One of the fun part of making a quilt is deciding where each of the colours go.  Sometimes it does take me quite a while to decide and I have to make a few colour sketches.  Once I am happy then I'll start calculating how many blocks I would need for the quilt.  Then, the number of triangles or squares...
:-O

Ducks and Ducklings

Thinking of making a quilt for my nephew who is getting married next year.  Their favourite colours...purple and green.  So I went through my fabric cupboard and found these!  Yay!!!  I decided to make two alternate blocks, one in  green and the other in purple.  This will be a queen size quilt.  Got to get started...lots of triangles to cut and piece......

 These are a few of the scarves and beanies that I made.  I even bought a loom set for flowers.  It's easy and fun to use.
  I used the biggest round loom to make adult beanies.  As for the length of the scarf, it  varies depending on the person who is using it.  I also made infinity scarves.  Thank God for the invention of the  knitting looms!!!  A real dodo like me can knit!!  LOL

Knitting looms

I know I have not blog for  quite a while!!  I have been busy with house renovations again!!  To cut the story short...our house was hit by lightning resulting in a little flood in the study downstairs so we decided we might as well renovate a little bit :-)   That took a couple of months to finish and a bit more time for me to settle all the nitty gritty things in the house. But that doesn't mean I was idle and not doing anything!!  In fact, I was doing quite a bit of knitting.  Not with knitting needles but with knitting looms.  I am not a knitter...I really don't know how to knit.  I took a few lessons from Aunty Christina to knit with knitting needles but I gave up.   You know, when the teacher is not there to help you through a difficult stage, you tend to give up!  But I really wanted to make my own scarf and beanie so I bought the knitting looms to try out.  No regrets at all!!  It was so easy!!! I went to Youtube and search for tutorials.   Yay!!!

I wanted to post these pictures of the finished quilt but I couldn't do it until now!  Had a bit of a problem with my laptop.  I also wanted to show the true color of the quilt as I noticed the color didn't really turn out well.  As you can see, the picture on the right showed off all the colors on the quilt.  The backing is a green fabric with tiny yellow flowers to brighten the earthy colors on the front!!

Ohio Star and Cross Country Quilt

I made this quilt in 2008 when I first started my blog.  Yes, it has been in my UFO cupboard since then!!  I finally decided to take it out and quilt it!!  Can't wait to see it on my bed!!  It is so easy to piece together a quilt but so hard to get it quilted!!!

I am quilting it along the ditch with an even foot.  I find that it easy to quilt that way.  I have divided the quilt into 4 sections and have already quilted 3 sections.  After the 4th section, I have to start again on the other direction so that all sides will be quilted.  This quilt is quite bulky because the batting is thick.  I wanted a thick one because at that time I didn't think that I would use a machine to quilt it.  The throat of this Juki machine is slightly bigger than the normal sewing  machine and yet I find it quite hard to move  the quilt.  Was really tempted to change the batting!  LOL

First finished quilt of the year!!!  Hope more will follow!!!  It is so easy to piece together a quilt top but so hard to get it all done up!!!  I have at least 4 more of my own quilts to baste and quilt.  My sister sent me 3 to quilt for her!  With all these in line, I don't know if I can piece together any quilt tops this year!!!!  :-)

Irish Chain...Single quilt

This was one of my UFOs which was tucked away in the cupboard.  It was all basted and was just waiting to be quilted!!!  I finally decided to take it out and quilt it!!  Needed some space in the cupboard for more stuff!!  I did simple straight lines with the even foot across the squares and  free hand motion quilting for the flowers.  As I am still not an expert in that, I actually did draw the flowers but didn't quilt it exactly on the line!!  The petals on the flowers are supposed to be rounded on the edges but I made it pointed and sharp...I find it easier to quilt!  :-)

I did some simple quilting on the quilt top.  My sister added the extra hearts and figures on the top to make it more interesting.  We tried to make it colourful because African fabric colors are very bright and colorful!!  I love the choice of colors on this quilt!!  I think my sister did a fantastic job in chosing the colors!!!

We gave Branden his quilt on Christmas day.

The finished quilt!!!  My sister, Adeline, on the left!!

 We decided everyone should write a message for him a the back of the quilt.

Grandma looking at her granddaughter drawing/writing her message.

Some of the messages on the quilt... It was fun for everyone to draw/write  their messages.  We don't know when we'll see Branden again.  We hope it will be soon and we pray for his health and safety everyday. :-)

Branden's quilt

 I found this pattern in the Salvation Army Thrift Shop in Fremantle, Australia.  When I saw it, I immediately thought of my nephew, Branden, who is in the Peace Corps and is currently teaching Maths and Physics  in Tanzania.  I thought a quilt like this will remind him of his time there in Africa.  We are very proud of him.   He has also started a fund for his students. If you would like to donate, please copy and paste this link on your browser.  

http://www.gofundme.com/BrandenTZ  

This quilt is a joint effort between my sister, Adeline, and I.  She sorted all the fabrics, sewed all the appliqué and pieced together the whole quilt top!!  My job is just to quilt!

More CNY clothes!!

Jenny's CNY blouse

Bought this pattern online from Burda.com.  Be prepared to print and join all the pieces of A4 together (at least 40 pages) :-)   This pattern can be made into a dress as well.  I added stitch lines on the sleeves, bottom  of the blouse and Chinese buttons to make it look more oriental.  I also made slits (not sure if you call it slits!) for the sleeves.

 Luke's CNY shirt 

He said he does't like the red flowery shirt :-(  So I gave it to one of my nephews who was so happy to have it!!!  :-)   It was fun making all the the clothes!!  

Ann's CNY blouse

Cut this pattern out by tracing around an old  blouse of mine!!  I added Chinese buttons on the sleeves on top of the slits.

I did make another dress but I forgot to take a picture of it :-(