Quilters' Show & Tell

I have submitted a quilt at this week's  Quilter's Show & Tell The theme is Modern Geometric Quilts and I've entered my "Outside the box" quilt. Click here if you want to see all the quilts entered and vote (you can vote for up to four quilts). There's also a give away if you leave a comment answering “What’s your favourite kind of pie?” (on the Quilter's Gallery Blog). 

Enjoy your weekend.

Vreni x

Winter is coming....

and no, not to Singapore, but to my sewing room! You see, I've made some progress on my winter quilt. After adding a few more filler blocks, plus the pine tree on the right, I was able to put it all together.  Only the borders are left to do and then I will have to quilt it of course. As usual, I didn't stick to the pattern too closely (there's a picture of the original on my side bar, if you want to compare).

Go here to see everybody's progress this month.

Cheers
Vreni x

Camelot blocks 3, 4 & 5

I can't believe how much I'm enjoying piecing these blocks. I always thought I couldn't hand piece, but I think I was wrong. I just needed to learn how to do it the right way. Now on to the next block.

Have a lovely week ahead.

Vreni xx

Regrouping

With all the comings and going recently of various visitors, I haven't spent much time in my sewing room and I feel I need to make a new start (another one). I've set myself a few goals for the rest of this year! Yikes! And maybe if I list them here I will get them done.  I'm keeping the list fairly short so it should be doable.

1. Finish hand quilting "big bloom" quilt
2. Make more blocks, put together and quilt winter quilt
3. Make at least 6 more blocks for Camelot quilt (that way I am at the half way mark)
4. Make a few Christmas presents
5. Machine quilt one quilt top (which one to be decided later)

Now it's written in stone, or as good as!!!

I did manage to make my second Camelot block:

and a few more "measly" filler blocks for my winter quilt.

Maybe you've noticed that I've installed a new Pinterest feature on my blog. I followed a terrific tutorial here. Whenever your hover over a photo with your mouse a small "pin it" button pops up and by clicking it, you are taken automatically to the Pinterest window where you can then choose to pin it to one of your boards. Makes the whole process so much easier.

And last but not lease; look what I found in the latest edition of  "Down Under Quilts" magazine:

I had absolutely no idea and wouldn't have known as I can't often find that particular magazine here in Singapore. Luckily a friend of a friend spotted it and alerted me.


Till later
Vreni x

The best and easiest Chocolate Mousse ever!

I've been making this mousse for many years and always get lots of compliments whenever I serve it. The secret is to use the best chocolate you can find (definitely no cooking chocolate). Instead of using dark chocolate only, you can use a mixture of milk and dark chocolate. You'll get a paler as well as slightly sweeter mousse.

You will need:

4 very fresh egg yolks, preferably organic

300 g (11 oz)  good dark eating chocolate, I used dark Toblerone

4 Tbsp fine sugar

2 Tbsp rum, brandy, whiskey or any other booze you might like (optional)

500 ml (17 fl.oz) single cream (very cold)

(serves 8 to 10)

First beat the cold single cream until soft peaks form. Set aside.

 Break chocolate into smallish pieces and melt either in microwave or in a double boiler (in a bowl over a pan of simmering water). In the meantime put egg yolks in a bowl together with sugar and beat with an electric mixer until pale and light. It is important that the egg yolks are at room temperature. Then add alcohol (if using) and mix well. Once the chocolate has melted, let cool slightly, then mix into the egg mixture.

 Now fold the chocolate/egg mixture into the cream with a rubber spatula or a big metal spoon making sure not to over mix.

 Place mousse into a clean bowl, or into small individual serving dishes, and chill in the fridge for a few hours or over night.

Scoop out mousse with a spoon dipped in hot water first. 

Enjoy!

If I have leftovers of this delicious mousse I freeze it to be enjoyed later on as a creamy chocolate ice cream.  

Bon Appétit

Vreni 

                                                                         

Giving in to temptation!

I have finally cracked and started a new project. I had the Camelot pattern for a while, but wanted to finish a couple of UFOs first before indulging. Here's my first hand pieced block.

Then I  made this paper pieced block for a charity quilt our Tuesday group is putting together (pattern can be found here). The idea is that each month one of the members chooses a block and preferably a new technique to teach the ladies who are new to quilting. Anybody who is interested can sew along. 

For July I sewed this block for the Hasenbach Challenge; it's rather small, only 6 by 6 inches, 

as well as this block, which isn't a challenge block, but will be include in my winter quilt. 

All the blocks I've made so far. 

I can't believe that August is already upon us. Tomorrow my daughter is arriving and I suspect I won't have much time for sewing for the next couple of weeks.

I hope your week is going well.
Vreni xx                                                                   

Belly Up!

So I finished my fish wall hanging! But if you look closely, you'll see there's something fishy (sorry, couldn't help myself). But honestly, can you see that the fish are upside down, doing the backstroke, so to say. Well, I decided to draw the eyes of the fish instead of applique them on and when I was about halfway done, I realized that I had the quilt the wrong way up. How annoying!!!

As there's no way I could remove the indelible ink so I had to keep going. So now the wall hanging will have to be hung up this way

 but that means, that the air bubbles are going the wrong way!

Oh well, one lives and learns, hopefully!

Have a great weekend.
Vreni x