Dear Jane

Here are two Dear Jane blocks; both are paper pieced by hand. Instead of pins I used cello tape/Scotch tape to keep the little parts in place while sewing and I found that so much easier. This is block K-12 Doris's Dilemma.

This next one is L-7 Town Square. I scanned these pictures instead of photographing the blocks first with my camera, and this turns out to be so much quicker and the quality of the images is the same or even better although I noticed it depends on what kind of color you're scanning, since not all colors scan well.

Happy Halloween

Thank you Paola for the pattern. Blogger won't let me schedule any posts so I post this one a week early; happy Halloween to everyone who is celebrating!

Rainbows and child beaters

I finished the rainbow for the Noah's Ark. I wasn't pleased with my first version so I did this one twice. All blocks are done and now I have to think about how to finish it.

We went to Chia-yi yesterday where DH had to give a lecture; unfortunately it was very hazy and we couldn't see the mountains. This is somewhere on freeway #3.

At one of the rest stops I found another one of these signs. Click to enlarge.

Same text as the one in this post. Have a nice weekend everyone.

Dear Jane

I made three more Dear Jane blocks. I have been lazy and made them all on the sewing machine; this is something I do not recommend for blocks with tiny pieces especially if you have a sewing machine that keeps eating fabric like mine does. I think it would have been quicker for me to make some of these by hand. The first one is D-7 Meeting Place.

This is B-13 Four Corner Press.

My camera is unable to register the correct colours of this block. This is block C-12 Family Reunion. It didn't turned out the way I wanted and if I had to do this one over again I would definitely make it by hand.

Flower market

We went to the flower market on Sunday in Labor park. I got so many young plants from my water lily last winter that I needed to buy another larger pot. I saw some beautiful earthen ones but I'm afraid two earthen pots will be too heavy for the balcony. So I decided to buy a plastic one.

As always there were lots of different kinds of orchids for sale but not as many yet as in the winter time.

And lots of bonsai trees.

I found a big tub for the water lilies and then I also saw this plant and ... I bought it. I am a sucker for water plants, I love them. Usually I can control myself but this big plant was an impulse buy. I think it's a Caltha palustris. It's protected by law in The Netherlands. I guess I fell for it because it reminds me of the Dutch country side, and of my youth and of home. I'm not sure if it is suitable for the South East Asian climate; we'll have to wait and see. Anyway it now sits in the big tub and the plants I originally went shopping for are still without a big home.

This is the water lily that is giving me all those babies. She already started to flower again and she will continue to do that until spring.

Dear Jane

I started working on my Dear Jane blocks again. This one is D-3, Jackson's Jacks. I copied the pattern from the Dear Jane book.

I used freezer paper to help me with the outline.

I basted the freezer paper on the blue fabric.

I am not a natural at applique but I'm learning and I get more confidence in doing this kind of stitching.

Cut the block to the right size and voila one finished block. If you have any problems making these blocks: Anina has a very helpful site, just click on the "That Quilt" widget in my side bar and it will bring you there.

The Bugs

More bugs but these are of a nicer kind than the ones in my previous post. You can still find the patterns for this project on Lynette Anderson's site: click on the Noah's Ark widget in my sidebar and it will bring you to the free patterns.

Due to spammers I am moderating the comments for now. I also had to turn the word verification back on. It seems that a certain "disa" has attacked a lot of quilt blogs lately. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

This and that (2)

The termites are conquered, at least for now. The housing office finally sent an exterminator who drilled holes in every piece of wood there was in the apartment. In the holes he injected some sort of poison. It turned out that the termites had eaten away all the wood in our bedroom and only a layer of paint was left, so someone needed to come to fix that and afterwards everything needed painting. They also fixed the leak so I hope we don't need any repairmen for a while.

To get the termites off our minds and the smell of paint out of our noses we went away for a day to the south of Taiwan for some sun, sea and relaxation. We drove to the most southern point and then around the tip back up north along the Pacific Ocean which you can see in the picture I took from the car.

We've also been busy with going-away dinners and moving stuff for one of our friends who moved back to Germany last Sunday. She was a colleague of my husband's and the three of us used to spend a lot of Saturday nights together, having dinner and watching movies and old TV-series on DVD. When you live in a country like Taiwan that is so very different from your own culture it's very nice to have someone you can share your own culture with now and then. For our last evening DH baked one of his Dutch apple pies. Michaela, it was really nice to have you here these last two years, we miss you!

Toby and Paula are still healthy and happy although Paula has the strange habit of falling off her perch now and then and she shakes a lot but seems otherwise very happy! I wish I could find a vet who knows about health issues in birds. See you all later.