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.

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.

In My Garden, Sheep and Furry Friend

Lots of things have happened since my last post. I started In My Garden by Hatched & Patched and for those anxiously waiting to see more, here are the first pictures of my WIP of block 1:




There is still a lot to do for part 1, but it is so much fun to work on, choosing the fabrics for all the little bits. The mini-blocks are much smaller than I thought, so the applique pieces are quite fiddly to do in needleturn applique.

Last week and this week I had more watercolour painting classes. It had been some time since I last took lessons. Yesterday was the second day of tuition and I had a great time. There are several paintings still in progress, but I did manage to finish the painting of the sheep on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides yesterday. I think I showed you the picture I took whilst I was out there last month.

This is how I found our sweetheart Kruimel a few minutes ago, relaxing on my bed. He looked so peaceful that I had to get my camera out.

This is how he likes to relax, with his paws all neatly folded.

Thanks for your birthday wishes for Luna!

Off to work some more on In My Garden, so I can show you more of this lovely project.

Another Year

Yesterday was my birthday and I certainly wasn't forgotten! Margit got me in the mood for my birthday on Sunday, by buying two HEAD-patterns for me which reminded her of my cats. This one reminded her of Luna and Kruimel. It is called 'Glamour'. And this one reminded Margit of Elvis, our black tomcat. It is called Luna (!!) by Sarnat. Thank you, Margit!

Next Ineke surprised me on Monday with this brand new pattern by Châtelaine (Martina Rosenberg) called Herbularium. It is the first of four new gardens. The group is not even open yet, but Ineke will sign me up as soon as it does. Thank you again, Ineke!

And last but not least, the doorbell rang yesterday afternoon and parcel postie handed me a parcel which came from over the pond, from Michele:

Do you think Michele guessed that I like pink? ;o) She blames me for the fact that she is now also looking at pink fabrics. Anything to enable, Michele...

And here is a detail of the very sweet snowman Michele stitched for me. Isn't he cute?

Thank you again, Michele!

Other presents included a very healthy stitching and painting budget from my DH, a 24" quilting ruler from my parents and more budgets from other members of my family.

o-o-o

Today it feels like my birthday all over again, because postie has brought THREE BOM patterns (and for those eagerly waiting: yes, the In My Garden block 1 came too!) and a parcel with more fabrics for said pattern.

At the moment I'm working on block 2 of Night Before Christmas by Bunny Hill Designs. The first stocking of three is finished, but I'm afraid I might have to desert it in favour of In My Garden.

Henrietta Whiskers Progress & In My Garden

I'm finally all caught up with my new version of Henrietta Whiskers, the free BOM by Bunny Hill Designs. Sorry for the poor quality of the photograph, it is suprisingly hard to photograph big projects like these.

o-o-o

In the mean time I have fallen in love with a new BOM by Hatched & Patched. It is called "In My Garden". The subtle delicate colours are so pretty.

The pattern for block 1 is on its way to me from Australia, so of course I had to pay my favourite quilting store a little visit. This is what I have collected so far for this beautiful project:

I still have to raid my stash for suitable fabrics for this project.