A bit of this and that and a snippet for RSC 2015

Hope you all had a Happy Christmas!

I see that the weather has been so very bad in parts of the USA, 

and many tornadoes so I hope you're all safe and well!

We have had a happy time and yesterday and today the heat is draining!

I am sitting here at the computer in my little studio and it's

a struggle to take in air, it's so hot!!!!!

The sewing machine has been neglected, finishing rows

on my scrappy Mountains was on the agenda for RSC 2015, but I started playing around with my
Accuquilt and the DWR die with a reject block

then I was sidetracked the day before Christmas Eve
 by these fabrics which have been sitting in one

of my baskets for a few months

another Cultural Fusion quilt was on the agenda for 2016 but I

just couldn't wait to try out one of the Peppermint Pinwheels

this block is looking a bit on the dull side, I took the shot

on a rainy day sadly so not as bright here as it is

 on the wall.

I must share two books which I have fallen  in love with,

the first was a Christmas gift from my husband

a beautifully illustrated and instructive book on a subject
which has long interested me and I am thrilled that
this is now sitting on my table!
 More pencils were needed to add to my collection
so before the heat became just too much we drove into the city
to the art store - I'm now all set up and ready to go!

The next one is a "gift to self"!!

I had seen a short review on this one and decided not for me, probably

covering dyeing in detail. I wandered into our local book store and

just happened to find myself by the quilting section, what should I see but this

it's now sitting beside me!!!!
I have long admired a beautiful denim piece by
Kaja at SewSlowly
do go and visit, you'll love it.

Mountains will have to wait until tomorrow and hopefully there will be something
 to post before the New Year when we start again!!!

Linking with
Angela for RSC 2015

Maureen

Playtime

A week of playing around, both outside and inside. 

A ride along the coast road

the early morning light hitting the still bare branches on the oak next door.

Last week was going to be playing week for AHIQ but somehow

I just couldn't get into it and changed tack, ended up playing with one of the blocks

from the Cultural Fusion Quilts book by Sujata Shah - see her blogs

Cultural Fusion Quilts
and
The Root Connection

I needed to work on something simple without seams and points
having to match up!

Here are two full blocks

I didn't want high contrast fabrics in this small piece I'm making
I was trying for more of a blended look. There'll be nine blocks in all
in a rather more traditional layout for
a modern free style block. There should be something more in my post
later in the week.

I'm linking up with Angela for RSC 2015Angela and RSC 2015 on the
grounds that there is some orange in the blocks but only a little!

 Before I go back to my machine can
I say a big thank you to all who left comments and sent emails
after my last post about Seamus, I have tried to
reply to all but if I have missed anyone please accept my apologies!
Your kind words were very much appreciated!

Maureen

The Northern Lights

In my last post on 

Wednesday

I had just started on my take of a Rail Fence

as part of the
Quilt Along at Cultural Fusion Quilts

This is
The Northern Lights

a mix of Kaffe Fasset fabrics and Ombres from
Caryl Bryer Fallert.

The Northern Lights can be seen from the very top of
Scotland and I'd love to say that I had seen this wonderful sight before
we came to New Zealand in 1980,  I didn't but I have seen clips
many times of course.

There is a play on words with this piece, we come from
Lancashire in the North of England. For anyone who knows something of that area
there is a town called Blackpool, very famous for what is known as
'The Lights". In Autumn the whole sea front -  lamp posts, shops buildings - for miles is
decorated with the most amazing array of  bright lights, there could be
huge models of for example Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and other
well known story book characters,
huge Catherine Wheels, spinning away merrily on top of the lamp posts.
 There is also Blackpool Tower - a sort of mini Eiffel Tower -
totally decorated and lighting the sky for miles around.
 The trams which run along the sea front are also
fully decorated and all lit up, it really is a sight to see and children absolutely
love it - I certainly did -  actually so do the adults! Sitting on a tram
or walking along by the side of the sea eating Candy Floss or sucking on sticks
of Blackpool rock was my idea of heaven.
For followers of Coronation Street, Hayley and Roy Cropper go for a special
weekend to see The Lights and dance in The Tower Ballroom after
she has received her diagnosis of cancer.

Linking up with
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015

Enjoy the weekend.

Maureen

Two new projects

I love getting fabrics ready for new projects, two are in the process

as of this week.

 I'm making another Rail Fence with
 Cultural Fusion Quilts but in the bright colours which I love and

using only one quarter of the 16" Fence blocks

I love cutting these strips

and the effect of the Ombre fabric.

Second project, two posts ago in Making Progress I mentioned the
Ad Hoc Improv Quilters
and included  blog links for Ann and Kaja who
together had this happen and whose latest posts
suggest a way of working.

I selected one of my favourite fabrics then quite randomly other fabrics,
some I had forgotten about and I never thought they would all
play together nicely but

I'm happy with them. The colours, especially the duck egg blues on the left,
are not quite as clear as in "real life".  I think I'm going to
base my work on rectangles - that could change though!!

Bits and Pieces

Somehow I never got my act together with posts over the past week, I 

was finishing up cutting extra squares for High Flyer (due to my

cutting a number of the originals too small)  and they're now

slowly going up on the wall.

More small two piece sections sewn for Scrap Vortex

now to start on mating them up into similar sized pieces.

I contribute to
Cultural Fusion Quilts blog hosted by Sujata

and she is running a Rail Fence Quilt Along -  the button
is on my side bar to take you there.

Not happy with these for the QAL so a rethink is underway,
why I went with solids I don't know!

 You can see below my inspiration for the green block below

That's it for today, on the agenda is moving two pieces of furniture in my
studio, necessary as Daisy (17yr old cat) has decided to make
her sleeping quarters scooting under my machine table and
settling herself in way, way back underneath an adjoining table on a crate of dyed silks!!!
Cat heaven I think.
I have to wheel the machine set up out of the way to try and reach her.

Enjoy the week
Maureen

Practice makes ……..

I was going to head this post Practice makes Perfect - but it may not so better

not chance it!!

Six rows of my H quilt all sewn together with four more to go, sorry the bottom

two rows are missed off this picture, it's 90" long and I couldn't
get it all in one!  I see it is blurry, these

pics were taken early morning with my iPhone the next ones should be nice and clear.

Now below is where the practice comes in, I felt this quilt needed

something simple so as not to wipe out the lovely fabrics and I was

really pleased with my rolling waves quilting on

Sailing through Suez - see this post over at Cultural Fusion blog I decided to
do another larger version of that design, not so much overlapping
of quilting lines this time. The beige thread is just so I can
see how the design looks on a row of practice blocks.

The thread I'm going to use is the same as on Suez, it's an Aurifil variegated
- Marrakech or Marrakesh whichever you prefer!

I love this colour way because it just seems to blend in so well.

John and I went into the city yesterday and called in the most
beautiful small book store, an amazing selection of very special books, one of which
I had been trying to hunt down because I had read that colouring in
was the new therapy for stress relief - just what I needed and

as you can see it is sitting on my table runner at home, watch for a post later.

The next book was pure indulgence!!!

Truly glorious!!!
I now feel I should like to re-arrange furniture, make new covers for chairs and
hunt for paint - somehow I don't think that's going to happen!
Next post over the weekend when I hope to have six green stars ready and waiting.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

A change of direction ...

Happy Easter!

Over the past few weeks I have been making Wild Geese style blocks in

the colour of the month for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015 check out all about
this yearly challenge, and if you check out this post HERE you will see
my last yellow block.

This month we have the colour purple - below blocks made today,

apologies in advance for these colours not showing quite true, we have a very dull day
here presently and it's almost 5.00pm, these shots
should have been taken this morning but as I hadn't even cut out
the fabric squares at that stage it was not possible!! You will also notice
the "deliberate" mistake in the bottom two set of blocks.

As you can see  I have moved to Scrappy Mountain Majesties, I have wanted to make
a quilt using these blocks for ages, now is the time. I love the blocks I
started off the year with but on the last two I found
I was having to fussy cut so much and had heaps of fabrics out looking
for just the right piece, yesterday I decided I didn't need the hassle! They will be
used in something further along the road.

The twelve blocks above have only been set like this for ease of photographing, they won't be set in
the quilt I have in mind in pairs as above.

Yesterday I posted my story to
Cultural Fusion Quilts
about my latest piece made specifically for that blog, Sailing Through Suez, hope you'll
take a few minutes to link up above (or there is a button on the sidebar) and have a peek, this is the back
fabric and quilting

You can see a small section of the front of the quilt in my last post, just scroll down.
Before I head off to link up with Angela and fellow RSC folk have a look at
the first Camellia of the season in my garden

time to link up now with
Rainbow Scrap Challengers

Happy Quilting
Maureen

Back to the sewing machine

At last life is more or less normal again and I'm back

in the studio although I've not made a huge amount of progress

since Monday. We have visitors here in the village from the UK, friends we

haven't seen in around 35 years, so we've been spending catch-up time with them.

There are quite a few more H blocks in the basket and I don't

have to make as many as I first thought, the bed is not a King Single

but a normal single size. I ordered the backing - Purple Dancing Paisley - from Glorious Colour, presently on sale, orders usually take a week to ten days so the quilt should
be ready for quilting by then. Fingers crossed.

The quilting on Sailing through Suez is now all finished and in the process of being bound,
 I'll post a photo here when it's finished but the full story behind the quilt will be
over on Cultural Fusion Quilts. I initially had rolling waves spaced
quite a distance apart but that just wasn't enough, just didn't gel so I went overboard (no pun intended)
 with lots more waves!!

Here's a tiny section, taken with my iPhone so not the best quality, sorry.

Aurifil is my favourite thread of choice and there was a great variegated on their shade card
which was a perfect  match.
The Country Yard here in New Zealand stock these threads, if they don't
have the colour needed they order in and I usually have them on the machine a few days later.

Everyone in the Northern Hemisphere will be heading into Spring now,
lucky you! Our mornings and evenings are becoming distinctly cooler, but I enjoy
this time of the year, another few weeks and it will be great
weather for quilting and wrapping up in cosy sweaters and jeans.

I have a new plant keeping me company in the studio, my daughter brought this along
for me last week

just love these colours!

Back to the cutting board - enjoy your week and stock up on Eater Eggs!!

Maureen

Quilting - withdrawal symptoms!!

Haven't been able to get on to any quilting for 10 days now!!!

Down with a really bad chest infection and one or two other medical issues - which I could

happily do without!

So, no pink block last week sadly and today I have summoned up the energy

to at least post something which I made

a start on before I became unwell, I also have a

photo of Sailing through Suez ( waiting for quilting) which I post to
Cultural Fusion Quilts blog
link also on my sidebar.

Sailing through Suez

the blues below, a rough and ready shot I'm afraid, was going to be well on the way
to a quilt top by last  weekend - didn't happen.

I did go outside and take a shot of one of the hibiscus in the
front garden bed

Oh - I have spent some time sitting with my iPad looking at the new fabrics
from the Kaffe Collective for Spring 2015, I'll be making
more room on my shelves when I feel better!!

Maureen

Pink RSC 2015

I didn't get around to making a start on pink blocks for

last Saturday but here is the first one for the month

I had a struggle finding a good selection of pinks from my stash.

I think I will have to go more magenta pink next week.

It has been difficult to get on with my quilting, lots of overseas family

things going on which have been very, very stressful and totally draining

 but getting my quilting mojo back today!

There will be a post about my piece for the Cultural Fusion Quilts blog in a day or so, 

I last posted about Sailing Through Suez HERE and 

now have the strips all sewn up and ready to be basted.

Garden - picked hydrangeas about 10 days ago, soft purple/pink but look at

the lovely colour change now

love the green in there!

Linking up with everyone taking part in RSC 2015 HERE
looks to be lots of lovely pinks!

Two more sleeps until Christmas Day

Two more sleeps here in New Zealand that is!

I'm conscious that I haven't done a post for just on a week or so now 

and didn't even link up with Angela for the next to last

Saturday in the RSC 2014. Not been too well and just didn't manage

to sew more than four cats together in the past week so nothing much to show

on that score. I can show the beginnings of

a new piece which I posted to
Cultural Fusion Quilts early last week, this is
a new blog from Sujata Shah of The Root Connection and I am thrilled to be a contributor
to the blog, please go and visit, it's going to be great!

Sailing Through Suez

Just at the stage of playing around with colours and going with the Flying Geese setting
based on the Hourglass block from Sujata's book Cultural Fusion Quilts which you can see
on the links above.

 New fabrics arrived in the mail this week which cheered me no end
and I needed some cheering as blood tests
 tell me that in addition to other health problems I am pre-diabetic - pretty high results!!
Sugar is a no-no and fats are also on the "careful watch" list, please think of me
when you're all enjoying your Christmas turkey or ham and and all the trimmings,
not forgetting yummy mince pies and cream!

Over the next few days I hope to spend time planning out projects for next year,
Vicki over at Field Trips in Fiber
has some great ideas which will keep me busy! Pay a visit - the more the merrier.

I must end this post with photos of the sunset yesterday evening

Just Glorious

Wishing you all a Happy and Peaceful Christmas
Maureen

Just another Manic Monday …….

I intended posting this last night but time got away on me and

it was a real busy day, more present shopping, laundry, ordering fabric and so on!

My cat quilt - Alley Cats - should have had a few seams sewn yesterday but didn't

happen because of the above reasons and I couldn't

stop myself from starting a small quilt using the Hourglass Block from the new book by
Sujata Shah - Cultural Fusion Quilts - over at The Root Connection
pay her blog a visit, it's wonderful.

 Cats -  I made around 126 for a quilt 70" x 81" and was undecided whether to set them as the original or put a narrow strip between rows.
Putting them up on the wall I realised I didn't really want it so big
more of a throw over the couch or over a chair, even
hanging on a wall in the hallway so I lost the bottom row and two side rows

Alley Cats

here they are in the final arrangement, untrimmed and still with threads hanging off
some of them but I'm not worried about that I just
wanted to see how they all looked. Also you can see I'm going
with the original design. Head on over to
Super Scrappy and RSC 2014 and catch up
with everyone, only two more Saurdays' left now.

 On to the sewing machine to get them all in order, before doing that I need
 to go and dead-head some of my roses, the wind and rain here
have ruined the blooms.
I did take a couple of photos before the bad weather

Can't remember the name of the rose

day lilies and penstemon

Off to the sewing machine  - happy quilting.

Maureen