A Farewell for Wendy

Goodbye Wendy...

Our Tuesday group consists of a small group of women.  We meet at various homes and work on something or inspire each other or just hang out with each other.

Well, the time came for Wendy to be leaving and going back to Scotland.  I just got word that she arrived today, so this took place last Wednesday I think.  Ok, last week sometime.

Two of us were not sure if we could make it; me being one.  I did.  She did.  It was lovely. Thank you to Corinne for hosting this!

When Corinne left Kuwait; the ladies put together a Quilt Jar.  In Kuwait, there are a lot of ladies that are crafty and in the group.  Here in Muscat, our Tuesday group is tiny; so Corinne suggested we each throw in several fat quarters.  I put in five and an embroidered pin cushion.

"Wendy...SURPRISE!"

She met some of the ladies downstairs!  She was under the impression that she was having tea with Corinne! 

Corinne was saying something.  Can't remember!

Here Wendy is perusing the Quilt Jar.

Nice action shot.  Maybe she just realized what it was?  edited to add:  I think she saw the pin cushion!

Here Corinne is cutting us this lovely cake.  Alice is serving herself some tea.  Jo is also.

A lovely cake and tea/coffee.

Wendy looking at my pin cushion that I made her. 

Some different angles of what I did.  I used Bullion Embroidery on Silk.  I used a Kahwa or Arabic Coffee Cup so she could take a little of Oman back with her.  W for her name, Wendy.  A Sunflower, as it is her favorite flower and yellow as it is her favorite color.  I felt it needed something but was more concerned about the 'finishing' around the lip.  So I added a little Ladybug!

And this is the bundle that I put in the jar.

Wendy showing us the first part of her Mystery Quilt.  She will continue with the clues and project overseas.

It was lovely to meet you Wendy and have you in my Tuesday circle even though it was far too short!

All the best in this next chapter of your life!

Congratulations to.....AMU from Kuwait!

I posted a few posts ago about my Hardanger and at the very bottom posed a little contest for anyone to guess which stitches I had missed.  No one played except my new friend Amu from Kuwait!

So, you are right and the winner and I have been working on a little EID MUBARAK banner!  I wanted to wait to post this but can't!  I will show the process as I have made a 'process pledge'.

I used some of my prized Pellon from America that I have been sitting on for years.  I finally got it out and the plan was to make 9 of these banners for the different families' houses and for my winner!

I screwed it up when tracing the words and letters as I get easily confused and then found a way to not waste all that Pellon.  You can see the lighter side of the letters or words in Arabic and then you will see little diamond shaped shapes that are more white.  These still have the paper on them and all of it should look like this.  But, a little bit of ingenuity and Parchment Paper (for baking) works a charm!

Once cut out, I ironed it onto the background fabric.  I again screwed up the parchment paper by getting it all sticky and interchanging each side until I wrote on my paper This Side Up!  Then, it worked, you guessed it, a charm!

Once the letters/words were ironed on properly in place, I had to sew around the letters.  I chose to do a straight stitch versus a zig zag.  BIG job!

The threads should be secured so I pulled all the threads to the back of the fabric and began tying them into knots by hand.  You can see some interfacing which allowed me to sew the letters without the fabric bunching up.  This is very important!

Then Ms. Uki came in to help me.  She did not stay long as I know Amu doesn't care for animals!  Yikes!

Once the letters/words were ironed in place, I needed to decide what to use for the back ground fabric.

I then sewed the backing on without raw edges and began to stipple quilt it in beige thread.  Stippling is an all over pattern that should NEVER cross lines.  You can do it tightly, which is stippling or loosely and that is called meandering.  There is a difference.

I then needed a binding.  I don't have ready made binding so got shopping in my stash of fabric to make my own.  I bought this nifty little tool in Dubai a few trips ago and it worked so well!

Once the right amount was made, I began to sew it onto the banner.

I then decided it was too plain.  I went to the shop and bought Swarvoski crystals in light blue and started to strategically place them.  It is still very plain though!

I hung it on our wall and my husband was so excited; he loved it.  He placed his 'orders' of what he wants me to make for the house.  Sweet.

I chose these yellow-ish and blue fabrics as Amu has mentioned that he likes these two colors.  I hope you like this!

CONGRATULATIONS AMU!

EID MUBARK!!

Maya's Birthday is today!

It's my friend Maya's birthday today. Happy Birthday Maya!! I made this cake for her this morning and it was a hit. It is a Lemon Poppyseed Cake. The glaze was very nice. I put chopped up lemon rind and lemon juice in it!

Here we are, my Sunday Hardanger group. That is Supriya, the hostess in the back in blue and white; Maya, the birthday girl in orange in front of the cake. Oh, those are her roses we got her for her new house she is moving into! Then, in the back row we have Sylvie, sorry, we caught you with your eyes closed! In front of her is Megumi in the purple and then that is me on the right. My sheila slipped off my head!

It is a different picture with Anisa there where Supriya was. We dressed in our national dress to commemorate (?) Oman's National Day on the 18th. Anisa is Philipino, married to an Omani so she wore a gelabia (long dress and I know that is not spelled right!) You can see it is colorful and was very pretty. Maya is wearing a shalwar khameez as she is Indian as is Supriya. Sylvie is French but did not dress up! That's ok! Then, Megumi is Japanese so has on her 'summer kimono'. Then, I dressed up as a Baluchi.

I wanted to show you all the center gold bangle. It is so pretty. Solid gold. Waqar picked it up in Dubai for me when he went there and Iran a couple of months ago. The other two I wear on a daily basis. I like the clink.

Well, I have to run now to get the kids! See you all in a bit.

Farewell Lunch for Lynne Copping

Yesterday was such a busy and fun day! I woke up and got the kids up. I did a couple of loads of laundry and got my Perspective quilt out of the dryer to get ready for the monthly Muscat Quilt Guild meeting. I had Ali hold it for me outside in good light. You can refer to my previous post for all that. I then took the kids to school and went grocery shopping. Came home, marinated some chicken and did other stuff around the house and got ready for the meeting. I was late and Alice saved me a seat, thanks Alice! We had the meeting and then we all met up at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel's Beach Pavilion Restaurant to have our farewell lunch for the sweetest woman, Lynne Copping. We will miss you! This group of friends are from my Book Club. I have known most of them in one way or another and it was so very nice to be able to go out and I was facing the beach and the waiter opened the door so it was beautiful. We are:

Left side from back to front: Alice (US); me (US); Jo (UK); Kathy (UK); Judy (OZ);

Right side from back to front: Glynnis (UK); Georgia (RSA); Pam (UK); Lynne (UK); and Lindsay (CANADA).

This is such a lovely group of women and I am new to the Book Club and they have welcomed me so nicely. Oooh, I better make some time to read our next selection. We are meeting on the 1st. If you don't see me for a while, it'll be because of that and Eid al Adha will be on Friday so we will all be busy celebrating and traveling and the like. Thanksgiving is Thursday and New Moon opens on Thursday!! Gosh, I'm soooooooo excited for that! Plus, more beach trips and the kids are off starting Thursday until the 2nd of December! Whew! All this and I have to clean the house and cook and my hubby is coming home from being in Dubai for a few days. Busy days for us all! A big, huge, thank you to my friend Larissa for picking up the kids from school and keeping them until I was able to get them! Muuuaaahhhh!!

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon!

Busy week, have a look!

SEWING:

As usual, Uki 'helped' me out while I was working HARD on my Spiderweb Quilt. She got a hold (ok, maybe I threw it at her!? ;0) of a long strip of fabric. She is so much fun!

Of course, I took a much needed break to watch and capture her playing. I had to make sure she wouldn't actually eat it, because she would ya know!

We bought this little foofy bed at Build a Bear, now available in Dubai and originally from St. Louis, yeah! We gave it to Uki and she LOVES it!! I put it at the end of my table as she would inadvertently always sit right in the middle of my work. It is working out a charm! She loves it! You can sort a see my SWQ in progress on the right.

She was going to town.

COOKING:

I made Tahari the other day. It took about three hours and it doesn't look so great here with the evening yellow-y cast over it but it is good eatin'! Hear??

KIDS PERFORMING AT SCHOOL FOR UN DAY:

Here is my Lulu in the front with the Omani outfit. Her school put on QUITE a performance for the 3rd Annual UN Day Concert. Her part was at the end for the Parade of Nations, and Ali performed in the themed A Night With The Stars. She looked beautiful with her stuff on and holding the Omani flag. Jill taught me well as I was able to put on her jewelry and veils by myself! The second night, she chose to sit in the audience with me while Ali performed. There are 65 nationalities at the ABA and yesterday, the 18th of November is Oman's National Day and His Majesty's birthday.

Here is a sweet picture of Amal on the right with her two friends; Farah from Malaysia in her national dress and Charlotte from Holland. Aren't they beautiful??!!

The second night's performance, Ali sang backup of a Hindi song for this talented young girl. The song is Taare Zameen Par.

BAKING!:

Ahhh, now, for this beauty! The roses were difficult and frustrating! It took a lot to get my icing just right. Finally, I got it and successfully made these. My friend made the center one.

My two friends Laila from Time for Tea and Isra from Sew 2B Happy could not make it for a tasting today (Thursday, Happy Bday Lulu!!), you can join me for the next one! I then picked up lovely Paulina from school yesterday, with my two, and Larissa, her mom, met us at home with Duncan Donuts! The kids had the donuts and Larissa and I had my cake and a VERY strong cup of coffee! Sorry Papi (my dad), Soy Colombiana y no puedo hacer una taza de cafe! L and I had fun on the computer ;0 and she liked my cake so much she told me that we should open a cafe!!??

Here is Larissa with a piece and very, VERY happy!!

MMMMMMMMmmmmm good!

BACK TO SEWING!:

Then, I took the kids to Cafe Ceramique and froze my butt off man! We had a great time and when we got home and the kids went to bed, Uki was waiting for me to get back to sewing! Where is my hubby in all this? He left for Dubai for a few days for the Dubai Golf Cup.

So, lots more happened this week but I don't have pics so will omit! Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Celebrity Friends!

My dear friend from high school has become a bit of a celebrity in the last years. He is the character known as DJ Lance Rock from the Yo Gabba Gabba show run on Nickelodeon in the States. He is a busy man indeed and his sister keeps me in touch with what he is up to! He did an extended concert tour in Australia in the summer and then got to go home to where he grew up. His sister Kelly arranged for Lance to bring me two tshirts of the show for my babies.

He is such a doll!
He is perfect I tell ya for this role and I am so happy for him. You know when you 'hit' it big when this happens....

BRAD PITT dressed up as him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my!!! Check out the rest of the pics at this site. Enjoy!!

edited: I started this post early this morning and had to leave it to get on with the day. I am back and lost my patience trying to find pics of the kids with the T-shirts kelly and lance sent so will be posting them again. Perhaps I posted on Facebook instead??