RSC 2014 - almost there!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and now looking ahead to 2015.

The time is here for our last link up for RSC2014 and I have not quite

finished sewing all my cats together, we had a busier than anticipated Christmas and

a visitor from Australia, however one half is put together

so I can post a photo of that, the remaining cats are

sitting underneath hence the slightly wonky

shot.

Alley Cats

I have good intentions of having this all complete for a post 1st January 2015.

One or two of the ears are slightly "chewed" at the top but as alley cats sometimes

get into scraps whilst they're out on the tiles at night I'm putting the missed points down to that!

Apart from working on the quilt over the next few days I hope to put in a day just working out finishes, 

new projects, quilt alongs etc. for the New Year so I guess I could fill up a whole rayon this.

 Tidying bits of the blog is also on the agenda.

This dahlia was a put in the front garden bed around 6 weeks ago as a single tuber and it's

a stunner. It measures just over 7" across and there are another six buds waiting in

the wings. I'm thrilled with it although I hadn't anticipated the depth of colour,
it looked more peachy on the label.

Time now to link and wave goodbye to
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014
and all the lovely projects on show.

 Happy Quilting

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

Cats for RSC2014 - stripping!

In my last post to RSC2014 I showed a few of my cats

set out in two rows HERE and
 Sally T left a comment with the suggestion that perhaps a thin black strip between
rows would improve the look of the cat's ears
coming right into contact with the row above
so

tried out with a few more cats with what would be a 1" finished strip between.
I think they look much happier (bearing in mind they're just popped up there
nothing sewn yet, nor will be until 126 of them are all there).

What do you think?

Cats Creating Mayhem for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014

Actually I think I'm the one that's creating mayhem, I was doing so well tidying things up in my little studio and then went off at a tangent with something

else - looking at the quilting books available with Amazon

for reading on my iPad - fatal!!!!

Cats - I just pulled them out of their drawer and began

playing with a few on my moveable design wall which of course isn't big enough

so I need to use my larger one which is fixed to the wall.

So, then had to move a stackable set of drawers to another

space in my studio but there isn't one!

It is in a temporary home at the moment so I am just posting

a photo of a few cats on the too small wall.

Ignore colour placement, and the fact that they are not in a straight line on the

wall, they look as if they're sliding off on the right, I was in hurry to get moving things around.

This is just to give you an idea of placing right and left facing

creatures.

They will be set 14 across by 9 down in straight rows!

I think we're all busy arranging blocks ready for a grand reveal so I don't feel too bad about not having stitched anything together yet.

Heading off to link up with everyone at Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014. 

Last of the Blues!

Yes it's officially the last Saturday (Sunday here in NZ) for anything Blue for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014, sounds as if something exciting is in the pipeline for 2015 so go along over to
Angela at superscrappy
she's not giving much away but
Vicki over at Field Trips in Fiber
will have details in her December Newsletter.

Well, I am all "catted out" right now but have two more 16 patch blue blocks

excuse the large watermark on this and the next photo, far too large but I'll remedy this for next post.

My H blocks kept me busy yesterday and some were blue, well sort of blue

I made a few positive and negatives in two other colours and four others

so nothing exciting this post I'm afraid!

I'm trying to organise my three tubs of scraps but it's a mammoth task and only possible to achieve this in short bursts. I must have some fabrics in there from up to 20 years ago and I suspect some of these may end up being culled and go on to be given away.

Time for putting all my cats together this month and I need to baste Red Sea Sunset and Cotton Candy, these two should be basically straight line quilting, the tricky quilting will come when I have to work out how to quilt my cats.
I'm off to link up with
RSC 2014
Happy Quilting
Maureen

One more for RSC 2014 and a few blues!

Recently Linda aka Razzle Dazzle Quilter a fellow blogger and superb quilter here in New Zealand emailed me a photo of her new feline friend!

What a beauty he is, I loved  his amazing colour - which is classed as Lavender Mink - and said what a good idea it would be to make a cat for my quilt in that shade.
This is the nearest I could find

so he will be in good company in my cat quilt! Note he will not have one ear larger than the other  both will be equal in size when he is stitched up with the others!

 I think I mentioned  that I found quite a few blue fabrics hidden away in a project (16 patch) started a few years ago,  so to meet the blue theme for the month
I have four more blocks made this morning.

It's a very humid day with us, not conducive to sewing and I'm really hoping this gets less towards evening, terrible trying to sleep when you feel as if you're breathing in water! No doubt we'll have to watch for things like downy mildew etc. on the veggies and roses.

Better get a move on and go link with

Angela and friends at RSC 2014

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

Almost There - RSC 2014

Yes, almost time to call it a day for my kitties!

Six more to add this week which actually brings me over the

total number needed and I now must  make a decision 

as to whether I add another vertical row to make

the quilt a little wider. Present measurement would be

70" x 81" and I guess this would be a good size.

There are a few cats in my collection

in the Guinea Flower design

which I'm very fond of. Rings

also I have, I think, in most

colourways.

Seems as if I once again I have resized one of the cats slightly larger  - the one here on the right - looks like a much fatter creature!

Beloved Batiks - I love working with these because it doesn't fray and the 

colours are glorious.  

The gingko kitten on the left I think is just beautiful, this is the only colour way I have in this design. Had I known it was going to look so amazing when the fabrics arrived 

I would have chosen a couple more colours.

 

 Besides my cats I'm into quilting my Purple Challenge piece and loving it, cutting more H blocks today and plan to work on Cotton Candy tomorrow.

If the old knees were in good working order I would be basting my Bargello but that's going to 

have to wait for another day.

After all the rain we've had here in NZ the garden is looking lush and flowers opening up left right and centre, the rose below is either Yellow Charles Austin or Graham Thomas, I've lost the label! It's a beauty.

Quickly on the subject of flowers I am expecting a bundle of digitally printed fabrics from
Fingerprint and one of their fabrics is just covered in fallen rose blooms, quite a delight to see. If you have the time go and have a peep.

Posting this now and linking up with Angela and all at RSC 2014.
Hope you're all having a happy weekend.

RSC 2014 - Blue Cats and others …..

This is going to be the last month of cat making - light blue is the colour for November and I don't have too many light blues. I have veered off slightly as I have another 20 or more cats to sew up for the size of quilt I'm making so apart from the 4 light blues and a few other colours pictured here I'm just going to cut from my favourite fabrics of the moment for the remainder.

So - light blues

next up peachy batiks

two more reds and you can see that the LH kitty is a true scrap cat

last two

December is  the time for putting all these kitties together - what fun!!

Must mention that I've been having a little trouble with blogger, if you see word verification come up after comments then sorry about that - should be fixed soon.

Heading on over to Angela for Scraphappy Saturday
Have a good week.

Cats (RSC 2014) and Baby Blackbirds

Two weeks ago Barb in MI very kindly offered to send me a few pieces of brown fabrics for my cats, they arrived yesterday morning so I had time to quickly make four to add to my two made earlier in the week when I found a piece of KF brown/black  left over from years ago, also made a grey batik  (left)  which I think you'll agree looks really weird!! He may not make the final cut!

I love the leopard spot kitty on the left

the one on the right reminds me of exploding fireworks

Paw prints on the left,

marbled fur on the right - this probably could have gone under the Orange heading but I think she fits in just fine here with all her pals.




Before I link up with
Angela over at Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014
here is something far removed from my cats above (hopefully)

 just outside our ranch slider onto the balcony we have a blackbird nest in the trellis (just two feet away from the door) momma bird was sitting on three beautiful blue/green speckled eggs and now both she and poppa are busy feeding three babies. They nested here last year and if we're digging in the garden they fly down,  sit by my side and wait for grubs or worms to appear as I fork the soil, pick them up and go off back to feed the babies. I feel really honoured that they would nest so close and trust us, I managed a quick shot yesterday and one of the babies was very obliging. I have always been fascinated by birds so this is a real joy for me.

On a sad note to finish this post we were horrified to see on our news that another school shooting had happened in America - surely this madness has to stop. I do hope none of you reading this know anyone caught up in this tragedy.

More Scrappy Cats!

Only two more kitties this week and those of you having read my post on Drunkard's Path will know why production is down this week,  also I am short on brown fabrics but
Barb over at Paintcreekquilt
contacted me and oh so kindly said she would help out with browns - thanks again Barb!

Even though I love bright colours- the brighter the better -I am liking these subdued kitties.

Short post I know but here's a photo of the new Spring growth on a Japanese Maple in the garden

this is beauty in full leaf both Spring and Autumn as the colours change.

Linking with
Angela over at soscrappy

Muted Cats!! RSC 2014

Browns, blacks and greyed down murky colours this month, quite a change for me!

However I do have some fabrics which meet the criteria and have enough to make 10 cats again this month.

There is one cat which isn't murky, in fact she looks as if she has been having a good time in the garden but I love the fabric so she had to come along

and even though I don't normally work with these colours I am enjoying using them!!

Going more into the browns next week.

I have four scrap projects on the go and loving every minute, "meeting" so many lovely quilters by joining in with challenges and quilt-alongs is making me a happy camper!!

Now I'm going along to meet up with Angela and all the other scrappers working on their RSC2014 projects - just follow me over there!

A quick photo here not at all related to quilting, but it's the start of Spring here in New Zealand and a pot of Basil is sitting in my kitchen scenting the whole room - isn't it a gorgeous shade of green?

Have a happy weekend

Orange cats are back for RSC 2014

I seem to be back into my sewing again after a difficult two weeks, a big thank you to everyone who left a comment for me and emailed privately, I so appreciated your kind thoughts.

My favourite kitty is on the top left, next favourite is middle of the bottom row. I must get them all out of the box one day next week and have a play around to get an idea of how the quilt will take shape.

I have nothing else to show this post but more during the week, I need to add more strips to Cotton Candy and get on with the blue hexagons.

Beautiful orange projects going on here at RSC 2014

Hope you all have a happy quilting week

Oranges on Saturday RSC 2014

 On to the colour of the month - Orange

my cat collection is steadily growing and I do have quite a lot of orange fabrics ranging from very light through to the background colour of Oxblood - fabric by Philip Jacobs. Oxblood Pansy will be on show next week and I have to thank Wanda over at Exuberant Color for giving me the information that this Pansy was  Philip Jacobs 01 and that the Oxblood and Sunny colorway are now very rare, I'm so pleased I have some in my stash.

I wanted to make a small pillow cover  to sit on a Baltic pine sea-captains chair in a corner of our lounge, something simple and quick. Pulled out a handful of strips from my clean up cuts bin and came up with this top, yet to be finished with backing.

Obviously the strips are random and uneven but I had to square off the edges.
I'm happy with it and think I could sit for a whole day making these.

Now, for my next miracle I am going to try to link up with Angela and everyone making beautiful orange projects for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014. Those of you following these posts will possibly have picked up that I have been having trouble shrinking down to thumbnail size for the link, don't know why my mind has gone blank on the quick process I used earlier in the year.
Let's give it another try!

Still not getting it!!!! Maybe some incompatibility between the editing programme on my computer with Mr Linky, perhaps another programme is called for. Anyone use Picmonkey??

Scatty Cats!!

I believe it is Labor Weekend in the USA, I hope you're all having a lovely weekend.

This post should really have gone out earlier but I've been down with a nasty bug and only just feel energised enough to sit at the computer and write and of course it's cat time!!! Ten green cats are all settled in their box with the others but I need a few more than the 120 originally planned so I think I'll throw in a few different ones over the next four months.

and

A package of new fabrics arrived last week and these two above are Martha Negley prints, I fell in love with both when I saw them and have the egg fabric in two more colour ways. 

 Visiting the local Bernina shop ended with me  buying a few "modern" fabrics which I normally just wouldn't go for but the peachy colour is a favourite,  there is a metre piece of the floral and a half metre of the others.

No plan for these at the moment but I have a few ideas bubbling away.

Heading over to Angela and RSC 2014

Yes, on the thumbnail in the Linky I am showing an older pic of two cats, having problems for some reason with reducing to thumbnail in my programme!

Scrap Happy Cats

I thought this weekend was the last green one - I see that we have next week also and I've now made my allocated 10 cats for the month! Really should find something else to make quickly with green fabrics.

The cat on the RH side at the top actually has got a lime green pattern but sadly it's showing as almost a mustard, I'll try another photo tomorrow in a different position and on a different design board, I can see the grid showing through on my lime Fossil Fern. I confess  I'm not as happy with these four compared to the other cats I don't know why but maybe they are a little more subdues than my other, when they're all together in a quilt I'm sure they'll fit in beautifully.

Took delivery of my small Horn sewing cabinet Friday and just getting it organised, I'd love one of their larger ones but the price is quite prohibitive, certainly at the present time.

I found time to get out into the garden for a little while yesterday and today, the weather has been glorious, still cold but the sun beautifully warm.

Hadn't realised that these two plants were flowering and they're on the straggly side as I should have cut them back earlier than this, but I love their colour.

The thought has crossed my mind of two small mixed media pieces

using these two flowers as inspiration, dyes fabrics, beads etc. I love the centres of these, I think they're Arcotis.  The one on the right is by my apricot canna lilies and they're a pretty picture  both blooming together.

Time to link up now with the  ScrapHappy Saturday folk  do go along to see  what we're all doing over there, and enjoy your weekend.

Scrappy Cats and Ice Cream

First off in the post four more cats to add to my collection

and I'm linking this to all scrappy fans over at scrap happy Saturday

Two more seams to sew on my Red Sea Sunset, then I will  be putting the last border on Desert Rose and that will be two more for quilting. I have three more projects to work on but they will have to wait a while. Yesterday we had a sad visit to long time family friends of over thirty years,  the husband is terminally ill so we try to see them as often as possible. My intention had been to come back home and work on Red Sea but I felt so sad after our visit and decided I really wanted something very simple to work on, no matching of points required just back to basics. Naturally I started another project! I found this extremely therapeutic and the quilt will be a lovely memory of M. This is a keeper.

Cotton Candy

It's a Kaffe Fassett quilt pack which I bought possibly three or four years ago from Glorious Color, the original quilt is called Ice Cream and is in Quilt Romance, I've given it a different name.
 The simplicity and colour way attracted me and this has been sitting in a box with three other fabric packs from the same place collected over the past few years. It was a dream to sit and sew straight lines, read instructions for strip width and length and just go for it! Can't wait to sew more strips tomorrow.

I was hoping to get into the garden today but it's really cold out there so contented myself with just looking through a couple of gardening magazines, did a visit to the garden centre at the end of last week and more hellebores were in stock this one was particularly eye catching

didn't bring one home as they were quite pricey and I aim to have a look at the new Kaffe Fassett book "Quilts in Morocco" so I'll have to choose between plant or book!

Better go and do my link now, have a good week

Kitty Time with Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014

Very short post today, only put together two cats for RSC 2014 hosted by Angela  and realised how many WIP's I have waiting to be finished, more on those later in the week

The colour for the challenge this month is green but this time we're pulling out lights and brights. Looking through my fabrics I realised that I didn't have much at all in the way of light green but found enough for ten cats.

OK the cat on the right hand side  looks really spooky to me. I love this fabric but the way the veins of the leaf  have fallen  the cat seems to have the face of a lizard!  Had the fabric on the bottom RH side been placed where the face of the cat should be I think that would have been OK. Might have to redo this kitty!

Linking up now with everyone at RSC 2014
go and visit!