Tea Coaster Swap, Brown Bag Quilt Contest and a WIN

Earlier this year I signed up for the NNC's Tea Coaster exchange, hosted by Usha (no blog).

There are many talented crafters in NNC, and one of them is Zarina from Malaysia. I received these lovely tatted tea coasters from her.

Zarina has used her own hand dyed thread; Aubrille & Garden's Path.

If you want to see more of her hand dyes, click here.

  

Zarina crochets too; look at this beautiful doily I received together with the tatted tea coasters. The doily can be used for the tea pot.

Zarina is a quilter too, check out her blog here.

Once again, thank you so very much Zarina, for the beautiful tea coasters & doily!

My partner for the tea coaster exchange is Usha (no blog - Usha, I'm very sorry if I do a mistake, but you don't have a blog, do you?)

This is what I made for Usha; four quilted tea coasters and an extra for the tea pot.

A big thanks to NNC & Usha for organizing the tea coaster swap 2010!

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I always say I never win... How wrong was I???

When Kris over at Tag Along Teddies launched two new patterns and a giveaway, I left a comment for the giveaway - and I won the Butterfly Hunt pattern!

HURRAY!!! Isn't it cute?! Click on the photo and you'll see it more detailed.

Thanks a lot, Kris!

If you want to know more, click here.

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Brown Bag Quilt Contest - for more information, click here.

I have signed up for the BBQC, and my swap partner is Sharon (no blog) in the US. Today I received the "ugly" fabrics from her....  GOSH, aren't they ugly???? LOL! No, I don't see the fabrics as ugly. The colors go from light to dark purple. Purple isn't my favorite color, but after I made the table runner for Alynn, I'm a bit more comfortable with purple.

After auditioning the fabrics, I have an idea what to make, but I have yet to decide on pattern. This is going to be FUN!

I forgot to take a photo of the fabrics I sent to Sharon; too much in a hurry that day. :)

Once again; thanks for the "ugly" fabric, Sharon! :)

Split Hourglass quilt, Pinwheels, and a cold

If it hadn't been for that darn cold I caught last week, I had managed to do much more this week! I had an appointment in Port Louis (the capital) last Friday, and afterwards we met up with Elzaan. Thanks for a great day out, Elzaan! The day before, we agreed to meet at one of the craft shops - and so we did. (Silly me forgot to take some photos!) I got all the items on my shopping list, and I even got "shishas" - mirrors!

If you don't have to stay in Port Louis, you do your best to get out of there before the rush over that starts already at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

This is the motorway through Port Louis, taken at noon. A couple of hours later it is jam packed.

Before I caught the cold, I finished the Split Hourglass quilt! Hurray! The pattern is from a magazine, but I have changed the outside border using scraps instead on one fabric. Comparing it to the original pattern, I think my version looks more lively by using colorful scraps.

I didn't get much done this week. Having a cold with a dripping nose and coughing, are not the ideal time to spend crafting. I received the fabric for the Pinwheel quilt some time ago, so all I managed to do over the last week was to finish the Pinwheel top.

This quilt is made of one layer cake and some extra yards for the pinwheels and borders. I've used "Evening Mist" from Sentimental Studios - very beautiful fabric. If you want a closer look at the fabrics, click here. The fabric for the pinwheels and narrow border is from my scraps.

I'm currently working on a cross-stitch Christmas ornament as well as a few other things that are Christmas gifts - top secret! :))

HAPPY CRAFTING!

Potholders and FMQ Weekend

Do you have as many excuses for not doing what you are supposed to do, as I had this weekend?

I started quilting the Split Hourglass quilt in the middle of last week - I think it was - but after quilting more than half, I got tired of it and decided to make some potholders. No, it's not right to say I got tired of it - I didn't - I needed to break to rest my shoulders and arms. I worked quite a lot on it one day, and my arms don't like the pulling of the heavy quilt through the harp (?) on my dear (Ber)Nina.

I know! I know! I was not supposed to start ANY new project before I had finished some of the quilt tops!!!! To my defense I have to say I did finish the potholders!!! :))

I made three pairs. I struggled a bit with the hanging loop, but in the end - after reading some tutorials on the net - I think they turned out OK.

Here I have used leftover fabrics from the "Mystery Quilt". Colorful - aren't they?

As you may have noticed already; these are FMQ (free motion quilted).

I don't get good close-ups with my digital camera, but if you click on the photo (I think it is possible) you'll have a better look on all my mistakes - lol! I thought something small - like potholders - is a good way to practise FMQ. Well, it didn't turn out that bad for a newbie - did it - but I'll have to practise much more before I dare jump onto a huge quilt. As you can see, there are some sharp turns etc.

I bought this wonder a while ago. It's a teflon sheet for FMQ. It grips to the bed of the machine and lets your project slide when FMQ.

I tried it for the first time yesterday when FMQ the potholders, and I'm really impressed! It does work on small projects, but I can't say anything about bigger projects, because I haven't tried. The reviews are positive (do a google).

I believe it is possible to easily get hooked on FMQ. I woke up in the middle of the night and was thinking / figuring out how to quilt the TG (Tina Givens) quilt - lol!

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Enough cutting for today!!! :)) I'm quite sure that is what he's trying to say! :))

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Yummy flourless chocolate cake.

I couldn't resist making Mexican Flourless Chocolate cake. No flour, but a little bit cayenne pepper... I love the little taste of cayenne together with chocolate/cocoa.

Want the recipe? Click here.

It's not me - DH dived into it before it was cold - that's why a small piece is missing - lol! :))

Shisha and WIP's / UFO updates

Do you know Shisha (the Hindi word for little glass) - or perhaps it is known better as traditional Indian Mirror Embroidery?

This is something I have wanted to do for a very long time, but... you know how it is; the quilt bug - or quilt obsession - or quilt possession - name it what suits you the best! :)

I still believe it's going to take me some more time before I put my hands into Shisha, but one never know; have to visit the craft shop for embroidery floss next week - and there they sell Shisha mirrors too! :))

We crafters know there are people who don't value or appreciate handmade things. They have no clue how much time, effort and love we put into what we make. Some even look down on us, because crafting is not worth anything, doesn't have a value, like gold, silver, expensive things etc.

This beautiful woollen, hand embroidered Shisha shawl was thrown in the bin...

A while ago MIL rescued this Shisha embroidered shawl from the bin. This shawl - the mirror embroidery - is handmade by an old Indian woman. It was given as a gift, but the person who got it doesn't appreciate it. How much love, effort and time did the old woman put into it? Who cares?!

MIL took care of it, and turned it into a pouffe. Lack of filling made her tired of it - lol - and guess what?! She asked me if I wanted it! Of course I wanted it - so now it is in safe hands! :) I know MIL would never have thrown it! It'll take me some time to fill it, because I want to use small pieces of fabrics. So far I have collected 2,5 huge plastic bags with fabrics cuts, but it won't be enough...

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When I did the previous post, there were some WIP's and UFO's I didn't remember. Now I have updated the sidebar with WIP's and UFO's per September. I don't have photos of all of them, but here's the latest quilt top I finished earlier this week.

Here I have used several Tina Givens fabrics, except the sashing.

Now the "fun" begins; sandwiching the quilt tops - phew! I have yet to decide which one to do first, but I believe it will be either Marion's quilt or the Split Hourglass quilt - I have batting and backing for these two...