Landscapes

I have been taking a break from dyeing fabrics (ended up with dermatitis and had to explain to my bewildered doctor why my fingers were a strange shade of purple! ) and have been making some (gasp!) traditional blocks for friends that are having birthdays or leaving.  Don't get me wrong I like traditional blocks and I admire those that make them - I just don't make them well....I will post the pics tomorrow.....

Yesterday I decided to play around with landscapes and here is the picture so far....

This photo is of Island Bay in Wellington, New Zealand which I took in 2009.

I have been busy machine embroidering all the details in.  Just need to do the sea and the sky.  I think I will frame this and hang it on the wall at home.  Speaking of walls....my walls at home have been very bare over the last two months with my quilts hanging in the exhibition at Chinatown.  The quilts will be coming down shortly so if you still want to have a look they are at:

The Loft Cafe
1st Floor
cnr Smith St and South Bridge Road


Happy Quilting

Back in Chinatown

Yesterday I was invited to come and help in Chinatown with the "Aunties" (and 1 uncle) from Granny Quilts (see older posts 2008-9).  They were making art pieces for the Singapore International Foundation.

The finished product

They were given black canvas's and embroidered them with thread and beads. 

It was lovely catching up with them again (I got to practice some of my mandarin)  and after we had finished working we were treated to a "high tea".  (my first high tea).  These aunties are so much fun to work with.

A big thank you to Terence, Richard, the Singapore International Foundation and all those that support these elderly in Chinatown.

Today I am off to the ANZA Quilt group and we are meeting at our new venue at the Hollandse club.  What a great place to meet and the food is great!

Hopefully tomorrow I will get back into the sewing room......

A Busy Christmas

The last few days have been very busy.....

Last Wednesday we had a Christmas lunch with the elderly from Chinatown.  We had a yummy lunch of turkey and ham and salads.  My kids came along to help serve and hand out presents.  There were games as well...a form of pass the balloon and when the music stopped whoever was holding the balloon had to come and dance for us.  Boy do these ladies know how to boogey and to Rihanna no less!

Everyone had a wonderful time!  Thank you to Terence and his sponsors for hosting this.

Christmas day was spent at home with our friends Jan and Hilly Boer and my mum in law (she arrived that morning from Holland).  We had a lovely lunch where everyone ate far too much.  My hubby and I had made a pavlova (a traditional NZ Dessert) and it was REALLY Yummy!  Sorry we ate it before I got a chance to take a photo of it!  The kids  opened all the presents after arriving back from the airport and were preoccupied for the rest of the day.  Of course DAD had to help (play) with some of them too.

Today it was time for more work in Chinatown and the ladies were busy finishing up some of the baby quilts that they had been working on. Our quilts seem to be getting brighter and more colourful as we go.

Its great to see how proud they are of their work.  We have a couple of art quilts in progress too so watch this space!  One of the aunties has bought her own sewing  machine now and two of them have been busy making their own bags at home.  They are such a wonderful group of ladies to work with!

Happy new year to everyone and Happy quilting!

Singapore International Foundation Dinner

On Tuesday night  the team from Granny Quilts were invited to go a dinner being held by the Singapore International Foundation.  The "Aunties" from Granny quilts have been busy while I was in Houston making art quilts for SIF that were being presented to partners and supporters of SIF.  The guest of Honour was the President of Singapore - President S R Nathan.  He was also presented with a quilt made by us (left photo)- his second one to date.

We bought along Auntie Rose (2nd from Right, back row) as she has made both this quilt for the president and the one we presented to him at the Mid Autumn Festival in Chinatown.

It was a lovely evening, the food was fantastic and we even got to meet the president and get a photo with Him. (I am the tall one on the right!  LOL)

We got a lot of lovely comments from people who saw the quilts and hopefully we will be able to more corporate gifts in the future.

Mid Autumn Festival

On Saturday evening my mother in law and I were invited to go to the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown. The Guest of Honour was the President of Singapore. It was a wonderful evening full of children performing dances, dragon dances and fireworks. The highlight of the evening was when a quilt made by my quilting ladies (Granny Quilts) was presented to the President (below left).

What a great privilege it is for the opportunity to make something special for a head of state. Congratulations to the ladies for a job well done!

The quilt is called "Mid- Autumn Festival through Chinatown Windows" and was designed by my boss Terence.

My mother in law is going home to Holland on Tuesday. It has been a real blessing having her here and the house will be terribly quiet when she is gone. I know Misty will really miss her too...... hmmm, time to put the dog on a diet!

This week I have been working on my black and white quilt....not that I feel like I have made much progress on it. It still is hard to see what it will be. Yesterday I had to cut a whole piece out as I wasnt happy with one of the fabric choices. Still not sure about this one......

The remainder of my quilts are now in NZ waiting for the upcoming Quilt sale in October. My walls were looking a bit bare so I have hung up one of the pictures from the pastels course that I did last year. My son asked me the next morning where the picture came from....and boy was he surprised when I said that I had made it. He didnt know I had made another picture (with orchids) and that has been hanging on the wall in the lounge since the beginning of the year. Maybe I need to sign my name a little larger!

Well thats all from me....till next time

Lunch in Chinatown

This last week my mum-in law and I went out for a traditional chinese lunch with the ladies (and Terence) from "Granny Quilts". We were treated to lots of different kinds yummy food and my first time eating Peking Duck. Delicious!! The ladies have been working so hard and it was lovely being able to share this meal with them and try some local food as well.

Today I got a copy of the article about "Granny Quilts" in the "Voices" magazine. This is a local magazine put out by the Central Districts Council Development Board which our co-operative is part of. Its great publicity for these ladies and a real encouragement for them.

I have started a new quilt this week. It is based on a photo that I took of the Marina Bay Bridge in Singapore. I have been playing with this photo in Photoshop and even managed to print it out to a workable size. This quilt will be a bit different to other quilts that I have done so we will see how it works out! Watch this space!

My "tree" quilt will be winging it's way to NZ later in the year as it will be going to my Mum and Dad.

Well thats all for now...Happy quilting!

World famous in Singapore!

Here is a photo of my quilting ladies from Chinatown proudly showing of their baby quilts and our first art quilt with the Prime Minister of Singapore (centre) and the Mayor (right).

How exciting is that!!!! And to top it all off....we sold the fish quilt as well.

Don't the ladies look lovely all dressed up.

Im so proud of them!