sew, stitch, snap, SHARE

I'm working on a very late New Year Resolution - finishing projects!

First off the block - my Teapots begun in RSC 2015, these two I appliqued

down today.

I've tried to get a reasonable match with the colour of thread

and the main teapot colour, not that easy with Kaffe Fassett and Philip Jacobs 

fabric.

The three below were stitched down early last year,  when all 12 are finished
I can set them out in their allotted place in the row and

 add the sashing and border.

The eyes take quite a beating peering a few inches away from the

needle to make sure it hits just on the edge of the fabric to be

stitched down, two is all I can manage at one go.

Something new now

Linda at Koka Quilts
and
Julie at JulieLou

have joined forces to create a new link up
sew. stitch, snap, SHARE
I'm heading over  now to join the link and you can visit by going to their
blogs above.

Oh, and in the midst of this torrential rain we've been having here
in New Zealand this Vireya had opened up in the back garden
to brighten my day!

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

Christmas countdown and RSC 2015

Been in a bit of a go slow mood the past week, I decided

to work on something simple and made a little more progress

on my Scrap Vortex blocks,  these three will be 18"x 12" blocks.

Scrappy Mountain Majesties, you will see I have changed the setting which

I was going with earlier, when all the blocks were placed

on the design wall in the zig-zag formation it looked just

too messy, at least I found it so, and decided on a change.

The blocks are all stitched together and this week I hope to

have the rows together

The last link of the year is the 28th December - this year has just flown by!

Time to link up with 

Angela and RSC 2015 quilters

everyone rushing to have finishes!

I'll leave you with a photo of one of my Hibiscus flowers

I may not get another post in before Christmas so I'll wish

you all a Happy Christmas, keep safe and well and see you soon!!

Maureen

On a rainy day and RSC 2015

A wet day here in Auckland but a good day for ducks

and for quilting and reading!

My Scrappy Mountains are nearly all sewn together and now

I'm starting on machine appliquéing my teapots - see HERE for

my last post with my final layout

if you click it will enlarge and you can see I have

used blanket stitch, which I have never done before by

machine but as I have 12 teapots I thought it was about time

I tried the quicker method, although because of having to change

thread with each teapot to get a good colour match, then

change again for the lid perhaps it's not as quick as I had thought.

I took out a subscription to Simply Moderne from Quiltmania

when they opened their office in the USA and issue No3

arrived during the week (already had 1 and 2 from bookshop)

and what a great magazine it is - I am enjoying this publication so much.

Very good articles  - there is a beauty on LeeAnn Decker over at
Nifty Quilts
A good selection of patterns in each issue into the bargain.

Back to my teapots and I'm linking up with
RSC 2015
take a peek at the progress on finishes here.

Before I go a photo of one of my hydrangea bushes, originally a soft mauve
but now multi-colour

and loving the rainy day!

Have a happy week with all the Christmas preparations.

Maureen

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015

This month it's time to put our RSC2015 projects together - hopefully!

I've started with my Scrappy Mountains, no particular order

as they're going up 'cos they'll be changed around when every block is on the wall.

 I can already see I'm not too happy

with the bright pink, third row down fourth block along, certainly not in the position

 it's in presently.

A few more blocks are needed, possibly yellow which I tried in that

particular colour month but they didn't do anything for me, I'll try again.

Violet, peach or aqua are possibles.

  I can already see I'm not too happy

with the bright pink, third row down fourth block along, certainly not in the position

 it's in presently.

One more flower photo before I go

Visit Angela and all taking part in RSC 2015

Back to more placing on the wall, happy quilting!

Maureen

All in Pink

For those who read my post last Friday about my dilemma with the teapots

I have "lost" one of the blocks and now have the light pink

one to balance up a little and changed position of a few of them.

 Even so the bottom left hand teapot will probably 

be changed out with the middle top row so not to

end up with two red teapots side by side.

On the subject of pink, and it's various shades, one of my

most deliciously scented roses (suffering with black spot on the leaves)

 has begun blooming

the name escapes me and below a paeony, this too has a delicious scent.

Husband came home yesterday bearing gifts -  three of these beauties.

Have you ever seen such colour!!

Hope all of you celebrating Thanksgiving had a happy day!

Linking up with Angela at RSC 2015

Soon be Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016!!!!

Back at the machine

Yes, after the week just gone I am so pleased

to be back sewing. There were a few difficult days during the week

but I made it, and next up will be the results of the

pathology tests - fingers crossed!

More Scrappy Mountains - the last month!!

Next month we will hopefully be putting the blocks together, or at least

laying them out ready for sewing.

I must count up how many Mountains there are and work

out the best size for the quilt, my guess is I have too many 

but the extras could go on the back or be used in something else.

If you would like to have a peek and see what everyone else has been busy with this
last month of RSC 2015 then hop over HERE.

The weeds have suddenly shot up in the garden in my time out of action

but so have the roses, lavender and wallflowers in the front garden,

here's one of the very first roses we planted when we

bought this place in 1985, if I remember correctly she is

Mrs F F Prentiss

she spreads her arms all over the place but has a beautiful perfume

so she is forgiven any rambling! 

Time for a cup of tea - this next week will be spent working out
future projects.

My thoughts today are with the people of France, particularly in Paris, and the
victims of this horrendous happening and their loved ones.

Maureen 

An early start to Sunday

We were sitting in front of the television at 4.30am today!!

The final of the Rugby World Cup and our All Blacks (New Zealand) were 

playing the Wallabies (Australia) and hooray the All Blacks won the day!!

Back to back wins and the only team to have won

the Cup three times - what a great game. However, I am now paying the price

for the early start to the day, all I have achieved

on the quilting front is to pull fabrics - 

deep pinks for my Scrappy Mountain Majesties (catch-up)

and lime greens for the colour of the month with
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015
my iPad camera doesn't seem to be picking up the rich colour of
these limes even though I had them in various light sources
and
two more blocks for Scrap Vortex, once again there seems
to be an issue with colour you can see how dull these blocks
look, they actually are much brighter

a bit of work on finding the best light sourceset up needed I think.

This photo of the first rose to flower in the long side border is
the true colour

Hopefully I shall be more productive over the next few days!

Maureen

A temporary break in my quilting!

It has been two weeks since I last put "needle to fabric"

due to not being well and having an emergency stay of a few days in hospital!

Follow up procedures are coming up - not very pleasant ones - but in the

meantime I intend to get busy with my quilting, and there is nothing like

fabric in the mail for raising the spirits

I'm not in the habit of buying a number of fabrics from one range

but I fell in love with the Tula Pink "Eden" range, same with the

Amy Butler fabrics and of course I had to have a few of the new

Kaffe Collective fabrics - I did buy more but didn't get around to taking a photograph.

Trying to get back into quilting gear I made an extra teapot this afternoon

not in the colour of the month for RSC2015 but just because

I love the Dream fabric in every colourway.

So, taking it easy I have been busy reading and wandering around the garden

 and my freesias are

just coming to the end of flowering

I shall certainly miss their lovely perfume!

Hope you all have a happy week of quilting and I hope to get more done this week.

Maureen

If it's Tuesday then it's AHIQ

Pinching an idea from
quiltdivajulie
I had  a good rummage through quite a large red box
which lives under my cutting table, into this box
go blocks that for one reason or another didn't make the cut,
bits left over from previous projects and other odd pieces.

At the beginning of the year I started  making blocks for
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015
but the number of fabrics I had to put on my cutting table in order to have a good mix for
my chosen blocks
became just too time consuming so the blocks were consigned to "the box".

Here's one of the yellows below, I had two so

working on the brightest yellow one I unpicked the length of flying geese
and sliced it roughly in half lengthways, I then sliced into the three
rows of small squares, found a few strips in my string box and
played around

and ended up with this. I had rectangles in mind so trimmed this
up a bit and found more clean-up strips from my box.

Now, I admit at this stage I am just playing, I really have no definite plan
as to where I'm going!!
I know that there would be a real jumble if I ended up with lots of popping bright colours
but I'll carry on making more units, some in a
similar style to the above using up all the other blocks, I have three blues and three pinks,
adding different styles and bringing subdued fabrics into
the mix to tone down the saturated colour - which I love!!!

We'll see where this takes me during the week, hopefully not
into a disaster zone!!

Maureen

Scrappy Brown Mountains for RSC 2015

I've only just sewn my Mountains this afternoon, it's been a busy

week and just no time until today.

I have no idea why I didn't sort fabrics for six Mountains - only

realised I had five done when I photographed them!

Watching the news on TV this evening I saw the devastation 

resulting from the atrocious weather in parts of America, I hope

all reading this and your families are safe and well.

Here in New Zealand we are into Spring and I've been out and about in the

garden enjoying the Spring flowers - one of my favourites from my childhood

days is the bluebell, prolific in England but it's a bit on the warm side for

them here but look what I have this Spring

Bluebells!!!!

They're  under the hydrangeas and obviously enjoying it there, I

just have to go and bury my nose into them to enjoy their scent and I'm instantly back

in the fields by our house with sheets of bluebells covering the ground.

Hoping you have a better week ahead and keep safe.

 Visit Angela over at so scrappy to see more projects in brown.

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