Thursday, November 21, 2013

Remembering how to blog ...



Well it has been such a long time since I wrote I blog post that I had to refer  to remind myself how to upload an entry! Keep your fingers crossed that it works - I guess if you're reading this I've succeeded.



Janet and I spent the morning alone, chatting about all our ideas for quilts and browsing some of the magazines available to us for ideas. As always, matching stash fabrics to patterns is the sticking point. I was looking for quick and easy stash busters and was able to put post-it notes on a few ideas.

 Janet was unpicking the sample on the left. She had made the triangles with a 60 degree triangle ruler. I thought this pattern might be useful for a jelly roll and as luck would have it, found not one but two such rulers in a drawer!















When Amanda arrived for lunch she had this UFO with her (I think it has made a blog appearance before but it's so lovely it deserves another post!)
It was made in a class at Needle and Thread and is a Jacobs Ladder pattern.





Amanda and I both have long-term hexagon projects. They are English paper pieced and make an appearance every now and then. I had been cutting fabric for hexagons earlier in the day but haven't joined mine as Amanda has done in this photo.



Janet was also cutting - a Thimbleberries scrap project - watch this space!

There will hopefully be a full gathering of Tuesday Girls before Christmas!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Cool Conservatory

Well, it was a great day for us as we were all able to make today.  It was a little too cool to go in to the conservatory today so I pulled back the curtains and stayed in the dining area instead. Alison, who travelled up from Hampshire and most of us, who are much more local, arrived around 11.00 am.  I had boiled the kettle in readiness.  Waitrose Heart shaped shortbreads in Lavender and Rose varieties, along with a gorgeous chocolate ganache covered cake and an apple crumble cake courtesy of Morrisons', were on the table.  Chris, who had taken the Tuesday Puppy to the vet for her vaccination, arrived about 12. She was the recipient of a lovely bag and matching notebook, which Amanda had made for her birthday, in just the right colours too!

We chatted amiably about many things and looked at some of the items we were working on. I had been given, as a gift, two packs of Liberty Lawn prints.. the blurb says it is enough to make two 70 x 80 quilts.  I am not sure this would be possible, but I will wait to see.  It all depends on the pattern I follow. The girls gave me plenty of advice so will consider it all.

Janet had a sample quilt she was completing for Needle and Thread, then went on to another project, cutting apart some half-square triangle squares.



Alison was appliqueing a beautiful felt snowman candle mat and Amanda was working on her hexagons.  Me.. prevarication ruled yet again and so although I got out my new little 'take it anywhere' Janome, I didn't actually get going with the sewing!  It is still set up waiting for that trial run! I should have been working on daughter's red, black and white friendship braid quilt top!!! Chris was working a grey shawl she had knitted.  It was quite beautiful and we all had shawl envy!



















Lunch was of the soup variety - I had roasted a batch of vegetables and blended them ready with some stock... I baked a loaf of sundried tomato and parmesan bread, also had some French Bread which I heated up. A sprinkling of pine nuts (I'd run out of croutons) completed the first part of lunch.  Desert was a baked apple, courtesy of MIL who was gathering Brambley's weighing more than a pound each. One was so large I cut it in half!  I stuffed the centre with Demerara sugar, pecans, sultanas, raisins, chopped apricots (I placed one large one in the bottoms to stop leakage), then a sprinkling of cinnamon, orange juice and zest, and a squirt of golden syrup. The fragrance when I got it out of the oven was just amazing.  The orange really came through. Custard was warmed through and a very pleasant desert was eaten with gusto by all.

Tea and sewing followed but sadly 3.00 pm arrived all too quickly, thus I had to say goodbye to the Tuesday Girls until another day.  I had a date with the gym later to work off some of the hideous number of calories eaten!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Together again at last - well, some of us!!


We started as usual -banana, choc chip & peanut butter muffins & tea of course!

      
Janet had some show & tells.

Two table runners put together on her recent retreat.  The first, Kansas Trouble fabric, using a pattern from Yvette at Needle & Thread in Horsell.
The other is a sampler for the shop - Bow Tie pattern in Sandy Gervais, an old Moda range.


She has also been busy with a friendship braid quilt in  'All Spice Tapestry' by fig tree, using a jelly roll.




 I have also been busy making blinds & curtains.
I did manage to make this cushion for my two cats.  The panel is from a set bought by Chris on one of her  holidays & shared between us.



 Ipad cover for my husband who is a football referee & a Rangers & Liverpool fan.
 

Chris was trying to knit a shawl but Tuesday cat Archie had a better idea!!







These Christmas trees are made from plastic milk bottle tops, polyester wadding & fabric.
Very effective & probably the only decoration I will have time to make this year!!
Chris managed to retrieve her knitting from the cat.  Work in progress which has the correct number of stitches now!

A lovely relaxed day, time to catch up & finish off a few projects.
Hopefully we will all be together again soon.
Until then...