Striped Pyjamas

Well I could lie and say I just whipped this little beauty up over the weekend but that isn't quite true.  While it is true to say that it is a quick quilt I actually whipped the centre up about three weekends ago, the pale light outer border two weekends ago and the final dark border this past weekend.

The whole quilt was made from a few Moda scrap bags which I ordered earlier this year and so it cost me the grand total of less than $20 which I think is fantastic.  The scrap bags weigh half a pound each and are filled with lots of selvedge strips each being about 32in long and with a usable width of 2 1/4in. For me this was perfect as I prefer to have my strips cut parallel to the selvedge as there is less stretch that way.  
This was actually my first attempt at the 1600 quilt although I didn't have 1600in worth of strips.  I might have had that much but I only wanted to use the stripes in the central panel.  I had been trying to work out a quick easy design since the fabric arrived about February and when all of this talk started about the 1600 quilt I thought it was perfect.  
I am really pleased with the finished product ...well it is a topper and that for me classes as finished ..until quilting motivation hits and that won't be anytime soon as I am working on my entry for the Sydney Quilt show next June:)

Ooops wrong day

I just found the correct schedule for the 100 Blocks blog tour and my day isn't Tuesday at all.  I am one of the last on the tour and my blog will be featured on the Friday.  I would tell you who else will be on with me but I don't know if I'm allowed to but it will definitely be worth checking out the others..there are some big names. 
If you like intricate paper pieced blocks then you may like mine...but I can't reveal it yet..so drop back in on Friday 11th November for a chance to win your own copy of 100 Blocks volume 4.  All of the blocks are brand new.

Frenzied Felix

Now you must agree Felix is the cutest cat you have ever seen?  
I found this lovely book in the local library on crotcheted cats and couldn't resist.... have since bought several other books with different crotchet projects and am having a ball.  I can see a new hobby starting here.  
Paul looks on in amazement at these things and wonders where it will stop and what will I do with them all... who cares it's fun:)

Frenzied Friday - Hilde's Camels

Well I have finished three quilts in my quest to knock down the number of UFOs and I now plan to make a start on Hilde's quilt.  Hilde is Richard's girlfriend and when they were recently in Dubai she saw a quilt she fell in love with.  Richard, being the loyal son that he is said that he didn't think it was as good as what I could make and so I am now in the process of designing a camel quilt.I had lots of ideas and sent these over to which he responded she wants identical camels in plain fabric on plain background with plain borders framing every block just like the attached photo.  
 Well thankfully for me, if not for Hilde, my supply of plain fabric is nonexistent and so I figured I would go with tone on tones instead.  

 Hopefully she will like that, as I am certain there is no way on earth that I would ever finish a quilt which only used plain fabrics combined with plain fabrics and which had applique as the main technique.   Although my sons know I love quilting I don't think Richard has registered that applique is not my favoured technique.  Oh well shall give the machine applique a go.
I have used the 1600 quilt technique and am very pleased with the spread of the colours.  Do you like my jelly roll... only took two hours at the local quilt shop to cut all of the strips:)

Khanam's Surprise

Well here is my quilt from the last blog tour.  I had lots of wonderful suggestions from blog surfers, and even tried a couple of them, but nothing seemed to work and so I finally opted for the easiest solution for finishing a quilt...plain border:(

Hopefully I will get it quilted sometime in the not too distant future.  Terri, my basting friend has returned from America and so one day we will get together and baste all of these tops I have been making.

100 Blocks Volume 4

Woohoo I have had a block selected for inclusion in the next volume of Quiltmakers 100 Blocks.  

There will be a blog tour running again in which surfers have a chance to win their own copy of the magazine simply by visiting various blogs and leaving their names ad a comment.  

The blog tour starts on 7th Nov and runs until 11th.  

Each day new designers will be featured on the Quiltmaker site and you can check out their different blogs, simply click on the join me button to go directly to the blog tour centre.

Besides the chance to win your own copy of the magazine you have the chance to win other amazing prizes from Quiltmaker and their sponsors.  Each day they have minor prizes with a major prize usually on the final day from all of the daily entrants.  I'm not sure about the details of this as nothing has been said yet but it happened with the previous tours so fingers crossed.

My blog will be featured on Tuesday 8th so make sure you check back then as you will have a chance to win a copy.... I  can't wait to see the magazine.  
Don't you just love the penguin on the cover?  I wonder who designed it?  So far I have chosen two designs which I will make if I ever have a granddaughter, the penguin will make it three... perhaps there will be more.

Name plz

Well I have finally bordered this quilt.  I had finished the middle ages ago but just getting that border on has taken me about five months.  I decided a couple of weeks ago that rain, hail or shine I am going to knock my UFO numbers down.  I was hoping to get to single digits but will be happy if I can get to under 20.  I have decided that I can't start any more new quilts until I either finish a quilt... that means quilting it as well and is highly unlikely ...or that I finish at least three toppers... so the challenge is up.  

Now for this quilt I need a name..nothing has hit me yet and so it will languish on that front also for a while I am certain.  Most quilts usually suggest a name by themselves but this one hasn't yet.

This small table runner is also another project from the UFO pile.  The little bits hanging off each corner are there because I haven't yet worked out how to mitre them.  I had initially tried to make false mitres on each corner but they looked horrid as the fabric is slightly thicker than regular patchwork fabric... so the brain kicked in and figured I could go with the old fashioned real mitred corners.... only one problem..small that it is .. I can't work out how to turn them.  another job for another day.  Btw the central bits that looked blood stained are actually beautiful roses.

Two toppers down and I only have the binding to join and then I will have another two toppers done... yes I consider the sewn binding to be part of the topper as well as the backing made.  That way when the enthusiasm hits me I only have to quilt them.

Dah dah - cheese making

Well am I good or am I good?  No don't be truthful!  Just go with one of those two options.  What you see just to the right are the results of a perfect afternoon.  

OK let's be totally truthful... an afternoon and the greater part of the evening.  

Funny isn't it ... I know that making feta cheese, that's the square block in the background, takes a minimum of three and a half hours for the first part and then it needs to be turned over every half an hour for the next two hours and then every two hours for the next six hours and then left to sit and further drain overnight on the sink.  

So let's add those figures together and what do we get? 11 and a half hours plus the overnight drain.... OK so that suggests that a good time to start making feta cheese would be sometime in the morning.  The theory sounds all well and good but what needs to be added into this equation is the use by date on the milk carton.

Although I have been pestering Paul for a cow ever since I completed the cheese making workshop last June, it has not eventuated.  He feels that if people object to battery hens there is certain to be greater protests over a battery cow, although I feel our backyard would not constitute a cage!

 Just look at the photos of our yard. The first is our backyard.  In the back is our vege patch to the left the 1m garden bed, which edges the back patio area.  It may appear to the trained or even the untrained eye that this is too small a space for a cow, but you are forgetting our front yard, which you can see clearly in the next photo has a large expanse the size of a foot path. 

Anyway as I don't have a cow I have to buy the milk.  Now the best milk to use is organic unhomogenised which usually costs an arm and a leg.  so when I spied seven litres of this last week in the reduced for quick sale section I just had to nab it.  Being RFQS means it has to be used quickly.

Now you can see why there was the need for making the milk during the week rather than making it on the weekend.

Anyway as can be seen I had success.  Not just with the feta but also with the ricotta, front right and back right, which for the first time in ages actually turned out really soft and light.... dah dah! This really amazed me as the previous two batches have been tough enough to resole your boots with... I really need to NOT make cheese when I am stressed:) 

The final piece de resistance (not sure how that is supposed to be spelt but you know what I mean) is the mascapone on the front left.  This isn't really an achievement as I have always had success with that but it is lovely and is always a by product from my cheese making as there is always left over cream.

The mascapone was made into tiramisu yesterday and made a delicious desert lunchtime today.