Missing my brother, sister-in-law, and kids.....

I miss my brother who is doing his Masters in the United States of America this festive season. I miss my niece, Sarah, and nephew, Farhan, and I especially miss my sister-in-law, Eli, as this is usually the best time we meet up and catch up on lost times as we don't always have the luxury of time to chit chat as we are always busy with work. Although we do keep in touch through phonecalls, nothing beats sitting down together to a good chat, and sometimes, a good gossip too! LOL! *wink*

My sister-in-law was working for about 14 odd years (am I correct, Eli?) before she decided to quit her job which she was no longer happy with. The fact that my brother was planning to further his studies overseas just gave her the perfect excuse to quit her job just 2 months prior to my brother leaving for the States.

She had utilised the time to learn how to cook most of my brother's and the kids' favorite malay dishes, so that the kids wouldn't miss malaysian food so much. Looks like all her efforts to learn cooking really paid off well this festive season as she managed to cook up quite a storm looking at the photos she posted at her photoblog. Kudos to her, as she wasn't much of a cook before this. *wink* She deserves a big pat on the back. Hugs, Eli!

Eli Wrote:
Wahh... thanks for the post! We miss you too, we miss Ma's cooking and the family get-together during raya especially catching up with latest gossips. We would change topics from family to relatives to celebrities and its endless. We would eat and eat in between gossip sessions :). Abg Man would crack jokes in between, Nik Ai would be sleeping on Ma's couch after many rounds of satay.. heheh. Chik would make appearances and joined the sessons. Kak Lin would be busy with her laptop and shared online jokes with us. Ayis would be snapping lots and lots of photos. At that time, we just could not be bothered where our kids were... we knew they were safe somewhere... they were also busy 'catching up' with their cousins. Ma would feel blessed and contented to see her children and grandchildren around the house. We miss all of you!

My reply:
Spot on, Eli, especially the part where "Nik Ai would be sleeping on Ma's couch after many rounds of satay.. *grin*

A big happy family......

Well, actually, this photo is missing my youngest sister and younger brother who have left to visit other relatives, while another brother is absent because he is away in the United States of America, doing his Masters, while my youngest brother is in Ireland studying medicine.

This photo shows my girl cousins with their spouses and children, a boy cousin, still single, my eldest sister and her kids, my mum, my hubby and son. No guessing which one is me, but I was not in my finest clothing since it was late, and I was tired from eating too much *grin* and it was already late evening when this photo was taken.

This photo of my son is one I really love. Adorable, isn't he? *wink* Yup, only a mum will say that! LOL! *wink* This photo was taken very much early in the morning before we flew back to Kota Bharu.

Nothing like mum's cooking........

...........to get you all excited about food! LOL! *wink*

I didn’t realize how much I had missed my mum’s cooking until I went home for raya. I wanted to eat everything that she had prepared that I ended up with diarrhea when I came back to Kuala Lumpur after spending 3 ½ days in Kota Bharu.

My mum had prepared satay with peanut sauce which I kept on eating all throughout the day since arriving at 4.30pm on the first day of raya. Yeah, we couldn’t get an earlier flight back as we decided only last minute that we were going to fly back instead of driving. My hubby did not feel like driving back after our last trip from KB to KL for the last raya took us 14 hours to arrive. We started out at 10.00am, but did not arrive till past 1.00am the next day! Can you imagine how restless my son had been throughout the journey, and I had to keep him entertained as my hubby concentrated on driving?

Anyway, back to the food. Besides the satay and `kuah kacang’, My mum also served roti jala and rendang. She also prepared kuzi, another one of my very favorite dish. I practically grew up on kuzi kambing as my late grandmother makes the best kuzi kambing and even though she cooks it often, I never tire of it., and now my mum’s preparing it! Yum! Must get the recipe from her!

On the second day, we made a visit to my uncle’s place in Telung, about 45 minutes journey from Kota Bharu. His place is really lovely because it has its own beach! Great, isn’t it? You can practically go to the beach everyday! My son, niece and nephew had a great time playing in the sand, and I brought my stitching along to stitch as I keep an eye on them. However, I only managed about 15 minutes of stitching as the wind was blowing wildly that my chart almost got blown away!

Again, at my uncle’s place, we had more satay, kuah kacang, and bread dipped in rich kuzi. Yum! Forget about dieting during this festive season! LOL!

For dinner, we had a simple meal by other people’s standard, but it was the best dinner for me in a long time since it was home cooked by my mum. We had plain rice, kuzi, rendang, and the best of all, jeruk mame’, a pickled dish which I don’t know how to explain in English! *grin* Sorry, but, I must tell you, if you haven’t tried it, you don’t know what you are missing! *wink*

On the 3rd day of raya, my mum cooked one of my hubby’s favourite dish, which is Nasi Dagang, complete with Gulai Ikan and sambal cili. More yum! I simply can’t get enough of my mum’s cooking. To top off our visit home, my mum cooked another favourite dish of mine for breakfast which is nasi berlauk, consisting of plain rice, gulai ikan tongkol, and sambal cili. Sounds simple, but it is simply delicious! I am salivating now just writing and thinking about it! Ooohhhhh! Wish I had brought back home some when I came back yesterday. *sigh* I guess I will just have to wait till my mum comes over to KL again then….

Thanks, mum, for preparing all the lovely dishes. Sorry that we got you all exhausted from getting all those dishes ready, but, I must tell you that it was well worth it, because we simply still can’t get enough of it!

BTW, I thought I’d also put up photos of my mum’s garden which is my mum’s pride. She tends to the garden as a means of therapy whenever she’s worried or misses my youngest brother, who is currently studying medicine in Ireland. Isn’t her garden lovely?

a little stitching......

While in Kota Bharu, I managed to put in quite a lot of work into the Cheryl’s Bouquet. Take a look!

I hope to get this done by mid November, so that I can start finishing up the rest of the smalls which I had started and also I miss working on the DT Sampler Game Board which I had to put down in order to concentrate on the LHN SHS.

Selamat Hari Raya

I would like to wish all my muslim friends, family and relatives "Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Maaf zahir batin".

I would also like to congratulate Dr. Sheik Muszaphar Shukor on being given the honour to be the first Malaysian to orbit into space when he was blasted off into outer space from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on Wednesday evening at 7.21pm local time (21.21 Malaysian time).

*note: the raya image was taken from http://www.myspace.com/,

while the image of the Sheikh Muszaphar Shukur (Malaysia), Yuri Malanchenko (Russia) and Peggy Whitson (U.S.) were taken from http://www.astronomynotes.net/2007/10/09/t-minus-22-malaysia-first-astronaut-blasts-off/

A race against time.......

I received the LHN SHS (Little House Needlework Sisterhood Stitching) chart on September 19th 2007, from Lene in Kuching. I have 3 weeks to complete it, after which I would have to pass it on to the next player/stitcher on the list, which, in this case, is Emily (originally it was supposed to be Margeret, but she's currently got her hands full with other commitments).

Since the chart arrived in the middle of the week, I couldn't get started on it until the weekend, September 22nd, thus, losing 3 days already from the time alotted. But, rules are rules, even in stitching.

It was a race against time for me as I was only able to stitch on weekends mostly. On weekdays, after the breaking of fast, I am usually too tired and sleepy to put in even a few stitches. Add to that, on two occasions during the 3 weeks, I had to travel to Terengganu for work. Even though I brought it along with me to Terengganu on my second trip, with the hope to put in a few stitches, but, I ended up not doing much. Lighting in the hotel room was really bad. I ended up with strained eyes trying to stitch in the dim light on the first nite I was there.

I totally gave up on the 2nd nite I was there as I came back to the hotel room very tired after walking around the project site the whole day. I did not want to strain my eyes further. But, I did managed to put in a few stitches the morning before I flew back to Kuala Lumpur as then I stitched right in front of the window! I had to rearrange the furniture in the room though! LOL! *grin*

Yeah, I didn't think it was going to get me all stressed out, considering it is quite a simple, straight forward design. Just my luck that it came just in time for the fasting month, my travelling, and I seem to be making so many mistakes on this one. I have had to frog quite a few times already, the biggest being the alphabets. *sigh*

Yeap, as soon as I had put up photos and progress report on my blog a week ago, I realised that I had made a BIG mistake! I had miscounted the alphabets! All of them! The two whole rows! I miscounted by 6 squares, and my alphabets are almost done! *sob*sniff*

I spent a whole evening after breaking of fast that nite frogging it! But, in order to lessen my frustrations, instead of unpicking stitch by stitch, I decided to just snip off the threads. It's a lot faster though it's wasting thread. But, at least my frustrations are not being prolonged. *grin*


I put in my last sttch at 2.45pm on Sunday, 7th October 2007, 16 days after starting on the chart. I made a few changes to the design, one being the line where my name is. In the original chart, there is a bird in between the name and year. Since I had a long name, even then my name is not complete, I decided to replace the bird with a smaller version of the heart. Instead of stitching in the word 'Year' as in the original, I replaced it with the month I completed the piece, which is October. This way I know when exactly I actualy completed this piece.

Another change I made is to use overdyeds for the alphabets instaed of DMC called for in the chart. I had originally stitched the capital letters using Caron Thread Wildflowers (see previous entry) and the lower case alphabets using Dip & Twist. But, after I had to frog it, and since I was running out of time, I decided to stitch both the upper and lower case alphabets using D&T instead.

I am glad I made that decision, because it really helped me to quicken my stitching pace as I did not need to keep changing my thread colour for every few alphabets as is in the original design. It really helped me get this piece done much sooner, though not fast enough. I was already starting to get stressed out *LOL!*, not only because I was running out of time, but also because Hari Raya is just around the corner, and Malaysia's postal service is known to go haywire during the festive seasons. I was afraid of the chart getting entangled with the greeting cards being mailed out.

I finally sent out the chart to Emily via DROPZONE on Monday, 8th October. She received it safely on 9th October. It was a great relief to finally complete the piece. It was like a big load was lifted off my shoulders ! LOL! Never again......*grin*

I must thank Jean for providing the chart for this Sisterhood Stitching. It's a lovely design despite all the 'stress' that I had to go through! LOL! I have always wanted to stitch a Little House Needlework piece, and I just did! This definitely won't be my last LHN piece, for sure!

Bagged it!

My sewing bag I made in my sewing class at Quilt Gallery is done! Take a look!


I had fun sewing it up, though I broke the sewing machine needle in the process when I sew over the zipper! LOL!

I now have a better idea how to make this type of bag, though my initial design was a lot different, but somehow, the design changed as I started on the bag. I think Gill had something to do with the end result of the bag. She kept showing me samples of this bag and that bag that I had to incorporate some of the ideas into my bag! LOL!

I still plan to do up the bag I had initially designed and planned to do, but, I will have to do it on my own time. For now, I am very happy with my newly completed bag! So happy with what I have learned that I have actually signed up for another bag class! LOL! This time, the bag is going to be more like a shopping bag before I move onto bags that will look nice enough to pass on as an evening bag,….heheh…IF, I get through my second bag. *grin*

Here’s the fabric for the second bag. I will need to wash and iron it first before class. Hope to start on it next Saturday. Keep a look out! *wink*

A little progress report on my Sisterhood Stitching (SHS), I have started on the house already, and it seems to be taking me ages to get it done! The use of the same colour for a large portion of the house really gets to you after a while that I had to take many breaks and work on other portions of the chart to ease my boredom, but it’s nicely taking shape.

For the alphabets at the bottom of the chart, instead of using DMC as called for in the chart, I decided to try out my something different instead, and used Caron Collection 085 Antique Brass Wildflower threads for the upper case alphabets and used Needle Odyssey’s Dip & Twist DTN012 for the lower case alphabets.

I think I like the effects of the D&T more than that of Caron, because D&T is brighter, and further more, using Caron on aida, it tends to rub against the stiffness of the aida that after a while, the thread tends to get fluffy. Still, I like the way the colours of both threads changes subtly across the alphabets.

I am running out of time for this piece as each one of us has 3 weeks to complete it before we pass on the chart to the next stitcher in line. I am not even 50% complete, I think. I will have to work on it more and faster. I need to spend less time on the computer and get down to stitching!! LOL!

In the mood for bookmarks

Among the stash I bought at Spotlight on my recent trip to Singapore was a book of charts on bookmarks by the American School of Needlework titled Bookmark Greetings. The minute I saw the book I know I had to buy it! In the book contains three charts that I want to stitch for 3 close friends.

At NNC, we have always poked fun at Emily *wink* when it comes to food, especially ice-creams, so, I thought how appropriate this bookmark of an ice-cream sundae with chocolate fudge topping, whipped cream and cherry would be for Emily. Yum! Sounds delicious! Further more, Emily loves to read and she has formed a book crossing group online.

It did not take me long to stitch the bookmark. What took longer was putting it together to make it into a bookmark, because this is the first time I am doing up a bookmark this way. Usually I would sew a lace aound the egdes of the bookmark and iron on interafcing at the back. But, I thought I'd do something a little bit different this time around. Not bad, huh? *wink*

The second bookmark I did is for Margaret who is into tea and coffee. So, this bookmark should be appropriate for her. I took even a shorter time stitching this one up. I think it took me only 4 days, as part of it was stithed in the car while waiting to pick up my son in school.

Yeah, I had to get to his school early if I don't want to end up double parking and risk being given a summon by the police. I didn't want to waste any time, and so out came my stitching as soon as I managed to get a good parking spot. *grin*

I am in the midst of stitching a 3rd bookmark for another friend. I am not telling who she is just yet. *wink* I hope to surprise her when I send it out to her. But, for now, the bookmark has taken a back seat as I concentrate on my SHS.

The class begins.....

I started on my bag making class at Quilt Gallery yseterday. When I signed up for it, Gill (the owner) told me that it would take two classes to complete the bag. I told myself that the type and design of bag that I wanted to make looks pretty easy, and I am sure that I can get it done in ONE class! Heheh.....silly of me to think that I am such an expert! *grin*

There is a lot that I learnt in my first class, which, had I done up the bag the way I think I know how, I wouldn't have known that there is a much better way to do it to make my bag look even more professional.

I am glad that I decided to sign up for the class, though the initial reason why I signed up was because I needed a place or something to do while I wait for my son to finish his art class. I would usually sit at Starbucks, but, this being the fasting month,I definitely can't sit at Starbucks and not buy myself a tall glass of ice blended drink, right? *grin* The waitress will shoo me out of the cafe! LOL! Now the class serves two purposes - I have a place to wait, and I will definitely be learning something new!

Anyway, back to my bag class, yesterday was more of doing the preparations - planning the layout (how I want my bag to look like), the measuring, and the cutting. My bag is designed to the way I want it to be, and since I want it to be used for carrying my cross stitch things, I designed with that in mind - pockets for the chart, the fabric, the scissors and the threads. That should do it......for now. Maybe once I know how to do a bag the proper way, I can get more creative...hopefully.

On another stitching note, I have started on the Home of a Needleworker by Little House Needlework for the Sisterhood Stitching currently being organised at NNC. The design calls for 16ct aida, but, silly me forgot to check the fabric count called for and started on 14ct. I also forgot that I had just recently bought some 16ct aida from Jean. Silly me again! *grin*

It was only after I had done quite a bit did I realised that fabric count mistake. Oh well, not too big a problem actually, only that my piece will be a bit bigger than the rest of the members doing it. I can live with that, I guess. *grin*

Rest in peace, little girl

Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat keatas rohnya. May God bless her soul.

Each time I read the papers about her, about the way she was sexually tortured, about how her parents could not come to terms with her death, about the circumstances of her death, tears fell freely. It was hard to control the emotions that ran high in almost every Malaysian who are outraged by the way the little girl Nurin was tortured and sexually molested, and eventually murdered.

The New Straits Times, on September 19, wrote, "Even in death, her bruised and battered face is angelic". "Even the imam who lead the prayers cried", further wrote NST on the day she was finally laid to rest.

Said Nurin's father, "She came to us perfect and she returned to Allah perfect. She looked cukup sempurna (perfect) today...Find her killer and restore justice to my baby".

My deepest condolences to the family of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin. Al-fatihah.

note: above photo taken from The Star, Saturday, 22 September 2007, bottom photo, Friday, 21 September 2007.

The Red Needles n' Craft Card Challenge

That was quick! I am surprised but glad. Yup, my card to Lillie sent on Tuesday, 18th September, was received by Lillie today. I can now heave a sigh of relief for this item. 5 more items to go which I sent on the same day. However, for some reason I still need to find out, my registered mail to Emily got returned to me today.

Could I have got the address wrong? I am glad that I had written my address on the envelope, so the item could safely be returned to me. I wouldn't know what will happen to it had I not written my addie on the envelope. I shudder to find out, since I had put in quite an effort to make the little item for Emily. It was supposed to be a surprise, but, I guess now Emily knows something was coming her way, since I had to ask her for her latest addie, assuming that it was the addie that I got wrong. It couldn't possibly be shortage of stamps since the postal clerk had weight the item for me. Well, I just hope my secong attempt to mail it out again next week will arrive to her safe;y.

In the mean time, here's the card I made for Lillie.

I have a feeling when Ying came up with the idea to organise the NNCC, it was to see how many possibilities one can come up with by using very limited resourses, with specific items in only one specific colour.

You will be surprised at how many creative ways one can create a card by using the same items. It challenges you to extend your creativity and make you think out of the box.

When I was doing up mine, because of the limitation (not that I am saying Ying should send me more things, of course not) of the things I had in hand, I had to get real creative to come up with a design. It forced me to try out something I have never tried before when I have loads of things to play with. It's a good challenge.

Thanks, Ying, for organising this challenge.

Works In Progress Report

It's that week again. How time flies so fast, and I have not progressed much from the last time I posted about my stitching progress just two weeks ago.

I was busy doing up the Artist Trading Card (ATC), Getting TO Know You (GTKY) card and Partner, Image and Envelope (PIE) Swap for an exchange at Stamping Addict due before the end of the month. I wanted to get it out of the way so that I can concentrate on others things, instead of having those exchanges hovering over my head. I was also busy creating a card using the items sent by Ying for the Needles n' Craft Challenge (NNCC) organised by Ying. That's done too and is already on the way to Lillie, my partner. I hope the ATCs, the GTKY card and the PIE Swap will all arrive safely as they are all going overseas. I am also hoping that Lillie would receive the simple card I made for her safely too. I will not be able to rest until everything arrive at their destiantions, which I hope, will be soon.

The mini burgundy cards you see here (above) are the ATCs, while the two cards are the GTKY. One has gone out - the brown one, while the blue one will be going out next month for next month's swap, but I decided to do them together while my creative juice was flowing! LOL!

I will put up a photo of the NNCC card I made for Lillie when she receives it.

On the stitching front, this is my little progress on the DT Game Board Sampler (DTGBS). Not much, huh? *sigh* Time is so limited these days. I come home in a mad rush to get food ready for the break of fast. By the time that is done, I am simply too tired to pick up the needle, especially during the fasting month when I am lacking in sleep.

By the way, the pincushion you see next to the DTGBS was given to me by Lene more than a two years ago in one of the exchanges organised at MYS some time back.

Today I received the chart, House of a Needleworker by Little Needle House, kindly offered by Jean, for the Sisterhood Stitching (SHS) currently being organised at NNC. I have 3 weeks to complete it before I have to pass it on to the next person in the rotation. This being the case, I probably won't be working on the DTGBS anymore until I get the SHS done and over with. I do so enjoy stitching the mini houses, and seeing them being `built' with your needle. Small achievements which makes up into a big achievemnt. Maybe the break would do me good. Like the LDSAL, I might come back to work on it with more enthusiasm and get it done faster. *wink*

Until then, it's the SHS for my current project.

Finally, a start........

Friends at NNC have been encouraging to try out linen for some time already for they say that once I start on it, I might never want to work on aida anymore.

I have been putting it off since the tiny holes in the linen looks too intimidating for me. I just want to enjoy my hobby without having to end up with a headche. Working on aida is a breeze (if there are no 1/4 stitches) which I can even do while watching TV, and I can stitch stitches that are far apart because counting the holes are easy.

I have worked on evenweaves before as an alternative to working on linen if the design calls for 1/4 stitches or specialty stitches. I like working on evenweaves because my stitches comes out nice and square, just like on aida, as opposed to slightly rectangular stitches if working on linen due to the uneveness of the linen, and doing the 1/4 stitches or specialty stitches is a breeze, well, almost, a breeze, on evenweaves.

Recently, when I ordered some evenweaves from Jean, she gave me a small piece of linen to encourage me to try out linen. Thanks, Jean! So now, with the gift, I no longer have an excuse not to try it out, right? LOL!

Actually, I have tried out linen before for the Victoria Sampler cyberclass I took a year ago, but never completed it, when the project proved too daunting for me. But, since Jean had already gifted me a piece of linen, I thought that I at least had to apprciate Jean's gift and give it another attempt.

So, after much contemplation, I chose a simple design and gave it a go. So far, so good. *smile* This is a simple design by DMC stitched using Anchor 1305 multicolour thread. It's coming on nicely, don't you think so? *wink*

Ask me if I want to only stitch on linen from now on? My answer for now would still be a `No'. Aida, anytime for me for a relaxing hobby! But, I would go for evenweaves for charts that call for 1/4 stitches or specialty stitches.

However, I will not stop at this project to work on linen. I might still try out small and easy projects to work on linen so that I don't get too intimidated by the tiny holes. Once I have gained more confidence, who knows, I might actually say that I might never want to work on aida anymore! LOL! *wink* But, wait, I have loads of aidas before that to finish off first before I come to that decision! *grin* Also, I need to get back to the Victoria Sampler cyberclass project I started a year ago.

It's done! It's done! It's done!

It's done? It is? Really? I'd better check again to make before I start doing a happy dance!

Yup! Yippeee!! It's done! It's done! It's done! My Long Dog Mystery Sampler is finally done after four and a half months of working on it, with short breaks in between! It feels great, especially this being quite a big piece. I must give myself a pat on the back! LOL! *wink*

I had enjoyed doing this piece, although there were times that I was just plodding on, not because I was bored of the piece. It was too colourful to bore me, but, more because I was starting to get distracted by other designs I wanted to do, but, did not want to put this LDSAL down for fear that it might become a UFO (Unfinished Object) like so many of my other projects. So, I plodded on, though slow, just to make progress.

There was a time when I was starting to make mistakes in my anxiety to finish up the piece. BJ suggested that I give it a break, and come back to it when I am feeling less anxious. I took that suggestion, and on my trip to Singapore recently, eventhough I took the LDSAL with me, I did not touch it at all. Instead, I worked on the Cheryl's Bouquet. When I came back from Singapore, I started on 3 mini projects -a biscornu and two bookmarks. I completed the biscornu in a week, and the first bookmark a week later. I just completed the 2nd bookmark this morning. Yipee! Another reason for a happy dance!

I also started on another mini project which I will report separately as this piece is special and has certain significance to me.......*wink*

I think the break from the LDSAL did it. I came back to work on the LDSAL again last night, refreshed, when BJ asked us at NNC if we would like to bring it to a close this weekend. I thought I had a lot more to do, but, it seems that even though I was just plodding on to make progress, I had actually acomplished quite a lot already at the time I took a break from it!

At 10.45 pm last night, I put in the last stitch by stitching the month and year the piece was completed at the botttom right hand corner of the piece. That way, in years to come, my son can say that his mummy completed this piece X years ago. Who knows, it might just become a heirloom piece!

On another note, I am just showing off the magnifying glass or flexilens I bought from Jean a month ago, which I personally picked up when I went to Singapore recently. A good buy, in my opinion, for this old eyes. It's supposed to be magnifying my stitching piece so that I can see the holes better, but, instead I am magnifying my chart since I stitch without my glasses, and trying to focus back and forth between the chart and the stitching piece was starting to get more difficult with this aging eyes. Wait! Did I say aging eyes? Did I just admited to being old? LOL! *grin*

It feels so good................

Yesterday I took the day off to run some errands, pick up my son from school and do some stitching and make up some cards for a card swap I am doing at Stamping Addict.

Despite feeling guilty initially for being on leave because work in the office is never ending, it feels good towards the end of the day when you realised how much more housework gets done when you are at home for a longer period of time.

Eventhough it was already a public holiday on Friday, coupled with the Saturday/Sunday weekend, but I was hardly at home the last 2 days due to family commitments (Aiman's art class on Saturday, and took my sis who came from Kota Bharu for lunch and some shopping on Sunday). On Friday, as usual, its a day for the clothes to be washed, folded, sorted out to be ironed, meals to be prepared, the fridge to be cleared out of any leftovers from the days before, if any, and a 1001 other things that a wife do on weekends. Usually, the husbands will ask, "what did you do today, honey?", or, "What are your plans for today, sweetheart?". Men! They always think that we just stay home and watch TV like them! LOL! *wink*

I am pleased that the house looks much more organised yesterday because I have more time to get things done and organized, and still have time to spend on my hobbies. What is more important is that I have more time to spend with my son as I pick him up from school instead of him taking the bus to my in-laws place, and I get to see him only in the late evening when my hubby picks him up from his mum's place. By then, usually, it's a mad rush to get dinner ready, have dinner, see to his homework and get his school things ready for the next day. Ended up, I would be shouting at him at times to get him to hurry up eating or do his homework, because I have so much to do but he has so much to tell me. *sad* Yesterday, my son and I had a good chat about what he did in school yesterday, including what he had for lunch, on the drive home.

It feels good! I think you tend to be more productive too coming back to work, after a well rested weekend or break/leave from work, despite having to do housework, because that JOB is never done! LOL!

Stitching Progress

Despite not being home much this weekend due to some family commitments, I am quite satisfied, craft wise. I managed to finished a biscornu while watching the Merdeka parade on TV in the morning of 31st August.

Later in the day, I completed a bookmark. I won't be posting photos of these two items just yet since they will going out to someone. Will have photos up as soon as they are received safely by the persons. *wink*

In the mean time, I started on The Drawn Thread's Sampler Game Board (DTSGB) on late Saturday night. I am sticthing this piece on 14ct mocha coloured aida. This is another piece I am sort of doing a Stitch-Along (SAL) with BJ. I have so far completed one mini house. I think it's cute! It's like a mini achievement to complete each block of houses. I am now onto the second mini house.

I am not setting myself any target yet for this piece. I will have to see how fast I can stitch this piece and gauge my speed before I can set a reasonable target date.

BTW, the pincushion you see in the photo is a gift from Rose. She gave it to me when Margaret, Rose and I, together with Jackie (Margaret's sister) met up for a stitching chat on Saturday as I waited for Aiman to finish his art class.

I am still planning to complete my Long Dog Mystery Sampler, which I am also doing a SAL with BJ and a few others, hopefully in the month of September. I have put this piece aside for sometime already as I work on the biscornu and the bookmark. I am planning to stitch another bookmark for a friend. I hope to finish that before our NNC anniversary meet in November.

Moving away from cross stitching, I made up a couple of cards prior to going off to Singapore, so that I have something to give to Jean and Zohrah, as a token of friendship. I made 3 each for them, but, shown here are only two of the cards, using my latest gadget, the multi-shaper I bought recently at Papier. I am doing up more cards using this gadget as I am involved in the Artist Trading Card (ATC) and Getting To Know You (GTKY) card swap at Stamping Addict. I will definitely post photos once the receipients have received them safely.

Do I look familiar?

When I first met BJ, she said that I look familiar and asked if I have ever appeared on TV before. I said no. Sorry, BJ, but, I was not trying to lie, but, I was a little bit shy and embarassed.

I wasn't sure if the person BJ saw on TV was actually me, or someone who looks like me, because the couple of programs that I have appeared on TV before were more about architecture and about my work, though there were a couple of times that I appeared in the social pages with my dad.

I did not want to be misunderstood, had I said yes, it would sound like as if I was boasting and proud of the fact that I was on TV before. I had only met BJ for the first time that day. Surely, `boasting' about appearing on TV just wouldn't give anyone a good impression of me, right? *wink* What if who BJ meant was not actually me? Wouldn't that have been very embarassing?

Recently, at the end of a meeting I chaired, a member of the meeting, a young officer who I have only met for the first time that day, came up to me and said that she remembered me from watching TV some many years ago.

Goodness! Someone still actually recognizes me and remembers me after all these years? I was a little emabarassed and asked her if she hasn't got me confused with someone else. She said definitely not, and would recognise me anywhere, because she had some interest on the subject in the programs that I appeared in.

It's nice to be remembered still and recognized. *smile*

So, BJ, yes, I did appear on TV before, but so many years ago, and maybe you did actually saw me on TV that many years ago! LOL! *wink*

An officer and a gentleman

It feels nice to be treated like a lady! *wink*

It's nothing, really, but, I am excited, just the same, and want to share my excitement of being treated like a lady by one of the former top person of the country, and I blushed in embarassment! *wink*

I had the opportunity today to meet up with the former Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia, Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Samsudin Osman, who is now the President and acting Chairman of Perbadanan Putrajaya.

We met at a project site and the heat today was burning extra hot and glaring. As we stood by the roadside to the entrance of the site, I could not help but squint (not wink *grin*) my eyes as I spoke to him in the hot sun. His chauffer gave him an umbrella to shade him. He moved closer to me and shaded me with the umbrella. I could not help but blushed in embarassment because, as there were about 10 of us during the visit, it felt odd that I was the only one sharing the umbrella (it was a golf umbrella, so, no funny thoughts, ok? LOL! *wink*) with him, as the others around us just looked on in the hot sun, listening, as I explained about the project.

I noticed a gentlemanly smile on his face as he saw me smile shyly and blushed in embarassment. It was a nice feeling to be treated like a lady by a kind gentleman, especially by someone of his ranking!.

It's hard to come by a kind gentleman these days as men are becoming more egoistic than ever before! *wink* Opps! Some men are not going to agree with me on this! LOL!

In Stash Heaven!

Yup, that’s how I felt on my recent trip to Singapore. LOL! *grin*

It was supposed to be a holiday for my son, because we were supposed to go during the last school holidays, but, due to both mine and my hubby’s new position, we were not allowed to take leave within the first 28 days of taking up the positions. So, this school holiday, we decided to fulfill our promise to our son, and I took the opportunity to meet up with Jean, at the same time, pick up my stash from her which I had ordered much earlier online.

Heheheh..I did not just pick up my stash I had ordered earlier, but instead, I bought more charts from her upon seeing more lovely charts she had up for sale at the Art House where she opened up a stall for two days. Look at the stash! Lovely, aren’t they? *wink* OOhh! Stash Heaven! *grin*

I am so glad to have finally had a chance to meet up with Jean, and finally be able to put a face to the name I have been `talking’ to over at NNC. It’s so nice to meet you, Jean. Though not much chatting was done because my son was already getting restless and hungry, I did however managed to try out the lap stand Jean brought along as a demo piece which she hope to be able to bring them in soon.

BTW, I also picked up my flexilens on base from Jean, for the old eyes to use when stitching! *grin*

Earlier in the day, after checking into the hotel, I made my way to Singapore Plaza to check out the much talked about Spotlight, with my son in tow. Yeah, hubby wanted to visit Refections at Bukit Chandu, which according to him, wouldn’t interest Aiman at all.

So, with Aiman in tow, I wasn’t expecting to be able to stay long at Spotlight, knowing how restless my son can easily get. There goes my plan to spend a longer time browsing at Spotlight, which probably turned out fine really, come to think of it. If not, I would probably have done more damage to my purse had I gone alone and stayed longer! LOL! As it is, I think my purse is already heavily damaged by the whole Singapore trip! *grin* Here’s proof of the damage done at Spotlight….

It was a big shop with so many craft items that caters to almost all types of crafts or hobbyist. I stayed close to an hour before Aiman begged to go home. But, I still wanted to visit the scrapbook shop Margaret mentioned to me which was also located at Singapore Plaza. It was easy to find since Margaret said that it was near the escalator.

Made with Love, that’s the name of the shop, was packed to the brim with so many lovely scrapbook goodies, I just had to browse, but, my son was getting restless. He just wanted to go back to the hotel for a swim. OK, how do I persuade a 7 year old kid that mummy still wants to shop? LOL!

Made with Love gave me the answer to that almost immediately, like they knew what parents who have kids in tow go through when going shopping. They had a small café at the end of the shop, and they serve chocolate cakes and hot chocolate! My son’s favorite! What more could I ask for! LOL! What else? I got my son settled in with a slice of chocolate cake, and hot chocolate with marshmallows, and I was in stash heaven again as I browse the shop. LOL! However, I did not stay long, because as soon as the cake and hot chocolate were downed, Aiman was bored again. *grin* I only managed to get two clear alphabet stamps, but, I was satisfied with the buys anyway. It cost a little bit more here in Malaysia. More stash for my stamping collection! *grin*

The second day was spent at Sentosa Island, from morning to late afternoon. When we got back into town, as my hubby had promised my son a dip in the pool before dinner, I decided to hop over to Ngee Ann City as Margaret mentioned that there is a craft shop there, and it wasn’t far from where we stayed at Orchard Parade Hotel along Orchard Road. It was also just behind the MRT Station we got off, after coming back from Sentosa.

Art Friend is another huge craft shop, covering almost 4 lots of shop. More organized than Spotlight, but it did not have as many things since it did not carry any fabrics as Spotlight did. However, for a first time visitor, it was stash heaven again for me! LOL!

However, I was a little wary with my purse this time and bought only two items – a rubber stamp and a punch. Could it be because I was already tired out from spending a whole day at Sentosa?

Art Friends had a lot of things which probably I wouldn’t be able to find back home in Malaysia, but, buying the things I wanted would create luggage problems going home because we only brought with us one big suitcase and one small one. Already I had the stash which I picked up from Jean, stash from Spotlight, and Made with Love. My bag would burst at the seams if I proceeded to buy any of the bulky things I fancied. So, the sensible part of me took over and my purse remains safe with me for the trip to Art Friends….for now LOL!

For dinner, my hubby suggested that we have it at Scotts Plaza which he use to frequent when he was working in Singapore some 17 years back. However, we couldn’t find it, which we later found out that it was knocked down for new developments. Just my luck, as if it was meant to be, my hubby took us to Far East Plaza along Scotts Road for dinner, which, coincidentally happen to have another cross stitch shop! LOL! I chanced upon it after dinner as we were just walking around looking at the shops.

Margaret never mentioned this shop to me before this though I remembered someone did mention it at NNC some time back, but it slipped my mind until I saw the shop after dinner. Unfortunately it was closed already at 8.30pm when we got there. *sigh*

However, not wanting to leave Singapore without at least satisfying my curiosity about the shop, I made a quick hop over to The Knotty Shop the next day as it opened at 11.00am, just before I had to rush back to the hotel to check out and leave for our evening flight back.

Again, with my son in tow, even though it was only a 30 minute visit, I still managed to spend quite a sum at the shop. They were books on hardanger which I find hard to find here in Malaysia. I have not been successful at getting them online as they were either too expensive, or, I couldn’t find the patterns I like, but the books at Knotty Shop fulfilled both my criteria of a reasonable price and lovely patterns. I grabbed them, together with charts by Serendipity Designs & M Designs, two fat quarters of 28ct evenweaves and a ready to stitch string bag.

Oooohhhh! I am in Stash Heaven! LOL! See all my stash! *grin*

Because of my recent craze of buying stash during this trip to Singapore, I have just banned myself from going anywhere within a 2m radius of any craft shop for the next 12 months! LOL! Err………but, there are still those online shops! *wink*

OK, no more stash shopping for me till the end of the year, except for necessities like flosses and that sort of things to complete a project. Dare I make myself promise? *grin*

A time for the smalls

I have been plodding on my Long Dog Mystery Sampler, which we are doing a Stitch-Along at NNC, for the past four months. I have reached the top band, but have gone back to the bottom band to finish all the bands completely. I am getting anxious. The faster I try to finish it, the slower I seem to progress. I was making more mistakes than usual. BJ suggested that I take a break to do some smalls. She said that it might get me in a less anxious mood, and thus, when I come back, I will have been more revitalised and, hopefully more relaxed, and can progress faster after that. So, I took her advised.

On my recent family holiday to Singapore, I brought along two small projects. Although I did also bring along the LDSAL, I did not touch it at all through out my stay in Singapore.

Yup, I stitched every minute I had, in between waiting to board the plane, on the plane, while waiting for my hubby and son to get ready for breakfast and dinner, by the pool. Anywhere where the lighting was good.

Eventhough the lighting in the hotel room was kind of dim, I still managed to stitch, though only a bit, it was still a lot of progress on a small piece, and this is what I have to show.

The first piece (above) is Cheryl's Bouquet using Carrie's Thread New Vision. Lovely colours, don't you think so?

The second piece I am doing is a motif taken from the french book, BLEU, BLANC, BISTRE, which I ordered from Amazon.fr some time back. I am hoping to turn this piece into a biscornu.

Taking inspiration from Carrie's Thread CORAL REEF, I am using DMC 3867 (pink), 3746 (purple) and 906 (green). One wonders why I don't just use Carrie's Thread to begin with, right? LOL! Well, for starters, I wanted to experiment. I also wanted to save the Carrie's Thread for other projects.

I think I am liking this mini piece too! Hopefully I can complete this piece in a week or two. I want to go back to my LDSAL before working on Cheryl's Bouquet. I am also expectng the Sisterhood Stitching (SHS) project to come my way too in September. So, I need to plan my stitching for the next few months.

Crazy for evenweaves

I have been looking for evenweaves to stock up for future projects which I have been wanting to do, but could only be done on evenweaves or linen because of the specialty stitches and 3/4 stitches involved.

I have been looking high and low at the LNSes and online, but wasn't too sure what and which to buy because I got confused by the many names evenweaves are being refered to. Finally I found a supplier in Jean from Needle Little Love from just across the causeway, Singapore!

Jean has the colours that I wanted in the count that I have been searching for - 28ct. That got me excited and I ordered in 3 colours!

Coincidentally, Margaret was going to Singapore for a few days and offered to bring back the evenweaves for me. I was restless in anticipation waiting for Margaret to get back to Kuala Lumpur! LOL!

We finally met up on Saturday, 12th August, so I could pick up my stash from Margaret, but, not before she enticed me into wanting to order more stash! LOL! *wink*

I had a great time flipping through the pages of Mar'garets french magazines which she brought along with her latest purchase of stash from Jean, which I also enjoyed looking. Really terrible for my purse, coz now I want them too! LOL! Yes, terrible this Margaret, isn't she? LOL!

BTW, Margaret also gave me some lovely stash - a fabric that looks like 14ct or 16ct Regina, a bright red cotton fabric and a lovely overdyed floss. Really nice! Thank you so much, Margaret!

I must now think of a project to use up my evenweaves and the stash Margaret just gave me too!

Craft update

I was at The Curve last weekend to take my mum, my brother, who's back for the holidays from Ireland, and my sister out for lunch with my hubby and son. Heheh..my stitching friends can almost guess already where I am getting to, right? LOL! *wink*

Yup, I had to drop by Papier! And you know what happens if I do, right? Yup, spend! LOL! *blush*

Well, I bought a piece of lovely flowery 12"x12" scrapbook paper, a heart shape stamp, like as if I don't have enough of heart stamps *LOL!*, a cardmaking magazine and, the one I like most, is the multi-shaper punch. It can punch around cicles!

I have yet to use it though. I got back late from the outing, and had so many other more important things to do first. I'm planning to give it a try this weekend. I will definitely put up some photos of the end result using the punch as soon as I get one done to my stisfaction.

On another craft note, I have already started on the top most band of the Long Dog Mystery Sampler which we are currently doing a Stitch-Along (SAL) at NNC. Although I have reached the top band, I have yet to complete all of the bands before this. Out of the 14 bands, including the mini bands, I have thus far only finished 2 bands completely. I will be going back to the last band again to finish each band completely. Like BJ, I am hoping to finish the LDSAL by August.

I promised myself that I shall not start on any new project until I at least got to the top band of the LDSAL. And, since I did get to the top, though I have yet to finish it, I thought I'd give myself a break and start on the much awaited project I have been wanting to do ever since receiving the yummy Carrie's Threads from BJ which I bought from the Sanguine Store.

Yup, I started on Cheryl's Bouquet yesterday. I am stitching on 14ct aida rustico oatmeal using Carrie's Thread's New Vision. I just simply love the way the colour changes subtly. So sweet! My favorite colour too! Pink in combination with green and a touch of yellow/beige, on my my favourite type of fabric - rustico oatmean! Simply awesome, don't you think so? *wink*

I just couldn't stop stitching. It was exciting to see the colour changes with every stitch! I just didn't want to put it down to work on my LDSAL. LOL! However, I know I had to put it down if I want to finish the LDSAL in August as planned. I would feel much better actually once I have finished the LDSAL. It's coming to 4 months already since we started on this SAL. I want it to come to a close soon so that I can concentrate working on so many other projects I have lined up! LOL!

I am pleased so far with the way this weekend is working out. I am hoping that this coming week will be a great one, though busy I will be.

Expect the unexpected

Yup, when you have a young child, never expect things to go according to plans, because, if you do, you will only end up being disappointed and upset. *grin*

Last week was my son's swimming gala. It's a swimming competition actually. My son has never shown much interest to really swim seriously, and for him to want to enter the competition came as a surprise to me and my hubby. Each time my hubby takes him to the community swimming pool in our neighbourhood, instead of learning to swim, he prefers to play in the waters.

He had swimming lessons at school for the first 6 months of school (which has now being replaced with sports practices for the 2nd half of the year), but, as to whether he was seriously concentrating during his swimming lessons, I wouldn't know because we never had the opportunity to meet up with his swimming intructor. However, my hubby did say that he now knows how to swim since he started the lessons at school, though his swimming wasn't actually competition standard yet. But, compete he wanted to, in fact, insisting that my hubby signs the registration forms as we rush to work one day.

We never actually took him seriously. I never pushed him to practice one month prior to the swimming gala, thinking that he wasn't really serious, but, the week before the gala, he talked about nothing else but the gala. He kept saying that he wants to win a medal and trophy. Still, I did not take him seriously.

On Friday, he had an asthma attack. I thought, OK, he's not going for the gala on Saturday. Nope, I was 2nd time wrong. He kept insisting that he wants to go. Usually it would be quite difficult for him to swallow his antibiotics because of the taste and smell, but, that Friday night, he took his medicines with no qualms at all. He wanted to get well. He just had to get well for the gala. So eager was he that he said that he was getting up at 4.30am to get ready (the gala was to start at 7.30am). Still, I had my doubts.

Come Saturday morning, we got ready for the gala. My son had registered for, not one event, but TWO events - freestyle kicking and 50m freestyle! As any parent would be, I gave him my full support and cheered for him. We both did, my hubby and I. He got last out of 4 swimmers in the first event - freestyle kicking. We did not think much. So, OK, he wasn't as fast as the other kids. That's OK. He tried and he got to the finishing line with no problems. That's what's important. He finished the race.

Come the 2nd event, here's when you expect the unexpected. His teacher said that if you think you can't finish the race, then that's OK. Stop, and hang on to the rope between the lane (sorry, I am no swimmer, so I don't know the correct term for it), and the lifeguard will come and get you. You know what that means? The teacher just gave my son an escape clause. Finish only if you can.

My son is one child who will try his best to finish something he started, especially with my coaching, and I would normally psyche him up days prior to any event. Remember his kindergarten concert where he was to give the opening speech? Also, he knows that I will not be very happy if he doesn't finish what he started on, but, the minute you tell him that it's OK if he can't, he will immediately jump at the opportunity! LOL! Gheeze! An opportunist! LOL! *grin*

Not to blame the teacher so much, but, that was exactly what my son did. He stopped midway when he saw that he was going to be last again in the 2nd event. Err.....not only did he stopped midway, he started crying in full view of all the other parents! *blush*

I was not expecting him to win first place, not that I am putting my son down, I wouldn't, as a parent, but, more because he did not have enough practice to compete. But, what was so unexpected was for him to cry in the middle of the pool! Many would think that he was just being a spoilt and pampered brat. But, in defence of my son, when I asked him later why he stopped and cried, he said that he wanted to win so much, but when he saw that he was last again, it broke his momentum and spirit, and he gave up. He saw no point in finishing the race anymore.

We had a tough time explaining and lecturing him all day that day the importance of finishing a race, no matter how late you are and how long it will take. We, in fact, managed to catch one of the races where this one boy finished last more than 1 minute after the last one before him finished, but, the crowd cheered him on to the finishing line. We kept giving him the example of that boy to make him understand.

We were initially upset with him for not finishing the race, and to top it, he cried publicly. But, later in the day, when we calmed down a little bit, my hubby and I, we both agreed, that we are actually proud of him of the fact that at least he has the spirit to want to join a competition on his own initiative. We never told him nor pushed him to do it. He wanted so much to join the gala, only we did not take him seriously. That was my regret. If I had actually taken him seriously, and pushed him to practice, he would probably have at least made good timing, and wouldn't probably be last. PROBABLY. A lesson learnt. Never take your child's interest for granted.

My hubby's taking him to the pool tommorow. We are starting early. LOL!