Back to school....

Well, sort of. It’s been more than 8 months since I last went for any classes at Epal, unlike the year before where almost every other month, I would at least take a day off from work to attend classes at Epal, and I would also go to Epal every other Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

This year has been very hectic at the office front that I have not been able to take that many days leave from work to indulge in my hobbies and to pamper myself. So, last week, I decided to take 2 days off from work to coincide with my son having his exams.

I wanted to make sure that he has a proper breakfast in the morning, and I want to pick him up from school instead of having him take the bus to his grandparents’house, where my hubby would then pick him up from there at about 7.00pm. By the time they get home, it would leave him with little time to study, and we wouldn’t have time to check on him to see if he is prepared for the next day’s exam.

So, by taking leave, I can pick him up directly from school and bring him right home, giving him plenty of time to study and for us to check on him to make sure that he studies properly. His grandfather is quite strict actually, and he does make Aiman study during exam week, but, I thought since I only get to spend very little time with him lately, this is the best excuse I have to spend some extra time with him.

By taking leave during Aiman’s exam week, I also get to kill two birds with one stone, as his school only ends at 3.30pm, so, I get to attend a class at Epal while he is in school, yet be in time to pick him up from school.

Classes at Epal starts only at 10.00am and I would have leave Puchong by 2.30pm to be in time to pick him up just as his school ends for the day.

The first day I was there on Monday, 25th October, after 8 months of absence, I felt I was a little disorganised. There were many things to learn from the new kit I had just bought, but due to my being a little bit disorganised, I only managed to learn two things from the kit that day. I learned how to make a lace using dissolvable stabilizer and how to do the appliqué for Sun Bonnet Sue.

I felt very unproductive that day when it came to my crafts.

The next day, Tuesday, 26th October, I decided to get a little bit more organised. I planned on what I wanted to learn from the kit.

So, when I got to class at precisely 10.00am, I laid out all the kits that I wanted to learn that day and told the teacher that I want to try to learn at least 4 kits today before I have to leave by 2.30pm.

So, the first thing I learnt that day was to make the tissue holder. That was quite fast to do. I got that done in less than an hour.

Next, I did a cat pincushion all done in the hoop. I think this cat is kind of cute!

My 3rd project is quilting using the embroidery machine which I find very interesting as I can see lots of the quilting that I have been wanting to do I can now do that using Em. Yeah!

I am sure I can’t do all my quilting on the machine as it is not a quilting machine, but, I am sure the possibilities are plenty enough to get me excited! LOL!

My 4th project that day was something I hadn’t imagine possible – to do a sulam tekad emas using the embroidery machine! I was really amazed at the results. Just take a look! Doesn’t it look almost like the original?

I also managed to learn to do a 5th project – how to embroider motifs that has holes in them like I always see on exclusively designed baju kurung.

All this while, I thought that I would have to patiently poke the holes one by one to get the see through effects. Now I know the trick, and no, I am not going to share the trade secret with anyone! LOL! *wink*