The Scraps of March...

Hello everyone, it is once more, nearly the end of another  month - this time also the end of the first quarter of our year.  Hmm, fast is not even a really good word for it.

Well the Wine Country Quilt Exhibition has come and gone and guess what?  I forgot to take any photos!!  Not one!!  None, zero, zilch... now how slack is that.  I do have a reasonable excuse - we were so busy on the Janome stand that I never had time.  I managed a couple of quick looks, but never remembered to take my phone with me to take some photos.  So this is the website and you can go have a look at the winning quilts here and see what good quilters there are in the East Coast of the North Island. There were over 160 quilts on show which is outstanding.

Suffice to say I was a bit knackered after that so have been somewhat slow in my sewing achievements.  The 365 Challenge is still lounging around in February, but I did manage to do four on Saturday, plus have cut out quite a few.  Hoping to make a determined effort to catch up over the next couple of weeks!!

I do love the look of the Ohio Stars, the bottom right one has a four patch in the middle of it, but my two fabric blend a little too much.  Never to worry, not doing it again, that's for sure.

This is the Stitchery Block of the Month that I started way back in 2008 (ahem).  The Stitchery blocks are almost finished, and not by my own efforts.  My friend Lynn loves doing stitchery and has done all but 6 of the 24 blocks.  I spent an afternoon before Easter and cut out all the pieced blocks in preparation for my grand stitching session.  Hmmm, wonder when that's going to happen?

These are the slightly better photos of the small quilt that I entered in the quilt show.  It is one of my first efforts and doing a whole cloth, and had great fun.  The pearl seed beads that you can just see on the ends of the leaf veins are my grandmothers, and I think they could be between 80 - 100 years old.  I never met my Grandma Ruby, and but am most grateful for her legacy of creativity.

This is some fabric I found (through my friend Catherine) at the quilt exhibition.  I'm going to make a bag for my best friend who has a yellow scoot!!  Perfect!

These are some 4.5 inch blocks I  made for the Rainbow Scrap for March.  The colour was purple with a yellow accent - my yellow is rather bigger than an accent, but I like it anyway.  For some reason I am into 4 patches and will most likely make another half dozen or so, then I have pulled out some cream that I will put between for a plain block and make it up into a small quilt for a friend's niece who takes in unwanted babies in India.  She now has over 30 children and all want a quilt of their own.  Happy to help out.



That's most all that I have to report at this point.  We have  made great progress in the house and the painting is slowly getting done.Only the bathroom shower and the tiling in the kitchen is left to do.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break, and that you were able to reflect on the reason we have this holiday time.  To celebrate the risen Christ who died the death we deserved to redeem us.  May you all be blessed this coming month of April and enjoy your family.

My dear husband Kerry had a small turn in church yesterday.  He was carted off in the ambulance to be checked over and praise God, he is absolutely fine.  A bit dehydrated and the Dr kindly told him he had suffered from "older person stuffy church syndrome" (if only you could hear me laughing here).  It's a fact, they had had several cases that morning and it happens on a regular basis on hot days and not enough air circulation.
However, it has made both of us realise how quickly life can be changed.  One minute Kerry was standing beside me singing, then he sat down and in 30 seconds was totally out for the count.  I am very appreciative of having him beside me still.  Go give your "dear old stick" a kiss and be thankful too.

Hugs and blessings to you all and thanks so much for stopping by.

Clare

I'm linking to Cynthia's blog here and Rainbow Scrappy here
Also Confessions of a Scrap Addict here

Wine Country Quilt Exhibition and more scraps...

It's almost upon us, our 5th biennial exhibition Wine Country Quilts up at Pukeora Estate that showcases the wonderful skills and creativity of quilters from the east coast of the lower North Island.from Gisborne down to the Wairarapa.  I know that there are going to be almost 200 quilts for you to look at, so do make sure you come if you have the chance.  It's open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so lots of opportunity to get here.  The website is here and will give you all you need to  know.  I will be up there working on the Janome stand over the weekend.

Having recovered from my cold, I have tried to keep up with the 365 challenge but have not made much of an impact as yet. I have been trying to at least cut out the fabric for each block, but am still a little behind.  I did make one block yesterday, but here is my pathetic February tally.  Oh well, catch up will happen some time. Lovely little plastic bags with their appropriate dates written on them look very impressive, but they are not much until sewn up.

Then I was a very good girl and made this quilt my Tuesday project, and now it is almost a quilt top.  It is for my daughter Rebecca, and I just need to put the black frame and outside border on..  Quilting will hopefully happen sooner rather than later.

I am very happy with the way it has come out, plus it is a stash reduction project, as this has been waiting for quite some time to become a quilt. Now what to work on next?  So many choices of things that need finishing, but I am fighting the urge to start something new and different.  Smack the hand and get back to moving these older projects out. Maybe a little something new, but using stash could satisfy the urge do you think?
Actually the most worrying thing about this quilt exhibition at the weekend is there will be quite a few  merchants that will have the most tempting morsels of fabric.  Oh dear, got to work on my will power.

Look what I've got now.  A real bathroom (well almost) as it doesn't have the washing machine beside the loo, and a real laundry room.  Whoop de doo.  I am ecstatic and can't believe how big both these rooms are.  Kerry has make a neat unit with the old set of drawers from the kitchen sink unit and now we have storage all over the place and somewhere to put the baskets and all sorts of other general stuff!!!!

In the bathroom we are going to install a wet floor shower, but that is last on the list, although the list is getting much, much smaller.  Kitchen is now in use and has only the tiles to go.  I am loving it and Kerry has done a wonderful job.  Wow, how awesome it is to use the dishwasher after looking at it for about 8 months.







And lastly, here is a shot of one of my entries in the show.  I forgot to take one of it once finished and bound, so will do that when I get it back.  Will tell you the story then too.

That's it for now, hope you are having a great week, and hopefully I will see some of you up at the exhibition.  I hope you continue to enjoy your creative journey with great enthusiasm and receive wonderful satisfaction from seeing something come to life in your hands.  Enjoy your family and take time to smell the flowers too. If you have no flowers, fresh air is just as good, as it is a blessing to have fresh air in some parts of the world.

Thanks for stopping by.
Blessings
Clare
linking to Oh Scrap  here
rainbow scrappy here and
Confessions of a Scrap Addict here