Cumberland Colours

Jack Frost has been visiting our area a lot lately, giving demonstrations on blending colours for a landscape quilt. He began with a background fabric of blueberry fields... ...and continued to add a few sugar maples to his artwork:

Dangerous Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Oh My...every so often something so clever and good comes along that you just have to share. Thanks to Kathi from Kuwait for posting this on an online quilting list. This is just too much fun!

1 coffee mug
4 Tbsp. cake flour (plain, not self-rising)
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp. milk
3 Tbsp. oil
Small splash of vanilla
3 Tbsp. chocolate chips, optional
Add dry ingredients to mug, mix well with a fork. Add egg,mix thoroughly. Pour in milk and oil and vanilla, mix well. Add chips, if using.Put mug in microwave, and cook for three minutes on 1000watts. Cake will rise over top of mug--do not be alarmed! Allow to cool a little; tip onto a plate if desired.Eat!
And WHY is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only five minutes away from chocolate cake any time of the day or night!

Perfect for the quilter who has worked all day stitching on the latest masterpiece and has no time to bake. Now we can have our cake and quilt it too! :)

Off to Japan!

Well...my quilt is, not me... I am thrilled to learn that Simply Stated: A Portrait of Anne As A Young Girl has been awarded first place in the 100 Years of Anne category in the Kindred Spaces Textile Show. This show was organized to honour the 100th anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables. In addition to the $1000. cash prize, the quilt travels to Yokohama, Japan to be exhibited in their International Quilt show, November 6 -8, 2008.
If anyone is lucky enough to be travelling in the area at this time, and would like more info on how to get to the show, here's the site: http://www.viq.com/english/iqw/yokohama/iqwy.htm
(And if anyone has a couple of extra tickets to Japan just lying around, well...!

Maritime Beauty Workshop

Yesterday was such a fun time, gathered with a very enthusiastic group of women attending one of the Nova Scotia Fibre Fest workshops. The Ralston Room where we met was huge; it was a real treat to have so much space.
We spent the day foundation piecing, sewing curved seams and making bias binding.
These are the only pictures I took, and they were from the beginning of the class. Hopefully, the participants will all be sending along a picture of their finished Beauties which can be posted here. My thanks go out to the Cumberland Quilt Guild, Carol in particular, for all the work they did to organize and make the day a success.
After the workshop, we all went upstairs to take in the guild's quilt show. The number of quilts, the diversity in colours and patterns, and the beautiful sanctuary of Amherst's First Baptist Church all combined to make a spectacular exhibit. It was a "wow" moment entering that space.

Fall Harvest

With Thanksgiving approaching, the cranberries on the farm where the bees are housed are obligingly beginning to ripen. The cranberries grown on this farm are of an exceptional size and quality - almost as large as cherries. We'll put 10 lbs. or so in the freezer for winter use.
The honey is back from being extracted and soon we will begin bottling. The honey this year is a dark amber. Isn't that gorgeous?

A week of "out and about"

There hasn't been any sewing time this week at all (other than to make 75 metres of bias binding for a workshop...but that doesn't count as sewing!) Hubby and I did a bit of tripping around, first to Charlottetown P.E.I. where we enjoyed a lovely, leisurely day. There was a HUGE cruise ship in, and the city was in a festive mood.

We spent our time in the downtown, taking in a quilt exhibit, a great lunch at a pub, a stroll on the waterfront and then some shopping. Travelling via the Confederation Bridge certainly makes this a quicker trip than the old days when we had to wait for a ferry to the Island.

Next day, we were off to Moncton, N.B. to stock up on fall supplies at the bee store. This is a busy time of year for beekeepers as the honey is coming off and the hives need to be readied for over-wintering.

Wednesday Hubby and I travelled to Halifax, where he received a service award from Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald. That was a lovely ceremony, and a great day. I even got new shoes :) Here's the clock tower in downtown Halifax.

Today we will do some bee work and hopefully have time to catch the NHL season opener from Sweden. Sidney Crosby and Daniel Alfredsson make for good hockey watching.

Apron Strings

As promised, here's Roma from North Carolina modeling the project from the Apron Strings tutorial of September 4 (scroll down to follow the complete thread...no pun intended)
Not only is the apron a perfect fit, she looks lovely wearing it. Thanks so much for launching your modeling career on this blog, Roma! :)