And then there was yellow and green

There were two other small quilts that I finished last week for part of the work of our small quilt group - yellow, I was thinking of the song lyric "through fields of gold"

and green - both were an experiment in using light weight over lay fabrics for contrasting texture and were drawn from fabrics in my scrap bag. They were both made quickly without too much over thinking. Just do it quickly and see what happens.We always say that they don't have to be an opus - and these truly prove the point! I felt that they weren't nearly as interesting as the embellished indigo which is still a favourite, even one week on.

We had a spectacular day here in Wellington on Saturday. Sunny and, dare I suggest it, warm. I had a fiend visiting from Auckland, where she tells me it has rained every weekend since May. She was so bowled over by the sunshine that she literally lost her footing, blinded by the unexpected sunlight. She was teased mercilessly, as we told her (somewhat tongue in cheek) that it is always like this around here.
As the Tui ad would say, yeah right!

Reveal night tonight

for my small quilt group - here is the piece I'm most pleased with - a reworking of the embellished indigo, since I failed the colour side of the challenge last time.

I feel a new journal cover coming on. It's made me think that I might start playing with a few of the other older / precious fragments of fabric that I have hidden away to bring them into a new lease of life. This could be a fun idea to play with over time I think....so many ideas, so little time.

I didn't dare tell my friends this idea tonight - not after the lecture I got that I was to concentrate on nothing but the wedding quilt until it was done. Oh well, I always think confession is good for the soul!

Starting Something New

Not before time, I am getting onto my major outstanding project of the year - a wedding quilt for my brother who marries in December in Townsville. Significant progress has finally been made - I have started pulling fabrics and decided on the colour scheme (more vibrant than they appear here) in a murky pallet of blue, brown, gold and green...and I've settled on the pattern - a simple Kaffe Fassett which will highlight some of the focus fabrics which were chosen by my almost-sister in law. The fabrics she choose were two by Lonni Rossi and they are pretty fabulous. No further hints on the pattern at the moment though - some things have to be kept secret to protect the surprise for the recipients.

I love starting something new - it puts a real spring in my step, so to speak! Now if I could only manage a few more concentrated days up in front of the sewing machine....

I've also been most productive in my small quilts for our fortnightly group. I have three almost finished this weekend - green, yellow, and a repeated attempt at embellished indigo. All will be posted after the big reveal on Wednesday....

Spring was in the air...

This feels almost like being in the confessional - spring was definitely in the air yesterday, after what feels like weeks and weeks of non stop rain - and what did I do? Walk in the sunshine, drinking it all in... No. I escaped to the room that houses my sewing machine and fabric (but not the quilt room you understand - that causes angst in the family!) and had a bit of a play. It was so much fun....

I made a cover for my inspiration journal - I've been jotting things down and sticking things in it very dutifully all year and this weekend it was finally full. So in celebration I decided it needed a special cover of its own, featuring some of the things that have occupied so much of my mental and creative space so far this year - recycled jeans and those wonderful Andy Goldsworthy curves. I also thought this was a very suitable use of my work in progress from my small art quilt group. One of my sons decided that it was so cool that it just had to go on the blog. Such enthusiasm from a 9 year old!I did do some other things too - I made a hanging sleeve for a school quilt that has sat around the house for far too long (delivered dutifully to the school this morning) and I also started pulling out fabrics for the next quilt on the list - a wedding quilt for my brother and prospective sister in law who are marrying in December. Nothing like a bit of pressure.

Finally today I got out into the sunshine for my walk to work - it made me grin just like the sculpture below, which is known in our family as "my old friend,Mr Banana".
It is next to our Houses of Parliament - some things with family names are just too difficult to explain.....

Beware the Plague House

Bit of a slow week here with our flirtation with 'Plague House' status again rearing its ugly head. Just when I thought I would have all children off to school this morning and a chance to get down to a few of the things I've been delayed on, its come back again for one unlucky victim....such is life in an active family. Thank goodness the Olympics are about to start to at least give some interesting tv viewing for the ill and respite for caregivers!!

One thing I have done this week is spend a fair bit of time on the internet trying to research my most recent apron purchase. I have found a handful of similar ones on Flicker and for sale on sites in the US - they are still a bit of a mystery but in the few places that they are written up they are referred to being souvenir aprons from Portugal and probably made during the 50's tor 60's. I'm not completely convinced - maybe a in depth study trip to Portugal would help me get to the bottom of this....

There was one particularly attractive black apron that I was almost tempted to buy that I found here - http://www.vintagefancy.com/catalog/item/2379577/4006762.htm - my daughter was very taken with it and fancied the idea of us wafting down to the shops together in our Portuguese aprons to give the neighbourhood a real treat. Only a little more intensive effort and I shall soon have her as eccentric as me!

In between coming up with up with plans for the Portuguese trip I'm gazing at the pink apple blossom in the garden, in between the down pourings of rain, and dreaming of the coming of spring.....

Lastly - thanks to those who commented on my knitting bag in the last post. Both the maker and I were very pleased with the compliments, given my husband is horrified to have it in the house! Just goes to show you can't please all the people, all of the time.