Summer stone fruits are much loved in our house, but at the end of summer I am a bit over having to deal with them. This year we only
had a handful of apricots and nectarines on the trees, so I was really pleased we got lots of blood plums.
However I was given lots of tomatoes, so I made tomato sauce, then a friend gave me figs that got made into jam. So I decided that plum paste would be nice instead. Well the first batch was a fail, so that was turned into plum jam. This batch was successful and is now setting as plum paste. But my kitchen looks like I killed a purple people eater, with stains on the floor, bench tops and I keep unearthing sticky spots every time I clean!
This poor forgotten mini has been waiting months for me to sew two hanging corners on the back! Now it just needs to find a spot to hang. These are all blocks I made from Temecula Quilt Company free patterns. I made a version in red and pink that has been completed for ages, so it was nice to get this one finished.
This is a much loved Australian native bottle brush flower, starting to bloom, that I only planted last autumn. These bushes do really well in our sandy soil, but previous owners only planted a red variety and this one is distinctly pink or salmon coloured.
Janet from Rogue Quilter made a Tree of life mini using just one block, in plaids. It was darling and it inspired me to start sewing something for myself, so I made this block (6" ), but cannot decide if I am having a "dirt" triangle at the base of my tree of life or not.
What do you think?
I am making four blocks, just one block completed and without a pattern the trunk took a bit of mucking around to work out the right dimensions. Now I am happy I think I will ditch the directional print! The HST finish at 3/4" and I am really pleased with them.
Happy quilting Sue.
Happy quilting Sue.
You definitely should be proud of those 3/4" HST's! Beautiful work! Directional prints give me trouble sometimes too, but I do rather like the tree trunk and dirt there. ---"Love"
ReplyDeleteSorry; I hit publish too soon. My daddy had several fig trees, and Mother made fig preserves every year for us. I just love them! Wish I had some right now! ---"Lpve"
ReplyDeleteThe plum jam looks delicious and very purple. Those tiny hst's are very tricky when they're so small. I like the tree grounded.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of plum paste. How does it differ from the jam?
ReplyDeleteYour little Temecula blocks look very cute in that setting. I am trying to remember your red and pink one. That sounds perfect for a little Valentine decor. :)
Your tiny Tree of Life looks excellent, Sue! I had to go back and look at how I did my "ground" on my little tree. I was replicating a picture shared with me from Pinterest, and it was a little different at the bottom--I remember struggling to figure it out. I think I prefer the brown triangle on the bottom here. Helps balance the weight of the tree at the top, IMHO. Good Job!
That's a pretty coloured bottlebrush.
ReplyDeleteI always love your mini quilts.
love the little tree...
ReplyDeleteHugz
Those blocks are tiny! Cute little tree
ReplyDelete