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

Hearts Desire Progress,

Hello everyone,

Hope you all had a fabulous week. After our trip to Portugal we returned home to find that one of our cats was missing.  The couple who were looking after them said they had not seen her for a week.  I went out calling her name for the last two days, suddenly there she was at the door, big sigh of relief, no sign of her being hurt, but very thin and gosh she was starving.  Don't know where she has been on her adventure but l think from this photo you will see she is very glad to be home.

Mexcla relaxing....her name means mixture in Spanish.  Her two brothers are completely different one is black with just a spot under his chin the other is a tiger

Pretty comfy l would say

Hearts Desire

Have made great headway on my 2nd block.  Completly finished my 1st block including the triangle border which l paper pieced by machine.  Pictures of how this is done.

My pattern is first cut from wash Away Applique, l find this an excellent medium to work with, it does exactly that, it washes away.
The leaves are marked so you know which way up.  I turn under the first part ALL the way round by glueing.

 I make it very smooth  this was just before l smoothed it all around

 Now l do the other side of the leaf, but only the outside edge.
I then stitch by hand all the way down the middle of the leaf.  Its now ready to applique down.

Here is mt first block complete with overhanging leaves

My 2nd block went together quickly as most of the pieces were prepped.  I think the secret to these blocks is prepping and l will be doing this from now on.

So here are my two blocks, loving how this is coming together...thank you Esther Aliu for a beautiful quilt.

Just discovered there are 84 leaves still to make for the next 6 blocks.

Hope you all have a great week, ennjoy your sewing, and don't forget to leave a comment.

I am linking to Esther Aliu's WOW