Still Beautiful

As fast as they bloom, they fade away,

and sometimes what is left is just as beautiful.

Lots to see and do in the garden as summer gets underway. 

Spring flew by, will summer do the same?  

I finished my May Sweet Nostalgia block, How Does your Garden Grow? back in May, but have yet to start the June block.  When the garden sprung to life, this gardener had to spring into action, trading in my needle and thread for clippers and shovel.

But, I am still getting just enough of a fix to keep me going until things slow down in the garden.  I long to return to my evening hand quilting and spend whole days in my sewing room.  Reading Kaffe Fassett's, Dreaming in Color inspired one of two new mini quilts, that I will share with you once quilted. 

 

Fun with crochet continues.  I fell in love with the cover of Doilies in Color, so home it came along with a ball of size 10 crochet cotton and a 1.65 mm hook.

I wasn't sure how it would go with such fine thread, a small hook and hands that fall asleep, but turns out to be no different than hand quilting with hands that fall asleep and I mastered that no problem.  I am also learning Tunisian crochet from a book called, 101 Easy Tunisian Stitches.

Looks like I'm hooked on felted bowls, four more to show you.  I should have taken a photo of the one with the purple center before it was felted; it was beautiful with pretty ruffled edges.

Lesson learned that detail may disappear when felted.  My fancy crochet stitches in the center of the same bowl also melted together after felting.  So, in the end a single crochet stitch would have given me the same result, but it was fun stitching the fancy stitches.

Love my little lilac bowl and the handles on the white one.  The blue and white bowl may be my favourite so far.  I can say so far as I have three other bowls ready for felting!

I will be participating in a quilt challenge in a couple of weeks and the theme is Fish.  So, my mind has been working overtime trying to think of an idea.  One idea keeps coming back to mind.  Maybe on Sunday I will put a do not disturb sign on my sewing room door and see how much prep work I can get done.

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen

Last Bloom of Summer

Bloom

A summer applique ready for quilting.

 

Building Houses

A house for August and September.

Autumn Aster

Popping up in the garden just in time for fall.

It seems fall has arrived  a week early and when I feel a chill in the air, comfort food comes to mind.  So, I made some Indian Pudding, served warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.   

Now, it's time to work on some fall projects and I have two things in mind, my Hocuspocusville stitchery blocks and finishing my Shades of Autumn, POTC quilt top.

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen



Garden Tour, A Finished Quilt and Something New

Freddie the Frog is a little concerned; we have been without rain since early April.  So what does that mean for the garden, Mother Nature will let us know come spring. 

In the meantime, I am spending many an evening watering for three to four hours at a time.  Normally when clay soil starts to dry out it will contract and create large cracks, but this year is different,  no cracks, it is almost powder like, that is how dry it is.

Much to my surprise, the garden is looking blooming beautiful, so as I head down the garden path I will share with you a few places along the way.

Loaded with daylilies, I love them so, and this is the month they put on a show!  Also blooming away is a big beautiful Shasta daisy and some highly fragrant trumpet lilies.  I also see tiger lilies,  astilbe blooms and purple coneflowers.

A birdbath can be found at every turn,

As birds, bees and butterflies are always welcome.

Fragrant trumpet lily.

And, to end the mini garden tour,

One of my favourite daylilies, Bertie Ferris.

Now on to a little quilting!

Simple Pleasures

16.5" x 16.5"

Machine pieced, hand quilted

I kept it simple to show off the stitchery blocks.

Cat Quilt BOS puts a smile on my face, simply done with a big splash of colour.  The green fabric to the left will be used for binding and I plan on hand quilting something seasonal around each block.  Finished quilt will measure 22" x 22."

Also, I finally added the border to my Kansas Dug-Out and is now basted and ready for hand quilting.  Then, I tackled a big job and prepared the remaining 468 pieces needed to finish my Shades of Autumn POTC quilt, which I will get back to this fall.

Found another interesting book to add to my library, Quilted Symphony by Gloria Loughman.  It is all about abstract design and will be a nice addition to my collection of art quilt books.  I also ordered 37 Sketches by Gwen Marston, small studies of abstract compositions, worked primarily in solids.

And, what is keeping my fingers busy right now is a sweet little quilt called, Bloom by Renee Plains.  Finished size is 22" x 26" with about 103 pieces to be  appliqued, a nice take-along project for the summer.

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen

Bring on the Long Weekend!

It is going to be a relaxing Victoria Day weekend, with a taste of summer in the forecast, a book at the ready and a chair waiting just for me, under the big old shade tree.

There will be a Springtime tea in the garden, Sunday afternoon.

And, I plan to finish stitching bees a buzz and another little stitchery called, Single Flower Basket that go with three other stitcheries I have been working on over the past couple of weeks. 

The cute little face above is from Cat Quilt BOS which has been on my To-Do List for a very long time now.  I'm ready to start stitching once my thread colours have been selected and the last stitch goes into Single Flower Basket.

My Tomato Seedlings Window Sill Grown

Also, before the weekend comes to an end, I will head off to the garden centre to see what is new for 2012 and maybe bring home a plant or two that I just can't live without.

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen

Spring Road Trip

A nice little stash came home with me from our road trip to Shipshewana, Indiana (Yoder's and Lolly's) and also a couple of quilt shops in Michigan, Quilts at the Marshall House, in Marshall MI and a new one for us, Lake St. Mercantile, in South Lyon MI, which is in a beautifully restored 1880's bank building.

Both Lolly's and Yoder's have added wool yarn to the inventory and I found a few must haves for rug hooking.  I also noticed precut wool fabric for penny rugs and wool applique, but too small for rug hooking, though they did sell some wool on bolts, just nothing that grabbed me.

On our way home we stopped in Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend the Michigan Hook-In and Rug Show hosted by the Northville Heirloom Hookers.  I have never been in a room full of hookers before and must say it was a delight.  The pretty wool flower above was a gift from the Northville Heirloom Hookers, to wear on my jacket. There were lots of rugs to see completed and in progress.  And, also vendors, which meant I wasn't coming home empty handed!

The bottom three will be used for overdyeing and I just couldn't resist the rest.  Though my plan is to use mainly recycled wool, I will treat myself to new wool every now and then.  The thrift stores have been very good to me and my inventory of recycled wool is growing at a rapid pace.

Home just in time to see the Fiddleheads and to enjoy some perfect spring weather in the garden.  It always feels good to complete the spring cleanup and worth all the aches and pains that come with it, but no time to rest, round two is about to begin, the weeds are coming!

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen

Edging the Flower Garden

Just as important as the flowers themselves, I think edging the garden enhances the appearance and brings out the beauty of each and every flower.  So, without fail, each spring, my garden beds are edged.

And, without fail, every Wednesday I have been slowly edging my hexagon flower garden.  I am very pleased with the border fabric and have now completed two rounds.  But, there is nothing straight edged about hexagons and my garden has taken on a bit of a funny shape.

So, I must decide if another round is required before straightening the edges or is it now just a matter of placing hexagons in key spots.  Adding a little colour to the border is also a possibility.  Only time will tell.

Recently, we removed an old cast iron fireplace from my Dad's basement and I decided to keep the feet, something caught my eye, they could be interesting in the garden.  Look closely, do you see what I see?

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen

Double Twisted

My Twisted Tumbler turned out a little more twisted then planned.  I carefully arranged and numbered the rows for piecing, but somehow managed to start several rows from the wrong end of the previous row.  Oh well, it definitely has the scrappy look now.  The original Twisted Tumbler has a border, but I was thinking of going borderless.

The weather is not what we would expect for December; this afternoon reached the mid 50's.  The grass is still growing and plants are starting to break ground.  A heavy frost turned the garden into a sugar coated wonderland, but was soon washed away by heavy rain.

Countdown to Christmas with Aurifil Thread

What a nice collection I will have by December 25th.

Once the calendar flips to December the main focus is Christmas, but I hope to find a little time to finish my November Sweet Nostalgia block, Making Friends and more importantly to complete my last five Dear Jane center blocks.

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen

The Black Cauldron

You have to watch where you are walking this time of year as spiders and cobwebs seem to be everywhere.  Last Sunday it was warm enough to wear shorts and a T-shirt as I gave the garden its final weeding of the season.  Now, I wait for the first frost, and then garden clean-up begins.

The Black Cauldron

I almost forgot to show you, my first block of Hocuspocusville.  It sure is a fun one to stitch and I look forward to the next eleven blocks.  Done all in black thread, two strands and backstitched.  For a better look at the background fabric, click here.

As spirits roam the neighborhoods at night,
Let loose upon the Earth till it be light...

~Nicholas Gordon

One Ostrich to go, then I will be finished appliqueing Block 18 of the Civil War Bride quilt.  But, first it's time for a tasty treat, homemade peanut brittle.

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen

Milkweed

The milkweed pods are breaking,

And the bits of silken down

Float off upon the autumn breeze

Across the meadows brown.

- Cecil Cavendish, The Milkweed

Fall Road Trip

It is time for a road trip and I am pretty sure it will include lots and lots of quilt shops.  But, will I be able to stick to my Quilters' Diet, seeing that I have not set foot in a quilt shop or ordered anything online since spring, we will see!

With the blink of an eye, summer became fall, with a chill in the air and colour everywhere.  The weatherman predicted a dry, warm autumn, but it has been raining for days and is as cold as can be.  Still, it is going to be an excellent adventure and not even the rain can put a damper on things.

I began a new project, the time was right, Hocuspocusville, by Crab-apple Hill.  One of my favourite blocks is The Black Cauldron, so I started with that one.  Spider Soup and Worms Alfredo, now doesn't that make your mouth water?

 

Such a very busy season and I have been working overtime to see that everything on my To-Do List gets checked off.  This has left little time for quilting the past few weeks, other than stitching up my weekly Dear Jane block and cutting out pieces for a quilt called Crazy Cats.  My sister is machine piecing it, which is good, because I'm not that crazy about the Buggy Barn method.  Anyway,  if all goes well, this will be a Christmas gift for my other sister.

Now, I must pack my bags and get a good night's sleep, as soon it will be time to hit the road.

Until next time.....happy quilting!

Karen