Flowers of the Fairest and Blossoms the Rarest!

Say a little prayer or aspiration for the people of Nepal.  Their lives and their world has been shattered, so badly, we cannot even comprehend.  These beautiful people need our help, but also our prayers.  May God help them.

I lit a candle on my little May Alter to say a prayer for those in need. It can do no harm. 

Happy New Year

Silver and Gold

Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.
New-made friendships, like new wine,
Age will mellow and refine.
Friendships that have stood the test-
Time and change-are surely best;
Brow may wrinkle, hair grow gray;
Friendship never knows decay.
For 'mid old friends, tried and true,
Once more we our youth renew.
But old friends, alas! may die;
New friends must their place supply.
Cherish friendship in your breast-
New is good, but old is best;
Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.

What is real endures;
   it is as true of friendship as of other kinds of love.

Judy Garland - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Festive Season

Life flows on here as Advent, the beginning of the new church calendar and the festive season arrive upon us once more.

It has been ages since I have blogged anything. With a lot of projects still to finish and gift making in full swing, as well as minding my new granddaughter two days a week, I haven't had the time to consider what to write. Today, as I finish putting up the Christmas decorations and prepare to write my Christmas cards, a tradition I love, and one I sincerely hope will never die out, I feel inclined to write down how fortunate and blessed I and my family are.  Thank God for all the love and good fortune we have in our lives.

Below are some items I made for a few nieces' and nephews' children.

Handmade Santa envelopes with personalised Christmas cards.

Personalised Christmas cards for my nieces in Canada

Front of Santa envelope - finished

Back of Santa envelope

Outside of the Santa envelope completed, just to add the interfacing and lining. 

Work in progress - Christmas envelopes

Hugs and Kisses

Here is the Hugs and Kisses lap quilt made from two Tilda charm packs.  It's pretty and so easy and quick to make. A joy to put together.

First border on the Hugs and Kisses quilt

16 blocks sewn together.

Adding the white corners to the 5" squares

 Use co-ordinated charm pack fabrics.

I used 64 5” squares and 128 2½" white squares.

• Chain piece each 5” square with the first corner.

• Cut apart and add the 2^nd corner.

• 4 squares make up one block.

• My first border is 2" which gave me 1½” border

• My second border will be 3½ giving me a 3" border (the width of the coloured material), with matching binding.

Blackberry Jam

Four jars of delicious wild Blackberry Jam

Bubbling blackberries

Blackberries in abundance ready for picking.

Seamus Heaney's poem Blackberry Picking says it all:
"Late August, given heavy rain and sun 

For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. 

At first, just one, a glossy purple clot 

Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. 

You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet 

Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it 

Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for 

Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger 

Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots 

Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots. 

Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills 

We trekked and picked until the cans were full".

On this beautiful Indian Summer day, I set off to forage and pick wild blackberries in County Wicklow, to make blackberry jam. I know from foraging expeditions over the years where to find these hidden treasures in abundance. The world is certainly an abundant place if one looks hard enough. 

Beautiful ripe blackberries
from the recent sunshine and the rain.

Lovely blackberries picked from the hedgerows.

Hexagons

Machine sewn hexagons went together very accurately and look very neat. I prefer the look of the whole hexagons over the strips of half hexagons.

Half hexagons sewn together.

Machine sewn hexagons, quick and matched better than by hand.

The top Hexies are halves and sewn in strips while the ones underneath
are whole and will be sewn together on the sewing machine.

I bought a lovely charm pack and two of the colours called to be separated from the pack and urged me to use them immediately.  They are a beautiful shade of green and mauve. I searched in my fabric collection to find similar shades and was lucky to have a few very nice fat quarters.  I have made English paper piecing hexagons before, this time I decided to try a quicker method.  I started cutting out the hexagon shapes and before long had a nice selection for two projects, maybe a cushion and a teacosy.