Hints of Spring

Firstly, apologies for the delay between posts. I meant to post earlier in the week, but I've had camera troubles. You see, I wanted to post lots of pretty pictures of all the blossoms that are just starting to appear; the first hints of spring. But the macro function wasn't coming to the party, so no pretty pictures. You'll just have to take my word for it that all the cherry blossoms look amazing.

I did however get a nice pic of my broad beans; check out all those flowers! By the time I'm finished with the two crops, I'm probably never going to want to see another broad bean again...

Not a lot of sewing over the last week or so; I've been piecing basket blocks for ""Picnic", a Miss Rosie pattern.

And I did finish Catch a Falling Star a few weeks back, but its so big that to take a good photo I need to spread it out on the front lawn. Winter isn't so conducive to that, so this will have to do (and as usual, there is an animal in the photo!)

And I got myself a new toy! Absolutely love it, but having issues getting a screen protector on without lint under it... (er, yes, that is just the box...)

iPods, Spirals and Bindings

With half an hour fiddling around this evening, I managed to make a little quilted case to keep my iPod nano in. I usually use an iPod sock, but its been looking a bit shabby and I wanted something a bit more cute and funky. I've never made a bag or anything similar before, but didn't find this too difficult. I may end up putting in a bit of velcro to keep it closed if the iPod falls out, but I'll see how it goes.

I've been cutting and sewing like crazy for the past few days, and the spirals for "Jelly Girl" are coming along well. All the half spirals are pieced and ready to be stiched into rows. This is one before all the parts were sewn together.

And binding of Catch a Falling Star is coming along well; I'm only doing one side at a time, but its almost done. I think the brown turned out to be the perfect choice.

To Bind or Not to Bind?

I've finished quiting "Catch a Falling Star" (yay!), but I'm a bit unsure about the binding fabric that came in the kit, and hoping my wonderful readers might share their opinion with me.

The fabric is a diagonal stripe from the Peace on Earth range;

This is what it looks like against the backing fabric:

Against the front:

Wider view:

I think it will probably look fine; only a small amount of binding shows, and the FQS wouldn't have selected it if they didn't think it would work, but what do you think?

Ever have one of those days...

...when nothing works out the way it should?

I got my first block for the Fat Quarter Shop mystery BOM, and it shouldn't have been that hard, but everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I stitched the wrong fabrics together, stitched fabrics facing the wrong way (ie. back of one to the front of the other), had the blocks oriented the wrong way...then when I thought I had it all worked out, one of the points just would not go together right. I unpicked it about 8 times, and its still not right. But I give up, there is obviously something wrong with the block involved, and it just doesn't want to play fair...so this is my finished block, slightly imperfect, but then, no one is perfect anyway. I remember reading somewhere that the Amish, I think, deliberately stitch mistakes into things like quilts because no one is meant to be perfect. So this is where I'm at, one slightly imperfect but otherwise beautiful block.

Bella has been her usual helpful self today, precariously positioning herself on top of my quilt when I have it draped over the machine (to stop her sitting on the front side). The good news is that the Falling Star quilt is almost finished; I've quilted all the way to one end, and only have a few rows of quilting to go at the other.

Goodbye Autumn

Today is the last day of autumn, and tomorrow we welcome winter. The weather is finally getting cooler, but there is still little rain to be seen here in Victoria. It seems they got it all up in Queensland.

I'm enjoying quilting the Falling Star quilt, though its going to take a while. So far Ive quilted two strips of the design across the quilt, and I've probably got about 15 or 20 strips to go.

I planted a second batch of broad beans and snow peas today; I plan on having a super-productive garden this year. I've not had much luck with peas before, but the broad beans are really taking off!

Winter weather means winter food; tonight a yummy beef casserole with parmesan dumplings ( I added carrot and potato to mine)

And a very simple apple cake, served with a good scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend; I look forward to seeing what you've all been up to!

Work-Free Wednesday

I love Wednesday; I get to sleep in, then spend my day gardening, cooking and quilting to my heart's desire.

Today I planted onion seeds; something I've never grown before but I'm being adventurous this year. I also set up a trellis for my snow peas to grow up.

I baked an orange cake, which I've iced with a lemon icing. Super easy to make, it's all done in the food processor. I'm also making Nasi Goreng (Indonesian fried rice) for dinner.

And I basted up my Falling Star quilt, and got stuck into the quilting. After a bit of umming and ahhing, I finally settled on an all-over feather design, which I'm doing using my usual tracing paper method. I figured a quilt this pretty deserved more than just a stipple.

I'm using a brownish coloured thread which I used on the table runners I made at Christmas; it shows up just enough without taking over the actual quilt design.

Still Here!

I've been a bit quiet this week, but I've been slowly making progress. My back problem from my fall in Feb flared up, so I've been quilting in small lots rather than going for it for hours on end, and working on my scarf when it gets a bit much. However, I have finally finished all the centre blocks of 4OT!

I've still got the borders to go; 24 triangles with feathers, then I need to decide what to put in the other blocks. I'm thinking I might use a larger version of some of the patterns from the centre blocks, but I'm not quite sure yet.

I'm also looking forward to this quilt being done so I can get onto "Catch a Falling Star"; it's been sitting, neatly folded, in the lounge room for months! I want to be able to quilt that one a bit faster than 4OT, so I was thinking maybe a spiral stipple...I've been practicing and it's not looking too bad, just need to get the size a little more consistent.

Madness and Mayhem

It's been a crazy 24 hours here in Melbourne. I got home from work yesterday to find one of my two dogs, Jack, missing. Poor Millie was sitting by the back door wimpering. A frantic dash outside and a bit of yelling for Jack, and my neighbour stuck his head over the fence to say that Jack was with them. He'd dug three holes, got out of the backyard, and was found wandering around the street by the neighbour, so they'd taken him in for the day. This is the third escape this year! At least he is home safe, and I spent some time today filling and and blocking up a lot of holes!

After that was all sorted, I headed to my physio appointment...and got taped up again! I've been forced into good posture, so I can't slump at the moment. It's not going to stop me doing any sewing though. It does stop me from sleeping on my side though, which I'm not too happy about.

Then last night I decided to end the week with a bit of a girls night in; some TV, pizza, a bottle of wine, and the company of a Canadian friend. So, we'd finished eating, and were chilling on the couches, when my chair moved and the door behind be banged. I figured it was just Bella being silly, until the couch continued to shake, then the cabinet next to me (and the glass lamp on top) began to rattle like crazy. My friend and I just looked at each other, both clinging to the arms of our couches, thinking "It's not just me, is it?". It stopped after about 10 seconds, after which we dashed next door to find out if it was something, rather than just a glass of wine too many.

Turns out that it was a proper earthquake (my first), measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale, and was felt about 100km from the epicentre down in Gippsland (yep, near where they've had fires). No damage here, just a minor fright, followed by a bit of excitement. There have apparently been a few after-shocks, but minor (I think I noticed the one during the night...).

And...I finished piecing "Catch a Falling Star" this afternoon. It's too big to hang on the line for a photo, so I've had to drape is across the front lawn. The dappled sunlight makes it a bit hard to see, but you get the idea.