The calm after the storm

Much has happen since my last post. 

Chinese New Year falls on the 2nd weekend of February was low keyed and it came and went without much fuss since we were confined to travelling within 10km radius under the then Movement Control Order (MCO) I did bake some cookies and  did all the traditional activities as minimal as possible

just to get into the mood.

Being an Ox year this year, according to the Lunar New Year, I stitched this in red and finished in a hoop. Had it displayed in the living room during the fifteen days festivity

Steam Cakes known as Prosperity Cake  to usher into the new year

A month ago today, MIL has passed on. If you read my earlier post, I wrote of MIL's neuro surgery a year ago and seem to be recuperating quite well. Unfortunately around Christmas, MIL had a fall more than once as I was told and with the last  fall two weeks after Chinese New Year had her bedridden and her health  began to go downhill from then on. 

It was this time I could not visit her due to the Covid travel restrictions was still being enforced. By the time the travel ban was lifted in March, and I began visiting her during weekends, it was heart breaking to see her. She began loosing her memory, thou she still recognize me but most of the time she just wasn't herself anymore. By the time I admitted her to the hospital that last weekend in March, that was the last time I held her and spoke to her. The least now MIL is no longer suffering and May her soul rest in peace.  She was 84 years

.

                                                        Mom In Law as a young maiden .

I had always like this photo of her. Sadly, I never got to asked her of her age then.  

Will never get to ask now.

Two finishes from  past stitching. 

I wasn't much into stitching the past months but dug these two out from my past stitching basket. Maybe I'll do a little cheat for Carol's Ornaments Stitchalong, if its allowed..😁.. Somehow finishing these took quite a bit longer than expected. It was just sitting on my table for some weeks till I kick myself in the b*** 

Trilogy Cheers

This was from a magazine if I am not wrong but can't recalled now which

I am simply lost for idea what to finish this into. Somehow I am not too happy with this simple finishing yet as it wasn't aligned to my satisfaction.

 I might turn this Sashiko piece into a pouch or maybe a table mat...

Maybe I am to fickle minded thus, I don't get things done 😥

Sorry the photos are  somehow blurry.

Finally I have an update done. Been unsure what to post.

Stay safe everyone. 

Thank you for visiting .

It's a bummer but necessary

The re-implementation of Movement Control Order 2.0 (MCO 2.0) is back for 4 states to take effect from today until 26 January in view of the drastic spike in Covid cases recently. It was expected and no surprise looking at the current numbers and it is unlikely that the two weeks period is sufficient to curb the problem . We are hitting between 2,000 to 3,000 cases lately and where I am, I am 'in' the said 'MCO 2.O'

So it;s a bummer but necessary.

It's still work as usual for me since I am in one of  the industries that are allowed under the MCO 2.0 new ruling. There will be no dine-in in  Restaurants thou they are allowed to operate but only  for Take-away. 

Like most people in my area, we do anticipate that this might be further extended till after the Chinese New Year which is only a month away, so we will be bracing for a quieter Chinese New Year, no visiting and no travelling since we are not allowed to inter-state travel nor inter-district travel during the MCO 2.0 is being in forced. 

However, there will be a bit of baking for the festivity as tradition still lives, MCO or no MCO. 

Stitching wise, I'll still be working to dug up my UFOs; that is most definitely but for now a little weekend baking and late night bake until the festivity. 

I am looking forward to a Blackwork SAL (still indecisive)  and joining Carol's Ornaments Stitchalong, fingers crossed I can keep up..😅 We'll see....

That's it for now..Take care and stay safe !

Before a New Year

 Before a New Year is here. My last finished for the year . It was a joy to stitch this as it gave me an opportunity to work on my embroidery stitches. I had lots of  satin stitches, longshort stitches, a raised satin stitches on the bubble, a couple of french knots all over this piece, chain stitch, stem stich, stem stich in circular  on the star, fishbone stitch, trellis stitch on ginger man, are some of the stitches incorporated into it.

I had a gingerman button, a star button , a present and a reindeer charm added just for fun. 

This is my  last blog post of the year, as we bid another farewell to Year 2020 !  Here's wishing all 

A VERY 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021

May you be blessed in everyway

and a new year that will keep us safe and well

Thank you everyone who came by and took time to leave me your sweet comments. 

Take care and be safe!

Merry Christmas Eve

Have A Merry Little Christmas

Let the Spririt of Christmas wrap you on Christmas Eve and ensure your 

well being through the days to come

and brings you 

A VERY 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

May you be safe and be well during this time.

A little display of from the past received from exchanges . Those were great times of joy waiting for the mailman with full anticipation. 

The only new is my Framed Winter House round robin . This was with my local group some years back. Took me awhile to put a border and some little tiny winter things in the foreground . It just came back from the framer yesterday. 

A new stitch finish with finishing is the 'Yuletide Greetings' a freebie by iStitch. 

Taking up another SAL challenge #adventembroidery design by Beatrice@em_bea_roidery

I was a week late and managed to catch up but now looks like I'll be stitching and hoping to finish this during the weekends. I have tweaked a little from the original design by adding buttons and little charms. My girl, Diane says its a cheat...oops!

Celebrating the Winter Solstice Festival with colorful glutinous rice balls in sweet syrup which can actually be in any flavour one desires. It is sort of a dessert that most household will partake in having since is one of the most important East Asian Festival in the calender. The kids are normally told that by eating these glutinous balls they have grown a year older..hahaha...which is actually believed that a year has been added to everyone since it is a new solar term

Baked some gingerman a week back . These are waiting for dressing up.

Important Notes : I would like to thank everyone who came by and left comments. After some months away from blogging, I find myself all new to the 'new' blog functions which I have yet to get accustomed to. Therefore I am sorry if some of your comments are missing and don't  appeared , coz seriously I just can't figured it out where it went when I have posted it . I have yet to figured how this work and others. Will need a little sit down time on this.

My sincere apologies. 

Silvia (Christy)  can you please drop me an email. Would like to get in touch with you as I am not sure if my mail could reach you with your previous email. Gracias! 

 

On the hook

Irish Crochet - My last posted progress was in January 2019...doesn't sound that very long does it?  but its time to finish some of these crochet and knitting projects. Firstly, its taking up space and I need to declutter. Secondly, well, it's time to get it done before I go on buying more...lol

I began working on this  since the start of our MCO in March this year, but it was only in  May when I began to assemble the pieces and by August I was quite happy with how all the motifs came together (after some pondering)and was comfortable with how it looked. Thereafter it was just sitting there on my frame.  I was so near yet so far. I began working on it diligently about mid November to put everything together and finishing it before November ended

Pardon the wonky-ness

The Red Motifs - another one pulled out from the dark cold box in the corner. Working with motifs  is super easy and a very versatile project. I can simply tugged into my purse and  carry  it anywhere and everywhere I went. Easier said then done. Haha...it took me like ages but when I got it going, there was no stopping. The set backs I encountered  with this was assembling the sleeves Since I did not follow any given pattern, it took me two days on a weekend to figured it out and finally put it together. 

The most challenging yarn I have ever encountered. The yarn are hairline thin with tiny tracks of fibers in between. Working with three strands . This was at first a stole to be but somehow along the knitting journey, I decided a blouse/tunic would be of more use to me than a stole living in my hot and humid weather. 

And so there you go, striking out three  from my Crochet/knitting UFOs list...next some Christmas finishing.

I shall leave with this yummilicious Signature Watermelon Cake by  Naj & Belle Dessert House, so glad they opened a branch at this new mall  not far from my home. The mall finally had their official opening mid November after postponing it since March this year due to the pandemic.

Well I hope everyone stay safe .

Make-do project

One for Halloween this year. 

Halloween - Freebie by Aliolka . Yet to decide what to finish this into.

Had a little crazy idea with  leftovers scrappy fabrics 

from the  mask sewing . I am no quilter, therefore choosing fabrics and matching can be quite overwhelming for me. Thus, this crazy patchwork idea I had comes with no actual planning, just grab and hand piecing randomly and nothing measured.  

My idea was to turn it  into a Tissue Case Cover

to fit the size of packet tissue of  Size 5" x 7.5" approximately. I got so disturbed with its

plastic wrapper that got tore so easily. 

More from the scrappy mask fabrics.

I  also hand quilted a mismatched scrappy quilted cover  

for this doll bed made from clothespin.

The bed tutorial by 

Ann Wood Handmade Doll  House Bed from Clothespins 

The finished bed was completed and went into my UFO box. Had wanted to paint it but like always procrastinate with the color choice and so never had a mattress or pillow until now. DD recently ordered some acrylic paints and it arrived yesterday. I also  found a larger clothes pegs, so maybe another bed soon and I'll give the bed a coat of color too. 

Kathy Schmitz Bird In Hand Strawberry Pincushion 

A freebie on my to-do list for a long while.

These are some of the projects that I embarked on during our Movement Control Order.(MCO)

Life was suddenly interrupted as work was like being suspended even thou it was work from home but with no definite directions or guidelines, it was a new norm and  I felt like a sitting duck. I  was lost for a moment in time. During my 'lost time' my kitchen was smoking. It was a  time to hone my cooking skills. A good thing I supposed.😆 That lasted during the first phase of our MCO. 

Things are better now for I am no longer lost, so to speak.😄

Life goes on.

Be Safe everyone and thank you for coming by, very happy to hear from you too and I thank you for your comments. 

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