Stitching on...

in this very hot weather.  We had 35 C yesterday and I'm afraid we just huddled inside with the air conditioning on.  It has never been my thing - hot sunny days at the beach.  I'm an autumn, spring sort of girl and don't even mind winter that much.  Mind you, compared to some places our winters are very mild.

I have managed to do a little stitching though, and have all the blocks made on the Craftsy BOM 2013.  Now just to figure out how to put it together and what colour joining strips I'm going to use.  The HST border does nothing for me, so I'm planning on a small frame then outer border.

I'm really happy with the colours in this quilt.  They are mostly hand dyed fabrics from a class we held at our shop quite a number of years ago.  I had been looking for a project for ages and the 2011 Shop Hop fabric my pal Barbara in Kansas sent me was perfect.  Mind you, lots left over yet and keep thinking a 9 patch would be lovely too.
Then about 10 days ago I fluffed around with these 4 patches in a vain attempt to join in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for January. The colour was purples, so I  took all of my purple scrap 2" squares that were already cut, and stitched the whole lot up into these patches...now what!   LOL.

It was such fun, but I must not let them become another UFO!!

At Tuesday Chat today, Lynn brought along her gorgeous Hexagon quilt that she has finished.  Lynn did this as a BOM for the papers, but chose all the fabrics herself.  It is truly wonderful.

That's it for today.  The Tyson cat managed to get out of his collar overnight and now we are of 2 minds what to do with him.  His stitches had ripped open which is why he had the collar on after they were restitched.  Hoping it will heal this time without problems.  The shoulder is such a bad place for a cat.

Talk to you later.  Happy stitching.

Hugs and blessings
Clare
and I'm linking to Cynthia's here at Oh Scrap

Still Around and some Quilt photos

Hi there everyone,  so sorry for being away so long but my health has been a bit of a major issue lately.  After five days in hospital though I am like a new woman!!!  Feeling great, and dont expect to have any more hassles for a long time (I'm speaking severely to my gall bladder as I type!)

Have quilted a couple of small quilts only, and forgot to take some photos, so posting a couple of oldies for you to look at.  I have loaded a gorgeous medallion quilt today but didn't get started as my brain did not want to co-operate at all, so felt I should not even try to quilt.  Tomorrow I will be into it.

Hope you are all very well and avoiding all those horrible winter ailments.  If you are in summer, don't forget the sunscreen!!  It is so exciting watching the trees starting to bud up and the bulbs pushing their way through the cold ground.  Spring is getting ready to burst through!!

This was the Shop Hop quilt I designed in our last year of trading as a patchwork shop.This photo is unquilted...forgot to take one of the whole thing quilted.  I quilted this one on my Janome Horizon 7700 just to prove you can do a large quilt on it.  Didn't like all the handling of the quilt of course as I am spoilt by my longarm.  This quilt  now adorns the bed in our guest room.

I never did like the quilting in the vase...it's too crooked, but as always I was under pressure to get it finished in time and it has stayed crooked!!

This was one of my all time favourite Shop Hop quilts as it uses Kaffe Fassett fabric.  It was very bright and colourful and I gave it to my close friend who just adored it.

Definitely delicious, dont you agree.  And last but not least, this was our Block of the Month featuring New Zealand fabrics.  My friend Maria Travers from Masterton designed it exclusively for us and it was most successful.  It is a favourite quilt of mine.

So there you go my friends, a bit of a walk down memory lane for me, and a heads up to you all that I am still in the land of the living.
We are now anxiously awaiting the arrival of our 16th grandchild as Mum has gone into early stages of labour today.  We are so looking forward to the joy of a new child to join our family, and Mum is deciding on what colours she would like for this one's quilt.  It will help to soothe the pain of our loss of one of our wee twins...went to sleep and woke up in heaven.  Your prayers for the Mum would be lovely.

May you have an awesome weekend.  Don't forget to make time for those you love while you have time to love them.

God bless,

Clare