Wednesday WIP

There is nothing subtle and ladylike about this Liberty Quilt.    I think I like it - definitely not what I originally had in mind when I started working on  this quilt. Perhaps it is leaning towards the more Bohemian artists and style associated with the Bloomsbury group.

The other day while wandering  in Spotlight, I fell in love with a beautiful shot cotton.  I decided it would work perfectly for the corners on my Bloomsbury Quilt.  After a lot of playing with contrasting and co-ordinating solids, I have been very brave and gone for a grape colour which picks out the purple/grape in the shot cotton.

So far only the centre panels have been sewn together, I am now trying to decide whether to hand or machine sew the Dresdens on and what colour centres - patterned or plain to give them.  Also debating whether to keep it at the original size which is about 60" square or add some borders so it makes a really big quilt for my bed.  That would mean I may have to buy some more Liberty.  Damn!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Weekending

• harvesting from my garden - beautiful rosy rhubarb stems  
• baking rhubarb crumble cake - using the above rhubarb
• leisurely reading - this beautiful pile of books - lots of inspiration for interiors, quilts, knitting and food
• sewing - liberty rectangles for the Bloomsbury quilt

Wishing you all a wonderful week.

Pinspired

The Scout has a habit of sending me links to recipes he thinks sound rather delicious.  I usually pin these recipes to my Delicious Board on pinterest for looking at later.  Yesterday I didn't work and the cake tins were empty, so I made this very delicious Salted Caramel Slice.  Since I sampled the piece in the photo above, I have actually cut the bars in half again because they are so decadently rich.  I will be making this again, but it certainly doesn't fall into the basic category of home baking, and the cake tins are still empty for school lunches.  Guess what I'm doing this weekend.

Weekending

• Relics of times past.  A trip to Punga Flat in Thames to see where my great-great-great grandparents lived when they came to New Zealand, organised by one of my cousins who is mad keen on genealogy.  After a hike of about an hour mainly uphill, and then finding the now overgrown site, there wasn't a lot to see. Lots of old broken bottles,  rusted metal from ovens, buckets, and bedheads left behind.  It would have been quite a walk to the nearest town back in those days, certainly made me appreciate my life today. I would liked to have had a little dig around to see what other relics could be found.  There were also lots of little tunnels dug into the sides of hills, these were usually for seeing if there was gold in them - this was an area that did produce a lot back in the 1800"s.  

• Reading -  I have just finished The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier, set in the slavery days of n America, I really enjoyed this book and will have to try her other books now. Started Three Cups of Tea by Ian Mortenson, I am finding this interesting so far, especially since I have discovered the controversy surrounding his charity and works since the book was published,

• Sewing -  all the Liberty dresdens have been done, I still need to find the  perfect background fabrics.  

Wish you all a fabulous week, back to school and work for us now.

Spring at the Auckland Botanic Gardens

Yesterday was fine, but  very windy (hence some of the photos are a little blurry) and cool.  I took Mr J and Miss B to the Auckland Botanic Gardens for a walk to clear away the cobwebs,  Lots of beautiful blossoms and other spring blooms were flowering.  We all came home feeling much more refreshed even if we were rather windblown.

2015 Finish Along - Q4 Goals

Not a big list this quarter, and I think I will mange to get them done, as long as I don't keep starting new projects.  Anyhoo, here goes with three must get done and one maybe:

• The pattern and fabric for Mum's clutch has been cut out, now I just need to sew it up before the beginning of December
• This pile of autumnal toned fabrics are destined to be a birthday club gift for Gwyn.  This needs to be thought of sewn and given to her at our next sewing day in November
• The infamous 12th place mat for my Christmas set needs to be pieced, quilted and bound - in time for use on Christmas Day
• Should I have the time and inclination, there is a Christmas Pillow project I may take part in too.

Linking up to 2015 Finish - Along at On the Windy Side

Weekending

Mel hard at work

Rachael and Mel ignoring me and the camera.

Gwyneth knitting her beautiful socks.

• Some baking - this ginger, almond and oat slice

• Reading -The Embroidered Garden by Kazuko Aoki.  This pretty book almost makes me want to take up embroidery

• Another sewing day - where I was surprised with an early birthday club gift from Gwyneth. Remember this wool that I bought, to make a shawl, which I started, and repeatedly undid.   When I discovered that Gwyneth was a knitter,  I gave it to her to use.  I figured that there was no point having it sit in a bag in my cupboard.  She surprised me with a beautiful shawl made out of it. The photos just don't do it justice.

• Some sewing hand work was done, Mel was cutting out circles for her modern wedge blocks, I was making my Dresden blades. Rachael was cutting fabric for another civil war quilt, and Gwyneth was knitting another pair of beautiful socks.

One more week of holidays to go here - have a great week what ever you may be doing.