That Was The Week That Was

I'm using the title of a TV show from way, way back

for this post.

Almost two weeks since I last posted, it's been a bit hectic around here.

I've not been well, add to that a doctor check up which showed

my blood pressure at 196/90 - doctor not best pleased - and she

promptly doubled the dose of one of my meds.

That same evening very late at night our daughter

called me from the emergency department of the hospital.

She had been admitted in a hurry with a bad kidney infection!
A worrying time but after three days they allowed her home
with oral antibiotics (she'd been on IV during her stay).
She's slowly beginning to feel better.

Needless to say, we've been very busy and my quilting has been

on the back burner, but today I spent a little time on these

two special pieces.

Pukeko

There is a story behind these two littlies.

In a post February 2014 HERE I showed two photos of

a pukeko, a New Zealand native bird, beautifully coloured and

a real character.
Sally T at The Objects of Design
loved the birdy and made a block.

Fast forward to August last year when I was the winner of a Jelly Roll
in a draw on Sally's blog. I received the package and tucked away in there
were three surprises for me.

One  was the pukeko above, he's been living in a drawer in my
studio, today he was liberated and had two borders added, now he's going back
into the drawer until I can baste him - with needle and thread!

The second surprise was two cat blocks, each with a mouse in the tummy.
Sally and I had been having fun with cats and kittens during
the 2014 Rainbow Scrap Challenge, these two were obviously
escapees. They were stitched together today and
two borders added, again they're waiting to be basted.

Surprise number three will be revealed in a later post.

Fingers crossed that life can get back to normal for a while, I am
suffering from quilting withdrawal symptoms!

We've had some hot days recently, today is terrifically hot, and
thinking about a dip in the sea I brought up this photo below,
 the view from the front lawn of a friend's place taken
three weeks ago

I'm feeling cooler by the minute!

Have a good week!

Maureen

That was the week that was …. (WARNING rather wordy)

…….in our son's words "the week from hell".

It sure was! If you can bear with me do read to the bottom for 2 quilty pics!!

 Saturday last week Daughter-in-law 'phoned us at 7.00am

been very ill all night, a 2yr old and 4yr to care for and husband

away in Australia, could we help?

 We brought the children over to our place so that

she could sleep and they went home mid afternoon.

Sunday - spent most of the day tying down & putting away in readiness

for the cyclone which was due with winds up to 160km per hour.

We had a little windy weather and rain here in Auckland so

Monday spent putting everything back again!

Tuesday evening - husband became very ill, 

briefly unconscious and vomiting and I had to put him

in the recovery position on the floor and call an ambulance.

Fluid inhaled into lungs so taken to hospital, (sorry for graphics) and  passed out

again in the emergency so had to stay there. Back home Wednesday after much thorough testing.

Early Wednesday  called our two sons and daughter to tell them about their Dad. Eldest son

telling me that our grandson had been terribly ill with migraine etc until

the early hours of the morning. His cat was let out out the house at 6.00am 

and at 7.00am they found her on the drive having been hit by

a car. Off to the vet and in overnight to ascertain

full extent of injuries. Too bad to do anything to save her and sadly they

had to euthanise her. Horribly sad experience.

Wednesday night daughter had issues with eldest grand-daughter  but won't go into that

in any detail!

Thursday chest x-rays for me and more blood tests!!

So - no quilting - but taking a cue from Sally T I rummaged around in my

bits and pieces box and found this

bought many years ago and popped in the drawer to "do something with one day"

a beautiful pukeko - to see more of these colourful characters go
HERE and HERE
and now working on an idea!

Also I came across the photo below from years ago,  just a quick mock up of
a block, my intention was to make 20 blocks, I made 2 and realised
I could not make a whole quilt with just a handful of colours - the whole lot was given away!

The more fabrics in my quilts, the merrier I am!
Long live bright and beautiful.

Praying for a happier week ahead.
Maureen

Scrappy Blues and a New Zealand Flavour

For the last Saturday of Blues with

Rainbow Scrap Challenge I made a couple more H blocks using blue and

 a few scraps of New Zealand themed fabrics.

I also made one with a lovely Hoffman fabric which played a

part in the first quilt made for this grandson who will be having the H quilt.

These two blocks feature one of our native birds
the Pukeko see this post HERE for a photograph of this bird
I

this last one is the Hoffman feature fabric, I also have yardage with a black background

the Ruru (tiny owl) is on the left and the tui on the right.

Our colour for February is Pink so I need to get busy picking out pinks for my
Geese blocks.

I'll finish with another of my Hydrangeas from the garden

which are finding the weather a little too hot here at the moment.

Hope those of you catching all the snow are safe and well.

Linking with Angela at Superscrappy

Maureen