RSC Week #12 - No Purple Sewing this Week

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

This is my delicious Easter treat; Choco Balls! 

I don't buy Easter Eggs here, I don't like the taste. If I'd been in Norway, that's another story; the marzipan Easter Eggs are to kill for! 

The week switching between rainy- and sunny days, which meant more yard work (when the weather permitted before noon)! Living in the tropics, yard work / weeding is a never ending task! April is just around the corner, the days & nights are getting cooler and the worst growing season is over (for this time!). Most households employ a yard worker. We don't. Our philosophy is as long as we are fit and can manage, there's no reason why we'll get other people doing the job. At any age, it is important to keep fit and yard work is good exercise! Well, enough of that and over to sewing!

As stated in the title; no purple sewing this week. 

I haven't got the purple thread yet. The Customs is waiting for missing papers from the sender, which seems to take some time. I may not get it until end of next week. That's OK. 

In addition to yard work and other tasks, I'm spending the evenings quilting the green table quilts. My goal is to get them done in time for April 1st, when a new color-of-the-month - RSC - is announced. The straight seams quilting is a bit tedious, but I love the look of the finished quilt.

Update: Table Topper quilted, except the border. 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Norwegian Flag table runner; it's finished!

I had some leftover binding and other red scraps from making the table runner, decided to make a few coasters

I talk about yard work, but never post any photos from the garden. 

Cloudy today, the perfect outside photo weather. We don't have a lot of blooming trees/plants, but here are a few. You may recognise bougainvillea and croton. The one top right is called 'Miss Hong Kong' here, not sure about its Latin name. 

 Edibles: guava berries and taro leaves, called brede songe in French/here. Very popular here, served together with curry. 

Taro leaves touffe recipe, click here

Green bananas and its flower

The roots from this plant are edible, not the leaves. Roots are boiled and can be prepared same way as mashed potatoes or just eat it boiled. Locals call this plant 'corn flour', but it doesn't have anything to do with the real corn plants. Most probably it has got that local name because it is possible to make flour from the roots? I don't know. MIL doesn't know another name for it either. 

Do you see those 'antennas'? It's a tiny dragon fruit (pitaya) plant grown from a seed! We got it from our dear South-African friends (they moved back to SA last year). I'm thrilled this little 'baby' made it and is growing! Don't ask me when it will give fruit! lol Well, it does say 1-2 years, so let's see. What I need to do is to transfer the plant to a bigger pot and eventually to a sunny spot in the garden. 

It's Easter Weekend

It's cloudy

Weather forecast: heavy rain and thunderstorms (typical weekend weather! LOL)

Best weather for staying comfy inside and SEW! 

Linking up with Angela and the RSC - Rainbow Scrap Challenge

 

 

FF-UFO 2024

 First Finished UFO 2024! 

I had this Patriotic Table Runner already thread basted (last year). 

Last Sunday, I decided to sew all day and I did all the quilting! Straight seams take time and are a bit tedious, but to finish an item, it has to be done, right?! The binding was done the next day, and voila! Finished!

Available in my Etsy Shop 

....and don't you think this little bugger showed up?!

It was hidden on the chair, in between other projects.

It's a small wall hanging I started last year. It's almost done; the gnomes need a nose each. Why on earth does that takes months to fix that?! Another UFO to the list!

I've just finished a custom order 

 1 table runner and 2 round table mats, on its way to the US.

You may have seen on the news Reunion Island and Mauritius were hit by cyclone 'Belal' some days ago. This is from Port Louis Monday this week; torrential rain caused flooding

...and the clean-up started two days ago. 

Fortunate, no damage to our property, except water in the lower ground floor, but that happens every time we get heavy rain. 'Belal' passed about 90 km / 56 miles to the south of the island, highest gusts 124 km/h (77 miles/h) measured here in Quatre Bornes. 

Cyclone season is officially from Nov 1 to May 15. Fingers crossed there won't be any hits to any of the countries in the Indian Ocean! 

 

Back in Blogland!

 Hello! Do you remember me?! I can't believe my last post was dated April 18! Where did those days, weeks & months go?! I'm sure someone has stolen them!!! 

Where do I start? You may wonder why I fell off blogland - again!? No particular reason; except it became a bit overwhelming and I needed a break. I lost the quilting mojo but it picked up when I started making Christmas items for my shop. UFO's has been on hold. At least I haven't made any new! Haha! Kidding!!! Of course I have new UFO's! Out of 15 UFO's (counted end of 2021) only 2 are finished! That's too bad! When I lost the quilting mojo I enjoyed counted cross-stitching (show & tell in a future post). 

As much as I love making Christmas items, all Christmas fabrics are packed away for this season. A *gnome lap quilt was put aside when I had to give priority working on other items. I won't be able to finish it this year, hence one of my new UFO's. 'Dear Nina' (my Bernina sewing machine) has to go in for service, after 7 years of hard work! Long overdue, I know!!! 

Last week I finished a custom order; 50 Norwegian Flag Coasters. A fun project! They are going all the way to Michigan. Thank you M.! 

New round coasters (set of 6) for my shop

A new UFO: I'm using a panel from Lewis & Irene's *'Keep Believing' for these blocks. The idea is to make a lap or twin quilt, depending on the yardage of fabric I have. 

New UFO #2: What to do with all the Moda Marbles just sitting there, just in case (once in a while) I need a matching blender?! I got the bright idea - haha! - to make an approximately 68"x78" quilt. I need 42 granny square blocks, set on point. Still some to go...

HAPPY QUILTING! 

Patriotic Table Runners, This and That

 I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. For us, it was just normal days. Here, compared to Norway, there are no public holidays related to Easter. In Norway; Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. Now that we are on partial lockdown (phase #1 in reopening), all church services are closed. If you would like to know more about lockdown Easter celebration in Mauritius, click here. 

UFO's are put aside, since I'm currently working on two Patriotic table runners. It's a custom order to one in the US. 

OOOH! That photo doesn't look that good, shot in the late afternoon in lamp light, but alas, you see what it is! lol This flag is in the centre of the table runner, which measures approximately 82 inches / 208 cm). Since the customer wanted a monogram, I have hand embroidered 'May 17, 1814' at the top and bottom of the flag. This date is the day the second oldest (after the US) constitution was signed and celebrated as Norway's National Day. 

The second table runner is shorter and doesn't have any monogram. Not visible here, but the pinwheels differ slightly from the longest table runner. Both are quilted and ready for the binding. 

Does any of you have an on-going project? 

My insanity project! 1.5 inches squares. So far, I have pieced together 1512 squares. For not being overwhelmed by all these tiny squares, I piece them together when I see there's enough for 2-3 36-patch blocks.

All the arcs for the Double Wedding Ring quilt is done.

...and in between quilting and housework

LHN's 'Coffee Menu'. Love how it turns out! Not much left to do. I love doing counted cross-stitching again; fun and relaxing. 

Our bougainvillea in full bloom.

HAPPY QUILTING!  

Scrappy Log Cabin WIP and other stuff

It's February! That means another UFO to finish!

APQ UFO Challenge for this month, is #9. For me, that means 'Log Cabin Blocks #2'. 

There are so many possible patterns for a log cabin quilt, difficult to choose. I had to decide, and ended up with this: 

When you are reading this, I've already pieced together these blocks and a few more. I started working on these scrappy log cabin blocks in March 2016! The idea was to make one block each day. It worked pretty well the first 3-4 months, but then I got bored. Last year I did some blocks off and on and the result is now 122 blocks! (8 inch sewn into quilt). I think I have enough blocks for a double/full bed quilt, yet to calculate. 

My little helper! I just had to go away when he came to 'help', because I know what he would have done; 'killed' the blocks or made a mess out of the block layout!!! This time he behaved! LOL

Since my previous post, I've been working on another UFO and a couple of Easter Table Runners

I've added another row to this scrappy quilt. It needs another row to make it a decent size.

These hip chicks are soon to be listed in my shop. I've left to hand sew the binding and add 'eyes' to the chicks. 

Oh, and I almost forgot

Last year I got a custom order for 24 Norwegian Flag Mug Rugs!!!

I ran out of red for the flag as well as backing fabric and had to order more. The backing fabric was sold out from where I usually buy fabrics so I had to hunt for it. I found a seller and the package was caught up in the Christmas Mail Rush. I finally got the package about 2 weeks ago and was able to finish the last 3 mug rugs. The mug rugs are now on the way to the US! Thank you Mark! 

In between sewing and rain, we managed to do a little bit in the overgrown garden last week. I was thinking I do some weeding today, but it's already hot and stuffy. Better stay inside and work on the log cabin UFO! 

HAPPY QUILTING!