Umi relaxing on the sofa

This is Umi on the rare occasions that she decides to lounge with me on the sofa. She needs a lot of space because she loves to roll around. She has her moods but she always loves a tummy rub.

Umi Chooses October 2009 Giveaway Winner

Gave Tsuru the day off and asked Umi to work this month. The bottle contains treats for Umi and Tsuru. They know how to put their paws into the bottle to pull out the treats. I put all the names in the bottle, gave it a good stir and asked Umi to pick. The first name she pulled out is . . . . . .

Congratulations to Edna Henry. Do drop me an e-mail with your address and I will send the bookmark off to you. Thank you to all who participated and your comments. Look out for next month's giveaway.

October 2009 Giveaway

This is a tatted bookmark in Lizbeth Cotton Thread Size 20 Col #105 or Confetti. The book mark measures 8 x 2.5 inches without the tassel. This pattern is by Lenore English and can be found here. As I tatted this I was amazed at how it turned out and could not imagine the how creative the designer is.

Leave a comment before 31st Oct 2009 and your name will be put into a draw.

I am in love with my velvet purse

It is designed by Pat, of course. It is a little different from Pat's other purse creations. I just love this one for its simplicity. Look at that delicate lace on the top and bottom which is coordinated with the velvet. Pat specially ordered in and dyed the velvet in this light mint green. The girl in the ciggie is lovely and the subtle purple in the lace and embroidered silk ribbon flowers is just so pretty. The purse handle is bone carved. Pat added a magnetic clasp on the inside. I think it looks very vintage. Pat suggested I include a tatted strap. I think that is a great idea. Thank you so much Pat. I love my new velvet purse.

Meandering Path Pattern

I first saw this tatted up on Tatskool's blog and found out that the pattern is by LadyTats (diagrammed here). A big thank you to LadyTats for this pattern. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to tat this. I got so excited that I was not paying much attention and tatted up this off white one. It does not look anything like the photo in the pattern because it was full of mistakes. There is no meandering path. This is what happens when you are not paying attention.

In the next few days, I tatted one in 2 colours DMC Cotton Perle 8 in colours #9 and #51,

one with Delica beads in DMC Perle Cotton 8 #9

and the last one in DMC Cotton Perle 12 in #814 (this ball of thread was a gift from Pat Winter).

Can you see the square in each one?

Quilt shop moving sale

I went a little crazy the other week. The local quilt shop where I took my CQ class had a sale as it was moving to a new location. It was the last day of the sale but I still managed to get some bargains at 30% and 50% off. I am quite pleased as I managed to get some cat theme fabrics. I think my next quilt will be that. I have never done quilting and would like to machine quilt it myself, that is if I get my sewing machine fixed.

Lemon curd mini cupcakes

I made these in 3 different sizes: mini, medium and large. I prefer these mini as the portions of cake, lemon curd and icing seemed to be just right. I have never made this recipe of lemon curd before but it turned out really delicious. The recipe is from here. I did not have any Meyer lemons so I just combined 3 regular lemons and 1 small orange. It is yummy and fragrant and for those who dislike the sweetness of butter cream icing, this combination is good. Earl Grey Tea anyone?

My Toa Kor

Say not in grief that she is no more

but say in thankfulness that she was

A death is not the extinguishing of a light,

but the putting out of the lamp

because the dawn has come.

~ Rabindranath Tagore ~

My eldest aunt passed away last night at age 85. She was born in China and came over with my grandparents in the early 1930s. She worked as a midwife for all of her adult life. She never married but adopted a baby girl. Just the other day my mom was saying how lucky my aunt is to have a daughter who looked after her during her illness. My cousin would drive out to buy whatever my aunt craved to eat that day.

WIP - completed

This was my second attempt at this pattern from the Japanese Tatting book listed in this post. In the book this was sewn on a cushion. The book does say it is a modern adaptation using Weldon's pattern (1887). After I took the photo in that post, I realised there was a mistake 3 to 4 rings back and had to unpick to correct it. But I finally finished it a few days later and this is how it looks. This HDT by LadyShuttleMaker is called Tuscany. I am still not totally satisfied with the tatting because the threads connecting round 1 and 2 were still too long. It was the same problem in my first attempt and it could not lie flat hence what you see below is the result.

Tea with Mooncakes

Have you ever bought something just because you wanted the packaging it came in. I am definitely guilty of it. In this case it is the tin that I wanted. Similarly, I choose to buy mooncakes that had lovely packaging. I loved the tins it came in. I use the tins to keep my jewellery supplies, beads, gemstones, threads and pieces of tatting. They are quite useful.

It is that time of the year again. To celebrate the mid-autumn lantern festival, mooncakes and Chinese tea should be enjoyed under the full moon. Light a lantern and see the children enjoy themselves under the moonlight. I remember my grandmother singing a song when my sister and I walked round the garden with our lanterns.