Kayser's blue crocodile

This tatted alligator is for a little boy named Kayser. He is only six but he knows he wants a blue crocodile. He actually enjoys pre-school and will start primary school next January. His parents are not only friends but they care for Umi and Tsuru when we are away on holiday.



This pattern is from Dianna Stevens' Animal Bookmarks - A Tatted Zoo. This is tatted in Anchor Perle Cotton 8 Col. 1349. I hope he likes his blue crocodile.

Sunday Brunch at the Colbar

In the late 1990s, we frequented this place because some friends lived nearby. In the early 2000s, we read in the newspapers, that it was to be demolished due to the construction of a new highway. It was however relocated, thanks to petitions to preserve it. This is our first visit since its relocation. It is not far from its old site. It was just the nostalgic atmosphere.

One more large cross

I did not pack my shuttle and thread to Penang but on the second day there, I found a craft shop and they had threads and shuttles. I bought myself a pink Clover shuttle and a ball of thread. Perle cotton size 8 by Cosmo (from Japan) in the colour below. As I just finished a number of large crosses (pattern by Mary Konior), I could remember the pattern and started this cross in Penang and finished it in Singapore. The thread was very weak and it broke a number of times when I was closing the rings, but I like the colour.

Also at this craft shop I found some patterns for the nyonya kasut manek (beaded shoes). I bought 3 patterns and mom asked when I was going to start on that. Hmmmm . . . , I don't know, when I finish my tatting, stained glass, patchwork and quilting? So far I have made 2 pairs of kasut manek - a red one here and a blue one here. The 3rd one on the frame is ruined by mildew. Now where did I put those new patterns . . . . ?

Char Koay Teow in Penang

This is the fried koay teow (flat rice noodles) which we enjoyed at Lorong Selamat in Penang. There are 3 stalls here. The most famous was too crowded even at 3pm, so we had this hawker's fried koay teow, which was not bad. As you can see frying koay teow is not an easy job. Imagine doing this in the hot sun at 33 degrees C with the wok fire. Did you notice his eye gear, looks like some kind of goggles. It was RM$6.50/S$3.00 a plate and it was quite good. Koay teow fried with eggs, chinese sausage, bean sprouts, chives, cockles, garlic and light soya sauce. Yummy, deep fried lard pieces thrown in, was the clincher. I prefer this to char koay teow in Singapore, which is not as dry and fried with dark sweet soya sauce. Sometimes, you just miss food you grew up eating.

June 2010 Giveaway

This is a pattern from Dianna Stevens' book 'Animal Bookmarks - A Tatted Zoo'. Tatted in Perle Cotton 8. If you would like a chance to win this, just leave a comment here before 30 June 2010.

Spinning Wheels - Completed

4 spinning wheels or 7 spinning wheels were not sufficient, increase by two and . . . now it looks complete. It measures 12 by 8 inches.

Okay I am now ready to continue with Pear and Apple.

Weekend in Penang

Spent last weekend with family in Malaysia. Drove all the way up to Penang for a visit. Penang is an island off Peninsular Malaysia, approximately 650km from Singapore. I think it has been more than 10 years since we last visited Penang. Penang is famous for good hawker food. Mom wanted to visit her sisters too.

Driving across Penang bridge. Thirty years ago, the only way across was via ferry. The ferry still runs but it is now much faster driving across the bridge.

View from the hotel room, a new shopping mall on the left - Times Square.

To the right of Times Square, is KOMTAR (that tall building) an older shopping complex, and a Catholic church in the foreground.

Can you see the mainland in the background? Brightly painted old shophouses in the foreground, and an Indian temple in the bottom left corner.

Large Cross (MK#47)

I finshed the large cross pattern last week and they are now ready to be gifted. Tatted the multicolour one first (6.5 x 4 inches) then the yellow variegated (7 x 4.5 inches), the pink one (8.5 x 5 inches) and the Lizbeth Denim Whisper (6 x 4 inches) next. Added some fire polished glass beads to the yellow and denim whisper crosses and opaque pink rhinestones to the pink one.

Cat napping

Umi and Tsuru sleep a lot these days, all day and all night. Tsuru only wakes for her treats and meals. They must be getting on in age.

Dress trim - 9 motifs

Yes, this is complete. 9 motifs joined into a diamond shape. It measures 8.5 by 6 inches. I used up the whole skein of Snowflake Size 30 HDT from Yarnplayer. It looked like this when only four were joined.

Lorella

This one was tatted in Milford Mercer Size 40 in Lemon. Lorella is found on page 23 of Iris Niebach's Tatted Doilies book. It took about 38 metres of thread tatted in one round, approx. 15m on shuttle 1 and 23m on shuttle 2.

My pop-a-bobbin shuttle

My pop-a-bobbin shuttle arrived late last week from Jane. I tried it out and I like it. The wood is ash and the bobbin is a very dark purple. I love how the hook works. Slightly different from a crochet hook but I think it works well. It does not accidentally get caught on the threads but when you need it for joins, it hooks perfectly. On the whole the shuttle is well made and you know it was made with valuable feedback from experienced tatters. The bobbin does not hold as much thread as the Sewmate shuttle but sufficient. For this pattern I filled the bobbin full equivalent to 12 metres of Size 40 thread.

Work in progress

I am tatting a few crosses as gifts. I decided to try the 'Large Cross' pattern by Mary Konior. Will post it when I am done. It is almost done but I may want to add some beads in the next one I tat. Will see how that goes and post them when all are done. If you have noticed, that there are no decorative picots in this pattern. Quite rounded and neat.

Yes that beautiful shuttle is by Ladyshuttlemaker. I have two lovely shuttles from Sherry. The other one is shown here.

The thread is a Japanese brand thread - Coron. I would not recommend it as when the thread unravels, you can see bits of white which the dye did not manage to cover. I must have been thread-deprived when I bought it in a local shop.

Cold Soba Japanese Salad

White radish/daikon, sugar snaps, tofu, cherry tomatoes, leeks, lettuce, buckwheat soba sprinkled with Japanese salad seasoning (sesame seeds, nori with wasabi) and Japanese salad dressing. Homemade for lunch. I added some sliced apples just because I had some in the fridge.

Nora

This is Nora, a pattern from Iris Niebach's Tatted Doilies on pg 27. I used Lizbeth Size 20 #107 (Tropical Fruit) for rounds 1, 3 and 5; and #688 (Seagreen) for rounds 2 and 4. I think if I tatted this again, I would stop at round 3. I didn't like how rounds 4 and 5 turned out.

I did not estimate how much ball thread I used but if you find it useful, these are the amounts of shuttle thread needed - round 1 - 4 metres on shuttle 1 and 2.5m on shuttle 2, round 2 - 2m, round 3 - 14m, round 4 - 1m and round 5 - 3m.

Days when you feel like this . . .

Get a cake and eat it

Each bite you take, remember this

"You do not quit when you can make a difference"