There is still a lot of colour in the flower borders, I really want to get in there and clean it up but it lovely to see all the flowers still blooming especially the ones at the front door, I planted up this border later in the season and it still looks very fresh so I guess I will leave them alone for now.

It was only a matter of time before I started using patchwork in my furnishings, I was given a wee bundle of Liberty lawn cottons in blues and teal and knew immediately I wanted to use them in my bathroom.

I made as many nine patches as I could with the Liberty fabric, then sashed them with white muslin, the curtain was still too short so I added a blue strip of fabric from my stash to the bottom and the top.

Peter fitted me up a lovely rail using some vintage brass fitting I have been collecting and a wooden pole he bought in the hardware store. I used clips fitting to attach it to the rail, I did not want to add any tape to the curtain I felt it would be too bulky if I did.

 I lined the curtain with more of the white muslin.

Poppet is growing fast, but is still a kitten at heart. I was planting some bulbs and she thought the hole was for her she dived in and played for an hour or more digging for worms.

She is growing into a beautiful cat, she is very independent but still love to cuddle and purr on Peter’s knee.

Peter went back up on to the barn roof to put covers on the vents as they were letting in a lot of rain, he did a great job, nothing on earth would get me up there!

Some ink-cap mushrooms I spotted in the grass below where Peter was sorting out the roof, they look like bells and swayed in the breeze like a bell would. No puffball mushrooms this year.

I had to dig up the parsnip bed early as Peter is moving the greenhouse to the kitchen garden, this parsnip was 37cm long!

Toots although no longer the baby of our cat family is still the baby in my eyes.

This quilt ,a design by Kellie Wulfsohn, is the quilt that made me really want to take the next step from mid – arm quilting, I spent months machine appliqueing and embroidering the flowers, leaves and stems on to the background. There was no way with the limited space on the mod – arm was going to be able to quilt around all the flowers and stems I also did not want to go back to quilting it on my domestic machine.

I did practice a lot on my new longarm a lot before I plucked up the courage to quilt this top.

I used nice bright white batting as the white background of the quilt is white muslin and a cream batting would have dulled the white, I did a swirly pattern with bright white thread and outlined the leaves. I was so nervous quilting this top and it took me a long time.

But it was worth it, I love the look of the quilt but most of all I love the feel of it, its very soft, I splashed out and used a pink Kaffe Fasset backing.

Above I was trying out different ideas for the binding, in the end I went with the green.

This post is to introduce you to my new machine quilting blog, daisyquiltsforyou

I held a quilting afternoon with some of my friends at my studio here is Djursland on Friday. We had a great afternoon, Gitte had a go on  my longarm machine and is a natural longarm quilter! Tove learned to machine quilt and Gerthe learned how to machine piece patches.

Gitte and Gerthe brought their cushion we started the last time we met, Gitte finished hers by quilting a fantastic spiders web all over it! I thought this was a great way to finish the flower cusions.

Gerthe, who has never quilted before quilted amazing straight lines between the flowers which she had top stitched beautifully.

We had English afternoon tea in the garden, tea was lovely but the weather has really turned from summer to autumn and it was quite chilly, we all had frozen hands when we went back to the studio.

I’m still getting loads of tomatoes from the greenhouse, slicing them up and freezing a lot of them in mixed bags for sauces and pizzas later. I also got a basket full of green tomatoes for chutneys, pickles and frying from the plants I grew outside.

The flower border has turned from hot pink to blazing yellows and golds.

The wood is looking lovely, I take Toots for a walk around it every morning.

The mushrooms are starting to pop up.

On Monday I’m off to the UK for a few weeks and leaving Peter to look after everything. He’s taking some holiday so should enjoy having the place to himself with just the kitties for company. He will write to blog for me while I am away (Peter promises to do this and I will be checking on him!).

I spent all day last Saturday at the biggest Danish quilt show – in Roskilde (just outside Copenhagen).  I got there early but it was already very busy, as you can see.  Bus loads of quilters came from all over Denmark and from Sweden and Germany as well.  Everyone was so friendly, enthusiastic and helpful, I had an amazing day out, just sore feet.  I met some lovely quilters and we’ve already arranged to meet up and quilt together.  Also, there was a huge range of Danish quilting suppliers and shops (it was really nice to find them) and they seem to have done great business at the show – all the stands were packed all day.  From what I hear, Sunday was as busy as Saturday and it’s certainly and event I will be going to next year, displaying my quilts and hopefully with a sales booth of my own! I have to say a huge “thank you” to Maria who took the time and trouble to show me around and introduce me to many wonderful quilters and shops.

There were many wonderful quilts on display and I got some fresh new ideas for my own quilts over the winter.  Danish quilting is certainly very different to the way I’ve been trained – much more colour, artistry, freedom and vibrancy, less focus on the traditional blocks.  An eye opener for me, to be sure.

I thought these mini quilts were lovely – so precise.

And these art quilts were really stunning.

And how about these quilts for fun?

And what about these for amazing hand piecing?

An art quilt – something fishy.

And something musical.

On the way home from a show on Sunday we got a bit lost. We stopped to check the map and noticed that

the field next to the road was awash with poppies and daisies. I could not resist a walk among them.

Sometimes it’s nice to get lost.

Little Poppet is just adorable.

She loves to cuddle.

Hobbs has taken on the job as babysitter and is always with her.

Although sometimes it’s all a bit much for him.

I’ve been very busy in the garden and painting the house so have not had much time for sewing. I had started doing Dear Jane blocks using 1930’s fabric at the same time as I started the traditional one. I only did a few of these blocks as it was difficult to get 30’s fabric in Saudi and I never got back to it. I found being so busy that doing one or two of these little blocks when I had a bit of spare time was a fun and relaxing thing to do.

I have done rows A to D, I had a couple of blocks already made for each row.

I did not notice until after I made the red block above that I had already made it, the red block is straighter but the pink block is more 30’s.

Although I found that the blocks I had previously made were all the easy ones!

I also have done a few of the top row triangles.

And found some I had already made.

I also did a few of the plain triangles when there was no time for anything else.

I found I had done two of the corner block as well.

I have never made a bed – runner before and wanted to make something for a friend.

I thought it would make a great yoga mat.

I used a pantograph to quilt it with lots of hearts.

A quick look at the flower garden.

I was given a bundle of beautiful organic cotton to make a baby quilt for Maria’s shop in Grenaa.

I decided to use up as much of the fabric as possible with very little waste so made it a reversible quilt.

The fabric was lovely to work with, so soft.

Maria asked me to do it totally freehand quilting so that anyone could do it on their domestic machine. I turned off the stitch regulator and had some fun with straight (ish) lines. It was really scary but a lot of fun to have to regulate my stitches myself. Somehow the automatic stitch regulator doesn’t work well with straight line quilting although it loves curves.

 A friend has just had a new baby boy.

I made her a simple modern quilt.

With simple straight line quilting.

Soft enough for snuggling, tough enough to use a play mat.

A friend, Tove, took me to see a beautiful Japanese garden not far from where we live. It was packed full of lovely plants, most of which were really unusual. Not surprisingly, I came away with trays of super new plants which I have already planted. As you can see in the photographs many of the plants are trimmed, even the trees over 12′ high! There are literally 1000’s of plants, with a pond and summerhouse in this garden which is no bigger than the average cottage garden.

There was a lovely church next door so had a wander round that too.

Poppet is growing up fast, she is still the cuddliest kitty I have ever come across. Hobbs puts up and even plays with her, all the rest of the gang are slowly getting used to her.

 Here are a few photos just because she is so lovely.

Today I have spent the day hand sewing the binding on three quilts. This first quilt is a demo quilt for Maria’s shop in Grenaa. I made it like a whole – clothe sampler so that my clients can get an idea of my work. It was great fun to make, there is free-motion and pantograph quilting and I would recommend it is a great way to just have some fun quilting and getting in some practice too.

I finished the queen size quilt, 144 x 8″  blocks, using Susan’s fabric, I love all the floral fabrics they remind me of eiderdown quilts we had when I was a child so I quilted it with a feather pantograph. I think that this quilt is going to look very vintage after a few washes so guess where it is going next. Isis came with me to take the photos and is sitting on a giant granite rock Peter and the farmer next door dug up last week with a big yellow digger.

Finally, a quilt top I made last year when I first came here and had only got a basic sewing machine to work with. Its a mix of hand and machine piecing and applique. I have simply quilted it on the longarm and am going to add some more embroidery and hand quilting to it in the winter when its too cold to be out side or in the studio! I love to mix it up a little, I know its against the rules.

I left a stray onion to grow and flower in the greenhouse, its about a metre tall and has a lovely fist size flower, too pretty to pull out as a weed, it attracts hoverflies so it good. I am growing black tomatoes, I am interested to see what colour they really  turn out to be and how they taste. A stray sunflower grew and I left it too, its lovely. Also growing in the greenhouse are cucumbers, courgettes, passionflowers, pumpkin’s and lots of tomatoes of different colour, shape and size.

The apple trees have lots of fruit on them again this year, last year I made so much jam, jelly and chutney using the apples as a base that we are still eating it! This year, a friend Jacob is going to lend us a cider press and I am going to have a go at making cider, that will be fun, LOL!

Sometimes the weeds are as lovely as the garden flowers.

The flowers are blooming in the new border, a lot of the other plants will not flower until next year but I am pleased with the amount of colour and scent there is already.

The kitchen garden is doing fine, I have just planted out some brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli for the winter, the grass always seems to need cutting and the black ants are back in the compost heap. There are lots of redcurrants and raspberries just about ready. The mint is still going strong, I love mint tea so there can never be too much of it.

I think I over did the calendula seeds in the herb bed outside my studio, I wanted lots as I plan to make soap with it and the chamomile. I planted up another border in front of one of the out buildings, I will be able to see it from the kitchen window.

Finally, the lavender I planted last year in front of the house is looking lovely. I am going to dry it and make soap with it too.

Our new kitten has really settled in well, and is not afraid of the other 6 cats.  In fact, they seem more afraid of her!

Zorro and Poppet the two names we have given her, but as you know, cats have to have three names, as in this poem by T.S. Elliott.

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey –
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter –
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum –
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover –
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

T S Elliot