Memorable Holiday Mini Quilt

This my entry for the India MQG February Challenge. The rules are using your scrap and the quilt is about the most memorable holidays. For me, every  holdays have their own memorable moments, but what I always love is coming home to my town where I was born and grew up - MALANG. Even though now Malang has grown into a mini metropolitant city, but it still hold it own charm.

What I love most about Malang is it always blooming with flowers all around the cities. Hence, the flower fabrics I used in the border. Malang is a hilly town, surrounded by beautiful mountains all around. Whereever you turn your head, all you'll see is greenaries.

"Palm Tree Block"

Can U spot the palm tree there? It's one of Malang's trademark tree.

This is the view in front of the mayor office (Balai Kota). It's called Bunderan Tugu.

 (Image Source)

This Bunderan Tugu has several road branch which lead to different part of the city. It's surrounded by favorite High Schools (MY Highschool too!!) , hotels on one side, and the train station in the other.

(image source)

The garden is beautifully maintained which is a real treat for tired eyes:)

Here is another  famous landmark in Malang, Ijen Boulevard. With it's palm trees and big colonial houses, it's a great place if you want to just strolling or taking a walk. In the middle there are mini gardens with flowers and shrubs.

(image source)

The Apples Block

 Malang's most famous fruit. There are lots of apple orchards in Malang and Batu (a hill town 30 min from Malang). Malang's Apple is called rumbutter, it's juicy and crunchy and has this sweet tangy taste which I love the most.

Below is how the apple vendors sell their apples. This is a common sight when you're travelling from Malang to Batu or to Surabaya.

(image source)

and of course I always love to visit the sea. Indonesia is an archipelago, it has the most beautiful beaches in the world, whether the explored one or the un-explored ones. I spent my childhood exploring beaches with my father who was working in a coffee plantation. Most of the time, the garden were near the sea. Almost every holidays we spent discovering new beaches, white sands, black sands, you name it, we have it :).

Last year we went to explore another beaches. You can read the post HERE. So, this block is for those wonderful holidays at the sea.

All the appliques here are handstitched by yours truly. I'm not a big fan of hand quilting, though I enjoy doing embroidery now and then.:). I must learn to master the machine decorative stitching now that I got a new Bernette E92c ;)

Until then...happy quilting

Just came back

We just came back from Shillong for holiday. Actually, it's long overdue. Due to my DH hectic schedule in the office, we simply couldn't go earlier. My elder son was very excited the moment we said "we are going to Shillong" since he loves to run around in the Golf link there.

 

Oh, by the way,  Shillong is a Hill Town, the capital of Meghalaya state in NE India. It's almost 3 hours drives from where we live now. It's a popular destination for weekend gateways because of its weather. It's relatively cold throughout the year. It has the popular CHEERA PUNJI or SOHRA, the wettest place on earth with its natural root bridge, caves, and waterfalls. Too bad we couldn't go there this time.

Anyway, we stayed in Pinewood Hotel. It's a government hotel so the service etc is SO SO, but the good thing is the bathroom is clean..:D. Well, I'm a bit particular about this one since we traveled with children below 5 years:D

The hotel is right in the heart of the town. So it's easy to access. Shillong is not a big town anyway, but it's always more practical to stay in a hotel that has special lawn for the kids to run around, and near the park and shopping area. Ehm...about shopping, my DH said "we are going on holiday, not for shopping..:D" and I said, "Well, that's from man's point of view, from my point of view, a holiday is not complete without shopping"..Rite, ladies?????? So, we spent 2 nights there, we went to Elephant Falls. This waterfall has 3 steps of water falling. The main Falls is right down there. I don't know how high exactly but it's quite tiring. Luckily the weather is such that you don't feel lethargic so much and it's worth it to climb down and up and touch the cool water:D.

Ward Lake for boating & feeding the fish & ducks,

Lady Hydery Park to see the flowers ~ but too bad this time the flower has become bad due to excessive rain,

and to play a bit...

We went Golf Link to run around a bit. It was quite cloudy and lots of people playing golf in one side, foot ball down there and also cricket in one side. It's a sprawling place. It was just nice to sit and watch the kids run around....

And of course the popular Police Bazaar. I visited few emporiums too and got few interesting stuff.

Here are few stuff that I bought: 1. Clock with various pulses inside. I bought this from a souvenir stall at the Elephant Falls owned by an elderly Khasi Lady:

2. Craft books/magazines. Found them in one of the old dusty bookstall. The magazines are secondhand of course, but it's still in good condition with the pattern attached. So I just couldn't leave them behind, though my DH make faces at me...:D

I think that's all for today....:) Thanks for dropping by and Have a Nice Day