UFO finish for February ....

Wendy and Dawn have revived the Sew It's Finished blog with an aim to motivate us to finish off our UFO's.... I am trying to at least do one per month....

This Christmas Bag has remained unfinished for a few years now.  I had completed the stitchery and even put the front together so there wasn't a huge lot left to do.

This is one of Michelle Ridgway's tote bag designs called "Amongst the Holly"

.. there is a sweet Robin and holly detail on the ric-rac.

... I quilted the back in a wiggly cross hatch... not too noticeable but it will hold it together.  The pattern called for iron on wadding which I didn't have so I sewed it on!

I did a 9 patch earlier which I showed HERE (I still haven't sewn down the binding but that's my plan in March UFO)

There were still some blocks left after that quilt and Susan kindly passed on to me some of hers she had spare.  AlsoI  had some fabric cut into strips from when we did the swap so I made them up too - as a result there are a few duplicates in this quilt but it has ended up a nice size with 63 blocks.

I chose to sash them in soft background fabrics and I raided my scraps'nstash for this - cut 2" strips and sashed all round.. then trimmed them all back to 9" squares on a slight tilt

... I love using my door peeper to see if I like the way the colours are laid out

(makes a pretty fun picture too!!)

..the blocks are all laid out now - I have sewn the top row together so it looks shorter than the rest here.....

So this is what is on my Design Board this week - I'm linking up with Cath at Bits 'n Bobs

Righto, Gotto Go... those seams aren't going to sew themselves!

Cooking in Bali...

One of my favourite things to do when going to a place with a completely different culture is to eat as much of the local food as I can.  Indonesian staple diet is Nasi Goreng, a rice dish and I had that frequently - and loved it.

I never thought I would actually want to cook on holiday but my DIL and I did exactly that...

We started with a tour in a fruit and vegetable market....

 Those long beans are called snake beans and can get up to a metre long.... I would need one bean for a meal!!

I don't remember all the herbs...

.. one sweet old dear insisted we have some flowers in our hair, the most delicious scented jasmine

... chilli's feature alot in Indonesian food....

... chopping knives, (the one regret I have is not buying one of the knives)

... trying exotic fruit ... this is Rambutan, which tastes very like lychee.

... in the vehicle on the way to the cooking class we stopped off at a paddy field and had a bit of a chat about the family ownership of these....

... our teacher for the day.. what a character and runs it so well...

.. this is the outlook of the kitchen/dining area.... how wonderful.....

... lots of grinding of nuts, herbs and spices....

... and lots of chopping too....

.. using the special Bali blender.....

works well.... though I might stick to the one you just push the button on!

... all our ingredients ready to start the cooking

It was DIL's birthday .... she chose to spend it with me in the kitchen!!!

cooking up the pastes for flavouring... smelt amazing

... we both had turns ....

... we made mushroom soup for starter.... it was very good...

... cooking the satay chicken on the Bali BBQ - using coconut husks which keep nice and hot and little smoke...

.. the view from my dining seat....

.. our table of mains.... tuna in the front there... snake bean and cocunut salad in the middle and chicken satay on the sticks...

... my plateful... I might have gone back for seconds (!!!).  There is also a chicken curry, gado gado (mixed vegetables) and Tempe Kering (my favourite)

... a closer look at Gado Gado (it has cabbage, beans, bean sprouts, tofu and cucumber and is served with a peanut sauce) - very yum

.. for desert there was cooked banana and jackfruit served with coconut cream....

Delicious way to spend a day....

Righto, Gotto Go... I need to source some ingredients I think (we were provided with recipes which also give alternatives to some of the ingredients. 

Did you know?

That Ausi designer Toni Alexander from Me and My Red Boots  has a book coming out????

Such a perfect name as Toni's quilts are nothing but happy - bright applique, large designs, bold colours and easy to do for both the machine and hand appliquer....  There are also Softies to match the patterns so whether you're a toy maker or a quilt maker there's sure to be something.  Don't you love those superheroes on the front cover?

I have done a couple of Toni's quilts in the past... this is a Dog one I got from a magazine a few years ago.... I made it with wool from old blankets and a chenille background.  It's lovely and warm and cuddly and a favourite with widget.

just love those faces....

Catnip is one for the cat lovers... and  it's ultra cute too....

Baby It's Cold Outside is another favourite of mine that I have made... its fresh and cool but still snuggly ....

... those quirky faces get me every time...

There is still a few others on my wish list.... for one day!!!  Like Flower Fairies and Scrap Bin Sheep 

Her patterns are available in pdf as well as printed which is great for instant gratification and saving on postage, or for those like me who like printed patterns.

Toni's Web Page with links for preordering Happy Quilts is HERE - you get a chance to win prizes if you preorder so follow instructions given HERE.

This is the link to Toni's BLOG - and she's going to be doing giveaways on the lead up to the book release so keep a look out there!

PS I am not being paid to advertise, Toni is a personal friend of mine and I know how much work has gone into doing this book.

Righto, Gotto Go ...... I think I may look at what fabrics I have for the Flower Fairies since I already have the pattern...

Solar Revolutions ....

This week I celebrated another revolution around our sun .... which has been scorching by the way!

This parcel was waiting for me when I got back from holiday...

Shez knows I love wool and made this gorgeous topper (the polar bear card was to add a bit of cool I think) Beautiful hand work.

Her work is just lovely and it is already in a spot where I had a blank space at our entrance.  Thanks so much Shez... what a lovely kind friend you are.

 Michelle knows I loved these animals from my birth land (Zimbabwe) and she found a picture and drew this for me.....  the detail is amazing and it's a beautifully done example of the African Wild Dog

.. there were a couple of extra treats too... (the chocs didn't make it to the photo shoot!)

Thanks so much Michelle, very special.

My Hubz surprised me this year by bringing home flowers (he has never done that so I nearly fell over!!)  aren't they gorgeous and they are looking even more lovely now they are opening up a bit

My daughter and widget came home and decorated these funny face cupcakes.... just perfect to bring a smile. She also found this lovely light board which will feature on blog posts (can change the wording so it will be fun - does need some batteries though!)

Heaps of messages from friends and family and calls from all my children so it's all worth being a bit older.

Bali has heaps of fabrics..there is a couple of streets dedicated to fabric shops.....  I was aiming for just one though and had a list of batiks I wanted to get to do a couple of specific quilts.  I might have got a bit extra!!

(I am not a holiday shopper so I go in and just get what I want and leave!!! sad isn't it????) However I was almost sorry I wasn't a dress maker too... so much lovely laces, silks, etc

These will feature this year, I want to learn using the curve ruler and so they are for having a play with that.

It hasn't taking me long to get back to some quilting.   I am wanting to work more with rulers - this one is small scale (those little swags are 2" across) takes a bit of time but a lovely effect....

... and of course there is hand stitching to do whilst in front of the TV at night...

Bluebird tea time teddy (designed by Michelle) has come to life...

... the other thing I had to catch up on was the boring grocery shop.... this time I added some different things to the basket to try out some of the things I tasted and learnt in Bali....

Anybody tried making Malasian/Bali dishes?

So - lots to get working on....... 

Righto, Gotto Go... best get to it!!