Quilt Top and Back Done

I thought I pinned the strips in the correct order before I started sewing. I must have flipped one of the strips. Too late to change it now. I also added in the red borders and mitered the corners. I had to look up some videos on YouTube to do the mitered corners as I could not remember how. It went well.

This is the back of the quilt. I had to go to the shop to get more fabrics for the back. I had a 'fun' time cutting the fabric along its length. Now to sandwich the cotton batting in between and do some quilting before the binding.

While I was trying to get the whole quilt top (72 x 72 inches) into my camera frame, I did not notice Tsuru sneaking onto the quilt. The other day when I was assembling the strips, Umi was skating across the floor and messing up the strips. She had to be told off twice before she stopped.

And . . . More Belles

What am I going to do with all these? Well, Christmas presents of course.

An elegant black in Size 20 with a citrine briolette, Swarovski glass pearl and Delica beads.

This one is tatted in Lizbeth 40 Easter Eggs (#159) with Swarovski glass pearl, crystal and Delica beads.

One in Lizbeth 40 Country Grape Medium (#637) with Swarovski glass pearl, crystal and Delica beads.

Another in Lizbeth 20 Gold (#611) with Swarovski crystals and Delica beads.

This one is in Lizbeth 40 Autumn Spice (#136) with Swarovski glass pearl, crystal and Delica beads.

As a pair of earrings in Guttermann Sulky Rayon 30 (Col 1220, 100% viscose) with Swarovski pearls, crystals and Delica beads.

More Belles

Belle is a pattern from Marilee Rockley from her book Up and Tat 'Em. I love this pattern and have made them before here and here. 

I made this for a friend in Lizbeth 40 Carribean (#122) with Swarovski crystals.

And I continued to make more belles in different colours and bead/crystal combination. Hope you enjoy the photos.

This is to be a pair of earrings in white Size 40 threads with rose quartz briolettes and Swarovski glass pearls.

This one is tatted in Lizbeth Size 20 Mocha Brown Medium (#691) with a smoky quartz twist briolette and a Swarovski glass pearl.

This one is in Coats Size 40 shade 700 with Swarovski crystals.

More Belles tomorrow . . .  I just had too much fun matching thread, beads, crystals and gemstones.

Fish Ball Noodles for Breakfast

Remember this? This is what they serve. We found this noodle stall in a coffee shop many years back and has since become a regular. They have moved twice in the same vicinity but somehow we found them. We only have it for breakfast on weekends, maybe once a month or so. We love our food and so when there is craving for it, we drive 20kms to eat this. This is an old photo I found in my album folder and thought I would show you.

The noodles here have a special chilli that contains buah keluak and that makes it different from other fish ball noodles. Buah keluak is usually used in peranakan dishes like ayam buak keluak (chicken with buah keluak).

This noodle dish contains fish cake slices, fish ball, minced pork, pork slices, black chinese mushrooms, a piece of dried fish slice (crispy satay fish), crispy pork lard pieces, salad leaves, the famous chilli, a sprinkling of chopped spring onions and of course noodles.

Quilt Progress - Blocks Completed

All 36 blocks are done. Each block measures 12.5 inches square. Sewing the blocks was a breeze after I sorted out the sewing machine and my bad memory. I laid out the blocks and re-arranged them to get a pleasing colour distribution. I wanted the quilt to be mainly black and white with accents of red but it ended up like this because I did not have enough black and white fabrics.

Christmas 2011 Snowflake #39

Myra Piper's pattern No. 26 on page 10. Tatted in 3 rounds: 1m of size 40 thread in rounds 1 and 2 while round 3 required 2m on the shuttle. Care was needed to ensure that the chains were of similar lengths otherwise it would look a little wonky.

Rose's Marmalade and Scones

This was afternoon tea at home one weekend with orange and cranberry scones which I bought. This is only half of the huge scone with some unsalted butter and orange marmalade. I bought the marmalade for nostalgic reasons. I do not usually have jam at home but this was the exact brand of marmalade I grew up eating. So I had to buy this bottle of jam and it was an excuse to buy some scones to have with.  Tea was brewed and I had quite a scrumptious tea time.

A Refreshing Drink

On a hot day, this is a must. It tastes much better than it looks. I do not know what is in it but and if I have to guess, I would say preserved dried sour prunes, sugar syrup and lettuce; all ice blended. Because it is green, it looks really 'healthy'. But I doubt it. A real thirst quencher and very, very refreshing.

Christmas 2011 Snowflake #38

You guessed it, another Myra Piper pattern. This one is No. 12 on page 5. Three meters of Size 40 threads were used and tatted in one round. I really enjoyed tatting this pattern. It was easy to follow and you could do as many or as few arms as you like. For example 4 petals for the flowers and 4 arms. Would that work? Also a chance to add beads in outer picots and in between rings.

The Handkerchief Tree

Since we have been tatting handkerchief edgings, this is a tree (Maniltoa browneoides) where the newly sprouted leaves look like handkerchiefs hanging from the tree. A week earlier as we passed this tree along the expressway, it looked more like its namesake but this week the new leaves have grown a little greener.

This is another tree along Dunearn Road. I took these photos from a moving car so the images are a little blurry. The young leaves look more olive green (look above the pedestrian bridge towards top right of photo). Link to this website for a clearer picture here.