Last Days to Join Giveaway; Enjoying Some Crafts Together with Kristine

If you haven't join the giveaway, you can still do so before 9 Aug by commenting in my last post. Second chance if you leave another comment telling me you are following my blog.

These are the Make-and-Take projects I mentioned in my last post, which Kristine and myself did at Junior De Artist on 23 Jul (Sat) as part of their Great Singapore Sale party. The pieces were all cut and packed, we just did some stamping, gluing, and oh, cutting the holes for the Zutter Hanger for binding with the Zutter cutter. I must try making some small books with the Zutter machine on CD-Rom, which I'm told would work. I like the Easel Treat Bag (on the right) best. The other (top left) is the Heart @ Tag.

Then on last Sunday (31 Jul), we went to the Bukit Merah Library for 2 craft sessions - cross stiching and beading. Here Kristine was concentrating on stitching her initial "K".

And the products after our 2 hours of work:

Here's a tatted oak leaf bookmark with a pair of acorns at one end for another colleague who has resigned. Believe it or not, another 3 just quitted, so more gifts to tat!

I tatted another one for myself.

It was a free theme for the July art doll, so I decided to do it totally without paper. Using wire for the body frame, dressed in fabric and laces, I called her Mdm Redhead, and she is all dressed up for a dinner date! One is on the way to Lynette McNamara in New Zealand.

For the doll-ATCs on "My Country", I squeezed in 4 dolls into a pair of ATCs to represent the 4 main races in My Country - Singapore. 1 pair went postal today to Maureen Blakeley in USA.

To re-cap on where I stopped for the June China trip, we were staying in Kaili City on the 8th day.

Kaili city (凯里市) is the center of Miao culture, hosting more than 120 Miao festivals throughout the year. The Miao are known for arts and crafts, including jewelry, embroidery, brocade, batik, and papercutting. Kaili is a major producer of rice, hence all the padi farms we saw along the roads. The weather was really fine - blue sky and green fields.

The next morning (9th day - 16 Jun, Thu), we went for a little walk around the streets near the hotel. The Sport Stadium was right in front of our hotel. The night before, food carts lined the whole perimeter of the stadium, and they were still there even past midnight!

In the morning, groups of locals dressed in different coloured robes gathered in front of the stadium for morning exercise A group of ladies was even in their tribal costumes! Lots of silversmith works in jewellery and wall-hanging selling in the shops on the exterior of the stadium. In the morning, groups of locals dressed in different coloured robes gathered in front of the stadium for morning exercise A group of ladies was even in their tribal costumes! Lots of silversmith works in jewellery and wall-hanging selling in the shops on the exterior of the stadium. A lady (dressed in blue in photo above) carrying and peddling basket-load of fruits along the streets, using a traditional weighing scale.

I was looking for a post office to send postcards and found one, but there were long queues at the adjoining bank and everyone seemed very excited. DH had to check it out.

They were queuing for a 5-yuan commemorative coin for the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist party of China. Made of brass alloy, 30mm in diameter, with the party emblem - a 5-pointed star - as well as a peony and pigeon. Apparently people waited in long lines a few hours before banks were opened. We were lucky to be there at the right place and the right time, and we managed to queue twice to get 6 of the coins!

After checking out the hotel, we set off to the Leishan Miao Village (雷山县西江千户苗寨) where the ethnic minorities are mainly located. Along a street inside the village:

Here you can see and buy lots of stuff. An embroidery project in progress:

Numerous silversmith shops.

Wax painting:

Paper-making:

One of the local snack there - 糍粑, which is a glutinuous rice lump, just like the muah chee in Singapore, but they made them into a big piece and put the peanut filling into the centre, and there were more choices of the type of filling. The lady below was pounding the glutinuous rice dough with a real big hammer!

The Miao-style houses 'Diaojiaolou' represent the typical feature of Miao's architecture.

At the top of the mountain over-looking the whole village:

Our guide for the Miao Village tour - a Miao lady, of course.

After that, it was a long 4-hour drive back to Guiyang, and we reached only around 9pm, and had to make do with road-side stalls for dinner.