Motif No. 15 - Tatted Goldfish Paperclip, Bollywood Artdolls and A Trip to the Botanic Gardens

When I was asked by Paula if I could create a paperclip design for the Shuttlebirds Tatting Guild's Annual Tatting Days in April 2010, I was more than happy to do it. The result is this goldfish. Not too sure how well it was received in the event, but one of my colleagues eagerly bought one when he first saw them!

In return, the Guild generously sent me these Workbasket magezines. They are such a treasure - so many interesting articles in them! Thank you, Paula and the STG!

This is my 2nd art doll exchange. Received this Bollywood doll from Catherine - simple yet most elegant. Thank you, Catherine!

I have not been to the Singapore Botanic Gardens for ages. My last trip, as far as I remember, was during my secondary school days. Thanks to my boy for his Science project, I went on a two-and-half hour walk with him there yesterday. We didn't cover the whole place, but a good part of it in our brisk walk - sure a good workout!

We started from the Tanglin Gate, and at the Swan Lake, a couple was taking wedding photos there with the pair of white mute swans. I love this shot (capturing the sky reflection in the water and the swan gliding across the water) which I took with my Samsung Pixon handphone. In fact, all the photos, except the last one, were taken with my handphone.

At the Sundial Garden, I caught this dragonfly resting.

Although there weren't as many colourful flowers as there were green trees, this was one of those flowers that I like best.

We went as far as the Evolution Garden and turned back. Outside the Botany Centre, we found The Man Who Planted Trees. At 5 metres in height, He will take centre stage in the coming Singapore Garden Festival at the Suntec City this July. Wow!

More Angels - Motif No. 14 Angel Paperclip

More angels!

This is the last in the series of paperclip designs for Georgia's Online Tatting Class. Hope this angel will watch over everyone in the new year! Click here for the pattern.

The dino is here! The trees in the background are real, this is not taken from a picture book, nor a super-imposed image.... more in the next post!

And to everyone,

BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR !

Hand-stitiched Books, Motif No. 13 - Snowflake Paperclip and ATCs

Last Thu was the release of the PSLE results and the whole family went to the school together to root for my boy. His results - a score of 272 (highest score this year was 290), 4 A* and Distinction for Higher Chinese! We are so proud of you, Ivan!

Then on Sat, we attended Betsy's KBCC session to make these hand-stitched matchbook notebooks. Thank you Betsy for hosting the session, Moses for sharing with us how to make the books, and Suzanne for the home-made keuh patti!

Time really flies, we are less than a month from Christmas. Have you done all your Christmas tatting? I haven't :( But here's a quick pattern for you, a snowflake paperclip, available on Georgia's Online Tatting Class. This will be my Motif No. 13 for the 25 Motifs Challenge.

These 2 ATCs and a tatted butterfly paperclip went to Lynette for a Oct Fabric ATC swap,

while these 2 ATCs I sewed up and a tatted "Joy" paperclip went to Carol D for a Nov Christmas swap. Can't wait to receive mine!And the extras I stitched up. As at now, the blue X'mas ornament on the top right corner is still available for trade.

And to show you 2 more photos of the bazaar on 19 Nov.

Me arranging my stuff at my store.

My colleague, Sally, and myself.

A BIG Thank You to Sally for helping to man the stall throughout! I couldn't have managed without you!

Motif No. 12 - Joy and Joey's Paper Clips

Just a short and quick post on the paperclip pattern for this month - "Joy". The pattern is available on Georgia's Online Tatting Class. Hope they bring lots of joy to everyone!

And since I was at it, I have also created another one specially for my girl, Joey. Thought these turned out quite well.

Motif No. 9 (Parrot), 10 (Peacock) & 11 (Becky's Paper Clip)

I'm finally done with the Extreme Round Robin and sent out my last motif (or rather, motifs) to Becky, to make up for her long wait.

This parrot (Motif No. 9), tatted with mainly Flora and Coats size 20 threads, is the main one which I have been working on for months, which I feel there is still much for improvement.

Next is a small peacock (Motif No. 10) tatted with Olympus 40. Thought this might make a nice brooch.
And a pair of paper clips specially designed for Becky (Motif No. 11). Hope Becky likes the selection!

Next is the butterfly which I received from Camille earlier for this Round Robin. See those clunies! And it is tatted with fine thread! Now waiting for the last one from Wally.

So much for tattting. Kristine drew & coloured all the 4 panels and frame for this lantern, and I assembled them up. She was so happy when her teacher complimented it was super nice and it was picked to be hung up for the mooncake festival celebration in the school on last Fri.

Joey's BD Party, Motif No. 8 - Jolly Sun Paper Clip and Some Giveaways

We planned a simple birthday party for Joey over the public holiday on 21 Sep, inviting a few of her friends, classmates and little cousin. They did 2 stained glass (or rather plastic) pieces each, had some finger food and a few games, and ended off with the cake cutting.

Kristine did this card on her own, using marker pens for the butterfly and some leftover of the embellishments from the scrapbooking party she attended earlier. It is so colourful that I'm thinking how to take a photo of it to print into an ATC perhaps!

The 2 girls always like to doodle in the afternoon, instead of studying, sigh. Well, at least that's better than playing computer games or watching TV. It's their combined effort to come up with this drawing, fully coloured using colour pencils. (And again, I have problem uploading this the photo in the right orientation!)

I almost panic coming up with the paper clip pattern for this month, but luckily, inspiration came just barely a few days before the deadline. This will be Motif No. 8 for my 25 Motif Challenge and for Georgia's Online Tatting Class this month. It's rather hot this month here in Singapore, made me think of the sun. Well, these are my first attempt working Catherine Wheel joins! I think normal shuttle joins or onion rings would work too. To make it more adorable, add a pair of eyes and a pair of glasses to it. I have so much fun with this pattern, hope you will too! Only simple instructions given since it is more of a free-form design, the stitch count really depends on your tension.

Had to mention some fabulous giveaways. Over at Aileen’s Wicked Tats, she has a Hallowversary Mystery Giveaway. A very special and apt way to do a giveaway for the festival! Then, the Lady Shuttlemaker, Sherry, is having an on-going weekly giveaway while prizes last. And last but not least, here's something for the Breast Cancer Campaign, the Charming Exchange Breast Cancer Auction, with a giveaway and a preview of the auction for a great cause.

Lots of ATCs and Motif No. 6 and 7 "Dream Garden"

We had our monthly ATC session in Bishan Library on Thu. This month, we tried our hand at paper glazing (liquid embossing), as demonstrated by Jasper. Our ATC sessions are now an officially endorsed activity by the National Library Board!

ATCs done by everyone, finished with glazed.

Our theme for the month was "A Way with Words". These were what Kristine and myself did.

Terence gave Kristine a piece of what he did in zentangle that was inspired by her Kitty. He did it with such details!

So far, Kristine has traded her cards for these:
I did more ATCs with flower petals in a series - The Little Petal L Missy Series, with their names starting from A to Z.

And a cover for my ATC file:

These were what I traded recently.

Finally, I tatted these 2 motifs based on a base motif from Sharon for the Design-Tat group. These will be Motif No. 6 and 7 for my 25 Motif Challenge. The first motif was intended to be joined up to more of the same motif to form a bigger piece, while the second motif was intended to be on its own. Both were designed on a flower garden theme, so I'll call them "Dream Garden"; these will be Motif No. 6 and 7 for my 25 Motif Challenge.

Gifts, Ribbons and Bows for Motif No. 5

Tatted more gifts for another 3 colleagues who are leaving these few days. The pattern of the alphabets forming their names is Teri Dusenbury's, tatted using Guttermann Sulky threads.

Next up are gifts for Teachers' Day. It suddenly dawned on me - does Teachers' Day falls on an universal day? Apparently not, from a check on Wikipedia. Here in Singapore, it falls on 1 Sep. Every year, my children and I will handmake something for their teachers. We had done shrink plastic tags, quilled cards, beaded flowers, embroidered bookmarks cards, to name a few. This year, it's something new for them - needle-felted bookmarks!

I cut strips of felt, and gave them the needles and wool, and all of them were happily punching away! They worked pretty fast, and saved for an accidental punch of the needles into Kristine's fingers twice, the bookmarks turned out well with minimal guidance. Next, I cut plastic sheets and sewed up the edges. We are all so pleased with what we have created.

[Apologies that some of the photos are not in the right orientation, I have this problem recently and I just couldn't solve it :( ]

Ivan's

Joey's

Kristine's

I believe Faizon's birthday is the last lap of the current birthday exchange for the SnN group. Paul sent me my birthday gifts in Feb, and now, I sent these to Faizon. We are supposed to decorate a card, but after browsing a few gift shops, I decided to make one from scratch. Wishing Faizon a very happy birthday filled with happiness, laughter and crafts!

Paperclips for the month: Ribbon and Bow! My girls hanker after the ribbon rose bows, aren't they just sweet? The patterns are available on Georgia's Online Tatting Class. These will be Motif No. 5 for my Round 2 of the 25 Motif Challenge.

A Long 100th Post - ATCs from Laura, Motif No. 4 - Owl on Paper Clip, Tatted Gifts, And A Giveaway!

First of all, I'm so happy and glad to receive Laura's ATCs. These 2 cards have travelled to and fro Australia and Singapore at least twice, and God knows where else or what happened between Apr to June. But finally, they made it to me! Look at the beautiful fabric ATCs adorned with tatting, and the beaded flower!

More ATCs I did. Again, the top 2 are tatted motifs mounted on scrapbooking papers, while the 3 bottom ones are paper cutting using 80 gsm acid-free paper.

NEW paper clip pattern for the month: an OWL! Isn't he cute ? Not quite difficult to tat him up if you know pearl tatting, but you'll need to go through your stash to find some felt and plastic eyes. This will be Motif No. 4 for my Round 2 of the 25 Motif Challenge. You can find the pattern on Georgia's Online Tatting Class, or click here for the pattern.

More tatting gifts for a few more colleagues who quitted, and these are not the last.

Last but not least, remember the giveaway I promised for my 100th post? How about this tatted periwinkle bookmark and some Flora threads in size 20? Just leave a comment for the draw. I will get my girl to pick a winner on National Day (9 Aug). If there are more than 20 comments, I hope to pick one more winner, but the Flora threads will be spilt among the 2 winners. So, 1 will get the periwinkle bookmark and 3 balls of Flora threads, while the other winner will get 3 different tatted paper clips and 4 balls of Flora threads.

Note: This giveaway is already closed. Winners will be announced shortly.