Tuffing it out with the Tumbling Block....

I know, this is my third post in as many days, but it has been holidays and I am in stitching mode. First up was to make another Contrary Wife block as I like the way these four blocks come together and make up an interesting rectangle....might have to make a quilt up in this to see how it develops.

This is with the light side of Shaded 9 patch in the centre

Now the blocks reversed...

Not sure which I prefer, both look good.
Then it was on to stitching up my Tumbling Block from the Craftsy BOM. I had carted this block backwards and forwards for days...now I know why. It was the most exasperating block I have made in a long time.  I reverse stitched almost as much as I stitched.  Here is the result...I am pleased with it.

The colours are not showing up too well, it is much brighter than this shows.
Then there was the cat!  My companion who insisted on sitting in the wee basket - there was just one problem...I dont think Tyson realised he didn't fit too well...lol.

 My lovely human gave me a cushion of fabric...she is so kind....

But I had to have a bit of a stretch after awhile...

This cat is such a wally.

There you go.  Thought I should keep it short so I don't bore you death three days in a row!

Enjoy your weekend.  I'm off to Hastings to get my hair cut...yay, and dh has promised to take me out for a meal for our wedding anniversary on Wednesday last.

Blessings
Clare

Olivia's quilt is almost finished...

I am just waiting for the binding fabric to arrive tomorrow and then it will be on, done and dusted.  Yippee, I am going to be able to mark something off my list. Now, what shall I put on in its place?

This light outside was a bit bright.  I might try taking one indoors tomorrow so you can see the quilting a little better although the close up is good.  I was quite pleased the way it came up.  I basically just did what the pattern showed, but filled in the blocks a little more and left the borders more open.  Decided it worked OK.
Then I loaded this little panel with a border for Janice, a customer whose quilts I have been quilting for quite a few years now.  Was going to just do a panto but might do a little playing with it just for the practice.

Because I had been such a good girl, I rewarded myself with some play time and got up to date with the Scrappy Challenge I am doing.

I made two Shaded 9 patch blocks and one Contrary Wife block.  I really like the way the sit together so think I might make another one tomorrow and join them into one big block.

Loverly fun just to sit and stitch.  Anzac Day tomorrow and have another quilt top arriving in the afternoon.  Suddenly the queue has grown - 3 arrived in today as well.

Nice talking to you again.  Take care over this long weekend and see you again soon.

blessings
Clare

What a Happy Scrappy Easter it was...

Hello there,

  I have been at it again...there must be something in the air as I have continued to be preoccupied with the need to get my stash organised.  Oh dear, I do hope this is just a temporary condition.  Being tidy all the time is just so tedious and eats into quilting time.

This is my work station I set up so I could iron, then cut and sort all the scraps.
 

This basket was jammed packed full of bits and pieces, both old and new.  Look at it now, so incredibly organised and not even full!

My containers and drawers have grown.  Such a wonderful sight.  I also  made this momentous decision...no more 1.5 inch squares or HST's.  I will finish out what I have and then...no more.  After reading the blog of the Queen of Scraps, Bonnie Hunter which you can find here  I have taken her advice and will start at 2".  Sounds so much more sane, dont you agree?

This basket is filling up with strips.  Assorted at this stage, but I will eventually get them re-sorted into different sizes.  Otherwise, one would constantly be measuring. I have also cleaned up my storage drawers at the house.  I will show you them tomorrow after I take a few more photos.  Am definitely going to be busy for a very long time and the need to buy fabric is at zero.  Hmmm I shall have to work on that. I am going to Palmerston North on 3rd May for "Toat 'n Gloat."  This is run by Rose City Quilters and everyone who attends (ticket only) is welcome to take a quilt and join in the Show and Tell.  There are some very interesting and beautiful quilts that get held up.  They also have a Merchants Mall - how cruel is that?  Must work on my needs list...lol.

Oh well, off to get ready for sleep.  Gotta remember to shut the door to keep the cat out...he loves to come in wet and get into my face...yuk!
Thanks for reading.

Blessings
Clare

The scrapping folly continues...

Easter - "For God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3: 16-17

For some strange reason, all this rain we are having has created this urge in me to tidy up and rearrange my stash.  Of course, with the house on the market, there comes the necessity to merge my stashes!!  This is part of the problem as it is starting to make me aware of how much fabric and projects I possess.  What a terrible thing for a quilter to have to do.  One stash is over at the shop building and the other one is in my house.  Mmmm.... going to be interesting.

A quite large pile of leftover triangles.  These came from a dear friend who passed away some years ago.  I finished off a couple of quilts for Elizabeth's family and these leftovers were donated to my stash.  There are some nice fabrics in there.  The little fussy cut squares in the front are left over from a quilt I made for my eldest son almost 20 years ago.  He was living and working in Japan at the time I think...must ask him if he still has it.

I emptied out some old papers from the shop and commandeered this small file cabinet for my stash rearrangement purposes.  Wow, that sounds intelligent doesn't it?  In the bottom drawer that I managed to cut out of the picture, I have put my collection of 500yd King Tut threads. The odd blocks are going to be fun sometime soon.  There are all sorts in there so goodness knows what they will turn into.

Look what I found in my box!!! A whole string of tiny little half square triangles all stitched together.  Plus lots of other sundry triangles and odds and sods in the bottom.  My HST jars are going to fill up fast at this rate.

This pile were even pressed and some of them squared up.  Such organisation is amazing.

Then there is this friendly fellow...goes by the name of my husband Kerry.  As part of our down sizing and clearing out....guess what he bought in Dannevirke yesterday?

Just what we always needed, another two sewing machines in undecided condition to add to his collection.  Oh dear, it is just as well we dont have to move very far.  I think it must be about 15 metres from our back door to the back door of our shop building lol. (I think that is about 45 feet).

So there you have it.  Life in the Moore household over the past few days.  The rain has persisted and we have had some quite heavy downpours today, with the wind getting up a bit tonight.  We will be pleased when this ex-tropical cyclone has gone on its way.  Mind you, we did need a good soaking, but time to get dry and warm and let the grass grow for winter feed for our farmers.

We are planning to drive up to Rotorua in the morning and go visit our new great-granddaughter Zoe Frances, born on Monday afternoon weighing in at 7lb 9oz.  Makes us feel so old, but the Mum is quite young...well that is our excuse and we are sticking to it.

Have a great Easter everyone.  Travel safely and thanks for reading.

Blessings
Clare

Rain, rain, loverly rain...

A true friend loves at all times - good and bad.  Proverbs 17:17

Monday again - that was quick!  We have had a whole week of rain, drizzle, brief moments of fineness and now we are back to rain again.  It has all been good though because we have badly needed a real good soaking.  Hawkes Bay is so notorious for its droughts.  Today's rain is very gentle, and although it has not been cold up until now...the temperature definitely dropped yesterday. Let's hope it warms up again a little so our farmers get a little more good growth in their pastures for the winter.

It does lead to rather wet furry creatures, who take great delight in leaping onto your lap for a good dry out and a bit of a warm up.  It certainly pushes the bounds of furry friendship to the limit.

We had another open home yesterday and now I can be oh so pious....all the week's housework has been done!!!  Oh my, I'm not sure about all this being top notch tidy.  I rather like a wee pile of familiar things hanging about the place. This is my latest folly....I cannot resist doing the second line of sewing when you do those flip back corners on squares and cut the underneath two off.  This is the beginning of my 1 1/2" HST's jar - not many in that one yet...and the other one is 1 3/4" HST's.  To be honest, I have quite a number of bags of these corners waiting to be sewn and trimmed up some of them go way, way back. Quite mad really!!

They do look nice though, dont they?  I think I have been reading far too many blogs and seeing the gorgeous quilts others have been making from these little scraps. This  next photo is my block I made for the February Scrappy Challenge that is from another blog I follow.  Getting behind already on this one. I had it cut out for ages, but never got around to sewing it up til last week.

It is a nice block and I am tempted to make a few more, but that would be distracting me from my list!
Found these in a container I decided to forage into...another unfinished project from a class I ran at my shop.  They could make a nice chrissy present for someone this year...I will put them in the line.

I picked up the pattern for these when I was in Arizona in 2011. Must be about time I went back there to see what I have missed out on, lol.
Big progress on Ollie's quilt though...loaded and started to quilt it.  Chose a lovely green for the back and I am using a So Fine 402 Cream as I just couldn't find a nice green to go with the pastel green background. One row down, 3 more to go.

The applique pieces are mostly large, so nice and quick to stitch around.  This is the quilting style that was on the pattern, so decided to stick with it.  Using a lovely wool batting.  This ends my quilting update..quite a goodly amount of progress for a week.  This week is going to be much more busier, but we have Easter coming...yippee lots of days off, back to work for three days and then another day off for Anzac Day on the Friday.  Two long weekends in a row is wonderful.

Might have to spend some of the time doing something with our awesome feijoa crop...some of them are just huge.  Giving them away right left and centre.  So delicious.  Perhaps I will have to try out jam making with them?

Well that is quite a long blog for you to read.  Thanks a heap if you read all the way through...I must do more frequent posts so they are shorter....I keep forgetting to bring the camera lead home.  My cellphone is still playing up.  Going to take it back to the shop as my friend is having the same kind of problems.

Take care and I'll see you all again soon.

Blessings
Clare

My Le Moyne Star is all Set!

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though she knows that you are slightly cracked"
Bernard Meltzer

Hehe...isn't that just so lovely, just don't tell my friends lol.

Well, another weekend has been and gone and we have finished with daylight savings.  'Twas quite dark this morning when the eyelids opened, not of their own accord either I must add.  We spent most of our weekend finishing off those last minutes things in our house that needed to be done before the open home yesterday afternoon.  Oh dear, this keeping up appearances might be good for Mrs Bouquet, but no good to me.
Once the panic was over, I was able to do some stitching for the rest of the afternoon. I was going to play with a couple of different projects, but sternly told myself to get something finished!!  So I did!

This is my Le Moyne Star all done and dusted.  I have to say I am most pleased with myself....can you see that self-satisfied smirk all over my face?  Mind you, had to do a little bit of fudging in the middle to make sure all the seams lined up proper like.

Not too bad for a first timer.  This one shows my lovely Kansas Shop Hop fabric that I used on the points.  It was so interesting to see the 3D effect this block has too when you pop it up on a wall.  Love the look of it, but it has been a slow one this to get it right.

So the list is coming along, and I am just in the throes of deciding what needs to be added for the 2nd quarter of the year.  Ollie's quilt is about to be loaded onto my longarm, so that is extremely close to being finished, but I still have four blocks to do in the BOM from the 2013 Craftsy quilt.  The next one is a tumbling blocks, so that should be a little easier than the LeM Star.  I have sewn the HST for the last two rows of my 1930's Aunt Grace too, so that is very close to being assembled. The last two rows are the same pattern so they are both done at the same time.

I have to say, making the list has been a good thing for me.  It has made me be more accountable to myself and you who are kind enough to read my ramblings.  Once a thing has been said, well....it really has to done, doesn't it?

Have a great week and see you again soon.

Blessings
Clare

Little Sister's Quilt

It's ages since I blogged....we have been so busy trying to get our house ready to put on the market.  It was finally listed on the 24th March, but of course every time you look around with an old house, you find another wee thing you should really touch up.  I also had a couple of trips to our hospital's emergency department.  It seems I have a gall bladder full of stones with one stuck where it shouldn't be.  Thankfully it has calmed down now and I am waiting for my appointment with Surgical Outpatients. The worst thing is I have to be careful with what I eat, especially all those yummy things like ice creams!!!

All this put my quilting production on the back burner, but at last I was able to get quilting today. My good friend Eve was quite happy for me to take her lovely Churn Dash off the frame and I popped my sister's quilt on.  It is one of those quick Jelly roll quilts where you sew the rows into one long strip.  Joyce is taking it to Australia with her at Easter time to give to a friend so it needed to be done and sent back for her to do the binding.

Finished loading it up today.  Used a lovely brown for the back but it came out very gold looking in the photo.

After auditioning about 10 different thread colours, I settled on a So Fine dark burgundy.  It looks really good and stands out on both the quilt and the navy border.

The pattern is called "Tickle Too" and is is my new favourite at the moment.

See what I mean about the back looking gold instead of brown?  Love the texture this pattern has given to both the front and back.

It certainly needed the lovely texture and detail of the edge to edge.

 Above and below, close ups of the pattern.

Very satisfying to have finally got started again.  Funny how sometimes you struggle to actually get into action again.
Mind you, bit knackered after cleaning the inside of all our windows!  That doesn't happen very often I can tell you...lol.  Now to get the outsides done.

Might whip through the little baby quilt I have in the queue and then put the Churn Dash back on.

Take care and thanks for dropping by.

Blessings,
Clare