What I did today

Delivered the quilt. I can pick it up on Monday 23rd. Gives me a few days to do the binding before THE birthday - I have already started cutting strips. I am going to use the scraps from the top to make a pieced binding - I only need 9 metres! A good idea since I cut a couple of strips too narrow for the quilt, but they will be fine for the binding. And, thank goodness, the pieced backing was quite acceptable.

Decided to work on one of the outstanding UFOs: the sea urchin from the Innovative Stitches workshop last month. Not too much to do, but got lazy and decided to freemotion without a presser foot. BIG mistake - needle in left thumb, lots of blood and a very bent needle.

Went to my friendship sewing group. We have been meeting since 1988 and decided today that it was too late in the year to celebrate our 21st anniversary. Shame, but we can look forward to our 25th.

Two of the group have just returned from sojourns in France (not together, in different areas) and, while raving about food in general, concurred that macaroons were one of the most enjoyed sweets. Came home and googled. I will try a batch tomorrow - I have all the ingredients, and they seem like they will be a good sweet nibble for the party. If the experiments are edible I can use them at the two meetings this week where I am supposed to supply sustenance.

Finished

The quilt is all ready to deliver to the professional long-arm quilter tomorrow morning.

Yesterday morning I sat down with a copy of Quilters' Quarterly (the WAQA newsletter) and the phone, and started to ring people who had advertised. On the second call I found Sharon who has promised to finish the quilt by the end of the month. It helps that I don't want anything more than an allover pattern (maybe something like this)


I finished piecing the top Monday. Lots of frogstitching I am afraid. Today I did a computer workshop, then went to Textile Traders to buy the wadding. Unfortunately the "buy two, get one free" promotion had finished, but the Senior's discount applied, so I got a little bit off.

This afternoon I pieced the backing. I had some leftover 4-patch blocks so I have used them, plus 2 Klimt looking fabrics, neither of which were sufficient without the blocks. I hope it won't be a problem - I have always liked interesting backs that reference the front piecing. No pics - I don't have anywhere I can hang or lay out a quilt of this size

Fiddling with food

Not much fibre today, even of the dietary kind. I spent most of the morning making finger food for Kevin's 70th birthday party at the end of the month.

Today's achievement - all mini-quiches: 36 crab, coconut and lime, 21 sundried tomato and feta, 12 cheese and prosciutto. We HAD to eat 3 of the crab ones - they browned too much on the bottom and would not reheat successfully. It's true!

Helen delivered three bags as her contribution - two lots of Thai chicken pies and some pork spare ribs. I plan to make some marinated chicken wings and possibly more sausage rolls (I have already made 8 dozen, but they are only bite size). Along with some commercial party pies and cocktail frankfurts I think we have the savoury aspect covered. The freezer is filling up.

Since it is an afternoon event (afternoon tea?) I probably need to consider some sweet bits and possibly some sandwiches. We went shopping at a big barn liquor outlet last week and the drinks are under control.

I need to revise my lists.

A marathon effort

I finished sewing all the squares into the large blocks of 16. Lots of pressing and the odd bit of frogstitching.

I laid it all out on our bed and decided it wasn't big enough - needed another 4 blocks to make it long enough. So I cut and stitched strips and cut out squares. They're not pressed yet, but they are ready to go. I have put the whole lot away because the intended recipient is coming to visit tomorrow.

I plan to make crab and coconut tarts and mini quiches tomorrow. More stuff to be frozen for the birthday party. And I just realised I need more distilled water for the iron.

Friday Flower

A native iris - what a pity the bloom dies after a day. This one, however, will last for ever.

Stitching

Finished off the top (handsewing - buttons). Made a base for my sea urchin piece and collected up the bits to finish the top.

Sewed the blocks that will be a quarter of the quilt. I have decided to make all the units the same (20" square) so I can play with them before the final assembly, so I now have 4 finished blocks. Pieced another pile of squares and they are now laid out for final adjustments. Sorted another 64 squares into piles ready for chain piecing - I am on a roll here.

Still haven't done the party organisation I need to do, but my cleanup yesterday inspired Kevin to tidy away piles of video tapes. One immaculate room - won't count how many more to go.

Avoidance tactics

I feel I am approaching a deadline - Kevin and Helen both have VERY significant birthdays at the end of the month and I need to organise food etc for Kevin's party, plus a long promised gift for Helen.

So what did I do today? As always when a deadline looms I went into avoidance mode.

Ring caterers? Cook stuff to freeze? Ring hire places? Sew some more quilt blocks? Ring a long arm quilter to finish the quilt? NO to all of these.

I started by tidying the sideboard in the eating area. This led to filing of magazines and moving some of them to the storeroom. A full on cleaning and organising of the store room followed. It looks really good now.

Back to the sideboard. Half the pile of books were moved to a bookcase in another room. More tidying there and a carton of books for a secondhand bookshop eventuated, tucked in the corner for now.

More books moved from temporary locations to hidden locations - this house needs to be tidy! Piles of paper moved to the bin or the filing cabinet. Printouts from Workshop on the Web placed in their folder. Other printouts filed in their appropriate folders.

Then I went into the sewing room. Darned Kevin's pants which have been sitting there for at least a month. Made two new buttons and some rouleaux for a top.

Accomplished lots today. And the best bit is that I would have faced all this cleaning and tidying up as a deadline later in the month.

Another Project

I really can't help myself!

I went to Textile Traders today to buy some sewing thread for the quilt and I spotted this beaded dangle braid.


Just the thing to embellish the textured fabric I did a couple of weeks ago.


I feel a bag coming on. But I did buy the thread for the quilt.

Quilt Underway

Today I finished cutting the squares - more than I actually need but I hope it will give me a little leeway to fiddle. The design uses a a four patch block which is then mirrored and rotated to make diamonds.

I have stitched 16 of the 4 patch blocks and laid them out on the spare bed. The colour is not true because I had to use the flash and I can see where I will need to move blocks around, but I'm pretty pleased with it over all. This represents one quarter of the planned quilt and I think I will quilt it in quarters and then join it together.

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

We went to swapmeet today and I bought some new herb plants. My Italian (flat leaf) parsley has been wonderfully lush, but it is now bolting to seed.

I bought one to replace it, plus a small curly leaf parsley. I also bought some sage - I don't use it as often as I could because I never have any growing, and it is not readily available in local outlets. I hope this survives. NO, I hope that it flourishes. Then I can make sage and onion stuffing for the Christmas turkey.

No need for rosemary. I have two very vigorous plants outside the study door which need another chop back.

Thyme is also planted in a pot and seems to be doing well.


My favourite herbs, apart from parsley, are basil and coriander. I bought some basil seedlings yesterday and hope they will grow quickly. I have never had much luck with coriander. As soon as it is big enough to pick it goes to seed. Not a problem though, since it is readily available in local outlets. A packet of each goes into the shopping bag whenever I buy the weekly vegetables.