It rains alot here from November to March - pretty much nearly every day it seems. So its pretty grey and soggy. Its really beautiful weather in the summer - not too hot and usually sunny all day. But right now its wet Wet WET!
One little bit of sunshine has been poking around the living room and has really burst on the scene today. We bought a meyer lemon tree (bush) in a pot that was in flower. It lived on our little balcony this summer and the flowers turned to tiny green lemons (baby finger nail size) but now I have 10 good sized lemons - bright yellow and two green ones working on turning yellow. The fruit is very pretty - smooth skinned and perfectly lemon shaped.
What do you do when life gives you lemons - you make lemonade!! Here is my recipe made up on the spot:
Ingredients
1/2 lemon
3 tsps sugar
1/4 cup water
6 small ice cubes
extra water
Method
Squeeze half a lemon so that all the juice and as much pulp as possible is captured in an 8 oz glass. Add squeezed out skins and ice cubes to fill glass. In a small dish add 3 scant teaspoons of sugar to 1/4 cup of water along with a bit of lemon zest - a few grates is all and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir hot mixture to ensure sugar is dissolved. Pour hot mixture over ice cubes, add water to fill glass, stir to mix ingredients and ENJOY!!
Pat and Ian were both surprised how good this was and how much better than our usual frozen canned lemonade. It felt like we were drinking stored summer sunshine in the lemonade.
This brightened up my day - hope it brightens yours.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Flossie's Scrap Fabric Swap
Flossie wants to make a scrap string quilt using all the colours of the rainbow. It uses a lot of different fabric so she organized a swap with 8 others and by sharing we get a greater variety of fabrics.
Here are my scraps to swap. Most have been tossed into a bag and have been there for awhile - I thought at the time "Ohh this is too big to throw out- may come in handy someday" - well today is the day!
I was really surprised to see how much "scrap" fabric I had squished into a plastic grocery bag - there are enough to make well over 100 6" square blocks!!!
I hope to use the scraps I get for the string blocks in my circle quilt for round 4 of the ORBCQA.
Here are my scraps to swap. Most have been tossed into a bag and have been there for awhile - I thought at the time "Ohh this is too big to throw out- may come in handy someday" - well today is the day!
I was really surprised to see how much "scrap" fabric I had squished into a plastic grocery bag - there are enough to make well over 100 6" square blocks!!!
I hope to use the scraps I get for the string blocks in my circle quilt for round 4 of the ORBCQA.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Millefiore Quilt
This is the fabric I am using as the inspiration for the circle quilt of the ORBCQA. It is a Kaffe Fassett fabric called Millefiore and is in the pastel colourway. It has a 1000 colours in it or at least 11 - pastels with attitude!!!.
The colours include:a mauve, lavender, periwinkle blue, soft spring green, lemony yellow, a salmon tone, an aqua, pure pink,a purple grey, a very light grey and tiny tiny sparks of crimson. It reminds me of coloured swirled glass.
I am participating in a fabric swap hoping to get some of these colours to make the string blocks which use a lot of different fabrics.
This photo is from Hancocks Paducah online fabric store as I still have not got my camera cord fixed.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Most Original...that's my kid
Patrick won the "Most Original" costume prize in his class today. It makes me laugh he and Matthew come up with the strangest ideas for Halloween costumes.
One year Matthew he wanted to be a skunk but the tail had to huge and held erect and sway. Another year he gave me directions on making his costume that included a fur covered head and a plastic tentacle like arm. I don't know if it actually had a name but it was just what he wanted. This year Matthew is organizing a Halloween party in Edinbourgh and he is going as Zombie Jesus.
Patrick's idea this year was "Bedtime". He wore his black soccer tights and undershirt and black gloves and then inserted himself between 2 pillows in a pillow case so his body was covered by the pillow. He wore slippers and a night cap and carried a teddy bear with a small pillow around his neck that said "Now I lay me down to sleep."
Picture to go here.
One year Matthew he wanted to be a skunk but the tail had to huge and held erect and sway. Another year he gave me directions on making his costume that included a fur covered head and a plastic tentacle like arm. I don't know if it actually had a name but it was just what he wanted. This year Matthew is organizing a Halloween party in Edinbourgh and he is going as Zombie Jesus.
Patrick's idea this year was "Bedtime". He wore his black soccer tights and undershirt and black gloves and then inserted himself between 2 pillows in a pillow case so his body was covered by the pillow. He wore slippers and a night cap and carried a teddy bear with a small pillow around his neck that said "Now I lay me down to sleep."
Picture to go here.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Zig Zag and Wonky Quilt Along Status
I have finished the zig zag quilt top and a little border to go around it. It went together well and I love the dash of red and the flannel backing. It will be a very cozy quilt for Pat. I wanted to do a puffy quilt as per Pat's request and planned to make the quilt as a duvet cover but did not like how floppy the top was so I tried to quilt the top to the comforter but my machine could not handle that. So I have sandwiched the quilt with two thin layers of batting. Now to quilt it. I am still mulling over what kind of stitching pattern to do - straight line I think - but following along the zigs and zags. It looks great on Pat's new bed and with the IKEA fabric of his window valance.
Pat had a great deal of input into this quilt - both solicited and non-solicited!!! He wanted a cuddly quilt that was red ad white and black. I pulled fabrics from my stash and he discarded the "flowery" ones and kept telling me to pick the simpler patterns. We went shopping and he picked the red flannel which I think makes the quilt pop. I was going to do the zigs with a variety of fabrics but he wanted one fabric per row. Now that it is done I think all his choices were the right ones and it made the quilt his. I also love that he was so sure of his wishes - no going back - no second guessing - just clear direction - do this - do that. He also kept me going on the quilt with his enthusiasm and reminders to work away.
I hope to get the quilting done this weekend and the binding and washing next week.
The zig zag quilt is the Old Red Barn Company Quilt Along Round 2, Amy of Park City Girl led this round and provide an excellent tutorial to follow along. These virtual quilt alongs are great because I get my sewing done in "off peak" moments when real time classes are not run, but still can call upon or participate with other quilters from around the world.
Photos to be added here.
Round 3 is the wonky block quilt along led by Quilt Dad. He showed us how to make 3 different kinds of wonky blocks. The process is quite simple but I found this round challenging for several reasons. I wanted to finish the zig zag quilt first so my head would be free but it took me longer than I planned so I began to think about this quilt too much. I am using black fabrics for my son Devon and they are hard to see to sew together. And the big kickers - you need to be spontaneous to pick fabrics at random to make it up as you go along - that is very hard for me. I am a planner and I plan so I had to get over this. And lastly you have to cut off part of fabric that you have sewn - arrggh this felt like wastage of lovely fabric. I cut up some strips and hated how they looked - too random.
Two days ago I sat down and just willed my way through making blocks and made 5 and a half. I used wider strips of fabric and only 3 rounds instead of 4 or 5 but I really like how they are coming along and made 4 blocks today. I think I need to make 42 blocks for a queen size quilt top so I am nearly one quarter along. So many of the quilt along participants have finished and round 4 is about to start so I want to keep making blocks this week.
More photos to be added here
Pat had a great deal of input into this quilt - both solicited and non-solicited!!! He wanted a cuddly quilt that was red ad white and black. I pulled fabrics from my stash and he discarded the "flowery" ones and kept telling me to pick the simpler patterns. We went shopping and he picked the red flannel which I think makes the quilt pop. I was going to do the zigs with a variety of fabrics but he wanted one fabric per row. Now that it is done I think all his choices were the right ones and it made the quilt his. I also love that he was so sure of his wishes - no going back - no second guessing - just clear direction - do this - do that. He also kept me going on the quilt with his enthusiasm and reminders to work away.
I hope to get the quilting done this weekend and the binding and washing next week.
The zig zag quilt is the Old Red Barn Company Quilt Along Round 2, Amy of Park City Girl led this round and provide an excellent tutorial to follow along. These virtual quilt alongs are great because I get my sewing done in "off peak" moments when real time classes are not run, but still can call upon or participate with other quilters from around the world.
Photos to be added here.
Round 3 is the wonky block quilt along led by Quilt Dad. He showed us how to make 3 different kinds of wonky blocks. The process is quite simple but I found this round challenging for several reasons. I wanted to finish the zig zag quilt first so my head would be free but it took me longer than I planned so I began to think about this quilt too much. I am using black fabrics for my son Devon and they are hard to see to sew together. And the big kickers - you need to be spontaneous to pick fabrics at random to make it up as you go along - that is very hard for me. I am a planner and I plan so I had to get over this. And lastly you have to cut off part of fabric that you have sewn - arrggh this felt like wastage of lovely fabric. I cut up some strips and hated how they looked - too random.
Two days ago I sat down and just willed my way through making blocks and made 5 and a half. I used wider strips of fabric and only 3 rounds instead of 4 or 5 but I really like how they are coming along and made 4 blocks today. I think I need to make 42 blocks for a queen size quilt top so I am nearly one quarter along. So many of the quilt along participants have finished and round 4 is about to start so I want to keep making blocks this week.
More photos to be added here
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Pay It Forward
Rachel at Crafty Sauce was looking for some people to play pay it forward and so I joined in. She is still looking for another player so check out her site(http://craftysauce.blogspot.com)
If you would like to receive a handmade gift from me, and are willing to make and send a handmade gift along to three of your blog readers, please let me know in my comments. Once you accept, you will receive something from me within 365 days. In turn, you will have 365 days to fulfill your end of the bargain.
I would love to make a quilted something for 3 of you!!!
So all I need is three of you to tell me that you want in. Let me know!
If you would like to receive a handmade gift from me, and are willing to make and send a handmade gift along to three of your blog readers, please let me know in my comments. Once you accept, you will receive something from me within 365 days. In turn, you will have 365 days to fulfill your end of the bargain.
I would love to make a quilted something for 3 of you!!!
So all I need is three of you to tell me that you want in. Let me know!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Pumpkin & Spice Fabric Giveawy
Pumpkin Patch Primitive Fabrics is giving away a Bundle of Red Rooster's Pumpkins & Spice Fabrics by Whimsicals. The bundle includes every fabric in the line with the exception of the panel. That means the prize is 27 Fat quarters!!!
If you want to enter, you will need to have a blog AND post a link to the giveaway and let them know you learned about it here. To count your entry you must have a link to Pumpkin Patches blog... not a blogroll, it must be an actual post about the giveaway.
So go on over to Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe's blog to enter at:
http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/
If the entries reach 250, a second bundle goes in the pot and there will be TWO winners, one bundle for each!
If there are 350 or more entries a $100 Gift certificate to the Pumpkin Patch will be added as a third prize.
The winner will be picked on Halloween - timely eh? Have fun with this
If you want to enter, you will need to have a blog AND post a link to the giveaway and let them know you learned about it here. To count your entry you must have a link to Pumpkin Patches blog... not a blogroll, it must be an actual post about the giveaway.
So go on over to Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe's blog to enter at:
http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/
If the entries reach 250, a second bundle goes in the pot and there will be TWO winners, one bundle for each!
If there are 350 or more entries a $100 Gift certificate to the Pumpkin Patch will be added as a third prize.
The winner will be picked on Halloween - timely eh? Have fun with this
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