Blog Keeping and Eco Stuff

I call this post blog keeping, you know like house keeping! Showing something, thank someone, announcing some events, sharing awards and most important, is keeping blogging environmental friendly.

I'm revisiting this eco dyed silk and linen blouse I blogged about here. I dyed it with purple hibiscus flowers and appliqué it with motives from a silk scarf. 

I finally finished it. The stitching gives a nice texture to the appliqué pieces. I then wove over it with cotton fabric and put more stitching all over it. I really like how it turns out and can't wait to wear it.

A closed up photos of the stitches. 

On my walk I came across this sculpture created by our students on greening up our act. The yellow sign says refill not landfill . Not too long ago I read somewhere that reused water bottles are poisonous! I wonder if the information came from the bottle water suppliers to make you buy more water instead of refilling it? Has anyone heard anything differently?

My birthday celebration continues. At the weekend my friend Jacky who had just returned from Switzerland gave me this gorgeous candle holder and some tea light candles. Thanks Jacky, I love them and enjoy lighting candles when I'm home stitching.

Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival will be on from Oct. 29th - Nov. 5th. This is the 4th BQF organizes by Amy of Amyscreativeside. I took part in the last three BQF and I am looking forward to this one too. I have met many bloggers through the BQF and saw many wonderful quilts at the Festival. I hope you will join in  and show your quilts too. 

 

A couple of weeks ago I was given The Versatile Blogger Award by Wendy of Ivory Spring and I am supposed to pass it on to a few people that are versatile with their blogging. Here are some versatile bloggers:

1. Dzintra who is a stitcher, an accomplished cook and recently an actor too. 

2. Deanna  who is a quilter, fibre artist, bobbin lace making, tatting and eco dyer. 

3. Bev who is environmentally friendly and creative with crochet, quilting and dress making.

4. Janet is a perfectionist. Janet inspires me with everything she does. When you visit her blog you will agree with me. 

5. Sue my talented friend. A great quilter and a whiz on computer and technology stuff best of all she is about to publish her first quilting book. 

6. Astrid a friend who lives over in Mauritius. She is a prolific quilter, hiker and a gardener. 

7. Lis my friend who has the same passion about everything Japanese like myself. 

Make sure to visit them and enjoy their blogs. They are supposed to tell us something that we don't already know about them. It should be interesting reading...! 

Christmas in July and some Blog Keeping

First of all thanks so much for the overwhelming wishes for our 37th Anniversary. Both Mr Notjustnat and I really appreciated your kind words. Christmas in July is truly Australian because it was so cold outside here in July in comparison to Christmas in December. This is only the second meeting of our sewing basket group, and only Lynda and I were available that day. We had a great day catching up, stitching a little, but mainly eating and talking! We exchanged little Christmas gifts too. 

Look what Lynda made for me! A bath towel with a personalised monogram in an Asian font. Lynda de-constructed her kimono and used the fabric to applique the fonts. Apart from the towel Lynda gave me a whole sleeve from the kimono as well. I'm so lucky to have a friend like you Lynda. I love it thank you!

 

Lynda was working on her hexagon quilt and I was putting the binding on my Christmas quilt that should be finished by Christmas in December haha! 

Country Winter Soup that I want to share the recipe with you. It's one of my favorite soup recipes for winter days:

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

3 carrots, cut into large chunks

200g/7oz turnips, cut into large chunks

175g/6oz swede, cut into large chunks

400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

1tsp dried mixed herbs

1tsp dried oregano

50g/2oz dried peppers, washed  and thinly sliced (optional).

1.5 liters/6 cups vegetable stock

50g/2oz small macaroni

400g/14oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

2 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

salt and freshly ground black pepper

freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve.

1 - Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook over low heat for about 5 mins. until softened. Add the fresh vegetable, canned tomatoes, tomato puree, dried herbs and dried peppers, if using. Stir in salt and pepper to taste. 

2 - Pour in the stock  and bring to the boil. Sire well cover, lower the heat and simmer for 45 mins or until vegetable cooked and soften, stirring occasionally. 

3 - Add the pasta and bring to the boil, stirring. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the pasta is only just al dente; about 5 mins

4 - Stir in the beans. Heat through for 2-3 mins, then remove from the heat and sitr in the parsley. Taste that soup for seasoning. Serve hot with grated Parmesan cheese.  

We served it with Mr Notjustnat's homemade bread. It was delicious!

In the last few months I have been racking my brain on how to moon dye fabric. I have seen many people using them in Jude's online workshop. I can easily buy them from the Shiborigirl, but I know how to dye and have more than enough dye powder to use up. The original moon dyed fabrics use indigo dye and I now have a kit ready to be use, that is another story to be told later. In my last visit to Reverse Art Truck I found the plastic disks that are perfect for the dyeing process and today was a the day for me to try this. I'm so excited at how they turned out. Let's just say, I'm over the moon with the results! The above moon pieces were dyed using Procion dye powder in indigo colour. 

I'm taking another online workshop 'Patchwork Beasts' with Spiritcloth. The class started on July 15. When I signed up for this class I knew what I wanted to make. I wanted to make an alphabet quilt for my DGC so I started piecing the alphabets using Tanya's instruction. I did some of this piecing last year so that part was easy. In this workshop I want to make the beasts to go with the alphabet. My first one is cat for 'C'.

These are some of the felt cakes made in Kit's workshop at Etsy in New York. Kit is now back in Sydney and she posted the PDF pattern for them on her blog. You can also  see some photos of the craft scene in the big Apple!

Blog Keeping and Terry Visit

I had a visit from my friend Terry of Terry's New Thread last weekend. Terry and I met in NSW when I first returned from living in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Since then we moved again to where we are today in Melbourne. We kept in touch all this time. We had a lot to catch up on this weekend. I showed her around my city and we sat and stitched in the evening. I showed Terry how to piece Wool Crazy foundation block. We were both collecting woolen fabrics a few years back. Terry is new to blogging so I sat with her and gave her a few tips on blogging.

We went to Camberwell Sunday Market. It is a bric-a-brac market that has been in operation for over 100 years. You can find things from fresh cut flowers to collectible items, pre-loved clothing, fabrics etc. It's a great place to take visitors and keep them entertained for half a day. There is a great Italian style breakfast restaurant that we normally stop for breakfast before we start our stroll through the market.

Terry was checking a checked shirt to see if it was a 100% wool. We found a few pieces of woolen fabric for our wool crazy quilt.

In the afternoon we set out on the deck for high-tea with homemade scones, raspberries and cream. It was nice to enjoy a cup of tea after a tiring morning.

I received the Sunshine award from my dearest friend Ria. I was so thrilled to receive the award. Ria told me that I bring sunshine to her days! You are such a sweet friend Ria, thanks so much for thinking of me.

I am supposed to pass this award on to 7 people, which is very hard for me to do. All of you bring sunshine to my days so in order to thank you all for being my blog supporters I would like to give this sunshine award to each and everyone of my readers and wish that your days are filled with sunshine.

As part of my blog keeping, I would like to introduce you to a new blog Sideroad Stitcher from Canada. Diane left a comment on my blog and when I went to visit her I found that she was a new blogger. I hope you will pay her a visit and welcome her to this wonderful blogland.