Napkin ring tutorial

We like to use cloth napkins and napkin rings at our place.

The ones we were using were beginning to look a bit tired and I had it in mind to make some new ones.

They happened this week.

The napkins are easily achievable with a a few small pieces of fabric, some braid, if you wish, and a scrap of batting.

You will need:-

2 pieces of fabric 6 inches x 3 inches
2 pieces of braid each 6 inches long
1 piece of batting - I find cotton batting works best for this project - 5 7/8 inches by 2 7/8 inches
1 piece of matching fabric 2 1/2 inches by 2 inches

Take one of the larger pieces of fabric and mark across the length two times at one inch spacing.

You can use a permanent marker as this will be hidden.

The braid can be pinned along the line if you wish but I found that putting a strip of stick glue along the reverse side of each strip was effective for me.

Place the braid along the marked lines and top stitch either in a matching or contrasting thread.

I knew I was going to stitch the rest of the napkin ring with a variegated thread so I used that for the braid as well.

The smaller piece of fabric (2 1/2 x 2 inches) is needed as a tab to assist with joining the napkin together.

Fold it in half lengthwise and stitch at each end.  1/4 inch seam allowance - lock seams at beginning and end.

Turn out the tab to the right side and press.

Time to layer up all the pieces.

Place the braided piece on top of the batting, right side up.

Place the tab at one end of braided piece raw edge to raw edge.

Lay the last piece on top right side down.

Sew right around through all layers leaving a 2 to 2 1/2 inch gap.

Clip corners and turn to the right side.

Once turned out press.

For texture and firmness I stitched across the length at 1/4 intervals with variegated thread.

Fold and make a ring shape and pin together using the tab to secure.

Hand stitch from the edge of the napkin ring, around the tab and then  to the other end of ring.

After stitching tab in place, turn out and slip stitch along the right side seam line.

Secure thread and your napkin is ready to use.

We have these napkin rings in daily use. You may like to make them for yourself, other members of your family or to give as gifts to friends.

A Special Request - completed.

On the 11th October I wrote about the small beginnings for my quilting challenge.

With the addition of some scrappy 'I Spy' blocks in bright colours the small stars exploded into a large half star.

Children of the world fabric made a surrounding border for the half star.

Not quite finished - the other half of the star needed to be made.

This was the result.

My son had requested two individual quilts that somehow connected together for when the babies involved might be together.

It is my hope that the inclusion of bright and cheery scrappy fabrics together with the conversational 'children of the world' fabric will add interesting elements for the children and their families.

Linda's machine quilting added an extra special touch to this special request.

Time to stop going round and round

Sometimes when I finish making a quilt top I like to look back on my blog to see when I started.

That can be a bit of surprise as it was in this case - I made the first block in May of this year.

Then I took time out to make a baby quilt using the same block pattern.

I like the way you can make the large quilt or by putting a frame around a singular block you can make it into a cot or lap quilt.

I am fascinated by the concept of this block, the way the stars go round in circles.

Very aptly named Round and Round - you can buy the pattern here.

So pleased I finally finished the large top and it will be even nicer to share with you the quilted top, one day.

Lots of 'spaces' here to let Linda loose with her quilter's creativity.

Much to be thankful for

Yesterday afternoon, as I walked to the bottom end of our property to let the hens out for a run, I just had to stop and take in the view.

It was a beautiful spring day, the weather is beginning to warm but it was not too hot.

Lots of fresh blossoms around bringing a smattering of colour to our surroundings.

The peacefulness of the rich blue of the Waikato River, Lake Taupo in the distance on the left and the snow capped mountains on the far right.

When we moved here nearly five years ago, there was four of us and three cats.  Linda and I have since had to say goodbye to two of our much loved family members, Mum and Glynn and everyone's friend, Linda's cat, Kaiser. In spite of the 'cycle of life' playing a big part in our lives, we still have much to be thankful for in what we are able to do, for our family that remains, for our circle of friends and for our wonderful, peaceful surroundings.

What in the world?

Yes, what in the world is going on here?

I had a special request to make two baby quilts.

Between the four parents there's four different nationalities so I was asked to incorporate something that alluded to this in the quilts.


I managed to find a fabric with an overall design representing children from all around the world in national costume.

With a little bit of fussy cutting it has been fun to watch these stars come to fruition surrounded by little children.

Still a work in progress, there is more to report on this before I am done.

Small scrappy projects

I do love playing with fabric scraps so when Linda needed to stock up on her supply of business card holders I was only too pleased to take up the challenge.

It makes a nice change from making larger quilt tops.

I am enjoying the opportunity to mix and match scrappy strips in our fabric stash to make bright and cheery card holders.

If you are interested in creating some of these yourself the following tutorial will give you the guidelines:-

http://materialgirlquilts.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/business-card-holder-tutorial/

The link says to use interfacing but I have left that step out.

A close up so you can see how the holders look inside and out.

It is nice to take the opportunity to use variegated thread for the top stitching.

If you or your friends have a favourite coffee shop you may like to make some as loyalty card holders with appropriately themed fabric.

Crazy quilting delights

Yesterday Linda and I shared on our blogs about a visit from a group of ladies from Tokoroa.

I said there would be some more regarding crazy quilting and here it is.

One of the group, Rayna, excels in crazy quilting and this is just a little of what she has created along the way.

Isn't this framed purse just delightful?

What we did not know until Wednesday is that Rayna is an accomplished bear maker and has taught, made and sold teddy bears overseas.

One of the items she brought was a crazy quilt memory book she had made of the teddy bears.

So inspirational to be able to have and hold these beautiful items at our place.

Thank you ladies for giving us such a lovely day.

A delightful visit

Have you ever thought it might be fun to try your hand at dyeing lace, or ribbon or motifs?

Yesterday we had a delightful visit from a group of ladies we know who live in Tokoroa.

They meet at home and share all sorts of craft activities together but more especially patchwork and quilting.

They have been to visit before to share our common interest in crazy quilting.

Part of our shared interest is dyeing bits and pieces and so I asked them if they would be interested in participating in this with me when they came to visit.

Some of them had already done this sort of thing but we did have one lady who hadn't so this was of real interest to her.

These Ozecraft dyes are fun and easy to use.

If you have reason to be in Taupo and would like a demonstration you would be most welcome - individuals or groups up to six people.

We are happy to provide morning or afternoon tea.

You can contact me at peggy.crazyquilter@gmail.com for further information.

The ladies had some lovely show and tell.  If you like to head on over to Linda's blog she is sharing some of their quilted show and tell and tomorrow I will share some of the crazy quilting show and tell.

The little things in life............

Yesterday Linda and I had a very pleasant day out.

In the morning we went to a regional quilters' gathering in Rotorua followed by lunch and a browse in some shops in the downtown area.

One of the shops just happened to be an op shop (thrift store) where I spied these lovely little doilies featuring crinoline ladies.

Not that we really need to add to our doily collection but these were far too nice to leave behind. The ribbon bows have been done in the tiniest satin stitch and the crocheted border is in pristine condition.

Just a little thing in life but something just a bit special to have at our place.

Something a bit different in our lives

In January of this year Linda and I made a decision to change the way we eat.

Encouraged by our brother we read It Starts With Food and decided to follow their concepts, based on the Paleo lifestyle, for 30 days.

The main changes for us was giving up sugar and all wheat products.

We haven't looked back.  We feel heaps better, sleep better, more alert and, as a bonus, we have both lost weight.

The only wheat based food we have now is a home made pizza once a month that Linda makes for us.
I was most surprised that the transition has gone so well.  Always been a bread lover but was aware it was causing digestive issues which have now disappeared completely.

Recently I found a recipe for bread that is wheat free and works for me.  If you would like to try a break from wheat but still want a 'bread' in you life you may like to give this a go:-

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.

Grease or line a loaf tin with baking paper.

Place the following dry ingredients in a mixing bowl:-

75gm psyllium husks
40gm flax seed
75gm rice flour
2tspn baking powder
1tspn baking soda
1tspn salt

In another mixing bowl add:-

75gm melted butter
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs

Mix wet ingredients and add to the dry, mix well and place in baking tin.

You may like to sprinkle on top of the loaf a mix of 20gm sunflower seeds and 20gm pumpkin seeds.

Bake in preheated oven for 55mins.

Cool and enjoy eating.

Bread stores well in pantry for at least 5 days.

NB.  You can mix the sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds into the batter if you prefer but the baking soda may turn the seeds green (as I found) so I now put them on top instead.

Time for an inspection

Sometimes when our friend, Debbie, comes to visit she brings her grandson, Rex.

If they come in the morning, egg inspection is required.  He loves to collect the eggs for us, and if there is a surplus, sometimes he gets to take home a few eggs for his dinner.

On this occasion it was the afternoon.

No eggs to be collected but the hens needed to be let out for their afternoon run.

Rex was happy to let them loose. He also inspected for eggs, just in case, and then decided the coop was worthy of closer inspection.

I was advised it was a bit 'smelly'

Inspection over and time for contemplation - maybe a chicken keeper in the making at some future date...........

Is it just cat scanning or a love affair with new quilts?

Linda wrote recently about the very special quilt her internet friends were kind enough to make as a surprise gift.

Linda laid it out on the floor for us to have a good look at it and it was not long before CiCi was found having a lovely time introducing herself to the latest acquisition.

I am tempted to say she is 'cat scanning' but our Sweet Pea, friend Rochelle shared the following story about 'cat scanning' so now I am wondering whether cats and quilts are really just 'miniature' love affairs:-

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As 
she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his 
stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest. 

After a moment or two, the vet 
shook his head and sadly said, "I'm sorry, your duck, Cuddles,
has passed away."

The distressed woman wailed,
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead," replied
the vet..

"How can you be so sure?" she
protested. "I mean you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or
something."

The vet rolled his eyes, turned
around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later
with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck's owner looked on
in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his
front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from
top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and
shook his head.

The vet patted the dog on the
head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he
returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also
delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat
back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and
strolled out of the room.

The vet looked at the
woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is most
definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck."

The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and
produced a bill, which he handed to the woman..

The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$150!" she
cried, "$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!"

The vet shrugged, "I'm sorry. If you had just taken my word for it,
the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the
Cat Scan, it's now $150."

http://FowlFanatics.com/

Worth closer inspection

Thank you to everyone who left lovely comments about this quilt top and its location.

I thought the pot in the foreground was worth closer inspection.

These polyanthus have done extremely well during the winter months by fronting up to all sorts of weather conditions.

Linda has been faithfully tending to them and they have responded well to her care.

Camelias

The camelias at our place range from the softest pink to the deepest of reds.

One tree, tucked away amongst the others, has cream coloured camelias.

They are lovely to look at but it is very hard to find one to pick that hasn't got brown spotting on it already.

Today I managed to pick two, but there's already signs of brown happening.

Nice to have in the house, even if it is just for a day or two.

What's that happening at our front door?

Today I was trying to get together a nice photo of my latest quilt top and put it up on the wall just outside our front door for a photo shoot.

I wasn't entirely happy with the photos I had been taking and so walked away to check out letter box. As I walked back decided I liked the quilt from this viewpoint.

You may remember this was my 'nice bit of fun' from the 16th August.  Linda also showed images of it on her blog yesterday.

My 'nice bit of fun' has now become a completed quilt top.  Very bright and fresh and yet there was a time when I would never have worked with white.

Not possible for cat scans on this occasion but CiCi did feel the need to check things out.

Love those button jars

We have a rather large assortment of buttons at our place.

The extra large cookie jar was an op shop find and it has proved to be an ideal container for our collection which has accumulated over a number of years.

For the most part the jar sits on a shelf in our quilting studio but every now and then we find someone has a need for buttons and so out it comes.

Always a lot of fun to go through and share, lots of memories stored in these buttons.

Two of our Sweet Pea ladies, Andreena and Debbie, have been making Christmas ornaments and need buttons as a centrepiece.

The buttons were spread on a tray and they were able to sort through and take the ones they fancied.

We have given a lot of buttons away but sometimes we sell a few. Linda has some listed on Trade Me at the moment.

Although our numbers were few it was still an enjoyable morning for our group.  You can see some images of the show and tell from today on Linda's blog.

A nice op shop find

We have had hens at our place for over eighteen months and in that time have received a bounty of over 1800 eggs - not bad for three hens.

Originally we had four hens but just before Christmas one of them, Miss Penny, went to the big hen house in the sky.

The three that are left have continued to be faithful egg layers and we have been enjoying the fruit of their labours.

We have often said it would be nice to have a special bowl on the kitchen bench especially for the eggs.

It has taken a while, but last week we found this one in an op shop for NZ$3.00.

From the markings on the side and bottom I thought it would be nice to find a little more out about the bowl.

The inscription on the side, Le Petite DeJeuner, appears to translate as small kitchen bowl.

I looked up the inscription on the base of the place and Le Comptoir De Famille France have a comprehensive range of household wares.  A similar bowl to the one I bought sells for Euro 13.90 which equates to approximately NZ$22.00, so I suddenly felt quite pleased with my little NZ$3.00 purchase.

Spring is just around the corner

Late in autumn I planted daffodil bulbs below pansy plants in tubs on our patio.

The pansies did not really do that well during the winter but the daffodils are beginning to show their beautiful colour.

The mountains, with all their snow, would like to tell us that winter had not yet left us but the daffodils seem to be saying that spring is just around the corner.

Taking time out

Temperatures plummeted in the Taupo area this week and we have had a number of frosts at our place.

Our local mountains have had some of the best dumpings of snow for this winter season.

They look very impressive from our place but today we decided to take time out to get a different view.

We went to our favourite coffee store for take out coffee and then drove to a scenic lookout on the other side of town.

A totally fresh aspect, with much more of Lake Taupo in the foreground.

Great coffee, great view - so nice to take time out to enjoy what we could so easily take for granted in this lovely part of the world.

Isn't this a nice bit of fun

Take a couple of pieces of contrasting fabric - these ones are 10 inches square.

 Make 4 half square triangles from the two pieces of fabric and piece them together into an hour glass block.

Cut the hour glass block into 9 equal squares.

Turn all of the pieces around and suddenly you have a star block - now isn't that a nice bit of fun.

Here's my first four blocks pieced together - so far so good.

I plan to piece 30 blocks so I hope I still feel like it is a nice bit of fun by the time I get to the end.

Now this idea does not originate with me.

It is called the 'Disappearing Hour Glass Block' and you can see how to create this here in much more detail from the Missouri Quilt Co.:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXggafOP230

Hopefully you may be inspired to have a bit of fun too.

Precious new life

Not so long ago, Linda and I had the privilege of visiting with a newborn baby and his parents at the local hospital.

Young Jaxon is the latest grandson for our Sweet Pea lady, Debbie.

He weighed in at a very health 9lb 9oz and is doing very well.

Linda and I both got to give him a cuddle.

Lovely to see his Dad, Adam, being very hands on and changing Jaxon's clothes for him.

We took along a gift for Jaxon, a quilt panel that Linda had machine quilted and to which I attached magic binding.

Mum and Dad were very pleased to receive the quilt and have already put it in his cot in readiness for Jaxon.

Someone to watch over me

I am not sure why, but I have never been very fond of traditional angel images.

On the other hand, if I see one that is a little bit on the 'crazy' side it suddenly has great appeal for me.

Our local quilting group, Taupo Quiltmakers, recently held their quilt show and had a sales table.

I found this delightful angel and had to bring it home.

She now hangs in my bedroom - someone to watch over me.

Even better, I found out later that one of our very own Sweet Pea ladies, Margaret, had made it and donated it to the sales table.

Margaret makes some wonderful hand stitched items and so I am very pleased to call this one my own.

Going round and round

Life has been a bit topsy turvy for us around here in recent times.

However, things seem to be moving along and recently I received a lovely card and note that was very special to me.

I had been asked by my son to make a baby quilt for someone he used to play basketball with and it was to be in the team colours, black, white and orange.

There is not always the opportunity to get to see these sort of quilts being used but here is the photo of little Zoe enjoying tummy time on her quilt.

Mum and Dad were very happy to have received this gift and it was lovely to have it acknowledged in this way.