Waiting In The Wings

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Almost at the finish line

Six more blocks to be made later today for Sunny Days which will be six blocks across and seven down.


When I began with this quilt it was to be for my expected great-grand-daughter, not for a new born but perhaps a play mat when she's at the stage of beginning to roll over and study what she's laying on. I later became aware that grand-daughter was having as much pink as possible!!

Change of plan needed,  I've enjoyed so much stitching this little quilt so it's going to live here with me!
My stash will be raided for an appropriate mix of pinks for a first new baby quilt, as due date is one month away I need to motor along. 

Things have been slow here due to recovery time from oral surgery, not the most of enjoyable procedures I have to say, but necessary. I have almost finished up quilting Northern Lights and made two Bear Paw blocks to go over to Chris English in Huddersfield, you can click on the link to take you to his site, he is extremely active on Instagram. More in my next post on this.


Ideally Chris would have preferred to go with recycled fabrics but as I don't have any I'll send these on to him, his choice as to whether he includes them or not.

Next up for hand quilting will (hopefully) be Desert Rose below.

Dare I tell you all that this was made as part of a QAL using a Jen Kingwell pattern
Midnight At The Oasis, begun in 2013 and hosted by Sharon McConnell aka Color Girl Quilts!!!
I didn't follow the pattern exactly, a few of the borders were pretty complex and I ducked out of them! 
Can't remember exactly when  I finished this one but it was easily two years or more afterwards.  I think the hand quilting might take me some time.

Here's the backing fabric

So, that's all to report on the quilting side of things here, but I do have a photo I'd like to share of an oil pastel piece of art recently done by my husband. Many times I'd said I would love a rickety shed in the garden, thinking of the shed - which actually wasn't rickety -  in our garden in Christchurch and which I loved! In reality a shed in the back garden here is not going to happen but I now have this one instead, definitely rickety.


it's now framed and on the wall and I love it.

Can't finish up without flowers in my garden, a  David Austin rose

Princess Alexandra

and a lovely Osteospermum, couldn't resist the colour!

Osteospermum
Everything in the garden is now beginning to flower, dahlias are shooting up, always a cheerful sight.
Back to the machine for me now, cup of tea by my side.

Maureen



13 comments:

Vicki W said...

Oh gosh, I absolutely love Desert Rose!

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

I love Sunny Days with all of the yellow in it. Also Desert Rose. Some of Jen's patterns are so complicated. I think you chose the best of the borders.
Your husband is very talented and the oil pastel drawing is perfect for you. You won't have to do any upkeep for that shed.

loulee said...

Your sunny days quilt is beautiful. I would keep it too.

Julierose said...

sunny days is so well-named--it is so bright and cheerful--nice work...
Lovely flowers--I've never seen that Osteospermum before--how lovely!!
Glad to hear you are feeling better after your oral surgery...never fun that!!
Hugs, Julierose;)))

Quiltdivajulie said...

I keep tea nearby as well - stitching or reading or simply sitting outdoors. Our late summer/fall temps are still in the low 80s but that will come to a crashing end next week as our first freezes are predicted with highs dropping into the 50s. Once again, I shall enjoy the blooms and spring/summer beauty you share from across the globe. As to the quilts - I am so happy that you will keep the Happy Strings quilt! And best wishes on the new baby pink quilt! p.s. your hubby's pastel is wonderful - what a treasure.

FlourishingPalms said...

Ack! Oral surgery. I'm so sorry! It's been one thing after another for you, hasn't it? I hope you're back to full capacity soon! Love that super busy-looking Sunny Days quilt. It's just happy! Even better is that you get to keep it. But another quilt, a pink quilt, in a month or so? I'd have to go shopping first. Not much pink in my stash, perhaps a reflection of having had four grandsons. You're tackling a big hand quilting project there! My goodness. Don't put too much time into it... from the back-side, your stitches will be lost in the busy print. But have fun doing it. I know that itch to hand-quilt. I've just thread-basted an improv quilt that I'm looking forward to adding perle cotton big stitch quilting to. Your husband is very talented! I'm impressed. No doubt you will enjoy looking at that rickety shed. When you look at it, are you seeing it full-up with quilting fabric?

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Love your 'sunny days' quilt. It's a real smorgasbord of Kaffe, and the yellow triangles (VFW?) are delightful.

Linda Swanekamp said...

What a treasure trove of photos and stories today! All this despite medical issues. I love the sunny quilt, truly is sunny (grey and rainy here at the moment). If I only had your color sense for just one day, I would pair up all my fabric for quilts. I have the same rose! Which is all through for the season unlike yours. Wonderful oil pastel. Does my heart good to see your post today!

audrey said...

Oh, I do love the oil painting by your husband! How sweet to have it on your wall.:) And I can see why you wanted to keep the little quilt, so cheerful and happy looking! Some quilts are just almost impossible to want to give away. Good luck on the hand quilting for your older quilt. It's very lovely and looks like it needs to be used.:)

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Oh Sunny Days is so happy and colorful!!!
Your Desert rose is amazing!! Enjoy quilting it!!!

MissPat said...

It's always fun to visit you and see all the bright, happy colors. And thanks for showing off the gorgeous rose. I'm thankful to our down under friends for brightening our days with their colorful blooms. We will have our first killing frost tonight, which is actually later than usual.
Pat

Linda said...

Loved reading your post, so many lovely photos. Your husband’s artwork is super! Pretty quilting, pretty flowers in your garden. Hope you are feeling better after your surgery.

Janie said...

Princess Alexandra is a beauty! Thanks for sharing your photo.
I hope you're on the mend too.
And your Sunny Days quilt is very sunny, that and your husbands artwork are super cheerful.