Apples.

Our young friend Camara, who comes from Guinea in Western Africa but has been working in NZ for a couple of years, came to visit. He had been picking apples in Hawkes Bay and gave us a big bag of yummy NZ apples.( Pacific Rose left back;my favourite);( Granny Smith right back ); ( Fuji larger ones at front ) and ( Jazz ). Thank you . How lovely. We sent him home with pumpkins and walnuts. Swapping produce is lovely. He might be back when we pick our Kiwifruit.

Everything but Blogging.

Plenty has been getting done; everything but blogging.

The top photo is one of the 2 end borders (folded up), showing the row of amphora ( pots ) that I am going to applique onto it.These are the end parts to make the Jewelled Bird Quilt a longer rectangle shape.

Molly you asked about the idea for this quilt....R liked a similar bird on the cover of a Wilbur Smith book," The Seventh Scroll." It does indeed have an Egyptian look to it. I have also decided the bird's feathers would be improved by adding yards more of the gold bias tape.( half done ) Yes, the little new iron worked okay.

The Blue Denim MCWQ of the previous post, now has all the circles in rows ( 10 by 11 )but is in 2 parts for ease of working on it.All the batting squares are cut. All the feature fabric windows are cut and their position on the quilt decided. I just have to pin and sew the last 4 rows.

See that big stack of firewood rings, all now split and in the shed or friends' sheds, along with another stack the same size. About 14 tonnes R thinks. I helped lift the smaller pieced onto the trailer. R splits and loads it with his big splitting machine then we both stack it from the truck into the woodshed.( good for upper body strength! )

Persimmons might just be my favourite fruit. Although they were not as ripe as I would have liked I had to pick lots cause the possums were eating them and breaking the tree( last photo ) They are ripening inside okay.

I am surprised to still be picking (the last few surely )strawberries. That's 5 months they have been fruiting!

This coming Friday ( till Sunday )I go to our P and G Groups Retreat. As Vice Pres I am quite involved with taking supplies, gear, kitchen linen etc, so my car will be filled to the roof with 2 ironing boards, sewing machine, food etc etc. It's at the same place as last year, so if it's fine we get to walk on the beach. About 14 or 15 are staying over and another 15 coming for the day on Saturday.( we self cater so lots to prepare, but we have a great time once we are there) never heard of a Quilters retreat that wasn't fun. Quilters are nice people.

So, I a may be a bit quiet again till next week.

Progress on my RDMCWQ.

Progress has been made on my Recycled Denim Mock Cathedral Windows Quilt. ( I'll have to think of a shorter name ).

( "Hi," to Anne P in Finland - great to have you reading; you really will have to get a blog ).

This is how I did it so far. Having seen the idea I went to Blue Jeans quilt gallery and read up there. After I started I changed some of their ideas to make it work for ME. The backing of the quilt is the denim. The front has windows of feature fabric. Batting in the middle layer. ( so the same number of squares of feature fabric, and batting, as circles of denim .)

1.Collect a range of used denim ( blue )( skirts , jeans etc. ) Weight and quality will vary.( op shops are good places to look )

2. Decide on the size of the backing circles to use. Bear in mind the size that can be cut from the leg of most jeans. Too many small circles will be even heavier than this quilt by its nature is. Cut out the circles using your template. I cut circles with 4 7/8" radius.( cardboard template )

3.Cut 2 square templates.( For the feature fabric squares cut 6 3/4 "; for the batting slightly smaller again 6 1/2".)

4.Place the larger square on the back of your denim circles and mark its outline.

5.Varying your denim shades, align then sew, 2 circles right sides together, down one line ( side ) of the square. Then 2 more, then 2 more. ( or you could string piece ); till you have your row length (11 for me ).

6. Press flaps open. Then make another row of joined circles and so on till you have the width you want your quilt to be.( probably 10 for me ) Begin joining the rows.Align the circles using the seam line as your guide.( see 3rd photo of circles lying on top of the previous row to get them aligned )

7. When you have at least 3 long rows joined ( you will notice the pattern the 4 flaps create at each intersection ); press flaps open, then you may start filling the windows with batting and feature fabric. Cut your feature fabric squares using the slightly bigger template and the batting the slightly smaller square. Lay in the batting square with the feature fabric square on top. Smooth to all corners. Secure using a quilting pin ( safety ) in the middle. Then pin down each of the 4 flaps ( curtains ) far enough back from the edge so you can sew by without removing them.

Note: Don't sew down the end flaps till you are sure this is the size ( length or width ) you require.( see the final photo - I have left the first rows unfilled till the end ; and the end flaps )

8.Now using a walking foot, sew on the right side along a whole line of curtains in a continuous scalloped line. I used a fancy stitch on my Bernina #48 (a stitch that has a central line but goes out to both sides - Thanks Anna ! ) but it could just be zigzag. This is in effect your quilting. See the pattern it creates on the back.

9.Don't sew down the flaps in the opposire direction till you have all your rows joined ( if you want to sew as one continous row os stitching ) This could be constructed in squares and joined ) I found the long rows worked well.

10. ( I haven't got there yet )When your quilt is the required size, turn in the side flaps and quilt down the flaps in the direction you have not yet stitched. This will give a lovely petal like design on both front and back of the quilt.

Then it's finished! ( it's quilt as you go really )

Note: This gets heavy.

: Use safety quilting pins or you will get scratched.

: could be made without batting for less warm quilt.

: All photo enlarge with clicking.

: Any questions happily answered, if I can.

( bet I forgot something I should have told you )

Feijoas,Friends and Fabric.

Feijoas, friends and fabric - all good F words. This week; a short one; has been much more interesting. I have only spent a couple of afternoons with the Kiwifruit!

Last weekend I made progress on both quilts, but I will blog about that perhaps tomorrow.

Firstly Feijoas. Gudrun do recall last January I told you I would show you what these little red flowers turned into? This morning I picked up this basket of feijoa fruit from our 3 small trees. Here is one cut in half;( just scoop it out with a spoon ) they have really interesting patterns in the flesh. They grow well in NZ and not many other places. Folk either love them or hate them.They taste like feijoas - nothing else...a slight hint of turpentine scent, but YUM!

Yesterday, I had a lovely day out. I drove by the Tauranga Direct Road( one of favourite drives - photos here especially for Meg who misses our NZ bush ) to Ngongotaha, where I met Laurie for morning tea/coffee ( no of course I won't mention the muffins ); then across the road to Cottage Flair to spend my voucher my London son sent me for Christmas( took me a while to get to spend it ! )I got fat quarters, an embroidery hoop, perfect circle makers, a lovely jelly roll and the rest in batting.( Thanks younger son! ) I then followed L back home and saw some of her treasures and quilts then she drove us both into spotlight in Rotorua where I had another spend. I found the clover mini iron I was looking for,( for the bias tape ) very cheaply priced backing fabrics and also got us some new khaki coloured bed sheets I hope will tone with my Purple Splendour quilt.Thanks for a very pleasant day out Laurie.

Today R has gone over the hill ( Kaimais Ranges ) to shoot wild turkeys at his brother's farm, so I have all day to do as I please. I made a list and have yet to collect walnuts, but then I may sew!

Local Walk.

Yesterday R was going down the main highway to deliver a load of firewood, so I went part way and got dropped off to do a long walk home. Would you care to come and see what I saw? Be prepared, it took over a hour and there are some hills. on the roads to get home. ( I prefer flat really )We start by the sign and head of to that gap in the trees.

I was glad of my jacket in the dark shady parts but just sweltered later on coming home along the roads in the sun.

As I walked I saw evidence of the heavy rain ( you know the one ) a month ago and the pond had been drained back to the original stream - probably cause it flooded too and they had to let it go - ( here didn't get the landslide to go with it , luckily ).There were lovely contrasts of light and shade - some parts quite dark and ominous. Some healthy stands of young Kauri and Rimu trees.( NZ natives ) ( just like the ones we lost in the flood! )

Near the other end of the track neighbours who border the stream had made it picturesque, by deepening it and had ducks, geese and animals.

The Jewelled Bird Quilt..

Intermittent light rain has meant it is too damp to do orchard work, SO I have achieved many things inside.Yesterday morning I did a huge amount of cleaning in the lounge - Spring cleaning in Autumn...you know, turning chairs and sofas upside down and moving everything. ( it needed it )Then without guilt I could sew!

On Monday I had been to the city on other matters and had visited "The Barnhouse," my local quilt shop and purchased, 50/50 bamboo/ cotton batting; some blue fat quarters for the denim quilt and found the black background fabric for DH ( R's ) Jewelled Bird Quilt. ( I had had to put it aside till I got the background sorted )( I didn't want a mat black so got some NZ fern fabric that still looks black. Black is what R wants.)

Yes, I am working on 2 projects at one time - but can handle that .

Now I need some help please. I have never used iron on bias tape before (and found out what temperature to use by trial and error)and I want to know what I do next. This is going to be a quilt to use not a wall hanging, so, do I now stitch the tape down? ( By hand with neat sewing stitches that don't show? By machine on either side or down the middle? ) The reel of tape gives few instructions ( but in many languages - lol ). If any of you have used this Clover product or similar could you advise me what you did.

My next task is to sort out the ends of the quilt to make it the right shape. At the moment it is wide not long....so needs some borders, mostly at the top and bottom but a couple right round. I have plenty of all the coloured fabrics used on the bird and some more black. Some trials and auditions will be needed.

*************************************************

*Thank you Granny K( Lynda), so far the rain has been very gentle.

*Gudrun - Yes the chestnuts are inside the very prickly cases while hanging on the tree - then split- but you need thick cloves to handle them as they really prick.I will take a close up photo of a walnut case to show you the difference.( most nuts grow on the tree in a protective outer case which splits open to drop the nut in it's shell.)

*Meggie, I will be getting back to the denim quilt shortly and will take some more step by step photos and tell you what I am doing.

Challenge is supposed to be good for us. It is how one grows - stepping out of ones comfort zone - guess that's right - I am doing 2 quilts using techniques not used by me before! So far so good. There is some puckering on the bird's wings - I must have stretched the fabric a little I think - but will live with it. If that is the only problem I will be pleased with my efforts.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

^ I hope you ALL have a safe and memorable Easter.l

I will be thinking of all the ladies who have travelled down to Wellington to the Quilt Symposium. Have a safe journey and a wonderful time. ( you lucky people ! )

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.

Denim and Avocados

Gudrun here are some Avocado photos. The first is a small tree about 4 years old ( has a few fruit set ). Many we have are old and huge and have to have the tops pruned down and hollowed ( vased ) to let sunlight in. ( if the fruit is up too high we can't reach it ! ) The ground below is a carpet of dead leaves ( they like mulch ) and we put all the garden rubbish around them too as mulch. The photo with my hand in shows the size the next crop has got to already.....they are light green and very shiny. ( not many types of tree or plant bear more than one crop at a time ) The new leaves on them are red and copper coloured so make them a pleasant tree for a garden.

Sewing content: The big pile of denim fabric I have partially cutup ready for making circles for my quilt. Note the many shades of BLUE.

The other photo shows some of the 7"squares I have ready to trial for the centre of each block.Lots to do.

Do have a pleasant weekend - I don't fancy that snow some of you are still getting in the NH. ( enlarge photos by clicking on them )

UFO Weekend.

We had a very pleasant 2 days sewing. 7 ladies took a class by TS a very good tutor. One new lady began making her first quilt - she was lucky to get such good instruction right from the start. 7 or 8 others of us worked on UFOs.

I was mother or gopher so got less done than some but finished the purple fabric basket, then began joining the circles for my Mock Cathedral Windows quilt. The photos show how the back and the front ( with the curved flaps,) will look. I am doing lengthwise rows ( 11 circles ) as I don't know how wide it will finish - depends how much used denim I can find.

So far so good. I like the different shades of blue and even the odd spot where I have unpicked a dart.

Yesterday we had to take recycling to the transfer station in the truck so I went too and was able to stop in Greerton at 2 Op shops and came out with a load of denim skirts and jeans. SO lots of cutting to do and now I can continue when I get time. ( there are other such op shops in Tauranga still to suss out for more and I have asked the other P and Q ladies.)

*Gudrun I will take a close up photo of an Avocado tree with little fruit on and show you shortly *

More Positive.

***A fine day.*** Autumn Equinox.***** Avocado picking! *** As it is very late in the season for Avocados it is good for the trees to get them off so the small fruit which will be ready Nov / Dec onwards can have the nutrients and grow big.( there is quite a good crop of small, recently set fruit there for next season )

2 guys with hydraladas (cherry pickers )picked 3.5 bins of very big lovely fruit, which will get sold here in New Zealand. ( exporting has finished for this season ). We have been told to expect a very good price for them- which would be pleasing. Many of the fruit weighed more than 400 grams.( sorry you are too far away, most of you, to be able to share! )

Baking Spicy Apple Loaves.

This morning yet again it rained between 7 and 8 am. So everything is wet out side. The hydraladdas to pick Avos have been waiting here 2 days now.Tomorrow maybe.

I spent the morning inside and baked Spicy Apple Loaves. Lovely smell of baking.( nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger cloves ....ahhh! ) The recipe is already here on my blog. ( you will have to look back to July 26 2006 to find it )( the link was too long to copy ).

Then I set about pulling out fabrics that might be good as feature fabrics in my cathedral window quilt. I'm making this for my eldest son and he likes blue ( with some purple and green ).All set to start this on Saturday.

Things have dried out now, I better get outside.

Mixed Activities

Some fine days. Some like this morning, wet. Our hearts are in our mouths now every time it rains....what more might happen. Luckily so far nothing else.

I have been making lots of pumpkin soup and focaccia bread. We still have more pumpkins growing yet to be picked.

This afternoon and late yesterday I gardened - always lots needs doing. DH has been mowing all afternoon. I'm sure you can see my halo as I spent all morning filing and doing office work.

At the weekend I finished another tiny red fabric basket and at someone's suggestion I put longer handles on it lengthwise ( can be carried like a basket ) but I don't think it looks as cute then. I have cut out the other parts in purple to go with theses 2" squares I sewed together by hand. I am preparing the parts for several different projects as we have a UFO weekend this coming Sat and Sun.

Big jewelled bird is now ready for it's tail feathers. Also I am about to start the Mock Cathedral Windows quilt in denim. So that should keep me busy for the weekend. Some ladies in our group are going to do a quilt in a day. I WANT and need to finish things.

I took this photo of part of the slip / landslide up in the Quarry Park. This is near where it started from. The contents are now in our place, in the dam and creek.Things have dried out somewhat BUT it is still an incredible mess . ( I am sure mother Nature will eventually grass over some of it. )We haven't decided the best way to clear up....if at all.

Being Philosophical.

We have to move on and take this blow in our stride - we don't have an option.The mud is drying out and the stream has found a new course and settled back to a more normal flow.

The tree on the angle in the photo is the only one we have spent time on. We have managed to pull it back upright and stake it firmly....it is a Forest Pansy ( Cercis cadanensis ) ( cost NZ $75 in 2002 ). It is planted to commemorate my school friend Eleanor who died of cancer that year. This tree is upstream of the dam in the gully where the flood rushed past.

On Monday we got a Dingo in to dig a trench for the water pipe out to the front gate and by Tuesday we had connected to the Council water supply. Eventually we hope to reinstate the pipeline we lost up the bush as the catchment dam there is undamaged. ( But things will have to dry and stabilize first ).

Thanks all for your concern. Thimbleanna, I'm not an Aussie! I am a Kiwi and live in New Zealand.

Needless to say not much sewing time, but I have P and Q Group tomorrow.

The Day After the Flood.

Things look a little different this morning - not better just different. The water level has gone down and the stream is now cutting it's way through the debris to the small spillway which allows it to run under the bridge.

We still have a track down the hill across the bridge and up the other side - this leads to our 2 Avocado blocks and one Kiwifruit block and a bush area.We will need to get some truck loads of metal ( gravel / stones ) to lay either side of the bridge where the water washed some away. But for now at least we have access. Our pipeline to our water supply has gone! DH went up there this morning to look, and says it is fixable when things dry out. An area about the size of 2 football fields has slipped down the gully - and most of it is now in what used to be our pond.( this is all going to be expensive! )

You remember the photo a few posts ago of me sitting on my red seat - if you kept going behind that tree down a steep bank to the bottom of the valley, that is where the stream is that fed into the pond.

Now today's photos: 2 at the end show the pond / dam a few years ago when we had an open garden. You can see people coming down to the waters edge at the top end of the clear blue water.( that is looking from the bridge across the water )

The other (top )photos show it today - the brown dirty mess.( all 4 photo taken from about the same spot ,can you recognise it? )

Extreme Flooding.

9" of rain since it started this time.That's on top of the

7" last weekend.

We used to have a dam ( big pond / little lake ) ........not any more. We now have a gully full of debris, mostly washed down from the Quarry Park behind us.( they did BIG earth works recently!!! )

Blogger is being strange - but I will try and get photos up to show. ( some before some now )

Heavy rain and thunder has just started again after fine all day.

We had to hire a digger to try and clear our bridge and save the dam / bank/ crossing, he came promptly and has left the digger here in case we need more done. We are so grateful.

We have lost so many native trees.......the saddest one is the one we planted at the millennium - a Kawaka ( libocedrus plumosa ).

Kauris, Rimus, Kowhai ...lots more all gone. In there place we have mud, rocks, old tree stumps, whole dead trees. More photos tomorrow , I'm pretty upset right now.

Note: our house and kiwifruit vines etc are not hurt. We are safe.

What a hell of a day. ( the night was plain scary; we could hear trees crashing and rocks rolling and smell earth so strongly - no wonder!)