Friday fripperies....

Well for a start it is so lovely and quiet in our street tonight.  We have been the main bypass road for the past week while they do major repairs to the bypass corner...that meant truck and trailer units, buses, cars and all other sorts of transportation vehicles going past our house.  Not so bad during the day, but at night it is a big rugged with these great big trucks pulling away from the corner right outside our bedroom window.  Never mind, it did need to be done and it was great free advertising for our house sale!

Have not been doing too much in the way of stitching or quilting as I managed to get another eye infection in my left eye.  Gosh it makes you feel tired and irritated.  Picked up my prescribed ointment from the Chemist this afternoon so should start to feel better by the end of the weekend.  Did manage to sew the rest of the blocks for my last two rows in the Aunt Grace Row by Row....yippee so close to assembling the quilt....

Yesterday I went to Epic Ministries to help teach some college (high school in US) girls to knit.  We had a lovely time as the girls started on a peggy square each that will be made up into a lap rug for one of the youth workers who is in a wheelchair.  It will keep his legs warm in the chilly weather.

The bonus was Diane made some yummy cupcakes for our afternoon tea!

Tomorrow I am going to load one of my unfinished quilt tops and hope to get it done and dusted over the long weekend.  That would be so awesome to reduce the pile.  Makes starting another quilt a necessity when another is finished!!

Catch you later and thanks for stopping by...

Blessings
Clare

Beatrix Potter Quilt

Today I managed to load and quilt this lovely panel that Rosie had added a couple of borders to.  The Beatrix Potter panels were really cute and this one is no exception.  I decided I would like to try free handing this one with echoed hearts and some spirals.

 Look at this cute backing fabric.

 I used a lovely Superior Magnifico thread in a soft gold colour with Bottom Line in the bottom and it sewed like a dream....love those threads.  Looks great too.

I had lots of fun quilting this for your Rosie, thanks a heap.

Boy was it cold when I headed off at 6.30am for our Wednesday Prayer Group.  It read 0 degrees in my car and took a long time to warm up.  Brrrrr.  I know we get a lovely day, but by 3.30pm it was starting to get that freezing feel again.  The poor old Aucklanders of course think they are doing it hard, but everyone south of the Bombay Hills knows what cold means.....vbg.

Hopefully I will get a little sewing done tonight.  There has not been much progress during the last week, although I did sew my Paper Bay Challenge block yesterday and will take a photo tomorrow.

Thanks for joining me in my journey....see you again soon.

Blessings
Clare

A techno Upgrade & Playtime

What a lovely time Kerry and I had in Taupo yesterday with Linda, Glynn and Peggy.  My only complaint is that dopey ole  me forgot to take any photos.  How daft is that?  However, I had a great time playing on Linda's Innova machine trying out all sorts of lovely designs.We tried out all sorts of feathers, curved cross hatching, feathered wreath and free motion all over designs.  I now believe this machine may have moved from the "want" list to the "need" list.

Linda showed me some tips on how to do some fancy stuff on my blog, and other basic stuff that my brain had not figured out yet.  So here you are...new fancy picture set and a Bloglovin button.  There will be no end to it I'm sure.

We swapped some books to read and I have just ordered a new quilting design book...oops.  Well a girl  needs to keep up date you know.

Here's a couple of older photos to make up for not taking photos.  I'm off now to read the new book and sit by the fire.  Blooming cold here and a -2 frost expected in the morning.  Now...where are the hotties??
This quilt was pieced together by my lovely friend Janice.  It was the first time I had ever tried feathers, and I was absolutely petrified of making a mess of her quilt.  It took me forever to finish as I only had my 16" throat Nolting Hobby Quilter at that stage, that I could only slow down.  No stitch regulator or one stitch button.

 I used a paper pattern, lined and centre it up and then using my laser light quilted each block. 

I did this really tiny micro stippling to make each heart wreath stand out.  It nearly killed my arms at the time.

The diagonal lines of course had to be joined many, many times with my little 16" throat.  However, I got there in the end and was really proud of the result.  I was very thankful to Janice for trusting me with her lovely Irish Chain.

Thanks for reading...catch you again later.

Blessings
Clare

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The Churn Dash is done...

At last Eve has got her beautiful Churn Dash quilt back.  It seems to have been such a long, long journey to get to this point.  I am so thankful that Eve is my friend and so patient with me.  In the end I changed the design as my foggy brain from my cold could not cope with the fancy stuff I had thought I would quilt.  Change of design and I am happy with the fact that you can still clearly see the large churn dash in the background.

I had managed to get halfway around with the binding for Eve and then handed it on.  I used a Magnifico thread in a lovely olive green that seemed to go over most of the colours well.  Had a little trouble with tension but swapped over to Bottom Line in the bobbin, made some adjustments and away we went.

The colours in Eve's blocks were gorgeous.  It is one of the talents Eve has to put unusual combinations together and they look great. Here are a few more photos for  you.

That's it for show and tell as Eve's arms were a bit tired by this time and we were outside the Epic Ministries building after church.  It was shady and seems to help with the colours in pics.

Last night my friend Donna and I went to the movies to see "Son of God." It was not the best portrayal but we made the best of it....

See what I mean....lol.  We had the Snug to ourselves and got extremely good personal service.  Even provided with our own table to put our spread on...vbg.  And the Colossal Cone was totally decadent and tasted divine.  It was Donna's idea, and I needed to keep her company....it was the least a good friend could do????

Tomorrow we leave early for Taupo.  We are off to Linda's to put up some quilt hangers, do a couple of little fix it things and, most importantly, talk quilting!  You can check out Linda's blog here.  Hope to have some photos and stories for you.

Trust you have had a grand weekend.  We have had lovely sunny weather with only a little wind and a few showers.  Very spoilt in Hawkes Bay.

Blessings
Clare

I'm a Scrap Happy girl...

Yippee....look what arrived in the mail today.

 I was so excited to finally get  my copy of Bonnie Hunter's book.  I always knew there was a purpose for all those little squares I have hoarded up for ????? years and spent hours tidying up over Easter.  Now I can start using some of them.

My head is feeling a lot clearer today thank goodness, so when the aches and pains finally won over late this afternoon I retreated back home to the fire and took my box of 2 inch squares with me.  I sat in my chair after a hot bath and sorted out my green and neutral squares so I can get organised to make this quilt....

My lovely 6ft 4"grandson Bradley needs a new quilt and he loves green like his Nana.  I sorted out all the squares that might be usable for this quilt, but will still need to cut quite a few.  Neutrals are something I need to concentrate on collecting a little more off...oh yes....an excuse to buy fabric!!!!
Here's my rather pathetic little collection so far...lol.

Our wee group plus a few extra friends are organising a sewing weekend....we come to the shop and stitch all day/night on Saturday and then start off again on Sunday, going home late afternoon.  What great fun.  We leave everything all spread out and just walk back in the next day. We are going to bring meals to share this time.  Last one, my dh did all the cooking, but thought I should give him a break.   I might aim to get the cutting done for Bradley's quilt for this weekend...hmmm.  It's not until 2 & 3rd of August, so that should give me enough time.  Alison T, does this fit in with your diary plans....lol and Catherine...want to come?

And about that cat story yesterday...I forgot to put the photo in.  Oh dear that's what a foggy brain does to you.  Here's the cased up cat!

Here's a wee quote to finish off for you...."Certain flaws are necessary for the whole.  It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks. "  Goethe

Thanks for reading and looking forward to chatting to you again.

Blessings,
Clare

Christmas Hexagons

I'm sitting here staring out through bleary eyes trying to make my foggy brain think logically.  The cold bugs caught up with me on Monday and I'm trying not to feel sorry for myself.  Also trying not to spread it around, especially to husband....we all know what man-colds are like!!  So I have lit the fire, made myself my favourite cure - a lemon and honey drink (from our homegrown lemons no less) and a couple of malt bikkies just cause I can...and here I am with you. I feel better already!

Of course work doesn't care whether you have a cold or not, so I plodded my way through this lovely Christmas hexagon quilt that Lorrie asked me to quilt for her.  I borrowed Catherine's "Holly Bells" pattern, only it turned out to be "Holly Berries" instead!  Oh well, it's still a Christmas theme and I know Lorrie really wanted some holly leaves on her quilt so it all worked out in the end.

It is a very busy quilt in the centre as Lorrie just sewed her hexagons together randomly rather than in a pattern so you see very little of the quilting pattern in the body of the quilt. The three borders make the quilt a good size for her granddaughter.

I used a King Tut 1002 thread which is a variegated Christmas red and green.  It did look nice.  As Lorrie wanted plain quilters muslin on the back the pattern looks great when you turn the quilt over.

Last night I did manage to get a few blocks of my Aunt Grace BOM sewn up.  I am making the last two rows at once and need to get a move on.  When these are finished then it is assembling the quilt...woohoo!

Yesterday at Tuesday group my friend Eve brought along the bottom fabric as a beginning of making a burgundy quilt for some friends at church who have left the district.  We should, of course, have thought of this before they left, but better late than never as they say.  I found another nice floral, so now we just need to hunt up a couple of other colours and we can get started.  Sticking to a simple pattern so that it will actually get done.

It would not be complete without something from a cat or two.  Travis decided he would rather sleep in this old sewing machine case than on the nice comfy batting Kerry put down for him.  Then he wouldn't get out when it was time to lock up so Kerry closed the case and carried him home in it!!!  It was rather funny, and the daft cat didn't even really mind.

A lovely quote to finish off with...."Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life.  Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend."  Charles Spurgeon

Thank you for reading and hope you are all fit and healthy.

Blessings
Clare

Squaring up the scrap quilt blocks

One of the things I find so tedious is squaring all the small blocks that make up the whole.  I should of course just begin squaring up as I go, but I tend to be enjoying the stitching too much.  Next time I tell myself.  So of course this is what I end up with....the pile on the left all need to be squared and the pile on the right are done!!!

Then I thought I had better get my act together and make my block for Eve's quilt in the Paper Bag Challenge.  I really like the way Eve's colours came together.  It is definitely going to be a vibrant quilt.

I love the symmetry of this camelia that I picked today.  There have not been many blooms on this shrub this year, but they are so pretty.

And I couldn't resist a photo of our Gleditsia tree in its autumn glory.

And then there are these....two of my delicious grandchilren...vbg...

Aren't they adorable...well....I have to say that...I'm their Nana.

And just one more thing.  Yesterday Kerry and I travelled down to East Taratahi, which is just south of Masterton to our friends Lorraine and Bryce.  We met up with son Richard and Kea and the blokes then had a session selecting some wonderful oak timber for Richard to make a kitchen table for themselves.  Here is a sample of how this lovely honey blonde timber looks like.

This morning Kea and I went down the road to visit the local Waipukurau Arts & Crafts Exhibition before they headed back to Wellington.  It was a lovely display of their work which included quilting, embroidery, spinning and felting, painting and garden plants.  Bought a couple of bits for my garden and forgot to take photos...duh.

Well, that's it for now.  I'm off to start on that pile of squaring up.  I am going to tackle it 10 at a time I think.  Hope you all had a great weekend.

Blessings
Clare

Sunshine Quilt Finished & progress on Pretties Scrap quilt...

Wow, I am exhausted I have to say.  Quilted Friday through to Monday evening to get my friend Colleen's Sunshine quilt finished.  Have to say I am so totally rapt in the finished quilt...it looks good I feel.  Here are some photos for you to decide....

The quilt is quite large - 76 x 81" and was beautifully made.

Another angle.  I used So Fine in white, yellow and black with Bottom Line in the bobbin.

The colours of this quilt make you smile.

Thanks Colleen, I loved quilting your quilt and I am sure your daughter love it too.

I have been plodding away with my Pretties Quilt and have almost finished all the Block B's. 

Kerry has done some fine tuning on my Featherweight and it is now running like a dream.

The plain squares are all that is left to go - 26 of them.  Of course with each of these blocks you end up with two mini HST's....see!

This is the last time I am doing this I have decided.  I will finish these out so I have enough to make a small quilt.

Look at my gorgeous grandchildren.  On the left Danielle (11) is holding Olivia (yes it was her quilt I have just finished-aged 9 mths) and Hayley (7) is holding handsome Hamish who is 3 weeks older than Olivia.

To finish off, here's Travis trying out the new wool batting.  This is a new brand I'm trying so it got the okay from the cat which is always a good sign.

So there you have it.  Going to slouch in my chair and watch "Britain's Got Talent" very soon.  It is such a funny but good programme to watch.

Hope all you Mums had a great day on Sunday.  Thanks for reading and catch you later.

Blessings
Clare

Progess on The Sunshine Quilt and my 50th post!!!!

Got my act together and finally got started on Colleen's quilt. This is such a fresh quilt that reminds you of a sunshiney day. Here we are getting ready to load it.  My good friend Colleen has made this for her daughter Renee who lives over in Brisbane, Australia, so the colours are perfect for such a hot part of the world.

The border fabric is very busy, so I used a So fine clear yellow to just outline the large shapes.  For the applique I am using So Fine 401 White to outline and fill in.  Having fun with these.

In the brick columns I am doing feathers and really like how it is coming out.

Here is a view over to the border.  The black and white spot sashing I am doing a sequence of large, medium and small circles using So Fine Black.  Very hard to see.

You can just see a peak of the backing fabric which is a lovely black on white scroll fabric.  I almost made a major mistake in cutting the backing to size.  It is very skinny on the sides but couldn't cut another piece as this was the last big piece of the bolt.  Must be more careful.


Will be quilting most of tomorrow to get this one finished in time for Colleen to put in the local club exhibition.

I'm off to try and do a few more corners on my scrap quilt using my Featherweight that is working so well.


Thanks a heap for reading and see you again soon.



Blessings
Clare