Using up bits

Last night at the committee meeting for our quilting club we were talking about 'charity' quilts. Not a term I like but I do like what it means - giving quilts to those who need comfort - the comfort of something physically soft and snuggly, and the comfort of knowing something was made with love. Quilts fulfil both of these types of comfort.
It got me thinking about what I had in my stash that I could whip an emergency quilt with, and I remember the 7,000,000 charm squares I've been hoarding. Yay! A rummage through them for all the florals and a sort into colour values and I came up with this. Finished, it will be a queen size quilt. since taking the pic I've moved a few squares around in the middle.
So, tell me, what am I using as a border? Do I use one fabric, or graduate it through colour values like the squares? I have a bunch of fat q's in a black background, very fine floral that may do it, but ideas are welcome! And lace, is it that kind of quilt? Help me!
It feels good to make a small dent in the charm collection!

What the Embroidenator has been up to

Remember my clever mother and the beautiful needle case she made me? It came about because she made herself one and I lusted after it in a most obvious way.
The other night at our sewing group I took a couple of shots of it.

Isn't it gorgeous!! Birds are her other favourite thing after flowers, and I think these are fairy-wrens because of their cute little tails, and that I know she adores them.

Why so quiet?

So much to share, so much to show off! The apartment is looking gorgeous and I've got a quilt, some presents and all kinds of other things to show. HOWEVER, our camera is nearly flat and can we find the charger? No we can't! So, I have finally given up and bought a new one. When it arrives and the camera is ready to roll again, I promise to be more interesting.
It's the award ceremony for the Plain English Awards tomorrow night. I've got my frock sorted out, still not sure what to do with the hair though. Luckily I am on stage for the first two awards only, so I can get it over and done with, and enjoy the rest of the night. :)

On Productivity, Puppies and Pinkness

A few weekends ago I headed up north a short distance to a wonderful craft retreat centre with some like minded guild members. There we sewed up a storm, gossiped, got fed and looked after and helped one another out on various projects.
As a result, it was a very Productive weekend. I started with two quilts with the tops cut and went home with both completely finished even to the binding (although one I had to hand stitch that night), a smaller baby floor quilt, and a new teacosy and pot mit set.
The quilt I want to show in this post is all about Puppies and Pinkness. Two extremely important qualities to its five year old destination. As she knows that she is getting something pink and puppy covered but not what, the heat is on to get it to her! :)

Here are the lovely Jacqui and Shirley pinning it out for me on the floor. Watching these two I learnt a lot about pinning out a quilt! For those who don't quilt, pinning out is where you lay out the three layers (back, batting and top) and pin them through with safety pins so they can be quilted.

And here it is, completed. Pinned, incidentally, to the huge design wall in my new studio. :) Instead of an inset inner border, I went with a 3cm wide chocolate satin ribbon. It's even mitred!

This is the back. I have recently got my head around the idea of 'using things up', especially extras left over from the front and bits of fabric. The only fabric I had to add to what I already had was the pink marble at each end. A gorgeous pieced back, and me not having yet another bundle of fabric left over. Yay!!

Detail. I love every one of these fabrics. All dogs and puppies. I love the chocolate with the pink too.

So there you have it, one pretty, pink, poodly and puppy strewn quilt. :)

My excuse!

We're moved. That was the easy bit. Unpacking all the boxes is the hard part!

This end of the living room is even worse than the one I am flaked out in! (MrC is taking photos from the stairs)

The studio is so solid with boxes, I can't imagine ever being able to sew in it.

The funny thing is that the amount of boxes totally overrepresents the amount of our stuff - the packers use so much paper and bubble wrap, each box is easily a third just that.

mind you many of the boxes in this last pic are fabric and things that don't break and are chocka. Hmm.

Anyway, am I excused for not being a good little blogger?!

I am Versatile, it's official! :)

How cool is this! The wonderful Dreamstress  gave me this award a while ago and I'm sorry it's taken so long to put it up and post something :) This morning is the first time since P2P I feel like I've been able to just sit and blog.

Anyway, I have to tell you seven things about myself and nominate 15 blogs to give it to. I don't even know of 15 blogs so I will do my best!

Seven things about MrsC

1. I love RED. Almost every shade of it. I love to wear it, to live surrounded by it. I find it soothing and inspiring. The only thing better than red, is red and gold together. The bedroom in our previous apartment. Red, gold, maximalism :)

2. I love PURPLE. I love to wear purple, but not so much to live surrounded by it. I got married in purple velvet (among other fabrics and colours) and I love red and purple together. My favourite shades of purple are the redder ones, like royalty wear, although I am also fond of ultraviolets.

Yes it is very, very dark purple silk/rayon velvet. My many attendants (the joys of stepkids and nieces) wore cherry burgundy velvet, among other fabrics and colours.

3. My favourite roses as in the kind you buy cut from a florist not the kind you plant in a garden, are Leonidis and Bluebell (although I think it's odd to name one flower after another!) They are the roses in my wedding bouquet and in my hair. Leonidis is the terracotta one, Bluebell the deep burgundy one.

This image is a little fiddled with in photoshop, and it is the background on my PC.

4. I recently remet my first boyfriend (17) and was rather touched to find how I had it right the first time. He is lovely and very like my husband. I did spend most of the intervening 20 years with the wrong kinds of blokes. Like many fairly smart people, I can be a slow learner...

5. I love weather. I love hail, wind, rain, scorching sun, warm or cool breezes, the whole gambit of it. I would hate to live somewhere where the weather never really did much. I like weather with personality! No wonder I love Wellington and Christchurch! People in these cities talk about the weather because it is interesting, not because they have nothing else to talk about :)

6. Is it a cheat to include the revealing truth that I am a maximalist? Maximalism is a movement my friend Terry and I invented, shocked that it didn't exist already. Minimalists have had all the press. Maximalists believe that "More is More". A maximalist believes that you should add something, not take something away. The mistake minimalists always make when they judge and dismiss a maximalist piece is that it is chaos. IT IS NOT. It is much harder to make something work when it has many components. Well, I would say that wouldn't I..

7. I love Art Nouveau. I suspect that this really is a cheat as of course a hard core maximalist would love Art nouveau. I also love the Arts and Crafts movement.

Right now though I have to run away! I will nominate some wonderful blogs for a versatility award very soon :)

I'm still here!

Sorry my devoted readers, to neglect you for so long. Life has been...textural...lately.
Best news is that we are now the proud owners of one gorgeous inner city apartment, converted from 1920's warehouse and with covered parking. All miracles. The complementary news is that we are soon not to be the owners of our lovely townhouse, and the upshot of course is that the contents of House B need to be moved to Apartment A, but not before the contents of House B have been scrutinised for ongoing relevance in our downsized life, and dispatched to new homes, hopefully occasionally with shekels changing hands.
So, because I have gorgeous photos taken for online listing, I am devoting this post to House B. It is not its fault that it is too far and uphill from the city. We will miss the tuis singing in the trees, the quiet and peace and loveliness of its setting.

This is our front view. We fell in love with the cute cottageyness of the place

Sunspots through the cabbage tree - MrC gets artistic :)

I love this view from our landing down into the front hall. The long interior window is all that is left of the original and unnecessary kitchen door. Reclaiming the space allowed the magic to happen within.

Our dining area with the famous WLW (World's loudest wallpaper). I like this is as it shows the library dresser my Dad made, the chest I painted and the chair I had powder-coated and recovered, twice now.

The other end, living room. It is bigger than it looks but it is not big.

You've seen this room even if you don't realise it - it used to be my studio. Who'd have guessed that under all those cupboards and shelves there lurked a tranquil, tasteful master bedroom? I am very proud of this bed - it is a blow up queen mattress balanced on a bookcase lying on its back, still full of books. Anyone sitting on it would have ended up on the floor with a duvet flung over their head hehehe.

Ironically, the new owners are running their business for this room and they are in the sewing machine business!

The inner sanctum - our room. You can't properly see our dear little chandelier. I love the curtains in this room, the fabric is so William Morris and it was a bargain from D Alexanders back when Doug was still there *sob sob*. Still, party of the fun of a new place is choosing new stuff. And I've already done most of that!

the view UP from the landing to the upstairs. Our room to the right, bath straight ahead, spare room to the left. It shows off the lovely paintings my M-i-L gave us as a wedding present. I had them framed and the Chinese couple who own the framers were amazed a westerner wanted gold mounting. But it suits the style :)

So, that's what we're giving up. when I get some good photos of Apartment A, I will post. It is about to get a semi makeover so that should be interesting!