A Peranakan Brooch

This brooch was found in a shop at Jonker's Street in Melaka. It was just a frame without any stones but the frame was in good condition. I was told by the shop owner that it was silver and plated in gold. I kept it for years, before getting someone to set it for me. I was very grateful to CC who was willing to find the stones and set it. The brooch is now set with faceted rhodolite. The brooch is in fact brass and gold plated. I love this brooch. It could have been part of a kerosang.

Happy Birthday MOM

Mom is 69 today. I will miss her birthday dinner but she has her other children and grandchildren to celebrate it with her. This photo was taken in the early nineteen sixties at her first job. She worked in a small missionary run clinic as a doctor's assistant. Part of her duties there was to do translation and accounting.

Peranakan Designs

I love the jewellery, pottery, embroidery designs, traditional costume, beaded slippers of the Peranakans. The above photos were taken from this book on kebayas (traditional embroidered blouse). These kebayas are from the private collection of the late wife of Malaysia's prime minister.

My maternal grandmothers, yes, both wore the Peranakan sulam (embroidered) kebaya blouse and sarong every single day. She kept the more elaborately embroidered kebaya blouse for Sundays when she attended church. Of course, hers were not as elaborate as those in the above photos. More kebayas at this site.

These kebaya blouses did not have any buttons, instead she used a set of kerosang (three brooches) to hold the blouse together. The kerosang is also considered as jewellery, often made in gold and intan (rose-cut diamonds).

I use to watch her on her sewing machine making the embroidery. Back then, I was too young to have that determination to learn. It was difficult because although you used a sewing machine, you had to guide the needle manually to where it should go with the help of an embroidery frame, not the programmable machines that we have today.

Spiral Bookmark

When I first saw this bookmark at Gina’s blog, I thought how difficult it must be, to tat this. It looked like a complicated pattern. It is one of those patterns that look more difficult than it really is. It was great fun and you could make it look different with all other possible colour combinations. Thank you, Gina, for this pattern. Experiment and you may be surprised! Can you see it spiral, view from a little further away.

Beautiful Peranakan stamps

These are special edition stamps. I bought them to be used not to be collected. It may be on one of the envelopes I send out, perhaps to you. Would anyone be interested in silk HDTs in the similar colour scheme? Perhaps we could ask Lady Shuttle Maker to custom some?

August giveaway winner

Singtatter will be getting the pastel tatted heart. Congrats! Do send me your details and I will send the heart off to you. Thank you to all who participated. I hope you will come back and visit. I am thinking of a challenge in the next week or so.

Just grass

Seldom do you see a patch of grass like this in Singapore! Isn't it beautiful? Sometimes, you need to take time to notice the simplest things. Enjoy!

Joy Luck Club

I have watched the movie twice but would not mind watching it again as I forget how it goes. I am currently reading the book which I have had for years. It has turned yellow with age and I have never read it. The high humidity just ruins everything. I love the first page of the book. I am now on page 159. If you have read this book or seen the movie, tell me what you thought of it.

Bird shuttle

I received this from Noreen a few days ago. I have not used this type of shuttle before and found it a little difficult to get use to. I hold the shuttle on its flat side near the tail but it seems to get caught with the threads each time I tat. Any tips of how to hold this properly. I would appreciate any help.

Pastel heart August giveaway

If you have read my last post, you would know that this is the second heart of Martha’s Celtic heart pattern. This heart is a slight modification of that pattern. It’s tatted in pastel colours using Olympus cotton thread in Size 20 and measures 3 x 3 inches. I am giving this away and if you would like a chance to receive this, just leave a comment on how you would use this tatted heart by 23 August 2008. I will do a draw on the 24 August 2008 and list the winner then. Do check back to find out who the winner is.

My Celtic heart torn apart

This tatting pattern is from Martha Ess. It is actually a Celtic design of two hearts entwined but she also had the pattern of the two hearts separated. Before I tried the Celtic design, I decided to tat both hearts separately. The first one was done in Seaweed HDT Size 80 and the second is my August giveaway.

Beautiful orchids

I think these are Mokara hybrids. Do not know their exact names. I just love the colours. These are not from my garden, someone else's garden. Enjoy.

Tatted Mystery Motif

Threads of a tatting goddess had a mystery motif pattern on her blog and this is what I tatted from that pattern. Does it look right?? We’ll have to wait and see the reveal later in her blog.

Seaweed HDT

Trying out my new shuttles and the cotton Size 80 seaweed hand dyed thread (HDT) from Lady Shuttle Maker. The bone shuttle has leaf shapes engraved on it. It heavier than the metal filigree shuttle. It makes nice click sounds when the thread is wound on the bone shuttle but no clicks on the metal shuttle. Both tats well. Will show you the finished tatting when I take a photo of it.

Red and white

These are the colours of Singapore flag. A tatted motif with the same colours to celebrate Singapore’s 43rd year of Independence. This is the other vintage pattern which I was talking about last week. It is actually a slight variation because I made only 3 picots instead of 4 in round 2. The one in variegated blue is the original pattern.

New earrings

I have been meaning to make some earrings for sometime now. I wanted to use the gold-filled wire and findings with semi-precious gemstones. But each weekend, I spend my time doing some sort of house cleaning, laundry, cooking and tatting. Well, last Sunday, I made sure that I sat down with the gemstones and did some wiring. I started with simple designs. I love dangling earrings so you will see they all dangle.

Shuttles galore

I received two packages this week. I went on a shuttle shopping spree. I got the metal filigree and bone shuttles from Purse Paradise and the wood shuttles from David Reed Smith. I’m ecstatic. So this weekend I will spend my time trying out the new shuttles with the HDTs I got from Lady Shuttle Maker weeks earlier. Oh how I wish for more hours in a day.

Vertical Planting

This was taken at HortPark. It is a landscaped park where different companies showcase their designs in small plots. There is also a nursery and a restaurant. Great place to spend a lazy aftenoon. I love the cool greenhouse filled with colourful flowering plants like Fuchsia. I did not get a photo of that.

Vintage Pattern tatted medallion

This is a vintage pattern which I got online. The centre ring of picots are a little too large and I probably have to tat this pattern again. The tatting instructions are a little different from usual but with the photo, it was not too difficult to follow. I will do the other medallion pattern soon. The thread used is DMC Cebelia cotton size 30 (#745). Enjoy!