Memory Quilts - Happy Days 1

A few things going on around here has meant

that quilting has been on the back burner, however,

this gave me time to really sit and think about my quilting.

I love making quilts that have a story, I've long thought about

a series of quilts on my childhood memories, 

places and people who meant so very much to me.

The one in progress here is the first

Happy Days 1

the story I shall tell when the quilt is sewn together.

Above are the first two rows with strips separating, the

blocks in the second row are not yet sewn up, I've been

playing around to get them in an order which pleased me.

The third row is just beginning and those of you who read

my blog regularly will remember my stars begun for RSC 2016

but never completed!!

These are a perfect fit for my story, still a work in progress

so not a chocolate box photo shot

and the small square between the two stars

will be appliqued.

Apologies for the oversized letters, no time

left tonight to resize them.

I eventually have my camera in working order again but

now see I need to reduce the font size after having used the camera

set up on my iPad for a little while.

That's all from me for a few days, see you soon and have

lots of happy quilting time!

Maureen

Bits and pieces

Definitely a bits and pieces sort of 10 days, barely anything

achieved on the quilting side - ongoing saga of back problems - but

I was able to spend a little time on a few pieces for the

dark quilt started a couple of posts ago here

and if you have the Judy Newman book - Quilts for Life made with Love - you will

 know that in her quilt Vintage Comfort there are no stripped elements.

I like to change things around a little.

I've been going through my old Hoffman fabrics and cutting them

into strips with my GO cutter, some must be 20 years old!

I needed to make room in my storage baskets making them easier to lift out.

This one below I couldn't bear to cut up

and I'm busy thinking of where I could use a decent

size chunk in a quilt.

A package of fabrics came from Glorious Color,  these are from

the Spring 2017 Kaffe Collective range, the ones below are still

waiting to be stored away.

I'm signing off with a sunset from a few days ago

Back soon, hope you're enjoying some quilting time.

Linking up with 

Linda  and  Julie

for

Sew Stitch Snap SHARE

Maureen

Kaleidoscopes and colour - a bit heavy on photos!

A big thank you for all the encouragement you gave me after

my last post and the borders are on,

I couldn't get a good full photo so we'll have to make do

with a quarter shot

on a bit of angle - sorry.

  This is the third kaleidoscope quilt I've made and like most kids

I had a toy kaleidoscope which fascinated me.

A few years ago I bought a modern version of the kiddies

"turning the end"model and later another which relies on a huge

marble held at one end and manually rotated. I worked

out how to take photographs of the patterns created - not

an easy task - I've taken a photo of a photo to show you.

I have shots of some amazing patterns, the photos above don't do justice

to the colour.

I love colour, as you all know, in my fabric choices, the sky scenes

and garden flowers. Two days ago I noticed a stream of light hitting

one of my cyclamen and the stem seemed translucent

love this peep of red amongst the greenery.

My husband paints in oils, acrylics and watercolour, I love

watercolour and the strangest things attract me.

He was about to clean off his palette one day when I shrieked to him

to stop, I loved the effect of all the colours used

blending in together.

Another of my favourite colour fixes comes from posts by my internet friend 

Alison Crosthwaite  in the UK. Alison is a spinner and weaver and also a painter,

I rub my hands with glee when I see one of her posts, they explode with colour.

She's just published a book and whilst it's not about quilting I wanted

to quickly show you the cover.

If you're interested

you can see how wonderfully Alison uses colour by visiting

her blog
alisonsartweave.blogspot.co.uk

That's all from me, hope you've managed to get through
all the photos!
Enjoy the weekend.

Maureen

Kaleidoscope 2 aka Helicopters

Mmmm, I was hoping to show a finished top to join the 

Kaleidoscope of Butterflies link up, I've only completed the central

piece - and have a bit of a disaster on my hands.

You can probably see why in the photo below.

Two issues with this

a) my iron decided to spit out gunge on the cream fabric second row from bottom

b) the dark fabrics are showing through two layers of the cream by the seam lines,

in some cases.

I was extremely careful to trim away any excess knowing that it's so easy

to get a shadow effect, I should have used a heavier weight cream

fabric - lesson learned!

I am so cross with myself, I don't know whether I can bear to put

the border on! I guess I could quilt 1/4" away from the seam

which would hide any shadowing through.

My little companion cheered me up as we played in the garden

here she is against a backdrop of weeds and now just over one year old! Oops my

watermark has landed across her little white paws.

Off to join the link-up with 

Ann and Cathy

Have a happy weekend.

Maureen