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A few days in Beijing

I just enjoyed a few days playing corporate wife in Beijing and tried to capture some images other than the usual touristy ones from China

Baby Pinwheels Quilt

This quilt was made for DD’s piano teacher who is expecting her first baby shortly.

It was easy-peasy to make.  We used 2 x charm packs of It’s a Hoot by MoMo for Moda fabrics, plus the same number of squares of plain fabric – in this case Moda Bella in Snow.

The pinwheels were made using this tutorial from Missouri Quilt Co.

Join 2 charm squares right sides together (one plain and one print) using 1/4” seam around the four sides.  Cut diagonally through each side, which makes 4 blocks of joined half-square triangles.  Form into pinwheels and sew back together using 1/4” seam. Trim back slightly to 5.5”.

Using 2 packs of print charms plus 2 packs of plain (or yardage), you will make approx 84 blocks.  I joined them together in a 9 x 9 block configuration, using 81 blocks. I machine quilted in straight lines.  Once binding added, finished quilt size approx 46.5” square.

The backing fabric is a Bubbles design by Keiko Goke

Reading the news!

DD and I spied this chap reading his paper the other day in our local Chinatown

Block-A-Palooza Quilt Along

Ok, New Year means trying new things.  I'm participating in the Blogger's Block-a-palooza quilt along hosted by Quilt Dad

I have deviated from the fabric line the bloggers have used and found some 1/8 yard bundles of Park Slope fabric which needs to be cut into.  It must be 2 years old, so probably going out of fashion fast!

Here are the first six blocks - rather bright, but fun nevertheless

What I've been working on....

Poor old Blog...I've been neglecting her.  Had a big trip to the US and Hong Kong over Chrismtas/New Year.  Our big camera is at the doctor and I'm sad we may have lost lots of our photos :(

I am not good at NY resolutions, as they are usually unrealistic and fall by the wayside, but this year I am endeavouring to declutter my life and grab new opportunities when they arise.

We all saw the devastation in the media of the many natural disasters which have befallen most of Australia.  I, and some of my friends, have begun making some Quilt As You Go (QAYG) blocks for Jan Mac of Oz Comfort Quilts who does wonderful work making quilts for many deserving charities.  Her other blog Sew Many Quilts Too Little Time also shows some of the wonderful work she does.

Tutorial for making the blocks is here

Green Grocery Bag Challenge

I love reading Sew Mama Sew  and each year about this time they have a whole month of gift ideas for crafters.

As many of us have too much stuff  and create too much waste, especially at gift-giving time, this initiative is

a great idea

 

 

For a free, step-by-step tutorial, head on over to Green Bag Lady where you can find a wonderful idea for

wrapping your Christmas gifts - something handmade, and hopefully useful for the recipient. 

There are plenty of ways to personalise a bag as well.

 

Off now to hunt out some more ideas!

Friendship Blocks

Our Singapore quilt group has quite a revolving membership, most of us being expats on varying lengths of postings.

We try and make a block for those leaving – which can take many forms.  One of our group is leaving this week.  Being a typical quilter, she found a design she liked on the floor of a shopping centre in Singapore!

The idea is great.  The design looked good.

I printed out the pattern pieces;  began to look in my pile of blue & green batiks -

 

I tried to get it right – 4 times!!  Something was definitely screwy somewhere and going back to basics with the calculator and ruler still did not help.  This is 3rd attempt….

Although I love the colours in this one, something bizarre happened with the pinwheels in the centre and instead of being 12.5” it came out about 10.5”

Next effort….

By this time I was running out of the fabrics I really liked, so I ditched the pattern and worked it out myself.  Size is ok, all the points meet, but not sure about colour placements.

Oh well, sorry Tiiu.  At least you will have a block tomorrow.  But I’m not happy and will persist until I produce the stunner!

My Birds of Hope Valley

Not the best photo; I'll try and get a better shot when someone can hold it up.
This was my entry in our Challenge "Curves and Circles"  It is a pattern from Emma @ Ballarat Patchwork - machine pieced, appliqued and machine quilted by me.

New BOM

I know, I know – shouldn’t be starting another Block of the Month before the last one is finished.
It’s called The Circle Game from Amitie.  Loving the fabrics and the design.

These are blocks 1,2 and 3.  Block one (the top one) was a cinch;  Block two (on the right) was awful and block 3 simple as well.
Started off hand-piecing, but confess I am really a product of the century I live in, meaning I love technology and especially my sewing machine.
Got my BOM buddy to keep me up-to-date with this one, so I can finish something!!
And one more pic today of something else I’ve been working on…

My Mum – Nearly Insane

Just had to pop in a pic of my Mum, Kay and her “Nearly Insane” quilt, shown here at her local

show in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia (Goldfields Quilters) on the weekend.

The quilt is all hand-pieced and hand quilted and won the Viewer’s Choice at the show.

Congratulations Kay!  This is especially amazing after the awful year she has had, health-wise.

Shame I couldn’t be there, as they always put on a great show – thanks Wendy for taking the

pic for me.

A Burst on the machine

Today was all about newsletters, updating websites, newsletters, meetings, brochures. Enough!  I needed to clear my head and the Bernina need to go for a run.  We found a jelly roll and some instructions for a Hexagon Quilt Along on Jaybird's Blog.  I'm only 6 months behind, but thought this looked like something relatively easy and fun to do. 

In less than an hour, I had sewn 42 strips together, cut out the triangles and put togehter the first 3 hexies.

The fabric line is Botany by Lauren and Jessi Jung for Moda

A day out in my own city...

Yesterday a group of mums from school did a tour of Chinatown in Singapore - we sometimes forget what vibrant and colourful inspiration is on our own doorstep. It was the mid-Autumn festival during the week - hence the lanterns everywhere. We visited the medicine man, the tea shop, bakery, wet markets. My favourite pic is the coloured chopsticks.

Long Time, No Post

Has it really been 4 months?  DD has just gone back to school after being home for 13 weeks!  Only 8 of those real holidays; the rest study leave for IGCSE exams.  After travelling to Australia and UK to see family & friends, we are back to reality.

I'm busily working on my quilt for the Singapore Quilt Challenge, so no peeks yet.  Just waiting for the border fabric before finishing it off.

Whilst I'll never have the patience for real hand-quilting, I can cope with the large-stitch, perle thread, sashiko version.  This is my ‘99 Treasures quilt’ which feels like it’s been around for about 95 years.

I finally finished off another cushion, the design which came from Oh Fransson! at this sew-along at Sew Mama Sew.

The Spiderweb block was foundation pieced using odd-sized scraps. The fabrics are  Lantern Bloom by Laura Gunn.

The machine quilting is just random spirals around the spiderwebs with a variegated thread.

Star Surprise….more blocks

I confess to really not enjoying working with the striped fabrics, hence some of them looking a tad out of whack…oh well.

      

Block of the Month – Star Surprise

I need some more space in my teeny sewing room and have found some UFOs which really need to be finished.
This one has been hanging around for a while now – if I have been away from home for 2.5 years, then it must  be 3 years overdue …yikes.  This block of the month came from Amitie in Melbourne and is called Star Surprise
by Trish Harper.  I started sewing the blocks by hand, but realistically it will be another 3 years if I continue at this snail’s pace, so have done 3 blocks this week by machine.  They are all 12” blocks

  
 
 

Wonky Log Cabin Cushions

After an obscene quote for cushions to match my new chair, I decided to make my own.

I was thinking  chocolate with subtle aqua and green which would match my new sofas and these beautiful

fabrics Lantern Bloom by Laura Gunn were just the thing

 

Then I fell in love with the cushion on the cover of this Stitch magazine

 

  by Malka Dubrawsky who has a stunning Blog -

Stitch in Dye.  Malka does some fabulous fabric dyeing and her quilts and pillows are gorgeous.

 

A few more fabrics were added to the mix, then the cushion seemed to take on a life of its own!

It’s a bit more colourful than intended and probably needs a few more ‘plain’ fabrics.  Just gotta sew down the binding.

 

Now got to go and try something slightly more subtle……

Seen in my neighbourhood today…

Got a bit of a shock when I was driving behind this cab this afternoon….

I was stationary when I took the pic and am hoping this is a publicity stunt and the passenger has not lost their luggage!

The new Bonds Baby

How cute is this?   Emma, our company’s new little Aussie expat on her new quilt.   Just love the tummy Emma!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Some local colour to celebrate – blossoms and peonies, together with some eucalyptus leaves from home. According to the guy who made this up, they are known as “lucky money leaves”

The quilt group enjoyed a CNY lunch, complete with “Yu Sheng” the seafood & salad dish, peculiar to Singapore, which must be tossed high in the air by everyone to usher in a long year of prosperity!

The waiter mixes each ingredient separately, which are all specific meanings and wishes for the coming year. My wish was for more members for our quilt group!