More Tatting and Sewing!

Finally, I finished the last pieces of the fabric alphabet ATC swap. These are for Mari (South Africa). In my next post, I'll show my whole set of tatted critters from A to Z!I made up this simple floral pattern to show the following colour schemes for the Colour Theory course - from left to right: Split-Complementary, Triadic, Tetradic. Yes! I finally cleared this particular lesson!
Part 3 of the StitchMap's challenge for a stitcher's travel bag and accessories was a straight pin rollup and needlecase. Using the same fabric and adding more tatted flowers to adorn the front and inside, I was more confident of using the machine now (or rather, not so nervous!), though the sewing wasn't going all straight yet ;)

I have finished Part 4 too, but that's all for now!

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.

A Bit of Everything and More on China Trip

Perhaps I was trying to settle down back into my usual routine after the 11-day holiday break in China, I only manged to finish 2 iris-folding kimonos done with fabric tapes on handmade fabric paper this whole week! I tried a few new things on these 2 ATCs: (1) The red circle below the glazed sticker fan is actually a Chinese character in my Chinese name, stamped from a stone craving, and I added a layer of glaze over, (2) A new way to sew the border!

The green piece is going to Annet in the Netherlands.

I was going all WOW seeing every piece of the Alphabet ATCs that came in: Sherry Dreier's (USA) L is for Lace, M is for Mouse, N is for Nine Patch Quilt Block;

and Mari Strydom's (South Africa) L is for Lion, M is for Mushroom, N is for Needles and O is for Owl. I love the idea of the Needles card especially.

Here I photographed them by the alphabet. All the tatted critters on the left topmost are my work :)

Rag doll that arrived from the USA, created by Sherry Collier.

I love the way Sherry punched tiny holes all over the (black) body, giving a sparkling effect. Sherry also punched tiny holes on the head to tie on the hair and on the arms to tie all the rag stripes!

Continuing to part 3 of my China trip: We spent the 3rd and our last full day in Guangzhou (10 Jun, Fri) visiting the shopping belts - Beijing Lu Pedestrian Street (北京路步行街) and Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street (上下九商业步行街).

Kristine wondering what they are looking at?

Beijing Lu Pedestrian Street is a pedestrian street where most stores are open from 9 am -10 pm, but prices are generally higher than shops in Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street. I found a street where shops sells stuff like buttons, crystals, fabrics, wholesale, but no, I didn't buy anything, it's really too much to buy unless I plan to sell them, LOL!

Managed to find a mall selling lots of jades (from pendants and rings to big craved pieces) in stalls which are lined up just like our local wet markets! However, nothing really catch my fancy, and I don't want to risk getting conned for fake jade pieces. So at the end of the day, we only bought an extra luggage bag and more bags, watches, socks and T-shirts for the children.

After an early dinner in Panyu, we moved on to the circus!

It was a pity we didn't have the time to visit the Chimelong Paradise (长隆欢乐世界) or the Chime-Long WaterPark (长隆水上乐园), but the Chimelong International Circus (长隆国际大马戏）certainly made up for it. This was Kristine's and also my first time watching a live circus show.

This is the world's largest permanent circus; the world's largest circus stadium which can contain more than 8000 guests per show, and with the largest circus stage in the world. The stage is approximately 100m wide and 50m deep with more than 11 levels of different floor space settings.

The star-studded cast of more than 300 international performers form the Magic World 《魔幻传奇》, along with 40 species and 500 different animals certainly overwhelmed the audience - interesting animal shows, pyrotechnics and hi-tech flaming and lighting effects which created a mysterious dream world, vibrant colours and costumes. One of the last segment on the penquins (not real penquins though), really leave a lasting impression! Sitting in the VIP seats right in the middle front of the stage on the second row, Kristine was simply delighted to "catch" 3 squirrel soft toys!

On the 4th day (11 Jun, Sat) we departed Guangzhou and took a domestic flight over to Guiyang (贵阳). Here, it is totally different from Guangzhou, the weather I mean. Just like in Singapore, it was hot and sunny in Guangzhou (after we left, storms had overtaken the place!), but it was like going around in a big air-con room in Guiyang.

Guiyang, dominated by mist-shrouded hills, is the capital of Guizhou Province. The climate is mild throughout the year. In Guizhou, the most famous is Maotai Wine (茅台酒), which is China's most famous alcoholic beverage, and one of the world's three most famous distilled liquors. Besides having a large chemical industry, rubber industry and a sizable domestic pharmaceuticals industry, Guiyang also manufactures aerospace engine parts and equipment, industrial and mining equipment, as well as railway vehicles and equipment. DH is working in a factory manufacturing excavators. Guiyang is also home to more than 30 minority ethnic groups including Miao, Buyi, Dong and Hui, etc.

DH is staying in the condo named 蓝波湾 in 都习路, which is very near to the Wal-mart supermarket.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the streets in the area, buying some food and fruits back to the condo. Lots of Chinese Bayberries (杨梅) and small managoes. Came across a fried chicken shop which sells all the parts of the chickens deep-fried, including all the intestines and claws - not at all appertizing to me!

Iris Folding Fabric Postcards, Art Dolls and More ATCs

My new maid is finally here! But looks like it's going to be a long way to teach/supervise her. I shouldn't be complaining really, it has to be easier with an extra help. So hopefully, I'll have more time to supervise my children's homework and of course, on work on my crafts :)

Heard of iris-folding? Iris folding is a paper craft technique, which originated in Holland, that involves taping folded strips of coloured paper in such a way to create a spiralling design that resembles the iris of an eye or a camera. Early designs were done using patterned paper cut from the inside of envelopes. Today, crafters use any light weight papers and even RIBBONS. Yes, I read that somewhere, so when Leah M organised an iris folding fabric postcard swap, I specially requested for a private swap with her.

And I used fabric ribbons, which I picked and matched from my stash, I do think they fit into place pretty neatly. How can I not go further to tat some flowers for that special touch to the card? I'm so pleased with them, I couldn't bear to post it out naked to Leah in the States. So, I even ran down especially to the Philatelic Museum to pay for the special chop on the stamp affixed on the fabric postcard, and mailed it in an envelope! Hope this piece will have a very special place in Leah's collections!

My patience paid off - I really felt that way when Lynette McNamara's Goddess doll finally arrived after a whole month of travelling from New Zealand to Singapore. I almost can imagine the Nature Goddess savouring the places she past by and abosorbing all the natural elements by the time she came!

Dana Keenan's "By The Seaside doll "swam" much faster from the USA in comparison, despites her heavy sea-shell head! How artistic we crafters get! It's such a great feeling to receive all the treasured mails in the post from every corner of the Earth. Just amazing, the exchange of not just arts, but also the culture and friendship!

Presenting Lady Madeline and Lady Mae, ladybug ATC dolls created by Karen Bassie (Canada). I always fancy red ladybird, my regret is not having seen a real red one but only those brown beetles. Well, Karen had a great way to incorporate the ladybug on the head! Lovely!

All the metallic ATC swap pieces have also came in. Here's the group photo of all the 8 pieces. Starting from top left corner going clockwise: Marjolijn van Wijk (The Netherlands), Cathy Vigor (USA), "Steel Magnolia" from Mrs Carol Jamieson (Scotland), "Thai Elephant" from Dayle Morrison (Australia), Kim Young (USA), postcard from Pauline Mackenzie (Australia), Debbi Baker (Australia), and finally, mine in the centre.

Cathy's coppery piece had a square brad to hold the metal pieces together, while Dayle's "Thai Elephant" had wire crotchet, old copper coin, beads and modelling clay stamped with an elephant! Interesting array of metallic elements in each and every pieces!

Thank you, ladies, for all the swaps!

I showed a mini-ATC album in my last post. Valerie asked to see the inside. Here are the interiors - the ATCs can be changed. I didn't made the pages fanciful as I wanted the focus on the ATCs.