A Wednesday Flower or Two

I want to express my deep-felt thanks to all who left a comment on my Oscar post.  Your kind words, cyber hugs and positive thoughts helped me through this past week.  But now I realize that I have to get on with my life.  Quilting waits for no one.  My scraps are calling me and all of my UFOs want me to pick one and get going on it.   But instead I decided to do, what is for me, a mindless activity - making flowers.  They are all I could manage.   Here are my first two.

I think I will do a flower basket hexagon quilt.  I may not finish this one soon, but I just need something to get me going.  Usually I work on some scraps, but it is too hot in my solarium and sewing room, So these will have to do.

We are having a couple of cool days, but by tomorrow the humidity will be back and the temperatures will go up into the 30C range again.

I have to water my garden every day.  We have had very little rain lately.  It would sound like my garden is turning brown, but with the water I have been pouring on it, my garden is actually entirely pink.  That is due to the coneflowers and phlox.  Photos to follow.  Here is a shot I took this morning in the west raised bed.  The coneflowers had Red Admiral Butterflies all over them, but they were busy drinking the nectar and didn't want to open their wings for me.  I did manage to get this pic.

Now I am going to have lunch.  Yesterday my DD came over and made a delicious salad, with mangoes, avocado, sunflower seeds, mixed greens, tomatoes, red and green peppers and some basil from my back yard.  She sprinkled cheese over the top.  It was delicious!  Today I am going to have to make my own lunch.  Think I'll probably have a peanut butter sandwich.

A New Hexagon Quilt

I wasn't able to go to Fabricland on Friday.  My scooter was willing, but the weather did not cooperate.  It rained all morning.  Even in the afternoon the weather people said to carry an umbrella.  So I didn't go.  And in my depressed, irritable state, I wasted spent a couple of hours exploring blogland.

To my great delight, I came across a new hexagon block. It's called Rose Star. There is a tutorial for it here!    And it's a wonderful, portable, handwork project, perfect for the summer.  I made a couple of blocks and I just love them.  Don't you?

Flowers for a Chilly Wednesday

I am still busy with the bug jar quilt, but I managed to find some time to work on my hexies.  I made four more flowers this week. 

These photos were taken outside this morning.  The sun is shining and the temperature will go up to 17C today, but I am sorry to say that these flowers are the only ones still blooming in my garden.  We had night frost a few days ago and everything else has died.

I was also able to prep four more flowers to work on this week.  Those four will complete my hexagon quilt.  It is with ambivalent feelings that I tell you this. I have loved working on this quilt and hate to see it come to an end.  But I am sure there will be more hexies in my future.  (I still have another hexagon quilt with smaller hexies that needs to be completed)  I am not sure how to finish this one though.  The edges are not straight.  I guess I will have to do particial blocks to complete it.  I will post a picture next week when I have all of the hexies sewn together.  Then the experienced flower makers out there can give me some advice. 

Don't you just love this one?

This and That

I have lots to show you today...

First up are my hexagon flower blocks for this week.  I only made 2 and last week I didn't make any, but I am still making progress.  Got to stay on top of these. 

I have been playing with my scraps and decided to put the finished blocks together for a quilt top.  Here is my progress so far.  I think I will add a few more rows.  I don't have much of the white on white fabric, so when I run out, the quilt will be done.

Now for something different.  Last Monday I went over to our local library and joined in on a 'drop-in program' for knitters.  I haven't knitted anything in a long time.  I used to make toques, scarves and mitts for the kids at the school where my DD teaches.  I haven't done that for a long time either.  So I started making some mittens.  I'll try to make a few more things in this 2-hour, twice a month program.  It was fun.  Here is what I have so far.

I have also been busy in my garden.  A while back, I discovered that there was such a thing as fall crocuses.  I was able to get some at a local nursery.  They have to be planted in the fall.  Next spring they will come up and show some leaves.  Then by August or September the leaves will disappear and beautiful pink or mauve flowers will appear. 

This one is called Colchicum Byzantinum.  It was already starting to flower in the package.  This one has a very large bulb and the package said that it would have to be divided after a couple of years because it grows very quickly.  That's a good thing!  I also planted some small bulbs of a different kind of fall crocus.  But I could have saved myself the trouble because when I went outside this morning I discovered that my resident squirrel had dug them up.  I forgot to sprinkle some cayenne pepper on the soil.  That is the only thing that keeps my squirrels away.

And last, but not least, I did some baking.  I made a banana chocolate chip bunt cake and a marble bunt cake which is pictured here. 

I also sandwiched a quilt that I hope to finish in the next couple of days.  So it's back to the sewing room for me. 



Progress Report

We had some really hot weather this summer, which brought my quilting to a virtual stand still.  But yesterday it rained - not much and not enough.  But that brought the temperature down a bit and I was able to sleep last night. 

I had a chance to visit some quilty friends yesterday and I was inspired by them.  Hurray for friends!   I had been working (sort of) on this hexagon I Spy quilt.  I still have a few more rows to do.  The hexies below the flimsy are fabric that was given to me recently.  The two on the left were from Connie (no blog) who gave me these when we met at her house yesterday.  The white one with the dog came from Nynke, the Dutch Purple Rabbit.  She sent me a package with some remnants she didn't need any more.  Thank you Nynke, you're the best!  I love other people's scraps!  I right away made a few more hexies.

There was also some red fabric in Nynke's stash.  Right away I made some blades for the Dresden Plate quilt I started recently.  This is to be my 'goto' quilt.  Whenever I don't know what to work on I will do a few blades.  They are English paper pieced.  I am kind of hung up on that method at the moment.

And last, but certainly not least, is my Wannabe Quilt.  I made this small section, from the purple down, in order to square the quilt off.  I had a lot of trouble doing that.  It seemed as if I was making it crooked.  It has sort of become a UFO over the past few months.  But I feel excited again!  Inspired by the energy of my friends!  I only have three more of these triangle sections to do.  And now that I can see a pattern, I am set to go.

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!

Keeping Busy on a Rainy Wednesday

A busy Wednesday.   I spent the first 15 minutes of today doing one block of this Disappearing Nine Patch.  It is a kit from our guild and is intended to be donated to a long-term care facility.  I am planning on making one of these nine patch block every day, so that I can have it done by the end of May.  I am cutting the blocks and sewing them together as I go, because these are the only fabrics in this quilt and I don't have to worry about the layout.

I am also working on the next section of my hexie Wannabe Quilt.  Haven't worked much on this quilt over the past few days.  There just seems to be too much happening around here.  I'll show you what I mean........

My kitchen got worked on yesterday.  The guys were here for 13 hours!  But look at how much is done!  I love it.  My nephew is doing an amazing job!  Hopefully we will get a few more rain days and he will come back and finish the cabinets.

Then the counter people will have to come and take measurements for the counter top.  That blue on my fridge is just the plastic protection.  I haven't removed it yet.  I want to wait until all the work is done so that the fridge won't get damaged.

Two of the cupboards on the top don't have doors.  We ordered this cabinet without the wood panels  so that I can make a couple of stained glass inserts for them.  They will have glass shelves and a couple of lights so that the stained glass will 'light up'.

And last but not least is my Thimbleberries project for today.  It is Thimbleberries Sew Day and I am joining Barb so that I can finish this one.  The entire centre is done in rail fence blocks.  The blocks are set on point and there are triangles along the sides with appliqued apples.  Right now I have nowhere to put this quilt so that you can see it all.  When I have more space I will take a better photo.

Half Way Around the World - Yeah, I Wish!

Lots has been happening around here! My kitchen is still being worked on, but it is beginning to look like a kitchen again. This is the view towards the outside wall where the window used to be.


And this is the space where our breakfast area will be. The boxes contain cabinets. They are spread all over the house. The floor of the kitchen has to be put in first and it will take another week or so before it is delivered. The big, corner cabinets could not be brought inside without being uncrated. Even then it was touch and go. They had to be brought in through the front door because it is wider. The guys who delivered it were very careful not to scratch anything. I appreciate that. Unfortunately the Home Depot, where we ordered these cabinets, made a lot of mistakes. We paid for solid wood sides on the cabinets, but when we opened the boxes we discovered that they had used plywood or particle board instead. I have no idea how this will play out. My husband went over to complain and he hasn't returned yet.


I have been travelling! Well, not really, but I have been sewing a Trip Around the World. I have always wanted to do one of these. When I saw it on Wanda's blog, 'Exuberant Color', I just had to make it. It is halfway done. I used a lot of fabric from my stash. Many were from the category of 'what was I thinking'. But in this pattern every fabric seems to look okay. Now that I have boxes and cabinets and all kinds of stuff all over the place, I have no room to take a proper photo of this quilt. I will take another photo when it is all done. Maybe by then I can take it outside and photograph it in the sunshine. We are going to have sunshine, aren't we? Spring is supposed to be here now. So why it is snowing like crazy today?

And because it is Wednesday I thought you might like to see my progress on the hexie quilt. Just a few more blue hexies and this section will be finished. I still haven't figured out how these sections will all fit together, but I am sure I will once I have them all done.

Yellow Flowers

It's still winter outside, but it is spring in my solarium. I bought these yellow tulips a couple of weeks ago. Yellow tulips are my favourite. They have been keeping my spirits up throughout this messy weather that we have been having - rain, freezing rain, snow, sleet. It's a mess out there.


I have also been working on my hexagons. They are all done by hand, so I didn't need my machine. And that's a good thing because it is in the shop again. Something is wrong with the needle alignment. I hope they can fix it. So here are my yellow flower hexagons.

This the section I have been busy with over the past week or so. I am really glad I have this project to work on because I could get very depressed with the weather, the mess of the reconstruction in my kitchen (my house is covered in dust) and having my machine give up on me.
Oscar likes it too. He is the only one who is not afraid of all the banging and sawing in the kitchen. He's a laid back kind of dude. And he stops to smell the flowers leaves.

"Meow!"

A Whole Week Has Gone By!

Gosh! I just realized that I haven't posted for a whole week. It went by quickly, but I think that was because I had my Bernina back! It's all fixed and the tension is perfect. It just hums when I sew. I love my machine!

Let me first show you the fabrics I got this month from the Bargain Club at Sew Sisters. These look like Japanese fabrics, but they are by Northcott. Beautiful cottons in beautiful colours. I love the one with the bird on it. Don't you?


And here are the fabrics I received in January from the Bargain Club at Sew Sisters. Pretty pastels. Think a baby quilt is in my future. No time to start it now though. I have too many quilts to finish first.


So... having said that... here is a project I started last week. I know, I know! I shouldn't have done that, but I couldn't help myself. It's a Trip Around the World pattern. I cut the fabrics last week, but I didn't dare start to sew the strips together because my old machine does not do accurate 1/4 inch seam allowances. This is going to have to be a WIP because I can't do much more than a few strips per day. But I love how it is turning out. I'll show you more as my work progresses.

And last, but not least is my hexagon Wannabee Quilt. In order for the end sections to fit, I have to add another row of hexies to the inside section. So that is what I am doing now. There are a lot of these little pink hexies to sew on. It will take me awhile before I have this part done.

But Felix doesn't mind how much is done or not done. He just loves a Quilt in Progress!

Another thing that is keeping me from sewing is my new kitchen. Well, it hasn't actually been installed yet, but I have picked out the cabinets and the colour of the counter. I have also bought a new fridge - a nice stainless steel one. It will be delivered in the beginning of March. I'll show you photos when I actually have something to show. This past week the contractor came and built me a kitchen in my basement. We had always intended to have a kitchen down there. It is part of a one-bedroom apartment we built. I have been using the kitchen part of it as my stained glass studio. So even if we never rent it out, I will now have a beautiful full kitchen in my studio, with a sink, cupboards and a stove and fridge. We are still waiting for the upper cabinets because they were out of stock. As soon as they are installed I will post a photo. The kitchen downstairs will also serve as my temporary kitchen while the main kitchen is installed. I'll keep you posted.

One Flower Wednesday and Other Stuff

I have been busy with my hexagon quilt. Last Friday I showed you the inside of this block. This is all I got done this week. Once the piece gets bigger, it takes longer to go around. Six more hexies are needed for each round. This is where I am at now. Still lots more to go.

It has been snowing every few days since the beginning of the year. My backyard is covered in snow. I took these shots from the doorway. It is too icy today for me to walk outside. I am too afraid of falling. It's dark and gloomy. The snow just keeps on falling - tiny flakes that are almost invisible.

I started a new BOM. I know that I promised myself I wouldn't do that, but I just couldn't resist this cute block. I am going to do it all in black and white.

And speaking of black and white... Here is Oscar. He kept putting his nose into my camera lens until I finally relented and took his photo. Now he is purring! He's so vain.

My internet provider is acting up lately. If it seems that I have not been visiting your blog or not leaving any comments, it is because I only have a few short moments when it works. If this doesn't get better soon I guess I will have to phone the cable company and find out what is going on.

Flowers on Friday?

Heck, why not?

I thought you might like to see some of my Christmas Cactus. They have been flowering since November and still have lots of buds. This is the red one.

And here is the pink one. This one fell over last fall and a lot of the branches broke off, but it doesn't seem to have had any effect on the flowers.

And finally, here is part of my hexagon quilt. It is getting so large that I have to work on it in sections. The prepared hexies were supposed to be last night's sewing-while-watching television, but my hands were too sore. I finished knitting a scarf instead.

Wednesday's Hexagons

I don't have any flowers to show you today, but I do have a large piece of my 'Quilt Wannabe' done. This is my evening project, to work on when I watch television. I am now at the stage where I have to make it longer rather than wider. Will have to think about that.

Wednesday's Flowers Following A Sleepless Night

I had a rather sleepless night, reminiscent of my long-ago baby days. Mimi is my 'baby' now and she gave me quite a scare yesterday. Remember that Azalea I showed you last week. More flowers have opened up and it looks beautiful. So I thought I would place it on my coffee table in the living room.

While I was sitting there, crocheting, Mimi, in one swift motion, jumped onto the coffee table, made her way over to the plant and proceeded to grab one leaf with her teeth and chew and swallow it. I was frantic! I started yelling at her, but she was too fast for me. She had already swallowed it. I dashed for the Azalea. That scared her and she jumped down and left the room in a hurry. I could only see one small leaf that had been ripped off with only a stubble left on the plant.

For those of you who don't know, Azaleas are toxic to cats. I woke up every hour on the hour last night to check up on Mimi. She was fine, thank goodness. I did not think that cats were so dumb as to eat Azalea leaves. Maybe only Mimi is. The plant has now been placed out of Mimi's reach! Yes this is all certainly reminiscent of my early baby days. Now Mimi is sleeping peacefully in her favourite spot. Wish I could go back to bed and catch a few more winks!

But I want to show you my hexagons for this week first. I have been busy with a lot of other things this week, so I didn't have much time to work on the hexies. I'll do better next week. I promise. Here are some of my prepped hexies. They are for the 'Wannabe Quilt'. I really want it to be a quilt too. But I still have a lot more hexies to add before it is done.

Wednesday's Flowers and More

Did you think I was going to show you some hexies? Well, I will do exactly that as soon as I show you this gorgeous Azalea. I received this wonderful plant from a friend last night. Isn't it lovely? The colour is fantastic! Just what I needed to cheer me up on this gloomy, rainy, very cold and windy day.


So here are the hexies I made this week. No, they are not flowers, but they are little units for the 'Quilt Wannabe'. I have made 12 of these already. Now I have 6 more. I need to make another 6 of these to create the design in the quilt.

Several people emailed me for the apple cake recipe. So here it is. I baked another one this morning for my husband and family. I took a slice to have with my mid-morning coffee. Delicious!

Mrs. Van's Dutch Apple Cake

(I took this recipe out of a very old Woman's Day cookbook)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter or margarine
I egg yolk (I put 1 whole egg into my cake)
2 tbsp brandy or milk (I always make mine with milk)
Apples and dried currants, raisins, cranberries or cherries.
Cinnamon topping


Mix together dry ingredients.
Blend in butter or margarine.
Add egg and brandy or milk.
Press dough with fingers into a 9-inch cake pan.
Cover with apples that have been peeled, cored and cut into eighths.
Sprinkle dried fruit on top. (I usually put this on the dough before I add the apples)
Cover with cinnamon topping.

Cinnamon Topping

Blend together:

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Edit: Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Thanks to Vicki for pointing out that I had forgotten this part.

Wednesday's Flowers on Thursday

A new crop of flowers have bloomed in my garden. I can hardly believe it, but I made 9 new flowers this week. It's a good thing too, because there are no more flowers in my outside garden. Only these leaves on my Cranesbill (perennial geranium) give the garden some colour. This is a real bonus this year. I had beautiful blue flowers all summer and now these gorgeous orange leaves. It has been a good year for my garden.