Surfers, squares and Shut-ins

Phil put this on his Facebook page with the message that he had been out hunting sunsets on the Wainui coast the previous evening when the sun disappeared behind a big dark cloud - but the locals didn't seem to care!

Here are another two quilts made by Desdemona - well they are tops as yet but I showed them to a recent meeting, took the photos so I can give one to her.  The first one is a pattern she saw in one of the magazines we take in, it was shown as a wall hanging so she adapted it -

Very pretty and spring like, don't you think?  The second one is not yet complete, it will be larger but shows how she is prepared to try different patterns.

The block from my class I want to talk about is the square in a square, a tried and true favourite in many disguises; using five inch squares, it can come out like this

The centre square is cut at four inches, the pale one at four and a half then cut into four quarters, diagonally then I used two four inch squares, cut once on the diagonal so the straight of grain comes on the outer edge of the block - also using corners of different value can add interest to the setting.

Then I came across a rather odd technique to make a unit for use in several different blocks;  take two squares at four and a half inches and sew them together, right sides facing, round all four sides -

The instructions said to then slit one of the squares - well, I couldn't do that with any accuracy, so I cut the square diagonally into four, as you can see from the photo, pinned them together and then sewed around the outer edge.

When opened out it looks like this -

Next you need to take two four and a half inch squares, cut once each on the diagonal and join around the outside.

No, that's not a mistake - cutting off the corners of the first square I mean - can you see the faint chalk lines? well the whole purpose is to cut the whole thing in four for this unit -

That's just folded in half to show what it would look like -oops, it has to be folded again - no photo, but I'm sure you get the general idea! and as yet I've not made a quilt using this technique.........

I'm having problems with another top - remember the bright and white strippy?

I started quilting it by hand, but didn't like it - so I unpicked that quilting and tried again by machine, did four blocks and hated it! so, that was unpicked and I have now remade it into a sandwich using a different batting and am once more hand quilting it - the batting is much harder to quilt through, I think it's Warm and Natural....... I'll see how I go, funny how some quilts resist me - I shall have to take a leaf out of Ann's book [she who won the Great British Sewing Bee] and talk firmly to it!!

Today has been another glorious Spring? day, clear, calm - and bitterly cold!  very much like the day when Phil took these photos of Oriental Bay; I have shown you the ones of the old Band Rotunda taken actually on it, well here are two from the beach, the first from one side -

The same low, dark clouds are around and Petone, where I live, is over the harbour, past the point and keep going....

The setting sun and St Gerard's Monastery on top of the hill - great city I think.

Thanks for stopping by, no words of wisdom today - just, Go Team New Zealand!!!

June