Friendship Block Swap

I have joined another swap on the PP Forum. This time it is a Friendship Block Swap. There are 14 quilters taking part. Each month we must make one block on a theme chosen by person receiving the blocks. The first month is Jan - what a lucky lady. She has chosen Amish style with a theme of Squares (Jan doesn't want yellow, black or white to be used and only plain fabric). I love to use yellow in my quilts so this was the biggest part of the challenge! The square I made was a Friendship Star Block (12") and I'm very happy with the way it turned out. All those little points matched up beautifully, even though it was quite a fiddly block to make. So far 3 blocks have been made - all very different. I'm looking forward to seeing what Jan makes with her blocks.
The next name gets drawn at the beginning of May (knowing my luck I will be the very last name to be drawn!) I think this is going to be fun.

Ros

Vintage Stitching

Here is a beautiful collection of vintage stitchings given to me by my lovely friend Sue. Her mother (who has just sadly passed away) had these little gems hidden away in her house! An English patchwork and quilting magazine from the 70s, thread in jewel colours on wooden reels, needles from the 50s, a very tiny thimble, a glazed fabric tape measure, a little sewing box, and some amazing embroidery. Here is a closer look.

Lovely soft colours stitched on linen.

Hours of work have gone into this, but it needs a little finishing off.

These little flowers just sparkle against a chocolate brown linen background.

This is similar to the brown linen but has been stitched on black velvet.

What can I do with them all? Any suggestions?

Ros

Quilts for Heroes

This afternoon has been spent making some wonky star blocks to send to Di. Check out her blog to see the whole story. Stop by with Di I've also made about 6m of binding with other left over scraps. Some of my on-line friends from the PP Forum are also making a few blocks and Di has kindly agreed to make them into a quilt for us. Thank you Di.

Ros

Postcard Swap

The theme for this month's Postcard Swap with PP Forum is 'Books'. I had so many ideas, but putting it into a 6" x 4" format was difficult. The book I chose was the Bible. I wanted to do the Last Supper but decided this was out of my league!!!! So I settled for Noah's Ark. This postcard is on its way to Fiona in Scotland.


Here is the beautiful postcard I received from Cath. This is what she wrote on the back:
"I have recently read Philip Pullman's Trilogy, His Dark Materials, and this is Iorek B. the Bear from the first book, Northern Lights. "


Isn't he wonderful!! Thank you Cath.

Ros

Happy Birthday Tim!

Happy 15th Birthday Tim!

(Tim on bass with friends from school)

Viva a Vida Quilt

And finally the quilt is finished!!! 20 ladies (Benedicte and Lety in photo), 7 weeks, the top was made entirely by hand, quilted by machine, with much fun and laughter, several new friendships, and feeling just a bit sad that its all over.

In closer detail.

The beautiful backing fabric - purple and gold.

We just need to plan the raffle now!

Ros

For those new to this blog the story of our quilt started on 20th January.
Please scroll down to Archives for earlier stories.

Bush Fire Quilts

A few Wonky Star blocks which are on their way to Tia for the
Bush Fire Quilt Project. They were fun to make and used up lots of scrappy bits which I'd been saving - too pretty to throw away.

If you'd like to hear how the little Hexagons of Hope are being distributed and some heartwarming stories I recommend you take a visit.

Ros

Charm Square Swap

PP Forum has organised a charm square swap. Last week we each sent to our swap co-ordinator, Katy, forty-five 5" squares from our stash (15 each of blue, green and pink) and in return we received 45 of one colour (our choice). As you can see my choice was blue.

I have a pattern using many, many tiny triangles, which I would like to try out, 384 each of blue and white to be precise! My pattern book omitted to tell me how to make these 2" beauties so I came up with this solution and it worked well. Very accurate and very quick!

I made two little 5" blocks. The points on one were very good, the other could have been better! Here is the more accurate of the two.


I will reveal later what I am going to do with them! Keep watching!

Ros

Did you know . . .
That although Lent lasts for 40 days, the actual number of days between Ash Wednesday and Easter is 46. Well, the reason for this is Sundays are not included! Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, not so fast with the wine and chocolates - moderation is still in order. Who told me all this? Our Parish Priest (with a huge grin on his face!)

Antique flower illustrations

Browsing through my bookshelf, I came across a lovely old book which came from my grandparents house and was given to me in the 1980s. Inside the front cover is an inscription:

To Herbert Girand Esq MD,
Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica
in the Grant College, Bombay,
this garland from his native lands,
is dedicated by his Sister.
Faversham. 1st Jan 1846.

It was then given to my grandmother, Alice, as an eight-year old in 1908 by her father.

There are 30 pages of beautiful flower illustrations all painted by hand in the most fantastic detail. Here are just a few!

My grandfather always grew violets under the apple tree.
Every spring he would give me a little bunch when we visited on a Sunday afternoon.
Sometimes deep violet in colour, sometimes snow white!

Old fashioned roses, my favourite!
The best fragrance in the world.

Vetch is a tiny purple and mauve wildflower which we used to hunt for
in the grassy banks beside the lanes where my grandparents lived.
We used the road to walk along - I don't ever remember seeing a car!
That was in the 1960s in rural Oxfordshire on the edge of the Cotswolds.

Each illustration has a quotation from Shakespeare,
which was also coloured in by a very steady and patient hand!

The cover of the book is looking very worn but the colour of the ink has remained true because they've been hidden away from the sunlight! Aren't they beautiful!

Ros

Thank You Jan!

My lovely friend Jan (Jan's Musing) gave me this beautiful quilt as part of her bumper 500th posting give-away. Thank you Jan, I love it. As we had a little bit of sun today on the first day of spring I thought I'd take advantage and photograph the quilt outdoors!


And just look what else Jan sent me! This is a postcard she made from a photo of my very first posting. Isn't it amazing! That's me in the middle of the photo with my two brothers and my grandpa on the right - he would call me Rosa-Munda and it was taken in about 1965.

Jan, you're the best!!

Thank you.

Ros