March 2009 Giveway Winner

The blue tatted heart in March's giveaway is going to TattingChic. Congrats TattingChic. Tsuru is asking you to watch for it in your postbox next week. To all who participated, come by to visit again soon, perhaps end of this month for the April giveaway.

International Tatting Day

I learnt that today is International Tatting Day from Tattingchic. She invited me to her giveaway yesterday. Anyway, I wanted to share what I tatted last week. I saw this Quantiesque pattern from Jon and really love how it looked. I was very surprised how easy it was to tat this. I would encourage anyone to do this. It is most rewarding and looks just so lovely. Thank you Jon!

Play with the colours and you would be surprised how it turns out. I used two colours DMC Perle Cotton Size 5 in 915 and 500. I am already starting on my 2nd in different colours. Do try this, if you haven't done so already.

March Giveaway

March 2009 has slipped by so quickly. Again it is the last day of the month. This is my March giveaway.

The pattern is by Teresa Woods and you can find the pattern here.

I was looking for hearts tatting patterns and really liked this one. I tatted one for an exchange with Judy.

Just leave a comment by 7 April 2009.

Tsuru enjoys packing for a trip

Tsuru just loves any activity out of the ordinary.

This was what happened when we were packing for our last trip.

She knows, something is up.

The suitcase comes out of the store and clothes are folded and placed on the table.
She is just waiting for something to happen.

Nothing going on . . . . ?

Why don't I pull those freshly folded clothes down onto the floor and sit on it.

I am sure they need some of my fur on their clothes.

Won't they miss me?

I must remind them to bring me back a treat?

In my postbox yesterday

I e-mailed Gina immediately. She must be wondering what happened to her book thong which she won from Umi & Tsuru's blog. Well, from the photo below it is obvious. This came back to me and the envelope was torn and contents empty. Perhaps the envelope was not strong enough for its contents. This is the first time I have experienced this but I am thankful for the message from the US Postal Service and that they sent back what was left of the envelope. Not to worry, Gina, I have sent you another, this time in an envelope made of stronger paper. I hope you will be patient as it will take another 10 days or so. I also noticed that with less number of flights between Singapore and US, the mail is a little slower than before. The new book thong will not be in the same colour but hopefully it will not disappoint Gina too much.

Spring is in the air

In Singapore, we have sun and rain all year round and the temperature is always around 32 degrees C at mid day. There must have been a huge gust of wind on Sunday night as there were many fallen tree branches and uprooted trees.

Have you noticed the Trumpet flowers/Pink Tecoma (Tabebuia spp.) on the trees and on the ground. How pretty they are. I call them Singapore’s cherry blossoms.

I wish I had my camera to photograph this beautiful sight. The durian trees and the African Tulip tree are also flowering although my favourite tree bloomed a few weeks ago. It is called the Mempat (Cratoxylum formosum) which has very delicate inconspicious pink blooms. I aslo noticed today that the pigeon orchid is also blooming. They only bloom when there is a slight dip in temperature.

I really wished I had the camera and the time to take photos of these. If you want to see some of these plants, do link to some of these photos on the web.

Lovebirds update

How have the lovebirds been doing? They have been a little slow with nest building. I like to think that they start nests in a few places and in the end choose the safest place to complete the nest. I hope it is on my bamboo plant in my balcony. I took a photo on 22 February 2009 and posted it here. The photo below was taken on 7 March 2009. The length of the nest looks the same but it is has grown in volume. I wonder if the birds know that more fibre is better.

I made sure I swept the balcony floor the day before and look what is brought to the nest each day. Pieces of bark and fibres.

February 2009 Giveaway winner

Congratulations to Gina of Threads of a Tatting Goddess. Gina wins the tatted book thong/bookmark. Gina, please send me your addy and I will send it off to you ASAP. Thank you to all who participated. Do try your luck again end of this month.

My spirit is free

I have been kept busy and feeling a little low because I could not do my crafting. Then arrives an unexpected package this week which lifted my spirits.

It was very timely and I am most grateful for it.

Look what arrived!

I love how plump this bird is.

The little girl reminds me of someone.

The wings will soar and lift your spirit free.

Thank you so much Pat.

'Pieces of Friendship' Puzzle Swap

Pieces of Friendship Puzzle Swap is hosted by Pat Winter. She was kind enough to give us the heads up very early. Deadline is 1st June 2009. I have been very slow with this. I printed out the template last year. In January I cut out the shape on paper. A few weekends ago, I put the template on felt and cut that out. I chose felt so that I did not have to worry about binding the edges to prevent fraying. Hopefully this weekend I can do something to it. I have an idea but I wonder if it will work out. I will post the updated piece next week.