Waiting In The Wings

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

A frustrating two weeks!

Two weeks of dealing with my back problems,
no fun at all especially with lumbar spasms which floored me
for a week!
So time spent dosed up on pain medication which in addition
to the back pain and immobility rendered me semi-comatose!

One up-side of all this were the sunrises in the mornings when
I couldn't sleep.
A stormy day ahead

A better day

 No quilting until yesterday when I found the time and energy
to sew the ready pieced borders on the collage piece for
the Gwennie Inspired Medallion.
Gwennie Inspired Medallion
Poor old Leila (former known as Tallulah) was in the vet clinic for spaying. All went well surgery wise but she was really antsy afterwards. A nightmare at
home trying to chew through stitches, the result was back to the clinic
for four small syringes with a dose of pain meds in each, and one of those
Elizabethan Collars, referred to as E Collars by the vet nurse which slightly
confused my husband!!!

Here is the patient this morning, not at all happy as I think you can see.


Time for a feed, both for her and us,  hopefully back in action
with my quilting tomorrow. Woefully behind now with my WIP's,
hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

Update - linking up with Kaja and Ann at AdHoc Improv Quilts

Enjoy your week.

Maureen

Monday, July 11, 2016

Another late starter - Gwennie Inspired Medallion QAL

This centre piece for the medallion was ready to go a couple of days ago
but other things cropped up and I'm only now catching up on
posting and reading two days of blog posts!



In the spirit of liberated quilt making I added a bit of fabric
on the RH side of the background fabric, my DH came in to ask me a question
just as I was cutting the fabric, of which I had very little left,
you can see the result!!

I've always wanted to try collage and decided this was the time.
The three larger leaves overhanging the basket edge
were cut as one but the flowers are all individually cut and placed.
My next challenge is how to quilt these!!! This needs to be done
whilst the piece is still small enough to handle easily.

There are two pieced borders to get on there before the
beginning of August, I should be OK with that time frame as the centre with
frame measures only
15 and1/2" by 16 and 1/2".

A quick tidy in the studio and then onto more Gypsy Wife blocks.

Enjoy the week.

Maureen

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Easy peasy blocks

Onto Gypsy Wife but the brain is not working
at full capacity so I've begun with a few
square in square blocks


the ones above will be 3" finished when they're all trimmed and sewn, the three below 
will be 4".






My colours seem to be off on the last three, such a dreary, dull and wet day here
and usually my lighting is pretty much spot on but
seems not today!

I need a clear head and un-interrupted sewing time for the next block - 
Nurses Cross - I don't intend working out the fabrics
with my off-sider in the room with me, I shall attack that tomorrow.

Did I ever show you a photo of three small works
by
Mandy Pattullo
a wonderful collage artist?
I bought these pieces from her about a year ago and they're now
framed and settled in a corner above my cutting table and the miniature
set of drawers which hold my threads.


If the light is good tomorrow
I'll take photos of each individual piece, they really are beautiful.
Apparently she will have a book out, I think in September, and that's
got to be added to my book shelves!

Time to go and make a huge pan of chicken soup for our evening meal,
lots of chicken, leek, cauliflower, kumara, carrot, sweet peppers, sweet corn
and lima beans - yummy!! Lots left over for the freezer too.

Enjoy the week!

Maureen


Sunday, July 3, 2016

Pink for RSC 2016

The brief from Angela this month was pink - think watermelon!
There was no true watermelon coloured fabric in my collection so I've
gone for the nearest fabric I could find, however, in the spirit of "watermelon"
I do have quite a decent amount of this fruit on the green fabric below.


This is another one of my long ago purchases, I knew
it would fill a gap somewhere!
I love to see a cut watermelon, delicious colours and the green
rind but I don't eat them, everyone I know just can't understand 
that I'm a fan of the colour but not the fruit itself.

I'm finding my quilting time is seriously eroded
due to my furry friend below, presently she has to stay indoors
but I hope that after a spot of surgery at the vet clinic and
time spent recovering she will be able to venture into the big outdoors.

It's easy to forget how quickly kitties grow, here she
is sitting on the top level of her cat scratch pole.



Time for me now to try and do some catch up quilting whilst
everything is quiet.
Linking up with more watermelon pinks
HERE
with Angela and other "pinkies"

Happy 4th July!

Maureen

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Kaleidoscopes - almost halfway there

It was time I had all the kaleidoscopes made so far up on the wall.
There is quite a way to go until  there are enough for
the size quilt I have in mind but I needed to check out colours as well
as numbers.



OK, I see there are enough mostly medium range colours, plus the odd dark one,  I now
need to focus on light and bright and some with more contrast in there, and probably sew a few
more dark and rich blocks and them mix them up!

Corners won't be added until I have all the kaleidoscopes up on my large wall.
I'm  linking up with
Cathy and Ann 
at

hope you'll go visit!

Maureen