My daughter's Cooking

My daughter emailed me her latest creation the other day... a lady bird cake. No it wasn't a birthday cake, it was cooked, "just because"...

So cute.

Until next post

Cheers..Jewells

Quilt TOP (and binding) Finished

Today I have been using up some of my stash.

I bought these baby sayings (along with others) while I was in the States a couple of years ago, and today was the day I married them up with the border fabric. I then matched the colours in the border fabric to make up alternate 9 patch squares. I have just PLACED the binding around the quilt top to see how it looked.... yes, it needed that colour as the binding!

Here is a close up of half of the sayings:

and now here is the other half:
I am happy with how it has turned out..... and no I have no-one in mind to be the owner of the quilt, so I have decided to sell it on eBay as a "UFO... Quilt Top & Binding)... If I had it quilted by my quilter, I probably wouldn't get my money back when I sold it.

Until next post...

Cheers...Jewells

Cumquat Jam Success!

THE JAM TASTES BEAUTIFUL... NICE AND SWEET TOO!!!

ok.. for those who don't know what a cumquat looks like, here is a photo of how gigantic the fruit is! LOL!.. for overseas readers, that is our 50 cents piece next to the cumquat.

Next is a photo of my gigantic tree! I coaxed "Dusty", my boyfriend's faithful companion to sit next to the tree so you can judge how big it is. The tree was given to me in a pot a few months ago, so my boyfriend planted it for me and fed it with cow manure from his dairy farm.


So, now you can imagine how tedious it was to cut up the fruit to make the jam, plus each one of those cumquats would have AT LEAST 6 seeds.


Until next post..

Cheers...Jewells

Cumquat Jam

This morning I made up some jam from the cumquat's from my tiny tree. It certainly was a procedure. The tiny cumquat's yielded enough seeds to plant a whole orchard, leaving me with 2 cups of chopped up cumquat's. Then you add 4 cups of water and leave to soak overnight. On day 2 you boil the water and cumquat's until the fruit is tender, then leave again to soak overnight. On day 3 you add 1.5 cups of sugar, boil for 45 mins and bottle... viola! 3 tiny bottles of jam.

Will try it on my toast tomorrow morning... as cumquat's are really soar, I am hoping the cooking will make a heap of difference!

Until next post..

Cheers..Jewells

Teddy Bear Quilt Top

After finishing the aprons and Chef's hat, I opened another kit I had in my cupboard and cut and sewed and managed to finish the quilt top last night. The kit came with the wadding and the backing, so I have it all parcelled up to take to the quilter some time this week. I have already made the binding (red) that was also supplied in the kit, so when it comes back from the quilter, I can sew the binding on straight away.

Another kit made up. Now I am making another Christmas Swag, as my daughter saw it on my blog (a couple of posts back) and she asked if I would make her one.

Until next post..

Cheers...Jewells

Mum the Super Chef

As I had made an apron, I thought I would make a chef's hat and then decorate another apron with the left over fabric.

The bright pink apron was in a prize I won ages ago, but never used. I found it was a perfect match with the colours I used in the hat.

I got Mum to model her new outfit!



...and here she is with the other apron I finished this week:



Now I am opening another kit... this time a quilt with teddy bears made in flannel fabric.. I bought this one at the Darling Harbour Quilt Show, but when I bought it is another question... thank goodness fabric doesn't go off!

Until next post...

Cheers...Jewells

One kit down, MANY more to go

With Mum here, I am inspired to try to make up some of my kits that I have bought over the years.

This is a gorgeous apron kit I bought at the Darling Harbour Quilt Show many years ago. I started it on the weekend and finished sewing the beads on top of the cakes tonight.



Freezing cold and VERY windy here tonight... it could "blow a dog off a chain"!!

Until next post...

Cheers...Jewells

Swags

I have made a couple of swags to decorate my home.

This one is on top of a bamboo ladder that displays 2 of my quilts. I bought the wooden lettered buttons at a quilt show a few years ago... just love how these turned out.



I also have made this swag to hang a Christmas time:



I am enjoying the company of my Mum these few weeks she is staying with me....It is so much more fun doing craft with someone else, I also seem to get more done while chatting away with her.

Until next post...

Cheers...Jewells

Mum and Me

Today was spent with Mum and I at the sewing machines. Mum was using my Bernina Artista to do some applique, while I used the trusty 'ol Pfaff to sew a couple of tea towels.



Here are the 2 tea towels I made for another birthday present. This gift is for my friend Yvonne and it is made up of the 2 tea towels, 2 dish cloths and 2 of my spoons... she doesn't read blogs, so I am safe by showing the gift on my blog!



Boy, why do week ends go so fast?

Until next post...

Cheers...Jewells

Market Stall Sales

As mentioned in my last blog, I held a stall last weekend, selling my spoons, dishcloths and baby bib/burp cloth sets and had a good time talking to people and even making a few sales.... hey I made more money sitting at my stall than sitting at home!

I was selling my spoons for $4 each or 3 for $10, the dishcloths for $4 and $5 each and the bib/burp cloth sets for $6.

I found that all the spoons with "Thyme, Dill" etc sold like hotcakes, and the others with "Weeds, Spuds, Veges & My Patch" didn't sell as well. So now I know to just put different herbs on nearly all the spoons.

Now I have decided to try and sell my spoons, dishcloths & baby sets through my blog, so I contacted a friend to tell me how to set this up.... and she has mentioned she was interested in buying some of the remaining spoons... (must get back to her with what I have at the moment)... well we sort of got off the subject and I still haven't found out how to set up my selling side... gotta find out how to add pay pal too!!!!

Until next post...

Cheers...Jewells