Quilting in Chinatown

Its been a couple of busy weeks with the kids home for the summer holidays!

Last Friday we finally took the kids to the Night safari which was great. We had a really nice time and there was plenty to see. It was Lukes' birthday on saturday so we tried to go out for dinner at the Hogs Breath cafe at Vivo only to find that it was closed for renovation. But never fear because there is another one at Holland Village. So after a 15 minute wait for a taxi we went to Holland Village but found that it had closed down. By then it was getting late and we were all hungry so we settled for Burger King instead. We finally found a Hogs breath cafe at Chijmes and Luke got his birthday wish on Sunday instead. Luke got the Lego Kings castle that he had so desperately been wanting. The kids were very quietly building for a couple of hours - fabulous!



Yesterday we took them swimming at Jurong Swimming pool. What a great complex that is and not very expensive either... $5.40 for the whole family!

Today I have been quilting again with the ladies from Chinatown. We started doing applique using fusible web for two baby quilts. A pink one with colourful flowers and a blue one with trains. The ladies are quick learners and we got lots done. The two previous quilts were also hung on the wall. (see the pink one in the background) . Tomorrow I think the two quilts will be finished or pretty close to it. These will be our sample quilts.Thank you especially to Mary who translates everything and is a real blessing to have in the class. What a great bunch of ladies!

Tomorrow my mother in law arrives for a two month visit. Yeah! We are all excited about her coming. I know that she is looking forward to it too.
Happy quilting
Marianne

Chinatown quilters

First of all my apologies for not writing on my blog since May. I have been unwell for a couple of weeks and so haven't been able to do much least of all any quilting. But I am now officially on the mend and I can update you on what else has been happening here.



Recently a friend asked if I would be willing to teach quilting at the Chinatown community centre and of course I said yes. I went along and met a couple of the ladies and they happily showed me some of their work. They were using paper templates and everything was done by hand. The idea is to not only teach them some new (rotary cutting) and more efficient techniques (strip piecing) but also to be able to get them set up as a business so that they can sell the quilts. My youngest student was in her late 60's and the oldest late 80's and they also only speak Chinese. It's funny but you get a group of women together with a bunch of fabric and there isn't much that needs translation!


The first day was all excitement as we unpacked the two new electric sewing machines. There was about 25 ladies which was a bit hectic. From that group I could pick out a smaller group. There are even a couple of seamstresses there which is a real blessing.


On Saturday we took them to see a quilt show that was being held at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. It was a great opportunity for them to see a variety of quilts, both traditional and more contemporary art quilts.

Here is a picture of our second baby quilt that we made. The first one is still having the binding added so I will show that one later.

These are lovely ladies and great to work with and Im looking forward to making more quilts with them. Eventually we will try some art quilts as well.

Well thats it from me.

Happy Quilting