Halifax, sew & flip and cats

This is  a little magnet I bought in Halifax, Canada in 1987 - so the chip is understandable - it sits on the side of my fridge and I loop the handle of a little flax kete onto it, in which I put the pencil I need to write my shopping list.

And you need to know this why? I hear you thinking - well it's all to do with the great blogging community; I looked at one of my regular blogs, saw a link that looked interesting and then saw one that was headed something to do with the waterfront in Halifax - so I just had to have a look.

Linda has similar tastes in quilting and the magic connection is Halifax.  Back in 1987 I did a round the world trip to see my brothers and sisters as both our parents had died since my previous visit and then I went onto Canada to stay three weeks with the woman who had been my very Best Friend all through school in England.  We had lost touch after her divorce and then re-connected.  The trip was arranged so that I could have as many stopovers as I wanted, provided I kept going west.

I'll tell you more about it later and I hope to have some photos because I met up with a quilt group in the village of Selsey where I used to live, they gave me an introduction to a quilter in Halifax who gave me one to a quilter in Montreal................

To quilts now, the Four plus three quilt I explained last time is a variation of the Exquisite block, the latter has a sew and flip on opposite corners not just on the one.  This is one I teach in my class, my sample is another flower garden -

Then later I teamed the block with a four patch for this result -

Halifax was the first place I saw antique quilts for sale, I was just blown away - and right at the end of my trip I found THE antique quilt in Toronto, no question I had to have it - three cheers for plastic fantastic.  I will get a photo and show later.

Believe it or not this next photo has a link to Canada too - here is Basil showing his large tail which is the reason for his name, Basil Brush, sitting on the "Tree Skirt" under the Christmas tree -

That is actually a skirt - see the patchwork around the bottom? In those days I was a size 12 which is why I now have found another use for it!  I bought it at Suttles and Seawinds - the most amazing quilt shop in ****Bay - I shall have to look it up.  The shop took up an entire house, upstairs and downstairs - I wonder if it is still there.

Just so Floyd doesn't feel left out, here he is helping himself to a feed when I left the lid open - I had only turned around to fill his plate, but hey, why make do with a little plate when you can have the whole lot!

Here's one of the tops I made when I started sewing again nearly three years after my husband died.  I moved my sewing machine upstairs to the dining room table, got out my scraps and started piecing.  My son called round and was horrified to see me joining lots of tiny little pieces, he was quite sure quilts should be made of big pieces - I had plenty of them, didn't I!

The thing is they were all the bits left over from using five inch squares so I sorted them into similar lengths.  I started with the row four from the right - yes they are tiny.  Here is a detail

As the pattern is a version of Chinese coins, I call it Pounds, shillings and pence - or Lsd for short!

Such excitement in Petone earlier today, a convoy of flag bedecked cars drove along Jackson Street, horns blaring - Samoan supporters were on the move!

The weather here today was so good, you really can't beat Wellington on a good day!  I could have done some gardening, but managed to find enough to do elsewhere.......

I must have known what the thought for today is, "Systematic thinking must precede action."

Thanks for dropping by, good talking to you
June