Luncheon with the minister

Yesterday I had the privilege to have lunch with a minister who I admire her for her strong spirit yet remains very much a lady. She is one of two ladies, the other one being Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, in the Malaysian political world who I always find very inspirational and an epitome of women successful in a world dominated by men.

No, no, no, I have no plans to go into politics. Not in my wildest dreams! LOL! But these two women have proven that you can be successful in anything that you aspire to be for as long as you are willing to work hard.

Knowing the right people and being at the right place at the right time is only a bonus to being where they are now. Forget about the fact that Tan Sri Rafidah is no longer in the current political line-up, but, she has been at the top before and that says a lot about her spirits.

The lady whom I am referring to is Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister for Women, Family and Community Development.

Yes! I had the privilege to have lunch with her yesterday at her office after a meeting to brief her on a project that I am in charge of.

The food was great! Well, what do you expect when lunch was for a minister! LOL!

Having lunch with the minister is already a privilege which I will always treasure and be noted in my book of Moments to Treasure (not that I actually keep such a book! LOL!), but what made the meeting and luncheon more memorable and sweeter was the fact that she was actually my dad’s student in college!

She knew nothing about my back ground when we were first introduced, but while having lunch, a lady from the Pahang Royal family joined us and the minute I was introduced to her and upon hearing my last name, her first question to me was if by any chance I could be related to a Dato’ Nik Abdul Rashid. When I answered that he is my dad, Datuk Seri Sharizat screamed in excitement! LOL!

She scolded me for not telling me who I am earlier, but I told her that I am `segan’ and not in the habit of telling people who my dad is for fear of being wrongly assumed. She said that she has to give a hug to the daughter of a man she admired as she was my dad’s law student in University Malaya.

Can you imagine getting a great big warm hug from a minister? *blush* She made my day and I think I went back to the office smiling from ear to ear! LOL!

Oh, by the way, I did not have lunch with her alone but also with a group of ladies from an NGO doing charity works. They all came smelling very nice, hair dyed almost blond and dressed very stylishly.

Whereas my officer and I, on the other hand, were dressed in pants and jacket, though I must say that we still looked very professional. *wink* Well, we did go for the meeting to give our professional advice and not to socialize. *grin*

My officer commented that they looked like as if they had just stepped out of the spa. Well, what do you expect when they are mostly Tengkus and Datuks who have all the time in the world – ladies of leisure. We, on the other hand, came straight from a site meeting!

Can you imagine the contrasting sight? LOL! *grin*

Ma, Datuk Seri Shahrizat sends you her regards and she said that she remembers you as always being young looking and sexy. :)

I think Datuk Seri Shahrizat just made my mum’s day too! LOL! *wink*

Getting acquainted with Em

It’s exactly 3 weeks today that I first brought back home Em to play with, and I am having so much fun!

I have thus far attended 3 classes on getting acquainted with her, and together, we have churned out many projects! Just take a look at the many things that I have made so far!

These are two tissue holders made in-the-hoop, as they call it where everything was stitched while the fabric is still in the hoop like what you see in the next photo.

The turquoise flower is made of organza in 3 separate pieces and then stitched together. It is supposed to be a brooch, but, I think it’s going on my bags instead. I have already started making 4 more sets in colours to match the bag I intend to make.

At my second class I went on the Saturday before the Bee, I learnt how to make these two lovely pouches, or, Epal calls them pencil cases, out of jeans fabric. I intend to keep the flat one for myself as a sample.

The other pouch with Aiman’s name on it was, of course, is meant for Aiman to take to school, but he took one look at it, said it’s nice, and in the same breath, said that he is NOT going to take it to school!

I don’t know whether I should be mad, upset or amused! LOL!

I guess the teddy bear thingy is too mushy for a boy of 9-years old! LOL! Maybe I will keep this one and use it as my sewing pouch instead and make him another one, this time in his favourite characters – robots!

Having learnt how to make the pencil case just a week before the Bee, I just knew what I wanted to make for Margaret as a birthday gift, albeit very late! LOL! Her birthday was in August!

I actually made something else, but decided not to send it in August as I thought I’d wait until I get Em and see if I can make something using Em, something I have never done before.

So, when I learnt how to make the pencil case a week before the Bee, I just knew that this would be just nice for Margaret.

I thought that it would be something she could use to put it all her sewing and cross stitch things. I made sort of a matching pincushion though my hubby commented that “that’s matching?” LOL!

Okay! Okay! So it didn’t match, but, heck, it compliments the pencil case/pouch, right? *wink*

I am making more of these to give away, so watch this blog to see what more I will be churning out of Em!

NNC November Stitching Bee 2009

It was the biggest Stitching Bee thus far this year with 21 turnouts at our November Stitching Bee held at Bangsar Village II starting from 10.00am on 7th November 2009!

By the time I arrived at about 10.45am, there were already Alynn and her daughter, Usha and her 3 daughters, Anna, Margaret, Janet, Radha, Rose, Veronica, Tini and June. Soon after that Jo, Mel, Wendy, Zarina and Faizon arrived.

Paul came despite an ankle injury and Sabariah dropped by despite being on the way to go to Fraser’s Hill.

It was like what June said, it was more like 21 of us talking and none listening! LOL!

Maybe next time we should get a hall? *wink*

The lady at Starbucks where we had our meet thought that it was a meeting of teachers! LOL!

No offence to Ying or any teachers here, but, did we look like teachers? She actually asked if we are primary or secondary school teachers! LOL! I find that so amusing! *grin*

She must be thinking that probably we were all getting together to discuss craft projects for the school! LOL! *wink*

Anyway, when I got there, everyone was already engrossed in showing off what they had brought over, but none were actually sewing, crocheting nor stitching! LOL!

The Stitching Bee is now becoming more and more like a `Show and tell’ meet than a meet to stitch and chat to try to complete that UFO piece or current project at hand! LOL! But, never the less, it fulfilled the other intended purpose, and that is to meet and chat with friends sharing the same passion.

I can’t recall everything that everyone brought, but Alynn and Veronica brought many lovely cross stitch pieces.

Zarina brought quite a number of quilt pieces to show off that she got distracted from her other intention, and that is to learn how to do smocking. *grin*

Jo got her much awaited crocheted shawl from Usha which I was made to understand, it was a personal exchange between her and Usha some 3 years ago! LOL!

I believe Usha got a bag from Jo in exchange, though I did not get to see the bag that Jo made for her.

Anna was busy crocheting a lovely bookmark. We teased her about already being ready for the upcoming bookmark exchange which is being planned for only next year! LOL!

Usha brought along another crochet piece to work on, while Wendy brought along a lovely crocheted bag which I was immediately smitten by and would love to make one myself too. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap photos of the bag.

Tini brought along to show off a very lovely laptop bag complete with a cable bag. Mel brought along a very lovely crocheted laptop sleeve which was in a colour many find so sweet! I just love it!

Mel, want to do a personal exchange with me? *wink*

BTW, Mel, thanks for the mahjong papers and tracing paper, and the buttons too!

June did a demo on how to pleat for smocking. June stayed up till passed midnite it get things ready for me, Paul and Zarina, though Zarina got distracted by the many things to see and show! LOL!

June had brought along her pleating machine or whatchamacolic, and showed us how to start smocking the proper way.

She also brought along some lovely smoked dress she made for her daughter many years ago.

Thank you so much, June, for taking time to teach us the basics of smocking. I really appreciate it.

I am sorry to have made you stayed up passed midnight the night before to prepare for us the pleated pieces. It was worth it because now I know what I might have done wrong for my first smocking piece, no thanks to eerr……never mind….at Epal *wink*

Radha gave a lovely neck wrap to Rose. She also showed a few of us how to do a hairpin lace shawl.

Janet, thank you so much for making the trip to join us at the bee. Thank you so much too to Wendy and Radha who came all the way from Johor and Kedah. We sure appreciate it.

Thank you so much to everyone for making it to the bee. I hope you all had great fun!

A special thank you to Paul too for making it despite the ankle injury, and to Sabariah for the effort to drop by despite it being a `touch n go' situation.

Need I come next time to ensure that you stay long enough? LOL! *wink*

Many stayed till 2.00pm, where we adjourned for lunch at Kopitiam.

The next meet will be our Stash Shopping Trip scheduled for December! I hope to see as many turnouts too!

Getting anxious.................

Oh dear! I just came back from an interview cum presentation to convince a committee that a certain work needs to be done to prevent from certain problems from arising in the future.

I spoke clearly and I thought that I had presented my case well, but, it wasn’t good enough. Maybe my presentation wasn’t good at all!!

The committee wasn’t convinced and said that this matter should have been looked into very much earlier (before I took over the project) by the designer and solved at the design stage and not during construction.

I brought along my Civil Engineer to help convince the committee since the work involved civil works which I cannot call myself to be an expert. But, even she could not convince the committee. There was even a time when I was lost for words on how to answer the committee member’s question which I considered confusing.

I am feeling a little bit disappointed with myself, and frustrated that I had not been able to convince this committee despite presenting my case the best I can. I thought that I could speak well. Many people say that I can speak and present well, but, today, I just disappointed myself and proven wrong those who have labelled me as such. I feel so embarrassed. I am mad with myself.

Now, to make it worse, it has just gotten me even more anxious than I already am, for tomorrow, I have the interview for my professional exams. If I have not been successful at convincing the committee this morning, what more for tomorrow’s interview which is considered to be even tougher. Gulp! Help!

What little confidence I have before this for tommorrow’s interview just got dwindled to almost none after coming back from this morning’s presentation..................

I need to be able to speak and present myself well tomorrow as I will need to convince the panel that I am indeed worthy of a professional recognition. After this morning’s disappointing presentation, I wonder if I will be able to do a good job tomorrow.

Ooohhhh! HELP!

May Allah bless me and give me strength to go through this with confidence and come out smiling with success. Amin.

All in this together

Ooooohhh! It’s going to be a busy and hectic week for all 3 of us starting from this coming week. I’ll be sitting for my professional exams interview on the 3rd of November, and my hubby will be sitting for his on the 4th. Starting from the 2nd of November to the 4th of November, Aiman will be sitting for his Year End Exams.

In the very same week, my hubby will also be sitting for his PTK, where he will be getting his assignments on the 2nd of November, and the following week, he will be going through a series of presentations, papers, and public speaking, the same process I went through in August when I sat for my PTK.

He will then sit for the exams portion of the PTK on the 14th of November. I foresee a very stressful week for all of us. May we all able to go through the next 2 weeks with calmness and confidence, and may Allah bless us all with success. Amin.

My new toy!

Heheh…yup! I got a new toy! An embroidery machine! *grin*

She was already mine on Sunday, 25th October, 2009, but, because I had already planned to take leave on Monday, 26th October, to learn how to play with her, I left her in the care of those at Epal.

I also didn’t want to have to leave her in the car if I had carried her home as I needed to make a stopover at Carrefour to get some supplies before heading home. I didn’t want anyone passing by my car to get curious and tempted to take her away from me.

So, the next day, Monday, 26th October, I raced *grin* to Epal very early in the morning! LOL!

I just couldn’t wait to see her again. It was a sleepless night for me that night as I anxiously waited for morning to get acquainted with her! LOL! *wink*

We spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon on the 26th October getting to know each other.

Eric (the sales manager) told me that you are the friendly sort, and I shouldn’t have much problem playing with you.

I sure hope so, but, as I was doing my first project after some test runs, she made some clanking sound and the threads came out uneven. After some investigative searching, the technician found out that some threads had gotten stuck in between the bottom thread dial.

After that was cleaned up, she purred like a kitten! Oohh! I love her! BUT, before my MC6500 and 17 year old Singer gets all upset, I must say that I love all my toys! They all serve a purpose, especially my 17 year old SINGER which has served me well, and I hope to have as many more years playing with it.

Back to my new toy, hmm… shall I give it a name so that I can easily refer to it? How about ‘Em’ for the E on the machine?

It is, after all the JANOME 350e. I can’t call it ‘Janome’ since that is the name I call my MC6500. OK, Em it is…..

Well, on the first day of class that Monday, 26th, I learnt how to sew the embroidered border and how to match them up when doing continuous borders for the Baju Kurung or Kebaya.

It takes a little bit of getting used to to get it right though I did actually get it right on the first try. But I did two more border designs as practice pieces before I could start on the actual project.

My first project was the ‘Thank You’ towel and ‘Happy Birthday’ Towel.

Ooppps! From the photo now my Sister-in-law Eli is going to know what her birthday present for this year is going to be…*wink*

Oh, by coincidence, today is HER BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Eli! This towel will be coming your way hopefully next week if I can get to the post office. In the mean time, I hope you have a great day today! Take care, and hugs!

I gave the ‘Thank You’ towel to my hubby to take to the gym, to thank him for all the support that he has given me, and for never looking down on my hobbies, and encouraging me to venture further to a business level . Love you, Dia!

I came home and played some more, but since I still had very little knowledge on how to operate it fully, I played around with making name tags for my son and labels for my bags.

As it turned out, I had ran out of the tags I had made at the professional embroidery shop, so, it was timely that I had Em.

However, with limited built-in font options in the machine, I couldn’t get the label to look as good as those I had them made at the professional embroidery shop.

After many trial and errors, I finally made the one shown below, which I can say that I am quite happy, but, I still hope to improve on it further.

By the way, look at some of the things that came with the machine!

A container full of yummy and colourful embroidery threads!

I also got 19 project kits and a year of free classes, though I have to first complete a 10 day course on Home Based Business, a module that was offered when you buy the machine. They encourage you to try to make money from the machine. Now isn’t that cool?

I only hope that I can take leave to attend the course, knowing how hectic work at the office can be sometimes. It would be a waste if I don’t take the opportunity to learn the ropes in the business world as I hope to someday venture into some sort of business with my business minded brother, Ayis.

I have not touched Em since Tuesday since I have been coming home late almost every day this week. I was so tired that I have fallen asleep in front of the PC on 3 nights already.

Tonight, though, I am feeling a little better despite being caught up in a bad traffic jam. It must be because I spent the first two hours in front of the TV just sitting and watching TV, and pretty much doing nothing instead of watching while doing some household chores, like I always do.

My hubby said that I must learn how to relax. I told him I don’t like to waste time and prefer to multi task so that more things get done within the same time. But, tonight, I took his advice and just sat and watched, guess what? Sehati Berdansa on Astro Ria and Nur Kasih on TV3! LOL! I must really be tired actually! LOL!

Tomorrow Aiman has replacement class, and as my hubby will be taking him to school, I hope to go for my second class. I can’t wait to learn what more I can do with Em!

A bag of faith

During the recent fasting month, I needed to do a project to while away my time as I wait for Aiman to finish his usual Saturday classes. On the first Saturday of the fasting month, I dropped by Quilt Gallery to inquire about the dressmaking class, but Gill wasn’t there.

While I contemplated on what other fasting month project that I could do, I looked around the shop and chance upon this bag hung up on the newly renovated walls of the shop. It was a prayer mat bag but looked more like a handbag.

I was immediately smitten by what I saw, especialy the one hung up was in PINK! LOL!

There were also other colours – green, blue and cream, but it was the PINK one that got me attracted to the bag in the first place, but, of course! LOL!

I immediately got to work with Surinder to find out what I would need to make the bag.

I left Quilt Gallery a few hundred ringgit poorer (spent not only on the materials for the bag, but on other things as well…oopps! ) that day, but with a happy heart! LOL! Who wouldn’t, when you have spent that much amount of money already! LOL!

I started work on the bag, guided by Surinder’s tips, the following Saturday, and went to class at QG the week after that to put in the zippers as I am very nervous when it comes to putting on the zippers on my project.

I don’t know why, but I always find myself intimidated when working with zippers! Fortunately the zippers I put on my mum’s bag turned out okay! LOL!

I had to do the zippers a couple of times before I finally got it correct as the teeth did not match up.

So, here is my bag of faith……

What do you think? The idea is so awesome, huh? A prayer mat that can be folded into a bag, and it has enough room to even put in my `telekung’ (prayer garment). One bag, but with many uses. It can also double up as a pillow should I feel sleepy while waiting for the next prayer time. *wink*

I simply love the fabric! So english! I love the combination of pink and green! But, of course, it’s my favourite colour combination!

I think the ‘beauty’ of the bag, if you don’t mind me saying that *wink*, is in the detailing. Just take a look!

I love this lace I bought at Quilt Gallery.

Just look at the simple embroidery I made using my JANOME MC6500! The motif is so sweet!

This is the first time I am doing the handle using this webbing material (seen here in red between the handles). It makes making the bag handle simply a breeze!

Here’s the outside of the mat when opened.

Here’s the inside of the mat (the side that I will be praying on).

I just can’t enough of the sweet English rose fabric, but, alas, it was the last 2 meters that I bought.