Home of a lil'needlecrafter: Challenge

Monday, November 02, 2020

Checking in

Hello everyone, it's been many, many months, like almost two years since my last blog. Seriously, I haven't been crafting much after that last blog entry except for a Halloween Exchange with my local stitching group that year and a meetup was held in October for the exchange.. And that too I procrastinated alot with my choice, being fickle minded with my handmade criteria . There was four category to fulfilled; handmade, store bought, stash and food

Finally I decide to stitch Mr Baron Von Bat for the exchange. That bat was like calling to me

My exchange package ; sew a Vampire teabag with a packed of tea and some bloody finger cookie to fulfiled the food category. My halloween store bought item was a frog ( a tissue case) to denote a witch's familiar and fabric and zipper for the stash.

And with the exchange done with, the year just ended and begins a new one so quickly I just don't know where the time went. 😄

MIL had a fall twice in the beginning of the year whereby the second fall gave her some serious issues and she had to go into nero surgery in February, a time when I first heard news of the pandemic Covid 19 had landed on our shore, the day MIL went into surgery in the same hospital. I was still in a blurry state with no knowledge of how deadly the virus could be then.

Thereafter the surgery, several medical visits followed which during the early stages was kinda hectic and took a toll on my me life. Six months later, things have settled down a bit but C19 has already spread like a wildfire and we went through several stages of Movement Control Order (MCO) , an effort to curb the spread until some three weeks back, we had another major spike. I shall not go into it further .

My priorities now is finishing the UFOs including crochet knitting and some patchworks, some dating back to upteen years ago.

Two biggie achievements this year which are stitching related are two SALs I took part in and manage to complete. Something which is a rare, LOL - Universal Monster SAL which I found myself not able to resist by The Witchy Stitcher fb group. This was fun to stitch as Meg offered so many options and choices so every stitcher can personalized it and there were so many ideas and lots of creativity from everyone in the group doing the SAL

A freebie Garden SAL so generously offered by Durene Jones during the pandemic . I made my choice of colors to compliment my blue evenweave.

I stitched up a small from the Be Well freebies. This is by Cottage Garden Samplings.

Actually I had a few other choices I would love to stitch but ...later

I finally jumped into the bandwagon to sew some fabrics face mask too after some months of pondering

For now, C19 don't seem to be that easily eradicated and eliminated from this earth for the time being and face mask are significant in our lives now

Sew a matching face mask to go with a tote bag for DD. The tote bag was a long overdue project from last year which I only completed in August this year in time for her birthday.

That's it for now. Back to some knitting and crocheting in the evenings. Work is still full time for me during this time . Currently, my state is in the second phase of Control Movement Order till November 9 , which I foresee that this will be further extended looking at our current cases.

Wishing everyone good health , Stay Safe, Be Safe and Be Well

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

March roundup

After a successful and pleasant trip to the North slightly over a year ago, WSG decided to galloped down south this March for a four days trip. After much, much planning, we finally made it.

We covered everything we have set our eyes to feast on and to eat our hearts out.

We have listed a couple of things on our MUST EAT AND MUST SEE LIST in the Merlion City or better known as SINGAPORE.

We first explore the Arab Quarter, the vibrant colors of the shops, its murals, artistic stores, trendy boutiques with cafes lining it's streets and it's quaint refurbished shophouses from the colonial era has much to explore and kept us on our toes for hours especially when we ventured into a lil'antique store of peranakan treasures

Our next adventure took us to the eastern neighbourhood, Katong, known of its colorful, picture-perfect shophouses, rich heritage to the peranakan culture and the dizzying array of local food especially it's nyonya kueh (desserts)

That red building simply stood out majestically

Charming shop front of everything Peranakan inside

A Peranakan heritage, the nyonya beaded shoe (Kasut Manek)

Kasut Manek close up top finished and bottom beading in progress

The one of it's kind Peranakan porcelain wear

The food

Famously known Katong Laksa.

where Gordon Ramsay was here during the Singtel Hawker fair in 2013

Kg Glam Café Lontong

One spread of Nyonya kuih at Glory Catering, hope I got the name correct

A late afternoon brunch at a Dong Po Colonial Café

located in the Arab Quarter

A taste of French, a late breakfast brunch at Paul, in Takashimaya

Mouth watering spread of delicious sweet and savoury pasteries

Dinner was the Mala hot pot in People's Park that we were told a must try originated from the Sichuan province is not your average kind of steam boat kind of dish which I thought it was. This is Hot Pot literally refers to SPICY HOT POT but I had to confess that this can be quite additive for me

On our last day with a couple of hours to spare before our flight, we stumble upon the religious melting pot of Waterloo's charm. We were amazed at the sight of devotees paying respects at both the Goddess of Mercy ( Kwan Im Thong -established in 1884) and Sri Krishnan (1870) temples.

A sight to behold, the beautiful goddess at the entrance of the Sri Krishnan Temple.

Thereafter, we went back to the hotel to checked out and it was well, sort of a lil'rush to the airport

and with that, our trip comes to an end

The not to be missed is the much talked about Peranakan Museum

This deserved a separate mention

The Peranakan Museum houses the world's finest and most comprehensive collection of Peranakan artefacts, representing a unique cultural, the Nyonya Needlework: Embroidery and Beadwork in the Peranakan World. Well I am only posting a tiny part of the exhibits. I couldn't have everything posted here. More so, the photos just don't do justice compared to the real thing.

You just gotta see it for yourself if you ever visit Singapore

A beaded purse

a silk robe

a beaded foot stool

Beaded shoe face and shoe

It was a warm and comforting get-together with good food, good company

and our passion between us.

It was our passion that brought us together in the first place

A farewell for now until another time

least to say

We DID MISSED OUT one thing thou, SINGAPORE CHICKEN RICE , LOL

Where Stitchers Gather

Singapore March 2 - 5 , 2017

STITCHING CHALLENGE

It's been months, felt very very long since I last stitch, pondered a while before I took up the challenge at the All About Smalls FB Group. Afterall it's small and that shouldn't be hard to finish. I needed some inspiration and hopefully this is it.

Here's my first start and a tiny progress on my choice design from LHN, Quaker Birds

I have since stitched a little more

On another note, two swap packages flew off on the 16 to Tiina and Montse while a little envie went to Diane. I hoped this round my swap contents will arrive safely and in ONE or rather it's ORIGINAL form. The case of once broken twice shy.

Both are for the 10th Teacup-Mug Exchange do read about it at

The Enchanting Rose blog

Two Weddings

Coincidentally I attended the wedding of two sisters' children, a son and a daughter within a week, Both are childhood friends of hubby. He had a blast catching up.

I can't believed how quickly we are moving into the 2nd Quarter of the year already.

Wishing all a wonderful April, Happy Spring time, what ever you do, remember to stop to smell the flowers and here's a little advance Easter wishes

Wishing all a bless and joyful Easter

Thank you all who came by and commented in my last post, I read every comments and appreciate all your wonderful comments, hope you enjoyed another round of update.