And the moral of the story is ....

.... a couple of days ago Mrs Nomad gave me some cooking apples from one of the trees in her new garden.  So I've been pretending that I'm a domestic goddess, and baking.  I've made about 2 dozen apple and cinnamon muffins, 2 apple pies and a big apple cake.

So just what is the moral of the story?

Well, if you are baking, always make sure you wear your glasses, otherwise you could do what I did with the apple cake.  I put a tablespoon of what I thought was vanilla essence in the mixture, only to realise as I was pouring the essence into the cake mix, that I had picked up the almond essence instead.  My excuse is that the bottles are just the same, it's only the labels that are different.

Thank you ...

... to everyone who responded to my SOS in the previous post.  There were some very useful suggestions which I think we will be trying out now.

SOS

... I need help.  Yes, I know, I can just hear what some of you are saying...

Anyway, look at this great quilt.  This is  J's first quilt, and I think she's done a great job with it.  If you remember, I've been helping her and F to learn to quilt.  Yesterday we had another playday, but unfortunately F couldn't be there cos she's visiting her parents at the moment.  F, if you're reading this, we missed you.  Anyway, I'm digressing.  This quilt top became a sandwich yesterday, and quilting decisions had to be made.  After trying several things, J went back to her original idea of quilting an allover Baptist Fan pattern on it, which is going to look fabulous, BUT ... the problem is, how does she mark it?  We tried wash out pens, chalk markers, pounce, almost everything that has ever been invented for marking and none of them showed up on such a variety of fabrics.  Cos I'm not a scrappy quilter, I am at a loss, so I said I'd appeal for help here.  Any ideas anyone?  Please?

Another busy day …

Today I have made the remaining 2 quilt backings and their bindings. 
I know I said yesterday that I had 6 tops waiting, but I can't count.  I had five.  Anyway, they're all ready now for when Big Bertha comes out to play.





Do you remember this picture?  It was taken as we were having our back garden remodelled in December 2009.






 
 
Now compare it to this one.  Looks very similar doesn't it? Yep, this weekend, while I was having fun at the Christmas QAL and Mr Fixit was in his workshop, poor Ken, the gardener, started on remodelling our front garden.  Oh dear, what can I say?  Sorry Ken, is probably the only thing.

Christmas QAL Post 5

It's about 7.30 pm here now.  I've had dinner and am going to settle down now for the rest of the evening with my stitchery.

I've just finished block 2 of the SAL.  (Please excuse the marks that I haven't removed yet.)

Next up I shall go back to my snowmen, This is the 7th block so I'm going to have to start thinking soon about how I'm going to put them into a quilt.

Christmas QAL Post 4

 Three down ....

So, I take a piece of fabric that's say 40" wide by 200" long.  I want a piece which is 80" x 100", so I cut the length in half and sew the two pieces together.  Brilliant.  Then I measure it, and guess what I've got?  A piece measuring 40"  x almost 200".  Whaaaaattt????  Yep, I sewed the wrong edges together.  Am I the only one who is capapble of being so stupid?

Christmas QAL Post 3

A picture paints a thousand words, they say

so guess what I'm doing now?

Christmas QAL Post 2

You remember how I hate adding borders?   If not, go here to read all about it. Well, the next worst thing is making the backings.  I now have about 6 quilts that need them so I can get Big Bertha out to play, so I'm off to do that now.  Well, some of them anyway.

I have done some baking this morning, and it smells gorgeous and I'm having trouble leaving it alone till it's all cooled down!

Christmas QAL Post 1

Just hear those sleigh bells ringing 

and ting ting tingaling too.

Come on its lovely weather 

for a sleigh ride together 

with you.

Yes, it's that time again.  The last but one Christmas Quiltalong day for 2011.  Cos I'm in the UK I don't think our hostess, Cathi is up yet, and it would be very rude to turn up on her doorstep when she's still in her pj's, so I'm off to do some baking while I wait.  See you all soon.

I couldn't help myself ...

When I saw that the Quilting Gallery's theme for this week was "Fall Splendour", I just couldn't resist entering this quilt, called Autumn Sunshine.  You can go here to see all the quilts, and then vote for your four favourites, and hopefully one of your votes will be for me.

Even if you don't want to vote for me, there are some lovely quilts there to look at, which will help you to pass the time until the Christmas Quiltalong tomorrow.  Oh, and that reminds me, several people have emailed me about the word penultimate in my last post.  It just means "the one before last".

How many???

79 that's how many (or how few, depending on how you look at it).  

Are you ready?  Got all your presents made and wrapped?  Nope, me neither.  

Don't forget to join us on Saturday for the penultimate Christmas Quiltalong.  Cathi is our host this month, and don't tell her I've told you, but I think there's going to be some exciting news!  Sshh, it's a secret until then.  

You know what?

I think I've been robbed.

Someone has stolen two or three months from 2011.  If the guilty person is reading this, please can I have them back 'cos I'm not ready for it to be October yet!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Here is the first block from the Sew Happy Sewalong that I joined last week.

Isn't he great?  I love him and am looking forward to next Friday's pattern now.

Like I really, really need ...

... another project.

I've just joined this stitchalong, that I first found out about from Janet. There will be a new pattern every Friday for 8 weeks, and they are just so gorgeous that I had to join in.  I've downloaded the first one and plan to get stitching this evening.  To get there, just click on the button on my sidebar.

The winner ...

... of the Quilt Block Scramble from Saturday's QAL is

I apologise for not posting this on Tuesday, like I said, but this week has just run away with me somehow.  Does this happen to anyone else, or is it just me?

Because I asked you to email me with the answers, each entry was numbered as it came in, and number 8 is Lynda.

Thanks everyone who entered, I know one or two of the answers were tricky, and I did deliberately mislead you with my scrambled version of Anvil but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.  Just wait till it's my turn to host again, I've just thought of a really fiendish difficult  tricky fun contest.

Now I'm off to lie down cos my back's gone again.  Ouch.

For Sale ...

... I have a few copies of my book available for sale.

If you would like a copy and can't find one locally, just email me with your name and address and I will let you know the cost, including postage.  To make it easy, I have a PayPal account, so can be paid in £s, $s, Lunars (that's the currency they use on the moon you know) or almost any other currency you can name.

Here it is ...

... my version of Scatty Christmas Stars

Christmas QAL Post 6

Can you unscramble these 20 block names?

Just email your answers to me before Monday night, and I will use Mr Random-Generator to draw the winner of a small prize on Tuesday.

1. FPuoacrth
2. LgoaiCbn
3. LmoSenreyta
4. J'Lsodecbadar
5. Navli
6. FsnaehiirtpSdr
7. FlysigeneGe
8. IaisrChhin
9. BwoiTe
10. DldiedRguonWbeing
11. hoOSaitr
12. ActtnidiWow
13. oeWMnykhrenc
14. CurhDsnah
15. DedsePrlnate
16. MiaanmCsr'orpess
17. DdnaParrut'ksh
18. FeahttderSear
19. StoeAmtSra
20. CridarTck

Christmas QAL Post 6

Did you know

• The famous Illustrated News etching in 1848, featuring the Royal Family of Victoria, Albert and their children gathered around a Christmas tree in Windsor Castle, popularized the tree throughout Victorian England and the USA..  
• According to legend, a kindly nobleman grew despondent over the death of his beloved wife and foolishly squandered his fortune. This left his three young daughters without dowries and thus facing a life of spinsterhood.  The generous St. Nicholas, hearing of the girls' plight, set forth to help. Wishing to remain anonymous, he rode his white horse by the nobleman's house and threw three small pouches of gold coins down the chimney where they were fortuitously captured by the stockings the young women had hung by the fireplace to dry.
• The ancient Celtics believed mistletoe to have magical healing powers and used it as an antidote for poison, infertility, and to ward of evil spirits. 

Christmas QAL Post 5

Here I am again.  My day has been somewhat derailed because we have DGS1 and 2, (the Professor and Chatterbox), here for a sleepover tonight and Chatterbox keeps wanting my computer!  We've now had dinner and I've got my stars sorted out and 3 of the outer borders now on.  I will add the 4th in a minute, but there won't be any pics until I press it tomorrow.  I'm going back to stitching snowmen for the rest of the evening.

I'll be back in about an hour with a quiz for you.