Instant Messaging

My start on the Anna Levens quilt has been more than protracted. In fact, its been downright pokey. It's been on the go for at least six months now and I seem to drop it more often than I pick it up. If I was better at prepping the hexies in advance I'd be further along but, because I haven't, I tend to find something else to work on instead.

And I seem to be getting subliminal messages from it now that I've picked it up again as I wondered where I was in the process. Look closely. How's this for a hint?

Or this?

I cut my paper hexies from business reply cards that show up in the mail and their messaging seems to be very spot on. Made me smile....M

Easter Treats

There's been some baking going on for Easter, and some yummy baking at that. Betty found a recipe for a Grapefruit Curd Tart with Black Pepper Pastry. I don't know that it would ever have occurred to me to make a tart with grapefruit (let alone put black pepper in the crust), but I'm very glad that I did. It was the perfect dessert after our ham dinner.

I was a little concerned because the crust was quite thick, but it was very nice - like eating a shortbread biscuit with the curd. The Official Cookie Tester gave it a thumbs up, as did everyone else, so this one will be a keeper.

Then I tried a Plum Loaf. I'd seen plums in the grocery store and just knew that they were coming home with me - not sure for what, but this loaf turned out to be the answer.

It calls for margarine but I used unsalted butter and it was very nice.

I also added about half a teaspoon of cinnamon to the brown sugar topping and it was a nice touch. I've got enough for a second one so I think I'll make it, maybe add a little candied ginger, and freeze it. Another favourable review from the Official Cookie Tester.

After that it was time to pull some fabrics for a few more Anna Levens blocks. I had a mauve ring of hexies all ready to go but after looking at the pattern again I wasn't sure that there was enough pattern in the print.

So I pulled several more and am playing with new combinations.

I also found a green that I'd forgotten about which I think will work well for one of the hexie rings. Now I probably have too many options but I'll see where this takes me....M

Secret Sewing

I've been thinking of a little project for quite some time now and last week I gave it a start. The large floral was my jumping off point.

It's for a certain someone so I won't reveal everything right now, but there are a few pics that I can show you without giving everything away.

With any luck it will get finished later this weekend, once all the Easter dinner cooking and baking is behind me - time will tell. Until then, everything is very 'secret squirrel' 😉  ....M

Backing Up

There's a pile of quilt tops sitting on a chair outside my sewing room and this year I'm attempting to move them along and get several of them finished, so I pulled my Kaffe Fassett Blue Diamonds from the pile and had a chat with Roberta to see if she had a suitable backing (despite having a pretty significant stack of backings - I dare not say how many - there was nothing in my stash that would do the trick).

We found one that would do in a pinch, but it wasn't really doing the quilt justice so I decided to keep looking. Well, I think I struck pay dirt. I happened upon a great little geometric pink print and got about 4.5 metres of it for - get this - $3/metre! Bingo!

I wasn't convinced that it was going to be a big enough piece, and it isn't, but at that price there was enough to make a very good start on a pieced backing. So, back into the sewing room I went and voila - another pink print, a small piece of blue (that's a VIP print that has been around forever), a deep turquoise and a teal/green that I brought back from Beijing a few years ago. Perfect.

So, everything is washed and ironed and now I need to start laying out some options. Hopefully soon it will be ready to take back to Roberta for quilting....M