Travel, Food, Applique and Swap Partner

April began with Tomb Sweeping Day, a day family members gathers and go to the graves to cleanup and offering prayers. It's a yearly affair . A week after, hubby decided that we should make a trip back  to my birth place;  Penang Island , nicknamed Pearl of the Orient. It's located way up North from where I lived now. Penang Island is connected to the main land by it's most iconic transit, the Ferry crossing the Straits of Malacca that was operational since 1894. Today we have two bridges connecting to the mainland and the third bridge with an underground tunnel is on it's way.

I missed the sea ! Simply can't wait to get my feet in the sand ,

smell the salty breeze and

listening to the waves.

Sunrise by the beach

A relaxing morning by the sea before we start our day food hunting 

and doing what needs to be done

The Reclining Buddha Buddhist Temple

This Thai Buddhist temple has a history dated back to Queen Victoria

To me, it has been there like forever

 It was a short trip of one night and two days, yet we managed to squeeze some time for an Afternoon Tea at Eastern and Oriental Hotel. Sweet of hubby who is not a fan of Afternoon tea was very obliging and not complaining. LOL

Sinful indulgence by the sea at a place called Tanjung Tokong is this platter

This restaurant has been in business for as long as I can remember and was badly hit by the 2004 Tsunami . How lucky were we when we were told that this platter is the last lot for the night since we did not make any reservations   

Crafting venture - Sue Bonnet Applique pouch began sometime late March.

I received this as a gift from hubby's classmate who now resides in Hong Kong when we first met on a trip years ago.  I felt intimated with the applique and thus it's been sitting at the bottom of my stash cabinet for a very long time

Having this as a kit made it all the easier. Actually I was initially very blurry as to how to begin with. It took me a day, thinking hard before I finally realized that the fabrics from the kit are actually  replica of the pattern on the photo with the template provided. Gosh! sometimes the brain is just not in the head. Anyhow, imagined that I applique on the wrong side of the fabric , TWICE !!

Froggy must be in the house somewhere !

Still full of doubts !

At this point I am not too sure if I am doing right since the size is rather small and fit only one hand. The kit is from Hong Kong is somehow written in Mandarin, a language I can't read and not much of a diagram as to how it was done up , so I ended guessing a lot  and look it up in YouTube on how to sew a pouch and ended up hand sewn the entire pouch including the zipper.

The sewing mojo must have been aroused , I made a couple of  'No Binding Coaster', when I stumble on Monica's tutorial while searching for the Sue Bonnet finishing know-how . It's really easy , a great way to use your 5" charm packs and I am pretty sure this will  make an excellent gift.

Link to the Tut : http://itsjustsewing.com/binding-free-coasters-hotpads/

MUG RUG - another sewing venture for a sepecial lady and a no binding coaster

Can you imagine meeting your swap partner ?

Call it chance or coincidence ! but we made it happen

Wren was my 10th Mug Exchange swap partner hosted by Stephanie .

It was a delightful afternoon meeting Wren over lunch and coffee.here in my homeland.

Two strangers from a swap, meeting for the first time

and chatted like we known each other for ages.

If we told the people at the next table that we just met for the first time,

I think they would not believed us !

Thank you Wren for a lovely afternoon.

Thank you Stephanie for drawing our names together .