April Finishes or Cats and Quilts!

The Maple Leaf quilt is bound and finsihed!

I quilted it on the Longarm

with a panto called 'Tangles'.

Quite a fun panto,

and I think it goes well with the maple leaves

as it's quite an angular design,

yet sort of leafy :)

I hung the quilt over our garden gate

for a few quick snaps

of the front...

And the back...

Hopefully this photo shows

the pantograph a bit better...

*****

Our resident quilty cat thought

she had found the perfect place to hide

in one of my 'work' bags...

Even though, I didn't see her,

Miss-Kalico spotted her!!!

And laughed and laughed and laughed!

Abby just ignores her now :)

*****

I wanted to quilt my Simple Pleasure House block,

but still hadn't quilted the Christmas House Block

I made when Kate came to visit...

So to ease my guilt, I did

and now that's done, I can guiltlessly

quilt my 'new' house block LOL.

This Christmas one just needs binding.

*****

And my 'Jelly Beans' quilt is loaded up

on the longarm.

I'm still deciding on the pantograph,

as I want to try something new,

but I also like the feathers

which I have done already....

Me-ow!

I liked the patterns

in my new 'Make Your Own Soft Toys' book so much,

I just had to try this little guy:

He comes with his own fish

for sharing with his friends...

I have made him as a gift,

but my eldest son seems to think

he's very cute so I hope he makes it to his new home!

A quick photo op in the flowers...

Perhaps, it's a she? :)

House Cleaning

I had a birthday...

.....one of many LOL.

 Besides eating lots of cake,

I was gifted this brilliant book:

I have already started thinking about the first one to make.

 ******

I have finished the applique on my house block

 And added borders...

Now to quilt it!

*****

A new quilt is on the machine,

so I'm just deciding on a pantograph to try...

*****

And 'Spring'

 (dare I say that word after our long winter!!)

always makes me feel like washing quilts.

The reds and greens

of the foundation pieced rose

in my rose hexagon quilt ran :(

I only noticed it after I put it on our bed,

but I washed it today

and most of the colour has come out -

Phew!!!!

*****

The greenhouse has been cleaned out

in anticipation of some seedling sowing...

 And the girls,

 And their lambs

are 'weeding' and tending the vegetable patch.

 We're all hoping for a good summer

and a bountiful harvest.

I'm also hoping for lots of sewing time!

Simple House Pleasures

It's not often that I buy a book

and then immediatley feel compelled

 to make something out of it :)

But I had the 3 'spare' Ocean Wave blocks...

(and I quickly made another one out of the scraps)

And this book as inspiration...

Well, I needed a small handwork project!

**

More to follow as it gets sewn down.

*****

I have finished quilting the Maple Leave quilt

on my Longarm!

I went for a sort of abstract swirly pattern...

I used pale pink thread and thankfully

the tension was spot on so it looks good on the back too.

(If I say so myself LOL)

Another case of the quilting makes the quilt! -

I was not that keen on the top,

but I think it looks lovely now that it's quilted.

*****

As soon as I finish one quilt,

I just want to get another on the machine...

so I whacked some borders on my

'Jelly Bean' quilt...

I wasn't sure I liked the borders,

but the quilt-inspector approves

so we're going with these borders :)

*****

In my previous post, my neighbour

photographed me holding a quilt up in the wind.

We chatted for a bit and he expressed 'grass-envy'...

So we have garden visitors at the moment!

2 sheep and their lambs

are 'mowing' the lawn for us at present!

The boys and I keep joking

about all the 'chocolate peanuts' they leave us LOL.

We're hoping Miss-Kalico doesn't try eating them! :)

*****

On the weekend we had sun!!!!!

We even had our first BBQ of the year!

Sadly, it's gone again! :(

Where we are at, Quilt-Wise, in April

A windy and cloudy day,

but still dry enough to take some photos...

 All the berries are on my Carolina Lily!

 And the 'extra'/mistake berries have been taken off

(On reflection, I thought that actually

you can have too many berries!)

So this quilt is almost done -

I just need some white fabric

to add more borders as I want to scallop the edges

like I did for my hexagon quilt.

Scalloping edges turned out to be very rewarding!!

*****

Then, I have put all the blocks together

for my Purple Oceans

Borders next!!

*****

As I was taking photos my neighbour walked past...

I think he thinks I am nuttier than a fruitcake anyway,

but there I was in the wind trying to get my quilts to stay down!

 He kindly took this photo of me

looking very windswept :)

And I got to take a few snaps

of his gorgeous sheepdog!

*****

A Finish!

My first Longarm Finish too!

 Quilted with stars and loops

and bound with very cute carrot fabric

 It's ready to go to it's new home!

 For the backing I used some fish fabric

I had in my stash...

Yahoo! One of my UFO's longarmed

only a few more (!!) to go!

Nigella's Pear Cake

I have made this cake before:

and looking in the fruit bowl at the unloved pears,

it's time to make it again!

This is a Nigella recipe and can be found here:

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/pear-cake-242

As I don't want to risk a broken link

and then not be able to make this super recipe again,

I have copied and pasted it below

and hope that Nigella doesn't mind ;)

I have several Nigella recipe books,

 her cakes are not only scrumdidlliumptious,

but also easy to make Gluten-Free.

Just swap regular Flour for Gluten-Free Flour

and add a teaspoon of Xantham Gum.

*****

 

PEAR CAKE

Ingredients 

250 grams unsalted butter

300 ml sugar

4 eggs

300 grams Flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 tablespoons milk (or cream)

6 pears (between 2 and 6, depending on size and personal taste

- I like this cake with quite a lot of pears)

demerara sugar (for sprinkling on top)

 

Method

1.In an electric mixer, mix butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at the time, and stir well.

 

2.Sift the flour and baking powder together, mix some of it onto the batter,

then add some of the milk, then some of the batter....etc. until all is blended.

But mix as little as possible.

 

3.Smear half of the batter in a buttered spring form ("medium" sized, 23 cm or so).

 

4.Peel and take out the core of the pears, cut in pieces, and spread out on the bottom.

Cover with the rest of the batter, and add a new layer of pear pieces if you like.

Just push them a little down into the batter.

Sprinkle with Demerara sugar.

 

5.Bake in oven, 180 C (350 F) for 30-45 minutes,

depending on the amount of pears used. (Many pears - more moist - more time.)

But check after 30 minutes to be sure. Ready when a cake tester comes out clean.

This can also be made as a loaf cake, just adjust the cooking time and temperature.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Spring has NOT Sprung here yet!

I laid out all my blocks for my Purple Oceans quilt...

And have pinned them together to sew.

Borders are cut and I'll do them

as soon as I've got these together.

How I continually fail at quilt maths is beyond me :)

3 extra blocks!!!

ALL in the purple/brown colourway!

*****

Spring sadly has not arrived...

The sheep still shiver and snow lies on the ground

where it just will not melt away

nevertheless, it was Easter
and eggs were to be found!!!

The boys still had their Easter baskets

I made them years ago,

and of course Miss-Kalico had to get one made too!

She got lots of help

and lots of loot :)

Happy Easter to All!