A Wall of Yellow

for April RSC 

We're at the end of April, so that means no more yellow. It's a good thing, because all I have left are crumbs.

I made another two churn dashes and met my goal of 6 of these for the month. These are 9" unfinished.

Running low on larger pieces of yellow, so the centres of these are crumbs. 

I worked on the crumb blocks, and have 4 finished to the 10" size I want.......

and 6 with a couple of rounds still to go. I'm running out of long pieces and have been joining different fabrics.

I have a plan for these crumb blocks! 

And looking at all my yellow blocks together, it's been a productive month.

Yellowness!

I'm off to make a cake for afternoon tea.  Ginger! Yum! But I'll leave you with a picture of my very  supple supervisor.  I moved a new table into my sewing room for my lap top to sit on, and Neesa immediately took possession, making herself very comfortable.  Ah well, she'll get tired of it soon, and move on to somewhere else. 

Linking with SoScrappy RSC.  Go check out everyone's yellow projects.

Have a good week........

I'm ready!

for the knit-along 

Photo posted with kind permission of Say Little Hen

The weather's just right for finding the perfect ball of yarn, dusting off the knitting needles and finding a sunny spot to sit and knit.  

And Sarah at Say Little Hen  is more than happy to indulge us.  She has very kindly organised a knit-along to make one.....or as many as you like.....little mice. ..... Tea Mice! 

There's still time to join in if you're itching to get those needles clicking.  We start tomorrow, so it's too late to buy a kit from Sarah, but if you have some pretty yarn tucked away and a scrap of co-ordinating fabric, you're set to go. There's even time to pop out to your lys tomorrow, or duck into Spotlight if you need yarn and needles.  The pattern is easy, knitted flat and perfect for learner knitters and first timers, and you can find out how to purchase it and details of the knit-along here

I'm making mine in a soft golden yellow organic cotton that I had in my stash.   

If you not up for knitting mice, you could always just go have a look at Sarah's shop, she has lots of good things for sale there.

Photo posted with kind permission of Say Little Hen.

I can't wait to start.

Golden yellows

In the garden........

 

Lime yellow foliage

And beautiful bird attracting orange

Grevillia Honey Barbara

A golden chicken

Juno - majestic plymouth rock

We don't see the beautiful colours of autumn here in the sub-tropics that colder climates produce,  apart from some gardens that have Japanese Maples, but the flowers and shrubs that put on a show are just as vibrant and welcome.

And in my sewing room ...........

The afternoon sun......lovely and warm and bright, but without the bite and glare of summer

A growing pile of crumb blocks 

Only one churn dash this week, and what a one!  18" square with a 6"heart at it's centre. It was hard to get a good photo of it, the fabrics are very pale, but I like the stained -glass look. I wasn't concentrating when I was cutting this one, and made the background hst too small, so had to use a different yellow to the other background pieces. For me,this is what scrappy's about, using what's there, and as this quilt will be for me when it's finished I don't mind. I've since found a tutorial for a range of sizes of hearts, so I'll be using this again.

Finishing off today with my golden girl, who's still having some ear issues.  We're heading out to the garden now before the forecast afternoon rain and thunderstorms swoop in, me to finish some weeding and mulching, and Mirrhi to enjoy a bone. Perfect Sunday afternoon.

 Linking with So Scrappy Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Sunny yellow scraps

Only a little bit of scrap sewing this week, but enough to feel satisfied I'm keeping up with my scrappy goals.  Although I technically made 2 churn dashes, it counts as one block, since I made a nested churn dash.

I've always liked the look of these, and decided it was time to have a go.  Although I have plenty of yellow scraps,they're either long narrow strips, or small scraps, and not big enough to cut a good sized centre block, and so it seemed a good idea to make the centre a feature. The centre block is 4"square finished, and the total block is 8.5 "unfinished.

I  also made a start on some crumb blocks.

I felt I was getting a bit stale and boring with my scrap sewing, and browsing around the blogs featured on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Link-up, these Circle of Squares blocks on Kathy's Quilts Blog caught my eye, and so I made my first one this week......partly made as I haven't sewn the rows together yet. (pattern here) 

Kathy used the colour of the month for her backgrounds, but I didn't have enough of any one yellow to do that, decided white or off-white could be a bit ordinary, and then, having a good rummage, found some good size pieces of various greys that do the trick nicely, I think.  Kathy pieced her coloured pieces from crumb scraps, so I've tucked that idea away for next time.  Isn't Blogland wonderful for inspiration and ideas!

Linking up today with So Scrappy and ScrapHappy Day.  If scraps are your thing....or you'd like them to be.....check out these two scrappy links and you'll find lots of clever people doing wonderful things with their scraps.

.......till next time 

Here and Now .... new link-up fun to join in

..........and an update on my Mirrhi 

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post with messages of support and concern. Mirrhi's certainly feeling better, and is pretty much back to normal, enjoying being outdoors and rolling happily around on the grass with her ball.....a different girl to the one who could hardly lift her head last week. 

As for me, not so happy.  I finally tracked down the attacking dog's owner, and unfortunately she was belligerent, argumentative and downright unpleasant, actually commenting, amongst other things, that the attack was probably Mirrhi's fault as she's part-border collie!  Apparently this breed is 'stand-offish and unlikable' and because of this, her dog isn't keen on them, and has had a go at another border collie in the past. She also made demands about wanting to see photos of the injuries, to be sure they warranted vet treatment, and in a recent email, intimated she won't pay the bill if I don't take photos of her injuries, not taking into account that Mirrhi's ear is still swollen, bruised and sore. I'm left a little speechless ....unusual for me!

***

So onto more pleasant things and Here and Now.  I've just started following Sarah at Say Little Hen, and her blog is full of happy chattiness about things I love like gardening, knitting, chickens......and border collies!  Her here and Now link-up encourages us to stop and look around, to think about, savour and recognise all our little moments, happy and not-so.  

So here goes, my first Here and Now......

Homegrown papaya

Chai tea in the mornings

Weeds crowding out the fig tree

No weeds !  A blank canvas ready to plant up.

Loving //  The cool nights and mornings of early autumn. The days can still be quite hot, but without the energy sapping humidity that our sub-tropical summers are known for.

Eating //  Papayas straight off the tree. One ready to eat, one still to ripen, and some left on the tree for the fruit bats. Delicious with a squeeze of lime from a neighbour's tree.

Drinking //  Water, water kefir and this delicious local chai, a gift from a friend to say 'thank-you'.

Feeling //  Tired from all the stress and worry over Mirrhi, upset at the other dog's owner's attitude, but relieved my girl is ok.

Making // Progress with getting the weeds under control after a hot,wet summer. Just doing a little every day makes it seem doable.....and my back thanks me.

Thinking //  About joining Sarah's Tea-Mouse knit-a-long

Dreaming //  About what I'll plant in my newly-weeded garden beds.

Linking with http://www.saylittlehen.com/

........till next time.

Not a good week

 for this girl 

Not feeling too good, thanks for asking

 My poor Mirrhi was attacked by a big brute of a dog last weekend. It was being walked on lead by a friend of the owner, who was unable to control the dog at all.  I saw them up the road a bit, on the other side, as we were out for our usual late afternoon walk, and had a bad feeling as I could see the woman was struggling to get the dog to do what she wanted. She was trying to get it to turn left down the road,but it had spied us across the road and was very determined to get to us. So she told the dog ok,we'll go say hello and headed our way, with me yelling at her not to, to stay away. I pulled Mirrhi backwards with me to get behind a nearby fence as that dog was coming at us like a runaway locomotive, the woman falling as it dragged her, and finally wrenching it's lead out of her hand.

  

It was pretty fast though and was on us so quickly, grabbed Mirrhi by the head growling and snarling and dragged her across the footpath and onto the road.  The rest's a bit of a blur......me initially thinking I'd wrench it's jaws open to make it let go.....it had such a strong grip on her......and then commonsense asserting itself as I realised having my hand in between the two dogs was not a good idea.... and so I resorted  to pummeling it's nose, to no avail. Meanwhile the woman was pulling the dog and shouting at it, with no success either, with my poor girl crying and yelping  something terrible. 

Just need to lay here on this comfy bed and sleep please

We were saved by Marnie from across the road, whose dog Bundy plays with Mirrhi all the time.  With quick thinking, she punched it really hard under it's tail, and it let go,but almost immediately tried to jump Mirrhi again. With Marnie's help, the woman was able to drag the dog away and hold it, while I took Mirrhi into old Merv's garage out of reach of the other dog, and checked her  for injuries.  There was blood everywhere,and all over my clothes, but I couldn't work out where she was hurt. It wasn't until we got home and I cleaned her up that I realised her ear was torn and punctured.

I dosed us both with Rescue Remedy and headed to the vet, who confirmed the damage to her ear, and she was sent home with heavy duty painkillers and antibiotics. She's been allowed short gentle walks, unlike our usual long hikes with lots of running and ball chasing. 
The dog minder gave me the wrong street number for the dog's owner.......not deliberately I don't think (I hope) just shaken up and not thinking properly. A friend and I went door knocking this morning but failed to find her. The ranger can't do anything without an address. I want her to pay my quite substantial vet bill, so track her down I will!  Apart from the injuries to Mirrhi, I'm now really reluctant to take her out in case we come across another dog, and just about have a panic attack if I do!

Being looked after by my best friend Neesa.

After feeling pretty shattered all week, exhausted, and not able to settle to anything, finally on Friday I decided it was time to do something, stumbled into my sewing  room and dug out the yellow scraps to make a start on April's churn dash blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I managed to finish two, then made 4 string blocks as well.

Not a bad start to yellow month.  As always, linking with So Scrappy Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  

Till next time, have a great week............

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - no more green

The end of March means we're finished with green for now, until we re-visit it later in the year using our darker greens.  I haven't felt inspired to work with my greens at all, although that might be more to do with me than the actual colour!  I realised too that a lot of my scraps were leftovers from my landscape and art quilting days, when I bought fabrics that could represent trees and mountains and lakes, very good for these tasks, but pretty ugly otherwise. Maybe they'll work better mixed with the darker greens.

I did finish the last churn dash, reaching my goal of 6 for the  month,

I love this 'shades of green square in a square' fabric. This was a fat quarter I used to make a taggy giraffe, and these scraps are the last of it.

Cute, hey?

I'm calling these crumb/slab blocks done, although they're not all the same size.  Did I mention I was sick of green?    

My RSC sum total for March, not too bad when you see them all there together, given my lack of enthusiasm. A lone February catch-up purple churn dash found it's way into the tally as well.

That's it Green, you're back in the box now.  Yellow gold is April's colour and I'll be very glad to pull those yellow scraps.

Go here to see what everyone has done with their green scraps.

I'm out to the garden now to get ready for some neighbours who're coming with their little ones.....and a couple of big ones as well I think.......for an easter egg hunt.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed the rain stays away for a while.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter Day, however you spend it,  and see you next time........