Saturday, April 13, 2013

If Variety is the ......

If variety is the spice of like I must have had a good week.( certainly a busy one! )
 I have been thinning kiwifruit 4 afternoons, loading firewood rings; stacking firewood;   I have been to a committee meeting and to Patchwork Group yesterday. A trip to the city  to pick up my new glasses....

 They are a cross between the previous 2 pairs I have had. They weight 19 grams. My rimless ones were 9 grams. Light is best for me. My eyes had only deteriorated slightly and I could have kept on with the ones I had but I need all the help I can get to see clearly for my sewing. It is also reassuring to have a spare pair around. I look after them very, very carefully.( some of the frames had 50 % off but of course NOT these ones...only presumably the ones they were having trouble selling! )

I have been here.
 You ladies will recognise this machine. I am still in 2 minds about the damage this does and the benefits it might give through early detection. I hope it is not one of those things that in hind sight they decide was not a good idea...there are already murmurings to this effect. 
 After being so good ( in my mind anyway ) I treated myself to a coffee at the closest cafe and a date scone. Why must they be so huge?( and why is almost all the food sweet? Where are the savoury items? )

 It was delicious and has shown me a new new way to make date scones. I am guessing here but it looked like the dates has been chopped and boiled to a thick moist paste then put between 2 layers of the scone mix.  I am going to try that myself.
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 Yesterday at Patchwork Group we had Jenni's Quilt Journey. I just love these sessions. She was very nervous but it didn't show. (When you are amongst friends as she was it is a shame ladies get so worried about speaking. ) (A quilt journey is  like a one person show and tell over their quilting life, or what ever they want it to be.)  Ladies up in the North, Kerikeri in particular may recognise this lady as she started her quilting when she lived up there.
 She is such a talented lady and makes beautiful small items and bags and needle cases as well as quilts. She only showed us her quilts - she has made so many and worn out her right hand and had that repaired to 80% strength but still she does as much as ever. Here are a few of her quilts.
 Her work often includes fine appliqué; tiny buttons and embellishments.
 Her palette usually favours fawns and muted colours. Autumn tones sometimes, but very well selected .
Even her brights show restraint.

 This was beautiful with subtle shades or purple and green.
 Many of her earlier quilts were hand quilted. She now uses the machine a bit more to save her hands. 
She loves other arty things and does amazing work, but like many of us doesn't have enough time, but you wouldn't know that, as she has so may finished projects.She stitches till 11 pm most nights while watching 
TV.
***
 I have lots planned this weekend. in particular I want to get the binding on my quilt even though I haven't completed the quilting. There is enough done for it to be bound. That will give me hand sewing it down to do in the evenings. I have also been working on another felt embroidered ball.

 Still the dry weather continues. Harvest for the kiwifruit is rapidly approaching.

9 comments:

Françoise said...

Beautiful quilts! Love your new glasses. I'll have new ones too next week. :-)
Have a nice weekend.

Suzy said...

The quilts are lovely!
Great idea for the date scone; would never have thought of it.
Hope you and R are great!

Digitalgran said...

Love your new glasses Ali. I tend to go for rimless because I look awful in all the others :)
I'd love those date scones too, but DH just been diagnosed diabetic.

Diane-crewe said...

what beautiful quilts she makes ... a wonderful talk I am sure ... NOW did you realy want a savoury treat when the scone was on offer? .. mm xx I feel the relief of knowing all is well is worth the exposure to the radiation... but its a personal choice xx

meg said...

I have just got new glasses too! Mine are Rimless, and they are so much better than my last pair.
Some beautiful quilts there.

brandy1 said...

First time commenter, long time follower, I enjoy your blog very much. Your glasses look lovely. Those quilts are amazing and beautiful, loved the colourings. You must have had a great show and tell. Those date scones looked fantastic and what a good idea. 'Til next time Shirley

brandy1 said...

First time commenter, long time follower, I enjoy your blog very much. Your glasses look lovely. Those quilts are amazing and beautiful, loved the colourings. You must have had a great show and tell. Those date scones looked fantastic and what a good idea. 'Til next time Shirley

Thimbleanna said...

Wow -- those quilts are beautiful! Thanks for sharing them -- I always love seeing gorgeous quilts. ;-D

As for the mammograms, every six months they bring a mobile mammogram van to our worksite (for women who don't do a yearly checkup with their doctors) and everyone has always wondered whether it really works. A few months ago, they picked up something questionable on the woman who sits next to me. It turned out to be a form of cancer that is almost always only detected by feel and rarely from mommograms, but it was so deep that it would have been a long time before she could have felt it. And, probably by then, it would have spread to lymph nodes. As is, it's been caught very early and she's very lucky. So, I do think they save lives -- it just doesn't seem like it's that often! They say new technology is on the horizon -- where we won't have to be squished -- won't that be a happy day!

Karyn said...

Beautiful quilts!