Little Shop of Horrors Revisited

Yesterday I showed you my mystery plant.  I think it is a pumpkin, but who knows!  It could be a man or woman-eating plant from an other world.  I am going to leave it.  Maybe move it over so it is not directly in the middle of the path.  I have enough trouble walking without tripping over this thing.  Here are some photos so you can see for yourself. 

I put a geranium basket beside it for comparison.

This is one of the leaves.  It's about 12inches (30cm) across.

And here is a shot of my cucumbers.  Similar leaves, but much smaller.

One More Done!

Another charity quilt done.  Gosh, I'm really on a roll! 

This was also a kit from my guild.  I think I got lucky this month.  The fabrics they gave me are all nice.  Sometimes you don't know what you're going to get.

And speaking of what I am going to get... I have this 'thing' growing in one of my raised beds.  No idea what it is.  It's a volunteer.  Maybe a pumpkin?  It is taking over my garden!  The curious child in me wants to let it grow and see what it becomes.  But the adult in me wonders if I should pull it out.  I hope it isn't anything from 'Little Shop of Horrors' fame!

Another Charity Quilt is Finished

I finished another charity quilt last night.   It's a Disappearing Nine Patch and it came as a kit from our guild.  I love these colours  I think this one is going to a veterans' centre - probably to one of the many women who fought to give us our freedom

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Another Kitchen Update - Back Splash

We went to Olympic Tile yesterday afternoon and I picked out the tiles for my back splash.  I have been playing with them ever since we got home.  I love them!  They remind me of a quilt.  I think they will tie the whole kitchen together - the light flooring, the cabinets, the paint and the gray of the counter top.  These tiles are made out of real stone. 

My DH and I have a 'thing' for stone.  We are always looking for interesting colours or fossils.  And even though they are real stone, one side has been polished.  It is smooth and shiny.  I think it will be easy to keep clean.  Can't wait to get them up on the wall.

Disappearing Nine Patch?

My sewing machine is still not working properly.  Sometimes the needle does not go to the centre position when I turn it on.  It's not really a problem, unless I forget to check it.  I was so excited about making another DNP quilt, (I know, I know!  I shouldn't be starting anything new!  But I just can't help myself.)  that I started to sew immediately.  And... well you guessed it.  I broke my needle!  It was so wedged in there that I had to use a pair of pliers to get it out.  Luckily I was wearing glasses because the tip of the needle flew off and hit me.  I put a new needle in and continued on with my DNP.  Here is what I have so far - 18 blocks, only 12 to go.  They are just on my design floor and are not arranged as they will be when it is finished.  I need more blocks to see how the colours work together.

I really shouldn't be calling it a DNP because I did not make any nine patches for this top.  I just didn't have enough large pieces of fabric in my stash.  But I did have strips of fabric measuring 3' that I wanted to use.  So I made up my own DNP blocks.

Here is what I did.  I cut the larger pieces from larger fabrics.  They measure 6' x 6'.  Then I cut two pieces of fabric measuring 3' x 6' for the sides.  For the small squares I chose a fabric that I used throughout.  It's the red in my quilt.  I cut one of those for each block measuring 3' x 3'.

Then I sewed them together - a 3' square to a 3' x6' rectangle and a 6' square to a 3' x 6' rectangle.

I finger pressed the seams in opposite directions and sewed my two pieces together.  And... Voila!  A finished block.  I need 30 of these for a baby or lap quilt - 5 blocks across and 6 down.  Easy, peasy.

Something New and Something Old

My kitchen is moving along........

The 'new' in this post is my new countertop that was installed on Monday.  It's called 'Silestone' and is a man made material made of quartz and some kind of binder.  It looks like stone, but it is actually much stronger.  Here is a close-up.

And the 'old' is a UFO that I started three years ago.  It is all hand pieced and appliqued.  I'll show you more when I have it done. 

Not Much Progress

Yesterday I finished a block from last week's Friday Block Party.  It is called, "Friendship Scrap Block" and is made out of triangles.  It's a 12inch block.  Although it was not terribly hard, some of the pieces didn't line up as I would have liked them to.  I don't think I will make any more of these.  This one will be added to the 12inch blocks and hopefully one day I will make a quilt out of them.

This morning I just couldn't get myself started.  It was dark and gloomy outside and I had been out late on Friday evening.  I took a short nap and then decided to 'make' some fabric.  I got a few pieces sewn together. but it just wasn't doing anything for me.  So I changed directions and made some small 9-patch blocks.  That is the block which is featured on the Block Party this week.  (see my sidebar) These little blocks measure 3inches when completed.  They are for my 'Oh My Gosh' quilt.  The original OMG quilt uses even smaller blocks, but my fingers and eyes don't like to work with blocks that small.  This quilt is fun, but it will not be done for a long time!

I also want to work on a UFO quilt that I started three years ago.  If I can get it done by August I will enter it into our guild's Quilt Show in the fall.  I hope I will feel in the mood for that tomorrow.  Have a great weekend everyone!

A Finish

After a week of procrastinating, I have finally finished another Beach Party quilt.   I love this pattern because I can use a lot of scraps.   This one measures about 41in. by 57in. (105cm by 145cm) and is a good size for the couch or even a baby quilt.   I never know how big these quilts are going to be until they are finished...  and they are finished when I hear them speak to me. 

The blocks for this quilt were made by using 2 1/2in. square scraps and bigger pieces for the triangle blocks.  At the moment I am cutting out more scraps using smaller pieces, (2in. and 1 1/2in.) but those are ongoing projects and I probably won't be finished them until the end of the summer.

Now, what else can I show you?  Oh, I know.  Here is a favourite perennial of mine!  It's called Cranesbill or Geranium.  I have another Cranesbill in another part of the garden.  It is a pink one, but I think I love these blue flowers the best. 

And here is a photo of Mimi, wedged in behind a chair in the solarium.  She is trying to soak up every ray of sunshine she can get.  Our heatwave is over and it is going to be a very comfortable 20C today. 

Just a Few of my Perennials

It's a hot one today.  Can't concentrate on quilting, so I thought you might like to see some of my perennials.  This first one is a Columbine.  It is very similar to the wild columbine that is our city's (Scarborough) official flower.

When I looked out this morning I noticed that a few of my Oriental Poppies have opened up.  With all the rain and heat I don't expect these to last too long.  But they are beautiful right now.

And here is a shot of that blue and white Iris I showed a couple of days ago.  It is in full bloom now!  I love this thing!  Oh, yeah, I said that already.

Flowers and a Kitchen Update

I am sure many of you are wondering about my kitchen, so I thought I'd give you an update.  Not much has been going on lately.  But the door handles have been installed and the fan is now in place over the stove.    This week the counter top is to be delivered and installed.  The sink and taps will also be added at that time.  Then it will just be a matter of the back splash and some final work and my kitchen will be done!  Ohhhhh!  I can hardly wait!

Our weather has become hot and humid.  But that is much better than the rain we had for the month of May - twice as much as normal - 140mm of the wet stuff!  I bought this beautiful basket of begonias yesterday.  They are a new species, blooming all summer long, and come in salmon and red.  I think I might go back to the garden centre and buy myself a red one! 

And last, but not least, my blue iris has started to bloom.  Isn't it fantastic?

And now I am going to sit outside in the shade and do some crocheting.  I started an afghan last summer, but never got it finished.  Maybe that will happen this year!

Wednesday Stuff and Give Away

Summer has arrived - finally!  It seems like we only have two seasons, winter and summer.  We had record setting temperatures yesterday.  The humidex went up to 39C.  I kept busy watering my garden.   It was too hot to sleep.  I had the air conditioner on, but it didn't seem to be working.  It turned out that someone had turned the A/C off at the furnace.  Once my DH turned it back on the air became cooler and I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep.  Today it is a lot cooler, but the winds are strong and everything in the garden is dried out again.  Guess I will have to go and water again.  Here is a lovely, colourful basket.

On Monday evening we had our last quilt meeting for this year.  It seemed hard to believe that another year has gone by.  We are now off until September, but that won't stop me from working on a few more charity quilts over the summer.  Here is the top of one I made on Monday night, after our meeting.  I couldn't sleep anyway so I figured I'd use the time productively.  It's a DNP.

And today was the day I promised to pick a winner in my give away. 

The winner is Nynke from the Dutch Purple Rabbit.

Here is your mini quilt!

Please send me your snail mail address, Nynke and I will mail it out as soon as possible.

We are expecting a mail strike starting at 11:59pm on Thursday.  If they reach an agreement before that I will mail it out on Friday.  If they go on strike I will hold onto it until the strike is over.

Working on my Blocks of the Week

I am trying to catch up on the Friday Block Party.  I still have several blocks to make.  Today I finished the birds for week 20.  If you like these blocks and would like to make your own, just go to the Friday Block Party link on my sidebar.  There are lots of really nice blocks there.  And if you should want to join us in making these blocks, just let me know and I will send you an invitation so that you can post and show your work.

Here are my Blue Birds of Happiness.

This was the first one I tried.  It's not quite perfect, but it will do.

This second one was much easier.  Since this bird is done on a 5 by 5 grid, I decided to make mine 10 1/2 inches square without having to add any strips on the outside.  The 5 by 5 grid means that you can divide this block into five by five sections.  If you make each section 1.5inches (including the seam allowance) the block will be 5 inches finished.  If you make each section 2 inches (including the seam allowance) the block will be 7 1/2 inches and if you make each section (like I did) 2 1/2inches, the block will be 10inches.  Hope this makes sense.

A Completed Section on Wednesday

We've been having a few nice days.  I was able to get a few things planted.  Today is again a wonderful, cool, sunny day.  Ideal for putting some colour into my garden.

My hexagon 'wannabe quilt' is getting bigger. I have finished another section.  This adds some nice colour to my garden.  Don't you agree?  The yellow 'flowers' in the background are Euphorbia.  I put 'flowers' in quotation marks because they are not real flowers, but in fact are bracts - leaves that are yellow. 

Now I am off to the garden centre on my scooter.  I want to buy some geraniums (Pelargonium) for the pots by my front door.

Flowers on Wednesday

I am still working on my hexagon flowers.  I made 6 of them yesterday.  I still have to attach them to my wannabe quilt.  I'll show that when I have the section I am currently working on done.

I took this photo outside at around 4:30pm today.  It was really windy.  But, what is that?  A ray of sunshine?  OMG!  I had forgotten what sunshine is.  So many rain days!  And more to come.  This is just a little tease from Mother Nature.

 I have decided what I am going to give away.  It's this little miniature quilt.  The blocks are 3in. square when finished.  Each block has 21 pieced in it.  It is paper pieced.  I have not sewn the block together.  I will do that tomorrow.  If you want to take part in my give away, just leave a comment on this or yesterday's post.  If you are a follower of this blog or of my blog 2, let me know and I will give you another entry. I will draw the winner on June 1st.  Good Luck everybody!

My Blog Returns Home

Smile Mimi!  I have terrific news!  My blog has been returned.  I turned my computer on yesterday and out of habit went to my Crafts and Stuff blog.  At first I didn't believe what I was seeing!  My name was on the blog, along with the 'howto-think' character who had stolen it.  I quickly went to the 'permissions' section on the blog and erased the hijacker's name.  My profile came up immediately and I was once again the owner and operator of my blog.  It was a time of dancing and singing!  I have no idea how this happened, just as I didn't have any idea how it was stolen in the first place.  I did contact blogger and I think they are the ones who fixed this.  Whoever it was, I am grateful!

Now I have the problem of having two blogs.  I think I am going to continue to post on this, my first blog, and use Crafts and Stuff 2 for my own record of my quilts as I make them.  You, my faithful readers, can go to either one and see my progress. 

And now I should announce my give away.  I want to thank everyone who came over to my new blog and read my post, left a comment and became a follower.  I have not done a give away in a very long time, so I am a bit rusty.  I will have to think a bit about this.  Just leave me a comment that you would like to be included in the draw.  I am working on a miniature for the give away.  Will post it as soon as it is done - probably a few days or so.  I will pick a winner on June 1st.  I know that is a long way off, but I am not organized right now.  Too much is going on right now.  Hopefully the kitchen will be done soon and I will feel more relaxed.

I have been busy though.  Here is a quilt I have been working on.  I think the pattern is called 'Beach Party'.  It's 40 inches square.  I was able to use a lot of scraps in this one.  I will probably donate this one to Quilts from the Heart.

Flowers on..What Day is this Anyway?

I had no energy today.  We have had so much rain lately.  I feel dull and sluggish and just not much like doing anything.  The sun tries its best to come out, but with no luck.  So I needed something to get me started today.  I took the 15-minute challenge that whoever is doing in blogland and I made 10 tiny 9-patch blocks.  That's Felix's tail so you can see how small they are.  Thanks for being there for me Felix!

 

 I have also been working on my hexies.  This section will have a lot of yellow flowers in it.  I guess the hope of spring is on my mind.

Even though it has been dark and gloomy, there is lots of colour in my real garden.  Besides the hyacinth I showed you a couple of days ago, I have Scilla Siberica, violets , early tulips, Hellebores, pansies and daffodills.

Oscar is also feeling lazy this morning. 

It's Beginning to Look Like Spring!

An update on my kitchen:  It now has lights - pot lights in the ceiling, lights under the top cabinets and lights in the cabinet that will have the stained glass fronts.  The stove and dishwasher were delivered last Saturday.  The sink and faucet have been purchased.  Now we just have to decide what we want for our counter top and get that ordered.  Things are moving along nicely.

Since I haven't had much time for quilty things, I thought I would show you the colours in my garden.  These are my hyacinth.  I never realized how many colours these things come in until I started to plant them in my garden.  Here is a nice blue one.  (Sorry, some of the pics are a bit blurry, but you get the idea.)

 And a nice pink one.  I have several bunches of these.

A dark purple one.  I really love this colour!

 A pretty white one.

This one is a light blue one.  I don't know what it will look like when it is in full bloom, because I just bought it last weekend.  But I think it will be pretty.  As I was scootering around the neighbourhood this afternoon (to get to the voting station - Canada is electing a new prime minister or maybe not), I noticed some pretty light salmon ones.  They will be my mission for next year.