Monday 16 May 2011

Raggedy Friends Quilt, and Spring news

The Darling Buds of May - I have been watching a re-run of the life of the Larkin family based on the stories of H. E. Bates. It is a very nice series, no wicked persons who get away without consequenses, just a story of a large and loud family. Our newest buds of the month are these lilies of the valley, and with the temperatures around +10 C they will remain buds for a long time. While spending time with the Larkin family, I have also been hand sewing...


... finally the binding on the Raggedy and Friends quilt, and Andy posed for the block 11:


Here are the last three blocks, this one is 11:


And Annie is on block 10:


Both dolls are shown in the final block.


Here is the finished quilt, picture was taken in today's cloudy weather after the rain had stopped.


Thank you Kaaren, this was a fun project and I managed to finish it using only fabrics from my stash, many of them recycled. It was sometimes difficult to choose "my colours" for the ones given by Kaaren, but I think I can be pleased with the result. There are 5 ninepatches included, so I think this will qualify for Anne Marie's 9-patch challenge as my third finish as well.

For the first time in my life I have been growing tomatoes from seeds. These were sent to us by Candace and Mr. Squash as a Christmas present. Now I heard from experts that I should have started growing them indoors in March already instead of the beginning of April, but I hope that my little greenhouse cupboard will keep them warm and they will grow big and strong and happy and make lovely tomatoes.


Today I made sure we will get at least some tomatoes from our own garden: I'm making an exchange with a greenhouse-owner friend and get one of her plants agains two of my tiny ones. We will not have space for all these when they need bigger pots, so we will be giving some away to other friends as well. I couldn't imagine there would be a plant from every single seed I put in the pots! Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Squash! Mr. K. is wearing his Jersey Tomato t-shirt when he is gardening. It was a perfect fit, which is very unusual.

10 comments:

  1. I love your quilt! Each block looks nice enough on its own, but together they are even more wonderful.

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  2. Wow Ulla Congrats on your lovely finish. The quilt is so wonderful and I love all the little small stitchers you have made of Ann and Andy ;-)
    And your ninepatch finish is marked down as well..

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  3. Oh Ulla - your finish is wonderful! Annie and Andy must be SO happy to see the finished quilt! Bob and I are so happy to see the tomatoes coming along - and really glad that Mr. K is wearing his tomato shirt!
    Cheers!

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  4. The raggedy quilt is fun. I remember them from my childhood. The lilly of the valley were my mother's favorite nice .

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  5. A beautiful quilt, your colours are so clean and strong.

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  6. What a marvelous finish, Ulla! You truly have made my heart sing today.

    When I first designed this quilt, I had visions of them popping up all around the world and that is indeed what is happening.

    I love the colors you used and the fact that you used only fabrics from your stash...as I did for mine...makes it truly one-of-a-kind.

    Thanks for making my dream come true.

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  7. Wunderschön ist er geworden, dein Quilt. So fröhlich in den Farben die alle super zueinander passen! Das ist ein richtiges Meisterstück. Und 9 patches hast du auch noch darin versteckt...toll! Zwei Fliegen auf einen Schlag! Wünsche dir viel Glück mit deinen Tomaten! Aber da du ja ein Treibhaus hast, werden sie sicher auch noch rechtzeitig reifen im Sommer.
    Herzliche Grüsse aus einem bereits sommerlichen Garten
    Barbara

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  8. LOL Ulla I had the same problem with "Gardener's Delight" turning into Gardener's Fright cherry tomato plants. I made the mistake of planting the whole packet! Oh la I couldn't give them away fast enough.

    Good luck with yours. We have just the one bought one and a pepper in with it this year.

    Congratulations on your Raggedy quilt. It looks fab!

    OO Lily of the Valley! It smells gorgeous.

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  9. Wow, love your finished stitchery quilt. Great, how you used those different fabrics. Congratulations
    Those are definitely a lot of plants. I think you have the golden hands for gardening.
    Have a lovely weekend.

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  10. The Raggedy Friends remind me of a blogger/quilter friend whom I have missed. Hard to grow anything here especially now when the days are around 40 degrees.

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