When life gives you lemons...

Try some patchwork therapy :) 

This is one of those quilts that I have always wanted to try, but just haven't until now.  From the pack of 50 charms, plus an equal amount of white that I cut myself,  I think I  have ended up with around 200 1/2 sq triangles.  I've already made pinwheels, but this is my first try for zig zag.  I only need two more sets of two rows to make around the right size requested for Blankets of Love. Nearly there!

My second fave form of self help is baking.  Thankfully, the weather has finally cooled off enough that I could turn the oven on today. (It's been a long time since it has been on).  I had some milk that needed to be used soon, so I looked for "milk bread" recipes.  This dough came out beautiful and soft and easy to roll out, with very little flour needed on the bench. I used the breadmaker on the dough cycle first.  I used an egg ring as the cutter and I pushed on that with the rolling pin too because the egg ring is a bit sharp.

Oh my goodness, these rolls are delicious! Slightly sweet, super soft texture.  I would like to make them again, but roll them out thinner and then roll them up  as though I were making cinnamon rolls, just because I like to pick the layers apart :)  I didn't brush them with butter before baking.  You can find the recipe here.    I had a healthy smoothie for brunch (it even had fresh greens from my garden), so I plan to just nibble this bread until I can't eat another bite.   xx debbie

Australia Day Swap

Hi everyone,

I recently joined in this swap hosted by Jewells. This swap was a challenge to send any 9 items, each starting with a letter in Australia.  Thank you Jewells for offering  this swap.

 

My partner to make for is a lovely lady called Sharmayne and you can find her here.   She was new to me, so I had a look at her blog to see what she might like, and the first thing I saw was a chicken!! :))

I think she has since redecorated her blog a bit, but anyway...

I had fun choosing things to make (with some ideas from friends to help).

 

A:  Apple fabric

 

U: Umbrella (I made a tea towel appliqued with a roo holding an umbrella and a chicken)

 

S: I traced the "S" letter from Michelle Ridgway for Sharmayne to stitch however she likes

 

T: Trinket box or thread catcher made up in Aussie fabric

 

R: a spool of ribbon

 

A: Animal- I made a sachet filled with cinnamon and cloves from chicken fabric

 

L: some cream colour lace

 

I: I made a charm strand of beads that spells out "Inspiration"

 

A: I made a cross stitch with two angels holding a house with a ribbon for hanging.

 

 

 

 

Sharmayne sent me the sweetest message to say how much she likes the things I made. Thank you, Sharmayne, it is nice to have you as a new friend.

 

The lady who made for me is new to me as well. Her name is Carol and you can find her  here.

Here are photos of what Carol sent to me:

 

 

Pink sheer fabric, red ribbon, pastel lace, mint green lace, a paper scented sachet.

 

 

An apron and 3 pieces of fabric.

 

 

A coaster, a plastic bag with a zip that says "Ohh la la Paris", and a hexie mug rug.

 

 

There was also a packet of Tim Tams and gummy lollies.  Thank you, Carol.

 

I am off to have a lovely day sewing and definitely enjoy this much cooler weather!  xx debbie

FNSI Results

Hi everyone,
I hope you had a fun and productive night. 

 

I finished the cross stitch that is part of what I am making for the Initial Heart Swap.

I hope you can see that those are little spools of thread...so cute!!

 

 

 

In my previous post, I described how I learned from watching a video how to make half square triangles without all the fabric marking as in the old fashioned way.  I used one charm pack of blue and white squares and I cut an equal amount of white squares. Last night I made all the cuts, and this is how many half square triangle pairs I ended up with.

 

 

There is more welcome rain on the way today, which is why the pictures are a bit dull.  I will be spending plenty of time with the iron to press open all these pairs. They have not told me what they want to be yet...maybe flying geese, or stars, or pinwheels...but I do know that  at least part of them will be new Blankets of Love.  I'm off to see how everyone else did. xx debbie