Chubby Painted Fingers

Sometimes you just have to spoil yourself eventhough it looks a little too much. But it makes you happy so who cares what others think about this vainpot.

No, I could not do this myself but the pretty lady who did this was so proud of her work she took a photo of it herself on her phone. So I had to do the same when I came home. She was quite meticulous and it only took an hour for the whole manicure.

Rotation Set

 

 

This is a gift for someone and I thought it would be nice to have matching earrings. The Rotation pendant is Marilee Rockley's pattern and I adpated the pattern for a pair of earrings. This is tatted in Flora Size 20 charcoal #244 with gold Delica beads and red Swarovski crystals.

Paella

We tried out this instant paella set. It came with a pack of seasoning, a small bottle of extra virgin olive oil, rice and the paella pan. I added the sausage, shrimp and baby cuttlefish. It was easy to cook and tasted not too bad. I would have preferred the rice a little drier but I was also afraid it would burn so took it off the heat too early.

In future, I may try using the paella pan for our usual all-in-one rice dishes but with our local ingredients or even Briyani rice (AAA's favourite).

Cymbidiums for Margaret

Not the best of specimens but this is a Cymbidium orchid which I promised Margaret that I will show her when I found the photo.

Below are other orchids:

Phalaenopsis

 

Paphiopedilum

Dendrobium

 

More Rotation Pendants

Just wanted to show you more Rotation pendants (pattern is by Marilee Rockley) in Size 40 threads compared to the Size 20 threads.

Left - Lizbeth 40 Country Kitchen #160 (2.25 x 1.75 inches)
Centre - Lizbeth 20 Blue River Glades #164 (2.5 x 2 inches)
Right - Lizbeth 40 Country Grape Dark #682 (2.25 x 1.75 inches)

Yesterday's Mail

Jess of Tat-ilicious told me to expect a package. I was most pleasantly surprised to find this in my mail box yesterday. Thank you so much Jess.

I am sitting right down and have started tatting with it. Will send you photos very soon.

The top is Jess' HDT Macarons and below is . . . . a HDT which you have to wait for. Aren't the colours wonderful. Jess also included a clay button specially made by Sherry of LadyShuttleMaker. Thank you. Thank you. I have a few of LadyShuttleMaker's clay shuttles too.

Linda's Classic Doily - Completed

As I made mistakes in the tatting of the rings after the first set of scallops, it is puckering a little and the shape of the scallops are not distinct. I am learning from the mistake and will tat another doily. This measures about 13.5 inches across and tatted in Size 40 threads.

Many of you commented that the colour is very pleasing. I must admit that blue isn't my favourite colour but it is a favourite of many. 

I was first attracted to this pattern when I saw it on Linda's blog. It reminded me of a mandala although it isn't obvious in this rendition. See hers here.  

I also love the look of the doily if it ended after the first set of scallops. If the pattern gets too overwhelming, it would be a good option to end it there.

New Cuffs

Yep, I have been shopping, and not tatting. These are my new cow hide cuffs with agate and jasper stones. There are soft and very comfortable to wear with a very secure magnetic clasp. Just had to show them off.

Rotation Pendants

I was bored tatting doilies and edgings so I had to find a distraction. This was perfect. The rotation pendant pattern is by Marilee Rockley. Obviously I cannot count as the first pendant I tatted was one petal short. Also the ring for the jump ring is not in the centre of the motif. It was a fun tat and I will be tatting more of these. Already planning for more.

Art in the CC

This is art in my local Community Centre. The first photo is a mosaic of wedding scenes in Singapore. You can identify the different ethnic weddings. From top left - Malay; top right - Western/Modern; bottom left - Indian and bottom right - Chinese.

The other photo is a gigantic wooden clogs with a village scene of  this area before it was developed into a housing estate. This one was done by local residents for the National Day celebrations.

New Quilting Book

A new book to inspire me to get off my tatting butt and make some quilts. This book tells you what to do with all the scrap fabric from your quilting projects. Organize your fabric scraps into separate colours and it is a wonder what you can do with them in one morning. Hmmm I hope something gets done!!

Linda's Classic Doily -WIP

It isn't done yet. But I was wondering why the last round was so tight. I blamed it on my chain tension. I spent nearly an hour trying to pin this doily down.

Since this photo, I have done a few more rounds and wondered where I made a mistake when the number of rings did not fit the chains. I continued nevertheless and thought: let this be my learning process.

When I was tatting the 2nd last round of the pattern, I realised where the mistake was and there was no going back. So this is definitely not going to look like Linda's lovely doily but my mistake version of it. I will be most likely tatting this again.

Banana Chips

These are banana chips. There are two types - sweet or salty. The  chips are coated in sugar or salt but still very crunchy. I love them. Also love tapioca chips, yam chips and of course potato chips - all salty! Watch the calories and salt intake. Why are all unhealthy foods so delicious?

Pineapple Heaven Doily #5

Will this be the perfect one? We will see. This is started in Lizbeth 20 #164 Blue River Glades. This has to be my favourite Lizbeth colourway. How will the doily turn out in this colour? So far, it is looking promising.

Art in the Subway

I travel on the MRT quite often and this features a sample of art in the train stations. Can you guess which station this is? Well, only if you have been to this station. That is actually the side wall of the lift shaft.

Raining Flowers

It's raining flowers in the shopping centre in a range of colours from white to yellow to orange. It would have been wonderful if the flowers were fresh but I guess impractical as the display needs to last for a period of time but you could do it for a one day display.

Pineapple Heaven Doily #4 Yellow - Completed

I had to cut out a few rounds because I made a few mistakes. I had to improvised so the pattern is slightly different from the original. This is tatted in Flora Size 20 and measures about 9.5 inches across. I am no longer intimidated by the split chains and rather enjoy them now.

Blue and White Porcelain Design

Refurbished shop houses in Chinatown. This particular block houses a spa with reflexology. The blue and white porcelain design was painted onto the side wall. It looks really striking. 

Wilma #3

This is another Wilma bookmark. The pattern is from Iris Niebach's book Fantasia 3. I just had to tat one more in yellow and black Milford Size 20. Last month I posted two Wilma bookmarks here.

Thai Food

Pad Thai

 

Thai Fried Rice

Tom Yum Soup

I had Thai food for lunch. We ordered pad thai which is fried rice noodles with bean sprouts, egg and prawns. It was a little too sweet for our taste but good. The Thai fried rice went really well with the mouth watering spicy and sour tom yum soup.

Pineapple Heaven Doily #4 -WIP

Yes, I decided on a yellow doily. Could not help it but just realised I made a mistake in Round 10 after I finished it. Shall I continue or cut it out and re-tat?

I'll continue and improvise. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Not until I made another mistake. Where is my scissors?

 

Now back to the pattern proper, kind of. Just sorry that I wasted a whole lot of time and thread.

 

 

Janet Caroll's Edging #2 - WIP

This is for another hanky. The pattern is by Janet Carroll from her book titled Elegant Tatting Patterns. It is tatted in two rounds. Round 1 was quick to tat but it had a life of its own wanting to twirl and each time I had to tat into it, I had to do some un-twirling. I decided to try tatting in Size 60, so it is a little fiddly. It looks very delicate and I hope when attached to the hanky, it would be even more beautiful.

Headdresses

Now these would turn heads. The garments were as creative as the headdresses. I always find interesting things to photograph while shopping in Bangkok. These were taken the last time we were there. Love those dragonfly ones. Each department store with this label had a different display mannequin. Similar but different. As they would say in Bangkok, same same. I LOVE Bangkok!!

Pineapple Heaven Doily #3 Light Green Completed

I thought I had the amount of thread needed to tat this right, after the burgundy one. But somehow this particular ball of thread seemed thicker and required more thread than predicted. This is 9 inches across.

Anyway, I had to cut out some parts because I missed a few picots and had to re-tat. Not perfect!! Maybe I need one more doily to tat before getting it perfect. This one is tatted in Flora Size 20 in #239.

Smiley Doughnuts

Doughnuts for breakfast! Really unhealthy but delicious and it compliments the coffee. What more, how could you resist those smiley faces. A great way to start the day. Hope you have/had a good day too.

Another Test Tat

This is another interesting pattern from Victats. This one is tatted in Lizbeth Size 40 #160 Country Kitchen with Swarovski 6mm crystal pearls and Miyuki Delica beads DB1013. The way I placed the Delica beads and my chain lengths could be improved. Vicki did a much better job. 

Mooncake Tins

 

These are mooncake tins which I have collected through the years. I store all my beads and stones for making jewellery in them. I especially like the small tins. The usual theme of these boxes are lotus flowers, scenes of children with lanterns and Chinese ladies. These days mooncakes come in all sort of packaging including little chest of drawers, handbags, lanterns and unusual boxes. Link here to see more examples.