Personal Projects

Kiwiana Fabric Purchases

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Of course I also shopped for fabric in New Zealand. On our first trip there two years ago, I bought a quarter metre of every Kiwiana fabric I liked and have since made three quilt tops from them. This time, I did not want to get sucked into buying more fabric just because it is pretty. Three New Zealand quilts seem enough.

I decided I would only shop for backing fabric, and with the exception of one piece that I have already turned into a bandana, I stuck to that resolution.

My first stop was Tiffanies Treasures north of Auckland. I found them on a list of New Zealand quilt shops and assumed they were a retail store, but when I walked in I learned that they are actually a wholesaler and not usually open to the public.

The owner asked me whether I knew Trendtex. For non Canadians, Trendtex is a wholesale business just outside Vancouver that represents Moda Fabrics in Canada, among other things. He explained that he was essentially the New Zealand version of Trendtex, specializing in Moda and Hoffman Fabrics.

Once a year they are open to the public, when the whole commercial area where their warehouse is located opens its doors to everyone. That big event was coming up on the first weekend of December. Since I was only two days early and had come all the way from Canada, the owner graciously allowed me to look around and shop. I found the most amazing fabric featuring New Zealand birds and plants, printed by Hoffman exclusively for Tiffanies Treasures, which I bought for one of my quilts.

M28-213 Tiffanies Treasures Kiwiana by Hoffman Fabrics

When I was done with my purchase, he gifted me one of their exclusive Hoffman Kiwiana panels. I have no idea yet what I will do with it, but I appreciated his kindness very much.

M191-213 Tiffanies Treasures Kiwiana Panel by Hoffman Fabrics

I had seen a Nutex Kiwiana fabric online that I really wanted for one of my quilts, but none of the shops I visited carried it. At Country Dawn Quilting in Whangarei, I found a similar fabric in rainbow colours and bought it to use as the backing for my second quilt.

85060-3 Nutex Fabrics Koru

The last shop we visited, Sew It in Christchurch on the South Island, was a treasure trove of Kiwiana fabrics. I was thrilled to find the exact fabric I had been coveting since I first saw it and immediately bought it for my third quilt. Fabric shopping was a complete success!

85490-4 Nutex Fabrics Te Koripi Wae O Maui

Miscellaneous

A Month Away

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After the difficult year I had, everything came together just in time for our long planned trip to New Zealand in December. For months, we thought we might have to cancel, and I did not truly believe we would go until the last week of November, when my lab results came back fairly normal. Sometimes miracles do happen, and we were able to spend the entire month in New Zealand.

My husband is the best tour organizer you can imagine, and he had everything planned out beautifully. We spent the first half of our trip on the North Island, then flew to Christchurch on the South Island, and even made it to Stewart Island for a couple of days.

It was a fantastic trip and a much needed break. We were lucky enough to see penguins in the wild and even spotted kiwis on Stewart Island, which was a wonderful experience. I will leave you today with a gallery of my favourite pictures.

 

Miscellaneous

Reminder: Last Day To Order From The Pattern Store

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Just a quick heads up that today is the final day my pattern store will be open. I will deactivate it tomorrow morning and process any remaining orders before it closes.

I hope to reopen next year, although nothing has been decided yet. It will depend on how things go with my health. I am working on new patterns, and I am hopeful that everything will come together.

Pattern

New Pattern: Yuletide Reflections

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Here is a pattern I came up with last year while I was making Christmas cards. The card design and the little blocks I had stitched felt like they wanted to become a full Christmas quilt, so I bought more fabric and stitched one up in no time. I did not manage to write the pattern earlier with everything that was happening this year, but I finally pulled it together, just in time for Christmas.

PPP-079 Yuletide Reflections

Digiprove

These are not my usual bright and bold colours, but there is something about the simple elegance of the black and white metallic fabrics that I really enjoy.

I have also created a discount code – enter YULE20 at checkout to receive 20% off. The code is valid until November 25, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. PST and applies exclusively to the Yuletide Reflections quilt pattern.

Miscellaneous

Online Store Reactivated

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As several of you have noticed and pointed out, I deactivated my online store in September. I wasn’t in any shape to turn on the computer and send out patterns, and since I wasn’t posting any BOM blocks either that seemed like the best solution. My plan was to close the store at the end of the year without ever reactivating it but I now realize that this won’t work. People missed the free downloads for various reasons and want to purchase the missing patterns. I have reactivated the store for now but please note that it will only be online until the end of this month. I will not be able to fill orders in December. If I will reactivate it next year depends on how I am feeling. So if you are missing any blocks or would like to buy any other pattern, please do so until the end of November.

Block/Pattern of the Month

Safari Block #9 Pattern – Please download again!

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While writing the finishing instructions for the Safari Quilt I noticed that the placement guide for the elephant (Block #9) had a mistake. I am not sure how that happened as I printed the guide and used it for assembling my sample block, I should have noticed at the time that the flower stem would be on top of the elephant’s trunk, not behind it. Obviously I didn’t but I have fixed the mistake and uploaded the new version of the pattern. If you have already assembled your block, you probably notice (looking at you, Elaine :)). If you saved the download for later, please scroll down to the previous post and download the correct version of the pattern. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Block/Pattern of the Month

Safari BOM – Block #8

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I want to thank everyone for their kind words and messages of encouragement and also clear up one small misconception. Dancing and quilting are my two big passions. Since I cannot dance right now, quilting has become my happy place. So when I feel well enough to work on quilts or patterns, it is not out of obligation. I have always loved designing, but my brain has to be in the right place for it. Being able to return to that creative work is actually a good sign.

The August block is a fat, cuddly Crocodile. Well, maybe do not try to actually cuddle him, but I wanted him to be more cute than scary. His belly looks quite full, so hopefully he is not in the mood to attack anyone.

PPP-078-08 Safari Block #8 Crocodile

As always, the pattern will be available for free download until the end of the month and move to the pattern store when the next block is released.

EDIT: The period of free download is over, and the block has moved to the pattern store where it is now available for purchase.

Block/Pattern of the Month

Safari BOM – Blocks 6 & 7

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I am still not doing well, but I have had a few better days and am now able to publish both the missing block and July’s block together. I do plan to release the final two blocks eventually, but I am not setting a specific timeline. I truly appreciate those of you who have waited patiently and offered kind words. I will not be responding to messages demanding to know when the next block will be released. These patterns are a free resource, and they will be available whenever I am able to share them. I did not choose to deal with serious health issues, and I certainly did not expect things to unravel so quickly. But now that they have, I am doing my best to manage the situation—and I ask that all of you respect that.

Last month’s block was a Rhino, and July’s block is a Zebra. I have a few words of advice about the Zebra block: if you have a zebra stripe fabric, please, by all means, use it and save yourself the trouble of cutting and stitching all those black pieces. I just could not find a suitable fabric, so I had to come up with a way to make the zebra look like a zebra—rather than a white horse with attitude. 

EDIT: The period of free download is over, and both blocks have moved to the pattern store where they are now available for purchase.

PPP-078-06 Safari Block #6 Rhino

PPP-078-07 Safari Block #7 Zebra

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