Mixing it up

I've spent hours playing with Maggie Pearl blocks in the very bright colours shown in previous posts -could not create a layout which I liked. Blocks based on the colours mentioned in previous posts just didn't work together and also I realised I actually had underestimated and would need another five blocks.

Just couldn't face going back to cutting and sewing more, then I remembered I had a few blocks, made as I stitched my first Maggie Pearl, in my 'spare parts' box which were quite off the wall for that particular version, however I pulled them out and mixed them with my new ones.

First layout - excuse the rough placement, I hadn't straightened or pinned at this stage but

not happy with the left top block and the pink one below so switched out the pink

still should play some more but to be honest I just want to finish and start on my next project!! I could switch the two  blocks  bottom row and see how that looks, a task for after dinner and then re-assess the placement of blocks tomorrow morning.

I have the fabric and pattern to make a waistcoat for my little great-granddaughter - I say little, she is 18 months old and a pretty good height for her age, she is a sweetie, her daddy (our daughter's husband) measures 6' 9" and our daughter is 5' 9" so we're guessing she's going to be shooting up pretty quickly, better get busy at the machine!

This is the waistcoat pattern - the yellow frills will not be on the one I make!

I had bought a yard of Hootie Owl plus the same of Family Tree  - both Tula Pink - a few days before I came across the pattern, I'll use Family Tree on the front instead of strip piecing

and

I have a small sewing studio but a large overflowing collection of fabrics, (as you all know) and presently taking time to re-organise my storage system, in doing so I came across a luscious 2yard piece of KF fabric, actually probably a PJ design and isn't it amazing that we suddenly find the perfect piece for a future quilt, I intend it to definitely be the border and probably used a little within the body of the quilt which will be chosen from one of the three books mentioned in this post.

You may remember years ago books on Blended Quilts by Sharon Evans Yenter and Marsha McCloskey, I fell in love with most of the quilts in these books!

Time will be spent now looking through these books for a design - difficult because I could make them all!!!

Words from David Bowie which appealed to me years ago and is pinned on my notice board

"I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring" perfect!

Bye for now

Maureen

Pink quilt for great-granddaughter

Folks I'm afraid I've been so slack in reading your posts, but you can see from my post title that we now have a new little one in the family! She arrived safely in the early hours of 28 November.

There had been concerns that she may be very premature due to a number of reasons, however grand-daughter went full term! Baby is very well, a good 9lb 6ozs at birth and a little beauty, sadly her mum has been quite unwell during and since giving birth. She is still in hospital and may be for some time to come. We have been very worried about her, still are and hoping for a good recovery.

All I have been able to do is make the quilt top for the little one amidst the many telephone calls and texts between all the families, I took the top out into the garden earlier, brilliant sunshine and yes, the grass is really that green here at the moment!

The top measures 34" x 44". Kaffe Fassett fabrics are Foxgloves left and right and Waltzing Matilda in the centre with quite an old pastel print, the name of which escapes me at the moment. Also can't recall the name of the lighter fabric with the Foxgloves! Tula Pink fabric is the delightful pink with tiny rainbows. Yet to decide on the backing but I think I may have enough of the Tula. Next week I hope to machine quilt.

That's all from me right now, I hope to spend time tomorrow catching up on many of the posts missed from you all.

Until next time, which I hope will not be too long, happy quilting and keep well.

Maureen

State of Emergency declared

Auckland - the city where I live in here  in NZ, is under State of Emergency orders for the next seven days. Yesterday morning marked the start of an unprecedented storm with horrific wind and rain, roads are now closed, houses swept away, cars floating in water, people trying to swim out of their homes, hillsides crumbling and houses teetering on the cliff edge. We are one of the lucky families in that our house is high up and we're not near any cliff face or water line, others are not so lucky depending on which suburb they live in. International Airport terminal is out of action, flooded, also runway problems with flights diverted and no take offs.

Given all of the above I decided yesterday to alleviate stress by sewing, what else!

So look what arrived in my studio

yes, a squirrel by courtesy of Tula Pink and her fabric range Tiny Beasts. I bought this range as soon as it arrived in store and it's been sitting in the drawer waiting for inspiration to strike.

 So here are squares ready cut as part of a pattern  - Balderdash - by Emma Jean Jansen 

I have all the pieces cut right now and being placed on the wall, next post I hope to have something to show.

Actually there are two squirrels making themselves at home here, the other one is the Maggie Pearl quilt using a jelly roll ordered a few weeks ago which luckily arrived on Thursday, enough lights but I need to add a few more strips to the dark group.

Before the storm hit my grand-daughter spent two hours sorting through two bins of my scraps, small and large and also strips. To say that I was very grateful is an understatement, she's going to come again next week. Below are my neatly sorted strips, I see another strip pieced quilt in the near future.

In the early hours of today, think 12.30am with the rain pouring down and the wind howling, I pulled off the shelf one of my favourite books with quite simple quilts but the focus on the fabrics used. The one I marked a couple of years ago is the Tulip Field quilt, there is also a Kaffe book featuring Jane Brocket with the very same quilt design, different fabrics and listed as the Allotment quilt.

Below is Tulip Field

another favourite  is Hydrangea

basically squares set on point, I love the time worn look in this photograph.

Well it's now back to the news update to see when to expect more rain, apparently shouldn't be as bad the last 36 hours.

I'll end here with a photograph taken four  days ago from the deck of our place at sunrise, we have such a beautiful view and I walk out there almost every morning to begin my day, so calming.

Take care

Maureen

Procrastination

Is anyone else out there guilty of the above?? I seem to have been in a state of procrastination for the best part of this year, however, over the past three weeks I've been tidying, deciding which quilts will be quilted in the coming year and I aim to finish a couple of projects, new ones are destined for 2023 also.

I came across a great article on the above subject, if anyone is interested here's the link https://jamesclear.com/procrastination - it's very long but fascinating.

One thing I didn't procrastinate about was this book, the courier delivered just now

I couldn't resist a quick peek - it's unbelievably stunning - guess what I'm reading tonight! On the stitching side of life not much has happened due to the above word in the heading of the post, but I do have a small stack of more 16 patch blocks

more will be sewn this coming weekend, husband is out on a painting  day Sunday so I can just sit and sew without any interruptions.

A few new Tula Pink fabrics arrived from the Moon Garden range, two of my favourites here

I just love the owls! The snakes are amazing but I didn't photograph those this time around, this post is top heavy enough with photos but I do have below some of the roses in the garden. First one is, I think, Princess Anne and second, just cannot remember, I'll check in my David Austin book later, third one is a modern rose and fourth is the rambler Veilchenblau growing along our back fence

My spacing seems to be playing up for me right now I'll work on that for the next post.

Back to my book!

Maureen

Sunday - catching up

There are quite a few photos in this post, warning you ahead of time, my intended post one week ago never happened so I'm making up for that here. Towards the end of the post I make mention of the story of a quilt back in 2015, hope you can make it that far!

Fabric: I bought a pack of Tula Pink Tiny Beast range packed with little critters and some not so little.
She also brought out a collection of tiny dots and thin stripes in bright colours, these were added to my stash.

Current Project Progress: I'm plodding along slowly with my 16 patch in yellow/orange, the collection is growing nicely, here are the latest ones and this quilt could fit with the latest prompt from AdHoc Improvisational Quilters apart from the fact that it's definitely not improv! I do have a few other ideas for something quite different though.

   

Of course I'm also working on Slashed Squares using the tutorial by

Lynne at The Patchery Menagerie. Check out the Tutorials heading top of her blog page to be directed to purchase details, you'll also see a heading for Slashed Squares Quilts giving photos of quilts Lynne has made. 

The blocks for this quilt are going together so quickly, I can't wait until I reach the 'slashing' stage.  My latest batch are below

you can find the first seven sewn  in my last post HERE. I'm going with 25 blocks in all, at least at this stage I am but I'll review that when I'm nearing the finish line.

I've been so, so lax with machine quilting tops over the past few years and at last count I gave myself a huge shock - 24!!!! Some were more wall quilt size and truly it wouldn't take long to work through basting and machine quilting although there are a few which will be hand quilted. Here's a photo of the first one up for the machine, basted now.

The Northern Lights

  This quilt was made in 2015 - yes folks it's been languishing in line all that time.  Long time readers here   will have seen it before, I first posted at the time I took part in a Quilt Along with  Cultural Fusion Quilts, this was my take on Rail Fence. I wrote the back story behind     this quilt  you can find it HERE, hope you can find time to read,  our stories behind the quilts 

 we make can be every bit as important as the quilt itself.

Books: do I need more books I ask myself, I love books as much as fabric and two new ones arrived at the door

Congratulations if you've made it to the end of this post!!!

I have an appointment next week for the cortisone shot into the torn tendon in my shoulder so

it may be another couple of weeks before I get around to posting - see you then.

Keep safe and well and happy quilting.

Maureen

Getting into the quilting swing of things again - hopefully

I feel the past six months have been a nightmare on the quilting side of life but hoping that I can now begin to spend more time with my fabrics and my sewing machine.

I've been trying to really make my sewing studio organisation easier to work with and put aside one project in order to deal with a squirrel which arrived yesterday so  things must be improving!

Last post I had made the fortunate discovery of 16 patch blocks tucked away and began making more, still more strips ready to cut on my Accuquilt

I had also begun on the blocks earlier in the year on a  quilt for eldest grandson

and whilst I was enjoying stitching these I decided that with the number of 8" blocks needed I  would put on hold and go with something using larger blocks, I turned to the pattern for Slashed  Squares, tutorial purchased from Lynne at The Patchery Menagerie, made a start and love these large blocks for the initial stage. Great tutorial by the way.

The blocks you see above were the result of my time at the machine yesterday, in total I'll be making 30.

I made mention above of sewing room organisation, the room is quite small so do I really need to find another basket in my fabric racks for even more fabric??? I decided that yes, I could make a little more space and bought a few of the latest Tilda range 'Chic Escape', I have in mind a few pillows for around the place and possibly a small throw size quilt. Perhaps I'm being too indulgent and maybe feeling a little sorry for myself over the past few months but what the heck, we only live once and I ain't getting any younger.

This is my favourite

Just a few more
 

And I fell for the new Tula range Tiny Beasts, hopefully these will be here over the weekend or Monday.

Guess I should end this post here but must share with you a photo of a few regular visitors

hoping that a certain someone - guess who - will be kind enough to give them a little breakfast.

It is duck shooting season here in NZ, a practice I abhor, strong word perhaps but true for me, so we have lots of ducks around this area right now all trying to escape the mayhem. This happens each year, there are even signs here and there by the road side  - Caution, Ducks Crossing!

That's all from me, back to tidying and storing, see you soon.

Happy Quilting

Maureen