The Hannah quilt and yellow is the colour of the day

I totally forgot to post the photo of the Hannah quilt pattern in my last post  - here it is, a design from
Erica Jackman at KitchenTable Quilting just click on the link to visit her site and patterns.

I haven't used too light a wide strip in my version between the four narrow strips, I bought yardage seen on a local quilt shop site,  (Scalloped Hills from Corin Dantini), also I've used strips from my boxes. I may need to cut a few more pieces from yardage as I go along, progress so far just sitting on the wall waiting until until I have sewn another 18 blocks before I decide on a final arrangement.

I'm trying to be a little more organised and methodical with scraps! I have different lengths of strip leftovers from this project which didn't meet the 13" I required.

At the very bottom are 13"strips ready to be used, and squares of the Scalloped Hills fabric. The remainder above are now sorted into roughly, from the left, 11", 10", 8", 4"and 5"  then a stack of, what I refer too as smidgy bits! I now have to decide the best way of storing them without a muddle.

If you're wondering about the mention of yellow in the title of the post, two pics from the garden today,

the first ripe lemon from our tree, beautiful and not marked or pecked by the many birds we have around, guess who's going to be baking crunchy lemon muffins later this afternoon.

Here is a bush, the Kowhai,  which is a favourite of the tuis in the garden, beautiful birds with the most delightful song, I've never posted a video on my blog but I recorded the early dawn song a few days ago so maybe I can try, for now here's the photo.

Oh, I almost forgot the violet growing by one of the rocks bordering a garden bed, not yellow but a nice contrast!

 

Wish  I could "post" the perfume from little flower!

Happy quilting.

Maureen

PS excuse the breaks in a couple of the lines  don't know why this is happening but hoping to sort out before I write next.

I'm back - with Bluetooth technology!!

At last I have my new pacemaker, or as they are described by the medical professionals,  a pacing generator! With Bluetooth no less. Technology these days is amazing. I'm feeling good, which is exciting, my pacemaker "talks" to the special app on my iPhone and in turn if the app spots anything of note information goes straight through to the Cardiac Unit. It's rather like a Big Brother is Watching you scenario but I'm tremendously grateful.

So, what have I been doing since my last little post, nothing much, reading, sleeping and watching a few good TV programmes, oh and my usual moon gazing and catching sunrise and sunrise when possible, this was sunrise the other day

the cloud formations always fascinate me, especially when the rising sun catches the underside of the cloud.

You might recall I was making a start on Fonthill quilt, Wanda was also working on the same project, she had come up with the idea a few months that we could both work around the same time frame, she made tremendous headway whilst I was stalled! I hoped to continue on after my hospital visit, I had found beforehand  that I wasn't coping with the many small HSTS involved - hands not good. Sadly I'm not going forward right now but hope to perhaps think again in the New Year. So what now,  well I have three boxes with projects ready to go and from now on I'm working on patterns with good size pieces and also strips, I'm keeping things simple.

The boxed projects below were put together quite some time ago 

the bottom quilt project - Japanese Brocades - is quite a change from my usual fabric choice, I just felt like making something a little softer

I had made a start on fabric for The Hannah Quilt a little while ago, I've had the pattern from when it first was released, and was inspired to make a start after seeing the quilt  Koselig made by Julie using this pattern. Appealing to me was the fact that Julie had not used a light solid colour as the "background" strips shown in the pattern but had used a beautiful Tula Pink fabric, macaws on a pink background. I have yardage of the same design but in the turquoise colourway. Two day ago I found two fabrics to choose from as my background. Choice not yet made.

A few days ago I was told by a friend that she was having a 'mental health day' just doing something she really enjoyed, and had missed out on in recent times, she might read or paint, two things she really enjoyed but found she couldn't find the time any more to enjoy them. This had me thinking seriously about the past two years I have had, the result of which has affected my wellbeing enormously, both physically and mentally, to this end I have decided I shall have not one mental health day but a 5 month Mental Health break!!! Blogging often as I used to, spending more time in my little studio enjoying my fabrics and the view of camellias outside of the window, sitting outside in the sunshine with hand sewing and listening to the birds, moon gazing, catching sunrise and sunset, reading, going for walks now that I have the new pacemaker, reading blog posts daily again,  seeing family more often - we're going to be great grandparents soon which is thrilling.  

Reading -two books below have been sitting on my bedside table for around three months, the cover of the first book - Phosphorescence - drew me in straight away, as did the title of the book. I hasten to say it is not a book about depression but the beauty around us. I used to love the streams of phosphorescence in the wake of the boat at night, also by the bow, when we sailed to New Zealand in 1962 and back to the UK in 1963, the glow is stunning.

Next in line is Miss Dior - A Wartime Story of Courage and Couture. The title says it all, Christian Dior and his beloved younger sister, Catherine who inspired his famous perfume. I am so looking forward to reading this biography.

I think I have exhausted my news here now, apart from apologies for having, once again, missed your posts over the past 10 days, I had to take things easy.

Oh, making a start on my 5 months mentioned above here is a photo of one of the most beautiful camellias in our garden, can't recall the name unfortunately!

Before I sign off we have been reading and hearing of the horrific weather in the USA, in fact all over the world I think, but reading our news this morning I was horrified. Hoping that you re all safe and well, along with all your family members.

Keep safe

Maureen

Work in progress

This is a brief post, seems to have been the story of my life over the past few months, not a lot going on.

So after a few cancellations for various reasons I'm off tomorrow at 6.30am. to have my pacing generator changed. Quilting projects have been difficult to jump into whilst waiting for the above to happen, I've been spending a lot of time doing this

the book title says a lot, a coaster for the numerous cups of tea and hexies in the dish.

Two new Raskog trolleys were delivered a week ago and the mats from my previous trolley (different brand) didn't fit the new ones, I have three stitched and binding will be done soon along with three more mats.

The Fonthill quilt has presented me with a few challenges, various  fabrics for the two strip borders have been auditioned and rejected, I also found that my fingers/hands do not care much for working with the small half square triangles - around 350 -  I began at trying to work with something different in the centre design and I think I may well have come up with "a cunning plan" as first mentioned by Baldrick in the Black Adder tv series. This will have to wait until I'm all healed up.

Two individual fabrics I had tried out to use for the strips are these two below, they're  totally different from my original pieces pinned up on my design wall, the grouping then was based on purples.

Decision now made below for the two rounds of border strips  - the left hand Baba Ganoush  above - plus the corner triangle and as you can see I've reversed the colour layout shown in the original Fonthill quilt, my border strips are darker and the corner half square triangle is lighter - a new Tilda fabric in a soft green/aqua.

So that's it from me for now, a late night as no food or drink after midnight so I think a hot cup of tea  with toast will be on the menu around 11.00pm.

See you all soon.

Maureen