Blogger's BOM catching up.

Finally, I have caught up and have finished blocks 12 and 13 of Blogger's block of the Month.

Thank you Jackie of Canton Village Quilt Works for organising such a great Quilt Along! For the last 13 months we have had a different block designed by a different blogger. At the beginning I couldn't decide on which fabrics to use, so I ended up making 2 blocks every month: one bright and one with repro fabrics.
Block 12 comes from Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side and the lucky last, block 13,  is from Sarah Fielke of The Last Piece.

Blocks 12 and 13  in bright fabrics....

...and in repros.

Here are all my blocks together!!

Now to decide on fabrics for settings.



A couple more holiday photos from Honfleur..

This carousel is more than 110 years old.

An interesting door that I will use for quilt inspiration.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend Everyone! :)

More photos from Singapore and France...and some news

I found quilting inspiration in lots of places. The 3 below were just inside one of the entrances to Printemps in Paris.

Outside in cobblestones in Paris and Deauville:

In a building by the beach in Deauville:

And quilting designs on a glass wall in our hotel room in Singapore:

Singapore was an island of contrasts. From big city skylines:

to the tranquility of the Botanic Gardens.

While in Singapore we found Daiso; a Japanese store that sells almost everything, but everything is priced at roughly $2!!
Here is what I bought:

The 2 fabrics at the back are chirimen crepes.

Another day I found on a map a place called the Textile Centre!! :) It turned out to be a multistory building with small stores mostly devoted to fabrics. Many were wholesalers, uniform manufacturers, selling furnishing fabrics, and many were closed. :(
On the ground level I found some stores selling mostly haberdashery items.  One was a treasure trove! Sing Mui Heng has several branches. I spent ages in there! In one section they had an enormous range of Swarovski crystals. Here is what I came home with:

By this time space (and weight limits) in the suitcase were at a premium, so I was restrained!!

There was one evening while we were in Paris that was very special for me personally.  While I was at high school our French teacher organised for our whole class to be matched up with pen friends in France. The idea was for us to practice our French by writing to someone our own age in France. Well, Odile and I have been writing to each other on and off for over 40 years! First of all it was letters, the old fashioned way! Later I would receive postcards from Odile sent from exotic places she went on holiday. More lately we have corresponded by email.
Well......we finally met!! After more than 40 years we have seen each other face to face!! :)  She speaks perfect English!  (Sorry to say my French is abysmal!! Lol......apart from having a strong Aussie accent!!)

In the excitement I forgot to take a photograph! :(

The next few posts will be back to stitching, with an occasional holiday photo added.

A catch up post and more photos

Before I left I had some photos ready to post but I ran out of time to get them on my blog.

I finished another block for the Roseville Album quilt.

I love the 2 flowers in the top corners of this block.
Next I plan to start one of the larger side panels.

I made some fabric purchases.

This one just because its quirky and cute, and I can see lots of fussy cutting opportunities.

I managed to find a fat quarter pack of Mary Koval's Baltimore Album fabric collection.
The quilt on which these fabrics were based was made in around 1847. The Chester Country Criswell Quilt was made only 5 years later. so I will be using some of the reds and greens in my blocks.

I have plans for several of the other fabrics also.

I have been looking at chintz fabrics in several places and found some when Purl Soho had a sale. The strips are 4 inches by 60 inches.

Each of the patterned strips has small, medium and large patterns.

Here are a few more photos from our holiday. First some colourful shots from Singapore. The first 2 were taken from the window of a moving bus!

Paris from the Montmatre Hill.

St Malo.

Honfleur.

Next post will be books and fabric I found while we were away.

Im Back!

After almost 4 weeks and over 1400 photographs I am back home from holiday.

We visited Singapore and Paris, Normandy and Brittany in France. The main reason for our trip was the wedding of our niece in Paris.

Our first stop was Singapore. I was brave enough to take a ride on the Singapore Flyer! Below is a view from the wheel.

Our days in Paris included a visit to Sacre Coeur in Montmatre,

and the grand shops Galleries Lafayette

and  Printemps.

Later we spent some days near the Brittany and Normandy coast.

Mont St Michel

Honfleur

Deauville

and St Malo

Coming from Australia where almost all of architecture is less than 200 years old I found it amazing to see buildings that where many hundreds of years old.
The food was delicious! I loved the cheese and charcuterie....and the cakes and pastries!

I managed to grab just a few minutes for stitching.

A few 3 inch star blocks

and I prepared a few more half inch hexies

 The washing machine has been going all day and when I can see over the top of the ironing pile I will be back with lots more, including pictures of some purchases from the treasure trove of fabric shops in Montmatre!

To finish a Singapore orchid.