Slow, slow stitching

More or less four weeks since I wrote anything here,
I think that's a first!

Definitely slow progress on all fronts, but progress all the same.

March is officially the beginning of Autumn here in New Zealand 

already the leaves are turning on our Japanese Maple and the huge oak tree
in the garden next door.

I'm now in a heavy duty splint with permission to enjoy my stitching and
quilting in small chunks of time, there are only small chunks of time
because I have so many physio exercises to work on!

So, what have I been spending time on in the past week of cast freedom,

creating order in my blue quarter/half yard drawer,
sorting through scraps a little at a time and cutting hexagons
out of suitable sized small pieces

and to save time I decided to try one of the glue sticks made
for that purpose, it would also
put less pressure on my hands, never done this before and did wonder about the
removal of papers, after one hour I decided to see if I had success with a tidy removal - 
no, I did not!! I shall be back to basting with needle and thread.

I have a new book

and I don't truly know why I did this when Judy Newman quilts
are pretty detailed and I had limited myself to easy, peasy projects making
use of squares, decent sized triangles and so on.
However, there is one particular quilt in the book which I had seen earlier
Hedgerow
is deliciously scrappy and medallion style.
Just the name of the quilt took me back to my early years back home in
Lancashire living by the moors, farm fields with old stone walls
and also rambles through woodland with mixed hedgerows, collecting
bluebells to take back home to Mum, making daisy chains with friends.
I realised I was once again becoming excited about my quilting after the
past few months.

Hedgerow is definitely going to be started pretty soon, yes, I know have a few
projects on the go right now but I like to work that way. I love making a start on new 
new quilts.

So, guess what arrived in my little studio as I was feeling more energised

another squirrel!

Here is the beginning of my appropriately named quilt

FRACTURED 2

This is a pattern by Kathy Doughty and I made a quilt using this quite a few
years ago,  check out the Fractured QAL label below, given the circumstances I find myself in I just had to do another one!
The pieces are just placed on the design wall, a little stitching planned for the weekend
along with placing an order for the new Kaffe Collective fabric range.

Time to close, my fractured wrist is telling me enough  right now and
as it seems I have something by the name of a rotator cuff tear in my right
shoulder which is quite frankly extremely painful, even down the whole arm,
I really have to keep to my limits.

Happy Quilting

Maureen

My first post of Autumn

 It's now been just on three weeks since I wrote a post.
The past three months have been a really stressful time for me and my quilting and
blog posting
have suffered as a result of this, but I'm back on board now, fingers crossed!!

The last official day of Summer here in NZ I picked the last of the  sweet peas
growing in the garden, I'm missing their sweet perfume!

However the first day of Autumn had the most beautiful sunset,
the colours became richer as the minutes passed, but I rather like
the soft golden glow in the clouds right here.

For those who follow me regularly you will know that I'm sewing along with
AHIQ String Pieced Tulips QAL
and my progress has been slow, there are now more blocks on the wall,
some sewn together and others pinned in place all ready to hit the sewing
machine tomorrow.

Only three more blocks to go before I make a start on the tulips. 

I took the opportunity to add to my fabric store during my quiet time, some of my favourites below
from Kaffe Fassett Collective latest range

and I also made a start on adding fabrics for eldest grandson's quilt
to a collection from the store.

 Hoping to make a start on this at the end of April.
If you click on any of the photos they will enlarge.

Confession Time
I have been really lax with my reading of blog posts from you all, only able to spend  a little time now and again, I know there will be many I've 
missed reading, sending my apologies to all of you!

See you soon

Maureen

March aka here comes Autumn

Yes, officially the 1st of March is the start of our Autumn

down here in New Zealand, the leaves of the

Japanese Maple are already showing their colour a little

and the hydrangeas, once richly pink and blue, have

now begun their journey down the road into the antique colours

and still as beautiful as ever!

All things quilting - not a lot actually, I've been down

with an infection which stopped progress.

The sum of my achievements covers five more blocks for

the 

Red is a Neutral

 invitational with

AdHoc Improvisational Quilters

I intend to sash these blocks to negate stress on the eyes!!

A fabric has been chosen but I need more than the small amount 

on hand, another order should be here within the week.

I do quite like them just as they are but when I have 20 blocks

measuring 14" the effect could be pretty overpowering.

Found my unfinished piece

with the name

Playtime

As I only have four more small kaleidoscope blocks

to add, along with four corners, it would probably

only take a morning to finish, better get on to it!

By the way, all the photos will enlarge if you give

them a click.

Oh, of course the Kaffe Fassett Collective have a new fabric collection

out now, needless to say I spent some time ordering!

One package arrived yesterday - yummy colours -

and the opening of the package was supervised by

my little helper who 

 doesn't have the tip of her left ear missing, she just

moved her head as I was taking the photo. After

sitting quietly watching proceedings she took matters into

her own paws to check out the fabric

and  was swiftly ejected from the cutting table.

She is an ardent KF fan.

Another non-quilting job was a trip down memory lane.

John's Mum had given me a box of buttons as we left England

in 1980, these were gathered by her grandmother, her mother and

mother-in-law over the years. They came from items of clothing dating

back to the late 1800's  and she could tell me, for example, that the horn buttons 

came from a coat made for my husband as a child,

buttons from dresses worn by her grandmother - you

get the picture.

My children used to have great fun visiting their Gran

who would let them rummage through the box.

I thought this one here was very special and very old,

measures almost 1/2" with

lovely intricate detail.

Perhaps the Downton Abbey era.

Well, after sending you all to sleep with multiple

photos and not much progress I shall head off to

the cutting table.

See you soon, have a happy weekend.

Maureen