Taking a breather from….

my cursed office work – namely my GST return. I spent most of yesterday afternoon on it, and when it didn’t balance, I checked every entry – 3 times - still no good. By this time about 3 hours had passed and I was getting one of those “STRESS” headaches.
I decided enough for the day, so left the office, and went down to the house and sewed a very easy Nearly Insane block. Amazing how the headache went and I forgot all about the GST.
Sometime very early this morning when the wind outside forced me to get out of bed and close the window, I decided I would delete all yesterdays work and start again, which I did, and now alls good! 
So, I can show you all the blocks I have made in the last couple of weeks.
This was the nice easy one I did after a stressful day.

Block 13

Block 7
Cut one piece a bit short at the bottom, but I’ll have enough to fudged it when sewing together.


Block 26


Nice and Easy

 

Block 36

I never noticed until now that two of the green diamonds go the wrong way. Grr! 
Or are they?

Block 42

This was an absolute pain to do as I kept sewing the strips together the wrong way around. I didn’t just do it once, but at least 3 times. Then after piecing the centre I had the two vertical rows of geese going away from the centre instead of towards it. Ah well….
 

Block 66      
I really like this block.
 

Block 60 –
Another nice one. I’m trying to have my colours not too drab.

 

Block 48
This one is a bit different. Some of the blocks are so easy, and some are very difficult.



Block 54

I really like the star blocks. I think they are my favourite.

 
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I Know I Shouldn’t Have BUT…..

 

I was checking out my friend Linda’s blog and came across her Friendship Medallion Quilt. This is a free pattern put out by the Australian quilt shop, The Patchwork Pumpkin.

They are offering the medallion quilt pattern,  with a few strings attached. They are:

1. You are not allowed to purchase any fabrics for the quilt top. You must use your stash!

2. You may swap fabrics with your friends.

3. Show us your quilt centre to get the next border instructions. No proof? No pattern. No exceptions!

Now, knowing I have so much OLDER fabric I would love to use up, I decided to venture forth…nothing ventured, nothing gained – except maybe another UFO or WIP.

I think I’ll be making this out of a mixture of old and new, Country and Bright. I’m sure it’ll all go together O.K.

Now to get the second part

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Civil War …

I am dodging my way around…..between Dear Jane Blocks, my Civil War Blocks and my Nearly Insane Blocks. I set myself a target of having my NI quilt finished this time next year, but I think its too big an ask. :-)
I have finished these Civil War Blocks. I am abit behind with these so have to be more focused.haha!

Civil War Block – 27 Irish Chain

 

Civil War Block 31 Empty Spools

Civil War Block 32 – Carolina Lily

I wanted to make this flower in Yellow, but now I find its the only block with yellow in my collection, so I’ll have to add some yellow to the next blocks.

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A new blog added..

I have added a new blog - Sue's Dear Jane Journey. If you click on the picture on the side, it will go to my Dear Jane posts.
Sue :-)



http://www.susannasquilts.blogspot.com

Really Bad Weather…

Unbelievably cold, very windy and raining here in Auckland where I live.
I got up this morning to find the rose pruning's, which I hadn’t as yet gotten rid of, blown all over the lawn, and the rubbish bin upside down in the garden.
This photo is of Wellington, the capital city of N.Z. which is about 5 hours south of where I live. They don’t usually get snow there.  We have a cold wintery blast coming from down South.






Anyway, a good day to share with you the work I have done this last week.
I got stuck in once again with my Nearly Insane Blocks, and have managed to make these.

Block 12



Block 24



Block 30
 

 I might have to make an alteration to this block as it turned out wrong. I should have had the pink triangles on one side going the other way.
 

Not too sure about this one as the colour in reality is very black.  Might be too dark.


And, last but not least is Block 18
This took me 3 days on and off – 229 pieces

As I am writing this we are having a hail storm. The weather here in Auckland is the coldest apparently for 50 years. Brrr….but wait - now the sun is trying to shine.

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I Spent a Happy Day…

last Saturday, with 14 friends each making our own version of a tessellating quilt. The one we made was from the book called “Square Dance” by Martha Thompson. It is so much fun to make, although a little tedious sewing all those squares together.



I made mine using 6” squares from my stash ( hurrah – a bit more used up) After sewing them altogether, you re-cut using a template drawn from the book. After the blocks are re-cut they are so forgiving to sew back together as all the seams are on the bias.  You loose about a third in Size I was told – in actual fact I measured Before and after, and my squares plus first border measured 78”. After re-sewing it measured approx. 58”.


Sorry it wasn’t held very straight ( it’s hard to get good help these days – haha)
Its small for me, although I still have a couple of borders to add, and I wanted this little quilt as a quilt for my bed, when I go to Retreats.

I also found a top in my collection, that needed to be quilted so I did just that for my MIL who is 93.


Below are a few photos of my friends tessellating quilts

 

As you can see they are all looking good. The two on the right were made with 10” squares.
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On A Lovely Winters Day…

a couple of weekends ago a friend and I went to a Quilt Show of one of the many smaller groups in Auckland.
The Show was really lovely and the morning/afternoon tea, which was provided by the quilters was divine. There’s no doubt that quilters can also bake!
I took photos of some of the quilts, but sorry am not sure who made them. 
You’ll see some of the quilts look a bit elongated, as I couldn’t get far enough back to take the photos, so some of them are taken on a bit of an angle. Unfortunately I’ve also missed off a few borders, but you can get the general idea that they were lovely.
 


 

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I think these two cushions were part of a challenge.  







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