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Thursday, January 12, 2017

The new begining

Happy New Year ! May you have a year that is filled with love, laughter, brightness and hope . Hoped all of you had a great start into the year too.

I spent the eve of the new year countdown with a group of friends over some coffee and tea and the New Year house cleaning. In just 27 days from the New Year I will be welcoming the Year of the Rooster and celebrating Chinese New Year. Like always it will be a mad rush to get things done both at work and home before the Chinese New Year holidays.

Today, it's exactly 2 weeks before the big day and I've not even started baking. It's been almost three months since I haven't been feeling myself; it all started with a bad sore throat that leads to a bad cough and feeling feverish at times that the Doctor was afraid it was dengue but no, thereafter a congested and stuffy nose that went on for weeks that literally drives me crazy. As I am putting in the final words for this post, my sniffing and snuffling is no longer as bad, the coughing as somewhat subsides and that I believed is a good thing.

Secret stitching - I teased the girls from my local group, Where Stitches Gather (WSG) on FB with the photo. None was even closed to guess what they thought I was stitching. I didn't reveal what it was then, I wasn't sure as yet if this will turned out to be what I had envisioned it to be.

Pineapples

I was working on these pineapples applique finishing it just in time for the meetup.

The idea came from the girls themselves, primarily BJ who was coaxing all of us into a Pineapple Quilt. I didn't plunged myself into the Pineapple SAL, quilting is not really my cup of tea at the moment. Here's a peek of the 6 pineapples applique before I size it down individually.

At this point, I thought my pineapple applique would make a nice table runner.

Why the Pineapples ?

The pineapple is recognized as a traditional expression of “welcome” throughout the South and in areas along the Eastern Seaboard. Appearing on all sorts of décor – from door knockers to quilts – the fruit symbolizes those intangible assets we appreciate in a home: warmth, welcome, friendship and hospitality. Whereas, Chinese like playing with words and symbols. The symbolic meaning plays an important part during the Chinese New Year festivity. Often homonyms (words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings) are gladly used. Names of dishes and/or their ingredients which will be served sound similar to words and phrases referring to good wishes are expressed during the Chinese New Year, while other foods hold a symbolic meaning. The pineapple is placed in homes to bring wealth luck and excellent fortune .The Chinese pronunciation "wong-lai" (pineapple) means "luck had arrived".

Pots of Tea & Coffee - We are a small group and we like it that way. The girls from the WSG with Mr T, minus Jackie who was camera shy; had an Afternoon Tea at the Harrods of Kuala Lumpur last weekend. It's our first meet of the year. A joy to have Jess & Mr T who travelled all the way from up North to meet us. We were each gifted with a Light Planner from BJ, thank you so much BJ . I dare say we had a wonderful time catching up; we talked so much and laugh so much and even drew names for our Secret birthday Swap due for end of this year. It's going to be as hard to decide what the item will be for one as is for four .

The surprise : My Pineapple applique pincushion and a hand made & hand painted Rooster mini bowl. Mr T received a mini bowl minus the pin cushion. I wasn't thoroughly happy with my choice of fabrics, prim fabrics would definitely be the better choice, sadly, I was caught in a time of not having any desire to go fabric shopping and thus, everything came my stash.

I want to thanks all who had commented in my last post, all of you have not heard from me individually yet, but do be known that I read everyone's comments which I appreciate a lot for leaving me your thoughts .

I am not certain as yet if I will be back for another post before the Chinese New Year holidays begins, but in case if I don't , wishing all happy stitching

and to all who celebrates Chinese New Year

Wishing all good health, good fortune and abundance of luck

2017

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

October musings

Another month has come to an end and I have a little something to show and some happy thoughts to share.

Happy thoughts : A big relieved when I finally received word from my Christmas In July Swap partner, Silvia that she finally received my swap package. Finally, because it was my second mailing to her after my first mailing failed to deliver. She is such a sweet soul to sent me photos of my gifts including one of herself holding the Angel.

This is one of the four photos Silvia sent me. If only you can read this Silvia,(Silvia has no blog) I just can't thank you enough and truly appreciate that you took the initiative to sent me the photos and of yourself. It's always wonderful to be able to put a name to a face. I am so glad to see the Angel didn't get squashed or flatten and is still wholesome.

Travelling Tea Cup : Much thanks to Kim for posting the link. It's the 9th Teacup and Mug Exchange . Naturally, I signed up for the teacup exchange, how hard can that be? All I need is a cup & saucer and a little extras. Never really gave much thought about packaging which is a bit intimidating. Extra care need to be given to ensure the cup and saucer arrived in one piece.

Well, happy that I managed to put everything together to meet the mailing deadline but somehow I just worry. It's my first mailing something this fragile, worried if I had not packed it well enough to take on the journey. Fingers crossed until it arrives and it did; happy as a bee.

And I must not forget to add, my so lovely teacup came very quickly from Kimberley in NZ. Saving up the photos for a November reveal. Here's a little peek.

While searching for something extras to go with my swap, I stumble upon this Japanese Lacquer Tea Plate . It's said that the plate are hand drawn which means no two plates are alike. Having the plate simply means that I need a matching tea cup to go with it.

What's up with crafting :

First, progress of my Second Lily Gold yard crochet in single strands. I truly like the outcome of this single stands more compared to the first Lily Gold which was in double strands. This is definitely for me to keep. It's still a work in progress

I also finished this LK Reindeer I stitched awhile back with a mini hoop. Replaced the snowflakes with two tiny flowers . I actually missed a count on the Reindeer and couldn't fit the snowflakes, I choose not to undo the stitches and so I need to improvised.

A little something for this Halloween. Homespun - Wicked Fancy Boot. Haven't decided yet what to finish this into and I need a little charm key to complete the design.

A pot of tea : The ladies from the Where Stitches Gather group (WSG) decided to have a mini meet up over a pot of tea when the DOUBLE Js'; Jess & June took off and had a wonderful time in Down-Under that made us so jealous (in a good way of course).

The spread from our Mid Morning brunch

So Jess W and June T, here's to you, I know this lil' sweet revenge of ours is nothing compared to where both of you are now, just make sure both of you brings us a little souvenir each, LOL. And we went home with a fruit cake from BJ. Thank you so much BJ. Don't you agree that it look delish ?

From my Kitchen : Steamed Chinese Pear with rock sugar and Goji Berries is traditionally known to benefits the lung; a remedy to prevent dehydration of respiratory tract or throat irritation from common cold and return the body to it's natural balance. It can be made into a sweet dessert. In my case, I have a bit extras of the Chinese pears lying around in the kitchen . Need I say more? LOL. I added a bit of ginger for the gingery zing.

Green Mangoes Pickle is what I made when someone left me a bunch of Green Mangoes. I have never made pickle before, but I got tips as to how to pickle the mangoes, I was bent to try it out. It sounded easy until the peel and slice. There's pickling recipes out there with vinegar and sour plums but mine has none of that two ingredients. The sweet and sour mangoes pickles with a crunchy bite is a good any day snack or a side dish as well as served as an appetizer .

Sweet Potatoes Dessert

A very simple and easy sweet dessert for a mid morning or mid afternoon brunch. All you need is sweet potatoes + sugar+water and maybe a slice of ginger and screwpine leaves for an added fragrant.

Diwali

A festival celebrated by the Hindus

It celebrates light overcoming darkness and is also known as the Festival of Lights falls on this Saturday.

HAPPY TREAT OR TRICK

There is magic in the night when pumpkins glow by the moonlight and when witches go riding, the moon laughs and whispers

image courtesy from google search

It's near HALLOWEEEEEN

Have a great Trick or Treat and a good weekend

Thursday, January 28, 2016

The time of the year has come

It's been weeks since my last blog post and that long too since I last went on my blog rounds. It's the time of the year indeed, lots to do, work is hectic as usual this time of the year and it's bad time too for upgrading the company's software, but the boss insisted now rather than a month later. It's not easy especially when this old brain of mine has finally found a comfort zone and to start all over again, feeling dreadful here.

Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year falls on February 8th this year and the firm will be close for the whole week, which means I am off from the 6th until 14th, Valentine's day. Big smile here, LOL. Spring cleaning began slowly some two weeks ago. Every year, during spring cleaning I discarded lots of load and yet there's so much to throw out again this year. Now, how did all those stuff gets accumulated ??? Seriously, I don't have a clue !

Red in Chinese New Year is an expression of joy. Hanging red lantern are believed to drive off bad luck and couplets ; couplets are brush works of Chinese calligraphy in black ink on red paper placed either on both side of the front doors or on the door to symbolize good luck or bring luck and auspiciousness in the Chinese culture. I never hang couplets but an eighteen feet red sash on my front entrance, a traditional practiced from my side of the family for as long as I can remember .

I changed the curtains too, store bought this year, a chiffon with needle punch embroidery in moroon red with a tinge of bluish discarding the white semi-sheer lightweight from two years ago. The staircase gets a dressup too with those ornaments . Now let's hope my lil' Princess Milo don't get the idea that I have put up some toys for her to play.

Going a little out of tradition this year, I baked for the first time Cinnamon cookies. You'll find this recipe from All Recipe.com . My Seaweed crackers is half done and am planning a pineapple tart later of the week.

Some crafting news, for the first time I finished this crocheted tunic in two weeks. I didn't have enough yarns in my stash and opted for this simple pattern where the yarns was just sufficient to complete this. I added two doily motifs just to give it a bit of a something to look at.

Yarn : Cotton Juicy Boucle (Blue (5)) from Daiso

Something small I finished this January

A chart named Brin de Bonheur a freebie found Here

I missed calculated and doubt I have enough space for the wordings

A round robin, my theme of Winter Home from a long ago rounds when I was still with a local group. It holds great memories from these wonderful ladies, Anna, Margaret and especially Janet. Although it's been some two years or three ? since the dreadful cancer took Janet's life, yet I can still vividly remembers her warmth and kind smile that drew people to her, she will always be remembered.

This is something I need to ponder during the long holidays as to what I should do with the space below the houses. Thot of adding the lace did came to mind, will see how it goes and what sets my mood by then.

Had a three days weekend last and I took mom out for some festive shopping. We had some me time and she even agreed to play along with some selfies with the festive decorations in the mall before we had lunch at Nandos.

Nando's Specialty Grilled Chicken Cataplana for mom

Mushroom soup with garlic bread for both of us

and I had the Chicken wrap

Something I missed out from my trip to Koh Lipe island. While at the Walking Street, we found this little one man craft shop who crafted these and both mother and daughter was spoilt by choice before we finally hauled these home.

That's it for now, doubt I'll have time to squeeze another update before the festival and so till then, take care everyone, especially those effected by the dreaded snow storms, stay warm please and stay safe, while those experiencing the heat wave like us here, drink lots and lots of water .

Till I see you next, have a good rest of the week.

Monday, September 28, 2015

September,

I thought I would have a bit more of me time in September with Diane in hostel.
I thought I would have more time to concentrate on crafting since I no longer have to chauffer her around and wait on her. I thought I could also keep up with blogging and my blog rounds. But no, I just don't know how the time went by so quickly leaving me feeling a little lost for not being able to finish what I had planned. There was so much to do without actually accomplished anything worth mentioning except those that came with a deadline like the Halloween Mail Art and my Red Hexa SAL. By the way, Diane is home on sem break for a week but she will have her stuff to keep her busy.

Speaking of which, I am a little worried that I still have no news of the Mail Art reaching it's new home. It flew slightly over two weeks now and the postie track and trace records at my end here recorded it boarded the plane on 15 September, until todate the destination postal department has not provided a feedback on their delivery status.

September has been depressing, imagine waking up in the morning with a blurry skyline . I thought it was my eyesight that's failing. But the sky is shrouded with a thick pall of smoke and smelling burnt of organic material . Our air quality in recent weeks deteriorated and worsen tremendously with the prevailing winds continued to blow haze from the Sumatra fire. The light thunder shower in the late morning and early afternoon only provide temporary respite. The sad part is that this is becoming like an annual haze season for us which should never even have existed, if only 'the government concerned' had exercise some form of enforcement and worked their MOA. At one point the Air Pollutant index breached over 200 in unhealthy mark that forced schools to closed.

Our skies turned grey, smokey and gloomy.

The effect of haze exposure may caused a variety of adverse condition where health is concerned
and thus forcing people to abandon outdoor activities. Sadly the thunder showers in the late morning and early afternoon is not enough to overcome the situation.

This was mid morning at the Lake Gardens when the sun should be shining brightly and full of joggers and children in the playground but now looking almost deserted.

The eight moon has come again, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar. It's celebrating the moon , known as Mooncake Festival or Lantern Festival that falls on last Sunday

I bake my mooncake again

no Jelly mooncake this year

The before and after bake

Traditional Mooncake with White Lotus paste and Single Egg Yolk

I haven't been into any serious baking lately

I received a box of mooncakes by RT Pastry House which look like the Penang Tau Sar Peh that's worth giving a mentioned because it's not shaped like the traditional ones.

Thanks to Edwin

Four more done for the month of September

My hexies now totaling 37/52

Found this Mooncake box from Baker's Cottage Bakery to display

Vincent bought me this when I asked him to check it out at Kino two weeks ago

Me and some crafting ladies; June, Margaret W, BJ and Jackie finally had our long awaited meet-up when we decided to go stashing at Spotlight at IPC Centre

Here's my haul

All kinds of stitching and paper craft notions including a ball of Patons Cotton in Off Cream

for doily crochet for SuSee. I'm not a doily person actually, I think I had enough of it along time ago.

MW also became the 'unofficially Spotlight spokeperson' for these grinder cum shaker

She's so convincingly good and I am sold without second thoughts, LOL

A lil'surprised from MW.

Open lid Mason Jar

Endless possibilities

Some books I picked up this month

I'm very sure I don't have these titles

A black tunic lacy blouse I started 2 years ago finally saw me finishing it a week ago

This is before wash

An afternoon English Tea at TWG Tea at Sunway Pyramid earlier of the month with Alice and Kimmi

A new toy, my smoothie blender

A visit to an Aunt, DH's who now occupy the ancestral home had me wondered into her garden. Besides growing vegetables, I found this rose bush

and this sweet pink daisy

I am currently working on my Annual Exchange, hopefully I get it completed by December this year, so that's WIP for now.

That's all I can squeeze in for this month. Hopefully in the coming weeks I get to be a little more regular with my blog rounds and with my blog post.

Here's my furbaby snuggled up on a seemingly cold, gloomy day. Even she stays indoors a lot lately.

Wishing you beautiful bright skies where ever you may be.