New Quilt Fabric Selection.

It seems ages since I have had the delight of deciding on the colour scheme for a new quilt project. ( cause I've been using up scraps lately, I guess )

In May I'm doing a class at my P and Q group taken by Jill, one of our experienced quilters. I have seen her finished quilt made in blues and browns. ( pale blue to navy and cream to dark brown ). It is to be made in 2 colour ways so which 2?

Well, I've made red and green, and last year about this time I did yellow and blue and recently purple and green. I'm giving the purple and green little quilt away so maybe make another similar......... ah decisions. Another younger quilter, Helen, in our group, has her fabrics selected and cut ready - she decided dark wine reds and creams; they looked yummy!
We have to have ready cut fabric in 2 colour ways about 15 different of each - now my stash can't manage that so after seeing what I had I visited The Barnhouse to purchase fabric. I went with 2 possible colour schemes in mind and had it quickly made up because one just wasn't possible - very few teal coloured fabrics. So purple and olive green it is. Not bright green this time; olive to khaki or slime coloured greens.
I still haven't got 15 different of each but am working on it. Seeing the photos here helps. I can see I need more very dark green and very ,very light.
The photos show the fabrics I already had that were possibilities and the one with the brown background shows the NEW fabrics I got. Of my stash fabrics there are 3 piles; the ones at the front are large yardage, the 3 on the left are fat quarters and ones on the right slightly less than a fat quarter. I love what I have picked so far.Now I'm off to wash, iron and then begin cutting!

Meantime I am still patiently machine quilting the Fun Flowers quilt. I've only done about a quarter so far.
During this very wet week we had a rain event ( as they are now calling them ) on Tuesday afternoon ( more than 6 inches in a couple of hours )that caused a Big Mess, minor flooding which left debris and head sized rocks and the house gutters just couldn't cope.(R has cleared most of it away with the tractor grader blade ) I have photos but decided they were a bit depressing and it is fine again now so fabric pics were much nicer.
Other stuff - No buyers!
( photos enlarge by clicking ) ( do you like my colour choice???)
Happy quilting my friends. ( or blogging or reading Molly! )

Quilting Retreat.

16 ladies from my Patchwork and Quilting Group stayed over for 2 nights at Retreat. Others joined us for the day on Saturday. The weather was sunny and warm and in one photo I took you can see the group who took an early morning walk along the beach at Papamoa ( towards Te Puke on Saturday and towards the Mt. on Sunday ). It was lovely to stay by the sea and as one of my room mates likes the window wide open at night I fell asleep to the sound of breakers crashing in on the beach.

We all provided the food so of course there was far too much eating but it was yummy. ( women / mothers all take a little extra just in case ).

On Friday night we all did the obligatory set project - usually a fiddly challenge and this was no exception. Everyone sitting around the long table joking and story telling while we worked. The resulting row of "wee Mirrie Bell Noel" dolls or fairies or angels can be seen sitting on the piano next day. Mine has purple hair.

I took 3 projects to finish with me. The hand quilting on the little purple and green quilt got completed. The Fun Flowers is now at the sandwiching stage and while we watched a video on Saturday night I stitched pentagons together to make another of my felt balls ( see my very early posts ).

It was ,as always ,a fun time and a time to get to know others better. The other photos show some of the girls working at their own projects. Unfortunately because I am taking the photos I am not in them. Maybe one of the others has one with me in.

We were so lucky with the weather because yesterday and again today we have much needed heavy rain. The Waikato and Taranaki, both areas desperate for rain, are getting some too but because this is the Bay of Plenty we are getting the most!

Found out the twisted scarf in my last post is a Moebius scarf - named after a mathematician .

Next Step.

Paula asked what I was going to do with the ric rac ( rick rack ).I have added it to the outside borders and will try out some leaves and even maybe some small flowers on it.The border and the sashing is navy blue -very dark and I felt it needed some softening; that's why leaves are going to overlap it in places. I always like parts of the quilt creeping into the borders.( still not sure about the leaves I have made. I will play some more )

DH has been busy putting a wooden edge along one side of the vegetable garden and levelling out a dip that always annoyed. He had sprayed out some pest grass in this area about 2 months ago.He then sowed new grass,rolled it and watered it.( sorry about the clothes line shadow in the shot - but can you spy the capsicums ripening ?)

The other photo shows a surprise gift I got in today's mail. I sent a friend in Oz some fabric she needed for a jar quilt and she sent me this ( mochins ? ) scarf as a thank you.I hadn't seen one like this before.The card has a lovely Waratah flower.

Tomorrow I am off to a weekend retreat with some of the ladies from my P and Q group.I will report on that early next week. I have 3 projects that need some finishing to take with me. Thanks for your comments everyone.

Quilting and Walking

Some progress is being made on my Fun Flowers quilt.The blocks are now put together with very dark blue sashing to form a trellis and I am trying out adding leaves ( just pinned so far ).Yesterday I got a few extra fun buttons for some of the flower centres.I also purchased 2 new tops as a little self reward( I needed them )after I had been and had a mammogram.

Younger son is now back in London. He went from lovely sunshine here to snow!

My good friend L who lives in Taupo had her goitre operation on Monday and is doing well , so that's good.

Some of you will have visited Sooziii's blog (listed on my side bar). My thoughts have been with her a lot in the last few days, as her dear husband Philip died on Saturday morning. RIP.

About the same time that was happening I was over at the Mt. on an errand for a friend and took my daily walk there - this time along the beach and out onto the blowhole.It was a fabulous day; not many folk about but I met other walkers and some folk fishing, 2 paragliders and some surfers.The photos show Mt. Maunganui from a different angle to the usual shots from the beach. It was a very low tide and rock pools were exposed and they are fun to peer into. I didn't spend long as I was walking but can never resist stopping to explore a little and take photos.One late Pohutukawa was still in flower and little bright yellow gazanias clung to the rocks.

Strawberry total now 240 and more to come.