I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud……..

 

‘Twas not a soul in sight,

5.30 a.m., I walked to the gate,

And  thought the world was quiet!!!

 

I went out at 5.30 a.m. this morning, in  ‘jamas and gumboots ( the grass was wet and it was cool) to turn on the tap for the water sprinkler, and in the  gate came a courier van.At this time??? And me, not dressed for this or any occasion? He put the parcel in the letter box and reversed out the driveway. Whew, not sure if he did see me in the almost dark, but with headlights  glowing, I wasn’t so sure!!!!

Sandi, it arrived before New Year. It is beautiful, It is hanging on the wall in our dining room, so I can see it every time I walk through.Thank you,  thank you soooo much. Pop over here…  to see Sandi’s blog ……            Kwiltnkats                                

This is a Christmas Tree Ornament, from Block of the Day, Quilt-Pro Systems, pieced by Sandi and quilted by Kerry Marksbury, Santee, Ca. I am so honoured. The quilting design echoes the pattern on the pale cream fabric, and is truly outstanding,  and  the red in the flying geese has the same pattern too. A treasure for always.

I had a few more goodies made, but could not put in any photos till after they were given. Joyce has a wall hanging on the wall by  her laptop, with the words. Gratitude, Harmony, Beauty, Grace, and two verses for Earth Blessing. The binding was finished very late Christmas Eve.

Hugh has his laptop, 2 printers and a laminator on his desk, and they needed new covers. I made 4, with various cat applique pieces, deep red  striped fabric, and fawn striped fabric for the borders. He wondered what they were for!!!

Our family from Rotorua arrived on Boxing Day, and on 27th, a very, so much appreciated ,working bee took place. A mini-tornado, workshop walls, spouting, guttering, the smaller shed, and then the solar panels and the end gable, so sparkling, I need extra sunnies when I go outside. Thank you all so much, that extra height is a HUGE bonus when  using  a broom to reach the tall parts.

Normal menus have taken over, after ham, cheesecake, and chocolates, the quilting is continuing, the garden is wilting, and the hoses are working overtime.

This is written with Open Source Live Writer, and with no Spell-check, a bit  of a challenge to proof read  it all. Hopefully there are not too many spelling mistakes.

I wish you all a Very Happy New Year, with good friends, a loving family,  happy times at home or elsewhere, fine weather, snow when you want it, sunshine in summer, and safe travels. For me, this year has been so special, with new blog friends, quilting challenges, and long time friends that always, I am sure, held me close when the times have been tough. Thankfully, Hugh’s health is so much better, not 100%, and maybe never will be, and I again thank you all for your love, support, prayers and messages, they kept me going, when I could so easily have fallen down.

Quotation for today, and for all of 2015, from Kahlil Gibran

“ To be able to look back upon one’s life in satisfaction, is to live twice”

Greetings from Jean

The end of another wonderful year in Blogland

This year has seen many new friends, challenges in the quilting arena, , deadlines to meet, and joy when they were met. The batik stash has been almost depleted. Bags were made and posted  everywhere . The last one is for a friend who lives close by.

Hugh had his spinal surgery, we welcomed a new ginger boy, calling  him Boris, ( The Warrior in Slavic language), Felicity is still the  matriarch of our family, at 17 years old. We visited That's Frankie and her 12 hour old  foal Crazy Daisy, Ginger Boy came, had his breakfast, and left for the day,   Our family had adventures , Josh on his  bike or  Danielle on her  horse, Fire at first, then Joey, Josh received his NCEA level 2 certificate and  is off to Victoria University in 2016.The tall trees grew, the firewood pile looks good for next winter, and flowers bloom in all their glorious colours.

I thank you all for your wonderful friendship, care, prayers, and support through the hard days and months over the last 2 years, this has meant so much to me and I have been so grateful and thankful,  and for each of you, my hopes are for happiness, good health, love and laughter, and may 2016   be kind and generous to each and every one.

I finish with the quote from Jake Bailey,  the Head Monitor of Christchurch Boys High School . His inspiring  words embody  the qualities of  love and strength , and he has gone from giving this speech.... to a long stay in hospital for treatment.... to win the  Massey University Quote of the year 2015.

"  Here's the thing - none of us get out of life alive.  So be gallant, be great, be gracious, and be grateful for the opportunities that you have"

Greetings from Jean

Goodies, Edible Ones

These are my favourite recipes that never fail. Last minute baking that doesn’t need weeks to mature, and can be eaten the next day. Or the  same day for the shortbread. I am going to add some lavender flower petals to the next batch, crush each one a little and add to the mixture.

Baby Christmas Cakes          Perfect for a gift to a single person

175 gm mixed fruit, 1/4 cup whisky, brandy, rum or sherry      100gm softened butter,  75 gm soft brown sugar.2 tblespoons treacle or golden syrup  , 1 egg, 75 gm flour, pinch baking soda, pinch cinnamon 2 tblespoons milk.

Put the fruit in a bowl with the whisky and soak overnight.Heat the oven to 160C, Beat butter,golden syrup, and brown sugar till light, add egg. Sift dry ingredients, and add with the milk. Put into 12 patty pans, paper cases or silicon muffin pans, bake 20-25 minutes, They will be flat and sticky when done. Brush with a little more whisky, and leave to cool.

Christmas Fruit Cake       No sugar, butter or eggs

1 kg mixed fruit , 2 cups orange juice , ½ tsp vanilla

Soak for several hours or overnight  .  Add 2 cups S R flour, or use plain flour with 1 tsp B Powder to each cup                                                         1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp mixed spice     

Line an 8 inch square tin with greased then baking paper.

I use a tin that slides to make it larger than the 7 inch square one.

Can be cooked in a ring tin as well.

Oven 170 degrees C, 1 ¼ hours.

Favourite Shortbread   This is for a double batch.

10 ounces butter, 5 ounces icing sugar, 5 ounces cornflour,10 ounces flour. Cream the butter and sugar well, should be light and fluffy. Add flour and cornflour. Knead well, roll out  1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, cut into squares, and prick with a fork. Place on greased try, or use baking paper, and bake for 30 minutes in pre-heated oven at 150C( 300F).

Apricot Fudge Slice  , Decadent delight.

250gm packet wine biscuits,( any plain sweet biscuit will do) 1 cup dried apricots, then chopped finely or whizzed into tiny pieces, 1 and 1/2 cup coconut, , 1 can  Sweetened Condensed Milk, 125 gm butter. Put condensed milk and butter in a pot, stirring all the time till melted.Add the other ingredients,  mix well, ( I do it all in the large pot)  I use a large wooden spoon, and press into a slice tin, 27cm x 18cm ( 11” x 7”). Put into the fridge till set. This can be iced for extra garnish. Yummy to the extreme.

The new Open Live Writer has no spell check yet, they are hoping to add this soon, so although I have proof read this, there may still be mistakes.

The lawn has been mown, all of it,  some, well, all  the  outside windows  and some inside windows have been cleaned, almost all the sewing is done, one bag to finish, and some table place mats to do, and Whew!! just the presents to wrap.

Quotation of the day, from Bing Crosby

“ Unless we make Christmas an occasion

to share our blessings,

all the snow in Alaska won’t make it WHITE”

Greetings from Jean

The NEW Open Live Writer has arrived

 

Here it is, the new version, and I hope it will be as good as WLW. We will see.Aha!!! No spell check!!!

The first photo went in OK, This is Ginger Boy asleep on his favourite place, a padded black cushion bed on the settee in the lounge.He sleeps there most nights, and looks at  us with one eye as we turn on the TV, walk through, and make a lot of noise in the  kitchen. Not too bad for a stray boy at all!!!

Late afternoon sunshine on the day lily garden.

July 2009, Finn at the end, Tom by the Teddy Bear, the beautiful  blanket was knitted by Muriel, Hugh’s Mum, in a pattern called The Leaf.

Quotation of the day, by William Faulkner

“And sure enough even waiting will end…

if you can just wait long enough”

Greetings from Jean

The last Bag has Flown Away

This year has been the one where I made bags,  so many bags, they have been posted, given, some still to be sewn, some  have flown North, the very far North, the far  South, and this is not the last one, 2 more to do for Christmas gifts.
This one is for the grand-daughter of a dear friend who died earlier this year.it will fly to Auckland today. Tonia, Joyce and I think of Jeanette so often, and remember our days together with much love and happy memories.

 Our place is Cat Heaven, they come, they stay, or visit and leave. Right now we have had ,at various times, Jerry, who might be the brother to Boris, Toby, the new boy on the street, Arthur,Arnold, and others with no  names , One huge grey and white, one even larger black and white, one black one, and a few tabbies. But our own Felicity, Boris, and Ginger Boy remain happy. After our shopping, we stopped at the farm that sells water lilies. Two were selected, but these boys with their fine feathers took my eye.

With Live Writer finished, the solution for me is to do the post in WLW, copy and paste to blogger, then insert the photos, That way, I can  choose the font, it is familiar, and seems, for me, to be easier. The alternative is not working yet, and will not be  supported  by Microsoft, it is an Open Source program.

Quotation of the day, author unknown

“ Take a chance, because you never know how absolutely perfect something could turn out to be”

Greetings from Jean

A bit of this and a bit of that

Life continues here as usual, some shopping, some sewing, some blogging. I know that I can post directly to Blogger, but cannot have a choice of fonts I like, and the photos take  a long  time to insert. So this is a trial again, using Word, and hoping the photos will go when I copy and paste into Blogger. No, they didn't so just pasted them in while in Blogger.

Yesterday, Christmas shopping, a huge new cutting mat, and a bobbin holder, a plastic case with foam insert, cut out slots for 28 bobbins. A great day, but so busy, and didn’t get everything done, so out again today. Gift vouchers, socks (yes, boring but that is what they want). I am doing most of the driving again for a while,

Here are some lupins; the colours have ranged from white, pale cream, mauve, purple, pink and more.

Quotation of the day,

“Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age,

 and dreams are forever"

Greetings from Jean

Windows Live Writer has ended

The latest news for those who use WLW, is that it has finished as we knew it, and Open Live Writer has taken the place. But there are glitches, we cannot log in, it will not accept the user name, and the time lapse between the old and the new is unacceptable to everyone,  So many comments are out there. It seems so many are very unhappy about the change.
What are you using instead? I liked the  Live Writer, as I could do a post, save. edit, and all offline. Does anyone have their favourite alternative.

Quotation of the day, author unknown

" Don't be afraid to change, you may lose something good

but you may gain something better"

Greetings from Jean

Just In Case You Thought

Life here is   all Beer and Skittles, in fact none of either frequent our place..Lawns need mowing,  meals need cooking, and fabric needs sewing.
The One Block Wonder for December, with Sandy at  Upstairs Hobby Room   HERE , told us the magic words….
Well December is upon us and everyone will be getting busy with  shopping, decorating and food preparations, not to mention gift making and extra family and friends dropping in. So this month's block  is super easy, and all about paper piecing..... So I sorted out some batik, and thought a bag would be the way to go.Well, the blocks were a little big for a bag, so it morphed its way to a quilt.

These are all batiks from my stash, and the supply is getting a little thin!!! These 36 blocks are pinned on the design wall, and now I decide to either QAYG, Quilting each strip as I go, or to sew all together and quilt it  as one piece,   and take my courage to a new level.!!!
In the garden, all the plants are blooming, foxgloves  are  in tall spires, one lone cosmos in a pot, and all else is looking good. The red plane spins with the wind, and tells the direction. Made by Hugh. One visitor asked him if he was a pilot!! No, just very clever with wood and timber, and  so much more.

I am having problems with Live Writer and Blogger, so had to paste and copy this to Blogger, the photos seem to be so slow to add, so none of the garden and wind plane. Maybe next time when the post goes as normal.

Quotation of the day from Steve Jobs

“ Don’t let the  noise of other people’s opinions

drown out your  inner voice”

Greetings from Jean

Deception , Subterfuge, or just plain “ Research”?

 

Recently   I was so lucky to be a part of Kimberly’s mug rug swap. You can find Kimberly here,    at    Camp and Cottage Living

and if you scroll down, Kimberly has  photos of the mug rug swaps. My partner was Tiff, in Maine, It is a small world, we have friends in Maine, they stayed here some years ago, and live about 4 hours from Tiff and her family. I did some looking up, research, LOTS, through the posts and the years… and scrolled through so  many of her posts. Tiff is the most amazing lady, they have a family of 8, one son is in Hawaii, and with sadness  some years ago, has compassion and love in huge amounts. Gradually I found their names, it all happened when I saw the post with her bracelet, a beautiful gift in May this year. So I made them all a key ring holder, with New Zealand motifs on the fabric square. And Tiff’s mug rug, that  is a story all by itself, It was going to have a strippy Christmas Tree, I did several, and they were just plain boring and wishy-washy. So I googled the rainbow colours, how could I forget the acronym of  ROY G BIV. More research done..And it was in Red, orange,yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. I liked it so much more than a pale tree.

When my  mug rug arrived, there were 2, one for Hugh ( He claimed the Gingerbread man)  and one for me,  “ My Moose”some delightful fat quarters, deep reds and green, and some special buttons. I was so excited to get a parcel from Maine, and thank you Tiff, so much.You can find Tiff here at   Folded Gingham   .

The online quilting is still going on, the December ones are done, A marathon few days sewing and ironing,  last week slipped by with   almost 3 days laid up with back pain. They are done, and photos taken. My design boards need to be taller!!! the lowest 3 blocks are drooping on the carpet. I don’t know if they will have sashing, but I can see the paler ones will need some  moving to a different place,  to balance it out.And what looks white is really a paler blue.

Did I ever say that I write as I talk? My Dad would certainly say so if he was here.

Quotation of the day, author unknown

“ Rainbow colours brighten the day,

after rain brings them out of the sky “

Greetings from Jean

No Snow for the photo shoot, just rain and wind

 

This November has flown, with hospital visits, Hugh’s cataract surgery, a loose pipe in the laundry( no details there, words were too graphic for publication) more driving and 3 deadlines to meet. And one more all done and posted, this is a surprise . No Photos Yet!!! All done on time, whew!!!

I look at the snow where quilts are displayed at Kathy’s place, you will find her at Tamarack  Shack .They lie gracefully on that white stuff, and look stunning. Today the One Block Wonder November block  was finished, but like a mushroom, it started out as a small idea, then I found this wonderful design, and thought it suited the batiks I had. Well, it grew and grew .

Inside was dull and boring, and the light wasn’t great. Outside was wet, so   I used the large sun umbrella, in case this was the best light all day.Then later, sunshine came, I strung a stretchy cord between 2 Cabbage Trees, and hoped for the best.

Under the umbrella shows the colours best, and I need some ides, do I bind this, at  32 inches, or add a border in deep blue or burgundy, or maybe 2 borders? I thought this was going to be a small project, but now it is finished,  I am  so glad  I persevered. My Dad would be so  proud, as he knew how I can leave things to the last minute. This wasn’t the case here, just daily life and all else intervened.

And, my post this week had a super delivery. Mug rugs, YES, there were 2, from Tiff at Folded Gingham, as well as some lovely buttons, and fat quarters in reds and green. Tiff, thank you so much, I hope your parcel has arrived by now, I managed to meet the deadline, not by NZ dates, but yours, and Kimberly,   you can find her at  Camp and Cottage Living, many thanks for my wonderful mug rug swap partner.

Maybe there will be a few days respite, with just  one more sewing project to finish tomorrow,  our younger daughter’s birthday  is at the end of next week. No photos, as a surprise will be posted.

Quotation of the week, author unknown,

“Life is a one time offer, use it well”

Greetings from Jean

November Blocks, look at that purple.

The last 2 weeks have been a blur, 2 hospital visits for  Hugh, one for a gash in his arm, the next for cataract surgery.All went well,  a check up with the surgeon in another  12 days , sewing continued, with many interruptions.

The November blocks are done, with some new blue, teal and purple fabrics to add to the others. Dianne  did say that with batiks, they all go well together, no matter what shades. I do like the new purple, fan shaped strips on black, quite startling.And the new teal has blobs of all the other colours  I have used.

I am looking forward to the way all these mighty blocks go together, specially the 19 inch courthouse steps.

Quotation of the day,  author unknown

“ Look to nature to find  every colour imaginable”

Greetings from Jean

The Week That Was……

 

This week… Boris the warrior fought his first fight, and came off  slightly damaged. A visit to the vet, some fur shaved off, lots of growls and cries, local  anaesthetic injected, 5 clips inserted, and the lovely Paula said “ If you say  162 dollars  very fast, it might not be so bad”!!!

This week… the flowers in the garden continued to show their glory. Deep purple tulips, ruffled red poppies, foxgloves in various shades, and Dutch Iris in purple.

  This week.. I finally found the batik fabrics to continue with the Midnight Mystery quilt. Deep purple, with fans of purple on black,  2 shades of blue, and a beautiful teal green with other colours as well in that fabric. Thanks, Dianne at  Village Books and Crafts, you can find her at College Street, Palmerston North. So many goodies there, I was very restrained and came home with the four that I needed!!! The other blocks are almost finished, just waiting for the  new borders or inset squares.

This week… the firewood pile is high and mighty, thanks again to Anne and Norman, 3 more trees cut down, split and stacked. The shed roof was repaired, and looks so waterproof. I stood and waited for rain, but knew when it does fall, all the wood inside will be dry, Thanks Norm, for the extra building and carpentry.

 

       This week …I watched TV, and saw the Head Monitor of Christchurch Boys High School give his  valedictory speech at the end of year Prize Giving. Jake Bailey, an inspiration to each one of us, was diagnosed with cancer a week  earlier.

There is a link for the video, and I also watched the whole prize giving ceremony, thanks to CBHS. At the end of the ceremony, and after Jake had returned to hospital, the school choir sang, and then it was announced that all the monitors would also sing,  they said they made this choice  after the events of the past three weeks. Every one stood and joined in , pupils, teachers, and parents.

“ You’ll Never Walk Alone”

Below is  an excerpt from some of his speech.

Jake gave his speech from a wheelchair, and at the end students performed an emotional haka .

  "I wrote a speech and then a week before I was due to deliver it they said, you've got cancer," Jake said.

"They said if you don't get any treatment you'll be dead in three weeks. And they told me that I wouldn't be able to come and deliver this speech here tonight".

Here's the thing, none of us get out of life alive. So be gallant, be great, be gracious and be grateful for the opportunities that you have … I wrote this before I knew I had cancer and now I have a whole new spin on it.

“Forget about long-term dreams. Let’s be passionately dedicated to the pursuit of short-term goals. Work with passion and pride on what is in front of us. We don’t know where we might end up or when it might end up.”

“I don’t know where it goes from here, for any of us – for me, for you. But I wish you the very best in your journey, and I thank you all for being part of mine.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9G1Swk26ac

  Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/christchurch-boys-head-boy-gives-spine-tingling-speech-2015110710#ixzz3r4M0DKTW

My thanks to CBHS, Jake Bailey, and courtesy of the Internet for this content and the links. A man who is an inspiration to his fellow students, the teachers, all parents, and his family .

Quotation of the day, author unknown

“ May we all have the  strength  to endure pain, 

wisdom to think things through,

and courage to face fears”

Greetings  from Jean

Sleep Deprived, and So Justified!!!

 

Congratulations to our New Zealand All Blacks, well done.For those who got the awards, there is a huge team behind them to make this happen, and for the 6 who are  retiring , a perfect finish to their career .

Photos courtesy of the Internet.

 

 

I have made another  bag, this time for the “Mister” in the family, and not the one living here. Circular base, double stitching on all seams, it might come in for some serious hard wear.

The lupins are in full flower, white, pale  mauve, deeper  mauve, deep  purple and pink. Glorious display, they grew so fast.

 

Quotation of the day, author unknown

“ Imagine with all your mind,

believe with all your heart,

achieve with all your might.

Greetings from Jean

One Block Wonder bag, daylight was fading fast!!

 

The machine stitched, the camera was out .The last hand stitching was done, and I searched for the best place to place the bag.

Would it be by the door? On a chair? By the shrubs? or in the garden next to the first red poppy of the  season?

These are photos of the same bag, but daylight was fading fast.

 

This has been such fun to do, matching points a  struggle at times, thank goodness for that 1/4 inch foot, and needle down stop position.

Sandy, again, thank you so much for this challenge, I can see we will all be having lots of fun next month , and the next, and more.

Not a quilt , not even a table runner, but the first of two bags, one for Mrs… one for Mr… his lining will be deep blue, to keep in the theme of “Blue for Boys”.

Quotation of the day, author unknown

“It’s not the finish line that matters, it is having the courage to start”

Greetings from Jean

Lime Green and Pastel Pink

 

The English Elm is in full blossom, and the hanging branches are loaded with flowers.

Across the driveway, the Cherry Trees have almost lost the darker pink blooms, the pale ones are loaded, all branches hanging down with so many flowers. Hugh’s photo below, early this morning.

Another photo from Hugh’s camera, the clematis vine is growing so tall, and climbing into the trees at the back. Pink and white colours.Some flare from the early morning sunshine.

 

The huge log cabin blocks are progressing slowly, and on the back shelf for a while. These are 19inch blocks, and I am using all the left overs  from the Wiggle me quilt. ( and adding a few more strips) I hope to have the blocks in the rainbow colours, and place them diagonally across the quilt.This is a very long term project, quilting along with Allie, and if any other quilters have joined  in too. The darks are not quite as dark as in the  photo.  I am so enjoying having a design wall or TWO, so easy now to put up, check the strips or blocks, and stand back and admire or otherwise. Easy to put away, as one slides behind the other, taking up no room at all.

The Courthouse Steps, a large block, is easy to assemble, with all the given measurements. the other blocks from everyone else are on the Facebook page with Midnight Mystery , at  Meadow Mist Designs, I need more blue batik, and a visit to Levin or Waikanae might be the next step in finding the right colour.

Springtime is continuing, mornings have been cool, warm days, and lots of sunshine.Bulbs still flowering, veges growing, blossom on fruit trees, lawns green, and firewood a magnificent heap!!

All is well,  down here, and now Hugh is recovered from surgery, and relatively pain-free, I am so thankful and grateful for all your support and emails, love and care sent over the last months and year. He will continue to have sciatic nerve problems, with odd sensations, numbness,pins and needles,  and more, for months,  maybe until next year or longer, but we manage to live with this.  The surgeon said everyone  after their spinal surgery tells him of this, and there are so many odd feelings, from ants crawling, to muscle twitches, and everything in-between. The cataract surgery is next, and should be very soon. Then I will have a man with an eye patch!!!Temporary, thank goodness.

Quotation of the day, author unknown

“ No-one can go back in time and make a  brand new beginning,

but any-one can start from now and make a brand new ending”

Greetings from Jean

The Tall, The Magnificent, and The Large!!!

 

There are still many tall trees left, growing for another year, till they too get felled for firewood.

The pile of firewood is heartening, we had wonderful help from Norman and Ann this week, and it is all cut, split and heaved  onto that huge pile. I hope the sheds will be full when it is stored away after drying over the summer. Normal size is in the large heap, smaller pieces for the hot water chip heater surround a pine tree.

Now, the log cabin blocks that I am sewing, along with Allie,

at  allie- oopssweethappylife, well, I have managed to fit in one block this week. I started with a 3.5 inch centre square, and used 2.5 inch logs. Well, it grew and grew, and ended up a mighty 17.5 inch block!! Not what I wanted, I had planned for 12.5 inch, then to be sewn to finish at  12 inches. This will be an outcast in the final.  I had  hoped to do each block in shades of the same colour, but can see that 2 logs do not have enough contrast.Never  mind, it will be the start of a huge bag!!!

Well, it is Saturday, tomorrow our All Blacks will play against France in the Rugby World Cup. Go, those boys in Black. We will cheer you on from home.

Quotation of the day. from Kahlil Gibran

“ Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky”

Greetings from Jean

Not one, not two, there are THREE

 

The other day I visited our friendly team at the timber and  hardware place. I needed foam insulation  sheets to make a design board. Well, there were 2 sheets, both not full length,  and one needed trimming.  Great price, so two were chosen. Delivered on Saturday,  ( Thanks so much, Rural Timber and Hardware ) I  found pale blue flannelette sheets that have had some use, had some bleach in places, and made huge pillowcase covers. I had to put tape on all the edges first,  and this shows in the photos. One small offcut, and I have a handy small board I can use by the machine

The One Block Wonders are  still in trial sashing stage, the new boards a perfect place to stand back and look. The next two  will have deep red, and dark blue as the diagonals from left to right, and a contrast still to be decided. Lots of half square triangles,maybe a good starting block for the scrappy log cabin  with         Allie at Allie -oops sweet happy life

The firewood, another friend is coming to help, and progress is starting to show. Next year, we will be thankful for the trees, grown,  felled, cut,split, dried, and burnt for our comfort.

Quotation of the week, author unknown

 “ If Plan A doesn’t work,

the alphabet has  25 more letters”

Greetings from Jean

I hoped for a holiday as the treatment!!!

 

My visit to the Doctor, I had hoped for a diagnosis of overwork, not enough play or quilting time, or “ You need a long holiday”,.Sadly none of these, an infection on my earlobe, a friend told Hugh I did too much listening at keyholes!!! Firewood will resume, with help from friends so appreciated.

However, I combined the trip with a visit to TWO fabric shops. More blue for the Midnight Mystery blocks, and an almost matching purple for the same. The blue is a bit paler than what I have used, but as I think  any  one colour will  not be next to  itself, this won’t matter.

Then I found the two paler shades, for more Flying Geese for the One Block Wonder sets. These are in a trial mode. I have a small design wall, and the 2 large sheets to make 2 tall ones that can stand together will be delivered after 5 p.m. I have more 3.5 inch squares cut out, and think the lime, gold, and purple will give better contrasts.Right now, I have too many with the same colours.

 

Quotation of the day,author unknown

“ Happiness is when you believe in what you are doing,

know what you are doing,

and enjoy what you are doing” 
Greetings from Jean

Will there ever be sufficient??

 

Firewood, with wonderful help the logs are getting cut up, the small stuff heaped to dry, the scrap stuff burnt, and all that is left at the end of a day is a little pile of ash.Truly, nothing from a tree is wasted,  even the small cones will dry for a fire next year.

On the fabric scale. what I have looked to be more than enough, but I have run out of a blue, a pale background, and a suitable purple!!! I thought, when I sorted the batiks into their colours, it was a lot, but when I think of other bloggers, with huge stash, maybe mine is on the miniature level. Time to go shopping!!!

The geese for the project with Sandy, at Upstairs Hobby Room , are flying along, more rectangles and squares are cut and ready to go. This will be bright, and have lots of different combinations. The bonus with Sandy’s Geese, I have 2  smaller squares , with half triangles, from every set.They are in the top right hand corner.

I have no idea what will be in store for next month, but think maybe these blocks when all together might be the centre of a quilt, a wide sashing to outline them, then the next set of whatever we get to do. This is exciting as from one month to the next ,it is all different. Surprises wait.

Yesterday Joyce went to Wanganui, and another beautiful jar of flowers from Daphne arrived home. Freesias of every shade, all perfumed, tulips, a Dutch Iris, Ixia in various shades, and an early Ranunculus.  The colours are as they are in real life, just a delicate frame in some PP.

Quotation of the day, from Dr. Seuss

“ Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory”

Greetings from Jean