Don't mention the weather!

Phil took this photograph on Christmas Eve which prompted me to comment that Santa Claus should have a clear run!

Since then it's been so changeable! the poor orange monsters have taken a beating -

this is what they looked like before the latest storm, but not only did the strong winds toss the plastic recycling container around the porch, it almost flattened these plants - no photo, so you can remember them the way they were!

I have a friend in England who is horrified at the way my lawn looks -

You can see there is actual grass between the buttercups, right?  I have been conditioned from an early age by the books I used to read -

Almost an antique I suppose -

And perhaps you can guess what was my favourite flower?

To be honest, my lawns are mown every two weeks  - they just grow so fast at this time of year.

At a recent stitch-in, a friend had been given some partially made blocks, so she joined them to make a small quilt and I just happened to have some fabric of a similar vintage and colours -

and the view from the other side -

Unusual fabrics, aren't they?

There was one flower I rescued before the winds did too much damage,

  Beautiful, isn't it?  I love the shape of the petals and can accept the pink, it suits the shape and size I think.

I've been reading quilt magazines and enjoyed the Challenge of creative limitations written by Martha Waterman - she suggests ways we can do things differently as we are so lucky to have it made! as she puts it; computerised sewing machines, precision cutting tools etc.   We could change the time taken, number, size and cost of our quilts;  also the colour and method; maybe cut back on the use of piecing to half that on the previous quilt and so provide for more quilting in the 'open spaces' now available.

Does this sound familiar?  This particular article was published in Ladies Circle in 1990, and I'm sure the same things were being said when I started back in the seventies - just as long as we keep on quilting and pass on the baton......... whatever it takes to encourage young quilters!

I'll leave  you with another of Phil's photographs, a church in the Wairarapa - but what glorious clouds!

and the thought that Art is meant to disturb, science reassures, Georges Braque

Thanks for reading my blog,
Take care

June