Boy Patchwork

I was busy quilting  this weekend, and have a finish to share :-)

A patchwork quilt - suitable for a little boy.

Sorry about the bad photos... I took them late in the afternoon, when the lighting was tricky!

I was a little stumped for backing fabric for this one, and ended up piecing the back. Do you think it looks odd?

Also, I also did the binding differently, not hand sewn like my usual, but machine bound. It didn't all go smoothly as you can see...

But nothing that can't be fixed :-)

Wishing everyone a good week ahead!

Mid Week

Some mid-week progress...

Didn't I say there would be a patchwork quilt coming?

A total of 168 4-inch squares, sewn into 14 rows of 12 squares - for a generously sized baby quilt.

And a sneak peek of another project...

Oh, and, I've decided to add another row to my scrappy log cabin quilt top. So it's looks like I'll be very busy for the rest of the week :-)

One More Block

Remember these scrappy log cabin blocks?

I've been busy this weekend, and now I have this:

24 10 inch blocks. (Err, please try and ignore the laundry basket in the corner)

Just one more block and I'll have myself a little scrappy quilt!

Although now thinking about it, I might consider adding an extra row...

And while attacking my scraps, I've also cut up a bunch of 4 inch squares.

I feel that there may be another patchwork quilt in the near future :-)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Mid-Autumn

I've not been very good about updating this blog this month, so I thought I'd squeeze in an extra post.

Now you know I sometimes like to tell a little story, so today I'm going to tell you about the mooncake.

For those not in the know, the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is being celebrated hereabouts, and you can always tell when it's that time of year by the mooncakes that suddenly come into the market. Here in Malaysia we are very lucky because most of the mooncakes now are halal, and there's plenty of types and flavours to choose from. I personally love these dense little cakes, but only ever eat the traditional (boring?) lotus seed one with one yolk.

Anyway, the story is that once upon a time there was a chap called Huoyi and a lady called Chang E. I believe they were dieties but were banished to earth for some reason or another. In those days there were 10 suns (I know, I know - but it's a story so let's just read pretend). And one day there must have been a malfunction in the universe because all 10 suns lined up at the same time and burned the earth. So our hero Huoyi, who was also incidentally an expert archer, was summoned to shoot all but 1 of those suns. Which he did. As a reward he was gifted with a magic pill, which when taken would grant immortality. So Huoyi went home with the magic pill and hid it away in the roof beams. One day when he was out, Chang E saw a bright light coming from the rafters and found the pill. She must have been very curious, or perhaps she just had a headache at the time, because she swallowed the pill. Much to her surprise she discovered that she could then fly. So she flew around for a bit and soon found herself on the moon. The magic in the pill must have worn off by then, because she suddenly realised that she couldn't fly home. So she asked the rabbit that lived on the moon to make her a new pill so she could go home to see her husband. Unfortunately the rabbit is taking his time, and is still looking for all the herbs needed for the pill, so on the moon Chang E remains to this day. 

Every year on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar Houyi is allowed to go and visit his wife on the moon and the Chinese celebrate the mooncake festival, eat mooncakes and go around with tanglungs (lanterns).  

If you have a mooncake handy, you eat it with a nice cup of tea while gazing at the moon. Although I won't be doing that here, mainly due to all the rain we're getting at the moment.

And there you have it. The legend behind the mooncake festival - well, my version of it, anyway. So the next time you look at the full moon, try and see if you can spot the lady and her rabbit.

Have a happy week ahead!

Baby Squared

Another finished quilt to share this week!

I haven't made a square quilt in a while...

This was such an easy one to make, the quilt top came together in just a few hours.

A total of 5 different fabric prints used... and for the binding I went with a solid dark blue.

I'm kinda stumped for naming this one, so I'm calling it 'Baby Squared' at least for now. Think it sort of goes with the numbers concept on the focus print too.

I know I say this a lot, but I really, really love this one.

I even love the back!

And those little babies are ADORABLE :-)

Hope everyone had a good weekend!  And to all at home, Happy Malaysia Day!

Presents! And a Custom Quilt

Been a little down and out *sniff *, thanks to all this rain. But I actually like rain (I know, I'm funny that way) so I won't complain too much. *cough* 

First things first! There were 2 gals interested in my magazines, so guess what?  You will BOTH be getting a copy each! Michele and MamaD, check your emails :-) Muah!

Moving on, I had a custom order 2 weeks ago. From a colleague at work, who asked for a baby quilt for her little boy. Her request was basically : he's a boy, so I anything boyish, maybe animals and geometry... and she wanted a 'fluffy fluffy' quilt too. So I hemmed and hawed and hemmed and hawed some more, because I'm very nervous about custom orders. Then last week I finally just got down to it. 

Here's the progress of the quilt in pictures: 

Fabric selection

Proposed Layout

Audition for the binding...

And the finished quilt, tadah!

I hope this is fluffy enough ... 

And of course, a photo of the back:

Mama seems to like it very much, so I'm hoping little Aric will too! 

September Surprise

Hullo September!

To start of the month, I thought I'd have a giveaway of sorts. There's no occasion, is just that I've found that I have 2 of the SAME quilt magazine:

How did that happen?? I get most of my magazines from Baby Brother. He buys back issues of them for cheap then gets them sent over to me (err in case you're thinking what a sweetie he is, I'll have you know that this state of events was only made possible after a LOT of reminding/bribing/threatening. But he's a sweetie all the same, ehee!).

Anyway, he doesn't always pay attention to what he buys. And so sometimes I get two of the same.

So if you'd like a quilty magazine, just leave me a comment and I'll have it sent to you. Umm, if there is more than one comment, I'll have a draw and get Milo to pick a name after a few days.

Have a great week all!