The Cat Sat on The Mat and Christmas Greetings

 Strange heading for a post on a quilting blog I know
 but as I have nothing quilty to show on this last post of 2020
I'm improvising!

So, here's the cat sitting on the mat bought to use for her food and water bowls,
she's a messy eater, but she had other ideas

this is now her personal mat for taking a rest, and she is definitely
not a grumpy cat but this was the last mat in the store!

Baking for Christmas was to try and use up some of the
glut of courgette/zucchini from the garden with my favourite
loaves

Courgette, Walnut and Sultana

these are delicious, sliced and spread with a little butter.
They become a little firmer and are easier to slice after
a day or so in the cake tin.

I'm going to start a page for Recipes next year and this will be up there.

Next, just because I love them, are
Cranberry and Pear muffins

another recipe to be added next year.

And that's my little contribution to my blog for Christmas Eve 2020.
I have lots worked out for next year, regular blog posts is top of my list.

I'll end here by saying that I realise this Christmas will be a difficult
time for many of you but I do hope you're able to find
peace and joy amongst the mayhem and hope for much better in 2021.

Looking forward to catching up with you all in the New Year and
thank you for all your kind comments over the past year.

Happy Christmas

Maureen

Post for Thursday the 10th

 My calendar is reminding me that I had marked down Monday as post day
but that didn't happen!!

It's been a slow couple of weeks on the quilting side of things, all I have to show
from my time at the sewing machine are six more Lego blocks below

I'm enjoying stitching these and using up strips collected over the years.

I've spent time tidying up a few fabric baskets and drawers which were bugging me,
 I had far more solids in my stash than I realised

                                                                                    

                                and compared to the other colours I seem to have very few yellows                                   in this basket

and lots of reds in this one.

My older collection of Hoffman fabrics from years ago, plus a few other ranges,
are now in two drawers - see below.

I wasn't getting very far with trying to decide how to use these,
the Hoffman fabrics are delightful small florals.
Looking through patterns, both in books and purchased as pdfs
from online stores, I found three patterns which I thought
would work. One of them is London Fields by
Frankie and Ray.

Still a little undecided it happened that a post came up from 

quiltdivajulie

showing her London Fields quilt all finished and it's
a beauty - decision made! Do click on the link and visit. 

A list of projects planned for next year is underway, some culling
will definitely be necessary here! I think I'll take on an RSC after 
a few years of missing. There will also be a new AHIQ for the first
six months of 2021.

After a number of years tucked away in our shed I brought inside the house
a beautiful  Indian cradle/cot (teak I think) bought years ago from a local
antique shop. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.

This treasure was brought back from India I was told by a
?army officer, who had been stationed there and left India 
along with other Britains in the mid 1940's. Correct me if I have the
date wrong here.The iron rings for hanging the cradle are still in place.
I intend using it to store quilts in the bedroom. You can see it has been well used
if you go to a close up view.

A post from me always, or usually, closes with something from the garden,
today is no exception, so first up one of my canna lillies just opening.

 Look no further for a quilt colour scheme, the greens,
shades of yellow, a little almost apricot splash and
a fine streak of lilac - beautiful!

My gladioli also has my ideas whirling around

and again we have yellows,  a lovely bright green stem
and all that beautiful pink.

And that's it from me folks until next time.

Keep safe and well.

Maureen

Note - thanks to Wanda for the tip below in her comment, never realised that the setting was on, just checked and wow, the image size is fantastic!

Phew - made it with a post after three weeks!

 I do not know what has happened to my blog postings,
can 't believe the number of posts I made prior to this year.
Methinks this could be due to the situation we all find ourselves in throughout
the world with Covid,  plus personal issues which also throw a spanner in the works 
and then of course various countries in the world
have their own crises to deal with.

All said, it's been a heck of a year for us all.
 So thank goodness for fabric and thread to keep us sane.

On the fabric and thread side things for me
have been a little slow but I now have only two more
rounds to add to Matt's quilt, latest photo below taken on a windy day
in the back garden

and hoping to have the top complete by the end of this week.
The next step will be the question of quilting. I don't see machine
quilting this with, for example, an edge to edge pattern, not good at all I
think it would ruin the simplicity of the design.

I see this as needing to be hand quilted, perhaps with a perle cotton and
big stitch style, I'm thinking keeping with the straight lines of the
fabric and possibly very four lines each round in the
direction of the lines, something like that, I'm drawing a
plan on paper. Any ideas/suggestions welcomed.

Did I mention that I was enrolled in  Colorwash 360
with
Wanda at Exuberant Color?
Am amazing course, fantastic detail on Colorwash quilts at which she is the maestro.
I decided to buy a small pack of Kaffe OOP fabrics from Wanda in readiness
for the course,  here are
three of my favourites

but what a delight to see all the fabrics in the pack!
Lots more fabric from my KF Collective stash needed to be cut into
2 and 1/2" squares, still not enough to give me the required effect
so it's on to the scrap boxes, that's gonna take an awful lot of time
so I've decided to leave this project until the New Year. I have three quilts
already on the the go and fabrics cut some time ago for more, the
occasional squirrel comes along to visit also.

I do have my blues pretty much sorted for the Colorwash,

a good range from light to dark but more needed for greater choice.
I like to check the value by editing

and I'm reasonably happy but as I said, a few extras needed.

I am as crazy about books as I am about my fabrics and have so many
waiting to be read, this is a minute stack which sits on my
bedside cabinet each one waiting in turn

presently this is the one I'm reading now

Freya Stark makes magic with her words, I'll tell you all about this
in a later post.

There is a book pictured below which has such memories
for me, this is on my list of 'unstealables'. I'd love to share
with you the reason it means so much to me, perhaps in my next post or
at the very least the one after that.

Time for me to prepare dinner but as usual I have something from
the garden to show.

Rosa Multiflora

She is a monster and will take over totally if left to her own devices,
we give her room because her scent is incredible, so sweet.

Another rambler is

Veilchenblau

again with a scent which covers the whole of the back garden.

Below is my favourite rose from David Austin.

Sharifa Asma

At the time I bought her he had stated she was his best rose,
again with an incredible scent.

That's all from me until next time, I know Thanksgiving is
almost here and I'm not sure whether most will have to miss the large family
gathering this year, but I do hope you can enjoy the day
no matter where you are and who you are with.

Take care and keep safe!

Maureen

Scraps and Secure Sites - https

Here we are in November, did anyone see the moon
on Halloween ?

I spent some time outside enjoying the sight of the clouds scudding
along and giving glimpses of the full moon - a blue moon I believe.
Suitably spooky!!!

This could possibly be a boring read today, nothing interesting to show I'm afraid
thanks to a hiccup with dental treatment involving more visits then
were envisaged and swallowing quite a lot of pain medication!!
An emergency pacemaker clinic visit,  a meeting with the cardiologist
involving blood tests and taking things at a slower pace
 also held up quilting progress.

So, dealing with scraps, lots and lots of scraps as you will see below

a flimsy red scrap bin - falling apart as you can see,
a 16" square bin into which I have just thrown scraps over the
past few years, however, I have three more bins larger than this one
also tightly packed with scrap pieces.

I thought it a good idea to empty this one onto the floor

and I had one heck of a shock at the amount
16" high, 28" wide and 36" in length!!!!
I hastily crammed them all back into the box and decided to
make a start on sorting this week, I think one box each week
will keep me occupied.

Shifting furniture around in my little studio came next and I
eventually found a use for an older sewing cabinet.
I enjoy having my computer in here but it is a small room and I needed
to think outside the box a little.

So here we have the cabinet closed up with computer sitting happily

but no room for my legs of course  and I have
the beautiful colourwash quilt by 
Wanda at Exuberant Color
above the screen.

On to the room for legs

door swings open with pens, glues, stickies, binder clips
and other fiddly bits, pus I have the large holder at the bottom
for patterns, notebooks and so on. I sit comfortably with legs tucked in!

When the computer is not in use it sits on my cutting table right up
against the wall, the top flap then opens to the left hand side giving me
an area of 51" long and I have a padded and covered piece of
board to sit on there, I then have a good size ironing area.
To do this I have to roll the cabinet more over to the right to meet up flush with
the cutting table.
Told you it could be a boring post didn't I?

However, I hope you will read what I have written below,  it's not boring, it is important.

A few of the blogs I visit and have visited for many years are
coming up with notice that they are not secure sites,
they have never switched to https, this is a simple matter of going into settings
and a quick tick solves the problem.

I am no expert and certainly would not have a clue of how to go into all the
details as to why it is so important for all of us but
Ann at Fret Not Yourself
whom I have followed for many years has written two
extremely informative posts with excellent information, she has kindly agreed
to my giving the link above to the latest post above on the subject and the link to her 
original information is given in there also.

I do hope you will visit.

I'll close with a photo of a stunning Clematis seen at the local Garden Centre

I'm wondering if I have room somewhere in my garden for this beauty.

Before I head off to make dinner I would just like to wish all my blogger friends
 in the USA a safe time in the days to come, sending my best to you all.
Please take care of yourselves.

Maureen

 

A finish - Simply Red Squared - and more

At last I have my small quilt for the prompt with
Ad Hoc Improvisational Quilters finished!

The prompt was Red is a Neutral
and here is my effort

Simply Red Squared

not the best placing job on my design wall but I was so pleased
that I had a finish I just pressed it onto the flannel and took the photo.

Size 33 and1/2" square.

Minimal quilting, beginning with in the ditch around each block, then the

triangles and the four squares made up of triangles.

You might remember I was going to bind with a KF purple on black spot,
in the end I felt it wasn't the best choice and on sorting through
a stack of pretty old fabrics I came across one which I thought
was a better fit - see below along with the bright backing fabric.

The kiwis were calling to me!!

You'll have to click for  a better view of the binding.

I'm thinking that next in line for quilting is a quilt made in 2015!!!!

Those of you having followed me since that time may remember this quilt and

if you want a refresher on the back story, or if you're new

to my blog, here is the link below, enjoy!

The Northern Lights

If you're wondering why there are a few pins around the edge

it's because I had an odd shaped piece of batting left over and

it was easier to lay the quilt top on,

 find the backing, pin and then up on the design wall to photograph.

Basting later in the week.

I think I'll begin with in the ditch quilting between sashing and blocks

and after that, well decisions, decisions! I'm wondering perhaps

minimal hand quilting with a 12 weight thread or perhaps

a perle cotton. Any thoughts?

I'm still plugging away at my Lego blocks and a few squirrels are

trying to make a home in the studio - perhaps soon.

Leaving quilting for a moment we had our Election on Saturday

and thank goodness that we have Jacinda Ardern as our Prime Minister

for another three years, she had a landslide victory, it was amazing.

What a tremendous job she's done for us 5 million Kiwis!

She is a treasure!!!!!

We voted early a week or so ago and what a beautiful day, photos below from

our drive home after visiting the voting station.

I can't close off without a photo from the garden, here's a clivia

blooming beautifully under the native trees.

See you all again soon, keep safe.

Maureen

A long four weeks and barely a quilt in sight

Look where we are now 

 into October and it's been four weeks since I actually wrote a post!!!

Quite a few things going on here  have held me up, one of them being this

which I had to begin wearing again occasionally,  especially when

cutting and as I was fussy cutting squares for Colorwash 360

it was necessary.

I'm waiting on a package of OOP Kaffe prints from

Wanda at Exuberantcolor and the brace will be worn again

as I cut those.

I have quilted my little Red is a Neutral piece and will post 

a ;photo of this when I have the binding on.

The only other quilty project to show here is progress so far

on son's quilt

three more borders to go!

Oh the new book from Kaffe arrived

and it's  packed with colour, the photography is, as usual,

stunning and the location beautiful.

As the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying Autumn

we are having Spring weather and Spring blooms, the Wisteria

has been glorious

but is already begin to drop faded petals on the grass, the daisies are

springing up and I took this photo below a few days ago.

Another favourite shrub is just breaking out, the Viburnum

and the scent is out of this world as I walk past to the mail box.

Previewing this post I see I once again have double line spacing at the beginning

of the post but then it has reverted to normal!

I'm still finding my way around the new Blogger settings!!

Disappointment is with me presently because my posting

has really dropped off, as has my quilting sadly, but I've worked

out a schedule and I'll be back to normal in a few days!!

Stay Safe

Maureen

As Bob Dylan says - The Times They Are A-Changin' - but I'm back writing a blog post!!

 It's been almost four weeks since I wrote a post and I confess haven't

read all your posts on a regular basis. I've had a busy time with clinic

visits and hospital visits and consultant visits.

I shared my cardiac issues some time ago and don't propose to

bring them up again here except to say I was left in no doubt at my last

visit to my cardiac consultant that things are more serious than I had thought.

Bearing that in mind I purchased some of the latest KF Collective fabric, purely to lift

my spirits and  I also have a finished top!!

Oh, this post is rather heavy on photographs, I give you fair warning!

I decided to add the extra border and so pleased that I went with that,

thank you for the comments left last post.

I'm Happy!

Measuring 38" square.

Half yards were the order of the day buying the new KF fabrics, the only

one I bought yardage of was the new colour Guinea Flower

but I do regret not taking a chance on yardage of Agate in the colour

scheme below

all the colours in this range are amazing.

Four new Spot fabrics were in the parcel

I love Merlot, the very top piece.

Thinking ahead I pulled out fabric for a quilt to be made at the end of the year

for our eldest grandson

I don't propose to use all of the solids shown.

Can you tell that I'm a fan of the Lotus Leaf design?

Here's the pattern  but there'll be a little re-thinking regarding the

strips on the diagonal

Next task was to decide which projects I had set aside no longer appealed

to me, first up was Stonewall so the book went back on the shelf

and the fabrics so far chosen went back into the stash. I really couldn't face sewing 

all those 2" HSTs!

I then remembered we were almost halfway through September and

I had a quilt to make for our eldest son, it was to be a surprise for his birthday

but then DH let the cat out of the bag and told him, needless to say

I wasn't too pleased.

This is an out and out kit and the pattern a Free Spirit freebie but it appealed

because eldest son likes Amish quilt (made him one years ago) and needing to keep things

simple at the moment I though this was a good compromise.

Centre and first border

second round added

The problem with the KF woven cottons is that they're so very fine

and it's a heck of a struggle to keep them straight, I remembered I had

an extremely light Vleiseline roll, just iron on and there

is no change to the drape of the fabric but it does add a little body

and makes sewing so much easier.

I'm steadily working on my Lego blocks and don't need to wear the wrist brace continually,

hooray!!

If you can bear a couple more photographs here's one of

the two visitors we had join us for breakfast during the week

please excuse all the weeds in the garden.

Here's a close up below of a lonesome rosella 

Now I'm going to get a hold of a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit and 

catch up with reading your blog posts.

Keep safe and well amidst the mayhem in the world right now.

Maureen