For the Birds.

Hi everyone today is my turn to show what I have made for this hop. When this hop was first put forward I knew I had to take part. One of my husbands hobbies is bird watching and (so long as it isn't freezing cold) I go along on his expeditions. Like a lot of folks we have feeders in the garden but we live in London UK and our garden is very small without larger trees to provide cover for our feathered friends and so visitor numbers are not as high as we would like.  As a result we tend to go to our favourite local venueThe London Wetland Centre at Barnes if we want to watch birds locally. 

The site of the Centre was created from four disused Victorian reservoirs and opened in 2000. It occupies more than 100 acres and is home to many birds that you don't see elsewhere in London. It's a great place to see gadwall, shoveler, great bittern, pintail, lapwing, water rail,  sparrowhawk, sand martin, kingfisher,  and great crested grebe. As it's virtually on the doorstep we visit often.

As well as visiting the centre we also enjoy bird watching whilst out on our hikes. A bird you will see frequently along London's rivers and brooks is the Grey Heron. 

Of course you also see birds not native to the UK. These Black necked swans are native to South America but will have been bought into the UK to grace the parks and rivers of country estates.

So now you want to know what project I made. Well it changed several times whilst still in the planning stage. Originally I bought the green FQ with the birds on it to make a bag for my husbands mini binoculars that live in his car (yes he does pull the car over if he sees an interesting bird).

I then thought I'd make a tote bag for our bird watching expeditions, big enough to hold the flask, bird books and whatever else we need. However after a chilly evening waiting for the rooks to arrive at their roost in Norfolk I decided a bird quilt for the car was needed. That way I could have stayed a little warmer. Unfortunately you can't run the engine as the noise disturbs the birds and therefore the heating doesn't work. Did I mention I really like warm weather bird watching?

Next I needed a bird block. One of the blogs I read is Kates Quilting Blogspot and just when I was looking for a block she posted about the April Block lotto which was for a bird block and was just perfect. I wanted all the birds to have fabric with bird patterns for their wings and I knew I wanted owl fabric for my backing.

The Blocks were fun to make and soon my top was finished. The top is square and measures 53 X 53 inches.

I managed to find some owl fabric for the backing that I just love.

The quilt isn't completely finished yet but the quilt sandwich is made and the quilting has started. Unfortunately supervising final year degree students dissertations has taken up most of my time  this last week and will continue to do until they submit their work at the beginning of June. No one else had time so I agreed to take the students last week and for now sewing has to take a back seat.

If you want to see the block lotto pattern you can find it here. Having used the pattern I will be sending an email of my finished quilt.

So now you need to visit the rest of today's participants. There's sure to be lots of lovely bird projects to see.

http://www.intheboondocks.blogspot.com

http://mychellem.blogspot.com

www.thimblemouseandspouse.blogspot.com

www.quiltingandsewingarts.com

http://Sewgratefulquilts.wordpress.com

www.aquiltingsheep.com

http://tricia-ramblingsofaquilter.blogspot.com

http://sewmanyyarns.blogspot.com (you are here)

www.moosestashquilting.blogspot.com

http://bethstrand.wordpress.com

http://quiltoo.blogspot.com

http://teatimecreations.blogspot.ca/

http://secretlystitching.blogspot.gr/

Thanks to Madame Samm and Mary for organising the hop and cheering us on our way. I've really enjoyed creating this quilt and I'm looking forward to using it to keep my knees warm on bird watching trips next winter. Thank you for visiting and I hope you'll visit again soon. Once you've visited everyone today I hope you find some 'me' time for sewing

Lyndsey

Oophs I forgot to announce the winner

I think I have finally lost the plot as I have just realised that I haven't announced the winner of my give away from the Shake your pom poms hop. I am so sorry for forgetting.

So the winner as drawn by Mr Random Number generator is No 14 who is Nati.

Nati said

So cute and what a wonderful charity idea! I wold love to try the pom pom maker... I still use cardboard circles and still remember when my mum told me how to make them!

Nati lives in Luxembourg and I have sent her an email.

A little baking, a little sewing, a lovely day

I have always liked Sunday because we try and keep it as a time for church and family. When the children were younger we would take them out on a Sunday afternoon to visit places of interest or for a walk in the park. Over the last few months the pressure of work has meant that many Sunday afternoons have found us sitting at our computers working. John and I have been having long conversations about the quality of our life and what we want from it and it was no surprise when our first decision was that work on a Sunday had to stop. So this Sunday was different.

Now although I said no work on a Sunday I decided that a quick clean and tidy was required. So we swept, mopped and dusted before we started our quiet Sunday. It didn't take long with two of us. The shock of a quiet Sunday threw us a little and we had to retire to the garden with coffee to decide what to do next. I knew I wanted to do some baking and it had to be a lemon cake.

Tangy Lemon Cake
This recipe was submitted by Mrs Judith Perry from Sutton St Nicholas, Hereford to The Complete Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook which was published in 1984. I copied the recipe from my mother's book several years ago as I couldn't find the book anywhere.

The top of the cake goes a darker brown after cooking as you pour a lemon syrup over it.

125 g /4 oz butter
175 g /6 oz caster sugar
Grated rind and juice of two lemons
2 beaten eggs
175 g / 6 oz self raising flour
A little milk
50 g / 2 oz granulated sugar

To make;

1. Cream butter, caster sugar and lemon rind until fluffy

2. Gradually beat in the eggs

3. Mix in the flour and add about 4 tablespoons milk to soften the mixture. It should be soft enough to drop off end of spoon when shaken gently

4. Grease a 1 kg / 2 lb loaf tin

5. Bake in a moderate oven, Gas 4, 350 F, 180 C, for 45 to 50 minutes until risen and golden, firm on top and shrinking from sides of the tin.

6. Just before cake is ready to come out of the oven, prepare the lemon syrup. Heat the lemon juice and granulated sugar gently until the sugar is dissolved.

7. As soon as cake is out of the oven, while still in the tin, pierce top all over with a skewer. Pour over the lemon syrup. Leave the cake in tin until it is cold.

The cake is very moist with a nice lemon tang to it. Great with afternoon tea in the garden. 

This was fun as I haven't baked a cake since Christmas. Next I started some sewing. I was working on my piece for the 'bird' hop that starts tomorrow at Sew we quilt. My day is next Tuesday when I will reveal what I have made.

I also did a little work on my grandmother's garden hexi quilt in the evening. I haven't worked on this for quite a while. Here is how far I had got last time I posted about it.

I now have 3 more green flowers to sew on to complete this round. The next round is blue and all the flowers are made for that so I just need to sew them on. This is a work on in the evening quilt whilst watching TV or chatting with family. The individual flowers I stitch together while travelling to work on the train.

So that was my Sunday, a great companionable day with John and a really good sewing day. Today John is out walking with members of our church. Some members of the congregation decided that they would like to do 3 to 4 walks a year of 8 to 10 miles. The asked John if he would be willing to lead them. As he loves walking he jumped at the chance. Last time I went along as well but today I stayed home. My knees have been sore recently and I don't want to over do things plus I didn't have much chance to sew last month so I need some free time.  I'm now going to switch the computer for my machine and get on with my swoon blocks.

I hope you had a good weekend and for those of you in the UK I hope you enjoy the bank holiday. I'm going to enjoy some more May for Me time

Lyndsey

Sunshine, some rain and three finishes

Here we are on the 4th May and I have already managed to finish three items off my to do list. Originally I thought I would spend the day outside tidying up the garden or even repainting the front door. However the sunshine that we were forecast wasn't as sunny as it could have been and came interspersed with rain. There was also a cold wind so I decided having some time for me and spending the day sewing would be much better.

First I completed the top of my Hat Trick quilt. This is made entirely from fabric from my scrap baskets and is a great pattern for using up the scraps.Rather than trim the white setting triangles so that the borders touch the points of the nine patch I have left a border of white. This quilt is so colourful, I just love it. If I had remembered that I needed to get some batting I think I would have managed to get the quilting done today as well. Never mind that can wait until next week. I've got some candy strip fabric in my stash that I'm going to use for the backing.

Next I added a fleece backing to the two prem baby quilts started by ladies at our County Guide training day in March. The nine patch was made using squares from a charm pack. I love the fabrics in the pink mini. The border of the second quilt is a much brighter yellow in person. These quilts will now go to the local maternity unit.

Finally I finished knitting another baby blanket for Project Linus. I have nearly finished all the baby wool I was given. I think I have enough for two more blankets. I have quite a lot of finer wool (4ply ) which I am going to use to knit some prem baby hats. Before I start the next blanket I think I must finish the cardigan I started for myself last year. It could come in useful during the summer. The pink yarn in this blanket isn't a great colour but it is so soft.

Tomorrow I'm going to work on my piece for the 'bird' blog hop which starts next week. I still have over a week to get mine finished. I've also got a day to myself on Monday and once I've taken Scamp for a walk I'm going to spend the rest of the day making blocks for my swoon quilt. My May goals are looking quite achievable at the moment. 

I hope you have managed some sewing today.

Lyndsey

May goals

The beginning of May and time to decide my goals for this month. Last months I didn't achieve many of my goals but I did at least finish the 'Is this a clue' quilt. This is now on its way to its new home.

However I'm not too upset about my April goals as I lost two weeks sewing time due to illness and also lost time due to Easter. However that time was filled with other activities. I do need to catch up a little during May.

My 'must be' completed goal is my swoon quilt. So far I have only made 3 blocks. I must complete the top of this quilt by the end of May so this will have my full attention.

I also MUST complete my mini quilt swap. I hope to do this over the weekend so I can put it in the post on Tuesday.

My secondary goals are;

1. Complete my Schnibbles Hat Trick quilt including quilting and binding. This quilt finishes at 26" X 32" so this should be possible.

2. Complete the piece I am making for the 'birds' blog.

3. Make the quilt sandwich for the 'Holiday Quilt'. I would also like to start the quilting but I think that may be pushing it. a bit.

4. My NewFO for May. I love starting new projects and have several ideas. I'm not sure which one it will be.

5. Spend some time on my embroidery projects. I'm going to take part in May for me at Marcia's Crafty Sewing and this is one of the things I will be making time for me to complete. To find out more follow the link here or use the button on the side bar.

I think I may have overdone the goals but I'm feeling fairly confident. I'm linking up with Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs for 2013 A lovely year of finishes and Lynne at Never too hot to stitch for 2013 the year of the finished project. Why not visit and see what everyone else is planning for the month.

I hope you had time today for some sewing.

Lyndsey

April NewFO

Today it's time to link up with Barbara at Cat Patches for her NewFO party. Why a NewFO party? We spend a lot of time worrying about getting projects finished and how many UFO's we have. The NewFO is about starting new projects and having that joy of choosing fabrics and deciding designs. The projects don't need to be large just new and the challenge is to start one (or more) new project(s) a month.  This is never a problem for me.

Now let me think what was new for April. Well first up I took part in the mug rug hop organised by Madame Samm at Sew we quilt. I had fun making a cute hedgehog mug rug as well as several others.

This has been adopted by younger daughter.

There was also the shake your pom poms hop again organised by Madame Samm and for this I made a mini quilt which will go at the top of the Guide notice board and replace the scrap of paper that currently announces who the board belongs to.

I have also started a Schnibbles quilt using the pattern Hat Trick from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

I have used only fabric from my scrap bin for the nine patches and pulled some from my stash for the plain squares and setting triangles.  So far I have pieced the nine patches and cut the rest of the fabric. Now all I have to do is sew it all together. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of work to date but will post that over the next couple of days.

I have also started two pieces, one a mini quilt for a swap and the other for another blog hop. Both of these are under wraps but will be revealed in a weeks time.

April wasn't a great month for starting or finishing projects as I had a very painful right arm due to a flare up of arthritis so I'm hoping May will be better.

I hope you had fun with your sewing during April. Good luck with your May projects.

Lyndsey

Is it a clue quilt finished and a winner.

The end of another month and I'm just not sure where the time has gone. April seems to have zoomed past and I didn't complete many of my goals.

However my chosen project to finish in April is all quilted and the binding is done. So this evening I took my 'Is this a clue' quilt with me when I went to a meeting by the River Thames in Putney. 

I practised my FMQ doing a meander over the white blocks. I left the patterned squares unquilted and quilted around the question marks. I forgot to take a photo of the back but I used a peppermint green candy striped cotton for the backing. The batting is warm and natural 100% cotton.

The photo was taken towards dusk at about 8.30 this evening. When I came out of my meeting at 10 I took this photo of the reflection of lights on the water.

You can see from the leaves on the trees in the last two photos that spring has finally arrived.

The rest of my goals for April are still waiting to be done. I wanted to finish the top of my anniversary swoon quilt. By the end of March I had completed 3 blocks and so had another 6 to go. Unfortunately I still have 6 blocks to make.  I also have to finish my Dreaming of Spring mini quilt for the Quilting Gallery swap. It is due to be shipped next week so this weekend is going to be busy.

To stay on track with my major projects I am going to have to plan very carefully for my May goals. Meanwhile I'm linking up with Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs for A lovely year of finishes and Lynne at Never too hot to stitch for 2013 the year of the finished project.

I also mentioned a winner. This was my give away of a dinosaur FQ on my day at the mug rug hop.

The winner is Number 113 who is Kathy H.

Well done Kathy I have sent you an email requesting your mailing address.

I am also linking this post with Richard's Link a finish Friday.

I hope you've all found time to complete some of your projects during April or at least enjoy some sewing  time. 

Lyndsey