Friday, April 29, 2011

Wedding...& Amazon....




Being British born I still have a soft spot for the Royal family, so out of bed this morning at 5:00a.m. to watch Will & Kate's wedding, everything was so beautiful, the bride, her dress, handsome groom, hats and dresses worn by the couple's families and guests and the weather..... what more can one say.

Yesterday I promised I would post a photo of the wall hanging that I recently finished. If you have visited my previous posts you will know that several members of the guild I belong to have been making the paper pieced Indian Orange Peel Quilt. In the piecing process a lot of small scraps are produced. From my scraps I made "The Secret Garden" wall hanging. Jacqui, a member of our group, is using Kaffe Fassett fabric to make her IOP and she gave me her scraps. His fabrics are very colourful, butterflies and birds came to mind when I saw what she had given me.

To make this 19" x 22" wall hanging, which I have called "Amazon" I used a panel which had the sky, distant trees. foreground ferns, rocks and water on it, adding fabric from my stash for the foreground trees and large leaves and some yarn for the vines. The KF fabric was used for the parrot, flowers and butterflies. Holding everything in place was black tulle. After quilting I added a 3D butterfly in the lower right hand corner. I really like the look of the finished product.Closeup's of the parrot and 3D butterfly show the colourful fabric used. Hope you like it, I am pleased with the way it turned out.


The photos are a bit washed out due to the light from a window.


Patricia

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Windy

Thursday's are garbage pick up days in my neighbourhood, this week was recycle day for glass, tin cans, and newspapers. This morning it is very very very windy, and I think you know what I am going to say next. Yep, you are right.

I don't have a lot of bottles and cans to put out for pick up so the "grey" container was not very heavy and blew over. The newspapers in the "blue" box were all wet from the rain, too heavy to get blown all over the place. At 7:30 a.m. I was out (in my housecoat, well coiffured, my bedhead hair had the new stylish windblown look) picking up all of the contents, which were strewn all over my neighbours' lawns. There was no sense putting it at the curb again, so they will all have to wait until the next pick up in two weeks.

On the quilting note, I have just finished another art wall hanging, I want to show it at our guild meeting tonight, you will get to see it tomorrow. My four 6 inch asterisk blocks are finish for the meeting. All 16 members of our guild were required to make four of the blocks, which will be put together with a plain 6 inch block, hoping to make two comfort quilts for chemo patients being treated at our local hospital.

Patricia

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Beautiful day..

...here in S. W. Ontario. We had a thunder storm and rain during the night and by the looks of the rain gauge it must have come down quite hard because there is a lot in it. I would love to get in the garden and do some more cleaning up, but it is too wet. My back garden slopes down a bit at the back and a lot of water lays there after a good rain. The lawn is going to be a hay field by the time I get around to mowing it. I did uncover all of my outdoor funiture on the back deck, it all needs a good clean after being under all that snow during the Winter. How come white snow can be so dirty?

The sun has brought forth some more blooms in the garden and the seeds in my green house have germinated and now starting to grow. The geraniums which have been in the house all Winter are now out in the green house as well, they will do so much better out there until it is time to plant them later in May.

Last Wednesday, I was shopping with dd1 and granddaughters 1 and 2. Gd2 is getting married in Cuba at the end of May. We picked up her dress, and I found a nice cool dress to wear, as it will be hot, hot there, it will go nicely with the shoes purchased for gd1 wedding last year.

I made a quilt for Gd1 and her hubby for their wedding using their theme colours, I am going to make Gd2 and her hubby one also but have to wait to see what colour flowers etc. the resort has to offer before I pick the colours. I am thinking about using the same pattern used for gd1 quilt.

Having Easter dinner with dd2 and son and their families tonight and tomorrow dinner with dd2 and her family.

Happy Easter to everyone.
Patricia

Thursday, April 14, 2011

I'm Home.....

My Mum, sister and brother in law and I have just returned from a two week vacation to visit a cousin in North West Louisiana. We had a nice time with her and her family. We then travelled to New Orleans and drove along the coast to Florida. Making our way north, we drove through the Smoky Mountains to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and then home.




It is so nice to get away from the cold weather and not having to wear a coat. I would like to think that we have brought the sunny warmer weather home with us.


Yesterday was so warm I worked in my garden, it was nice to get dirt under my finger nails again. There are signs of Spring everywhere, see the photos of my wind flowers, violets, daffodils and crocus. This morning a noticed a robin had started to build her nest in my honeysuckle.


Now I need to get in front of my sewing machine, I have blocks to make for my next guild meeting, finish the binding on my Granddaughters quilt, start the quilt for my guest bedroom, finish two wall hangings, finish my Indian Orange Peel quilt. I bought more fabric while on vacation, as if I needed it, it was a bargain, so how could I pass that up. With all those UFO's, the windows to clean, the lawn should need it's first cut soon, I have two cars that need a good clean, and the list goes on and on, can we make the days a little longer so that I can get this all done.!!