now with Candice, and I could just about bet she is snuggled on the sofa under the quilt as I write this.

As a final touch, I took the pocket from the shirt and stitched it on the back. I thought if it was my mum, I would probably write her notes and put them in the pocket.

It was so nice to be able to help Candice keep her memories.

Keep piecing.

Helen.

Quilter/wanna be mixed media artist.

I'm a quilter. There's no doubt about it. I've been a quilter for almost 40 years. I started out when all you needed was fabric, scissors, needle and thread.  Nowadays it's about fabric, rotary cutters, mats, rulers and templates and about 10 different sorts of batting. I can make a quilt by deciding on a design and then just carrying on, with no self doubts.

However, I have a desire to try out mixed media. I have bought paints, papers, boards, gesso, brushes, stamps, stencils, molding paste, stamp pads, ink, jelly pens, pastels etc, etc, etc. I have bought, and watched, more than a dozen 'how to' DVD'S. And watched them again. And made notes.

My stumbling block? Getting started! And then when it doesn't turn out like the videos I wonder what I've done wrong. It would be so easy to just give up .

But I'm not going to. I wonder if that disaster is retrievable. Or perhaps I will start again.

So I am going to use my blog to record my progress, disasters and all. It may not appeal to everyone, and I'm sorry if it's not your cup of tea, but it's something I need to do for me.

You would think, being so textile oriented, making fabric journal covers would be a piece of cake. Not so. I like precision and have worried that my cover wouldn't fit my journal,  or the next journal.  So anal!

I have spent a couple of years making journals in my head. So now I have spent a Saturday with some fabric and determination and came up with a couple of reasonable journal covers. Perhaps there will be more on the way. :-)

I made them so they could be reused on another journal some day. But perhaps they will just stay with this journal. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what gets written drawn or painted in these. :)

Happy Birthday to 2 Grandchildren and a successful 'play' weekend for me.

Comfort for cancer

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

 

Hello All.

It was a busy month with a couple of 'Girls-Nites' organised by Curves Whangaparaoa to raise funds for Breast Cancer.

 

I made this quilt which is for sale on my website and 20% of the sale will go to this great cause.

 

 

 

The quilt will also go to a great cause. It would really suit any girl/woman who is fighting a battle. There is a CanTeen scarf in the centre and Pink Ribbon quilting for support.

 

 

 

 

The back of the quilt is Pink spotty Minky. This is a very 'strokable' soft plush fabric that will wrap a special person with love and cuddles.

This could be your special person.

 

I enjoyed making the quilt. It has a polyester inner, so is very machine washable.

 

I'm looking forward to donating to Breast Cancer and I really want the quilt to go to a good home.

 

In quilting

Helen.



Quilts and Wineries

What a great combination!

 

After a fun time at the quilter's festival, my first customer's quilt was this lovely bargello design by Anne Golder. It is a King size quilt, so this is just a portion of it, but the lovely turquoises and corals look great offset by the neutrals browns.

 

 

The quilting design is Sweetest Hearts by Tammy Finkler and shows up delightfully on the back of the quilt. Because the quilt has a 100% wool batting (washable) it is light and puffy and will be very cosy to sleep under.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Anne for bringing me your quilt.

 

And I have to admit our trip to Adelaide was not ALL about quilting. Our last day was spent on a Barossa Valley wineries tour. 4 wineries plus Maggie Beers Farm (delicious pheasant pate) and by the end I was completely shirazed out.

We started at Wolf Blass and ended up at Chateau Tanunda.

 

The Chateau was very impressive but Langmile Winery was the most picturesque and I loved the history lesson that went with it.

 

 

 The vines around the pillars are a combination of wisteria, just in flower, and grapes, coming into new leaf. Very pretty!

 

 

This is the wall of the original blacksmithing building. I'm not sure how old, but their oldest vines are 169 years old, so it would be a bit older than the vines.

 

Thanks Penny for being such a great travel companion. Where to next?

 

Happy stitching.

Helen.

 



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.

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.



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.



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.

 

 

Quilts for Sale

It's the Auckland Quiltimakers Quilt Show and Sale the first weekend of May, 5th and 6th. I hope you can come along and see the wonderful exhibition we put on, and also indulge in the excellent merchants.

I will have a number of quilts for sale. This one I called 'Old Faithful'. All those checks and stripes in a classic star pattern and then I machine quilted the very traditional Baptist Fan design across it.

 

It will be for sale at the show, but it is also available via my website under 'shopping' - 'quilts'.

It has a 100% cotton batting which gives a very flat and traditional look and is also very washable. Gentle cycle, of course. :)

Baby quilts for sale

I had to practice some freeform quilting so I used these 2 cot quilt panels. They are now available for sale on my website http://www.helenhoriginals.co.nz/index.php?page=shopping under Quilts. They are very reasonably priced at $70.00 each. Cotton outers and polyester inner.

High Fliers

It's a Jungle Out There.

Val's Quilt

Despite the fact that I haven't blogged for several months, I have been intending to!!! Sound familiar?

Now that Summer has arrived, just in time for Autumn to take over, I have decided to kick into action here.

With the Quilting business a little slow over the summer, I undertook this commission. It was really fun, and it's great to know it will be show a little bit of NZ far afield.

 

I was privileged to get this commission for Val Irwin for her boat in the Mediterranean. It is based on a Jenny Hunter design Val found in NZ Quilter issue #56.

I quilted it on my Longarm Machine with an all over design that I call 'Chicken wire'. Sort of a cross hatch alternative. Do you like it?

Trading at CURVES Girls' Night In

I will be one of the traders at this fun event. Come along and join in. Let me know where you saw this notice for an extra 'gift with purchase'.

ONE MORE SLEEP AND "GIRLS NIGHT IN"

IS HERE......

6.30 P.M. COME ALONG AND LEARN LINE DANCING

AND CHECK OUT THE STALLS

(Last workout is 5.30 p.m.)

BYO - Plate/wine

WINE & NIBBLES....Proceeds to NZ Breast Cancer

Look forward seeing you all....

CURVES BREAST CANCER

MONTH

Exhibition Notice

The Auckland Quiltmakers

present

  Small Works VI

An exhibition of small multi-media and textile works

The Depot Artspace - Outerspace Gallery, 28 Clarence Street, Devonport

Saturday 24 September to Wednesday 5 October 2011

Opening 3pm Saturday 24 September

Gallery hours: Mon 12noon-5pm, Tue-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 10am - 4pm

See you there!

Mine is a very small (miniature) green and black piece titled 'The Lost 9 Patch' and was made after an inspiring retreat where many of us felt moved to make the dissappearing 9 patch into a quilt.

I always did enjoy making miniatures!


Here is a larger version of the same quilt.

 

If you can't make it to the opening, I hope you can make it at another time. I will be at the gallery on Sunday 2nd October from 12 noon to 2 pm if you would like to stop by.


Happy crafting

Helen.

A Change is in the Air

It has been a while (again) since I posted here. It is nearly Daylight saving time (next weekend, actually) so summer will be here just as soon as this spring weather wears itself out.

So while I wait for summer, I am preparing for Spring Sales and Christmas Sales. Jewellery is going well and I am now selling my creations at Craft World at Westgate Mall as well as Matakana Country Park Craft Co-op.

Some of my latest pieces include these 2 gorgeous pearl necklaces, one big and bold and the other more of a classic, but both of them using a mix of coloured pearls, either shell pearls or Swarovski Crystal pearls.

'Chics Mix - classic' are 8mm pearls and 'Chics Mix' are 14mm pearls. You will find them on my website  along with other pieces of jewellery made to delight.

More than Jewellery

But now there is more to life than jewellery. I love playing with the colour and design and I will continue to do so, but I have a new 'best friend'.

'Nellie' has joined our family and lives in my studio. I have to say she takes up most of the space there, being 12 feet long. Nellie is a longarm quilting machine and I am open for business, to quilt your quilt tops. You may see me around as HelHO Quilting service.

An Invitation

Nellie and I invite you to join us at an open home on the 1st October at 2.00 pm.

For further details, go to my website and contact me

We would love to see you, and bring along your quilt tops too.

There will be more about the Quilting Service shortly.

Now I am off to bind one of the quilts I have finished.

Ciao

Helen.

Wedding jewellery - custom made

I have been working on Custom Jewellery for a wedding. The Bride, of course, and 3 bridesmaids. It will be a summer wedding and these pieces have an ethereal look. It has been fun to create for someone else's dream. This lovely lady wanted something a little different from the traditional crystals or pearls.

If you would like some custom made jewellery, for a wedding, special birthday, ball or to match a special outfit, please contact me through my website or leave a post on my blog.

See you again soon.

Helen.

It's the shortest day - or it was when I tried to post this!

Summer's on it's way. And the Rugby World Cup. So I am turning my creative energies to some NZ iconic items for you and your friends to remember the occassion, and this great country we live in.

I hope you enjoy these and others as I make them and move them to my website.

With all these beautiful crisp cool mornings, I just had to take some photos of those spectacular sunrises. They are such tremendous shows of colour - they make my heart sing.

Looking over Stanmore Bay.

Have a great week.

Flower Power wall art Bustier

I have added this bustier to my website.

Helen H Originals website

I hope you like it. I loved making it. The red silk was great to work with and including the patchwork and the mixed media (organza and bead) flowers, it turned into a really fun project.

More items to follow as I update the website over the next few days.

Have a good day.

Bags, Bags, Bags

I'm a quilter. I hate waste and try to recycle when I can. So when I had some yardage of calico that I had used to practice my machine quilting, I wanted to find a way to use it.

Eco Bags!

These are great bags, quilted to protect your goodies, whether it is your crafty stuff for your next Girl's weekend or the refridgerated items from the supermarket.

Sizes are Super large to small. In this photo the Super Large and the Medium size.

And here is the Large and the small bag. Love the small bag with the outside pocket.

I will have these with me at the Auckland Quiltmakers show this weekend (see previous post) or you can buy them from my website and I can send to you.

Don't forget: introduce yourself at the show and say you have seen me on the internet, and you will recieve a free gift with purchase.

Thanks for visiting my blog. See you here again soon, or on my facebook page.