Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Slowly coming back to normal

Hubby is still off work but seems to be past the worst of it, and now just coping with finishing off the last of his medication (which makes him sleepy) and that'll be the end of the allergic reaction saga.  Don't really want to go through that again in a hurry.  I feel a bit like I've been run over by a steam engine - but on the positive side, the washing pile which measured about 2m wide by 1m tall which was on my sofa has now been folded and put away!  Woohoo.  Should I tell you about the two piles still waiting in the kids bedrooms... well, they'll probably still be there tomorrow.

I have been plodding along with progress with the last instalment of the round robin quilt.  I received my new piece and contacted the maker by email requesting permission to show her quilt on my blog - and unfortunately haven't had any reply.  So I have photographed my work and the border done by Linda in Australia, and sorry there is a little bit of the original block, but not the whole thing.  So the instructions this month were to add the triangle borders to the block to turn it back to being square (as opposed to being on point).  The theme was something iconic from your country (where you live).  So I thought of kiwis, kauris, kiwifruit... OK, was getting a bit desperate - then thought of the buzzy bee toy which every NZ kid has at some point in their lives (to be honest - we never had one of these toys - but they are much more reasonably priced and available these days... as opposed to the olden days when I was a kid).  And this is the result so far... with the corners being different colours I'm planning to do something different on the blue corners (hubby suggested a tiki but I can't work out how it would fit attractively on a triangle - although a kiwi is the right shape, but I might just do a fern pattern), and may add a small straight border around the edge.

Raw edge fused applique so far - but I need to do some black blanket stitch
to (a) attach pieces permanently and (b) add some definition.  His eyes
turned out really impressive didn't they?

This cute wee star was foundation pieced by Linda in the preceeding border
- the pieces are tiny!
I have also been making great progress with my log cabin stars project.  As the blocks are so large I will end up with a queen size quilt very quickly.  I only have another 6 or so log cabin blocks to do to finish the 28 I need, and then there are 14 friendship stars (of which I've done one so far - but you've got to start somewhere). 

I should have turned the photo around first as it is laid out upside down...
does it really matter?
 It is very therapeutic doing the long stretches of machine piecing, and I love the fabrics.

This was one of the fabrics from the original fat quarter pack I bought.  Love it, had to
have it.  My theory is that if the colours work on a fabric - of course it is going to
work on your quilt.
Have I ever mentioned my sock fetish... don't you love these ones?

2 comments:

Rona said...

What a worry you must have had with your husband! I'm glad he is on the mend. Do you know what caused the allergic reaction?

Love your Buzzy Bee and the quilt you're making with *my* fabrics. I haven't started mine yet. Too busy getting stuff ready for the show next month.

Thanks for your comments on my quilts. :)

CathyD said...

I just received (opened) your email. sorry for the delay. I lOVE what i see and the bee is adorable. Cathy