Oranges lemons and pineapple

ticking off the FAL Q2 list! Ok so I'm in the rural, the Scottish woman's (rural) institute, we are not allowed to use rural any more, well hey, for me it's been the rural for the past *cough* 50 odd years so the rural it remains!! Aw Right? So ma main man Evelyn, "housewife and handicrafts convneor" says to me, Budsmam we need a placemat on the theme of oranges and lemons for the Annual show, fret not says I, I'm yer woman! My creative juices started flowing and I thought pineapples!! How post modern ... Let's do oranges and lemons in a pineapple block!

I adore foundation piecing, and love the opportunity to revisit the pineapple block, thank you the Rural 😊 

And another finish for the finish along!

Verona giusti gardens

Did you ever just have a perfect day?? Just out of the blue you turn a corner and bang, there is the most beautiful place ever? That happened in Verona, we went out for a walk on our last day there and turned a corner to this ... The Guisti Gardens, seven euros each to get in, bargain! We walked and breathed and took in the views. A gorgeous beautiful day.

Giotto frescos

Envy, how amazing is this!! I adored our trip to Verona and couldn't believe it when a chum told me that I could get to Padua and see the Giotto frescos in an hour. So we duly boarded a bus and hot footed it to Padua. I studied Italian and Florentine Renaissance art with the OU many many years ago, I was pretty dreadful but I still really enjoyed it! Seeing the Fra Angelico frescos in Florence was the highlight of my visit there and I couldn't wait to see these beauties. I wasn't disappointed.   

Inconstancy ...

You get 15 mins to look around and it's a small chapel so that's loads of time right? Nope it's no time at all especially when you are looking at the stars.

I adored every minute, breathtaking right? I'll just leave you with these images.

The image on the left is despair, I don't think I have seen a more eloquent and heartbreaking evocation of despair.

She truly broke my heart I couldn't stop looking at her.

The devils stole  my heart I loved him.

  

Seahorse

   

Done! I adore this! Such fun. I blogged last year about the fab weekend we spent with the lovely Juliet, @tartankiwi. My sooper lovely chum Ruth and I decided to both make the seahorse pattern at our quilt guild annual retreat to Gartmore.

I chose Lace Mountain by Zandra Rhodes for my fabrics, Ruth had some gorgeous batiks.

I loved the pattern. Such good instructions.

Here is a Frankenstein mash up of our two quilts in progress. Ruth's head and my body!

Some more progress shots of mine.

Ruth loved the pattern so much she bought the small version too!

Adorable!

My top says hello to Ruth's baby seahorse!

Fab fun, great pattern, happy memories

Going up Doon hill

What a friendly face! It's all a bit Lord of the Rings ish 😊. I've blogged about going to Gartmore house hotel with the quilt guild, they also do really good deals for couples so me and Mr Budsmam headed up there last weekend. We wanted to go a walk before hand so we went up Doon hill 😊 Which is just outside Aberfoyle. There is a fairy shrine at the top, so pretty.

A lovely day, one to remember.

Liberty, sweet liberty

I had to go to London for a day workshop on referencing software (such is the rock n roll life of a librarian!!) i idly googled fabric shops to see if there were any near by.
Shaukhat.... OMG Shaukhat....  13 mins walk (i timed it...)  from the workshop venue.
Soooooo i went there at lunchtime, and because i had two hours before train going home i went back! I got some funny looks as i petted my haul coming home, worth it though!

FAL Q2 proposed finishes

Oh flippity flip! A week in Verona, a to day trip to London for work then major reconstructive surgery on quilt top mean that I am really pushing it for my Q2 proposed finished ...

Ok here we go, in no particular order!

I made extra blocks for the heart baby quilt so the lady who wanted it could choose what she wanted. The extra ones I made into a top for linus, needs quilted and bound.

I made a bit of progress on putting together the fussy cut blocks but still need quilted and bound.

I have had these Liberty hexies from duck egg threads for three years!! I want to make them into a mini quilt, it shall be so.

More Liberty!! This is a quilt along from honey and bunny, I have all the patterns and the fabric pull just need to DO it!

Aaarrrggghhh this has a deadline! I need to make a placemat - theme oranges and lemons, for the rural by the end of April, I'm fpp ing a pineapple thingy for it.

A roll over but I have made progress in this, this is what I had to do major reconstructive surgery on tonight ... Needs quilted and bound. A quilt for the granddaughter of a lovely lady in the rural.

Oh dear pretty little Italy has been well neglected, needs more attention, need to get a move on, roll over.

String quilt! I finally got on top of my strings and made enough for a siblings together top.

Greek crosses! I managed to get one quilt done for Q1 but I got so many blocks I have enough for another quilt top, make it so.

Ok this is getting stupid, this has been rolled over WAAAY too often, this is the quarter it gets done! These will be a sewtogether for Marshall. 

I have made 35 of the farmers wife 30s blocks, no excuse not to make the rest of them, make it sooooo!

I have a pattern for an improv mosaic, I want to make a Gaudi table runner in these batiks.

Last but certainly not least is my Dutch quilt, I hope to take this to the Cullen retreat, I have a load of Dutch prints and this fab pattern from Petra Prins, this can be done!

Oh bless this wee thing! A panel made at Muckhart needs some Suffolk puffs then made into cushion, no excuse get on with it!

Window displays Verona

I love a nice window display, my poor husband is now quite accustomed to the halting stopping and starting of our walks around new places as I stop to snap something which catches my eye. These are a selection from my recent trip to Verona, we had a day trip to Padua and also to Venice so some from there might have snuck in!