Long Weekend

Not much going on, either. Spent most of the weekend, other than Thursday, making Christmas gifts. Unfortunately, I can't post them. Yet.


We did, however, manage to get the Christmas tree up and decorated. All 18 inches of pink magnificence.



I put the lights on the tree - which I had purchased at Ikea. I seem to have sparkly diamond-shaped things on the brain lately.



And Glory put the ornaments on. These are also from Ikea.



Actually, the disco balls that are my favorite, are from Borders. Yes, I do mean the book store. Both these ornaments and the tree came from Borders. Crazy place to buy a Christmas tree, but there you have it.

It's been a few years since I've gotten the decorations up right after Thanksgiving, and since Glory and I are going to the states on the 26th, I wanted to make sure we started the season early so we could enjoy more of it with Terry, who is not coming.

The nativity scene is next. But this next week is going to be very busy for me: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are all booked up with getting ready for the big craft sale Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I'll try and take lots of pictures. And I'll try to not get sick. Good luck!

Thanksgiving

Well, the thing I'm most thankful for is that I didn't have to slave in the kitchen for hours so my tiny family could eat everything in ten minutes.
That's rather cynical, isn't it? I'm just kidding. I mean, I didn't have to cook, but I'm much more thankful for my family (who eats every meal I make in about ten minutes, no matter how long it takes me to cook it) and my friends and for health and happiness.

For a more complete telling of my day, please see
Glory's blog

Yes I did really get new diamond earrings. Wow!



Here's something you wont see as Christmas decorations at any of the department stores in the States. This is Tang's Department Store, Orchard Road, Singapore.

And now, some Christmas wish list items:


Isn't this dopey? I was at Borders and I wanted to make a list of books I'm interested in (half.com anyone?), but couldnt' find any paper to write things down on. So I took pictures. So there you go. Crochet for Beaders and Generation T are both very inspiring books that I'm coveting at the moment...

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and eat lots of pumpkin pie for me!

Saw That Comin'

I had an idea...
and then I had several requests
for crocheted maryjane slippers.
This is just the prototype and now I am in trouble if I don't happen to have more of this green yarn...took me three tries, using two different patterns, and I can't really wear them too much as they don't have arch support and I really must have arch support all the time. But they are satisfactory, nonetheless.

Birthday Serenade

As an experiment, I have tried to post this one minute video I took of Akiko and Sunny playing at my birthday. Akiko is playing an erhu, and Sunny is playing the flute.
Not sure this is going to work.

Let the Festivities Begin

My birthday, hosted at Chez Janis.


The delicious menu was Mediterranean. Here we have chicken satay, pita bread, and hummus yummus.


Salad Nicoise Exquisitoise.



Tabbouleh Todiefor.



And for dessert, real vanilla ice cream, Don't-Skip-The-Light-FLANtastic, and Spoil-Me-Rotten-Raspberry Cheesecake.



Just in case you aren't drooling yet. Oink.


The group, from the back row:
Amy, Lori, Janet
Akiko, Brooke, Norma
Janis and Sunny

What a wonderful time! Wish you all could have been there!

Un, Deux, Trois

Un

Deux

Trois..fin?
Well, these are definitely addicting. They take so little time and afford such wonderful inspiration. But, honestly, how many crocheted shoes can a baby girl wear? And shouldn't I be doing something else?

What about the quilt I'm supposed to be quilting? Or the Christmas gifts I've started and abandoned?

And isn't there some house work that I should be attending to? What about all the multiple projects I'm participating in at the school?

Sorry, the little voice in my head took over the blog for a second there. Feel free to ignore it. I do.
obviously....

Cutiestness

No, I'm not pregnant. But I have been invited to a baby shower. One of the teachers at Glory's school adopted a daughter from, of all places, Indiana. So we are showering the new family, and I just had to make these. I think I will probably make more.

The pattern, BTW, I found at knottygeneration.com and one shoe only took me about 20 minutes to crochet. That is, it only took 20 minutes when I wasn't watching Sense and Sensibility with Alan Rickman! I love Alan Rickman. There. I've said it.

Crafting Without Martha

Our Friday group is usually a little smaller than our Tuesday group, and today was no exception to that rule. Nonetheless, we had a good turn out today.


Here are some of the ladies preparing to collect their materials to get started.


Here are some of said materials.


And here they are, with projects well underway.


Some of us need a little extra help. Ocular help. My darling friend, Janis, who sees very clearly that I love her to pieces.

And here are some loverly results of our hard work!


Just ran out of time; will post more bauble pix tomorrow!

Last Minute Crafting

What is it? Wednesday? And I have to teach a craft on...Friday? Better hurry up and make something, quick!



So, somehow we wound up with a whole bag of these large glass crystals. Seemed a shame to just tie a string on them, although they are pretty enough by themselves. So, after dinner tonight, I sat down with a box of beads and began to string. Is it an ornament? A key chain? A cell phone dangle? Who knows?

As long as I had the box of beads out, I decided to make some earrings. These will also be sold at the craft fair at the end of the month.



A satisfying bit of work for an evening.

Hand Made Purse Made More Useful

This is a purse I made, probably in August, I think. I was pretty hooked on crochet at that point, and this yarn was on sale. It's alpaca, very soft.



Because it is so soft, I decided it would be best to line it, so I picked this fabric which has been mouldering away in my stash.

So, now I have a lovely new purse but I didn't use it because, well, I really like having all my stuff organised and easy to find, and this purse didn't allow that.

Until last weekend.
While working at the craft fair at the American Club last Friday, I found a kiosk selling these lovely things, in all colors, and in two sizes. I bought one in the smaller size and it fits perfectly. And now, voila, a hand made purse made more useful!

I was tempted to purchase several of these organisers, one for me, one for Glory, one for my sister, but I decided that if I bought one, I could probably figure out how to make one....
I'll get back to you on that.

Incidentally, my friend Akiko mentioned to me that all the girls at the Singapore American School are carrying purses just like this one. She was surprised that I had made mine. I was surprised that I had joined a fad!

Where Have You Seen This Before?

Apparently, bread making is infectious. Or it runs in families, or something. If you are a regular visitor to my sister's blog (fibermania.blogspot.com), then you have recently witnessed something very similar there.


No, these are not my hairy, freckled arms. They are the DH's. He and my sister have more than me in common! And it's not a one-off thing, either! He is making bread from a yeast sponge living in my refrigerator (ick, a little).



Whole wheat cinnamon rolls extraordinaire. Eaten before pictures of the final product could be snapped.

A Request for More Frequent Blog Postings

Well, I've been getting these requests lately, many of them, so I decided to give it a try. Now that I've gotten a quilt in a show and all that (I didn't win anything, but I got some nice comments back from some of the judges). It just makes sense that if I'm trying to become a famous quilt artist (definition, please?), then it would be wise to put some content out here, too, in case anybody is reading.
So, What Have I Been Doing?

Many of you already know that my daughter's school, the International Community School of Singapore, has a crafting ministry that I am a teacher for. We gather together twice a week to make projects that will be sold at a Christmas craft fair at our school, and also at the Singapore American Club. The American Club sale was just last weekend. Apparently, we sold around $700 worth of stuff, but I think we sold more last year....

Here is a project that was started at the school, but which we did not finish in time, so I had to bring it home to do homework.

These are Casserole Kimonos - or casserole carriers that look like kimonos.


I spent all day Saturday making 8 sets of ties, and then assembling 6 casseroles. Today I finished the last two.

I believe the pattern came from Keepsake Quilting, which ships things nicely to Singapore. But we altered the pattern a bit: they were supposed to be quilted (we used quilted fabric for the lining), they had them bound with binding tape, we just pillowcased them, and they had a wooden spoon as a handle. Seems like using chopsticks was more of a no-brainer, and easier to find here.

We also used up much of our stash of Christmas fabrics because we had so much, and asian fabrics are fairly expensive out here.

I still have a few more homework items for the craft fair - not casserole carriers, tho. I will post that later. If I'm gonna post more frequently, I need to spread it out, no?

FYI: we will be selling the casserole carriers at 35 singapore dollars, and the craft sale is on the weekend of November 30th-December 1st at the International Community School. Please email me for details if you will be here.