Life!!

My dear cousin just had a baby girl~~ She is as beautiful as her mother. Although they are on the other side of the planet, I made a baby blanket for her as always. I just love the patterns on both these fabrics, and I hope they will like it, too~~ 

Pattern: Sew Much Ado "Ric Rac Receiving Blanket"
Size: 42” x 42”
Completion Date: 05-21-2012

I’ve also found these cutest baby socks in the store the other day~~ I knew I had to include them in the package. I hope I will be able to meet baby Cadence in person soon!!!

May and June is the season of Golden Shower Tree (Cassia fistula). This is one of my favorite trees~~ Just like its name, when its in full bloom, the whole street is showered in gold. Such a beautiful sight!!!!

Since having a yard is such a luxury here in Taiwan, I’m enjoying my little garden on the balcony. Most of the plants I have right now are second hand plants left there by the previous owner. They were not in the best shape when I took over, so you can imagine the joy when I saw the orchid budding!!! Right now it is blooming so beautifully and its such a joy to see it everyday~~

Another one was a mystery plant…. When I took over, it only had some dried leaves left. So I put it in the corner but kept on watering it. To my very surprise, it bloomed last month into this flower I’ve never seen before!!! I Googled and learned that this is a Blood lily (Scadoxus multiflorus). What a wonderful surprise~~

These are some wonders in my life lately. How about you?

Sunny and Bright

I’ve been back on stitching Mary these past few days. Mary’s name finally appeared~~ Love those bird motifs!!!

Here’s the progress as of today~ Noticed I’m avoiding the blank space on the right? I miscounted on one of the motifs and is trying to figure out how to adjust the other ones to fit them in…. Do not want to think of that now….

The sun is out and it’s in the 90’s, and I’m sweating like a pig… and summer is not even officially here yet!!! But it is such a pleasure to see the sun again after a long rainy season. I brought all my winter blankets up to the rooftop today for some sunshine, and thought I should take some better photos of my quilt~ Well, here it is baking under the sun!!! Still loving it every time I see it~

While I was on the rooftop, I also took some photos of the surroundings. This is Taichung, Taiwan, where I call home.

Hope you’re enjoying some sunny days as well~

Tumbler Quilt Fin.!!!!

Happy dance!!!! Happy dance!!!!! After two years and eight months, I finally finished my tumbler quilt~~~~ I’m sooooo happy that it is done!!!!!!! I was going to take some photos with it outside but It’s raining and I couldn’t wait to share this with all of you so these photos will have to do….

Pattern: Something I made up myself
Fabric: Urban Chiks 1974
Size: 78” x 61”
Beginning Date: 09-19-2010
Completion Date: 05-15-2016

I used the 1974 Urban Chiks fabric for this quilt. I still remember how I fell in love with this line of fabric when I first laid my eyes on them, and I still love it!!! I also used the fabric from the same line for the backing, and I have to say it is equally as beautiful as the front~

I hand quilted the whole thing, which is why it took me so long. But I think the end result is totally worth the effort!!!!!

I remembered to add a quilt tag this time. The date on it was the day I finished all the hand quilting. I did not expect the binding would go missing for so long…. At least it tuned out at the end~

And who would have know this quilt will go so perfectly with my new guess bed!!!! I just put this bed together a few weeks ago. Don’t you think they are a perfect match?!

Found!!

Things will turn up when you’re least expected – this is so true!!!! I was moving things around in the closet yesterday and there it was – my missing binding!!!!! I was so thrilled to find it, and immediately dug my sewing machine out of its box and set it up.

I am working on the whip stitch now, the end is finally near~

April Rain…

It’s that time of the year again, where it has been raining NON-STOP for days… I feel like I shouldn't complain, as we really need the rain here in Taiwan. But I’m so glad to see the sun out again today~ It’s such a nice break from all the wetness~

Another thing that made my day was Melissa’s package~ I was very lucky to win a giveaway from her blog Words and Blooms!! This package had to travel half way across the world and I’m so happy that it arrived safe and sound last week. I absolutely love these two charts, and cannot wait to have my hands on them. Thank you soooo much, Melissa~

But before I can start any new projects, I have to finish my Mary first!!! I did made a little progress on it, finishing another motif. This one is quite challenging, as I had to pay more attention on the rose buds. I love how it turned out, though~

And here is the whole progress of my Mary. It’s such a joy to see the gaps slowly filling in~ (Sorry about the wrinkles!!! I’ll deal with that later!!!)

That’s it for now~ So what do you do on rainy days?

Alive Again!!!

Hello my darling friends, how’s your Easter weekend? I can’t believe we are entering April already, and I have been absent for one month!!! I had a good excuse, though, cause March was not the best month for me. First I was buried with work, then I got really sick. I did not know what hit me, but I was down for almost two weeks!!!! Anyhow, I am grateful that my family is close by and mom was at the rescue. I am almost feeling myself again, hopefully this will not happen again anytime soon!!!!

As the result, I did not make too much progress on my Mary Wigham Sampler. I tried stitching in bed but the over one made it almost impossible to do so. So here is my latest progress, and of course I made a big mistake but was in too deep to correct it so I just let it be. Anyways, right now my motto is any progress is good progress~~

Back to catching up with my stitching!!!

So Close… Yet So Far!!

Has this ever happen to you? You put something important in a special place, but could not remember what that special place is…. Well, that is exactly what happened to me here!!!!! I was so happy that I finished all the hand quilting, and have everything ready for the binding, even made a quilt tag that was going to go with it.   

But where did I put that roll of binding?! I had it cut and rolled before our move back to Taiwan because it’s easier to store. I even remember unpacking it and put it at a special place for ease access, but now I can’t remember just where that special place is…. I went through all the shelves and drawers that I put my craft things and couldn’t find it. So much for being organized!!! After two days of digging through all my stuff, I am giving up. I’ll just have to put it aside for now and hope that the binding will turn up when I least expected. So here is my quilt minus the binding….

Moving on to my next project – the Mary Wigham Sampler!!!! Another UFO for such a long time!!! I decided to pick it up again, because I want to finish all my UFOs before starting on a new project again. Besides, I’m quite enjoying Mary’s company~ The last time I’ve worked on this was on September 30,2011!! It has waited long enough, won’t you say?!