In need of a book to read

Err.....not that I am saying that I have not been doing any reading lately, no!

I have not been reading any novels lately actually. I am too busy spending time reading my piles of letters, contract documents and what nots related to work. *grin*

I have, on my trips for work, in the plane, been reading plenty of Readers Digest, though that does not actually count as real reading, huh? *grin*

Anyway, what I am saying when I said that I am in a need to read is because I have just received....well, not really JUST RECEIVED...I received it about a month ago actually, but I just could not find the time to blog about it. Or, rather, I was not in the mood to blog, what with the crisis at work that does not seem to want to subside... *sigh*

Opps! Digressing again, am I? LOL! Anyway, I was involved in a Bookmark Exchange last month organised by Zarina at NNC. I actually received mine during the NNC Anniversary Meet in March, but we were not supposed to open it until the 23rd of April in conjunction with World Book Day. Err....did I get that facts right, Zarina?

I was so busy on the 23rd day itself that I finally only opened it the next day after almost everyone at NNC had already opened theirs! *grin* Sabariah must think that I am not excited enough to receive from her! *blush* Do know, Sabariah, that that is definitely not the case! I love receiving gifts! Who doesn’t, right? LOL! *grin*

Anyway, I received from Sabariah two lovely bookmark and a fat quarter in pink! Take a look! Lovely, right?

My partner for this exchange was Paul. I wanted to do more, but, as usual, I left things to the last minute and ended up doing the bookmark at the 11th hour, finishing it only at close to 2.00am the night before the Anniversary Meet as I wanted to pass it on to Zarina to pass it on to Paul as it is supposed to be a secret partner exchange.

I am truly sorry, Paul, for such a lousy finish to the bookmarks. If I have time, maybe I will make you another one, or maybe, to make up for it, I will make you something else. Anyway, I still hope that you will enjoy using it to mark your favourite read.

By the way, in answer to your question as to the printer I had used to print out the bookmark, it's a HP Deskjet F4280. It's really good. It's a 3-in-1 printer. It's a printer, scanner and copier all in one!

eerr.....do I get paid for promoting the printer? LOL! *grin*

NNC May Stitching Bee 2010

We had our usual bi-monthly NNC Stitching Bee for the month of May on the 29th at Starbucks Bangsar Village II. This time, I managed to get there early as instead of dropping off Aiman at his Art Class which starts at 10.30am, and only able to join the ladies and Paul at about 10.45am, I brought Aiman with me to join the ladies and Paul first as Aiman had chosen to attend the engineering workshop that Saturday which only starts at 11.00am.

When I got there, almost everyone who should be attending was already there. There was Paul, Margaret and her sister Jackie; Janet, Radha, Rose, June and her daughter; Alynn and her son, daughter and hubby.

Everyone was in the midst of ordering drinks and breakfast which we managed to get a hefty 30% discount as June’s daughter is currently working with Starbucks during her current semester break. Thanks, June! Do say thanks to your daughter too!

After breakfast was done with, the first person to take out something to show, I believe, was Rose who showed off Diane’s lovely pincushion to her. I think Margaret’s going to go looking for that pincushion stand for her next pincushion project! *wink*

After the ooh and ahh on the pincushion made by Diane subsided, Alynn took out a blue plastic container which got us all going ooh and ahh again! LOL! It was the lovely blue pincushion in a cup made by Diane for Alynn, her partner for the exchange.

Many agreed that the pincushion cup looks a lot better in real life, and I am sure many wouldn’t mind getting something similar too. *grin*

Next, Radha brought out a huge box filled with all the lucky draw goodies that she got when she won the NNC Lucky Draw last year.

It was like opening up a treasure trove! I think many were in awe of all the lovely things inside the box.

Next, I took out my huge box containing Peggy’s huge and lovely blue pincushion from the recently concluded NNC Blue Theme Pincushion organised by Usha.

Again, everyone was in awe of the lovely pincushion, especially with all threads surrounding the pincushion!

June and Margaret even took off the glasses to scrutinize the making of the pincushion so that they too can go back to make a similar one! LOL! But, indeed it is a lovely pincushion that if I hadn’t received it from Peggy, I would be scrutinizing the pincushion myself to see how it was done. *grin*

Next was Janet who took out to show off two lovely Lizzie Kate pieces made into a mini pillow which she said she had received through an exchange at one of the LK Groups she’s in. It’s been a long times since I did any LK pieces, or any cross stitching for that matter that I was all envious looking at the lovely pieces Janet received.

Margaret brought along a Prairie Schooler piece which I also admired but can never find teh time to do one. *sigh* Seen here is Rose holding up the piece.

Jackie brought along a couple of bags to show off which got everyone excited admiring them.

She also brought a book on bags, which made me want to drop by Yee’s so that I can get that book too! LOL! We definitely are bad for each other. We tend to influence each other to spend lots on stash! LOL!

June brought some books on dress making and if I think that I have the time to make dresses, I think I would have dived my nose into the books, but, I know that I already have way too many things already on my plate, and, to add dress making to my long list of hobbies already might just drive my hubby up the wall, if not already! LOL!

I can’t remember who brought the Sew Hip magazine, but definitely I am going to get both the April and May 2010 issues after looking at all the lovely projects being featured in the magazine! LOL!

Paul gave Radha a very lovely purse which he made using fabrics from his shirts. I teased Radha that Paul had just given her a piece of him! LOL! *wink*

Margaret and I brought the left over door gifts from the NNC Anniversary Meet and we decided to do a lucky draw to see who gets what.

It was another round of excitement when we each took turns to draw our lucky number to see what we got. LOL!

It was a little past 12.00 noon when Zarina suddenly arrived. By then, the lucky Draw was already done with and so were most of the Show & Tell. I am very sorry, Zarina, I did not think that you were going to be coming since it was already close to 12.00 noon when we drew the lucky numbers.

Zarina did not waste time upon arriving and immediately sat down to show Margaret on how to do the mitred corner binding. Janet then did a demo on how to work around the curves when using the binding.

I think hardly anyone brought anything to work on this time around, though I did see Radha showing Paul how to do the hairpin lace. I had actually brought along my forever uncompleted crochet bag, but I never even took it out of the bag! LOL!

Although I did not feel like leaving just yet as I was really enjoying myself among like–minded people who shares the same passion as me, but I had to leave by 12.45 noon after picking up Aiman from his workshop as I needed to buy lunch as hubby was at home with a bad backache.

It was great meeting everyone. I think it was just what I needed after going through so many crisis at work lately. It was good being able to spend time with friends who share the same passion as me and who always show concern for my well-being. It was a great feeling. Thanks, everyone for coming to the Bee. A special thanks to Janet and Radha who came all the way from Perak and Kedah to join us for the Bee.

Thank you to Rose for my advance birthday present. She’s my birthday partner this year.

Thank you too to Janet and Margaret for the birthday pressies too. But, I was warned by headmistress Margaret not to open my presents until 8th of June. Oh dear! That’s another 9 days to go! You think I can wait? LOL! *wink*

Anyway, thanks again, everyone! I had a great time, and I hope so did everyone else who attended teh Bee this time around.

The next Bee might just be in Ipoh where Janet might be playing host! *wink* Can’t wait!

I’ve got the blues!

Heheh..no! no! Not that kind of blues, but a pincushion kind of `blues’*grin*

NNC recently just concluded it’s Blue Theme Pincushion exchange, organised by Usha. Some had received theirs during the NNC Anniversary Meet in March.

My partner for this exchange is Peggy and Zai. I should be receiving from Peggy and I am to send off to Zai. The last mailing out date is this coming Monday, 31st May 2010.

I received mine from Peggy on Wednesday, 19th May, 2010 as I was about to leave for a meeting in the afternoon. So, not wanting to be late for the meeting, I packed it up to bring it home to unwrap it.

Excited as I was to unwrap the parcel, but it had to wait as I arrived home very late on Wednesday night from work, and I still had the dinner to get ready and also, I had to pack as I was leaving for Johor Bahru the next day after office for a project site meeting. I arrived home from Johor Bahru and Melaka past 11.00pm on Friday night. I finally managed to unwrap the parcel on Saturday morning.

I was in awe of what was in the big shoe box that arrived that Wednesday at my office.

Not only did it contain the blue pincushion, not to mention, a BIG one at that, but it also contained plenty of blue stash to get me all excited like a little girl opening up her birthday present! LOL!

Peggy sent me 3 pieces of blue fat quarters, a cute little container containing little blue buttons, 3 skeins of variegated blue threads and a note pad complete with blue pen and pencil!

I love everything she sent me, especially the huge pincushion, the biggest I have had so far! I wonder if I can make a another pincushion bigger than that, not that I want to! LOL!

I wonder if I will be losing many pins and needles inside this huge pincushion! LOL! *grin*

I just love the threads surrounding the pincushion, and they are not just any threads, but they are Coats and Clark, which are quite expensive here in Malaysia! Thank you so much, Peggy!

I tried pulling out the threads but realised that they are all interconnected. I wonder what happens when I have used up all the threads and want to replace them with new threads. Errrr........Do I have to take out everything and re-thread them with new elastics, Peggy?

Anyway, thank you again, Peggy! Hugs!

I will be uploading photos of the pincushion I made for Zai as soon as Zai receives it, which i hope will be in a few days time.

In the mean time, here's a link for a tutorial on how to make the lovely pincushion. Thanks for the link, Peggy!
http://monkeyroom.blogspot.com/2007/01/tutorial.html

Flower Pincushion Exchange

Oopps! I have almost forgotten to post on this exchange which we did at NNC last month. It's been a hectic month. Err...when has it been not hectic? LOL! *wink*

Anyway, my partner for this exchange was Shanny all the way in Switzerland. Since it has to travel so far, I had to make a pincushion that wouldn't be too big and bulky, not because I wanted to save on posting, but because I did not want to attract curious postmen and postwomen. So many packages coming to Malaysia have gone missing, and even though this package is going overseas, I did not want to take any chances.

I made a pincushion in the shape of a heart, and as the theme was flowers, I added on die cut felt flowers. It did not take me long to make this pincushion though I slept at 2.00am making it up as I did not want to put it on hold anymore in case I might not be able to find any more time to complete it.

We were required to add flower theme stash to the exchange and I just added on whatever stash I already had that suited the theme. I just hope that Shanny liked them all, and would find some good use for them.

In return, I received a lovely pincushion that was glued onto a plastic container from Tini that could be used to put in pins and any small odds and ends.

I received together with the cute pincushion were a box of pins, a length of flower lace, a fat quarter of flower theme fabric, beads and buttons.

Thank you, Tini! Thank you to Usha too for organising this exchange!