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

Another squirrel and Colorwash 360 Online Course

No sooner does one squirrel escape my little

studio than another appears!

I've begun a quilt using pretty large half hexagons, pattern by

Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession, featured in a copy of

Quiltmania Simply Moderne.

Some of the fabrics are coming from large scrap pieces, others

from fabrics awaiting storing in their respective places.

Just playing with the pieces here on the design wall.

I took the plunge and bought the Hex N More ruler

by Jaybird Quilts, I didn't want to spend the time

copying the pattern pieces from the magazine and cutting from those, the

ruler is fantastic! 

The pattern is called Chain Link Horizons.

I've enrolled for the

Colorwash 360 Online Course

with

Wanda at Exuberant Color

lots of you will be familiar with her stunning

colorwash quilts,  couldn't pass up on this chance.

The nearest I have come to trying to create a blended feel in

a quilt is the one below,

Red Sea Sunset, an HST quilt along a few years ago.

Inspired by sailing through the Red Sea in 1962

on our way to New Zealand from England.

Using mostly batiks and the reverse side of many fabrics

to achieve the b lend from one colour to another.

My Kaffe Fassett and Philip Jacobs fabrics will come into play

with Colorwash 360. first module is on Monday.

Somehow I need to fit in actual quilting and headed for a Tula Pink

quilt top, made last year and basted and backed all ready to go.

Opened the drawer of neatly folded quilt tops and had to take a 'phone call,

when I arrived back someone had found a cosy spot to relax.

I'd like to finish off with a photo yesterday of one of my 

favourite early morning sights at this time of year, the moon with Venus

sitting high above.

Whenever I look at the dawn sky and see the moon, in whatever quarter,

I think of my favourite few lines by Isak Dinesen /Karen Blixen in

'Out of Africa'

“If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?”

Maureen