Sourdough success???

I've been quilting away at my April goal this week, which is to have my neutral quilt ready for showing at my trunk show in May.

Just a bit of time in the mornings with my coffee and I've seen a lot of progress...

This is my first try at big-stitch quilting. I'm using a few different shades of perle cotton. I'm really enjoying it and it's especially easy with my Thimblelady thimble and no hoop...

I picked up my usual thimble one morning by mistake and realised that it would much more difficult to quilt this in this manner without the proper thimble.

As of this morning I would say this little quilt is two-thirds quilted, not bad!

On to my baking adventure...

Last month I tried to get a sourdough starter started and after a week actually baked a loaf of bread. It was an absolute disaster!

I'm determined to have a success at this process. I found a site online where you can order a bit of dried "starter", you can see it HERE. My order took about two weeks to get here since it was coming from the States.

Here is a beautiful sourdough bread we bought at the market the other day from The Good Bread Company...

....so chewy and yummy!

.....and after two days of "feeding" here is my starter, bubbling away...

I know it looks kind of gross, but I think that means it's working!

On Saturday, I figured it's time to actually try making a loaf. It's actually a longer process than the times I would make bread on a regular basis years ago. This actually had to sit for 12 hours.

My loaf is now rising for a bit before cooking. I have to say, so far it looks like I'll need a bit more practice :(

I had hoped to have a bit more time at my sewing machine this week, but that was not to be. 

I did manage to get the first block done for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This month's colour is orange with a bit of black. I am going along with the Column-along for this project and here is a picture so far...

The block for January is the blue one ( I obviously need to do a few more ). February is the pink and brown. March was the purple butterflies. This month's block is super easy so I expect one more sewing session will complete the needed blocks.

I have a cousin back in Canada for a bit from his island home of Mauritius. He held a gallery showing of his paintings last week and we attended. There was a good turn-out of people to admire his work and I can say I'm now the proud owner of this, titled "Humanity". 

It's beautiful and I'm hoping I can come to a decision on where it will hang soon, but for now at least it's up. I was hoping to have one of Dan's paintings as I also have the first painting ever done by my grandfather. Danny was also happy to keep one of his paintings in the family.

Well, it's another busy day in store around here so I'd better sign off for now. 

I am linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching and with SoScrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday.

Have a wonderful Spring day!!!

Is this what "creativity" feels like?

In my last post I lamented on what to do with my neutral blocks.

They are part of an exchange with friends and my theme, obviously, was neutrals.

All of the blocks were beautiful and expertly sewn.

......but.....on the design wall they just didn't seem to "go"....

Also in my last post, I said how if I left the blocks up they may soon speak to me. 

Well, on Wednesday morning they not only spoke to me.....they actually raised their voice and shouted a little!

The idea they were presenting terrified me and thrilled me at the same time! Could I do as they asked? What would my friends think of what I would do with these lovely blocks they had made for me?

 It didn't take me long to realise that I wanted to love this quilt, so I had to be ruthless and go for it!

So I took all those blocks and sliced them up into 3.5" squares!

As I did this, I stacked them into 5 piles...light, light/medium, medium, medium/dark and dark. 

I hesitated before cutting the last block, the feathered star that I had painstakingly paper-pieced.....

...but, yes, it got chopped up also!

I had an idea to start at the centre of the quilt with the lightest 3.5" blocks and work out toward the edge with the darker ones...

As soon as I had them all up on the wall I could see it was a "picture" of the moon...

Here is the finished piece. I am calling it "Moonlight through the trees".

The very centre of the quilt is an appliqued circle from what had originated as an dresden plate block...

To take time to look at all the little individual blocks is fascinating. I took the original blocks and made them into 182 beautiful little abstract blocks! Here are a few...

Even my feathered star is included...

It's so strange to me how this idea caught hold and had me slicing and sewing like a whirling dervish. I know that at the beginning of the year, my hope was to try to explore creativity. Well, I certainly felt creative this week!

I do hope when my friends see the finished quilt they will understand that their hard work is still there, just in a different configuration....and in a quilt that I love!

While trying to think of ways I may quilt this, I thought it might be a nice piece to try "big stitch" quilting. I've got a few balls of perle cotton that would be just right to try this out.

For all the creative sewing I was able to do this week, it feels like my applique is moving at the speed of molasses. Oh well, even a little a day gets the projects moving along!

I'm getting so close to finishing the bottom border of FlowerGarden. I'm so glad because I'm afraid I'm getting a little tired of working on this one. Thankfully, the side borders will go a lot quicker.

I've appliqued a couple of little birds just to give myself a little break from the neverending circles that are on this border.

...and managed to put a few stitches into last week's block of The Splendid Sampler...

I'm linking up with SoScrappy for her ScrapHappySaturday so I can show that I've started my RSC16 in purple for March. I am doing the blocks she is sharing in her Column-along, a butterfly block...

A nice easy block....only eight more to go, no problem!

I hope today is as nice as yesterday as we plan to plant some peas today. We emptied our compost into the vegetable garden in the Fall and the soil looks wonderful. I love this time of year when you can feel the nice weather just coming around the corner!

I'm linking up with Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts to see what others are working on today. 

I am also linking with Cynthia for OhScrap over at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Have a wonderful Spring-forward day!

Happy Scrappy Saturday

What a very long week it's been. 

We've both been knocked flat by some sort of illness this week, but today I'm starting to feel like I may survive after-all! 

Yesterday I was feeling good at the longarm again....even better working on such a jolly quilt. It really made me feel good just looking at it...nice one, PT!.......

I've received a free package of Wonder Clips by Clover this week. 

I know that people use them for binding their quilts, I also know that I won't use them for that. Any other ideas of what people like to use them for? They are cute and surprisingly strong....hope I can find a good use for them!

I've wondered lately why I am being taken up by so many new projects this last few months. It's becoming a bit overwhelming to say the least!

 I've finally come up with a theory. It's this...since I've taken to writing this blog I come across so many other great bloggers out there that I'd never heard of before, and they all take part in wonderful projects, sew alongs, etc. 

Even while ill this week I've stumbled across yet another fun project! 

It's called The Splendid Sampler and is hosted by Pat Sloan and 
 Jane Davidson....you can check out the website HERE.

Many designers are involved in this one and will provide a 6" block twice a week for the next year. It's just started this past week, so a perfect time to join in!

Here are my first two blocks...

The second block is supposed to be 5 little butterflies flitting about...they will look better once they have their antennae!

I am probably a week behind in my Quilty365/Day in My Life hearts. My weekend goal will be to get them prepared and ready to be caught up.

I did manage some easy sewing once I was feeling a bit better. This was February's goal for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler. The colour for February is brown with an accent of pink. I really like how this turned out....now I just have to complete more of the blue January blocks!

Have a visit with SoScrappy to see what others are creating for their Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

Something I learned this week....when you are so chilled that your teeth are actually chattering and it doesn't seem to help that you are covered in two quilts, two pups and near a fireplace and you've tried tea, soup, etc., a shot of Southern Comfort does the trick!

Hope you're all well and can enjoy this sunny, mild day!

 
   

The best laid plans

Well, I've been trying to get going on my AuntieGreen'sGarden since Christmas to no avail.

I've blamed it on being busy with the holidays and with starting new projects, but I realised yesterday that it wasn't that at all.

Many times to keep on track with a project I'll set myself little goals. For AuntieGreen I had worked it out that if I did a border a month, etc...then it could be done for the Fair in the Fall. I've had my timeline on the brain so much that this applique has become more like a "job" or a "chore". I still love it, but yesterday I gave myself permission to give it a little rest and pick up my Flower Garden for a few weeks.

Here is a picture of how far I've come on this quilt....

 Sometimes it's difficult to put aside the time to do the prep work on a big applique, but I did do that yesterday. The bottom border of my Flower Garden has 157 pieces, not counting 24 1/2" circles! It has such a different look than AuntieGreen!

I thought I'd start this morning's stitching time with what looks like the most difficult piece of this quilt! Here is the freezer paper pattern ironed onto the fabric...

It took quite a while to cut out the pattern itself! This morning it took at least two hours to cut the fabric and baste it onto the background. I did manage to get a few inches stitched....

While coming to the decision to put AuntieGreen aside, I did manage to do a bit of other sewing and stitching.

One of my Life is Beautiful blocks....

I don't really "get" this block, oh well, lol !

I decided to start sewing my Day in My Life/Quilty365 blocks together so I don't have 365 to assemble at the end of the year! Ive decided to sew them in chronological order...

I also completed my first block in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

There's a linky party over at SoScrappy of people sharing what they are doing for their Rainbow Scrap Challenge. You can check it out HERE.

Another Linky going on today is at Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching. You can visit with her HERE to see what others are poking at on this dreary morning (at least it's not snow!).

And, just because they're so cute, here's a picture of Cooper and Minnie ready to curl up on the couch with me lately....


On a side note, we had taped a new TV show on Wednesday night and finally watched it last night. It's called "The Indian Doctor" and is about a couple from India moving to Wales in the 60's to take over a medical practice after the local doctor dies. We thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it. I hope it lasts because it is a challenge to find a show that we both like! I don't know what we'll do when Downton Abbey comes to an end!

Have a great day!

P.S.
I'm just adding on another linky that I've remembered...great blogpost over at "Quilting is more fun than housework"! I can certainly relate, and to the post she mentions of another blogger, Mangofeet.
Have a look HERE.