Blissful block kit from Pat

Pat so kindly sent me one of her blissful block kit to try out. I have never done crazy quilting and thought that it would be easier to use Pat's kit. I followed Pat's instructions which came with the block. I used backstitch but I could not sew straight so you see a lot of white space on the left and right of the girl's image. I did not have much experience of placing the pieces surrounding the image and ended up with pieces overlapping with edges hanging. I suppose I could cover it up using the ribbons or embellishments from Pat's kit or make the block smaller. Any advice from experienced crazy quilters?

Tatted black and red hummingbird

My sunbird chicks have flown off and the nest is empty. I wish I was home to see them make their first flight. Instead I came home and found the nest so light and empty. I hope they will follow their parents and come by to feed on my plants this weekend.

Olive-backed sunbird chicks

Look at the colour of the feathers. I think one chick is bigger. Survival of the fittest. Is the stronger one getting all the nourishment from mom.

Umi gets all worked up when mom comes to feed the chicks. I caught Tsuru trying to peep into the nest when I was watering the plants yesterday. They are curious to see what is in the nest.

In honour of my sunbird babies

The nest is getting heavier and so is my heart. The little chicks are getting heavier and soon they will be flying off. I hope to get some photos before they do that. I did not manage to get a video clip of mom feeding the chicks, the zoom on my camera is not good enough. If I stand too near she won't fly in to feed. At night, mom keeps the chicks warm and the bamboo bends even lower with mom in the nest.

A birthday present

I made this for AY, a very early birthday present. It's a pretty heavy necklace. I like how the colour combination turned out. She wanted something bright to dress up a simple dress. I hope it does the trick. I sent it to her last week and she received it yesterday. I hope she liked it.

Episcia in my garden

This is a red leaf Episcia. It flowers regularly especially when I give it a foliar fertiliser spray. It is an easy plant to grow and to propagate. The red leaves are a nice change from all the other greens. I have another Episcia which has green leaves and another with copper leaves.

Two-day old chicks

Tiny eyes are still unopen. Beaks open wide when mom is around. Dad has come to visit too.

Birds have hatched!

Tiny with no feathers, chirping away. It probably hatched sometime today because last night I noticed the female bird was still brooding. Umi and Tsuru are excited too. But cats and birds are kept apart. I hope to video tape the female bird feeding the little chicks.

A simple Delica rose necklace

This is a necklace made up of fresh water pearls in light pink, Swarovski bicones crystals (5mm), a Delica bead rose (1.8mm across) in dusty pink, antique silver-toned metal base filigree, chain and findings. I made this over the weekend as a gift for JK to thank her for all her help. I just met her about a month ago but she is so easy going and just great to deal with. From the jewellery she wears I think she prefers a simple design. I hope she likes it.

Tatted variegated blue and black hummingbird

Instead of just the belly in a different colour, I made the tail in variegated blue too. However I think I much prefer it if the tail was black. It was a nice experiment, just to see how it looked. No beak again. I spent this weekend making three necklaces. I hope it will be worn with love.

Happy Mother's Day

My mom lives 300km away and I just called her to wish her Happy Mother's Day. She told me about her day with her new grand daughter who was born on the 1st of May. She's happy. She has two daughters, two sons, two son-in-laws, one daughter-in-law and four grandchildren. I see her about 3-4 times a year when I travel to visit. I will see her next month.

The lovebirds

This photo shows the olive-backed sunbirds flying in to see the home they made.

This is the female bird brooding. I took this photo at night with a flash.

This was taken in the morning. She lets me move around her while I water the plants. When the female bird is brooding, the nest is about chest level.

Birds have laid eggs

I'm so excited. The olive-backed sunbirds have laid eggs. I think there are two in the nest. The female bird sits in the nest even while I go out to the balcony to water my plants. I think she's use to me pottering about. I move carefully around the nest to water the bamboo. Let's see how long it takes for the chicks to hatch. I will try to take a photo of the female in the nest.

Pink flapper girl egg doll giveaway

Tsuru loves doing this. I throw down the pieces of paper with names and she quickly picks one with her paw. The pink flapper girl egg doll is going to Dolls123. Do send me your details. Thank you to Mariam, Lana and Annie for taking part. Thank you for visiting and come back often for more giveaways.

Bird nest is done

The bird's nest was ready two weeks ago but I just got it photographed. Hopefully I will get to see eggs from the birds soon. I think it took the birds about 1.5 weeks to build it. I thought it was really hard work for the birds since about the same amount of material used to build the nest also landed on the balcony floor.

Gateway at Beach Road

These are one of my favourite buildings just because of how it looks from Sheares Bridge. Gateway to Singapore from the sea lanes. Unfortunately I could not get a photo from there as this was taken from the other side along North Bridge Road. According to Wikipedia, it is trapezoidal and 37 storeys: Gateway East and Gateway West. The architect is I. M. Pei and it was completed in 1990. I was also looking online for an image from Sheares Bridge but I could not find one. How unfortunate. I should try to take one. The other famous building along Beach Road is the Raffles Hotel.