ABOUT THE QUILTED HOME HANDBOOK Perfect for beginners and experienced quilters alike, this quilting book features simple illustrations and easy-to-follow steps that teach you how to make 15+ beautiful quilt projects for around your home, including everything from placemats to a throw pillow to a matching bed quilt and pillow shams.The Quilted Home Handbook teaches you everything you need to know about how to create stylish, modern quilts for a variety of uses around your home. Each pattern contains easy-to-follow instructions, detailed diagrams and photos, and eye-catching designs. Author Wendy Chow’s signature bold colors options and geometric shapes empower you to create quilts that will stand out and look stunning in a modern home.The Quilted Home Handbook includes:• 15+ quilt designs in various sizes and including multiple fabric color ideas• Beginner-friendly content, including everything you need to know to get started• Detailed instructions with clear diagrams and photos so you can learn quickly and easilyPatterns include:• Dining room: placemats, table runner, coasters• Living Room: throw blanket, throw pillows, floor cushion• Bedroom: baby, twin, queen, king-sized blankets, pillow shams, and eye mask Wall Hangings: Plus, instructions for how to turn many of these patterns into wall art
These bulb garden design tips will bring tons of color to your yard or patio.
Wendy is a peppy sheep villager in the Animal Crossing series. She first appeared in Animal Crossing: City Folk and has appeared in all subsequent games. She is...
Growing up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, sisters Tonne and Wendy Goodman developed a kind of superpower: an extraordinary eye for style. They got this gift in part from their elegant late mother, they say, and with a good dose of ambition, they parlayed it into influential magazine careers, Tonne in fashion and Wendy in […]
Happy Wednesday
Well, friends, I admit that gothic and horror fiction are not my expertise, but I’ve just read so many good books this year, I couldn’t resist having a go at the best of gothic! The great gothic re…
On the fourth day of Symposium I attend a foundation paper piecing class with Chris Jurd. The aim was to make one block from her gorgeous Pickled Fish quilt. Chris Jurd's Pickled Fish quilt The borders and binding were interesting too I've done foundation paper piecing before, but Chris had a slightly different method. Fortunately she was fine with us using which ever method worked for us. I made the pickles OK, but had trouble attaching the scallops at the edges - see below. I sewed my scallops on, but I knew they weren't centred properly, so I've just unpicked them this afternoon and will try again in the comfort of my own home. my block - before I unpicked the scallops and tried again Here's all of the class blocks together on the whiteboard: I do want to make this quilt, and have some beautiful fabrics set aside for it, so I will persevere and sort out my issues with sewing curves. If you'd like to buy the pattern you can get it from Chris Jurd's Etsy shop here. And finally, here's Chris's Road Trip quilt in the Tutors Exhibition. It was very original, and clever too. I loved the strong black lines, but also the colour and patterns in the other fabrics Chris used.
Find practical gardening advice, tips, and information on growing beautiful hydrangeas (Hydrangea). Here's all the information you need to know.
Welcome to Malin Head. It is not just Ireland's most northerly point, but an area of great scenic beauty and of historical, scientific and ecological importance. The circuit of the Head will take you past the Radio Station (Malin Head Marine rescue coordinating centre), built in 1910, and round the coast to Banba's Crown, the northern tip of Ireland. This is the oldest station of its type in Europe. Here a tall derelic building known locally as "The Tower" was built in 1805 by the Admiralty, and later used as a Lloyds Signal Station. During the second world war, the small huts were built and used by our defence forces to keep a lookout and protect our neutrality. It is also a perfect starting point for a ramble along the cliffs to Hell's Hole, a remarkable subterranean cavern 250 metres long and 8 metres wide, into which the tide rushes with great force. Nearby is a picturesque natural arch called the Devil's Bridge. To the north-east can be seen Inistrahull Island. Its first lighthouse was put into operation in 1813, and its light flashes 3 times every 15 seconds. Further out to the east, on a clear day you can see the Scottish Island of Coll, Jura, Islay and the Mull of Kintyre to the east and Oileán Thoraí to the West. Below Banba's Crown to the east lies Ballyhillion beach, a unique raised beach system of international scientific importance. The very distinct shorelines show quite dramatically the changing relationship between the sea and the land from the time the glaciers began to melt, some 15,000 years ago. At that time Donegal was depressed by the weight of an immense ice sheet, so the level of the sea was up to 80 feet higher than today. The beach is also noted for its semi-precious stones, such as cornelian, chalcedony, jasper, serpentine, agate, etc., all of which can be polished and set into jewellery. The route passes the current Meteorological Station the present buildings were constructed in 1955, when regular hourly weather observations commenced by Irish Meteorological Service personnel. However, the station records go back to 1885. Personnel employed by Lloyd's Insurance Company, who manned and operated a local coastal signal station, were first to prepare and transmit regular weather reports. Coastguard officers continued this work until the early twenties. From the 1920's to 1955 a local family was contracted to provide climate data and at least one weather report each day. The weather element which distinguishes Malin Head from the other stations throughout the country is wind speed. Storm force 12 winds are recorded at the station during most years. The highest measured gust to date is 99 knots, recorded on 16th September 1961 when the remnants of "Hurricane Debbie" swept up along the west coast of Ireland causing widespread damage in this part of the country. A detour to explore the Wee House of Malin will reveal that the "wee" house is in fact a cave in the hillside and is said to be the home of St. Muirdealach. Legend has it that no matter how many people entered this cave it always had room for more. Beside are the remains of an old church which according to tradition was built by St Muirdealach. Built of split stone rubble and some boulders, only the NE and S walls now survive. Simply put I call this home. Best viewed large. View On Black
"If I could go back and talk to my 17-year-old self, I would tell (her) that skin cancer is avoidable. Don't get in that tanning bed. Wear sunscreen."
I pulled out my Ballet with Kaffe quilt again on 8 January 2018. I'd neglected it for a few months due to Symposium and Christmas, but I still had all the fabrics set aside in their own box. I cut and glue basted some pieces to take on our holiday to Australia, and I've continued working on it since we got home. It's quite addictive once you get going again. I really do think that this quilt is more challenging than la passacaglia! It seems harder to work out how the stars and rosettes all fit together. I also miss having an overall diagram showing how it all works. Anyway, I'm making progress and I like where it's going. The photo below shows how I chose fabrics. My inspiration fabric is at the bottom of the photo, and I just try fabrics where they will sit until I'm happy with the combinations. There's still a long way to go with this quilt. I might even "cheat" and make my quilt smaller than the one in the book - Millefiori Quilts 2. That depends on how I feel about it once I get the top half joined up. You can read more about this quilt, and see my previous posts, on the Ballet with Kaffe tab at the top of the page.
13 july, on the blue hour
Here I am with my Vibrant Curiosities quilt at our national Quilt Symposium in Christchurch last week. And here's another photo with slightly better lighting: I started this quilt a whole year ago in October 2016 when I was looking at photos of all the fun people were having at Quilt Market in Houston. I had a bundle of Tula Pink's Slow and Steady fat quarters, and decided it was time to rip into them and start making something pretty. I do love English Paper Piecing, and Paper Pieces in USA had recently started advertising octagons and squares papers. The idea of working with octagons appealed, because I was born in Dunedin where they have a big octagon right in the middle of town! Yes, not a town square, but an octagon. So I started to play around with the shapes and thinking about what I could make from octagons and squares. All quilts in our national symposium have to be original designs. They do not accept quilts made from a pattern. Although many people enjoy fussy cutting Tula Pink's fabrics, I decided that I was more interested in letting the colours shine through. I did make sure my stripes and diamonds all matched, but I didn't fussy cut any animals of flower motifs. Interestingly Jen Kingwell said that she also thinks too much fussy cutting can detract from a quilt, rather than enhance it. After about two months of making blocks I had enough to start joining them up. A lot of thought went into balancing the colours. As usual, I had a couple of blocks left over that just didn't suit my quilt, so rather than forcing them, I just made a couple more that did suit the overall effect. I used my kitchen floor to plan the layout of my blocks. I've used Tula Pink fabrics on the outside round of each block, and sometimes in the centre too. Once the top was finished I hand quilted it with my favourite Aurifil 12wt thread. I'm so glad my quilt got accepted for symposium. It was very special to know that my quilt was one of the ones hanging in the exhibition. I could have put a price on it and offered it for sale, but I want to keep it. I just love all the rich colours - hence the name, Vibrant Curiosities. My quilt had a great position in the exhibition, just underneath a lovely stained glass window in the Great Hall at the Christchurch Arts Centre. Details: Finished size: 80" x 80" Hand quilted with Aurifil 12wt Octagons and squares have 1" sides
One of the things that are important to asparagus care is preparing the asparagus beds for autumn and cutting the asparagus back. This article provides tips on cutting back asparagus plants in the fal
Leucospermum is a coveted member of the Protea family, decorated with striking, exotic pincushion flowers. Shop our range of Leucospermum 'Pincushion' plants.
Oh how I wish these images were from a real Italian wedding.
One of my rules for Instagram is to follow as many photographers as possible, for it seems only logical to me that in a place where the image is king, photographers must be a good place to start. That and on the whole they do far fewer selfies and holiday pictures than your average user. So when I came across Tim Clinch's Instagram I was like a pig in shit. Having moved to Bulgaria, Tim documents his life through the lens, including breakfasts at the market, views from his balcony and of course,
I"m thrilled to say that my Bordered Diamonds quilt is finished and we're using it on our bed. I've decided to call it Bordered Peacocks because there are some bordered peacocks within it. My Bordered Peacocks I loved making this quilt. I took my time and enjoyed every step of the way, from fabric selection to planning the layout, to hand quilting it. Now that it's finished I'm delighted with it and I admire it each time I walk into our room! One of the Bordered Peacocks I started this quilt back in January 2012 when I first saw the Timeless Treasures Plume range in my local quilt shop. I just loved the colours in the Peacock fabric, and knew I'd like to make a quilt with it. I spent 24 hours going through the saved images on my iPad, trying to find of a pattern which would frame the peacocks and flowers. I'd always admired the Kaffe Fassett Bordered Diamonds pattern (from his Simple Shapes and Spectacular Quilts book), so I decided to use that. Bordered Peacocks close up I went back to the shop and bought some of the Peacock fabric plus a couple of other fabrics in the range. I then spent most of 2012 collecting complementary fabrics. I picked up more of the Plume range from other shops, plus some from the Timeless Treasures Shimmer range, and other fabrics that I knew would tie in well. I love these blue flowers in the Peacock fabric It wasn't until January 2013 (a whole year later) that I started to cut into the fabrics. By then I had far more fabric than I needed, but the left overs have ended up as a whole other quilt and a bag you can read about here. My matching bag made from scraps by my mum I machine pieced the top during the early part of 2013. Then I started to think about the backing fabric and decided on Eden in black by Chong-a Hwang. It's part of the Tree of Life range by Timeless Treasures, so tied in beautifully. Backing fabric is Tree of Life by Timeless Treasures By mid 2013 I had a quilt sandwich, but it was the biggest quilt I've ever made. I knew it was going to take time to hand quilt, but I never considered getting it machine quilted. I love the soft texture that hand quilting gives, so I always knew I would be hand quitling it. Hand quilting inside each diamond I quilted in the ditch around each of the 108 diamonds with black quilting thread, and quilted inside each of the diamonds with Perle 8 in either blue or gold. By the time I was about half way through the quilting, it was Spring in New Zealand so I put it aside to work on other things. Last month (July 2014 - winter in NZ) I decided that it was time to finish it and start using it on our bed. There were less than 40 diamonds left to do, so I knuckled down and quilted them in less than three weeks. Bordered Diamonds becomes Bordered Peacocks I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. I love the deep blue colours and the gold metallic accents that give it added life. I did find this quilt particularly hard to photograph -probably due to the gold metallic accents. Please forgive the photography!! The facts: The pattern is Bordered Diamonds by Kaffe Fassett from his Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts book The finished quilt measures 84" x 96" Most of the fabrics are by Timeless Treasures I"m linking up with Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts, Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation, Esther's blog., Confessions of a fabric addict and Crazy Mom Quilts
The gardens at Parham House in West Sussex consist of beautiful Pleasure Grounds with a cafe and a four-acre Walled Garden.
Color and greenery are important, these plants with fragrant flowers will please your nose.
