A Taste of the Orient - Chinese Coins

Heading towards the finish line with this piece for

the AHIQ first invitational.

There is a background story to this small quilt regarding my choice of colour

and of design, stick with me please for a moment whilst I explain.

Two books influenced both of the above,

one by M M Kaye and the one below bought in 2013, this is by

the author of Wild Swans.

Note the colours  Cixi wears, we have yellow, red and touches of green

in her magnificent robe. What about the fantastical head wear and those two long

finger nail accessories!

The idea for splitting the original oblong pieces of fabric came from the book by

M M Kaye in her autobiography. She spent some time

in China in the very early 20th century and

describes the house in Peking where they stayed which 

had belonged at one time,

so she thinks, to a member of the  Imperial Family. She tells us that the door of the Spirit Gate

was green lacquer, the uprights and roof ends were lacquer red and the tiles

were Imperial Yellow. 

I just had to use these three colours and needed to try

and find a way of creating the effect of Yellow tiles.

You won't see perfect matching seams as some of these pieces were

cut freehand, it is my take on Ad Hoc Improv!

I have lots of left-overs

perhaps these could become something else set this way

AHIQ is hosted by
Kaja and Ann
and I'm linking up with them now.

Linda and Julie
are hosting
Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE
and I'm linking up here also.

'Til next time - happy quilting!

Maureen

Gypsy Wife - sections 8 and 9

Yes, sections 8 and 9 are together, at least for the moment. I'm not happy 

with the bottom block on the LH side, so there

may be a little time spent unpicking at some point.

It's just getting that balance right, trying not to have

too many dark blocks clustered nor too many light ones and I think

I've failed with the above mentioned block.

I felt as if I'd hit a brick wall with these two sections, don't know why, but I'm

not doing any more on this until the end of next week, maybe the brain

needs a break from gypsies!

I took myself off for a walk the other evening when I was feeling

particularly peeved off with the whole thing, just before dusk the sky was

a delight to see, good for the soul! After that I arrived home

feeling much less stressed.

This was the view as I walked along the ridge looking out to

Rangitoto in the harbour - I've decided to try and take that walk most evenings

just before dusk to blow away the cobwebs!

Hope you're all enjoying your week and your stitching.

Maureen

sew, stitch, snap, SHARE

I'm working on a very late New Year Resolution - finishing projects!

First off the block - my Teapots begun in RSC 2015, these two I appliqued

down today.

I've tried to get a reasonable match with the colour of thread

and the main teapot colour, not that easy with Kaffe Fassett and Philip Jacobs 

fabric.

The three below were stitched down early last year,  when all 12 are finished
I can set them out in their allotted place in the row and

 add the sashing and border.

The eyes take quite a beating peering a few inches away from the

needle to make sure it hits just on the edge of the fabric to be

stitched down, two is all I can manage at one go.

Something new now

Linda at Koka Quilts
and
Julie at JulieLou

have joined forces to create a new link up
sew. stitch, snap, SHARE
I'm heading over  now to join the link and you can visit by going to their
blogs above.

Oh, and in the midst of this torrential rain we've been having here
in New Zealand this Vireya had opened up in the back garden
to brighten my day!

Progress!!

Hooray - I feel I'm now "back in the saddle" with my quilting.

The yellow/green segment of Chinese Coins.

Starting on the red/yellow section Monday.

Concentration was needed with cutting the strips, it was so easy

to cut the original oblong fabric pieces in the wrong direction. so I now

have quite a few double ups in my parts box!

Measurements of the above segment 35" x 15".

I don't have a "set in concrete" plan for this small quilt,

I'll just play along and see where it takes me.

Is anyone else noticing that the list of blogs they follow

is becoming smaller?? I think a lot of folk are using Instagram

and Facebook, perhaps this is due to the amount of time

some quilters have available.

I love looking at the sky at sunrise and sunset this is 

one from a few days ago.

A truly "brooding" sky here!

Long Time Gone!!!

My post heading is nothing to do with the pattern

from Jen Kingwell which I wrote about a while ago.

This is giving a nod to my not posting for over two weeks - again!!

Let's start with a sunrise yesterday.

The reason for my continued absence

was my husbands'  health

problem, thanks to a mosquito bite right on the elbow.

Won't give the gory details but after visits to emergency,

three days on IV antibiotics for huge infection and three weeks of oral,

the elbow is slowly getting back to normal after growing to the size

of a grapefruit!

So, quilting once again took a back seat but I had been playing

with Gypsy Wife - two different versions of one block, deciding which

one will fit in best

My Chinese Coins took a back seat, way behind now as this week

was the last week for a link up. Below is a mock up on my

design wall from before my husband became unwell

I'm just playing around and have quite a bit more stitching to take

care of, hopefully next post will show progress - fingers crossed.

I have lovely hibiscus flowering in the garden, two below, and Leila now a one year old 

deciding whether to go up onto the roof  and watch the birds.

Back during the week - once again, fingers crossed!!

Enjoy the weekend.
I'm off over to visit Ann and Kaja
for a quick peek of my Chinese Coins so far.

Maureen