December Giveaway Winner

Congrats to Joanna. The beaded rose in the December giveaway will be sent to her. Thank you to all who participated. Tsuru was most accomodating.

Tatted cross pattern from Elizabeth’s Tatted Lace

Not much tatting done but tatting cannot be neglected, so no matter how busy, 30 mins of tatting is better than nothing. I saw this tatted cross pattern on Elizabeth’s Tatted Lace blog and wanted to try it out. Thank you for sharing the pattern, Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s tatting is so perfect and neat. Mine, not so. Instructions were easy to follow and it stated that joining picots should be made small. I did not know which picots were joining picots so I made them all standard size. After a few practice runs, I should be able to tell or maybe not.

Forty six years ago today

Have a blessed Christmas

I wish you all a blessed Christmas.

I am almost always home for Christmas, sharing it with family.

I hope you will be sharing yours with family too.

Ferguson Lane, Shanghai

When you are here you would not think you were in China. It looked more like a place somewhere in Europe. Have Sunday brunch at the French restaurant or spend a lazy afternoon wandering through the small stores there or have coffee at the café.

The photo shows the salad we had ‘fruits de mer’. The daily menu is different.

A maze of small shops

An afternoon wandering a maze of old houses converted into little shops. Lots of small cafes, art galleries, jewelry shops, and other knick knacks.

Here I bought this snake necklace which you could wind and create your own design. Ruz and I had a great time trying out the many ways of wearing this snake necklace.

We also had a fun time photographing Fluffy, a white cat who had one eye blue and the other yellow. She was just adorable. Fluffy and her human companion was most accommodating.

We found a small market nearby. Look at the photo and see whether you can tell why I took this. You may need to enlarge it and look at the details.

There was this cat on a leash next to her owner among her table of goods for sale. It is a wonder the cat did not eat up all that uncooked food. Hmmm, are you also wondering where the food safety officers were.

Yu Yuan Garden

This was the only tourist attraction that we visited in Shanghai. It has a bazaar just outside the garden selling lots of souvenirs and of course a Starbucks.

Can you see the silhouette of the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Shanghai World Financial Centre in between the Chinese architecture.

I had a Chinese paper cutting customised for a friend who was watering my plants while I was away.

Bargaining/Haggling at the bazaar to about 20-40% of the original price is a must. For example a small table clock for 350 yuan can be bought for 160 yuan. At another shop, the same clock was 160 yuan but can be bought for 90 yuan (~US12). Even then, I wasn’t sure whether I was paying too much.

Tuina and the traditional Chinese pedicure

Tuina is a type of Chinese massage which I have experienced in Singapore. But the tuina I had in Shanghai was the most painful massage I have ever experienced. Yet, I made sure I had another before leaving Shanghai. I love painful massages.

I also had a foot massage which was good but what was amazing was the traditional pedicure. No pumice stone or the usual nail clipper used. Instead it was a set of surgical-like tools which in expert hands did not hurt or tickle. In fact I did not feel a thing and my feet felt so much lighter after that. I took photos (before and after) but I do not think it would be good to display my feet here.

M on the Bund

Another view of the bund while we had lunch at M on the Bund. It was too cold to dine out on the balcony but we went out for a few photos. It would be lovely to have afternoon tea in spring or autumn there. Look at these lovely postcards which we collected.

December giveaway

This is a woven beaded rose (1 inch across) which I made and sometimes include in my jewellery pieces. You could use it in one of your projects. Just leave a comment and tell me your favourite colour by 30 December 2008, I will do a draw on 31 December 2008 and list the winner then. Do check back to find out who the winner is.