Slow Saturday

Actually I've had two slow Saturdays since my last post!

I've been fiddling about trying to decide what I want to make a

start on next, twice decided and then twice changed my mind.

I eventually made the decision to start on Green Diamonds  from

 Kaffe Fassett's

'Quilts in Ireland'

pictured here in an earlier post.

Here are the first few diagonal rows

and I don't know what's happened with the colour as it's much brighter than this!

I'm trying the new Blogger set up, maybe it's a problem here.

 You might also pick up that I've begun a little un-stitching

on the LH side where the half diamonds come up to the full ones.

They don't seem to be fitting as they should.

After checking and re-checking it seems that the template in the book

may be slightly out, so I'll draw up another one and try again.

They're all cut on straight of grain so that's not the issue.

Planning Ahead

  A pack of KF stripes bought a while ago  to make up a very simple

quilt for our eldest son, a free pattern from Free Spirit,

I'm not too sure about the lilac/peachy stripe, but it does look good in the

photo of the quilt. 

 Sorting out a heap of fabrics in a basket I pulled out 

the fabrics below giving me ideas for another

quilt.

 I have quite a few on my list of

'would like to make' so there's another decision to be made.

 I'm finding a little time here and there hand quilting

my Paintbox small quilt, only a few more blocks to go now!

Unfortunately I didn't go with my usual brand of thread and the one

I chose pulls quite a lot going through the fabric and quilting is taking longer

than I had hoped.

Once again the colour is showing  darker than my original photo!

Let's hope the photo of the last rose in my garden is true to colour

and yes it is!!

Leaving you now with a quote I came across in one of my books.

Love the beings of the world equally and universally.

The Universe is One.

See you all soon

Maureen

Sunday Summary

Just about falling to sleep in bed last night I suddenly thought of a great

title for this post, I can now no longer remember it, 

note to self - always have the notebook and pen by the bedside!

Do you remember I began a quilt using the Hourglass block,

Hannah's Garden 

in the blog post 

HERE

I have been fiddling around for weeks with these blocks

and once again became unstuck when using

more subdued colour. I cut many more pieces and

still wasn't happy, I was well and truly out of

my comfort zone. I tried using a few stronger colours but still no joy.

One night a week ago after tearing my hair out I couldn't sleep

and decided to go make a cup of tea, it was 2.38am!

The moon was up and I love looking at the moon, it was so very

bright and lighting up the old oak tree next door

I decided life was too short to lose sleep over quilt blocks and next

day pulled the brighter colours and made this cushion for my old

Captain's chair.

 Very simply quilted with two small pieces of very old lace stitched

on the centre block and

found in a box of treasured 'buttons and bows'  (but read lace for bows)

given to me years and years ago by my mother in law, she in turn

was given the box by her grandmother. 

So this little cushion is in memory of my Grandma Hannah whom I never knew and also

John's Mum and his great Grandma.

Now, this is a quilt blog I know and when I read the following lines

after pressing publish I will probably kick

myself for spilling all the information here.  I apologise in advance

but I had a wonderful friend with the same health problems and we

used to talk each week and lift our spirits and have a laugh, she died

in January.

Although I think of all of you as friends please don't worry that I shall be

relating any more of these health missives, I just needed to be able to

do this once right now for my well being.

I made mention earlier in my post of life being too short in relation

to fretting over quilt blocks.

It has been a difficult twelve months for me,  in addition

to my previous years of cardiac problems it was discovered 

that I also had a congenital aortic valve known as a bicuspid valve, 

and although I was informed

that this put me in the position of being one of only

1% of the world population with this condition  I wasn't too happy about future prospects.

The natural electrical system of my heart has packed in so good

job I have a pacemaker which keeps me going.

I have now been told that more symptoms mean my heart is probably not functioning properly,

having worked in a Path Lab and for Doctors I'm not too happy if that is the case.

More tests and appointments coming up and no doubt more medications.

So, no more fretting over quilt blocks, sizes or shapes or whether the points match, no

feeling guilty and miserable because I haven't the time nor energy to

join in all the quilt alongs that seem to crop up lots,  I am just

going to get on with stitching all my bright and beautiful fabrics - 

read Kaffe Fassett here -  and devouring my quilt books all over again and getting back to blogging more often and enjoying reading all your posts every day!! 

I'm ending with a pretty picture

the first bloom this year on my cactus against one of my favourite books

ENDANGERED

you will have guessed  that it's all about feathered, furred or finned members

of the natural world who are at risk.

I'm off to plan my next quilt right now, and I hope and pray you all keep safe and well in
these troubled times with Covid-19 and other horrific tragic happenings.

Maureen