Oopps! I stashed! *grin*

Yup! I took leave today to run some errands and was in the vicinity of Yee's midway through my errands and could not resist the temptation to drop by and buy a couple of things! *grin*

I told my hubby that it won't take me more than 30 minutes, but I took close to an hour instead! LOL! *blush* It has been ages since I visited Yee's. Though none of the new items actually took my fancy, but I bought items which I thought, as usual, planning 4 rainy days *wink*, wud come in handy.

Since starting Nature's Alphabet on evenweave, I hope and plan to do more designs on evenweave, thus I bought 3/4 meters of 28ct beige evenweave. I wanted 2 actually buy only 1/2 meter, but, it was the last piece, or shall I say, the end piece, and Mrs Yee did not want to cut it, leaving only 1/4 meter, so I had to take all that is left.

I bought 1/2 meter of light brown/mocha 14ct aida for a chart which I bought also at Yee's, that is the Words of Wisdom, designed by Nancy Rossi from Dimensions. I bought another chart, Herb Window Garden, designed by Robert Jones from StitchWorld. I might this this design soon coz I simply like the herbs in pots!

One buy which I think was really worth it and made my day (my new toy!) is a superFrame, or some stitchers call it Q-Snaps, I think. I bought the 8"x8" frame to work my Nature's Alphabet and I think it really helps especially when doing the satin stitches because it helps to get my stitches looking better.

I am not sure sure I will be using the frame when working on aida since I prefer to stitch using the sewing method as opposed to the stabbing method (oohh! sounds dangerous to non-stitchers! LOL! *wink*) The stabbing method kind of slows you down. At least for me it does. I will definitely use it more often when working on evenweave.

Stitching Bees......

Linda and Azie came over today for a session of stitching. It has been quite some time since I met any of the stitchers from MYS, save for Linda who drops by each time I need to buy something from her. Thanks, Linda!

I think we managed to spend approximately 2 - 2 1/2 hours of stitching after the usual pleasantries and a simple tea of instant murtabak and syrup. I would have invited more members for the stitching session, only I wasn't sure if I could handle a bigger crowd, considering that I am still without a maid to help me prepare tea, and clean up later. But, going by today's session, I think I could handle a few more people the next time around. *smile*

It was quite a relaxing session with us, three, stitching and chatting, with some light gossips in between! LOL! I hope Azie and Linda had enjoyed themselves too!

Thanks, Linda for bringing Aziq to entertain/play with my son. If not, my son would keep on `disturbing' us with all his questions to get attention. LOL! I wudn't be able to stitch as much then! *grin*

Maybe we could do it again some day?

One of those weeks.......

It's been a hectic week. I have this exhibition to showcase some of our prestigious projects, coming up in less than two weeks. There are still tons to do. The report has to be done. The presentation drawings to be prepared. The computer animation to go through! uuuuuhhhhhh! I am out of breath! LOL! But, luckily, I have a very hard working commitee preparing what needs to be done to ensure that the details are accurate. We certainly don't want to give out the wrong information to the public, do we? *wink*

At the same time that I was busy preparing for the exhibition, I was suddenly recruited to help out in the preparation for the farewell lunch in honour of my Director who is going on transfer. I had to prepare the script and do the voice over for the slide/power point presentation, all in less than a week! Opps! What did I just get myself into! LOL!

As a result of my hectic schedule, I did not do much stitching this week, coz, by the time I got dinner done, eaten and cleared away, my eyes and body were already half asleep from exhaustion - mentally and physically! LOL!

I did however stitched an hour on Wednesday nite, while waiting for CSI to come on at 10 pm, and again at lunch time today, Friday being a longer lunch break. Though slow, I am happy to see the results of my stitching.

I hope to put in more stitching time this coming weekend.

It's out!

The PTK results are out! Do I really want to know my results? Hmmm.....

My hubby says it is just an exam! Yeah, but that still does not stop me from being anxious! And the fact that I can't access my office server ( in order to get the results) from the house over the weekend (since I was outstation on Friday when the results were released) makes the anxiety worse! *biting my nails.....*

I have done my best. I leave it to God. Hopefully, everything will be fine............wish me luck, people!

By the way, Happy Mother's Day, Ma! Love you! Happy Mother's Day to all other mothers too!

A favourite place to be......

Yep! That's my stitching room! Or, more like my craft room, since I seem to be doing all sorts of crafts! LOL!

Here it is, finally! A peek into my favourite room! Well, ok, the bedroom is also a favourite place, but don't let me get into that! LOL! *wink*

I had just organised it a bit, so it does look a lot neater! *grin* It is a 10ft x 11 ft L-shape room, and trying to take snap shots of d room is a little difficult at the shorter side of the room. Photos here are just what I can manage.

I am very proud of the room, though small, it is able to accomodate most of my craft supplies, considering I have like EIGHT hobbies! LOL! Yup! Eight! You read it right! *wink* That includes patchwork, crochet (on hold for some time but there are some threads lying around here and there) stamping, punch art, scrapbooking, card making, bead making, and of course, cross stitching!

There is a corner, well, sort of, for each category of hobbies. There is a corner for paper crafts like stamping, punch art, scrapbooking and card making, and another corner for needlework like patchwork and cross stitching. The corners do overlap since the room isn't a huge one, but I basically know where things are.

It does get disorganised and messy sometimes when I have a number of projects running at d same time, but, as much as possible, I clear up after each project because I don't like, or rather, cannot get inspiration in a messy place. *wink*

Did I just get some of my stitching friends salivating just looking at my craft room? LOL! *wink*

The As and Bs....

Despite a very hectic weekend of doing the usual household chores, you know, the usual stuffs - the laundry, the ironing, the cooking, the cleaning up, the sweeping - you know what I mean..heheh..*wink* (hey! I actually managed time to spend reorganizing my craft room! yipeee! *wink*), I actually managed to also squeeze in time to work some more on my Nature's Alphabet.

I have gotten as far as completing `A' already, and would have finished `B' too, when I realised that this design calls for some beads and buttons which I dn't have! Trust me for not reading the whole instructions again! *grin*

I am now on `C' and I am beginning to ENJOY working on evenweave, although I wouldn't go as far as to say that I will never go back to aida again! LOL! *wink* I spent quite a lot of time frogging due to miscountings. I think this is the biggest drawback (miscounting and frogging) of working on evenweave.

I know that many stitchers would tell me that all efforts and frogging is worth it when all is completed because of the beautiful effect the evenweave have on the ovearall effect, I would still have to say that, even though I AGREE, I still think that aida still looks nice if you choose the right design. After all, isn't it the design that makes the piece, and not so much the fabric used? You could have the worst design stitched on evenweave and it still wudn't make the design look good, and stitch a good design on aida, and you have a beautiful piece! But, then again, this is MY SAY........*wink*

All grown up......

It was my son's 6th birthday on April 22nd. Every year since he was two, I have always organised a birthday party for him, with invities which included his cousins, uncles, aunts, close friends of ours, and of course, his Atok, Tokmama and Tokmi, but, this year, without a maid, I couldn't organised one for him because there would be no one to help me with the cooking and the cleaning up afterwards.

I wanted to at least bake him a cake to bring to his kindie, but even that did not materialize because my hubby had to go outstation the day before the party at his school, and again, without a maid, I had to spend the nite at the mother-in-laws's house the night before he party, so, no baking could be done, what more the frosting. *sigh* I feel bad.

You see, the last 4 years, for each of his birthday, I had baked him a birthday cake in shapes of a choo choo train, a bear, a pirate, and last year, it was a cat and a castle (one for the school party, and the other for the party at home). He had begun to expect a cake this year too. When I told him that without a `kakak' to help me out, I wouldn't be able to bake him a cake, much less, have a party. His response, "I will help U, mummy. I can bake a cake too!". Very sweet of you, sayang, but, no, you are too small to help with the baking......well, actually, had I not have to spend the night at my in-laws, I think I would still have baked the cake, but my hubby's last minute travel plans pushed all baking plans down the drain. Oh well, I guess my son will have to learn that he can't have everything that he asked for.

Eventually I did buy him a cake to be brought for the school party, but, funny, when I called the school to deliver the cake, the teacher wouldn't allow it because she said that a cake had already been ordered for the class and another cake would only be a waste since his class is a small one. *sigh* I had to do some explaining to my son because he was so looking forward to my coming over with the cake because, when it was his classmates' birthdays, their moms came over to deliver the cake.

I guess it was probably partly my fault for not informing the teacher earlier about my plans to bring a cake. Well, at his previous school, I only informed the school just two days before the day of his birthday, and there was no problem, but at this present school, they have a specific day each month just meant for kids of that particular month to celebrate their birthdays at one go. Different schools have different policies, I guess.

All is not lost though. My son ended up having two cakes to celebrate his birthday, though both were store bought. I bought a small one to have a small celebration at my MIL's house since I was spending the nite there and I bought a big one meant for the school.

My son blew his candles on the small one and we (my father and mother-in-law, my son and myself) had that for dessert after dinner. We had the big one the next day with 3 of his cousins, and my father and mother-in-law. I brought back half of the big the cake for my hubby for dessert that nite.

I can't read my son's mind, but, whatever it may be, I hope he understands why there is no party this year. God willing, we will have one next year, insyaAllah.

Thank you, Auntie Silo and Auntie Ti for the birthday presents. Thank you too to Tokmama & Atok for the nursery rhymes books.

Happy Birthday, sayang! Mummy and Abah loves you very much! Thank you, Allah, for giving you to us to love with all our hearts.

I took the plunge!

Whoever said that once U start on evenweave/linen, that you'd never go back to aida is wrong! *wink* That person sure is making a VERY general statement, and a very grave mistake at that! LOL!

After trying out evenweave, I'll go back to aida anytime! *wink* Although I wud still attempt/consider working on more evenweaves in d future, I think I wud still make it a priority to look for patterns that I can work on aida first, and will only work on evenweaves if the pattern/design is so gorgeous that I just can't sleep dreaming about it! LOL!

Yup! I finally took the plunge and worked on evenweave over the weekend! That's it! I started on my Nature's Alphabet by Elizabeth Designs after having a very animated conversation with Zarina over the phone! LOL! I coudn't put off starting on it anymore after hearing Ina getting all excited about it. After all, I am doing a SAL with her, and I'd have to start on it soon before I get left way behind. *wink*

I must say that it was tough getting started. My eyes almost came out of it's socket just trying to count over two. LOL! I kept miscounting. I was either skipping 2 holes, instead of one, or I kept putting my needle into d next hole instead of every alternate hole! LOL! I ended up getting dizzy from seeing and counting too many holes in my 1st two sittings/attempts, but I am getting better at it - nope! not better at getting dizzy, but better at counting the holes! LOL!

I have so far stitched half stitches for the borders of 9 boxes. Am I glad that I decided to start my plunge on evenweave with Nature's Alphabet because the squares for the alphabets help me with d counting while I get used to the `problems' of working on evenweaves.

This is surely one project (working on evenweaves) where I won't be doing it in front of or while I watch TV, because then I can foresee myself doing a lot of frogging! LOL! It was hard enough counting the holes in full concentration, and I still had to frog several times, what more if I am only half concentrating while watching TV! LOL!

Since I started from the center, what better way to start off my stitching on evenweaves with the letter `N', the first initial to my name. Makes it even more `historical'! *wink* LOL!

I noticed that I work even slower on evenweave than I do on aida, because I have to be more careful with the counting. I prefer to work slower and frog less than to work fast and frog more. Patience! Patience! *wink* When frogging is less, hopefully, you get frustrated less, so I hope I will enjoy working on this piece, besides the design being very nice, but also because the good experience of working on evenweaves, and hope that it will motivate me to work more on evenweaves in the future, since there are so many lovely patterns/designs that I like which can only work better on evenweaves.

If U ask me if stitching on evenweave makes ur stitching look better than when worked on aida, I'd have to say that each one has it's own unique character! It is the love you put into each stitch that counts and at the end of the day, you are proud of what you have been able to create with your hands that matters. It's that good feeling U have at the end of every project that's important. It is all a matter of opinion as beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

A Sea to behold.....

My nephew celebrated his 11th birthday on April 21st, a day before my son's birthday. I finally gave him this stitched nameplate this year, despite the nameplate being completed some time back alraedy. I guess I was still trying to hold on to it just a little bit longer so that I can keep on admiring my work! LOL! *wink* Just simply love the vibrant colours of this piece!

Happy birthday, Hilmy!

BUZZ RR

This is a 3 person RR between Wendy, Linda and myself. Lately, I am prefering to do more RRs rather than exchanges after realising in 2004 where I was involved in so many exchanges, that when d end of 2004 came, I had nothing to 'show off' what I had done for the year since everything was given away.

Although I did have a lot of lovely pieces done my exchange partners, I still wanted something I made as proof that I did do some stitching that year, and also something I cud be proud of that is my own piece worked by myself.

Exchanges are good when U want to learn new skills from each other coz from each xchg pieces U receive, U learn new methods. I like that. I learned a lot when I did d exchanges. They were great pieces that I will treasure as gifts from friends who share d same passion.

Ok, back to the BUZZ RR, here is my portion completed. Below is a photo of the whole piece, complete with borders and date. The empty boxes will be filled with stitchings by Wendy and Linda, and we hope to get the pieces done by August. Right, Linda and Wendy? *wink*

Next person in line is Wendy, and Wendy will pass it on to Linda before it comes back to me. My theme is Seeds of Friendship because I used the seed packet designs from Cross Country Stitching.

I can't wait to see everything completed!