Creations by Diana

2012-01-09T00:55:00.000-08:00

2012 - Year of the Dragon

In celebration of the Chinese New Year, here are my girls in their cheongsams!

Asia's is made with fussy cut KF with trim.

Punk models a cheongsam made with Japanese fabric.

Sorbet wants to wear something festive made from Xmas fabric.

Cassie's is made with traditional Chinese fabric.

Happy Lunar New Year!

2011-12-13T05:11:00.000-08:00

2011 Holiday Greetings from Diana's Blythe Family!!

Photo album generated with Smilebox

Blythe & Friends Doll Meet

2011-10-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

On Oct. 9, 2011 over 160 dolls attended a Blythe & Friends Doll Meet in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Besides a count of 48 Blythes, there were also Barbies, DAL, Pulip, Momoko dolls just to name a few. Thanks to 王子 for organizing the doll meet.

Enjoy the slide show!!

This free slideshow design generated with Smilebox

What's been happening...

2011-09-29T05:08:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 months since my last post. I was on vacation in the States visiting my family. It was sad saying goodbye because it'll be a few years before I can see them again.

Once I came back I dived right back into sewing. Why not quilting you asked? Because I had to make doll clothes for my 2 Blythes : Raspberry Sorbet and Punkaholic People. Yes, I know I'm still calling them by their model names. I simply can't think of any suitable names for these two dolls. For now they're simply referred to as Sorbet and Punk.

Now, sit back and enjoy a Blythe fashion show!!

Personalize a free slideshow

Some outfits were made with free patterns courtesy of puchicollective.com and xoxoBlythe.com. Other outfits were made using patterns from Mook books.

Blythe - Raspberry Sorbet

2011-07-01T03:40:00.000-07:00

Today a much anticipated parcel arrived at my door step.

I gingerly opened the box { heart is thumping xoxoxo}

It's my first Blythe - Raspberry Sorbet!! I bought her online based on other collector's recommendation. Overall I had a great experience buying her online.

Took me a while to dress her up and we had a stroll around the neighborhood. Finally convinced her to pose for a picture. At last... she's still too shy to look into the camera!

I'm thinking of washing her hair, but haven't found out the how's yet.

Advanced Machine Quilting Class Sampler Quilt

2011-06-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

After 6 months of work, my 2nd sampler quilt is finally DONE!! I've never pieced such a big quilt before, designing the border was a first. At times I was frustrated with the bulk while FMQ. But I persevered and have a quilt to show...

Close-ups of the FMQ on the quilt. Since this is a sampler quilt, I had to incorporate at least 6 different quilting designs.

This is the final project for my Certified Machine Quilting Class. Onward to the next level of classes....!!

HST Mini Quilt Top

2011-05-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

Remember this pieced border? There were probably closed to 200 corners cut off from the border. I didn't throw away any of the scraps, I chain pieced those corner units into HST thinking one of these days I'm going to make something out of it.

Then the other day Chasing Cottons started a Quilt Class 101 . I was motivated by what she was doing. Voila! After 1 day of squaring up more than 40 HST into 5 x 5 cm squares, I pieced these 25 blocks into a mini quilt top.

I haven't decided how I'm going to finish this quilt top yet. Should I just make a mini quilt out of it or incorporate it into a bigger project? Any suggestions?

Happy Quilting!

Fearless Fawn

2011-04-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be one of the few to test drive this paper pieced pattern by Shape Moth.

Fearless Fawn
(Since I chose a cream background fabric, it blended in with the background :( )

Kirie's patterns are well designed and easy to understand. I had so much fun piecing this adorable fawn together.

Thank you, Kirie, for sharing!

Innocent Crush + Block Party

2011-04-25T00:48:00.000-07:00

After a long search at my LQS I was able to purchase my first stash of Anna Maria Horner fabric!

Five yards of Innocent Crush combined with the quilt top I made with these blocks will result in my 2nd sampler quilt. Instead of plain borders, I've challenged myself to make a pieced border for this quilt.

Here's the first audition of border design:

Second border design looked better:

(KF shot cotton for sashing)

Close-ups of my paper pieced borders:

   -- some block centers were pieced with 2 or
   more different fabric!

It took me several hours to tear off all the paper from the border. A tedious task but worth the precision paper piecing provided for this beginning quilter.

I'm using Innocent Crush as my quilt backing. I've sandwiched my sampler quilt and am in the process of machine quilting. Hopefully by the end of May I'll have a finished quilt to show everyone!

Happy Quilting!

DQS10 Received

2011-04-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

Look what arrived at my doorstep today! My very own doll quilt from lollybix . This quilt, aptly named Circling the Sun, has all of my favorite quilting elements... circles, birds, and FMQ. My secret partner truly made an outstanding quilt for me.

Not only am I the lucky recipient of this beautifully made quilt, I now own a bundle of Kona solids, too! lollybix must be psychic, because I have the Kona solids on my Xmas wish list.

Thank you, lollybix , for my beautiful quilt and fabric!!

This concludes my first Doll Quilt Swap experience! I hope there'll be more to come!

Mid March Finishes!

2011-03-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

I've been taking morning walks lately to enjoy the perfect spring weather we've been having! Therefore, haven't done much in quilting except for completing two small sewing projects.

Yuwa oilcloth was used for this particular bag. It's quite sturdy and perfect for those rainy day grocery trips! Thank you, Hana, for sharing this bag pattern.

I made this Bella stuff doll in celebration of the Year of the Rabbit! Thank you, Peggy, for sharing this pattern!

More WIP to finish this month....!

Doll Quilt Swap (DQS10) - Tile Quilt Completed!

2011-02-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

Finally finished the hand binding on my DQS10 quilt. I think this is my best work yet - of course the pattern and the beautiful fabric made this possible.

This tile quilt was raw edge appliqued with matching or variegated thread and quilted in the ditch. I chose to finish up the quilt with just a simple binding so not to distract the eyes form the image.

Here's the back view of the quilt! I haven't added the label yet, who could it be for?

Here are two close up views of the quilt!

I hope this quilt has a place in your home, partner!

After thought: I feel so fortunate to be participating in Doll Quilt Swap. These doll (mini) quilts are perfect for trying out new technique and challenging oneself.

Doll Quilt Swap (DQS10) - Tile Quilt

2011-02-09T02:55:00.000-08:00

I'm so lucky to be participating in this round of Doll Quilt Swap. Here's our swap button

After stalking through my secret swap partner's inspiration mosaic, I came up with the following pattern and fabric selection.

This is a pattern from the book "Tile Quilt Revival" by Carol Gilham Jones & Bobbi Finley. My partner likes bright colors so I'm going with KF fabrics. Hope she'll like it! ((Find it at Flickr)

Block Party

2010-12-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

A block party? Yes, but not what you're thinking about! There's no food, no dancing, and certainly no chatting going around. But there's plenty of lovely fabrics to be petted , cut, and sewn!

I've been making blocks for my 2nd sampler quilt. This sampler quilt is all about perfecting my rotary cutting and precision sewing skills. Of course don't forget about math. I had to come up with the block size and from there determined the size of the triangles, squares, or rectangles to be cut for each block.

Churn Dash: Amy Butler and Rowan fabric.

Hour Glass Block: going for a black and white look here.

Buckeye Beauty Block : Rowan fabric

Breaking Out - Flying Geese Block : Rowan fabric. Adpated from a pattern by Jennie of Sunflower Quilts for Fat Quarterly.

All blocks measured 24cm x 24cm (25.5 with SA). The first two blocks I sew with a generous 0.75 cm SA (seam allowance) For Bernina 640 that's moving the needle position 2 dots from the center point. This shrank the block after all the quadrants were sewn together. So for the next 2 blocks I moved the needle position 3 dots from the center point, making it a 0.6 cm SA. This worked out better because after I ironed the blocks, they came out at the correct measurement! Yeah!!

Two more blocks to sew, and then on to finding fabric for the border. That's another project by itself - designing the border for this sampler quilt!

Happy Sewing!

Christmas Present

2010-11-30T21:29:00.000-08:00

Haven't been blogging lately because most of my free time was devoted to...

reading on my Kindle. It's a K3 with wireless and Wi-Fi. I love it. I did purchase a lighted book cover to go with it, but I'll probably make a cover anyway because my Kindle deserves a quilted cover of its own!

Thank you, Mom!

Machine Quilting Class

2010-11-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

October marked the startup of my advanced level machine quilting certification class! We started off the class by practicing rotary cutting and piecing to make hour glass, half triangles, flying geese, and others. For my block I used mostly Rowan fabric, and I was happy with the result!

The second project was to use the stack and shuffle technique with 4 fabrics to make a pillowcase. For this , my color inspiration came from some projects I saw in Flickr!

Here's my interpretation of black and white with a touch of red!

It's raining today! So it'll be a great day to stay indoors and sew!

My First Mini Quilt

2010-11-04T02:10:00.000-07:00

It's been over 2 weeks since my last post! What have I been up to? I was busy making this...

My first mini quilt! The quilt was made using a combination of linen, calicos, and Japanese yarn dyed fabric. I was trying to for a French country look with this quilt. As this was my first attempt at freezer paper piecing, I think I did OK. Hmm...still need to think through how to sew the seams together! I added some embroidery to give the quilt some dimension. Didn't try free motion on this because it was for a swap and I was nervous about messing it up!

Here's the backing of the mini quilt. The reason you can't seen any quilting on the back is because the backing was layered on after I completed the quilting. I dressed up the quilt label with blanket stitches all the way around.

*********************************

So after 12 days of journey across the Pacific Ocean, my Mini QT Quilt swap partner sent me this...

I just adore this "Home Tweet Home" mini quilt from my swap partner! Wouldn't it be fun to live in this cheerful house? Thank you, Ruth!

Check this out!

2010-10-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

There's an awesome giveaway at freshly pieced . Besides the giveaway, check out her Kissy Fish Baby Quilt tutorial, too! You'll love it!

FMQA - pebbles

2010-10-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

It's almost the end of the month and I've been MIA :) After entering the Purse Week contest I've been fabric shopping - trying to collect more 30's prints and solids. Though haven't done much quilting, I've been practicing drawing pebbles. The pebbles design is quite a challenge to me because I can't meander that well. So, this is what I have so far!

I think I've finally got the rhythm and can move on to the practice pad!

Happy Quilting!

The Getaway Quilted Bag

2010-09-30T00:40:00.000-07:00

Here's the bag I'm entering in the Purse Week contest hosted by A Lemon Squeezy Home.

The inspiration behind this bag was to transform a quilting technique into something of beauty and function.

I took 11 pieces of fabric and used the stack and shuffle technique to make this bag. Six blocks formed the front panel of this quilted bag. Free motion quilted with metallic thread.

Three stack and shuffle blocks made up the three open pockets on the back panel. As the name implies, the entire bag was quilted to give it shape while maintaining a degree of softness that's gentle to touch!

The side-views here show two additional open pockets. They are great for storing your cellphone and car keys. Notice the pocket in the left photo. The pocket opening is asymmetrical. It was designed especially this way to reduce bulk on the seam allowance when all the panels are sewn together.

Here's the view of the zipper treatment for the bag opening!

Another reason that I love making my own bag is that I can customize the lining to my specification. There are three open pockets plus a zipper compartment to store my personal items.

Bag measurement: 15.5" x 10.5" x 4"

Fabric used: Japanese and Rowan cotton fabric, Japanese yarn dyed fabric

Leather straps: 24" long

Last but not least..... Special thanks to my quilting teacher, Ms. Wu, for teaching me the stack and shuffle technique and guiding me through the completion of this bag.

Labor of Love

2010-09-29T23:55:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the finishing touches on the bag that I'm entering in the Purse Week hosted by Lemon Squeezy Home .

Hand binding the bag opening. Those little clips work wonders on holding fabric together.

Psst...Janet! Do you see my little blue and green bowtie pincushion on the upper right hand corner?

I wish I discovered this great little tool sooner! My quilting teacher told us it was good for basting your quilts. But I've found it works just as well on temporary fastening your bag straps in position. Then you can sew on the straps without fearing them shifting during the process! Though this little gadget is kind of expensive, it cut down my sewing time (just on the bag straps) by 50%. I love it!!

Stay tuned for my next post on My Getaway Quilted Bag!

FMQA - Second Week Lines and Angles

2010-09-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

This week's assignment - lines and angles

I had to make a new practice pad for this week's assignment because the designs that Christina showed us are just so much fun to practice!

After this practice run I even quilted some of these designs on the back panel of a WIP sewing case.

Hmm... I petted and praised the sewing case on a job well done because I couldn't believe how well it turned out.

Now I feel confident enough to quilt my top!

Sorry that you can't see the quilting. My thread kind of blended in too well with the fabric! Thread: Sulky variegated quilting thread. Needle size: #14. Tension =4.5

vertical lines (quilt top)

The backing shows the quilted designs better than the quilt top.

vertical lines (quilt backing)

I'm learning so much and having lots of fun with this quilt along. Thank you, Christina!

Weather

2010-09-21T03:28:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday marked the arrival of Typhoon Fanapi to our little island of Taiwan. Everyone stayed in and kept their TVs on for the lastest weather update and flood warnings!

I did a little quilting and practiced my lines and angles for FMQA between household chores and such. Took a little break to take a video of the view from our 2nd floor window. What you're seeing are the roof tops of the nursery that's right next door.

Tomorrow is Mid Autumn Festival ( Moon Festival). The moon will be at its most magnificent tomorrow night~~ I'll be thinking of you all...

FMQA - First Week Wiggles

2010-09-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

The assignment for the 1st week is wiggles.

Here's what my practice pad looks like. The gentle waves on the far right were easy to quilt as well as the "DNAs". The rest of the practice was on ribbons. I experiemented with different types of thread and tension setting. The black thread is 100% rayon embroidery thread. The thread kept on breaking and I even broke a needle!! Should I have used an embroidery needle? Overall I like the red quilting threads the best. They're sturdy and don't break as easily.

For this quilt I used: 喜佳quilting thread, bobbin thread is regular sewing thread and size 14 needle.

This is the beginning of the 1st strip - gentle wiggles followed by ribbons.

This is the end of the 1st strip: "DNA" design. I need more practice on this!

This is the beginning of the 2nd strip: gentle wiggles with leaves. I'm pleased with this especially since this was my first attempt! :)

This is the end of the 2nd strip: don't know what to call this, but it looks like waves to me!

This the backing of my quilt! As I mentioned in my previous post I used a one-sided fusible batting for this project. The quilt top is quite secured and smooth after quilting the two strips, but there's a problem with the backing. There are now ripples in the back of the quilt even though I spray basted the backing fabric to the batting.

Fabric Mosaic Quilt

2010-09-05T05:36:00.000-07:00

I finished machine binding this quilt today. It took me 2.5 hours to bind this quilt from start to finish! Pat Sloan's tutorial was perfect! I know it would have taken me three times as long to hand stitch the back binding of this quilt had I not known about this technique.

Here's the back view of the quilt! The top stitches were in line with the bottom stitches most of the time.

The stiletto proved to be quite useful in guilding the binding as I sew.

And here's the quilt that was set aside for a year!

This is a fabric mosaic quilt of my daughter. Don't forget to squint your eyes when you look at it. That will make the features more pronounced! I posted the WIP of this quilt at my Chinese Blog. Click here for Part I. Click here for Part II.

Sneak Peek

2010-09-03T02:56:00.000-07:00

This quilt was not forgotten, it was simply put aside... for over a year!!

There are lots of little squares in this quilt. It's a quilt for my daughter. She's been after me to finish it. I've completed the quilting which was mostly zig-zag stitches to hold the fabric together.

I'm in the process of binding the quilt and by chance I saw a tutorial by Pat Sloan on machine binding. I'm going to try this method for the first time. We'll see how it turns out!

Free Motion Quilt Along - Quilt Top

2010-08-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

A Few Scraps is hosting a free motion quilt along. Here's my quilt top. It turned out better than I anticipated considering these fabric were purchased 4 years ago when I first started to quilt.

Instead of traditional basting the top to the batting with pins or thread, I'm going to cheat a little...! I'm going to use fusible batting for this project. We'll see how it works out next week.

Free Motion Sampler Quilt

2010-08-26T23:48:00.000-07:00

Wow! Two posts in one day. This is a rare moment for me because I've been busy all summer chauffering the kids around to their various classes. But they will be back to school next Monday. Yipee!

Back in May I finished my first free motion sampler quilt. Some of the quilting designs were inspired by Leah Day, author of Leah Day's 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs. http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

Titled "Matrix" from Day 17 from Leah Day's blog.

Titled "Heat Coil" from Day 101 from Leah Day's blog.

Titled "Rainforest Leaf" from Day 112 from Leah Day's blog.

And here's a look at my sampler quilt

You may ask why I have to complete this quilt? This beginner level free motion sampler quit is actually a required project for my machine quilting certification class. The advanced level class will start in October.

Personalized Book/Journal Cover Tutorial Part II

2010-08-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone! Do you have your two strips of fabric ready?

draw a 5 cm line on both sides of 2nd strip

Next we're going to fold at the 5 cm drawn line on both ends like so.

This is what 2nd strip looks like at this point.

place 1st strip on top of 2nd strip right sides together

This is what the layers look like from inside.

Turn the fabric rightside out and the slip pocket (folded area) is on top of 2nd strip.

Turn the slip pockets in so that they are on top of the 1st strip of fabric.

You've done it!

I hope you've been able to follow this "pictorial" tutorial. I would love to hear from you if you make a book cover by following this tutorial.

Happy Sewing!

Free Motion Thread Painting

2010-08-23T05:36:00.000-07:00

Here's my first attempt at free motion thread painting.

So there I was holding a small piece of fabric that was initially designed for an applique, I changed my mind in the middle of the process. Without much ado, I proceeded to iron on light weight stablizer and took out my collection of Metteler threads. Took out my Bernina BSR free motion foot and started my first thread painting mini-project.

Ha! Ha! My daughter was happy enough with the result. The overall effect could have been better if I had a bigger piece of fabric to hold on to and I used the "BSR2" instead of "BSR1". I'll have to try again...!

Personalized Book/Journal Cover Tutorial Part I

2010-08-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

Has another week gone by already? I know I promised to post the book cover tutorial last week. I did!! But I hit the wrong button on my keyboard and the entire post vanished before my eyes. So, I'm trying again and hopefully this will be a successful post!

The book cover which I made for my daughter is quite simple. You only need...

1) dimension of the book
2) two strips of fabric cut according to those measurements
3) Personalized the fabric with appliques or embellishments
4) stitch two lines
5) turn and press the fabric

Then you're done!

Step I: Measurements

Below is a diagram of an English paperback book I've been reading!

**Measurements are in centimeter and seam allowance not included.**

Step II: Cutting the fabric

You need to cut two strips of fabric according to the measurements

1st strip =

(17.2 + seam allowance of 2 cm)      x   (B+C+D)

  = 19.2 cm x (10.5 + 2.5 + 10.5)

  = 19.2 cm   x   23.5 cm       length x width

2nd strip =

(17.2 +  seam allowance of 2 cm) x [(Ax2) + B + C + D + (Ex2)]

= 19.2 cm   x  [(5x2) + 10.5+2.5+10.5 + (5x2)]

= 19.2 cm x   43.5 cm    length x width

Step III: Personalized

Take the 2nd strip of fabric and personalized to show your creativity and style.  For my cover I chose a flower print so I won't need to add any embellishment. But if you want to applique, you probably need to iron on stablizer to prevent any shrinkage.

Next week, I'll show you how to turn these two strips of fabric into a book cover. In the meantime, please leave a message if you have any questions or comments regarding Part I of this tutorial. I'll be happy to answer them!!

Happy Sewing!

Personalized Book Cover

2010-07-31T04:45:00.000-07:00

This is the new book cover I made for my daughter. She wanted to have a plain background fabric with her favorite cartoon characters appliqued on it. These are characters from a Japanese cartoon called "One Piece" This book cover took less than 30 minutes to make!! My kind of project.

Before I made the book cover for my daughter, I went through my collections and found these two covers I made a year ago. The one in the middle is a wallet-sized business card holder . I choosed panel fabric for this particular one. The one at the bottom is also a business card holder. For this one I needlepunched the heart design before I sew the fabric together.

It's really quite easy to make a personalized book cover. All you need is the dimension of the book and two strips of fabric. Then you'll be on your way...!

Stay Tuned for Personalized Book Cover Tutorial coming up next week.

After the rain...

2010-07-28T00:31:00.000-07:00

After a few days of continued rain, these lovely flowers sprouted from the ground to grace my garden with their beauty.

Do you see a pot of orchid at the bottom right hand corner of this photo? That orchid is one of my husband's orchid collection. It has never bloomed before. We don't know if it's because the weather is too hot in Kaohsiung or we need to place it under the shade during the hot summer days.

I feel embarrassed to say this, but does anyone know what kind of flowers (has bulbs) these are? My husband said it might be in the narcissus family! When there aren't any flowers, all we see are the long green leaves.

So, after the rain... I finished another oilcloth tote! The oilcloth is a MIT (Made in Taiwan) product. It has that English countryside/ Laura Ashley feel to it, don't you think?

This time I challenged myself to sew a tote that's made of oilcloth both inside and out. Some helpful hints when sewing oilcloth can be found at my last post.

Happy sewing!

Oilcloth Tote

2010-06-17T03:57:00.000-07:00

This is my first oilcloth tote made possible by participating in a tote bag quilt along hosted by Hana. I've had these oilcloth for ages. Though they are not Cath Kidton's design, the color and print are timeless classics.

I encountered a few technical difficulties while making this tote. First, it was difficult to run the oilcloth under the foot because the foot grips the oilcloth. Usually you can just buy a "leather foot" designed for sewing specialty fabrics like leather and oilcloth. I didn't want to spend the extra money on this accessory. So, I remembered that there was one fellow blogger who had suggested placing a piece of paper on top of the oilcloth to help the foot "glide" through the fabric. I tried it but didn't work that well; plus I would had to tear off the paper afterwards. Then I remembered seeing one seamstress placing a drip of sewing machine oil on top of the oilcloth. It worked. But got to remember to use a larger size needle and adjust the stitch length to about 3 (on my Bernina)

The second problem I had was that the seams wouldn't stay tucked under because I didn't want to pin the seams fearing that the pins would have left holes on the oilcloth. Hence the solution of using double-sided tape (designed for fabric use) to tape down the seams.

After thought: We had rain on and off during the end of May and beginning of June. This oilcloth tote sure came in handy on those rainy days. I love it!

Crazy Patchwork Handbag

2010-05-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

Do you have a favorite pattern? I love log cabin and crazy patchwork. My first log cabin pattern shoulder bag retired 2 years ago. So this time I made a crazy patchwork hand bag.

This is a machine sewn bag using Japanese yarn dyed cloth. The bag handles and leather accessory were hand-sewn.

Another reason for me to make this bag was to learn how to sew the middle zipper compartment. It wasn't that difficult but there were lots of steps to follow.

I carried this bag all of two days before I put it away in the closet. Why? It just doesn't fit into my lifestyle. I need my hands free when I go shopping. One hand to hold on to the kids and one hand on the grocery. I guess it's a long way to go before I become "Jackie O".

Peggy in Texas USA Swap

2010-03-25T18:48:00.001-07:00

Finished in March 2010

I made these presents for the swap hosted by Peggy in TexasUSA.

I've been meaning to make this Grab Bag ever since I saw it in a quilting magazine. I used Michael Miller's fabric for both the outer and inner lining for this bag. It's difficult to see from the picture, but I also used Mettler's varigated thread to quilt around the bag opening!

I love ribbon embroidery and the touch it gives to a project. For this needle pouch, I used ribbons Made In Taiwan. These ribbons are not silk, but the end result is the same... classy!

I hope the recipients will love my handmade projects!

Beginner Level Sampler Quilt

2010-02-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

I've finally completed my machine quilting certification program's beginner level sampler quilt!

This is the most colorful quilt I've ever made. Fabric used included Rowan, Daiwabo, and other American made fabric. It's completely machine sewn and quilted.

Here's what the backing looks like!

Completion Date: February 17, 2010

Waiting for .....camellia

2010-02-07T03:02:00.001-08:00

Every year my husband tends to his camellia tree hoping for beautiful blooms in March. However it was unseasonbly cold in Kaohsiung these past 2 months. The camellia buds started to open up a few days ago.

This is the first bloom. There are at least a dozen buds waiting to bloom just in time to add a splash of color for the Chinese Lunar New Year!!

Machine Quilting Projects

2010-01-25T02:38:00.000-08:00

In 2009 I attended a machine quilting certification program in Kaoshiung, Taiwan. My teacher, Ms. Wu, has been a quilter for over 15 years and is certified as both a hand and machine quilter.

Here are some of the projects I've completed as part of the beginner level class.

This is my hot and spicy tote bag. I used a least 9 different fabric for the bag.
Most of the fabric are made in USA, but the black fabric is from Japan.

My first quilt. This is an Irish chain small quilt using chain-piecing technique. Even though I've read about this technique before, it was still quite a challenge for me to piece the squares and line up each row correctly.

Titled: Sweet Candy Basket

Machine appliqued using Mettler threads. I added some beads and yo-yos to give the quilt some dimension.

I'm currently in the process of adding the binding on my final quilt for the beginning level class. Please stay tuned....

New Year

2010-01-22T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is my first posting of the New Year in my new blog in Blogger. I've lots to learn in order to set up my blog. For now, here's a sample of quilt bags that I've completed recently!