Pretty Piles

Dear Mr. Jasper. He looks his age today. We've had lots of cuddles and I popped a piece of fabric I usually sling over my sewing machine onto his blanket in my workroom. He is pleased.

Today I haven't felt my best. I didn't get to ride because Celine wasn't feeling her best either. She is working like mad to get her riding school ready for opening day on the 10th. Wow, that's next weekend! I wonder if I'll get a lesson next week?

Today I planted morning glory and rainbow chard seeds before I ran out of seed raising mix. I also put in some Japanese radish seeds, straight into the garden. Johnny and I took a heap of garden rubbish to the greenwaste department at the dump. It will be made into compost. I can't keep up with all of the garden waste we produce as I have a very slow composting system. There is usually a fair bit of irritated cursing getting the garden rubbish into the back of John's vehicle. There was a rather undignified shriek of pain when a rose branch hooked me in the backside. Johnny put some vege mix into my greenhouse beds, plus filled my big tomato planters with tomato mix. Only the best for my veges! The greenhouse gets all steamed up and beautifully warm. It will probably be roasting in summer.

The Crafty Neighbour and I did some plant swapping, plus some crafting this afternoon. Actually I tidied up my workroom while she knitted and chatted. I didn't get around to tidying my desk.

When I visited Cottonfields last week I had a rummage in their bargain bin and found some real treasures. They get samples in and bundle them up. The pieces are smaller than fat quarters but together work out to be about 1/2 a metre, for only about $3. I popped this gorgeous strip of velvet ric-rac over these.

These are Cabbages and Roses designs. I found the lace in a scrap bag at school.

These look prettier in real life than on my screen. The colours are richer.

I've got some other pretty piles around. These are in my big craft cupboard. Vintage and modern boxes with interesting vintage beads, buttons and haberdashery. The vintage checked bag has old lace and bits and pieces in it.

I found these rolls of ribbon at an incredibly cheap price. Not sure which is my favourite.

I had a wee sort out on top of the piano, and put a pile of books that I look at regularly up there. I guess they will get airborne if we have a decent quake, but shouldn't make it as far as Jasper's nest. Sigh. We had another good shake not long ago. It was a 4.4 on the Richter scale, and located not far from here. Creepy as it went on for quite a while.

I hope you all have a lovely week. XXX

Little Treasures

Tonight when we go to sleep I guess we will think back to a year ago when we went to bed and were shockingly awoken in the early hours of the morning by a severe earthquake. It was the first of literally thousands of earthquakes we have experienced over the past year. Our house suffered very minor damage and I lost a few treasures, but our city will never be the same again. Even worse, in February many families lost loved ones when our city centre was destroyed. We have learnt a lot about earthquakes and the aftershocks and damage that comes with them. Sadly our sense of security in the world has been eroded. We now look with suspicion at brick buildings, shop awnings and tall structures. Rumbles of any kind - truck, bus, weather and earth related - cause us to go on alert. On the other hand, we ride out most small to moderate earthquakes with good humor and little reaction. I feel like a stronger, more resilient person as a result of the experiences of the past year. But if it had never happened, I'd be immensely grateful.

This morning I was a "writer" for a dressage judge at the Canterbury schools teams eventing competition. I was invited by Emily Butcher's mum Viv to write for her so that I could learn about what dressage judges are looking for. She is an awesome teacher and I learnt so much, both about judging, and about the finer points of riding dressage. Mr Sam and I have an appointment tomorrow and I'll have to put some of what I've learnt into practice. Well, I could try.

When I got home I was delighted to find a little parcel with the charm pack I bought on Trade Me. As you can see it is Scarborough Fair by Robyn Pandolph.

The squares are 5 inches and I think there are 35, all different. They are so yummy I have to show you several views.

Pretty pinks and blues.

Soft oatmeal and green.

And soft mauve.

I know it is a bit predictable, but I'm just going to enjoy them as they are, in squares, popped together as carefully as I can to make a little wall display quilt. I noticed that Cottonfields has some divine new Robyn Pandolph floral fabrics in, and I'm sure one will make a very pretty binding. Or maybe spots. Mmmmm delicious!

Meanwhile, I've been working on another top secret Christmas present.

Since I can't show you that I thought you'd like to see a few treasures from my early spring garden. The anemones have been in flower since autumn. Snow, rain and hail, they bloom on.

This one has the most velvety red petals. Actually I think it looks rather surprised.

I had to include my hand with this hellebore. They are such shy, retiring flowers, but so, so beautiful. The Crafty Neighbour thinks I'm very naughty taking the opportunity to gather tiny hellebore seedlings from all sorts of places. I regard it as rather enterprising myself.

It is now officially daffodil season at Chez Poppy Black. I thought I'd show you some of my littlest treasures.

These are all dear wee characters that I now have in clumps all over the garden, thanks to my darling mummy. There are lots of very plump and promising buds everywhere, both full sized and miniature. So exciting.

Well, I planted carrots, radishes and lettuces today. The greenhouse will be ready for some serious action shortly. Tomorrow, I hope.

Efficiency

Don't you love it when you have a fun day and achieve lots? I certainly do. This weekend has been fabulous. I've managed to do some tidying up, gardening, quilting, baking, 'cello practise, socialising, horse riding, reading and blogging. What could be better?

We love little birdies visiting our garden (except when they poo on the washing). I felt awful about Jasper's indiscretion recently with the bird he caught/found. We decided that we would do our bit to help the local birds after the snowy weather, so we got a big, fat, seedy bird feeder from the supermarket. We're onto the second one in a week. Waxeyes are the main visitors to the nectarine tree feeding station. We see sparrows, various finches and starlings (or possibly blackbirds-they're speedy and shy). Mrs CT assures me that she makes her own bird feeders that cost less than the very economical $2.95 we pay, so that may be a project coming up. I've designed a bird feeding platform for Johnny to make too.

I was reading on the couch, spying on the birds and having a cup of tea when I took this photo of the gorgeous gerbera on the coffee table. So pretty. I decided that we needed a touch more colour (you can never have too much), and until the garden is filled with flowers again, potted plants would be perfect. I'm wondering how long I can keep this alive for, as my record has been less than exemplary with indoor plants, but so far, so good. I've got some polyanthus on the dining table too.

I'm very pleased that our entrance hall is so spacious because it is perfect for laying out and pinning my quilts. I tape the backing fabric flat onto the floor with masking tape, then lay the batting and top on. Then I pin with quilters safety pins every few inches. It takes a while, but I do like to see the lovely smooth pinned quilt all ready for machine quilting. I'm going to challenge myself with a loopy stitch all over the surface of this quilt, which I decided is called "Forty Wishes" because I'm giving it to myself for my birthday.

Yay- I used my greenhouse for the first time today! Well actually I just popped my gardening tool bucket in there when I finished a huge weeding effort along the back fence. The big yellow buckets are mineral horse feed buckets. They are going to house the best tomatoes in the land.

This was the view from inside my new greenhouse before my gardening onslaught. We are going to redesign the vegetable beds around the greenhouse. It is a shambles around there at the moment.

I'm off to ice the banana cake I made for lunches, then I need to practise my 'cello some more for my lesson tomorrow. I hope I'll get a chance to write again during the week. XXX

Giddy-up!

Today has been beautiful! It is our wedding anniversary and I feel very lucky to have spent lots of time with my bestest friend Johnny. We've changed so much over the 17 years we've been married. It hasn't been easy for Johnny being married to me as I battled and struggled with my anxiety disorder issues for so long. Being well at long last makes me realise just how unwell I was and what a half life it was. Nevertheless, we managed to create this amazing life together. We're both plumper. One of us is balder, and the other has developed a rare skin condition resulting in blotchy red cheeks. But we love each other dearly no matter what.

Today Johnny spent some time in the back garden, and mowed the lawn. I had a little bit of time outside and discovered that Mr. Jasper is also a keen gardener. He not only enjoys digging holes in the garlic patch and fertilizing the wee garlic cloves that are trying so hard to sprout, but he likes to supervise when I'm working too. So I had two loyal companions assisting me today. Miss Dog is a keen assistant too. I bought some lettuce plants to grow in my greenhouse. I discovered that the lettuce seeds planted in a raised bed pre-snow have come up - I'm very impressed with their determination. We saw tomato plants but decided to resist for a little longer.

I had a very successful riding lesson today. Mr Sam was a delight and a character. He is looking better and I had lots of fun grooming the long winter hair from his coat, and smoothing his beautiful silky summer coat. I love the way he seems to smile when he looks at me. I have never seen him with his ears back in a nasty way. I worked hard on my canter today. It was hard work because Sam decided to try throwing his head around then pulling it down when cantering so that he could transition back to trot when he wanted to. Lazy boy. I stuck with it and worked on being the boss. We managed to end with a lovely controlled transition from canter to trot to walk when I wanted to (not Mr Bossy Britches). I was really pleased because I got Sam to happily go into the wash bay area for his hose down. Celine warned me that he didn't like the new wash bay at all, but I took it very gently and he went in and stood for me twice. I wondered if the clip clop of his hooves on the concrete reminded him of his days as a race horse. When Celine does jobs and I get Sam to myself I just love quietly pottering with him. I am totally in love with him.

Tomorrow I'll get the camera out. I can't believe it is two weeks since my birthday. Time is racing by.

Disaster? ... No!

On Sunday I decided that Mr Ginger Jasper needed a lovely quilt all of his own. I wanted to create a very vintage looking creation, but didn't have the right things in the mini-stash. I'm all inspired by the amazing Hen at Henhouse (check out her divine blog in the sidebar). I LOVE the things she creates and does. Vintage all the way! Being the experimental creature that I tend to be, I decided that a selection of gingery fabrics might work, given a lack of other options. Mmmm, sounds foul to me too. I despise ochre and pooey brown colours. Yuck Yuck Yuck. However Kaffe and Phillip Jacobs seem to like them, and I did get them from a samples bin in the hope of finding a use for them.

I have to say I did have fun using the stack and slash method (known as hack and slash around here as my rotary cutter was as blunt as a butter knife). I loved all of the mixing and joining, seeing what would emerge with each cut. Unfortunately I hated the result. Poo and pink. Emerald and ochre. Orange and brown. Blerk. I decided that MY delicious pussycat would hate it as much as me. Fortunately I decided just to whip it together with a thick layer of batting (no fancy quilting) and I popped it under the table to see what would happen. I couldn't face the idea of folding it up after all of that work.

He found it within minutes. Mmmmm. Luxury. He's still there, fast asleep.

Now I can't wait to make him a pretty one to relax on when he supervises in my workroom.

Sun at last!

A few treats to show you today! I headed outside with the Happy Holidays quilt for a wee photo shoot. At this time of year the background is a bit rough, but the sun shone on the glorious colours of the quilt. The fabrics are all Kaffe Fassett or Phillip Jacobs apart from the cerise striped sashing and binding.

I found this big piece of fabric in the bargain bin at Stitch to use for the back of the quilt. It is lovely having a bright reverse.

I love the Big Blooms design and would like to lay my hands on some more. The pansy with the pink and blue back ground is one small piece of Big Blooms.

Look - the gold lace primulas stand out. This quilt has so much to look at.

The outer sashing is a bright orange vase design. I haven't used orange before because it reminds me of foul orange, brown and yellow combos of the 70's. This fabric is a whole different thing altogether.

Take a look at this! My new "going out" purse. Many years of use and inspiration in one fabulous creation. The flowers are felt and are embroidered onto the bag. The bag has leather handles and a gorgeous ditsy floral cotton inside. Very yummy! Thanks to my darling sister and her family.XXX. Can you see my current favourite pink jersey too? Raspberry and pink are currently interesting me very much.

Look- my very own Red Band gumboots! Thanks to Mrs CT. and family for these fabulous gummies. My old gumboots were driving me mad because they were losing structural integrity. Red Bands are the BEST farm gumboots in New Zealand. I like the shorter boot because I usually wear 3/4 length jeans and skirts at the weekend and like to just slip my feet into my gummies without messing around tucking trousers in or getting my skirt hooked up on the top of the boot. I can have my hands fully laden and still get my boots on in a flash.

Calendulas are beginning to appear in the herb garden. I scattered seeds that I collected.

This dear wee treasure fought its way through the snow to bloom. This is one of Mum's seedlings. Such a sweetie.

Grape hyacinths make me very happy indeed. They remind me of childhood because we always had them around in spring. I love their glorious blue. I bought masses of these from my old garden and have lots of lovely clumps of them.

My hero! Johnny, with me as his intrepid assistant, worked on putting together my greenhouse. As yet unnamed, and rather drafty at this stage, my greenhouse is a glorious structure, full of possibilities. I even mentioned the possibility of installing a couch, wee stove and a table, but Johnny said the instructions expressly forbid living in the greenhouse (in rather amusing and dodgy English).

The greenhouse really does look like it belongs in my vege patch. Some serious consideration will now go into reconfiguring my vegetable empire to make it all very functional and also aesthetically thrilling. More to come, I'm sure. Crossing fingers for fine weather tomorrow because we will be glazing the greenhouse if we can work outside. XXX.

Ps. My dressage competition has been postponed. No riding this weekend because Sam needs a rest after being stuck outside in snow for days. Poor darling boy. At least he had his "dressing gown" on under his waterproof cover, to help to keep him warm.

Sniffles and snuffles

We've had revolting weather this week. I rather liked the snow, but then it was rained away. It was pretty deep in the back yard.

I was at home sick again, feeling hot and clammy this morning, then all snuffly this afternoon. The weather was very grey, with intermittent rain. Yuck. I'm desperate for a bit of sunshine. All I wanted to do was work on my workroom. I made a list of possible Christmas present ideas earlier this week, and made a start today. I can't show you the finished article, or even tell you what it is going to be, but a few photos will show you the patching and quilting.

I started by making strips out of various bits and pieces from my little stash. I actually do have a very small stash of fabrics, which is a nuisance when I get inspired and have nothing that goes together.

With lots of cutting, sewing and ironing I created this. Working with bigger pieces is actually much less time consuming and fiddly than working with these wee ones. The wonky effect is quite typical of how I always operate- very shabby chic!

I had to do a bit of fiddling around to find the right bits to make quilted panels. I needed to join some bits of batting, plus I used some positively prehistoric calico to back the quilt sandwich. Someone else decided to do a bit of fiddling around of his own.

For some reason my creation was like catnip to Mr. Jasper.

One last rub before I went to give him a tickle and he sunk his teeth into my cardigan and jersey clad forearm, whilst raking me vigorously with his back paddy-paws. He then tore off through the house. No damage done, and he returned shortly afterwards, trying to pretend he was actually a very dignified gentleman.

I decided to practise the "loopy" machine quilting design, which I found surprisingly easy.

Of course I can't show you the finished article since it is a Christmas present, but it looks fabulous. I discovered that little squares (well, let's be honest, they are rectangles), take a lot of work. I've decided to try to learn a new skill, or to practise a tricky one, each time I create a new project. Apart from "loopy" quilting, I did my first lot of chain piecing, which was fun and quick.

I'm still sniffling and snuffling like mad but the weather forecast is good, so I might get some fresh air tomorrow. I want to show off the Happy Holidays quilt off in the sunshine, so hopefully I'll get a chance to take some photos of it tomorrow, now that it is complete. And you are in for a treat when I show you my delectable new bag! XXX