Anne’s Creative Threads

In my last post I wrote about the heliconia or ‘bird of paradise’ flower wall hanging that I was making, and this design is now finished. I tried a different method for finishing it off this time and decided to complete the design without borders, making a backing rather like a pillow slip. In the directions I followed, they said to do the main quilting before completing the design so I did that using a light backing fabric because I found that it was difficult to feed the top smoothly through the machine without anything on the back. Once the quilt was finished I outlined the main part of the design to anchor everything together.

Heliconia flower

Yesterday was national day here in Brunei, and to take advantage of the day off we got together with some friends to do a forest walk. The place we chose to go is about an hour and a half’s drive away from where we live and one of the few places left that still has primary rain forest. We set off early in the morning and it promised to be a fine day and as we drove up into the hills there was still heavy mist hanging over the tops of the trees.

 We were intending to walk to a place called Bukit Teraja, bukit being the local word for mountain, so the first part of the walk was very steep. The previous time we did this walk it was pouring with rain so it made a nice change to do it in dry conditions although because of the recent rain there were still plenty of leeches around. We were soon out of breath from the climb but the minute one stopped anywhere the leeches would home in, so it was best to keep moving.

After about twenty minutes of walking (or climbing) we emerged into a clear, exposed rocky area and this place is well known as an excellent place for spotting pitcher plants and we weren’t disappointed. It seems that there are a number of different varieties growing in this spot, some nestled in the undergrowth at ground level and others like creepers, climbing up through the branches of trees. Some were small and round like little pots, others long and thin.

It seemed the more we looked, the more we saw, they were just everywhere. After crossing this open space and ridding our boots and socks of leeches, we went back into the trees to continue our climb but we hadn’t got far before we found our way obstructed by a large fallen tree. Beyond the tree the path had been completely obliterated by a large landslide so this time there was no chance of getting to the top. We had a bite to eat and then went back down the path, the return journey being easier than the ascent, although by the time we got back to the cars my knees were feeling rather wobbly. The walk was very enjoyable even if we didn’t reach the top of the hill and more  photos for potential wall hangings.