A Quilting Life's BOM 2025 is a FLIMSY

 UFO #27 (UFO list) is finally a Flimsy!

A Quilting Life's BOM 2025

The quilt consists of 12 blocks. I did 10 of the blocks in RSC colors (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) last year. Somehow I dragged on the last two - see my previous post. 

I couldn't decide on what color to choose for the house block. For the Dresden Plates block; I was not veeery eager to do it since I had never done any before. As I can recall, I think an alternative block was suggested. I 'survived' doing the Dresden Plates block! LOL 

It always takes me some time deciding on sashing and border fabrics, when needed. Suitable fabric (from my stash) is usually not enough and I'm not purchasing fabrics this year unless strictly necessary to finish a project. 

I dived deep into the fabric shelves and pulled out a red fabric I had totally forgotten about it! Not easy to see on the phot, it has black cherries and tiny white dots on dark red, from STOF France, 100% cotton. I bought this fabric in Port Louis some years ago. If I can remember the name of that shop, I'll go there again! I know that shop has moved to another location and right now I can't for my life remember the name of that shop or the location it moved to. 

I'm pondering about backing. I may do a pieced one? I have a piece of 108" backing in my stash, I may use that one? I'm sure there are fabrics just sitting there that are waiting to be used. You know... Those 'ugly' fabrics! I shall see.... 

In the garden

I don't know the name of these. We picked up a few wild plants on one of our hikes some years ago and now it has spread beautifully. I love it, because it prevents weed from growing.

The flower bud

The flowers stay for one day only. 

Amaryllis in full bloom. It has a beautiful red/orange color.

Linking up with 

So Scrappy

Melva Loves Scraps

Small Quilts & Doll Quilts

  

RSC Week #15 Yellow continues

First of all, as Chantal pointed out in my previous post, that I sewed three of the four bowtie blocks the wrong way! I was a bit cross-eyed after making all those blocks that day! lol Mistakes happen when we are tired. 

I had to make them the right way, or else it had haunted me forever!

 Here they are! Redone!

Thank you Chantal for pointing it out! 

Yellow Scrap Jar blocks done

...and finally; Zipper blocks

The small yellow table topper has got a black border. I used a piece of ... well, not really 'ugly' fabric, but... a bit too yellow to my taste, for the back. (Forgot to take photo of the back). The black border is 2" cut, I may trim it down a bit after the quilting is done. 

Currently working on some hot pads, placemats and coasters.

I want to do as much as possible on these this weekend. Monday is already middle April and I so, so, so need to work on UFOs! 

The last days have been HOT. April, it is supposed to be cooler. The last couple of days we've had +32C / 89.6F (+34C / 93.2F in Port Louis and along the coast). Meteo says +3-4C above seasonal means! It feels like it's February! Not April! 

More yard work was done the last couple of days. 

This is the 'Rodrigues Lemon' tree I wrote about here. 

The leaves are looking healthy and I hope it stays like that! 

Linking up with Angela and the RSC - Rainbow Scrap Challenge

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

 

 

RSC Week 12 - GREEN Flimsy and Pieced Backing

 It has been another busy GREEN week. 

My goal this month has been to use as much green fabric from my stash as possible, and I think I have succeeded, IMO. Last week I had made 48 scrappy Churn Dash blocks for the green scrappy quilt and made a couple of crumb blocks for the pieced backing (here). 

A flimsy!!!

To get a better variety of green, I pulled out what I had of 5" squares in green. Not that it was that many, but fabric used is a good thing, isn't it? :) 

It didn't take long piecing together the blocks. What took time was the pieced backing. Quite some brainwork getting the pieces to fit. 

I'm happy to say lots of bits, pieces and 'ugly' green have gone into the backing. 

The batting was delivered yesterday, guess what I'm going to do next week!

 The crumb blocks are made from 'table scraps'.

Together with the batting I got yesterday, I also got thread to finish more items; trivets and placemats (previous post). Please note I DID NOT buy anything I didn't need, EXCEPT two quilt magazines! LOL  Did I need the magazines?? Yes, for inspiration! :) 

Did you notice I haven't said anything about the weather? It did improve and this week we have had some sunny days and 'of course' hot and way too humid for me. We are heading towards the 'cold' season and the nights and slightly cooler, which is a good sign! 

Our coffee trees (we have four trees) are thriving in the hot and humid weather condition, lots of coffee beans (actually coffee berries) this season. 

Linking up with Angela over at SOS Scrappy  and the RSC - Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2023

RSC Week 10, GREEN all over

 GREEN and wet outside - GREEN and cozy inside!

It's week 10 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge - RSC hosted by Angela over at SOS Scrappy. March is the GREEN month. It has been more rainy (and h*** humid!) than sunny days this week hence no venture out (except grocery shopping).  

I've been working on green, trying to reduce some of the approximately 30 yards measured. Where did all that green come from?! Someone must have done some purchases! LOL 

After making the pink quilt (left to add binding) for the little girl, I decided to make a GREEN quilt for her brother. 

The first idea was to make a Rail Fence quilt but decided against it. Curious to what block I've chosen? Scrappy Churn Dash! This block would make a more fun scrappy quilt, IMO. (A Rail Fence quilt is still on my bucket list). 

I have 22 blocks, each block 12" finished). I'm aiming for a 72 x 96 inches quilt. The kids' two uncles are 6.56 feet / 2 meters tall, the nephew may take after them, who knows? 

The first I did this week, was to make the blocks for the Swirling Stars Quilt

This is the big block, 22.50" square

Two small ones, 11.50"

They look pretty in green, don't they? 

Slow progress on my UFO; two more 'trees' made. Now I have all the 'trees' needed. It's going to be a Christmas Card Holder. 

A dear friend in Norway has asked me to make two throw pillows and a table runner. We decided on 'Granny Squares' for the first pillow and maybe reverse the colors for the second one. Two different greens (Moda Marbles) will be used. 

I began this post with 'Green and wet outside', and that is exactly what it is right now!

Taken from our porch less than 30 minutes ago. The mountain in the distance (west) is covered in clouds and rain. Not sure if you can see it; the berries on the trees in front are coffee beans (berries). Click on the photo to enlarge. Then there's some banana trees and in the background a palm tree, known as latania palm by the locals. 

Bananas! Fresh from the garden! No pesticides or herbicides. We usually get the bunches off the trees before they are ripe to prevent birds eating them.

Linking up with Angela and RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge)  

HAPPY SCRAPPY WEEKEND! 

 

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!  

Our garden

I didn't intend blogging today, because I don't have anything crafty to show. I haven't been lazy though; I've done quite a lot, but it is top secret - until Christmas! :)

I was looking at some photos taken in our garden over the past 2-3 weeks and thought I'd share some of the beauties with you.

Clerodendrum thomsonae - Bleeding Heart vine.

Callistemom citrinus - Bottlebrush tree

Nerium Oleander - Laurier Blanc

The amazing Bougainvillea - one tree with at least three different colors.

One of our Passion Fruit trees.

Alpinia zerumbet - Fleur de mon ame/Shell ginger

Not a very good close-up, but if you click here you'll get some better images.

Begonia

"Pistache Malgache".

We don't know any other name on this tree. I've searched the net without success. Searching for "Pistache Malgache" gives groundnuts......, but this is a tree nut. It's a tall tree with stunning flowers. When the big nut is ready, it "explodes" into 4 - or is it six (?) parts, and the eatable nuts inside are spread everywhere. There are about 16-20 nuts inside one huge nut.

I thought I had photos of the flowers or an open nut, but can't find any.

If there's any of you who knows this tree, please let me know.



Weekend Updates; Prize, CTS, Garden, Award...

Isn't it amazing how fast the days go by? It's already Monday, and another week starts.

I didn't manage to do as much sewing as I intended to do over the weekend. Yesterday was such a beautiful, sunny day, perfect for garden work. I did quite some weeding and I'm feeling it 'good' in my body today. My 'problem' is that I can't stop working before my body cries out; 'STOP'! It's not that I get tired, it's the darn ol' knees and lower back... A blogging friend once wrote in a post she tortures herself in the garden, and I think I do the same... I love our garden, and I love weeding too, as long as it doesn't become overwhelming. :)

Speaking about gardening... When walking home from grocery shopping some days ago, we found this beauty on the street side. Well, perhaps it doesn't look very beautiful after all, without any leaves - poor thing, but to me it is an exotic plant - and I find it beautiful. I'm not able to take a close-up of the tiny, red flower - my camera is not good enough for that. It was thrown out from a garden. I love plants; I couldn't help it - I brought it home! Now it's in a pot and I hope it starts growing after the 'shock' of being thrown out! :)) I believe this plant is called 'desert rose' - anyone knows?

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If you have followed/read my blog for some time, you know all the UFO's I finished from January to May? It was a UFO-contest, which you can read more about in this post. 

I didn't intend to win, I just decided to finish as many as possible of the UFO's I had. I finished 14 - and I WON the contest!

And here's the prize I received last week; a needle case! Isn't it gorgeous?! I just LOVE it!!

The front....

The back....

What is inside; scissor case and needle case for sewing machine needles. GORGEOUS!!!

It is made by Karin over at this blog and her daugther Nancy over at this blog.

Karin and Nancy; THANK YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH! I LOVE IT!!! :)

(This is my first needle case ever!)

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I started writing this post this morning, thought I was going to publish it, but then I decided to wait getting some more updates.

I've been working on the four 'angel-blocks' for the Christmas tree skirt (CTS) today, and here's how it turned out;

These four blocks are almost done; I have to buy red seed beads for the halo. Next step is another four blocks; the manger. It has a lot of small pieces - as I can recall there are almost 20 pieces - it'll take some time.... :)

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Vicki over at this blog, surprised me with a very nice Award.

This is an Award about being true to oneself.

Thank you so very, very much Vicki! :)

I'm passing this lovely Award on to;

Kjersti - Kjersti's Loese Traader

Sigrun - Sigrun's Lappeteknikk

Anne-Lise - Sjoko Quilt

Joanne - Lavender Fields Etc

for being true to themselves and sharing about life.

Thanks for sharing about life!