Happy Christmas and what l am up to

Hello everyone,
Sorry been missing for a few weeks, but came bqck from England with the Flu and to be honest did not feel well.

However l could not let this time of year go by without wishing all my quilty friend the best of everything for both Christmas and the coming New Year.  So as we say here, Feliz Navidad and Feliz Año Nuevo.

Here is what l have been doing.  Still plodding away with the beautiful Hearts Desire and although l still have 3 more corner blocks to do decided to do my borders, which are somewhat unusual as they are sewn together to place 4 corner baskets which are beautiful and then the scallops, leaves and flowers.  You then sew all your blocks together and sew them into the middle...different, so l challenged myself.

In retrospect l should have done each side scallops and leaves then mitres the corners and placed the baskets, but its working out ok, as l did not want to take the mitres out as they were just so perfect ...for a change.

However since making that l changed the basket slightly

I had a bit of a trauna my Litebox overheated and burned our new table, l was not flavour of the month

Here is the new basket for my corners, feel much happier with it  the pink was just too bright

This is my progress so far, a lot of pins still in there so a lot of sewing still left.

Hope you enjoyed reading my blog.

I shall raise my glass to you all in the New Year....have a great time.

See you all next year 2018.

Joining Esther Aliu's blog   WOW

My quilting past

Hi everyone,  thank you for  visiting.

Reason l did not blog last week, l  was travelling to the Uk and things just got hectic.

For that reason l have decided to show you some quilts l have made in the past.  Some started and still on going and one l doubt it will be finished.

I have added some of my paintings and silk ribbon canvases

 Dear Jane, my take made vrom Asian fabrics so l renamed it Asian Jane

 A Jenny Beyer quilt called Asian Fans

 Hearts on Fire

 One l made for my Daughter called Rose Cottages

 Started but doubtful if it will be finished.  It was also hand painted, ribbon embroidery and beads covered in ribbon  this was a mistake because l realised very quickly it was going to be  very heavy

 An up close of the above, bit of embroidery too on this

 This is Esther Aliu's design a mystrry called Secret Garden, l stopped to continue with another quilt but will return to it.

 One of several silk ribbon canvases l have  made this is Little Girl Reaching (there are eggs in the nest)

 Another painting. Its  called poppies in a brass pot

 The above are both the same one framed, the other not.  Cannot remember the name of this, but l call it Bougainvillea

 My favourite  Ballet Dancer at Rest.  The shoe is 1/2" long made of silk. And each of the Cala Lilies made individually.

 Love Entwined by Esther Aliu,  my take using silk ribbon embroidery, broderie perse

 My  very first attempt at Applique  Autumn Geisha

Forgottenthe name of this one.

Affairs of the Heart, again  my take,  l used silk ribbon embroidery on the borders

This is a watercolour wall hanging.  Dragonflies.  This is an easy technique but looks difficult.  The 2" squares are placed on and  ironed  on a fused grid with the 2" squares placed on the grid.  You iron them on then sew them first from top to bottom then side to side.  I think there are some beautiful ones available from www.watercolourquilts.com.
There are lots more designs on this site.

Thanks for visiting.  See you  next week.
Now tolink to Esther's WOW.

Centre block HD tute on how to glue baste

Welcome to my blog.

I have prepped my centre block, so have lots of sewing on hand now and to take with me to the UK.

CENTRE BLOCK

Prepped not sewn

A little insight on how l got to this point.  It might help those of you, who wonder how.

My method of glue basting using Pritt stick and Floriani wash away soluble which has one sticky side

 Pieces ironed on to fabric and cut with 1/8th seam allowance

 The start of glue basting.  I use scissors starting at the edge nearest you and as l work along my fingers press down to fix it securely

 Its finished ready to sew.

 This one us slightly different and l will show you why later.  Start with the outside edge and glue baste that only

Another shape but all sides will be glue basted

 Now turn your piece over and hold it up to the light.
Your pieces can now be placed on top for sewing.
Later when its finished, simply cut away the spare fabric at the back, but carefully please

This was my first attempt, but l did not like the middle.  So back to the drawing board for a different centre.

Ah, much better, l fussy cut the petals and l like it much better now.  I also managed to cut out the fan shaped corners.  Have to add my friend Anne Marieke suggested the fabric, great suggestion Anne.

 Now its finished, this block went together so quickly.  Feel it needs something more and l believe Esther added leaves at the very end.  I think l need to put my thinking hat on as leaves are not on my radar.

This block has 4 sides to be added, l may get round to it later to add to the blog.  I have to wait on the post bringing me the fabric to finish the sides of this block.

Thats it for this week.  Have a great week, here is Spain we have been promised some more rain, but it will be a storm with tormentors as they are called here...thunder and lightening.

I am connecting now with Esther's WOW

Block 4 HD and prepped 5

Hi everyone,

Thank you for dropping by to see what l have been doing.

This week l have managed to finish another block for my Hearts Desire Quilt by Esther Aliu.  I don't seem to be able to stop working on this and have certainly discovered doing two blocks at a time much quicker.  It simply means you have to be extra careful labelling each piece, particularly marking with an arrow which is the point of a leaf and which part goes under another.

Here is my block

 Now my next one is prepped and pinned.

I pin each piece on to my block, to make sure all the pieces are there, nothing worse than starting the block and find8nd one piece is missing and you have to go back to the cutting routine.

Here are my blocks laid out on the floor.  My middle block is drawn out.  I use  Frixion pens.  I have not had problems with the markings returning.

When you have completely finished sewing your block, l use steam and iron off any marks which may be showing.

There are several Frixion pens, make sure you have the correct one.  I tried the gel pen, which l did not like  Always test on a spare piece of your  fabric.

Finally laid out on the floor. My progress so far

I have already ordered my fabric for my centre, it requires a rather unusual fabric for fussy cutting.  Its on its way, one downside to living here, fabric is expensive, l am buying now from the UK and the USA, yes even with postage its still cheaper than in Spain,

I must tell you about some super Applique needles l have found.  They glide through the fabric like no other needle l have found.

They are made in Japan and are called Hiroshima Needles.  I have Applique Needle No. 10 with a large eye.  Just Google for them, there will be a shop in your country that sells them.  They come in a box in a glass case and cost  about 8 Euros for 6  needles.

FARM WORK

We have been very busy on the farm.  Getting ready for spraying.  New battery for the tractor bought and a new Sprayer.  Its a job for special equipment, a covering suit, mask.  Its getting cooler and John goes out around 7am before the day gets warm, its unusually hot still for October 26C during the day.  The trees have already been pruned so this is the next job.

Thats all for this week.  Thank you for looking and please comment, , the box is small but its at the finish of this weeks blog

Linking now to Esther's  WOW.

Hearts Desire Blk 3. Garden

Hi everyone,
Thanks for dropping in.  Been slow progress on Block 3, no really good excuse, just been lazy.  However it is progressing, one bite at a time.

I feel even more lethargic than usual having been up since 4.30am to take someone to the airport.  I will feel more like sewing tomorrow.  Meanwhile l am using my water soluble glue called Pritt Stick to secure my turn under seam.  I really prefer this method, l never really felt happy with raw edge applique, sewing by machine actually stresses me out, whilst hand sewing is so much more relaxing.

Picture for you, all are turned under now.  Last picture shows it finished Yay!

I have also included my three finished blocks

This is a beautiful pattern by  Esther Aliu called Hearts Desire and it can be purchased here:

Estheraliu.blogspot.com

Look at the top of the page in her pattern shop, this one is in her BOM Quilts

GARDEN

.

I have some Garden pictures to show you.  I have grown some Jacaranda trees from seed and those are really flourishing

They are tHe ones in the front with the fern like leaves.  They have the most beautiful drop type blue/purple  flowers.

Some more but they were taken in the evening, we have been promised rain and it really looks like it.  Glad at last we are getting rain and you may think thats strange, but rain has been very rare we are having problems as our Well has dried up, it did that at the beginning of August.  So we have been buying our water in, its non drinkable so we have to treat it.

My Orchids are just beginning to bud, they always look so sad with dead looking stalks, then suddenly a glimmer of life and buds appear, when they bloom l will post pictures, l love Orchids, l think they are my favourite flowers.  I found a gorgeous deep blue one, how l wish l had bought it, the price put me off .

Ok thats enough for this week

Now l am linking to Esther's WOW 

ENJOY YOUR WEEK.  TILL NEXT TIME

Next week the recipe for my Indian Mango Pickle

Hearts Desire, Block 3 and Wine

Hello everyone,

Thanks to all who left comments last week, l enjoy hearing from you.

My Hearts Desire continues to grow with my third block coming to life.  This particular block is called Sing A Song For Me..cute!  Not so manyflowers in it and instead of the original bird, l decided to put 2 small Broderie Perse birds in its place.

Broderie Perse is a very old tecnique, the words are French and translate to Persian Embroidery and was very popular in the 17th century.  Indian examples have been found using this type of work.  I love using it, its so quick and just adds a little something special to your piece.

Basically it consists of elements cut from fabric and resewn on to another  simply cut your flower, bird, piece of fruit vrom the fabric and leave enough to turn under.

Here is what l am trying to achieve.

As you can see it comes to life.

I have made some progress and it is now sewn and leaves are in place

So now this is how it looks leaves bar 2 sewn, birds ready to be sewn

We continued to find mangoes on the trees after we had taken the last load in, they hide in the trees, so we had quite a pile.  Some were ripe so we have made yet more wine and its looking good should be 13% strength, so good falling down fluid lol.

The rest were too green to make wine so l shall make some Green Spicey Chutney.

We found more after l took athis photo, so the wine has been given its first rack as its now 1 month old and it will be given 2 more at one month intervals.

This was our first 8 ltrs of wine, note the colour, its now cleared nicely and will continue to do so.

Have to admit we could not resist sampling it, very nice but a bit to go.  It will be drinkable in 6 months, but will mature at 1 year.

What are we going to do with 43 gallons of the stuff...why have a party, l have some friends coming from America and Ireland so it will probably be sampled then.  We have to decide on a name yet for this heady little brew, so any ideas will be appreciated.  So lucky us.

See you next week, until then enjoy life and your sewing.

I will leave you with this thought  lol

Now connecting with Esther's WOW