Lost for words .....

Most of my time over the past week has been taken up with listening to the updates, media updates from the Prime Minister and others following the horrific visit from Cyclone Gabrielle. I could write pages for a post on the devastation and loss, not for myself but for others throughout this country whose lives have changed forever. My post title  "Lost for words" is just that, I can't begin to put into words the happenings of the three days and more when Gabrielle caught up with us, suffice to say it still feels quite unbelievable.

This post will be about my achievements on the quilting side of life over the past week, which really are not much at all, but over the past two days I realised I needed to get back in my studio playing with colour and fabric and creating. I also haven't read any blogs in the past week, back to normal tomorrow.

So, the Maggie Pearl quilt with a few blocks sewn and shown in my last post. I wrote that I was finding it difficult working with the particular fabrics and it was a few words from Wanda that I could cut strips from my own fabrics  to add to the jelly roll that set in motion a new take on this quilt.

Thanks to my granddaughter tidying up my scraps I found treasured, long forgotten fabrics and an old Kaffe caught my eye so paired this with a fabric from the existing strips. I repeated the process and was pretty happy with the results. My habit of changing things up then came into play, out came more of my treasures and the softer coloured Maggie Pearl is morphing into something different, I have a few more blocks to sew and they'll be in my next post - hopefully.

My Slashed Squares quilt for eldest grandson came back from being quilted by Leeanne from Northland, I opted to go with the binding being attached also.

The backing showing the quilting design Mod Circles

and the binding - look at that super mitred corner

Oh, I bought three new fabrics and they aren't KF, quite the opposite in fact, these are by Morris & Co and are really brighter than shown here.

I found yesterday that cats are obviously pretty happy if they can find a $120 pure wool ironing mat on  cutting table, just waiting to be slept on! She was quite happy to cope with the old wooden top which is being replaced.

My garden was pretty wiped out in places but a potted hibiscus moved under the deck had a flower open, I love the scarlet feathered looking centre.

I'm off to sit and read a while but back on to Maggie Pearl tomorrow morning, back soon and Happy Quilting!

Maureen

Here we go again - Cyclone Gabrielle is heading for New Zealand

 Can you believe this?? From a category 2 it has now gone up to category 3 so Auckland, Northland (area further North than Auckland) and Coromandel a little further down and East from Auckland are directly in the firing line. We are once again in a State of Emergency for the next week, forecasts tell us that this will be a 100 yr event with 150kilometre winds,  power outage, trees down, waves up to 6 or 7 metres, and to have enough medications for one week, food for at least three days, a plan should evacuation be necessary, this would include pets of course.  The destruction will be huge as recovery is still underway from the one two weeks ago -  and still we have doubters on climate change and global warming!

Apologies for the rant, now on to quilting.

First of all a pull for a quilt pattern from  Rachaeldaisy - Across The Fields, I have a few more softer fabrics to add to these below, a few already chosen have been missed off this photo.

The quilt calls for 7 and 1/2" half square triangles and  tidying with grand-daughter earlier in the week I found a small cache of 8" already cut for some long forgotten project, perfect to trim down and use here.

Before I forget, remember Tiny Beasts  destined for Balderdash in my last post, not any more! The large squares of 9 and 1/2" were too large for the Tiny Beasts fabric, they didn't play happily at all. The small squares I had in my post were perfect so I'm going to save these for a future project.

I have another fabric pull ready for The Hannah Quilt from Erica Jackman - link takes you to her site
Kitchen Table Quilting.

I'm wanting to get on to this one asap! Lots of strips with fabrics by KF Collective, delicious colour, perfection!!

Now for something out of my comfort zone. I don't usually buy Jelly Rolls but one came up on a site here in New Zealand and the colours seemed to be nice and bright although not ones I would normally work with. These were going to be used for the Maggie Pearl quilt - link takes you to the site.

When I unrolled the fabrics they were a more subdued colour, what to do, decided to go with them. I have five blocks made and finding it hard going with a limited number of colours - 

see what I mean? It's not a huge quilt just 40" x 56" so I can hang on in there.

That's all my quilting news, with the cyclone on it's way and probably hitting fully on Sunday I may or may not be stitching, plus I have a steroid injection in my shoulder next week so it may be slow stitching for a a week or two following on from that. 

I can't end this post without mention of the horrific situation in Turkey and Syria, my thoughts and prayers are with all caught up in these tragedies who are suffering in so many, many ways.

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

Challenges for 2023 with AdHoc Improvisation Quilters

Note: This is a post I wrote on AdHoc Improvisational Quilters blog site hosted by Kaja and Ann, I have been a contributor for a number of years. Many of you reading here may not be aware of the above blog, click on the link or on the sidebar button to visit, lots of information about the group and challenges are issued every six months, the first one for this year encourages us to share our quilting hopes and plans for the coming year. 

My post from 16th January:

 Have you ever been in the situation where you find yourself unable to move forward because of overload? That's where I am at the moment, bu I've spent a little time trying to come up with a short list.

Too many projects started without enough thought/preparation and they land in the parts box along with leftover pieces from previous quilts - need to work on this.

Quilts waiting to be quilted - unbelievable! I have the two quilt ladders in the hall with tops waiting

and more in the closet.

Heaps of scraps to be sorted, what to make with them, older fabrics which no longer appeal, where could I use those.

Two projects I really do want to make this year are the following:

Fonthill Quilt from Kaffe Fassett Passionate Patchwork

but I find I'm not happy with the various fabrics I've auditioned for the 1st and 4th borders. There are two colourways in the book, happily written on the page of instructions is the suggestion that experienced patchworkers might like to try the alternative colourway (to the one above) or their own colourway - hooray, the green light to go with my bright and bold look.

Same issue arises with Daylesford, I really do like the colours here (Jen Kingwell Quilt Recipes) but

I'm not sure whether I could follow through with the softer look, going with bright and bold again would be my preference. I could also change up a few designs in the border should I wish too.

Going on now to the post from  Ann with her project of a jacket for her son. Last year I signed up for a lecture online with Victoria Findlay Wolfe covering tips and ideas for the patchwork coats she had made. I immediately bought a pattern from a local store, somewhat easier than the ones in the lecture, not as many seams but still the scope for blocks or strips and so on. The longer jacket is my choice.

Last of all - my blog set up is in real need of being updated, that's going to tax me!

So, there we have it, just a snippet of the thoughts whirling around in my head, hopefully in a few days I will have plans more settled.

Oh I forgot, I want to make a quilt just for me!!! Everyone in the family have two/three each from me but I seem to be missing even one, need to address that asap with something special.

See you later

Maureen

A New Year 2023

 Wishing you all a belated Happy New Year.

Both husband and I have taken turns at being unwell since Christmas Day, hence no quilting, at least not until yesterday when I was finally able to head to the machine to finish up stitching Willy Nilly.  Headed off to the garden to photograph, by the time I was trying to do this inside the light in my studio wasn't the best - light in here comes from the East so only good for the morning really. Willy Nilly measures 48" x 60".

Underneath the Japanese Maple, this is such a good spot for photographing quilts, just that you can't see a flat photo on the wall, I need to carry out some detective work to find a better place inside.  Another shot with hydrangeas.

We're waiting for Cyclone Hale to hit us here in New Zealand, this latest cyclone was formed in the Coral Sea and will probably hit fully tomorrow. We've had only two or three days of Summer weather in Auckland and elsewhere in New Zealand, the rest of the time rain, rain and more rain. The ground in places is sodden, campers and holiday makers have had to abandon their plans and most have returned home.

Here's a Met Service shot of the likely scenario late tomorrow, the top of the North Island  just peeping out of the blue,  here in Auckland we're well and truly underneath the blue.

The air is cooling slightly and the wind picking up slowly, I hopped outside to cut a few flowers because inevitable the roses, dahlias - in fact anything in bloom will end up flat on the ground or still semi upright but as clumps of brown wetness!

One bright spot has been the delivery of a small number of new fabrics, a few from the Kaffe Fassett 85 and Fabulous collection, here is the black colourway of Sprays

another arrival was Belle Epoque by Stacy Peterson for Free Spirit, I fell for the rich deep blue in this one and could see it as a border fabric.

Another favourite fabric designer is Anna Maria Horner and I bought yardage of her new line Vivacious, this is not the usual weight quilting cotton but beautiful butter soft lawn, I have a blouse/shirt pattern which would be ideal for this fabric.

I'm looking forward to being at the machine for a while tomorrow, provided that the power doesn't cut out and hoping and praying that 2023 will have me free of accidents and broken bones!

Maureen

Four more sleeps until Christmas Day

 This post before Christmas has nothing at all relating to quilting!!

My one-patch is stalled right now as is my Lego quilt. The time just seems to fly by so I'm not pushing myself to try and finish one of them in the three days before Christmas, instead I'm going to sign off with a few photos from my garden, a riot of colour right now with first the rains and now the hot, hot weather, hope these will brighten your day.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas!

Maureen