FNSI September

 Thought i'd have a change for FNSI sewing. I dragged out Lucy to make an effort of prepping the last 13 blocks i need. I managed 3 -1/2 blocks. :)

As i was taking the photo from my kitchen window(in last blog post) i thought about all the lovely flowers in my front garden which i hardly see because of the way this house was built. "Hmm i really should plant flowers out back". I have some rather large pots which i could use but though a half barrel would be good. Well lo & behold a few days later i discovered them in Aldi. I only bought on but really should have grabbed 2. :( Off to Bunnings for potting mix & flowers & voila I have a lovely view outside the kitchen window. It contains petunias, pansies, snapdragons, alyssum & dianthus.

I was quite excited the other day upon examining the 2nd olive tree for signs of fruit & discovered some. Just tiny little bright green dots at the moment.

Son number 1 brought home a random citrus tree many years ago & we've been wondering ever since what it is. I found 2 flowers on it so cross fingers we may find out what it is.

Last week i had just started to walk out the back to talk to son number 2 when i heard croaking. Upon investigation i found the frog hiding in my large Bilbergia plant

I hope he hangs around. seems to go between being in the plant & being in the pipes. :)

Pop over to visit Wendy to see who joined in for FNSI.

Happy Stitching,

Sourdough adventures

 Recently i was talking to my son about getting some starter & having a go at making my own bread. I'd been going to order a starter through a company in South Australia but he said "got a jar i'll get some from work". He is a baker you see. Found said jar which he fills(with permission) & his boss asked him about it & he said why. Boss then said why don't you just take her some ready baked. "No, Mum wants to have a go herself" I think his boss thought i'm a little crazy. :) :) Maybe i am. LOL. I then had to find larger container to transfer the starter into. Luckily i had this in the cupboard.

Starter fed it was time to make a loaf. I had to nip over to Kmart to buy a dutch oven to cook it in.

It came out better than i thought & the baker gave it a thumbs up. :) :)

Yesterday i gave making choc chip sourdough cookies a go

They are yummy. Next time though i would make the balls smaller. The recipe said makes 24 but could easily make double that.

As i was prepping my 2nd loaf my bits & bobs for making sourdough arrived. Good timing as i could use the banneton & the lame for scoring the top.

Glad the whisk finally arrived so i don't have to mix the starter by hand anymore. lol.

todays loaf slowly rising, nearly ready to bake. Next loaf i'm going to try olives in.

The lemon tree had a few lemons on it but they weren't really that great. As i only wanted the rinds i a wasn't concerned about the juice or lack of.

Limoncello in the making. 

I'll leave you with a view out my kitchen window. 

The bottle brush is so pretty. The azalea in the bottom corner is the one i thought was going to die. It looks wonderful all covered with flowers. Top left is one of 2 olives. It has olives starting to form but the other doesn't. It's only the 2nd time its fruited since i moved here(both fruited last time). Cross fingers i don't have broken foot this time around & i can harvest them.

Happy Stitching,

FNwF September

 Yesterday was FNwF hosted by Cheryll & i had sewing plans. :) Those plans went out the window because it was time for the little annual local quilt show so off i went to see all the beautiful quilts. Sorry i didn't take photos. Fast forward after my day out & it back to stitching this

I managed to get this far before bedtime

I've been checking my bulbs daily & sadly so far none are showing any sign of having flowers except these 2

The freesia has now opened & the smell is divine

This one has had about 6 flowers on since i took the photo.

I'd been to Bunnings recently & bought some pansies, petunias, marigolds & a viola.

i bought a purple/black viola

today the 1st petunia flowered

The azalea i thought wasn't going to survive has burst into bloom

half the bush is now covered since taking this photo. :)

The lavenders are both flowering, the snapdragons from last year are putting on a show & all the daisy type plans are starting to flower as well. So spring has certainly arrived.

This succulent was here when i moved in & for some reason had died back & i thought that was that but somehow it's hung on& growing outside the driveway fence instead of in the garden where it is supposed to be. :)

Now i'm off the get my sourdough bread going. Handy having a son who is a baker as I scored a well established starter from his work. :). Now i need the loaf to turn out well so he doesn't judge me. lol.

Happy Stitching,

Squirrels, distractions.....

 whatever you want to call them is what happened yesterday. :) Rather than working on what i should have been.

I'd been thinking for a while to make a peanut pillow but kept forgetting to look for the pattern. I saw something Tuesday night that reminded me so out came the pattern. Cue son listening to me & looking & next thing i know i'm making him one as well. :) :)

He loves black & red

for me it's purple

A few weeks a go i saw a post about using rubber matting & fabric to make snazzy jar openers. Hmm i happened to have a long sheet of rubber sheeting hanging about.

4 jar openers later & still enough sheeting to make more. Very quick & simple. The runner sheeting was from the cheapie store.

I did do one thing that needed to be finished

 put the binding one & now it's all done ready for Christmas.

I have to get my peanut pillow back out now & youngest daughter now wants one. lol.

Happy Stitching,

FNSI August.

 I started the day making RSC blocks

after taking a break for lunch i thought i would add the borders to the little tablemat i'd been stitching. Well i should've just stopped at the thinking. I cut the pieces at 6" instead of 10". Putting them aside to hopefully use them in other projects & with the correct size now cut i set to adding the borders. Not as  easy as the look. Quite a bit of reverse sewing until they sat right, still not sure a couple of them are right. Oh well it's done now. All ready for some handquilting

all done & ready for the binding

The Azaleas are blooming nicely this year

This poor plant i thought it was going to die. I repotted it & gave it some fertiliser & crossed fingers. Up until a few days ago i still thought yep it's going to cark it but low & behold it has blooms happening. Yay. The blooms on it a so pretty it would've been sad to have lost it.

Happy Stitching,

FNwF August.

 A little Christmas stitching was my project for FNwF

Cute little reindeer tablemat from Gail Pan Designs Christmas stitching club.

Pop over here to visit lovely hostess Cheryll to see who joined in.

Happy Stitching,

Rainbow Scrap Challenge July

 Scraps sorted i started to make my potato chip block. However the furry pest helper had other ideas.

I got her to move along so i could make my block

next up the buttons

moving along to make the kite blocks & another furry pest helper decided the ironing board needed a bit of fur on it. :)

Fortunately the other "helper" decided the box was a good place to sleep

she woke up just as i was going to take her photo. :)

Happy Stitching,

FNSI July

 I only had a small amount of stitching to do on this panel

so i traced out the stitchery from Joy's Christmas stitch along

which didn't take me long to stitch. :) 

Now what to do? I pulled out my repro scraps & the box containing my hexagon diamonds & papers & made 3 more.

Pop over here  to visit lovely hostess Wendy to see who joined in.

Happy stitching,

FNwF July

 I resurrected an old project when i finished owl & hare so that was my project last night for FNwF

progress so far on the red flowers

Pop over to visit Cheryll to see who joined in last night

Happy Stitching,

July Chookshed Challenge......

 is number 9. For me that is turning some quilts into tops. Starting with

Beanie Season

Owl & Hare Hollow

Ladder Star blocks

These 3 quilts i cut out a couple years back for a retreat that i didn't end up getting to.

Also hoping to get a few stitcheries traced out, some other quilts on my to do list cut out, the rest of the Lucy blocks & anything else i think i need to have prepped for future sewing. :)

Happy Stitching,