Red Rubies Dessert

What else can you make with the trim coconut milk in a tetra pack? How about red rubies? 

Peel the water chestnuts.

Chop up the water chestnuts.

Add red food colour to the water chestnuts and coat in tapioca flour.
Boil to cook the tapioca flour and collect the red rubies.

Serve cold with coconut milk and sugar syrup.
I used the Gula Melaka Syrup (palm sugar) instead. 

Iris Niebach's Preferred Earrings

Thank you Iris.

Iris has a new pattern on her blog here. She named it the 'Preferred Necklace' with matching earrings. I was fascinated with the earrings. 

Here they are tatted in three colours in Size 40 threads - Daiso mint blue, Daiso pink and Lizbeth Grape Splash. 

Which one is your favourite?

View from Raffles City

You can see the Civilian War Memorial, Marina Bay Sands, the top of the Esplanade building and the Singapore flag (from left to right). 

The second photo is of the miniature Dendrobium orchid.

Kissing Minnows

I first saw this on Two Shuttles' blog here and found the pattern much later here.  The pattern is by Ninetta Caruso.

I started with Size 40 pink and yellow threads and found it too fiddly and too small. After switching to Size 20 Flora threads in pink and dark green, it was easier.

I remember putting this pattern on hold and recently found this hand towel which reminded me of the pattern. I just had to tat it to edge the towel. With an added picot and a lengthened chain above the minnows, it was easy to attach it to the hand towel. Do the chains now look like waves?

Sago Gula Melaka

I bought a pack of sago pearls for the bubor cha cha dessert and had a whole lot left. I remembered AAA went to Malacca months back and had bought this pack of gula Melaka (palm sugar). Last weekend when I was grocery shopping, I found this trim coconut milk in a tetra pack brick and just had to try it. 

What to make? Sago Gula Melaka. 

I must say that the coconut milk was easy to use as you need not prepare it yourself. Just pour from the tetra pack. Usually I buy the grated coconut and extract the coconut milk.  It claimed to have 40% less fat and it tasted good. I boiled the whole pack of palm sugar and had a bottle full of palm sugar syrup ready for use. Boiled the sago pearls and I had a quick dessert. Yummy too.  

Coffee n Cream Edging

I thought this is an unusual design and it looked rather intimidating. It is quite large in Size 20 thread - about 1.5 inches per repeat. The pattern can be found on page 61 in Occhi Schiffchenspitze Frivolite by Marianne Langwieser and Tatiana Scharowa (peacock on the cover). In the book, this pattern was used as an elaborate headband with the tatting resting on the forehead. One repeat makes a nice earring too.

Thread is a HDT by LadyShuttleMaker called Coffee n Cream. It took me about 45 mins to make one repeat. Does it look rather masculine? It has a natural curve so it could also be used to edge a round / oval shaped coaster / doily.

Yes, I bought two of the same hand towel. Could not resist it. Now which should I keep?

Flower Pot I - Yellow & Black

I decided to tat this again in a larger size thread. What do you think? This is tatted in the Daiso thread Size 20 although it is more like a Size 10 to me. Pattern is by Jan Stawasz in his book Tatted Treasures on page 28. I bungled the double picots . . . left them too large. This measures about 10 x 7 inches.

I also tatted this for G in black Venus Size 70. She had requested it and I was happy to tat for her. 

And here is the size comparison.

Fire Escape

This is an old building in town.

Love the spiral staircase. 

Dreamcatcher Earrings Exchange

This pair of dreamcatcher earrings were made by God's Kid.

Aren't they gorgeous?

I love them.

This is what I sent her. 

Thank you so much, Sue.

Mooncakes & Lanterns

Yes, another year and the mid autumn mooncake festival is here again. In the Chinese calendar, today is the 15th day of the 8th month.

This year I chose to get the snowskin ones. The oval one (top right) has lotus paste filling with a few whole macadamia nuts and one egg yolk. The remaining round ones are lotus paste with macadamia nuts. Very sweet but perfect with Chinese tea (unsweetened). I had these with Earl Grey tea instead. That was nice too.

   

Traditional cellophane lanterns on the left and modern battery operated plastic inflatable lanterns on the right. 

I bought the crepe paper lanterns for my balcony and these are the lanterns decorating Chinatown.

Stawasz Collar III

This is my first tatted collar. The pattern is from Jan Stawasz on page 78 of his book 'Tatted Treasures'. I used a Size 20 variegated pink thread and made it about an inch longer than what was stated in the book. It measures about 19 x 1.5 inches / 49 x 4 cm.

I wonder why I used a pink variegated thread instead of a neutral beige, white or black? Didn't put much thought to it at that time. 

Did you see Fox's collar in white of the same pattern? You can see the design of the collar much clearer in hers. 

Flowering Kaempferia

The Kaempferia decided to flower. I think this is the second bloom. I missed the first one. The flower blooms one at a time and lasts only a day. Can you see the remains of the first bloom in the second photo on the right of the flower? A plant with such a delicate flower and such amazing leaf markings. It is still co-existing with the Oxalis.

Linda Edged Hand Towel

While shopping for hand towels, I found this lovely Japanese design by Milton home. The colours on this towel just called out to me.

I rummaged through my thread stash looking for a Size 20 thread which could match the colours of the hand towel. 

Found the perfect thread . . . . a HDT by LadyShuttleMaker in Size 20 called Treebeard.

Looked for an unusual edging pattern and went with Iris Niebach's Linda edging which can be found on page 9 of her Fantasia 3 book.

After two sessions of tatting, it was blocked and sewn in.

I may just keep this for myself. We will see what happens this Christmas.

Bubor Cha Cha

This is a local dessert which we love. It consists of sweet potatoes, yam/taro and gingko nuts in a sweet coconut cream with sago pearls. The purple tinge is from the sweet potato. I used the 2 varieties of sweet potato - yellow and purple. You can have it warm or cold. This is one dessert I can make that AAA will eat.

Windmills Set 18 & 19 - Completed

I am doing a happy dance.
Do one with me, 
will you?

Hakuhodo

I thought about them the whole time. It shipped within 24 hours of purchase and it arrived yesterday.

How did I find out about it? Watching NHK World of course and searching the www.

Now let me use them and let you know what I think.

Stawasz WIP

Which pattern is this?

My Little Ivy

The dog planter was a birthday gift from friends many years back. The little ivy plant was one I just bought from Ikea. The large standing urn is from Indonesia and the bamboo blind is from Malaysia. It stands in my little garden in the balcony.

Milva Edged Hand Towel

I had to improvise as the edging was too long for the hand towel. What did I do to make it fit? I had to sew the two centre rings into one spot. It worked quite well and the edging fit the towel perfectly. The towel is peach in colour although in the photo, it may not be obvious. See previous post for pattern and thread details.

Milva WIP

I stopped here because I found I had a missing ring. But it should be easy to fix. This is planned to edge a hand towel but I guess it could also work for a round doily. Yes, I got another batch of hand towels to edge.

I enjoyed tatting this so much. This pattern is by Iris Niebach in her Fantasia 3 book on page 16. I used the Daiso thread in Size 40 in peach and apple green. The colours do not shown up well in these photos. It is tatted in 3 continuous rounds and I thought the play with two colours was quite interesting. My regret was that the colours I chose was not contrasting enough. I loved the long twisted interwoven picots although mine should have been a little shorter. 

Do try this pattern. I had so much fun with it. Thank you, Iris.

Goods of Desire

This is the entrance to a shop called Goods of Desire. I think it is a franchise from Hong Kong. I was attracted by the large lampshades hung here. Within is an escalator which brings you up to the shop on the 2nd floor. Lots of contemporary designs of home decor items based on Chinese motifs. Quite an interesting shop. The only thing I desired was a breakfast-in-bed table made of bamboo which I thought I could use to write on when I was sitting at the sofa. Then I remembered I have a foldable breakfast-in-bed table at home which I never use. Of course it does not look as compact, sleek and modern as the bamboo one which I desired.

Windmills Set 16-17

Two more sets tatted up and I am nearing the end. Only two more sets left and I will be extremely happy when this is completed. I think it will cover a small round table.

I am eager to start a new project.

Just a Glass

Pretty lights on a glass of water.

Flower Pot I

The earlier tat along with Margaret was so much fun that we decided to do another. Thank you Margaret! 

This time the pattern is by Jan Stawasz in his book Tatted Treasures on page 29.  First pattern to be tatted from this book. Done in Lizbeth Size 80 in Wedgewood Lt (#655). The whole flower pot measures about 4 by 3 inches only. Perfect for a card or a small frame. 

What's next?

Peranakan Lunch

Sotong Hitam

Babi Pongteh

Ayam Buah Keluak

Chap Chye

Asam Pedas

Certain dishes were not as good as some I have tasted before but good enough to satisfy a craving. Yes, we had all those dishes with rice.