Stitching up a row

Two posts in one day...this is a first.  For some reason it seems better to separate the two topics today, and besides, it would have made an awfully long post.

I had a lovely Tuesday.  My good friend Eve came over to stitch while her car was in the garage.  We had a good old catch up since we had not had time since before Christmas.  Eve was so good and worked on her New York Beauty that began its life in 2010.  I dragged mine out and was tempted to join in and do some more on mine, but decided I was going to be disciplined and stick to my list (see post of New Year's Day).  I was so pleased that I did as great progress was made.  Did have to spend the first part of the morning unpicking the stitching around two little hearts on the Otane quilt that I finished yesterday.  Was most unhappy about the quality of the little feathers so did them again on my trusty Janome.  Lo and behold in my eagerness to get done with it I caught the backing under the stitching.  Thank goodness the caught fabric was in the excess that is going to be cut off anyway, so was able to fray it out.

Then it was action stations.  I have cut out and stuck down two of the last four blocks for Olivia's quilt -

Aren't they just so cute.  Will look a lot better with their eyes on of course.  That just leaves two more.



Then it was on to the centre row of my Aunt Grace quilt.  I had  made the hexagon flowers the wrong way round in size/colour and had to redo them, so it has taken quite a while to get finished.  I just love the way this row is looking and am getting quite excited about getting it finished.

This is just a half of it.  It is just so pretty don't you think.  Now however I have lots more stitching  around pieces to do.  Not sure about all the fusible applique...it seems to take quite a bit of time.

Then just before I went home I was determined to make up this lovely little block I had seen on a blog I follow Patchwork Times authored by Judy Laquidara at Bloglovin.  It has come up so pretty.  Judy is running a Scrap Challenge - you have to make the blocks each month from your stash.  Let's hope I can keep up.  It sounds so easy when you say just one block a month, but then all of a sudden you are behind.  That's what happened with my Craftsy BOM- I'm only up to July.

I took some photos of the Otane quilt, but used my camera and left it behind at the shop.  I will post those tomorrow.  I am very pleased with the way the freehand pattern has come up.  Not sure about the Magnifico thread...I got a few little tangles underneath now and again?  Shall have to see if I can figure it out.

Off to bed now.  Been a busy, but productive day.  Thank you for visiting and do come back soon.

Blessings
Clare

How Does Your Garden Grow.....

Kerry and I had a walk around our vege gardens at the end of today, and I was so impressed.  The tomatoes are just going nuts and look more like triffid shrubs.  There is going to be an absolute plethora of tomatoes soon so I am already planning to make sauce and puree and all sorts of other things that can go in the freezer.

There were four lovely little ripe tomatoes on this plant that we scoffed happily.  Below is the larger picture!

The plant at the back is a Beefsteak I think, and further to the right is another Beefsteak tomatoe that has plenty more on it if we get short.  The large leaves are the cucumber and it has 6 gorgeous ones ready.  Will have to hunt out a nice pickle recipe.  We have already given away heaps off the plant.  Cucumbers are amazing producers.
Then it was off to the side garden (last year's compost heap) where the next triffids are living!

Lovely, yummy beefsteak again.  Can you guess that we are rather partial to this particular tomatoe?  We grew them last year and they were so full of flavour that we have planted about six this year...and they crop wonderfully. Peeking in the background is a flower on the pumpkin plant that has gone awol and is clambering all over the place.  Pumpkins are so friendly and are not the least bit particular about where they roam and pop a baby pumpkin or two to grow.

Out the front of the house, I couldn't resist a photo of the nectarine tree.  It is just so laden this year that these branches are almost touching the ground with the weight of the fruit.  It is the old fashioned variety that has smaller fruit, bigger flavour!!  Love them and will no doubt overeat and suffer the consequences...lol.

The garden ramble has come to an end.  Thanks for walking with me and I'll see you again soon.



Blessings
Clare

Food, Friendship and stitching...a bit of building too!

What a productive weekend we have had here in 'lil ole Ypuk.  We had people from my Life Group at Church coming for a shared lunch today.  This meant I had to do some cooking!! Oh no, I have to admit that husband Kerry is in charge of most of our cooking these days...by his choice I should add.  Therefore I have been a little slack in cooking "nice" stuff.  Well good old garlic bread is always a good starter, so yesterday I bought the french stick and turned it into two yummy parcels of well garlic-buttered bread. (I buy this delicious pot of garlic butter and make my own as I love lots of butter both sides of the piece of bread)

Something savoury....hmmmm, as I walked around the supermarket I spotted some fresh picked asparagus and a little light bulb came on.  Streaky bacon wrapped asparagus is just delicious and only takes a few minutes to cook.  That took care of that with 16 bacon wrapped pieces of a'gus chilling out in my fridge.

Then it was onto something sweet...my latest fad has been making Nigella Lawson's easy no bake lemon cheesecake, so that was it.  I love all things lemon. Unfortunately our lemon tree is out of ripe fruit so had to buy some.  This cheesecase is so simple to make, tastes super delicious, but is not so good for the body!  All made and sitting in my fridge for tomorrow.

This is totally amazing...I am actually organised.  I think I should mark this day on the calendar.  To top it off, I forgot to take a photo of my cheesecake and now it is all gone!

Now it is today, Sunday.  All the food has been eaten and a great time of chatting and eating was had by all.  I really do enjoy a get together over the dining table.  It's a great way of sharing.

After the clean up I decided to do a little stitching and am feeling most pleased with myself.  I have finished stitching around the 7th and 8th block of Olivia's quilt, then really excelled myself and got the last four lick and sticked and they are waiting for me to just cut around and iron down.  A great effort, even if I do say so myself.  Then it was onto the Aunt Grace quilt and I stitched down one of the pieces of vine on the centre block.  I tried a lovely little applique stitch that I have never used before, and really like it for stitching down something this narrow. No adjustments needed...just sew.

On the way back to the house during the day, couldn't resist another photo of Travis the cat...he insists on trying to squeeze his way into this little basket.  Why do cats do that I wonder? We had to pop them down to the vets on Friday.  Kerry tried to give them a worm tablet...this bloke below acted like a super charged threshing machine and clawed Kerry.  We decided on the easy way out, as Tyson is even bigger than this bloke and would have most likely got Kerry by the throat....lol.

Yesterday Kerry started on the corner cupboard/woodbox storer.  This is the last thing that needs to be finished in the kitchen/dining area.  He has again put rimu around the edges which makes it look so lovely and warm. Tomorrow he will start on the top cupboard that will cover the hot water cylinder and give a few small shelves for storage.

This is my job for tomorrow.  I loaded this wee scrap quilt on Saturday and will most likely do a feather meander all over it.  I had chosen a panto, but have changed my mind.  I am going to use Superior's  Magnifico thread in a lovely gold colour which really will sit up and look good. The Otane Patchwork group made it as part of our Christmas outing and it is a charity quilt.  I think I mentioned it in a previous post.  Has come up amazingly well.

Right time to finish...I always seem to do long posts...maybe I talk too much...lol.  I hope you enjoy your visit here and I look forward to sharing life with you again.

Blessings
Clare

Progress is being Made

So far the list is going quite well.   I have stitched around two more blocks of Olivia's quilt.  It leaves two more ready for stitching and four that need to be lick and sticked. Then I can get on to the putting together stage.

Have also finished four blocks in the next row of the Aunt Grace BOM. Leaves four more in that row but had to email the pattern maker as page two of this row was missing.  Prompt reply so no excuse now.

Also finished a panel quilt of Ford Mustang cars. Did it for a good friend of ours who is a solid Ford man. It came out really nice and Mike was impressed with his very own quilt.  Forgot to get a photo but will get one soon. Here's the photo of my progress.
Thanks for reading and do come back soon.

Blessings
Clare

That Scary "Finish" word!

It is already one week into the new year. ..how scary is that. It's taken a little time this week to get out of holiday mode.  It has been very enjoyable cruising along choosing what I will do.   Especially as it's been so hot here - 30° more than once.  Actually I am unsure of why we live in the Bay with its hot summers - we don't even like the heat!!!

Anyway back to quilting.  I have decided that I desperately need to finish some of my myriad of UFO's that are lurking in my cupboards and drawers.  I bet you are amazed by that statement. ..lol.  Well there it is-the truth. I am soothed by the knowledge that I am not alone.
I have made a "get finished in next 3 months" list! !! Here it is:

1. Finish granddaughter Olivia's quilt.
2. Finish Craftsy BOM using fabric from Kansas.
3. Finish my Aunt Grace BOM I bought in Missouri in 2011.

Phew that was so hard using that "f" word.  I don't think I can say finish again for some time. ..lol
Here is a photo of my start. These blocks are part of the Kansas quilt.

Take care and talk again soon.
Clare

Happy New Year

Here we are in Wellington where we celebrated the new year with our son Richard and Kea his lovely wife.  We managed to see out the old and greet the new and then we were in bed by 10 past! Don't seem to handle late nights like we used to.
After a lovely brunch of pancakes with bacon,  maple syrup,  sugar and lemon juice to choose from, we went out coffee.  It  was beautifully cooked by the kids. 

Next it was off to Te Papa as it had begun to pour with rain by this time.  We were in Wellington after all! !

Last stop was another coffee at the Spruce Goose where you can eat, , drink, watch the surfers or the planes land and take off.  It is right on the beach front of Lyall Bay. Good fun. 

Living the life of Riley!!

Just got back late yesterday from a trip down to Wellington.  We left on Sunday afternoon and stayed with our son Richard and his lovely wife Kea.  It is always so nice to spend some time with these two.
I should recap a little and say that last week was spent franctically trying to get the second Memory quilt done.  It was finally finished on Friday I thought, then on checking over it on Saturday, found I had missed a couple of short ditches and one whole block.  Used my trusty Janome 8900 to fill those in and then spent a few hours sewing ends in.  At last it was delivered to my lovely friend Colleen for binding and off I went to pack my bag.

Monday Richard dropped us off at Wellington Airport and we flew off to Auckland to visit our grandson Leslie.

This is the amazing Gollum sculpture hanging in the airport...incredible when you see it up close.


 Hired a rental car for a great rate through our AA membership and did some Chrissy shopping in Manakau!! What a life.

This is the view from The Coffee Club where we lunched and then did a bit of a zip around the shops.

Here is our plane waiting to take us home.  It was 15 minutes late, but it was such a beautiful day what did it matter?
Richard picked us up again at the airport and then we went out for a lovely meal.  I could get used to this!!

Tuesday was Kerry's birthday, so we tootled around the shops in Wellington, and loved walking around Victoria/Manners/Willis street.  It is such a pretty city and although busy, not overwhelming like we find Auckland tends to be.  We treated the kids out for dinner and then it was off to the Leonard Cohen concert, which was my treat to Kerry for his birthday.

We both enjoyed it and had great seats.  Bit hard mind you, but the view was good.

Wednesday it was back to reality.  Packed up after the kids went off to work (we all went out for breakfast coffee first) and headed back up the line.  It was great timing for my sister Joy who was finishing at midday and heading back home.  Picked her up and after a cuppa with hubby Bill we finally headed off home.  Here is a pic of my sister's new hair cut.  Joy has been through breast cancer and her hair is finally looking beautiful again, not that she is not always beautiful, but a woman's hair is kinda special.  I am so proud of her.

So now I am sitting here catching up on all the happenings and the cat is trying to fit into the box on the chair next to me...he had to give up in the end!!

The two memory quilts were picked up late yesterday and it was a very moving experience for us both.  I forgot to take some photos but will check in with the customer next year and see if I could get a couple.  An amazing journey, and not sure if I would want to go on another one.

One small little quilt to finish for a customer to pick up on Monday and that is it.  What a year.

Thanks for visiting and if you dont come back before Christmas I do wish you all the blessings of this season that celebrates the birth of Jesus. 

Blessings
Clare