Scraps

I started a new quilt.  I know!  I know!  I said I wouldn't do that.  But a couple of days ago, while cleaning up, I noticed a big bin full of strips.  So I decided to sew them together to make a strip quilt.  I am using all kinds of strips.  All sizes and colors.  Only a couple of days and I already have this much done.

27 blocks completed and several more started.   I am foundation piecing them on old magazine paper.  The blocks are about 7 inches and I thought 6 of them would make a quilt about 42 inches wide.  This should take a normal piece of backing fabric 42 inches wide.  But that might all change.  Who knows.

I have cute little gold finches in my yard.  They come early in the morning.  Usually there are 3 or more on the feeder.  This picture shows only 1, but there was another one on the back.

My day lilies are in bloom and so is my Verbena.  I love the colours these come in.

Dark purple ones.

And some pretty pink ones. 

I am also going to go back to work on my weather hexies.  As soon as I can figure out what the temperatures were last week that is.  I am not giving up.

Day Lilies, a Flimsy and a Zucchini Recipe

Several people asked me for the Zucchini Pineapple Loaf recipe.  So I will add it to the bottome of this post.  But first I want to show you my scrappy flimsy.  I started this a couple of years ago, but put it away when my machine started to give me problems.  I sewed a couple more rows and now I think I have had enough of this one.  I am calling it finished.

This quilt top reminds me of the Day Lilies I have blooming in my garden at the moment.  I love these.

This is a gorgeous peach coloured one.

Another peach coloured one, except this one has a dark centre.

A double peach lily.

A yellow day lily.

I have more, but I will save them for another day.

Now for the Pineapple Zucchini Loaf recipe.  This is from a "Company's Coming" book by Jean Pare called "Muffins and More".  It is my favourite book by her.

Zucchini Pineapple Loaf

2               eggs

1/2 cup     cooking oil

1 cup        sugar

1 cup        unpeeled, shredded zucchini

1/2 cup     crushed pineapple, drained

1 tsp         vanilla

2 cups       all purpose flour

1 tsp          baking soda

1/2 tsp       baking powder

1/2 tsp       salt

3/4 tsp       cinnamon

1/4 tsp       nutmeg

1/2 cup      chopped nuts  (I have used 1 cup raisins instead of nuts and it turned out great)

Method

Beat eggs, oil and sugar.  Sir in zucchini, pineapple and vanilla.

Measure remaining ingredients in another bowl.  Stir.

Pour all at once into batter.  Stir to moisten.  Pour into greased loaf pan 9x5x3 inches.  I use a bunt pan sprayed with PAM.  Bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 1 hour.  Test to see if it is done.  A toothpick will come out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Turn loaf out to cool on a rack. This is delicious if cut into slices and spread with butter.  Yield 1 loaf.

I am linking up to The Needle and Thread Network.

A Soggy Day

We have had a lot of rain this month.  More than we had in April and May.  But my plants love it. Here is a hanging basket that I bought for next to nothing.  Lots of red here too.

I have been busy making more red hexie flowers.  Here they are in the garden, between bursts of rain, Guess there will be time for more sewing today.

I discovered another red flower in my solarium.  It's an Amaryllis  that was hiding in a corner.  It was with some others that were dormant.  I didn't think they would flower until the fall, but here it is.  In all it's red glory.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Flowers on Friday

I love red flowers.  One of my favourite is blooming right now.  It's a poppy and it has been in my garden for a long time - probably 25 years.  I love this bright red colour!

And here is my red hexie quilt.  There are over 1,000 hexies in this top so far.  I still a long way to go on this one, but I have lots of time in the evenings to work on it.  I love red.  Oh, I said that already,.

So here is another red flower.  It's a Martha Washington Geranium - Pelargonium domesticum. I have also heard it called a Regal Geranium.  The little white flowers are Euphorbia.

We are supposed to get some rain today.  That will be nice.  My flowers will be singing.  

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Happy Earth Day

Today is Earth Day.  Only one day a year?  I think it should be Earth Day every day of the year.  Let's recycle, clean up our environment and plant trees and wild flowers.  I planted some peas and lettuce. Not just for Earth Day, but because I love the fresh bounty from my garden.

Just some garden photos.  This is what my urns look like now.

And some Scilla Siberica in my front lawn.

We've had a lot of rain over the past few days.  Today that rain was interspersed with hail and snow. The temperature will go down over the next few days.  But the sun should come out.  And that will be nice.

And now some hexie flowers.  I could make many of these for Earth Day.  And I will!

Keeping Busy

I cut and prepped another 6 hexie flowers yesterday.  But that is not what I want to show you.  I watched a quilting show yesterday afternoon.  It was a Fons and Porter episode.  I love those! Marianne demonstrated a block that she used for a large quilt.  It's a very simple block.  I decided to make a couple just to have them when I decide to do something new.  I made 4 blocks.

These blocks are 5 1/2 inches and finish at 5 inches.  That means I will need a lot of them.  I think this quilt will be a terrific stash buster.  But I have no idea when I will get around to starting it.  .

Also, yesterday afternoon, I planted some spring bulbs into the urns by my front door.  Spring is kind of slow in coming this year and not much is blooming in the garden yet.  So I bought some bulb plants in pots.  There are daffodils, tulips, hyacinth and pansies.  I should have taken a photo yesterday when the sun was in the west.  The pictures would have turned out much better.  I took these this morning.  Maybe I will take a few more shots when the sun has moved around.

  I bought plants that were not in full bloom yet because I want them to last a bit longer.

This daffodil was not open yesterday, but it is starting to open now.  I love spring!  Oh, have I said that before?

A Bit of Weather - Under it, Over it. What the heck is going on?

I've felt a little under the weather the past few days.  Nothing too serious.  Just some body aches, stuffy sinuses and a bit of a headache.  I slept a lot and read a whole book in less than two days, James Patterson's latest, Hope to Die,

On Saturday I took my machine in to get the plug on the foot pedal fixed.  I have no idea if it can be fixed.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.  If they can't fix it, I guess I will have to buy a new pedal. But as the woman in the shop said, "That will be cheaper than a new machine".

And as I was coming out from under the weather, the weather became beautiful.  It started out cold and windy yesterday morning, but then the sun came out and it felt like spring.  We decided to go down to the lake and see how much winter was still around.  And I can tell you, there was a lot!  In the middle of the lake the ice had melted, but around the edges, it was still deep and frozen.  The ducks and geese were calling to us from the ice.  The gulls were screaming from the air.  It was impossible to walk anywhere because the paths had not been cleared.  So I parked myself on a bench, in the sun, along the edge of the water and took a few photos.

The sun felt nice.  Today is going to be another gorgeous day.  The temperature is going way up to 13C, that's around 55F.  Is our winter over?  Not a chance.  It will get cold again (not as cold as it has been) but the temps will be below normal for this time of year until spring starts on Friday.  And then we might even get a bit of snow.  This weather is crazy.  I want spring.

We still have a foot or more of snow on our lawn.  But close to the house the snow has melted.  And as it did, little green crocus shoots were already coming up.  Low and behold, a yellow crocus popped out of the ground and greeted me with a smile.

Okay, now I am feeling better.  The weather can do what it wants.  As long as I have something springlike in my garden I am happy.  I think I will ride my scooter up to the library and get another book. And maybe buy some strawberries for dessert.  Yummy!  I can taste spring already.

On the quilting front, do you want to see what I have been working on?  It isn't much.  Just a few more hexie flowers.  I can keep doing these because they are all done by hand, but the machine applique will have to wait until I get my sewing machine fixed.  This is what I have so far on ny design wall.  I have not decided how big I am going to make this quilt, but I don't think it will be much bigger.  Just a border or two.

I am linking up with Angie at A Quilting Reader's Garden.

Fall Crocus

My fall crocus is almost finished blooming.  This plant is so pretty.  Fall crocuses have to be planted in the fall.  Then they send up some very large green leaves in the spring.  The leaves die back and the plant goes dormant by the time July rolls around.  In the fall it sends up pretty pink, white or purple flowers when you least expect them.  I planted this one a few years ago.  It was a very large bulb.  I thought I had saved the package it came in so that I would be able to identify it.  But the package is gone and I have no idea which variety this one is.

October 7, 2014

An Early Thanksgiving

I decided to cook a turkey dinner today.  We have no idea when the baby will arrive and we wanted to get together for a Thanksgiving meal as a family before that happens.  Turkey, gravy, potatoes, salad, green beans, corn-on-the-cob, stuffing, cranberry sauce and apple cider.  Yummmm!

photo for October 5, 2014

I had to bring my tropical plants inside yesterday.  The temperature went down to 3C (37F) last night. I noticed a beautiful white blossom in one of my big outdoor pots.  On closer examination I discovered that it was a climbing sweet potato flower.  It looks like a gigantic morning glory.

That's because they are in the same family.  Here are some little blue morning glories.

Even with the temperatures going down so low, there are still some very pretty flowers in my garden.

Zucchini Bliss

My zucchinis are growing like mad.  I went out yesterday, after not seeing any baby zucchinis on my plants on Saturday, and found another 9 huge, fully ripe zucchinis!  My fridge isn't big enough for this!  So I started to look up zucchini recipes, especially ones that can be frozen and I found many.

It was cool and rainy this morning, so I made a batch of zucchini muffins.   They turned out fantastic!  I also grated several cups of additional zucchini to freeze for future muffins.  Right now I have a pot of zucchini soup on the stove and a zucchini bread in the oven.  I think that will be enough for today.  But tomorrow I will make more.

I was able to finish the centre part of the Rosewood Cottage quilt.  Yesterday, while at Walmart I found a piece of light blue fabric that will work for the inner border.  I have already started to applique the outer border, but there still is a lot to do.  This is what I have so far.

And here is another pretty lily from my garden.

It has stopped raining and my cooking is done, so I am going out into the garden.  These wonderful blooms don't look after themselves!  I noticed some red lily beetle larva on this plant and I want to take them off before they eat the whole thing.  The Red Lily Beetle is an interesting bug, but very detrimental to lily plants. I wrote about it here.

Have a good day!

A Busy Weekend in my Garden!

We had lots of visitors this weekend.  And then last night we had a barbeque with my DS, DD and her fiance.  The weather has been perfect - real summer-time temps and sunshine.  Love it!!!

In keeping with the 4th of July weekend, I am posting my July hexie block.  (Happy Belated 4th of July to all of my friends south of the border.)  It's a cherry ice cream cone. Anybody want a lick?  I know that this block was only just posted on The Hexie Blog less than a week ago, but I fell in love with it and wanted to make it right away.

For years I have been seeing the POTC blocks on blogs and other places on the internet.  I wanted to make some.  I finally found the template for it serveral weeks ago and started to cut it out.  Then I put it in a 'safe' place where even I couldn't find it.  But yesterday it was just sitting there in a plastic container.  How did I miss that?  A few of the pieces had already been sewn together, so I finished it last night.  I know the colours are kind of loud, but I guess those are the fabrics that were beside my machine at the time.  I think I will keep the colourful theme going.  I love colour!

I will leave you with a shot of my colourful lily.  Told you I love colour!  I planted this a few of years ago and it keeps surprising me with its beauty.

Hoping everyone is having a great weekend!

I am linking up with Angie at The Quilting Reader's Garden.

Hexie Transformer

I sewed my hexies together for the June hexie blog flower last night.  But I didn't have the layout for it.  And I sewed it wrong.  The stem at the bottom would not have come out straight.  If I wanted it to turn out like the one on the hexie blog, I would have had to undo many hexies and anyone who does these things knows how difficult it is to rip them out without shredding the rest of the blocks.  So I redesigned it and now it will be appliqued to a background fabric and made into another outdoor pillow.

I liked the colours because I have lots of purple flowers in my garden right now.  Here are some Sweet Williams.

And this is the Hydrangea that I planted in the spring.  My first Hydrangea flower.  Am I ever proud!  It is one of those lacy ones.

Hope everyone has a terrific weekend!  We are going out to the Mandarin to celebrate my husband's birthday tonight.  It's a long weekend for some of us.  Canada Day is on Tuesday.  Some folks are taking Monday off too.  Every day is Canada Day for me!

I am linking up with Angie at A Quilting Reader\s Garden

I Do Finish Some Things Some of the Time

The nice weather is finally here.  Only a couple of days to go before summer starts.  Most of the gardening has been done.  Now it is just weed, weed, weed.  But that can wait for another day.  We had some unsettled days, weatherwise.  Lots of rain, thunder and lightning, hail, heavy winds and even a tornado just to the north of us.  But now the sunshine has arrived.

I have been quilting the Bob the Builder quilt for my DD's friend.  The baby shower is on Saturday and I had to get it finished.  So finish I did.  I put the last few stitches into the binding this morning.  There is still a label to be made, but I don't know the baby's name, so I think I will put that on after he is born.

While out in the garden I noticed my wisteria is blooming.  Our winter was very long and cold and I worried about this vine because it took so long to show any signs of life this spring.  But now it is doing fine.  It has lots of lovely flower racemes on it.

In all my excitement to get the quilt done, I have decided to link up with The Needle and Thread Network.  I think I have an hour or so left to do that.

A Bluish Purple Garden

My blue and white Iris is in bloom.  I love this plant and wait for it to bloom every year.  It has not failed me yet.  This thing is gorgeous!

And as I looked around my garden I noticed a lot of other bluish/purple plants in boom.  Here are my perennial Geraniums, also known as Cranesbill.

And my Chives.

I bought this basket of Million Bells several weeks ago.  I had to take it in and out of the house when the weather did not cooperate.  But it survived and looks amazing right now!

That is when I remembered that I had some scraps sitting beside my sewing machine.  So, yesterday, after returning from my outing with the Tuesday Friendship Quilters for an end-of-the-year luncheon, it started to rain like crazy!  There was nothing else to do but sew my scraps together and make a cushion for one of the garden chairs.

I used an old pillow form that had seen better days.  It is 14 inches square.  The fabrics are not really outdoor ones.  I will have to take this little cushion inside at night.  But it feels great to use up some of my scraps and make something pretty for the garden.  I hope to make several more of them from my scrap bin, in lots of other colours to match the flowers that will bloom later in the season.

My Design Wall

I know it seems as if I am not doing any sewing and I'm not doing a lot, but I do have some things on my design wall.

This is a 16 patch which I saw on Nicolette's blog.  I loved it and I thought I could use up lots of 4 inch strips that I had cut out several months ago.  I think I was planning to do a star quilt or something, but it was all in purples and it just didn't turn me on.  My design wall is doing double duty.  You can see some maple leaf blocks behind the 16 patches.  I still have two more blocks to make on that one.

If I make the 16 patch quilt 4 blocks by 5 blocks, as Nicolette has done, the quilt will measure 56 inches by 70 inches.  I might add another row to the bottom to make it 84 inches long.  This will fit my bed better, since I am still using a hospital bed and that measures 36 by 80.

In my garden there is lots of colour.  I especially like blue flowers, so here are my Virginia Bluebells - Mertensia virginica.  I just love these!