The Birthday Exchange

Where Stitchers Gather (WSG) meet again, we are definitely a bunch of procrastinators , LOL . We are only a handful of ladies who shared, enjoy and supportive of each others creative endeavors and are much comfortable with each others antics.

So it has been decided that we are meeting in March for the 2017 birthday exchange. We are assigned to one "secret" partner by drawing a single name, unlike stitching for everyone like the years before. The highlight of the event is of course the pressie, it has been a well kept secret for over a year and I am pretty sure everyone is  excited that it is finally the reveal day

The exchange packages (top )with the bonus gifts below look  just like Christmas minus the tree

The Exchange Gift - Procrastinate I did, it was hard to decide what to stitch for my partner who is  a crème de la crème needlewoman, actually it was never easy to stitch for any lady in the group, its very stressing, cause whatever I had in mind, it had to be something special and it has to be perfect. Thus, visiting L'uccello on my trip to  Melbourne last July  was like hitting a jackpot. That was where my exchange items materialize and I am glad I could stitch something within my comfort zone for Margaret W

The Gift : ONE Handmade item

Vintage French Seed packet Needle Keep by L'uccello.

It's a decorative two-way folding needle keep, I called it the magic fold,simply because it opens both ways.  I have never done such finishing before, yes, I have seen it as a purse, Diane has one which she enjoyed playing tricks with her younger cousins.

Construction with the written instructions was excellent, but my mind kept playing tricks on me and I kept having this thoughts and doubts. The hardest was positioning the tapes, I resolved to whip stich to hold the pieces together after I fail to hold it in position with just  glue as per the instruction, yet it didn't quite aligned the perfect way.

Another doubt I had was what and how to finish  the  seed pocket design cover. There is no specific given instructions how it should be done, basically no right or wrong and one can embroider as much or as little as you desire and any way you like it on it's pre-printed fabric.  Froggy visited me three times, before I finally came to terms with my embroidery. I did better with the last Zinia flower, not the first two as I was trying to imitate the colors on the pre-printed fabric, before OCD sets in. Actually I almost gave up on this thinking twice maybe thrice over.

One Stash - Antique Mannequin 

We are to include one stash item . This is another one from L'uccello. Unfortunately I didn't realized that this was not a kit and thus, I made this into a kit by adding the required item;  fabric and lace

An extra item -  An embroidery pinkeep from L'uccello, simply because I was sure that the second item can be  a stitched item or store bought ,  not just stash. I was wrong.  So since I have already bought the item meant for the gift, I might as well gifted it.

Exploding Box -  I made the Birthday girl an exploding box in lieu of a card containing a page of the birthday  month which dated back to 2017 where I am leaving it as it is and will not replace that  with current year since this is an exchange meant for that year .

Would you agree ?

We have agreed that we will take a break from an exchange this 2018 year so we may concentrate on what need to be done with or finishing whatever on our priority list. For me that will be my  Hexagons SAL and the Birthday Exchange quilt blocks from previous years. Let's see if  I'll manage to kick myself out of this stitching slump and get some progress done this year. We needed the break just to distressed too, just thinking about the exchange can be very tiring.

From my partner JUNE this is what I received.

FABULOUS little sewing kit, so intricately and elaborately stitched one over one with tiny little needle rest and thimble complete with a scissor's pocket. Looking at all the tinniest stitching left me breathless

The cutest turtle tape measurement and scissor is to go into the pocket on top of the sewing box and a FIRST DAY COVER in conjunction with the Dog Year

She also included in her package a fabulous rolling pin from Goody Woody with a pineapple print design. Think I am keeping it for display with my collection of wooden cookie molds.

The BONUS Gifts

A secret project from Margaret with little pieces of fabrics from each of us she requested

where it's incorporated into the spool and finished off as a pinpillow. 

How cleaver of her and gifted back to us.

Jess gave us each a pineapple scent soap 

From me to everyone
a little teapot ceramic teabag coaster for all
While June gifted everyone a crocheted tape measurement which I forgot to take a photo
but if you scrutinize  a few photos here you might have spotted some turtles crawling

A peek at what  the rest of the ladies received from the  exchange on that day and the photos said it all. We did not set any particular theme for the exchange and thus all of us went with our partnered favorite things or subjects.

June received from Barbara

Blue her fav color

Barbara received from Jess

Doll Quilt

 Margaret's from me 
Needlework accessory

Jess from Margaret

Mini Quilt with a PS cross stitch piece

Where we meet, food is always and never far from our thoughts.

Poppy seeds loaf

A little festive mood  still with  a platter of Yee Sang 

Blooming Tea

A very messy table only a crafter will appreciate, LOL

A little show and tell there
Conclusion, I am pretty sure everyone went home happily, I am indeed happy
It was a lovely day and a we laugh at our silliness, put up with each other's antics,  shared some crafty and craziest ideas and that the day ends amazingly
We even got to stash a little from the LNS where we meet

March 8 - Celebrating Women Day with the State Assemblyperson for Kuala Kubu Baru Madam KH Lee, (in White). She hosted a mini dinner for us and later gifted the ladies with aprons  while the men who took a piece home may give  it to  the women in their life .

Sorry the photos here look blurry, it's due to the lightings I supposed. 

Thank you to all who visited me in my last post and left comments. Glad you enjoyed my short break to Bangkok .

A little bouquet in March from Diane shall ends my post for now . 

The making of a Clutch purse

Call it spontaneous, it was a quick decision when we, the girls at WSG meet for a private session of making a clutch purse with Barbara's (FB)  well not all was into making the clutch, only three.

We actually did planned for a meetup with a couple of crafting ideas about a month earlier, just that everything happened so quickly.  Despite that we had some initial setbacks but somehow all ended well. We manage to complete all the necessary and  most important details for the clutch before we called it a day.

I had a hard choice to decide on the fabric, I finally settled for fiery red poppies with a red lining, JT went for blue monochrome with berries and sunflowers while JW's choice was  bears and polka dots.
Almost five hours later, with preserving attention and some energetic effort and without lunch, yes, we skipped lunch to make up for some lost hours in the morning plus some 30 minutes later at home,  I am happy to have completed my clutch purse

All of us adjourned for a late, very late lunch at Boat Noodles where servings are so small that one will need  to order a couple of bowls to fulfilled our growling tummies. It's a Thai dish, a small but rich pho-like dish served with fresh bean sprouts, Thai basil, crispy pork skin, and condiments made famous by the boat people vendors on the Chao Praya  river.

While digesting we had a lil'gossips in progress

which include sharing and getting some tips and hints on some other crafty stuff

that were on our mind and for our next meet

Have you seen the KING OF FRUITS ?

It's the DURIAN, yes ! that pungent, stinking, foul smelling fruit which is the best and yummlicious fruits of all to all who loves the fruit and with it being a seasonal fruit, it is very much sought after . This season, the produce was slightly low and with that the prices rocketed. I had a few one morning when a friend  came from his orchard and was generous enough to offer us the Musang King during our morning coffee session, the highest grade of the fruit from his orchard.  

 I have been diligently crocheting some doilies a couple of weeks earlier before the meet , contributing to JT's project when she mentioned that she was looking for some handmade crocheted vintage doilies and not those machine made. I am glad she love these few doilies I made for her.

Hope you enjoyed my new crafting adventure, until my next post, take care everyone, stay safe  especially if your area are typhoon active. 

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.