Blank Canvas & Other Things

I just love this stage of a project, starting a new block of some quilt or other (in this case the first block 3 of Heart's Desire), tracing the pattern onto the fabric with a magic marker.

This is probably the most complicated applique pattern I have attempted to stitch so far. This block is called Love Entwined and you can probably see why!


The peonies which my MIL gave me after my operation have opened up beautifully. The blooms are huge and so pretty. And they smell lovely too.


This is the first of our hydrangeas beginning to flower. I think the leaves have suffered somewhat from the frost we had in December and January, but thankfully all our hydrangea plants are covered in buds.


And of course I have to finish this post with a picture of our litle sweetheart Luna, on the very rare occasions that she was in the house since we built the cat enclosure.

Heart's Desire: Be Still My Heart

At last I've completed the centre block for Heart's Desire, the mystery BOM by Esther Aliu (see my sidebar).

This project is so much fun to stitch, but a lot of work too! I'm way behind on everyone else. I have another 8 blocks to stitch and lots of borders and corners too.

Sorry for my lack of posting messages on your blogs: Blogger won't let me!

Thanks for all your good wishes!

Wow, 51 Followers!

Suddenly my blog has 51 followers! I missed my 50th follower. Here is a little celebration :o)

The downside is that I cannot actually SEE my followers at the moment, because of a problem with Blogger, nor can I see anybody else's or even become someone else's follower.

Thank you for being my inspiration!

Still No Stitching News

Sorry to those who come here to read about my stitching. There is still not a lot of stitching news to share, apart from the fact that I'm still working on the centre block of Heart's Desire.

On Tuesday I had to have another operation and when I woke up from the anaesthetic, Marcel presented me with a new furry friend called Sam. Not of the alive variety this time, but of the very cuddly and fluffy kind. Here he is with some of the other presents and cards I got:

My sister came to look after me yesterday and she gave me this beautiful hanging basket and also another heart for my collection (see below). Thank you for looking after me, dear Sis!

My MIL and FIL presented me with these beautiful peonies in my favourite colour. I cannot believe how fast these flowers are opening up and how huge they are!

Thanks to everyone who sent me good wishes and thanks for all the lovely prezzies.

Major congratulations to my other half. It is his 49th birthday today. Many happy and healthy returns to you, my darling!

It shouldn't be very long before I can show you block 1 of Heart's Desire.

Busy With Other Things

Not much stitching time at the moment. We were very busy building a cat enclosure in our garden, so that our four sweeties can go out safely.

Luna hasn't quite gote the hang of the cat flap yet:




The stitching time that I have had over the weekend, was spent working on block 1 of Heart's Desire, the free BOM by Esther Aliu (see my sidebar).

On Tuesday I attended a quilting bee at my favourite quilt store nearby. I had a lovely time and was very pleasantly surprised to see that one of the ladies became a follower of my blog. Welcome Kitty! :o)

Thanks for all your lovely comments.

Two Blocks and a Foxglove

First of all thanks for all your lovely comments on my framed Secret Victorian Garden.

I completed two blocks the past days: Block 5 of Henrietta Whiskers, the free BOM by Bunny Hill Designs...

...and block 1 of In My Garden by Hatched & Patched. My Mum helped me to solve the problem.

Here are a few details of In My Garden. It is so much fun to stitch!

The light was very beautiful over the weekend. I took a few snaps of our foxglove plants. Here is my favourite.

I finally caved and started Heart's Desire, a free BOM by Esther Aliu (see my sidebar). It is very beautiful, but a lot of stitching. I'll keep you posted.

Lots of things to show you

First of all my Secret Victorian Garden by Châtelaine fresh from the framer and still partly in its packaging. I'm very happy with how it looks. Just as well, because it cost me an arm and a leg to get it framed.

Above are the fabrics I bought this afternoon for Heart's Desire, the free BOM by Esther Aliu.

I finally caved, seeing all the lovely works in progress on this BOM's Yahoo group.

This is Minty, our fourth cat. I don't often get to show you our little girl, because she is very shy and frightened. But recently - since we moved her downstairs and kept her in her own safe little world (a big dog crate) - she is doing really well.


Lots of buying of fabrics has been going on recently and this is a beautiful example of what I bought in a sale: Sumptuos Living by Robyn Pandolph for RJR Fabrics.

Not sure what I will do with these, but I'm sure the perfect project will come along at some point.

Thank you for your comments on my recent post about the first block for In My Garden. It will get sorted somehow and for the time being I have moved to safer ground: block 5 of Henrietta Whiskers, which is coming along beautifully.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

In My Garden 1: not quite done

Since I keep promising to show you my first block of In My Garden, by Hatched & Patched, I thought I would post an 'in progress' picture, because even though this block looks nearly done, it honestly isn't!

For the life of me I cannot figure out a way to make these blocks line up properly. This is one of those patterns where you cut squares in half to make the triangles around the left-hand side blocks, where you are supposed to make long strips of different fabrics and cut them to size to fit around and next to the blocks. There are very few exact measurements and I must admit that even though I was really looking forward to stitching this project, it is very slowly but surely driving me around the bend.

What I need is the advice of a more experienced quilter and that will happen over the weekend. I'm sure my Mum will be able to sort this problem out.

And on that frustrated note I'm off to play with my furry friend Henrietta and her little baby: block 5 of Henrietta Whiskers, the free BOM by Bunny Hill Designs.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my painting of the Scottish sheep.

Watercolour Sheep

The watercolour of the sheep at Borve (Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides) was more or less completed on Tuesday. It might still need a bit of tweaking on the right hand side to make the sheep stand out a bit better, but I have to have a think about that before I do anything that cannot be undone.

I had another day of painting tuition on Wednesday and had a lovely day. I continued painting a seascape which is not yet finished.

On the way back I picked Elvis up from my brother's veterinary clinic. We've been having some trouble with our boy, who has only now realised he is a tomcat (you get the idea....) at the age of nearly six.

Kruimel was in a very dreamy mood earlier today and I snapped this macro of his sweet face.

I promised you a picture of block 1 of In My Garden at the end of my last posting, but it is not yet entirely done. These blocks have the strange habit of involving more work than you would think, and since my painting mojo has come back to visit, I'm taking advantage of it!

Thanks for all your lovely comments. I still cannot see my followers on my blog (or anyone else's for that matter) so I'm hoping you are all still there.

The Night Before Christmas & other things

Finally block # 2 of The Night Before Christmas by Bunny Hill Designs is done. A lot of work, but so much fun to stitch!


I've also made some progress on my first block of In My Garden by Hatched & Patched, but nothing complete to show you yet.


On Wednesday I found this beautiful foxglove at our local shopping centre and took it home with two of its companions. I love these plants and the bees appear to do too!

Lots of pansies in our garden at the moment. Another of my favourite flowers.

Little Luna has tested the duvet blanket my SIL gave me for my birthday. Looks like it has been approved my our little princess:

Thank you for all your kinds comments.

I'm having some trouble seeing followers on Blogger blogs. Anyone else have this problem?

Back soon with a picture of block 1 of In My Garden.