Happy Saturday friends. It seems that Saturday's have become my new regular day to post here and catch up with my week. I had meant to come back through the week, but time just got away from me.
Monday was a public holiday, which was a nice start to the week. I taught my first class of the year on Tuesday which was a lot of fun. The day is split in half with students having the option to attend the morning, afternoon or both sessions. We had all sorts of different projects being worked on through the day, which is great fun.
I worked again on Wednesday, so didn't have much sewing time myself, but enjoyed some time in my sewing room on Thursday and Friday. I'm a casual employee, which works perfectly for me and for my family. Other than my teaching days, I don't have set shifts and can be called upon very last minute. It also means that I can make myself unavailable, go on holidays when I want to, without a worry. For me, my job is a great way to get out of the house and talk about fabric and quilts with people who are interested in these things too.
My current addiction is making these Propeller Blocks. It's a Postcard Project from Jen Kingwell. These little blocks are all hand pieced. I start by going through my scrap tubs and finding pieces which are large enough to fit the propeller piece 4 times. If the fabric is a bigger piece, I trace 8 or 12 propellers.
This template shape is great because it lines up very well on the fabric. Tracing it out may be a little time consuming, but cutting out the shapes is very quick with minimal waste.
Once I have a lovely big pile of propeller pieces, I sit and stitch them together in the evenings, usually while watching telly. At the moment, we're working our way through Silent Witness. We're most of the way through Season 20.
I got to a stage where I wasn't enjoying making my Glitter Quilt. I don't know if it's the colours I chose to work with, or just the shape of the pieces and block in general, but I decided to stop, put the blocks I've already made together and will turn this into a large Euro style pillow.
My son is very much into growing plants and cuttings and I found this fun graphic on pinterest. We have a few glass jars with plants growing in water. We have Devil's Ivy (pothos) and Peace Lily's doing remarkably well. All of the guides suggest not using city water, but rather, distilled water. We ignore this and just use regular old tap water. Every few months I add a tiny sprinkle of fertiliser into the water and the plants are doing just fine.
Speaking of the garden, we're beginning to harvest figs but it's a race against the fruit bats and night and the birds in the mornings/evenings. I should really net the tree, but I'd hate for anything to get caught up in the net when all they're doing is trying to eat a yummy treat.
The rainbow lorikeet is a species of parrot found in Australia. It is common along the eastern seaboard, from northern Queensland to South Australia. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas... oh and backyard fig trees ;-)
Nice little hand work sewing those propellers. I just saw this muffins recipe I was going to try. https://youtu.be/qeAoPCkhUZ4?si=ADELiGu-br7xjpQm
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense to wrap up the Glitter project if you aren’t feeling the love. At least it will still be a finished project for your group. The propellers are very cute. I can understand how they can become addictive. I just makes muffins with bananas and walnuts. They freeze well and only take 30 seconds to heat 2 from the freezer to eat. (Maybe I know this from frequent practise. LOL)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the banana bread recipe…I may have to try that. I freeze bananas when they get too ripe and use them to make banana blueberry muffins. I can email the recipe to you…. Your glitter pillow will be a great addition to your collection of pillows. Those propeller blocks are cute! Gail at the cozy quilter.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your Saturday report - thanks! Good move on your Glitter project - to make a big pillow! No use continuing on a project like that that you aren't really enjoying. Interesting too about your figs(!) - we try here but don't really have the right climate, sadly - AND growing things in water! I'm going to tell my hubby about that. Have a good rest of the weekend!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great read today. Lovely to see your projects. Good idea to call a halt on Glitter if you are not enjoying it. My son uses his house plants to filter the water in his fish tank. There is a jungle growing out of his tank.
ReplyDeleteAh... now I see I should have read this blog post before commenting and asking my Glitter quilt question on the newer blog post. You're turning Glitter blocks into a cushion. That's great! And I understand the desire to be done with those blocks. Indeed, they're very fussy. Your cushion will no doubt be gorgeous, especially with your hand quilting. Love seeing the lorikeet! When I was in Australia, I always stopped to appreciate them... something we never see in the US. I also fondly recall the squawking of yellow-crested cockatoos. As for bananas... I recently came across a recipe for Moose Paws. Mash a banana with Greek yogurt, honey, peanut butter, and peanuts. Form them into small patties and freeze. Then dip the frozen patties in melted chocolate. A delicious, somewhat healthy, sweet snack. (I don't dip mine in chocolate; just eat the frozen patty.)
ReplyDeleteGlitter will look great as a cushion with all your other lovely cushions.I have a few plants growing in water I may have to try the peace lily as it's cooking outside.
ReplyDelete