Catching up on houses

I've been so behind with houses for RSC 2016 but

managed to get down to making two

in the colour of the month - dusty lilac/purple with acid green

as the accent. I really don't do acid green but

here's what I came up with.

The top one is most definitely not acid green, more like my favourite
soft turquoise as the accent.

I was going to post photos of our eldest grand-daughter all ready
for her first ball, she's 17 years old, but mine turned out
ghastly so I'll ask her mum to send me on one of hers.
Bea had the most beautiful corset - quilted!!
Next post I hope to have them on here.
Right now I'll link up with
Angela at Superscrappy
and all the other smoky purples taking part in
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016.

Pink for RSC 2016

The brief from Angela this month was pink - think watermelon!

There was no true watermelon coloured fabric in my collection so I've

gone for the nearest fabric I could find, however, in the spirit of "watermelon"

I do have quite a decent amount of this fruit on the green fabric below.

This is another one of my long ago purchases, I knew

it would fill a gap somewhere!

I love to see a cut watermelon, delicious colours and the green

rind but I don't eat them, everyone I know just can't understand 

that I'm a fan of the colour but not the fruit itself.

I'm finding my quilting time is seriously eroded

due to my furry friend below, presently she has to stay indoors

but I hope that after a spot of surgery at the vet clinic and

time spent recovering she will be able to venture into the big outdoors.

It's easy to forget how quickly kitties grow, here she

is sitting on the top level of her cat scratch pole.

Time for me now to try and do some catch up quilting whilst

everything is quiet.

Linking up with more watermelon pinks
HERE

with Angela and other "pinkies"

Happy 4th July!

Maureen

A slow sort of week

Since my last post Thursday 9th all I have

achieved on the quilting side is one aqua house for RSC 2016!

A few health problems held me up totally with

lots of things, but I was able to read this

  

wonderful magazine. It arrives every quarter and is an enjoyable read with

articles, patterns quilt show pics and so on. 

On to one RSC 2016 house

not truly aqua or teal, but it leans slightly towards those colours in places,

I also managed to put some lime accent in there.

Probably if I hunt through the other bins of scraps I should

find a piece of the colour of the month, but the thought of emptying out

all those scraps is not a good one!

Tallulah is now much more comfortable around the house,

happy with visitors just as long as they don't tread heavily or have

shoes on, if they have she runs a mile a minute. Don't know quite what happened

to her before the folk at the vet clinic found her, don't think she was a happy kitty though.

Here is she on her Scrap Vortex cushion

taking a break!!

I'll sign off with a lovely sunrise from last week at our place - love that sky!!

I'm off to work on prioritising my projects - of which there are many - after linking up with other

quilters and Angela hosting
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016

Scrappy Days

Yes it's time for scrappy Saturday but I'm only just posting this

today (Monday). Busy weekend and with the time difference

I am late!

One more green house

and on to another colour for June.

My stars for RSC are languishing in their drawer waiting

for me to get my act together and do a catch up, my intentions

are good but my little helper has slowed me up

here she is helping me on the computer

and her favourite pastime below

when she is causing havoc around the place.

My posting and quilting has been neglected somewhat due to Tallulah but

I think we're in to a routine now - just like a new baby - so things

can only get better!

Linking with
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016
and
Oh Scrap!

Happy Quilting!

The Green House

This is the first green post for RSC 2016 from me this month!

I think I'm slowing up with these projects because I'm finding it difficult

to work with one colour scheme each month this year, I am happiest working

as the mood takes me, if you know what I mean, and with whatever

colour pops up!

However, one green house

and one kitty who looks as though she's going to have

me for her next meal.

She's very kindly allowing me more time for quilting and

tomorrow I hope to finish off a new cover for the ironing board and

prioritise my projects. More on those during the coming week.

Linking up HERE with RSC 2016

and have a good week!

Autumn Colours

It's a real Autumn day here - but a very wet one.

Things have been slow this week for quilting, blame it on the weather and

not feeling too great after having my yearly 'flu shot. However,

I have my two houses in orange with black accents, and a lot

of other accents in my case as usual!

I've given them dark skies to match the day!

I've decided to bring my small quilting frame up into the

sitting room for the Winter, I can fit a 60" wide quilt

 with two basted and ready to go a I should be quite snug

sitting there hand quilting again.

Oh I have another Autumn flower here, a new hibiscus

isn't she glorious!

I've added some bright colour to my little studio with a plastic carry bin, I love

turquoise but usually go for a little more subdued.

For more colour I'm linking up now with

Angela for RSC 2016

and
Oh Scrap!
later today.

Happy Quilting

Maureen

Two late stars and fabric stash

Below are the two stars just finished by the end of March but too late

for the last purple link of the month with
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016

which is now orange with black/brown accents.
Something in these colours posting next week.

A package with a few of the Spring 2016 fabrics
from the Kaffe Fasset Collective - spoiled for choice with the
range on offer!!

The bottom fabric above is a beauty and I ordered in three
colourways.

I love the very dark Aboriginal Dot.  I have used a piece from each of
two daisy fabrics in the strips for Gypsy Wife, no plans for a project using
these other fabrics presently, just going to add them to my stash.

There are fabrics over every almost every surface in my studio at the moment
so tomorrow will be spent tidying and I reckon it's going to take the best part of a full day to do it.
I also need to work on some parts of my blog, adding pages, sorting out the
blog list - which I lost for some reason early this week and it's taken a while
to get everyone back on my side bar! At least I hope I have
everyone back on there.

It's early Sunday evening here in New Zealand so I'd better go and join
the link for
Rainbow Scrap Challenge
and
Oh Scrap!
looks like quite a lot of folk already there,  see you all during the week.
Happy Quilting.

More stars!

Very little sewing has been done here with seeing

family over Easter, so only two stars this week. I did  have  four

all cut but the other two have fallen by the wayside I will be

sewing those over the next few days.

Out for a quick walk yesterday we spotted this tree with leaves

turning this glorious colour.

Linking up with:
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016
and
Oh Scrap!

Passion for purple and a finish

I was determined this week to finish up quilting on

the High Flyer quilt for grand-daughter, a continuing infection

slowed me up but I did it!

I couldn't get a full shot as I was without any helpers

yesterday to hold, but I'll try and get one during the week.

More on my purple houses from
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016,
if you check on my last post the second of my
two houses wasn't making me very happy, it's now relegated to
my bits and pieces box and a new one in my usual
favourite KF Collective fabrics is here

now I'm happy!!

A new book arrived yesterday so I'm doubly happy, I've only had a look
at a few pages but boy it explodes with colour
and great ideas

and I'm saving it for later today when I can sit totally uninterrupted
and enjoy!

No flower pics today, wet and dull here presently and the colours
are fading fast in the garden.

If you have a longing for more purple go along to visit Angela at
soscrappy
and get your colour fix!

Have a Happy Week
Maureen

Colour changes for Autumn

No I haven't lost the plot and stuck with browns again,

this month we're with Purple and Yellow accents for

Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but I've just been in the
garden checking the Hydrangeas and they're already getting into their
early Autumn colours of purples and reds.

Onto my efforts with Rainbow Scraps

I love this purple house because it reminds me of those wonderful
Autumn days walking home from school as a child in the North of England,
shuffling along through all the dried leaves covering the footpath with the light already
fading at 3.30pm in the afternoon. Darkening skies and houses already
with lights shining through the windows - I can almost feel that I am back
there! In fact I feel a quilt coming on encompassing all my memories
of those days - keep watching!

This one above feels a bit "blocky" in the sense that I've strayed from
my usual multi KF Collective fabrics and gone with a
one colour only fabric, so it doesn't stand out too much in the midst
of the multi patterned houses in the finished quilt
 I'll make a couple more like this to add to the mix.

With all this talk of Autumn I do have a beautifully scented
climber presently flowering.

Stephanotis has been in my garden two years and has really taken
of this year, she's a beauty.

Now, if you hanker after more purples and yellows visit
HERE

Maureen

A taste of Autumn

Third week of brown for RSC 2016 and all I have

to show are two small stars!

I have fabrics gathered together for four and

the other two I'll sew this week  ready to post next Saturday.

 My collection of brown fabrics is minimal, as I have mentioned before,
but after having a scrounge around I found bits here and there.

Didn't get as much sewing done this week as I would have liked, the
front bed in the garden needed a little attention but arthritis limits
the time spent, one hour is the maximum and you don't get
a heck of lot done in that time. I'm going to head out there after this post
and put in another hour then back in to read the blogs for
this morning.

Check in HERE to see what's going on
over at RSC 2016.

See you during the week.

Maureen

And so it begins …...

All the strips are cut for Gypsy Wife and two boxes of scraps for the blocks

organised and waiting!

I'm half way through Section 1 and enjoying working with

lots of different fabrics, I think spray starch may be in order

for some of my Kaffe Collective fabrics as they are

quite fine and some of the blocks are quite

small.

I can see that GW is going to be pretty addictive but I'm

also quilting High Flyer and trying to ration

out my time. There are two more projects I would like

to get organised but they can wait until next week, and tomorrow

is reserved for more GW and starts for RSC 2016.

Maureen

Scrappy house number 2

My second house, I intend to make only two houses each month

in the colour set by Angela.
This quilt is going to be named
"Home Sweet Home"

Remember my Scrappy Mountains for the project last year - the top is now complete

and it's hanging in the closet - with six other quilts - waiting to be quilted!

I've just realised we have one more Saturday link left, and I'm not sure

whether to make a couple more stars, I have a lot going on next week

with two new projects - Gypsy Wife see my sidebar - and working

on a Kaleidoscope with my long awaited Mostly Manor fabrics which arrived

yesterday!!!!

That's all this post, we are melting here in Auckland and other parts

of the North Island, not easy to be quilting at the moment.

Hope you all keep safe in the snow storms some of you are experiencing.

Linking up with
"the other blues"
and
Oh Scrap!
for more scrap fun.

Stars on Saturday and Organisation

I should have Stars on Sunday as we're late afternoon presently

in New Zealand. It's always difficult to time a post just after Angela has

held the Link-up.

Three stars this week because I've been busy basting the quilt

for my grand-daughter and developed a tendon issue again

so it's been a case of basting for 15 mins at a time then resting the offending hand - which doesn't

actually get you very far!

However

one more light blue star

then on to  dark stars

the next one is a good example of working when extremely tired and sore

and below we have it with pieces correctly placed

that will be all my sewing for today - a new day tomorrow.

Plans for this week include beginning the quilting for afore mentioned

basted quilt, choosing fabric for and sewing another house block -

I'm thinking I may make a 16 block wall quilt rather than a full sized quilt with the houses.

Also project planning needs to be cleared up.

I would be interested to know how many of you out there have your computer separate

from your quilting studio. I have a very small room and struggle for space, I am overflowing

with stacked bins full of projects, scraps, strips etc. I have two machines, one

set in a cabinet for sewing and one in a largish table for quilting, I have stacked cubbies
holding yardage of my KF fabrics plus a closet minus doors
which holds my wire mesh baskets - with yet more fabric.
 I've been thinking

how workable it would be to move out my computer and printer but then

I figure I could be running from one room to another checking photos of

works in progress and settings which will probably become increasingly

annoying and  then involve time and effort in moving

it back again, also where is the best place for my blog reading and
creating. Any suggestions welcomed.

I'm off to link up now with all the super projects at

RSC 2016

and
Oh Scrap!

Have a happy week
Maureen

Blue Saturday

This post was meant to go out last night but

we had grandchildren staying so it shifted to this morning.

I am working on two projects for RSC 2016 with another in the process of

being worked out, anyway so far:

my house does have blue with accents of purple and a few

other colours in the mix there, as usual! I've made the chimneys taller rather

than the square ones I used many years ago on a quilt,

I rather like this version. 12" finished so definitely need two each month

to make a decent sized quilt. 

I love stars so this will be my second RSC project

6" and haven't decided on how many will be needed as yet.

You al know I love my flowers so as it's a blue month 

one of my blue hydrangeas

Lots of quilters have linked with 

Angela and RSC 2016

and

Cynthia at Oh Scrap!

so I'm off to have breakfast then have a look at the posts,

see you there!

Maureen

A wet and windy start to 2016

Wishing you all a Happy New Year

January 1st 2016

and we had pretty wet and windy weather!

Good time to sit quilting or thinking about quilting - sadly I didn't do much

at all of the former but a lot of the latter.

Projects for the year are being organised and naturally I have too many

on my list but I am certainly taking part in
Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016
one of my projects here will match up nicely with another
group
Quilty 365
you will see if you go and visit that this is all about circles, preferably
one each day although I don't think I shall be making quite so many.

My proposed list of projects will hopefully be be in a post mid-week and at the same time
 I need to baste and begin quilting High Flyer below,

this is the one for my youngest grand-daughter and you can read the story behind
the quilt HERE.
I was tossing up whether to order new fabric for the backing, one of the two used in the
triangles but given that I have oodles of fabric I am
trying to cobble together a pieced back which selfishly means that I can
justify my order for a bundle of Loominous by Anna Maria Horner!

There will probably be just enough fabric in the photo
below for the backing - although this is not set in stone

until I have worked up a plan of cuts and placements.

Back to my brainstorming for the coming year with my
quilting  and finding time to tidy the garden after the atrocious weather!

Happy Quilting
Maureen