Living in the present

After a trip down memory lane the other day, it's time to show what's going on in the present. We're enjoying lovely summer days, shared with cruiseloads of tourists - here's the view from my balcony of the QE2 leaving after it's latest visit, to the soundtrack of "We'll meet again" on full blast from loud speakers at City Hall. She's a beauty, isn't she? A lot of the more modern ships look like floating hotels, but this one looks the way a ship should look, I think.
Back to the homefront, where I have finished all my kaleido blocks. I obviously can't count, so I ended up with 31, so there is one more than I need for my tablecloth. I started stitching them together by machine, but found that I haven't got the patience for all that stopping and starting to adjust the fabric every time the angle changes - it must be the heat, because that sort of thing usually doesn't bother me. Anyway, I decided to stitch the blocks together by hand, so that's what I'm doing now, and it doesn't take too long, because I keep having to do 'just a little more' to see how it turns out... - told you I was having fun with this one, didn't I! I have found a bright green fabric, similair to the flower stems in the original fabric, to use for extra pieces in the corners to make it square, and for an outer border.

This is the fabric I have used for all the blocks, by the way (I should have learned by now to run and iron over the fabric before I point my camera at it...), amazing isn't it, the variety of blocks you can get from just the one fabric? The fabric is "Estrella" by Valorie Wells for Free Spirit Fabrics.
I'm off to town now - having the quilt top almost finished is the perfect excuse for visiting the quilt shop. I haven't been there in a while because of long days at work, but I'm just going to get some backing fabric, and that's all! I think... -And they have probably not got any new fabric in since my last visit...