Tissue Cover

This tissue cover is made from my pile of scrap. A very quick project to finish. Can sell? Hmm... I'll do the costing and pricing (mimicking an accountant.. *smile*)

Too much?

Its a relief that school holiday is over. Its not because that I don't enjoy the company of those school kids, I'm glad that "wedding fever" is over. School holiday means school is closed for few weeks, kids stay at home, people spent time with family travelling, and.. the list goes on. Not to forget, school holiday also means lots and lots of wedding invitation, lots of food and lots of door gift received. Isn't that nice? Yes! This is one of the door gift I received, a nicely assemble and decorated hankerchief:  

What happened if you received lots and lots of hankerchief? For the past 18 months, we (me, mom and dad) had collected 80 pieces! Too much? Of course. This is what I did: sew 2 pieces together and turn them into kitchen towel!

Experiment

During the weekend, I found two colours of 1/2 meters each of red and gold organza among my stash. As I am in the middle of relearning how to use my embroidery machine, I tried to experiment using the  organza. I say, not bad! (rolling eyes). See here:

The background was satin with foam underneath, quilted with simple straight lines. Why do I choose foam instead of batting? Put the blame to this town I'm living in. I've been searching high and low for a week to every craft shops, none of them sell batting! Maybe I should stock-up, advertise and sell.. TADAAA… business opportunity!

I am not sure what this piece is going to be turned into. Let it sit in a corner while I am away out of town. Ehheemm... that's my shadow at the bottom left corner...

Quotable Quotes

Treasure I found while reading:

You've got to be original,

because if you like someone else,

what do they need you for?

~ Benedette Peters

Cover Girl

My compliments to Krista Bremer on her fantastic article, comparing her experiences with her daughter decision to wear headscarf.


Nine years ago, I danced my newborn daughter around my North Carolina living room to the music of Free to Be...You and Me, the '70s children's classic whose every lyric about tolerance and gender equality I had memorized as a girl growing up in California. My Libyan-born husband, Ismail, sat with her for hours on our screened porch, swaying back and forth on a creaky metal rocker and singing old Arabic folk songs, and took her to a Muslim sheikh who chanted a prayer for long life into her tiny, velvety ear. She had espresso eyes and lush black lashes like her father's, and her milky-brown skin darkened quickly in the summer sun. We named her Aliya, which means "exalted" in Arabic, and agreed we would raise her to choose what she identified with most from our dramatically different backgrounds.

I secretly felt smug about this agreement—confident that she would favor my comfortable American lifestyle over his modest Muslim upbringing. Ismail's parents live in a squat stone house down a winding dirt alley outside Tripoli. Its walls are bare except for passages from the Qur'an engraved onto wood, its floors empty but for thin cushions that double as bedding at night. My parents live in a sprawling home in Santa Fe with a three-car garage, hundreds of channels on the flat-screen TV, organic food in the refrigerator, and a closetful of toys for the grandchildren. I imagined Aliya embracing shopping trips to Whole Foods and the stack of presents under the Christmas tree, while still fully appreciating the melodic sound of Arabic, the honey-soaked baklava Ismail makes from scratch, the intricate henna tattoos her aunt drew on her feet when we visited Libya. Not once did I imagine her falling for the head covering worn by Muslim girls as an expression of modesty.

Last summer we were celebrating the end of Ramadan with our Muslim community at a festival in the parking lot behind our local mosque. Children bounced in inflatable fun houses while their parents sat beneath a plastic tarp nearby, shooing flies from plates of curried chicken, golden rice, and baklava.

Aliya and I wandered past rows of vendors selling prayer mats, henna tattoos, and Muslim clothing. When we reached a table displaying head coverings, Aliya turned to me and pleaded, "Please, Mom—can I have one?"

To read the entire article, please click here : Cover Girl

Weekend Project

After so much trouble of "losing few sewing skills" I managed to sucessfully (huh???) compeleted this bag last weekend. It was poorly done: poor adjustment on the embroidery placement, where its not on the center and too far at the bottom. I also inserted slider of the zipper on the wrong side - its on the left instead of the right.

I realised the bag was a bit bare after I took its picture, transfered to my computer and looked at this photo. Lucky me, I found few leftover of beads from my previous project and started to emblish. The new look is here:

By the way, this bag goes to Jannah, a friend of mine as her birthday present. I'm glad she likes it despite of its imperfection. Jannah, happy birthday and thanks for liking the bag!

Inserting slider onto open-ended zip (continuous zip)

Arrgghh! Why it is so difficult to insert slider onto open-ended zip? I spent half a day trying to do it without any luck. I decided googled and found this amazing video. Thanks Phillip for sharing.

Lost of skills

By looking into this blog, you know that I've been doing nothing crafty for the past two years. Both of my sewing machine collected dust, I misplaced my fabric spray, open-ended zipper and its slider. Last two weeks I met a friend who is on machine embroidery, after a little chat, I say she had successfully "persuade" me to start sewing again. Yes, that's I what I did during the weekend. Unfortunately, instead of giving  pleasure and satisfaction as sewing always do, it was full of frustration.

I made lots of silly mistakes, sprayed too much fabric spray on batting, i put wrong side together when preparing piping, unsuccessful attaching slider to open-ended zipper (continuous zipper), the list continues.. bla..bla.. bla.. 

Conclusion: I lost my skills... or maybe I just little bit forgotten.. hahah!

Crochet and Life Wisdom

I happened to find a very endearing, full of wisdom and inspiring article shared in The Reporter.  A lady learned life wisdom through her experience of learning to crochet from her mother at 7. Worth reading. Here are some quote from the article, should you interested to read more, please click here.

From time to time, my yarn would get snarled. Mom would patiently and good-naturedly untangle the knots. Through her patience, I found out: "The best things in life take time." Great aspirations or works don't happen overnight. Thus, when the going is slow, have a positive attitude and with patience stay focused, working while you expectantly wait.

Once, I remember crocheting a square for the blanket that turned out all wrong. Mom unstitched some of the yarn and explained we all have times of failures and setbacks. However, she reminded, that's how we learn. She suggested that I start again. With that, I knew, "The big picture of your life is greater than one or two mistakes." Hence, start fresh today!

A Good Start

Better late than never. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010.

For the past 19 days of 2010, I've:

• Jan 1 (Fri) : Chose to be a potato coach at home, enjoying the holiday
• Jan 2 (Sat): Enrolled into sewing class, start immediately
• Jan 3 (Sun): Attended sewing class - theories, theories and more theories
• Jan 4 - 8 (Mon-Fri) : What else? Worked, worked and worked with reading in between
• Jan 9-10 (Sat-Sun): Attended sewing class. Started sewing. Hhmm... its been almost one and a half year my sewing machine collecting dust. My poor baby!
• Jan 11-15 (Mon-Fri): Again, worked, worked and reading and... Facebook
• Jan 16-17 (Sat-Sun): Attended sewing class. First portion of project completed. Yay!
• Jan 18-19 (Mon-Tue): Again, worked and worked. Of course reading, completed 3 issues of Newsweek, 1 issue of Malaysian Business and still reading "One For My Baby" by Tony Parsons.

A good start isn't it? I definitely think so.

Blog revisited

I have not been writing and updating this blog

Yes, I am not being fair to this blog

Yes, I am neglecting this blog

And Yes, I had let laziness controlled me.

Yes, There are stories and experiences to write about.

Yes, I will start writing regularly

Yes, I don't care if no one is reading

And Yes, I appreciates who does.

Have you heard anyone saying: "this is the only profession which doesn't allows creativity" and "this is a romantic profession"?. I didn't until recently. Can you guess what profession is this? The answer is in the next few post. Stay tune!

Quotes from Reading

More to share, quotes to be pondered:

A goal without an action plan is a daydream

~ Dr. Nathaniel Branden

We do not sing because we are happy, we are happy because we sing

~ William James

I totally agree on the action plan. How can we achieve a goal without an action plan? But, how many of us really spend our time wondering, pondering, think and act towards achieving our goal? Me? Sometimes I prefer simply by following how life flows...

"We are happy because we sing". I say: depends.. I know a person who sad because she sing. Of course, the song is a sad one!

Quotes From Reading

No stitching at all. Not that I do not want to, its more to I do not willing to allocate my time. I simply could not stop stitching once started! However, I didn't waste my time or become "idle"..... time spent with reading. Here are quotes from reading which I found worth sharing:

Whatever we learn to do, we laern by actually doing it; men come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players by playing the harp. In the same way, by doing just acts we come to be just: By doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled; and by doing brave acts,we become brave

~ Aristotle

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awresomely simple, that's creativity

~ Charles Mingus

Yum.. Yum..

Its been month since I "visited" this blog and other blogs that usually inspired or amused me in reading. Today, I found an amusing phrase:

Yahoo!! High blood pressure, here I come!

written by Paul in The Heart of Paul

It still makes grinning while I'm writing this. Yeah.. It's really make my day! I'm sorry Paul, should this entry hurt your feeling. It is not far, far, far from intended. It's true! I'm willing to pay for a cup of coffee - of course during my next trip to KL. Oopppsss... However, I prefer salted fish rather than tempoyak to go with my tapioca leaves. And of course, a little of shrimp paste!

Labuan International Sea Challenge 2009

Labuan International Sea Challenge 2009 will be held between 28 April 209 to 3 May 2009. Please click on the following URL for further details.

Tourism Malaysia

Enquiries on IGFA Labuan International Game Fishing Tournament could also be direced to:

Patrick, Ling, Ratna

Once again, the Labuan International Sea Challenge (LISC) will be held in April this year. As an annual event for the past 10 years, I couldn't understand as to why this event fail to position itself as a "brand" or "tourism product" of Labuan. There are only small portion of Malaysian who are aware of this event: mostly events' participants, journalists and those involves directly or indirectly with the LISC's organization. My point is, Royal Pahang Internatioal Billfish Competition and Monsoon Cup didn't take 10 years to be known domestically and internationally.

The Best Poem

This poem was nominated by UN as the best poem of 2006, Written by an African Kid

When I born, I black

When I grow up, I black

When I go in Sun, I black

When I scared, I black

When I sick, I black

And when I die, I still black

And you white fellow

When you born, you pink

When you grow up, you white

When you go in sun, you red

When you cold, you blue

When you scared, you yellow

When you sick, you green

And when you die, you gray

And you calling me colored?

Lazy and Distracted

What am I doing here?

Blogging..

where in the first place I should revise my notes for exam this evening.

Worst still, my crochet and embroidery WIPs are worst distraction.

I should pack and move them elsewhere!

Blessing in a Blanket

An inspiring story. Enjoy.

The Baby Blanket

By Winona Smith

It was a spring Saturday, and though many activities clamored for my attention, I had chosen this time to sit and crochet, an activity I enjoyed but had once thought impossible.

Most of the time I don’t mind being a “lefty” - - I’m quite proud of it, actually. But I admit, it did cause me a few problems three years ago, when I wanted to help out with a project at church.

We were invited to crochet baby blankets, which would be donated to a local crisis pregnancy center at Christmas. I wanted to participate but I knew nothing about how to crochet, and my left-handedness didn’t help. I had trouble “thinking backwards.”

I suppose where there is a will, there is a way, because a few of the ladies got together and taught me one stitch. That’s all I needed. I learned that granny stitch, and before long I had a blanket made. I was so proud of my little accomplishment and it seemed, inexplicably, so important, that I made quite a few more that same year. I even included in each blanket, as a note of encouragement, a poem I had written that read:

Little girls are sweet in their ruffles all
pink.

Little boys in overalls look divine.

But no matter which one the Lord gives to you,

A better “Mom” he never could find.

For more story, click here: Baby Blanket

Tea Coaster Exchange

Tea Coaster Exchange requires the participants to handamde coasters of 6 in a sets. These are coasters I received from my partner, Janet and the organizer, Usha.

Janet's stitched a bright and colorful granny squares. I loves all of her color combination. I myself never have thought navy blue, light green and bright pink could complement each other!She also so kind to stitch a corsage for me.

As an organizer, Usha was so thoughtful to stitch the pink snowflake coasters for all participants in this Exchange. Million thanks!

My partner Jess in Australia leave a comment in my Here in My Home :

Hi Ratna,

I got back from 2 weeks holidays yest and foound the tea coasters package waiting for me! As I couldn't find your email I asked Nik to pass on my thanks, but then remembered you've got a blog. Great colours, such neat work, and pretty fabric you included. Will use fab as a table centrepiece. Many thanks, and hope you are in good health.

Jess, Melb

I'm glad she likes the coasters and the red fabric I included. By the way, the fabric is called Pua Kumbu, handwoven by native in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Crochet Table Top

I'm starting to get a feel of my crochet hook again. I need to re-learn to relax my grip on the hook , as my wrist feel a bit painful after two days of stitching.

This piece is worth of two days work. Slow? Yes.. I am. Other than being clumsy with the hook, silly mistakes also contributes to the slow progess. Luckily I was only at round 15 when I realized I had missed a loop for the pineapple foundation. It cost me 5 rounds to unpick!

My wife's a hooker!

As I am a hooker, I really like this one:

My wife she is a hooker,
Of this she's mighty proud,
And the stories of her exploits,
Are legends in our town,
She's shameless with her talents,
She'll go hooking anywhere,
And if people want to watch her,
She really doesn't care,
It seems to be a family thing,
Her mother taught her how,
Seems her grandma was a hooker,
And my daughters hooking now,
She goes to hookers meetings,
to learn the new techniques,
She starts hooking in a frenzy,
And won't talk to me for weeks,
She doesn't do the housework,
She doesn't make the beds,
No she doesn't have time for that,
She'd rather hook instead,
My wife she is a hooker,
And I curse that awful day,
When she first picked up the hook and yarn,
And learned how to crochet

Haha.. Funny isn't it? I'm giving credit to whoever wrote this piece!

I copied this from Yahoo NEEDLESnCRAFT Group.

Me... proud being a hooker!

Good for your health

Who ever thought that pursuing our hobby is not only fulfil our past time, gives satisfaction, earned more money (not me... I'm sooo attached to my creation) but also good for our health? It could reduce stress, Craft could heal (click here).

This is a quote I copied from a website:

"Prevention magazine lists sewing as one of the 'World's Best Stress Busters.' Picking up a needle and thread could be one of the best 'exercises' you can do for your health, according to a new study conducted at the New York University Medical Center."The study revealed that women who sew experience a significant drop in heart rate, blood pressure and perspiration when compared to women who participate in other leisure activities. When a woman begins to sew, her heart rate drops by up to 11 beats per minute!"'The importance of a hobby or creative pursuit cannot be overemphasized,' says Robert H. Reiner, Ph.D., of NYU. 'If we don't allow our bodies to rest from the pressures of everyday life, we are placing ourselves at risk for heart disease or other illnesses.'"We have all experienced the calming effects of quilting or sewing, but this study is positive proof that even though these activities are not exercises like walking or running, they are good for your health. The next time someone tells you that you need to get away from your sewing machine, you can quote Prevention magazine and the New York University Medical Center's study."

Free Handbag!

I've been asleep for so long from my "needle and craft" activities. Decided to restart, I begin by browsing for bags pattern in the net. This is what I found:

Handbag Planet is giving away a free handbag every hour for 24 hours on 15 October 2008. Interested? Have a peek at their website at http://www.handbagplanet.com/. Good luck!

Here in My Home

Beutiful song, beautiful lyrics. I would like to congratulate to those involved in this project. What a pity some people tthink this project is not worth their time and effort.. So sad..

More details in Malaysian Artistes For Unity



Lyrics can be downloaded here

Quilt Binding Tutorial

Being hibernating for two month of stitching activities, I console myself by browsing for stitching related sites and tutorial. I found this interesting tutorial of quilt binding and mitered corner.

To my fellow stitching members, I'm working on the Tea Coasters Exchange.

Happy stitching!

Sooo Huge!

Seems like its a habit of me to write on 'historical event'. Here, and again, I'm writing on something that happened one year and two months ago. This is a part of my Kuraman Island Trip, one of my friend, caught this squid (more in the plastic bag). I really feel this picture is worth sharing!

Thanks to Amin for sharing this photo

Labuan International Sea Challenge: Opening Ceremony

I know its considered a stale news. But, I believe in Better Late Than Never.

Labuan International Sea Challenge 2008 was officially launched by Labuan's new MP; YB Yusoff Mahal on 21 April 2008. For the past years, the offical launching was always organized and starts at 7.30 p.m. I was surprised this year was poorly organized and delayed by one hour, and for the unkown reason. I really feel there is something wrong with MTPL (Labuan Tourism Action Council) management and event cordination. Its good to know someone did agree with me..

Honestly, I miss the officiating speech as I need to fetch fishing journalists from airport. Here are some photos:

Photos taken from www.saifulrizan.com

Photo taken from http://www.labuan.net/

I found saifulrizan while scouring around the net, then realized that he is the same sr215 in Labuan Online Community. I'm giving credit for his endless effort in photography and promoting Labuan.

Labuan International Sea Challenge 2008

Many people are not aware that Labuan International Sea Challenge (LISC) is part of Malaysia Water Festival held anually. In my previous post of LISC, I mentioned LISC 2008 will be held on 21 - 27 April 2008. My mistake, it is held on 20 - 27 April 2008. My sincere apology to readers of this blog. Here are some updates on this year events:

Labuan-Brunei Extreme Kayak Challenge
20 - 21 April 2008

Started in 2006, this event was initially known as Labuan International Extreme Kayak Challenge. Its route was Labuan - Sipitang (Sabah) - Labuan (84km). It become Labuan-Brunei Extreme Kayak Challenge in 2007. The competition is in double format and covers approximately 92km distance accross Brunei Bay. It is the longest and toughest competition in Malaysia.

>> Winner of 2007, team from Hungary. Picture is taken from Labuan Online Community.



Labuan International Game Fishing Tournament
(IGFA Regulated)
22 - 27 April 2008

This competition is one of IGFA Qualifying Event for its Offshore Championship held either in Mexico or Hawaii. For the benefits of non-anglers, IGFA stands for International Game Fishing Association, more information on IGFA is here. This event is considered the most challenging tournement in the world. It has three catagories: Team, Individual and Catch and release.

Prizes will be awarded based on heaviest total weight of 6 fishes for Team Event. For Individual Event, winner is determined by heaviest fish for each species on the prize list.

Catch and Release Event is based on the most number of billfish caught and release. Winner is determined based on photo evidence.

Registration of this competition is on 21 April 2008, flag off to Layang Layang Island (competition venue) on 22 April 2008.

Display of fishes caught, to be given to public. Pictures from Labuan Online Community.

Labuan International Boat Race

26 -27 April 2008

Each team/boat comprises of 8 oarsmen. They are going topaddle for 500m to the finishing line. So far, this event is popular among the Bruneian and Kalimantan. This event usually dominated by them.

Round Island Kayak Challenge
26 April 2008

Its distance is shorter by 46km compared to Extreme Kayak, i.e 50km. Its routes is along Labuan Island coastline, approximate time is 7 hours. Format of competition is either single or double. Definately not for me, I can only paddle for 100m. LOL!


Labuan Cross Channel Swimmning Challenge
27 April 2008

The most important aspect for those interested to participate in this event is: medically and physically fit. This is a 5.4km open sea competition across Labuan Channel. There are three catagories; 18 years and above, 13 - 17 years and 12 years and below. Me? Only swim in swimming pool!

All those are the main events in LISC. There are also supporting events likeBeach fishing, Boat-Tug-of-War, Beach Games (sand castle, beach valley ball, duck catching, etc.), Beach Pillow Fight, cooking competition, traditional cakes competition, flower arranegment competition. For those who like singing and dancing, there are battle of the band, traditional dance (mostly for schools participation) and a lot more.

For more information, you can contact:

Labuan Tourism Action Council

Tel: 6 087 422622

Fax: 6 087 419622

email: admin@labuantourism.com.my

For Labuan International Game Fishing Competition, you can contact:

Labuan Watersports Association

Tel: 6 019 8896739 or 6 019 8876739

email: psong@lautanbiru.com.my or tengirri@yahoo.com

Almost Forgotten

Today is the mail out day for Charm Exchange organize by Janet of NNC. I only remember to make a go to the post office at 3.30 p.m. Pheeww... luckily its located in the same building as my office!

I quitely sneaked out, headed to the lift, felt the journey from level 15 to ground floor takes forever, queued patiently (blush) as there were three people ahead of me and... tadahhhh.... packages for Nik, Tini, Emily and Janet were finally mailed out!

Bag: Blooming Flowers

What else can I say? Its done! Yippie!

A friend has been pestering me to sell. How much do you think it would cost? On second thought, I'm keeping it. LOL!