More Foraging and Research Too!

Yesterday afternoon I was working in Kiwifruit Block 4 which is the far away one near the avocados ( for those of you who have been here ) That's where the chestnut tree is too.
I collected these fat beauties before I came home . They are the fattest ones we have ever grown. ( because of all the rain )
I have just been doing at bit of googling on Chestnuts.( they are a member of the same family as beech and oak ) They are low in calories but starchy. They have proteins; dietary fibre; are rich in Vitamin C,  B complex Vitamins, folates; have iron; calcium; potassium; magnesium; manganese; phosphorous and zinc. Chestnuts are gluten free and have only good cholesterol. So sounds like we should be eating them. I will freeze some too for the vegetarians in the family!
      On Saturday night we were out to dinner at some friends with 2 other couples  we are all very compatible; ( 8 in all - 5 of us used to be teachers ). All 8 of us are going on travels in the next 2 - 4 months.( which is partly why we met up to compare notes.) They are all much more used to travel than R and I am, so we got lots of useful tips and suggestions. We got lent a book on London so together with what we already had my research has been going well.

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On Sunday afternoon I cleaned out my sewing cupboard. I sorted all my recently made scraps and am in the process of cutting them up once ironed into the biggest useful pieces I can to keep in my size bags. I like to do this before I start on any new projects. If I come across anything in the cupboard not finished it gets put to the top of the list. ( or unpicked or discarded- very rarely ) Mmy cupboard looks almost too neat to be a working space....but when you haven't got a sewing room or studio that's the way it works best for me.

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 Thank you all for your comments. I have heard from folk who would recommend going to Bath and the American Museum .( about 1 hours drive from where we will be staying at one stage so that sounds very promising. )

Especially for the Quilt Police.

For the last 4 days it has rained ( 4" ) and been quite chilly...so no orchard work, but lots of sewing; cooking; blog reading; foraging and cleaning. Now you don't want to know about the cleaning;  the cooking is more interesting  - the second lot of soup for the chillier weather is on the stove now and the cookies are just done.The soup has an unusual ingredient to see how it goes - Chestnuts.( they are especially plump this year because of all the rain ) R cooked  lamb shanks the other night for dinner and put some chestnuts in that and they were yummy ( like kumera ), so I decided to try some in today's vegetable soup. Which brings me to the foraging. Yes, collecting chestnuts, walnuts; a few mushrooms(  loads of toadstools that would have been nice if they had been mushrooms )(we don't eat them ) and a handful of blackberries I found - enough to stew with one large apple.
      More interesting is the sewing....both sides of my bandanna quilt are finished. Some bandannas are common to both sides so that sort of ties it together. I was freaking out about how I was going to ensure the strips on the back lay perfectly straight and parallel to the outside edge. The top photo shows I made sure the corners were totally square using my 12.5" ruler. Knowing how the backing of a quilt ( well mine anyway ) can get slightly askew when layering all 3 layers ( this doesn't happen if you own a long arm quilter with rollers ) I devised a method to use that I am sure the quilt police would frown upon. I used the idea that is similar in theory to the way the layers are held on a long arm quilter or roller system . I started at one straight edge. I sewed the backing fabric and the quilt top together with a large stitch down the edge thus ensuring that side was totally straight. I then sewed in the batting along the same hem line just a smidgen away from the first row of stitches. I turned the layer through with right sides out, lay it on the floor and proceeded to baste it moving outward from the sewn edge.

 When I had put in sufficient pins to ensure it would hold together I then lifted it onto my big bench and continued to pin and smooth, turn adjust the pins,  turn again etc till I had both sides as flat as straight as I thought they were ever going to be.

The above photo shows where I am at today; the corner of the quilt is flipped over so you can see both front and back and you can see how some fabric is common to both sides. I am about half way with the quilting. it's not very adventurous. Some diagonal lines, some stitching in the ditch and some shadow quilting around some of the shapes. It was really hard to decide what pattern might suit both sides??? ( only one small annoying tuck so far ) Overall I am pleased with my progress. What Binding I will use I don't know. Thinking ,thinking.
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I few posts back I said I was trying to get a close photo of the little fantails who were visiting. One decided to be really helpful and come inside to see me. ( no I am not superstitious about that ) . so I shut all the doors to contain it in the big room and he spent some time flitting from light fitting to window sill. My trying to help him out didn't work so I let it be and when I next looked up it was gone out an open ranch slider.

Everyday we are eating huge numbers of feijoas. They also are big and juicy because of lots of rain. Here are the 2 biggest we have ever grown. The one at the front is the winner so far at 175 grams.

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 I did managed to find a nut picker upper. Made in USA and someone in the South island is importing them. About $150 NZ plus P and P . I am considering getting one. Thank you for the helpful hint.

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 Thank you to those of you who have taken the time to email me about Quilty things ( Exhibitions; Show ; Shops in UK ) I appreciate it.

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R has just come home from giving blood ( he has a type they like and need ) It was his 25th donation and came home bearing gifts. A certifcate, a badge, a pen and a lovely red and white umbrella !  Well done!

Autumn in April.

Since the big rain ( 18.5" )that caused us such havoc there hasn't been another drop since the 7 th March. Plants are stressing from the extremes.The garden has some beautiful spots ( yellow Vireya and mauve autumn Crocus ) of colour and it is nut time again. I have picked up the first drop of walnuts and we also picked up a few chestnuts ( photos ). They are a lot of "prickly effort," so we only pick up a few. Such warm fine weather means we have been working too hard for my liking ( and age probably ) even at weekends, but the garden is better for my efforts.I'm glad daylight saving has finished - getting up will be easier and lighter!

The Kiwifruit crop is looking good - huge fruit , almost ready to pick. We finished the block we were working in on Friday and hope to not have too much more to do to them. A final walk through all blocks (for anything we missed ).

The photo of the ute strangely parked made me laugh.....now that's not very nice of me, BUT I am sick of people causing us extra work! The old f.... / , man owner was dumping garden rubbish from the quarry over the bank down the steep slope to our boundary fence...he backed too far back and ended up down the bank. Maybe he will tip it somewhere else next time.

I did an hour of sewing my quilt yesterday and hope to go and do a little more shortly.I did a dummy run trying the fabrics out. I'm glad I did cause the squares I cut don't need to be quite so large( will cut the rest smaller )and the batting way smaller.I also think the instructions I was following are not quite right...it said to cut the squares 1/16" larger than the circle....that leaves a little hole - which I don't want so I am cutting them at least 1/4'' smaller....maybe it's me but I don't think so Glad I tried it out at this stage ( just pinned )My denim fabrics are varying thicknesses so I am using batting under the squares - it is optional- might make it heavy but I want it to be warm.