"Picking Roses and Marina's Starry Night Crochet."

Hello,

Hasn't this Autumn weather been just perfect. Couldn't believe the lovely rain we received during the early hours of yesterday morning. 36.5mls of it. We usually don't receive much rain in March the usual has been either a ml or less or nothing. So I am predicting a good March, not Autumn or Winter. No need to get that far ahead! With this lovely rain the roses are enjoying a lovely flush of blooms and I have noticed the Bees are back in the garden. It was obviously too hot for them before.

So I did what the note on the blackboard said. Nothing like having fresh flowers perfuming the home.

Here are some out in the front garden.

All the roses above are David Austin's. I recently mulched the bed with some pea hay and they are thriving.

Marina's Starry Night.

I finished the doily I was working on. It turned out quite big at approx 22 inches across. I decided to call it Marina's Starry Night instead of just plain Starry Night as Marina sent me some crochet cotton a while ago and I am gradually using it up. There is actually a mix of the Coats size 10 and a DMC size 10 on the final few rounds. You see the pattern was originally made in a size 8 and used 65 grams of cotton. There were three full balls of the Coats cotton with the same dye lot so started with those. Had a few rounds to go and ran out. There was also some partial balls in the cotton Marina gave me of Coats size 10 but the dye lot was completely different. I tried a few stitches with the DMC thread and it was so much closer to the previous rounds of Coats cotton I decided to go with that. After a soak and a wash in nappy style soaker it came out beautifully and you can't see the difference.

Happy days.

Bev C

"A Country Garden."

Hello,

Happy Friday.

I spent the day at sewing today, had a wonderful time working on a recent sort of un-planned project. This means I should have finished a few things before starting this one.

You see I have been cutting out hexagons, 626 of them to be precise. I know I will probably have to cut some more as the project calls for 667. I made my hexagons slightly bigger so will have to wait until I get it going to see how many I actually need.

This is the pattern that I am following called "Country Garden" from a book I picked up from a lovely shop in Narrogin called Narrogin Patchwork and Paint. It  is called "Everything Flowers - Quilts from the Garden" by Jean and Valori Wells.

The quilt in the book had 667 completely different fabrics. There was no way I could do this so I just delved into the stash and found fabric. I am using YLI Silk Thread in Grey to join the hexagons. As this wasn't available in town I did a bit of Internet shopping and my parcel was delivered yesterday. 

I have always wanted to know the finer points of quilting and I could remember going to a craft show in Perth many years ago and Liuxin was there and she is the one and only stallholder I can remember. Her quilting was absolutely stunning. I sent an email  asking if this thread would be suitable for joining hexagons and got a lovely quick response so decided to measure my finger for a thimble and get the book and DVD some needles and different threads. I can highly recommend The Thimble Lady.

Have a wonderful weekend, we are of to help Ainsley celebrate her Birthday and Julian's belated Birthday..  Bonnie went to Bali during the week and we received a email from Lucy this morning, she and David are in Taupo today and moving onto Wellington on the weekend. It seems that 2013 is the year for travelling as two more are of to New Zealand next month and one of them is going to the United States later on as well. Airports seem to be our second home this year.

Happy days.

Bev C

"Apples in Paradise Tablecloth."

Hello,

I found this pattern called Parrots in Paradise in a magazine called Big Block Quilts.

I had a metre of the apple fabric and found some co-ordinating fabrics in the stash to use.

I used two of my Brother Embroidery cards for the machine quilting.

I did things a little different with this tablecloth. There is no wadding in it at all. I used a bright red thicker cotton fabric for the backing and binding. I think it might be a Twill fabric. The designs were embroidered in red thread and this was used in the bobbin as well. So the back of the cloth looks like a red work cloth. The Table cloth is exactly 1 metre square.

The apples in the photo's were picked from one of our trees yesterday. Nothing quite like the taste of freshly picked organic apples. Also note the lovely green lawn. We had 34.5mls of rain here at Kainga one day last week. It was lovely gentle soaking rain, although I could have done without the lightening and thunder that came with it.

Now while Lucy and David are jumping out of planes at 16 000 feet at the Bay of Islands in New Zealand Ian and I have had sometime to ourselves. Yesterday we spent the day looking at the Kalamunda Farmers Markets and enjoying a lovely lunch at Melville's Rose Farm in  Bickley Valley.

We shared this Lemon Meringue Pie. I was very good and didn't buy any plants.We are waiting for another month or so before we even think about planting plants. Summer is far too hot to buy plants and in fact a few weeks ago after a absolutely awful day of 44 degrees. We were at the Garden Centre just out of town buying some manure  and the lady said she had people that  awfully hot day  asking what sort of plants should be planted now. We both had a good laugh about those silly people. Anyone with any gardening sense just knows it is not worth buying plants in the height of Summer here.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Snow globe Beaches of New Zealand Wall Hanging arrives via the Kainga Postal Service.".

Hello,

Happy Monday.

Remember that fish snow globe block I showed previously. Well, I made it into this wall hanging for my Sister Chris.

I made this pattern up as I went along. I used my Wavy Edge Ruler to hand quilt the blocks on the right. Hand quilted around the snow globes. For the quilting around the border I used a small size tuna tin to replicate the snow globes. Chris had sent the packet of buttons to me a few years back. The buttons all relate to the beach, there are surfboards, thongs, tanning oil, glasses etc. The final size of the hanging is approx. 19 by 31 inches.

For the backing and binding I used some Dolphin fabric. I just love the palm tree and deckchair buttons.

Chris lives at Ruakaka and surfs and swims at this beach. I found some other beaches she loves by looking through her friend Pauline's blog. Now I sent this to her on Thursday, by Saturday she had received it. You may think that Australia Post did such a great job getting it there that quick. This time I used the Kainga Postal Service. So much quicker and more personal.

Introducing the Kainga Postal Service- Lucy and David left on Thursday for a backpacking holiday in New Zealand, both islands. The first stop was Whangarei, so they are spending a few days with Chris then getting back on the bus to continue the tour. When the tour finishes they will catch up with family in Auckland. Enjoy your holidays Lucy and David.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Hearts Tablecloth."

Hello,

A little birdie told me...

That if you download too many patterns from the net you will end up with nothing but a pile of papers and a never ending list of projects you want to do. So this is why I turned two lots of patterns into the one tablecloth.

This is the result of Michelle's  and Vicki's stitchery designs. The tablecloth measures 31 inches square. I hand quilted it and there is lots of hand sewing in this one including chain stitch, back stitch and button hole.
I was given some lovely buttons by my Sister Chris when she was over from New Zealand in January. Included in the buttons were lots of heart shapes. I put one between each heart on the border.

For the backing I used a lovely fabric in pink with the littlest white hearts. So I have come to the conclusion that two into one does go. Please excuse the wrinkles on the fabric in the photo's. I gave the cloth a rinse to get rid of the blue ink from the marking pen but haven't got around to pressing it.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Sewing is a fishy business, and I have our first Goji Berry."

Hello,

I have three things on the go at the moment. I found this rather cute fish fabric in the stash. Isn't it nice and bright.

Doing three things at once certainly keeps you on your toes, or does it just make for three un-finished projects! I hope not.

The  crochet doily is about half way finished. Using a size 1.5mm hook and Coats crochet cotton in size 10. The pattern is called Starry Night which is from a Crochet Monthly magazine. The other project I am working on is the stitchery that is underneath everything in the photo. I have incorporated two Block of the Month designs from a few years ago into one project. You know how it is we all get excited about a free Block of the Month from the Internet then it all goes haywire a few months later and we lose interest. This is why I don't join in these anymore.

Goji Berry.

Thankfully we can say it is now Autumn, though today is going to be 35. With the hot Summer lots of things didn't survive in the garden. The tomatoes did no good at all. I picked some potatoes on Friday that had died down and put these straight into some soup I made that morning. Yesterday I was delighted to see the Goji Berry bush which had flowered was producing some berries. These are very tiny and there seem to be a few more coming on. I haven't eaten any yet so it will be a first for me. I have only eaten these dried from a packet. Apparently they are quite good for you.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C