Golly Gosh!

This block is one of the delights of a woollen quilt I bought several years ago from a second hand shop in the Hutt.   All they could tell me was that they got it as part of the contents of a farmhouse in Hawkes Bay.




When they were small, my granddaughters thought this was a spaceman.

The whole quilt, actually not a true quilt as there is no lining, is backed with what appears to be curtaining fabric.


I would say it was a kitset but the maker then added a couple of embroideries of her own - one is this kiwi!

There is also a Father Christmas -

 Together with a Christmas tree, decorations and presents -

And the last two I want to show in detail are a dutch girl -

And lastly a little doll of a girl -

So here's the whole thing - I do wish I knew more about who made it and who was it made for.....

It was featured in the New Zealand Quilter magazine some time ago and we so hoped someone who knew about it would see it and get in touch.  Anyway, it has found a good home with me!

I have found time to do some stitching.  I finished piecing the red/black/white blocks, went through the scraps to piece one more and am presently sewing them together - the wind blew many of them off the design wall so they really will be totally random when joined as well as when constructed!

There had to be one mistake, didn't there -

and I did unpick and correct it.

This is a pleasant block to piece, I use the method of making flying geese with the large square and four small ones.







In my tidying up and scrap sorting by size to start with  - I'm not sure if I can face colour sorting as well at this stage, I came across a pile of small squares - obviously samples because they are all plaids and stripes.  I have vague recollections of getting them, possibly on one of my trips to the UK when my nieces took me to some bargain type places.

Anyway, I love using squares and am at present wondering about a sixteen patch with an unpatched plaid..........

Just an idea, but it has possibilities.........

Oh, and to close please some assistance - what is this plant?  it's another bird borne freebie.

I thought at first it was borage, but has no strong scent to the leaves - I had to prop up the flower as its natural position is bending over.  Isn't it lovely?

The evening is young yet and I intend to continue hand quilting, the end is in sight, and I have many TV programmes on the hard drive to watch and skip through the adverts - that way I get to watch several programmes in the one evening.

I think I shall look elsewhere for some quotes, my Girl Guide diary is somewhat uninspirational - and not particularly funny either!  Today it reminds us that "Success requires pains and brains".

Nice talking to you, and welcome to my new followers.

June

Summer? and more tidying up

Everywhere I look these days I see the beautiful pohutukawa trees, and the local primary school has adopted it for a logo - how appropriate.

It is indeed an emblem of summer, though since the beautiful weather we had on Christmas Day, it has been a trifle cooler and then wet yesterday - my fault, I watered the garden the evening before!

The last time we spoke I was struggling to make sense of a mish mash of blocks that I had unearthed on one of my dives into the storage drawers.

When I found them, they looked like this -

The basic idea is good, sashed four patch blocks in sizes that would fit together..............in the end I managed to make a sort of order -

Squinting at it improves the overall effect!!  If I put some polar fleece on the other side, the cats will love it!

In the same drawer was a pile of blocks and the pieces to make more, it is of a definite colour scheme, red/white/black - I showed a top I made earlier as a sort of strippy, not sure how I shall put these together.

I just love the way the block looks so different depending on where the light and dark fabrics are placed - if you remember, this block was one that my friend Yvonne from Picton showed me [how long ago Yvonne?] you cut all four pieces from each fabric you plan to use, label them a,b, c & d and put them into different bags.  Then you shake the bags and take out one piece from each and these are the one that go to make your block.  Totally random - and if I picked out the same fabric for piece a and d, well that was the luck of the draw.........

There are twenty five blocks on the wall, and fifteen more waiting to be stitched - maybe sashing with sort of stars for cornerstones, or an alternate block - snowball?.......... and while I am working this one out, what shall I do with all the little squares which are two patch blocks at present, from using them as starters and enders.

The carton is quite deep - I have already made one large quilt from these blocks which I showed some time ago;  I am leaning towards 'square in a square' using a plain fabric and a tartan - then staggering the setting............

I have been watching dvds while I sew, both musicals - in the lounge I wallowed in La Vie en Rose, the life story of Edith Piaf - what a terrible childhood she had! I just love her voice - hey ho, ITunes, here I come!

In my sewing room I've been watching "Carmen Jones" with Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Bellafonte, made in 1954 - my, how time flies!  I had the lp, my kid brother and I bought an electric record player  to share which was in constant use.  I found I was still word perfect!

I'm not quite sure when these vintage fabrics were made, probably about then -

The fabric is a shiny polished cotton with that lovely crisp feel - and you thought black and white and lime green was a modern combination!

This next piece is a quilt pattern on its own!

Thank you for your comments and emails, the thought today isdesire" "For the thing unknown there is no desire- or another version, "What the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't grieve over" - or maybe not!

Nice talking with you
June