Spring 2019 - planning projects - top heavy on photos

Yes, Spring is officially here!

Down at the beach on a beautiful day, the water looks so inviting

but still on the chilly side so I'll wait until Summer before paddling.

My sewing studio is in quite a mess and desperately in need of tidying

but I'm still pressing on with more blocks for

Unconventional and Unexpected

I love the zigzag fabric around block 4.

Just 12 more and my target of 30 will be reached and I

can begin sewing up the rows.

Project planning - my head is full of quilts

I really want to get on with and after the five blocks from yesterday I

had to have a little play with two of the new fabrics from Philip Jacobs,

pattern and results below of the beginnings of a mock up of

Hex Star

a pattern from Victoria Findlay Wolfe

and I'm intending using PJ's big, bold prints for the stars.

 Continuing on with the floral theme in the two fabrics above

are three photos of soft, pale flowers in bloom in the garden right now,

colour quite the opposite of the brightness above.

Camelia Lovelight

Arum Lily

Ranunculus

I bought three of the plants above and we're heading off again to the garden centre

for a few more, I have a lot of gaps to fill in our front garden bed.

Off now to cut more blocks so see you soon.

To readers who are presently in the unpredictable path of

Hurricane Dorian you're in my thoughts, keep safe!

Maureen

A few more blocks for Unconventional and Unexpected - progress!!

If you cast your mind back to January you may remember that I was
joining other quilters invited by Sujata Shah to take part part in her
Unconventional and Unexpected Quilt Along

Our posts are on her blog
Basket Full of Scraps
with our quilts being inspired by the ones
in a book
Unconventional and Unexpected
by
Roderick Kiracofe

and I chose the one below.



"Cross"/Four Patch

Not wanting to make a straight copy of this beautiful quilt I began my own take on it
 using quite different fabrics to the ones in the photo above, the first six were on my blog
HERE
and then life intervened, as it does, and no further blocks were made until
two days ago.

These are my latest ones, and I'm loving them!

I prefer these to my original blocks so I'll be continuing on
using a mix of lots of Kaffe Fassett Collective
and Anna Maria Horner fabrics plus a few others.
So many new designers are coming out with super bold and colourful
fabric lines now.

I have been planning future projects so not much playing with fabrics
unfortunately. I have pulled my Tula Pink quilt

out of the drawer
and hope to make a start on the binding tomorrow.

We're coming to the official end of Winter here in New Zealand,
I'm definitely looking forward to Spring and the colour in the garden,
but we do  have some beautiful flowering hibiscus still blooming

and brightening up a rainy day.

That's it from me for now, wishing you all
Happy Quilting until next time.

Maureen

Unconventional and Unexpected & multiplying quilt ladders

Remember the photo in my last post

of the new quilt ladder, five quilt tops waiting to be quilted displayed.

Now there are two ladders

and ten quilt tops!!

Bit of shock to see them all hanging there, but I could work my way

steadily through them.

I had forgotten my large quilt ladder

with two more!

Okay, only twelve - oops,  I had also missed the ones hanging on

a wooden towel stand - another five - by this time I couldn't face taking

another photograph of any more unquilted tops, nor the three basted and

ready to go under the needle!!

A little time was spent playing with more blocks for

the UANDUQAL (short version), as well as taking care of dear husband (actually 

quite a lot of time)

who, for reasons unknown had once more developed swelling in one

elbow the size of an orange! Visit to doc who thought just bursitis even though

last time this happened he ended up a day later on IV antibiotics.

Guess what, same procedure. By the next day he had developed cellulitis almost down to

his wrist, and yes you guessed it again,  over the next three days daily IV

infusions to knock the infection on the head. followed by oral antibiotics.

Presently he's on another visit to check if the infection has gone into the bone,  my

fingers are firmly crossed on this one.

Onto lighter matters - playtime with blocks below.

Excuse the wonky photography.

These blocks are not placed as they will be when all 20 are completed,

it's just easier to have them on the wall to help me work out fabric choices

for the remaining 11 blocks.

That's it from me for today but here's a lovely little rose 

surviving pretty well in the heat we're experiencing here. She just developed 

black spot on her leaves, as I don't spray with chemicals it's too bad!

Have a great week and happy quilting.

Maureen

A start on the Unconventional and Unexpected Quilt Along

I mentioned a little about this in my last post but

not that it was going to be a QAL.

Hosted by Sujata from The Root Connection - link in my last post -

this QAL is on 

Basket full of Scraps

 do go along and visit all taking part.

I'm choosing fabrics, lots of brights.

and I'll be posting progress mostly over
on Basket full of Scraps  but also
a little here.