A Happy Easter

With lots of nice relaxed time over Easter I've managed to nearly complete quilting of the plus/cross quilt. Annoyingly, I've run out of thread and can't easily find more of the same, so will have to look more intently when it's not a public holiday. Might just have to stop procrastinating on the straight line quilting that's taking so long!

It's been good to practice my FMQ a bit. Getting even stitches all of the time still evades me. It's all about the ratio between the speed of the pedal and the speed at which you move the quilt. I've been trying to turn down my machine speed a little and then floor my foot and try to get a rhythm with the moving of the quilt. I tend to move the quilt a bit fast and get really long stitches too easily.

 It's also been harvest time. We gleaned some figs from a local tree (on public property, I should add), which were delicious! We've had  our eye on them for some time, waiting for the right moment and hoping no-one else got them first!

On Saturday we joined our friends to help them pick their quinces, walnuts and chestnuts and prepare quince paste, quince and walnut cake. Delicious and convivial. My photos of the collected produce are on my husband's phone though, but there are some quinces left to poach.

These were my favourite Easter eggs, praline ones with a sugar shell. Aren't they beautiful? They were just as delicious!

For Christians the custom of giving eggs at Easter celebrates new life. Christians remember that Jesus, after dying on the cross, rose from the dead. They believe that, through his resurrection, Jesus defeated death and sin and offers people the promise of eternal life

Of course Easter's not complete without Hot Cross Buns and there have been several batches of those over the weekend!

On the rise

Tea and buns with English china-how civilised!

I finished my April block for the Simply Solids Bee for Sally of Salsy Safrano Quilts. Sally sent us the fabric and my central block was pale blue. You can see more from the international bee here.

What did you get up to over Easter?

Linking up with Lily's Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet.

Holidays

I've been having a winter break with the kids over the school holidays, so it's been a while...

It's been a great time and I've enjoyed:

Having the big boy back for a break from Uni in NZ

Walking with the family in the beautiful Grampians National Park in Victoria

Spot the Kangaroo

Also on the menu has been a bit more interesting cooking without the usual time pressure, and making the most of winter warming type dishes.

A Moroccan recipe book is currently undergoing a renaissance in our house.

This tagine uses chicken and preserved lemons. Our friend Nigel laid down the lemons for us, from the plethora on our tree, when he was staying earlier in the year.  This tagine recipe uses two preserved lemons, quartered; which made it pretty lemony. Delicious! Green olives were called for and these gorgeous buttery sicilian olives are my current favorite and complemented the lemons well.

On the sewing front, having finally finished the trimming, I have been fiddling with triangle placement.

I'm going around in circles a bit (so to speak!) with all the possibilities that value differences create. I quite like the zigzag pathways happening here, but have toyed with both something more random and something more regular. But I think I'll save the regular pattern I have in mind for more scrappy fabric. A few things jumped out at me from this photo that I have since changed (e.g. the matched large green triangle near the centre bottom). But I'm not sure how I'll ever finish fiddling with it?

I've rigged up a temporary design wall in the absent Uni boy's room, (but never fear, it's not a bathroom yet- in-joke for those that know that Australian ad!) over the top of his notice board and I must say it's GREAT to be able to leave the pieces up and muse on it! 

I've also ordered some fabric online... and have been pondering my blue and purple improvised squares and trying to figure out how best to piece them into the background...I decided on aqua in the end.

I have done some work in the "real job" too, so you can see I've been relaxed but not idle!