ATC on Parade 2011

I have the winner for my giveaway - Comment #16.

Tatterjil, thanks for your lovely comment, please send me your snail mail address so that I can mail out the blue rose bookmark for you. I have left a message in your blog too a few days ago, but have not heard from you yet. Please do contact me with your address by 19 Aug, else I'll be picking another winner.

I have been working on my fabric alphabet ATCs, finished the "R" before the "Q", but I have already tatted the Q critters, just need to sew them up.
And some ATCs for the August trading session in Bishan Library. I did these very simple "Shapes in My Garden" for the theme "Shapes". I'm sure you can spot the 4 basic shapes. Incidentally, I have also used 4 different materials on them: metallic sequins, wire, fabric and paper.

A pair of button fairies "Blue Tinkle" on ATC.

Traded for these: Rose (water-colour painting by Lyn, Stars (colour pencil and pen by Sor Huan), and Dog (paper cutting by Rita).

We had Marianne Bos, a New Zealander quilt artist who is residing in Singapore, for a little talk on quilting and fabric works. Lots of beautiful quilts, fabric postcards and ATCs she brought with her to the library.

Swaps are moving slowly of late. This was the only mail I received in 2 weeks - art doll from Cindy Peck (USA). Cindy chose to make a garden fairy. I'm impressed how the different layers making up the doll were held together with only 1 brad, which also enable it to be folded down in half. The card behind is also the work of Cindy. Thank you, Cindy!

Onto the last 2 days of my China trip, we spent an uneventful day shopping in Guiyang 西市路 on the 10th day (17 Jun, Fri).

Most of the locals shop there for all their shoes, clothes, household items, stationery and everything.

Cross-stitch and knitting/crochet are the main craft hobby there. There are lots of cross-stitch kits selling in shops scattered all over the area, and knitting yarns and needles on one of the streets.

We ended the day with a visit to the massage parlour where DH usually goes for foot massages. I didn't want to try as the one I did in Toa Payoh/Singapore was not a very gentle one in my memory, but I gave in. Not too bad services - both the foot trimming (where they will shave off all your dead skin on your feet and trim the toe nails with a knife!) and the massage itself! Not painful at all, and it ended with a hot glass bottle capped to the bottom of the feet to draw out the "wind" in the body.

I ended my day with a trip to the hair-dresser, which I kind of regretted, as I ended up with real short permed hair that costed 400 CNY and only done past mid-night! Felt kind of been conned as I only originally intended for a simple hair cut only, but well, it's a change everyone will notice!

On the 11th day (18 Jun, Sat), we left DH's condo for the airport at 6.30 am to catch the domestic flight back to Guangzhou. Luckily the weather was good enough for us to fly. There was time to still do a little shopping in Guangzhou Baiyun Airport during the transit, but things were pretty expensive there. A small plate of simple fried bee hoon costed more than 60 CNY! We were finally back in Singapore by 6 in the evening.

I do have more photos to post - more on the food in Guiyang in the next post!

Just a little announcement on our 4th annual ATC exhibition, "ATC on Parade 2011", which will start next Thu, 18 Aug, at the Serangoon Public Library. The exhibition will then move back to the Bishan Public Library from 2 to 22 Sep. Pop in to the libraries if you can!

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.

Some Tatting Gifts and A Little Tatting Giveaway

This is the 2nd exchange I received from Kayenderes Green (Canada). Kayenderes always has such cute ideas for her ATCs. Who wouldn't like her "I Love Strawberry" and "I Love Banana" doll ATCs!?!

I sent some thread samples to Kayenderes in our earlier exchange, and she has graciously included another 2 hot and cute mini fabric postcards for me! Thank you for such a lovely package, Kayenderes!!

I had been real busy with tatting gifts for 4 colleagues who are leaving the company this month. 3 rose bookmarks,

plus a tatted floral pendant/pin for Lee Teng as she has been such a great help on my projects, and another piece for myself. Still tatting another leaf bookmark for Benjamin even as I'm writing and posting this :(

After taken a break from the inchies mingle last month, I'm back this month with 2 sets in the Oriental theme. Made good use of all my Chinese name seals I custom-made in China. There are 3 different ones here, I should have another 1 more seal lying somewhere in 1 of the houses. That's the problem with shifting house so many times, I can remember where I kept my things in the very old house, but not the newer places, sigh.

Anyway, the coloured rubbing are done with coloured pencils over old Chinese coins, and the big Chinese characters are cut with die-cuts using silver foil paper, gold origami paper, brown cork, and black foam. The red and white backgrounds are different type of Chinese calligraphy papers.

I was out the whole of last weekend, Saturday to do some Make & Take projects at a craft shop (more about this in my next post), and Sunday to Sentosa Resorts World. We went for the "Voyage de la Vie", Singapore's 1st theatrical circus and the first resident show in Festive Grand, Sentosa RW, featuring an international cast of circus stars from 16 countries.

It was really a mix of everything - some dances with 3 ballads, some doses of magic with more aerobatic feats, all tied loosely in a simple script of a Boy who received a mysterious box which opened up to reveal the mischievous Game Master, who in turn, introduced him to the Lantern Keeper who guided him on a journey through his imagination and where he encountered many extraordinary characters. Moral of the story: It is the Journey and not the Destination which gives life its meaning.

Kristine agreed with me, we preferred "The Lion King" for the music, singing and costumes; the "Vision" for the magic performances, and the circus in Guangzhou for the circus feats, but well it's still a show worth watching especially with the Family Package deal (4 tickets for the price of 2)!

Moving on to the 8th day (15 Jun, Wed) of the China trip, we started at the East Gate of Xiaoqikong.

The first place we came to was the Xiaoqikong Ancient Bridge (小七孔古桥), 25m long, 4m wide and 4m high, built in 1836, is an important bridge linking Libo to Kuangxi. The place here gets its name from this bridge which has 7 holes beneath it. The scenary is most beautiful here.

The road to the left will lead to Kuangzi, some 10km away! Another path to the right leads to the Laya Waterfall (拉雅瀑布).

The Forest on Water (水上森林) was such a fun place to trek through, and the children love playing water gun here. The water was real cold.

Another waterfall, the clear water falling down the green forest was a great sight, especially set against the tree with full bloom.

We had come to the start of the waterfall.

That afternoon, we arrived at Kaili City and stayed at Crown Plaza Hotel.

Here we were at a night market.

I have not forgotten I mentioned a little giveaway! It will be a tatted rose bookmark like those in the photo above. You can choose a pink or blue rose. Fret not if you are not into rose for the gentlemen, I can tat a butterfly to replace the rose if you prefer that. 1 chance for leaving a comment in this post, and a 2nd chance if you leave another comment telling me you are following my blog. I will close the comments by the end of 8 Aug, and the drawing will be on our National Day on 9 August using the random number generator.