Sunday Summary

Just about falling to sleep in bed last night I suddenly thought of a great

title for this post, I can now no longer remember it, 

note to self - always have the notebook and pen by the bedside!

Do you remember I began a quilt using the Hourglass block,

Hannah's Garden 

in the blog post 

HERE

I have been fiddling around for weeks with these blocks

and once again became unstuck when using

more subdued colour. I cut many more pieces and

still wasn't happy, I was well and truly out of

my comfort zone. I tried using a few stronger colours but still no joy.

One night a week ago after tearing my hair out I couldn't sleep

and decided to go make a cup of tea, it was 2.38am!

The moon was up and I love looking at the moon, it was so very

bright and lighting up the old oak tree next door

I decided life was too short to lose sleep over quilt blocks and next

day pulled the brighter colours and made this cushion for my old

Captain's chair.

 Very simply quilted with two small pieces of very old lace stitched

on the centre block and

found in a box of treasured 'buttons and bows'  (but read lace for bows)

given to me years and years ago by my mother in law, she in turn

was given the box by her grandmother. 

So this little cushion is in memory of my Grandma Hannah whom I never knew and also

John's Mum and his great Grandma.

Now, this is a quilt blog I know and when I read the following lines

after pressing publish I will probably kick

myself for spilling all the information here.  I apologise in advance

but I had a wonderful friend with the same health problems and we

used to talk each week and lift our spirits and have a laugh, she died

in January.

Although I think of all of you as friends please don't worry that I shall be

relating any more of these health missives, I just needed to be able to

do this once right now for my well being.

I made mention earlier in my post of life being too short in relation

to fretting over quilt blocks.

It has been a difficult twelve months for me,  in addition

to my previous years of cardiac problems it was discovered 

that I also had a congenital aortic valve known as a bicuspid valve, 

and although I was informed

that this put me in the position of being one of only

1% of the world population with this condition  I wasn't too happy about future prospects.

The natural electrical system of my heart has packed in so good

job I have a pacemaker which keeps me going.

I have now been told that more symptoms mean my heart is probably not functioning properly,

having worked in a Path Lab and for Doctors I'm not too happy if that is the case.

More tests and appointments coming up and no doubt more medications.

So, no more fretting over quilt blocks, sizes or shapes or whether the points match, no

feeling guilty and miserable because I haven't the time nor energy to

join in all the quilt alongs that seem to crop up lots,  I am just

going to get on with stitching all my bright and beautiful fabrics - 

read Kaffe Fassett here -  and devouring my quilt books all over again and getting back to blogging more often and enjoying reading all your posts every day!! 

I'm ending with a pretty picture

the first bloom this year on my cactus against one of my favourite books

ENDANGERED

you will have guessed  that it's all about feathered, furred or finned members

of the natural world who are at risk.

I'm off to plan my next quilt right now, and I hope and pray you all keep safe and well in
these troubled times with Covid-19 and other horrific tragic happenings.

Maureen

Something different

The heat here in Auckland is wreaking havoc in the garden

I think these will be the last few blooms on my sweet peas!

Wish you could smell the scent - sensational!

Two posts ago I had a squirrel arrive in the studio - that particular one has decided to go 

back into hibernation, but a little friend stepped in

and it's quite a change for me!

This photo is from a Judy Newman book

Quilts for life made with Love

and she named it

Into the Woods.

Very old fashioned and definitely subdued but a few days ago

I was looking through a photo album which contains

the one and only photograph of my paternal Grandma,

she died when my Dad was 15yrs so of course I sadly

never knew her.

Had she been part of my life I like to think that at some point

I would have made a quilt for her.

I'm making it now.

This is going to be a simple Hourglass block, no Dresden Plates

and in honour of my Grandma will be known as

'Hannah's Garden"

Starting off with triangles, four of each fabric 

and ending up with three trays full including the one below

so far

just going on the wall to see if I like the feel of them - I do - so I'm going to

carry one and I'm feeling the need to see the end result quickly.

When I have the full amount stitched then I can play with placement.

However, the thought suddenly hit me that I needed a border fabric to

fit in with the fabrics, after a quick hunt in the stash I found one which I think

fits the bill.

The lighting for these two photos above is just shocking, apologies

but I will have two more up to date ones in my next post!!

Just to stress that the quilt above is a one out of the box for me, here are a few of my new

fabrics from Kaffe Collective 2020

back in a few days with my diamond quilt all quilted and bound,

see you all then.

Maureen