Scatterday - Today's letter is S

"S" can stand for a lot of things - today it is standing for SAMPLE as well as the days chosen categories as today I am trying to write up this post on my tablet computer that I was given last birthday.  After all - it was given with the triumphant STATEMENT that "Now you can Blog on the road!"

Today's official Categories are FEMALE devouring ICE CREAM because of EMPTY STASH.  And I can cover it with just ONE photo, well maybe two!

At the time we were on holiday down the beach with my DB and his family.  We decided to shout the whole group - 6 Adults and 6 (very small) children what was the Piece de resistance of Ice Cream Sundaes - "The Kitchen Sink!"

The idea was we would let the kids have their fun and then the adults would enjoy the rest.

Unfortunately by the time this photo had been taken DD (Miss S), her 2 yr old twin brothers and her 3 cousins had totally DEVOURED all of the ICE CREAM leaving an  EMPTY kitchen sink - Just where they STASHED all the Ice cream is a total mystery - I have never seen such a disappearing trick before or since!

Corner Baskets...

I seem to have achieved a fair bit on my Heart's Desire Quilt this week.

The first Flange border went on beautifully with no problems and the 10" Appliquéd borders I have been working on and off for about a year are attached.

Then came the task of working out what the best fabric choice for the baskets would be, and after auditioning several fabrics over the week I settled on this lovely 'Basket Weave' design by Robert Kaufman.

For the Heart design on the basket I used fabric from the inner border that surrounds the first block we were given in this Mystery Quilt, and I feel that it has helped tie the quilt together.  Then for the flowers I swapped the Dark Blue that I had used in previous Buds blocks for a brighter Red and I feel that these corners now have that "Pop" that the blue lacked.  Also I replaced the drawn on tendrils (I was never confident about doing them) with another Butterfly.

So it is all coming together and good to see it nearing completion..... And even Spike has decided it may be now to his liking, conceding to come down off his tower and cast a critical eye over the latest additions.

And the Fortune Cookie said . . .

I was about to stitch the last stem on the last disk on the last border - at last!
When my DS#2 walked into the kitchen, picked up a box that had been left behind by a Guest a week or so  ago, and handed me a foil wrapped Fortune Cookie.

Toying with the idea of whether to open it then, or wait until I had finished lasted all of about 30 seconds, and when I cracked open the crisp shell to reveal my 'fortune' this is what it said..

"You should be able to undertake and complete anything"

The timing could not have been better!

Must admit I did have a good chuckle over that!
Then it was back to the instructions to study up on what to do next!

Brought to you by the letter D

Today I have had to scratch my head and think - D was shaping up to be a Diabolical letter to find photos for the four categories.  But Delving into the Distant past I was able to find - - - - -

HUMOROUS:  Do not Dump
Well, I thought it was funny at the time - the sign over the rubbish bin reads
"Dumping of Rubbish is Prohibited"
Humorous in it's own right but then the council went and piled all the rubble from the Park construction under the bin!
Do not dump... indeed!

FEET:  Ducks have feet

and this Duck obviously did not want them to touch the hot ground - while his companions are way too cool to be bothered with such an un-Dignified Display.

FURNITURE:  Display Cabinet
My DS made me this beautiful Display Cabinet as his Year 12 Woodwork project.

I keep my Cake Decorating Flower Samples in here as it keeps them free from Dust.

QUILTY DISPLAY:  Dear Jane
Oh well... being a Melbourne Girl I just  had to put up a photo of the Dazzling Display of Dear Jane Quilts that were recently Decorating the Box Hill Town Hall.


Well, that's my contribution for today.. join me again in a fortnight when the post will be the letter S.

They tell me it's Autumn...

Autumn in Melbourne is a beautiful time of year.
The weather does what it wants, often giving us warm to hot days and cool evenings.

And trees are getting the idea that their shade is no longer needed and it is time to rest.


So what I have been up to this week?

LEAVES! - remember these?  They are the sentinels that make up border no 1 of Hearts Desire.
There are 4 sides to the quilt
12 'Trees' per side
3 Leaves per tree = 144  leaves. (5.5 cm long and needle-turned)
93 down - 51 to go!


With so many leaves to do at once - a production line seemed to be the way to go.

I found the easiest method was to dampen a small sponge with water and a good spray of Starch, and just moisten my fingers with the mix whilst turning the edge over my freezer paper templates with the detail iron.

It was definitely a lot quicker than painting the liquid starch on with a brush.

Well, there is my tip for today
- now I had better get back to stitching them all on!

I - What can I find today?

MONEY:  ITL - Italian Lira

- I knew that somewhere in the bottom of my meagre coin collection was an Italian 20 Lira Coin... still not worth much apart from Show & Tell.

TOOLS:  Icing Nozzles

The Tools of the Trade for anyone who works with ICING - 

Piping Nozzles and Shaping tools are an Integral part of any Cake Decorators Kit.

METAL: Iridium

DD is doing a Phd and works with Iridium Complexes. Iridium is “A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second-densest element (after osmium) and the most corrosion-resistant metal.”

It also GLOWS…!

SEWING ROOM: Inchies
Now this was one I had to research..  I am sure that with enough Inclination and   Incentive, I could be Induced to Investigate the Intriguing Incidence of Itty-Bitty Inchies.

So there you have it - My Scatterday post for today - brought to you by the letter I.