Race before 2012!

Hello!  Here we are, with a little less than 6 hours left til the New Year 2012.  In Singapore, the day after Christmas (Boxing Day they call it, a remnant of their colonial British past), decorations for the Chinese New Year were being put up right alongside the Christmas decor which were most likely on the way down, I suppose.  They say that the next year 2012 is the Year of the Dragon (honestly would not have known that if I hadn't been there: the lead up to that will come in our local papers maybe a week or 2 weeks to Chinese New Year, which I reckon will be towards the end of January 2012.. no firm date overheard).   They say it will be a better year.  We can only hope!

See the Christmas decor on Orchard (poor shot taken from a taxi cab as we were crossing Orchard; my timing was off)

As of now I am rushing this Day 4 doll square, work on which you may recall came to a standstill after I lost the whole skein of green 501 floss.  Pretty lame, but there it is.  My friend Joysze has been yearning to see a finish (sorry Joysze! and I forgot to sign up for IHSW!)  For the past week I have been sporadically stitching on it; I've been unable to because I was spending time with the apples of my eyes (there are 2 apples, don't you know) my nephew and niece.  Christmas was a bit of an anticlimax, with family matters spoiling all things Christmas.  

Anyway, here is what is new over at Casa Whimsey and Wit (my WIP is now a "casa" where things happen.. or don't! lol):

I'm not being very ambitious, I just want the green dress and the red piping done and the word "dolly" in green sewn out before 2012 comes.  The red piping will be courtesy of DMC metallics 321 -- apparently there is no such thing as DMC 5270 anymore...  paid a quick visit to the local needlestore - such nice staff!  the store is smaller than it used to be but the two young ladies manning it said it was only temporary - let's hope so! I bought 4 DMC Amorsolo patterns (I have the Tinikling already, so that makes 5th) - there are 8, but I don't like the other three -- all yellows and browns, and the "Banga" one and the fishing one and the girl bathing which I really don't feel drawn to as subjects for stitching.  Are they for me?  No, they're for my dear cousin who's visiting - it's been 5 years since her last visit and she's here with her family to celebrate her mom's 80th.   I must say, though, that I'm inclined to buy the patterns for myself... but given my rate of finishing they might turn out UFOs or NFOs!  Still.. would be nice to have them in case I'm ever crazy  inspired enough to stitch them.  I like Tinikling, and the Girl with Mangoes.   My cousin, on the other hand, is someone who will likely stitch them, and finish!

These paintings portray early 20th century scenes from the countryside.  Sadly these scenes are very rare now as what used to be countryside and rice fields are now real estate developments!

On to more inspiring things... stash!  Magazines count as stash, don't they?

A lot of magazines my cousin sent to me.  These aren't half of it yet.  She even sent charts, and boy can she keep them neat and really new looking.  She made up a kit for me for one of them and that's going to be the second, no third item I'm stitching for 2012.  First will be a Happy New Year small for a card ( I already apologized for not being able to send it off before Christmas!), then the Flower scene "Flowery Meadow" from Burda, and then the kit.  Um, I should say I have not kitted up for the Flowery Meadow just yet.  Threads are in Anchor. I don't mind Anchor, but at the point where I started stitching there seemed to be more DMC, so I have more DMC than Anchor.  

I have a confession to make.  I visited Spotlight at Plaza Singapura, and they were having a huge sale til January 5th, and I didn't buy anything except a pack of Mill Hill beads that were on sale at SG$1.  There was also Kreinik at SG2, and 2 shades of green Marlitt at SG3.. and packs of Aida and evenweave with accompanying leaflets/charts by Semco at SG5.. even red Aida 16ct.. and I didn't buy!!  At that time I was congratulating myself on my restraint but now... it just seems abysmally dumb of me not to have bought!!!  :((

 And another thing... I FORGOT to bring my stitched ornaments to my nephew and niece!  So they're here, languishing in my box.  Well, I have decided to find a way to "finish" them into respectable ornaments and not just little bits of stitched stuff, so my mom or I can bring them next time.   Oh well.  

Okay.. I better get cracking if I'm to finish Day 4!

A brighter, happier, all around better New Year to all my stitchy friends!   A peaceful, prosperous New Year!

hello.. checking in!

my dear brother has come and gone, and nothing got stitched... this despite posting the new dates for International Hermit and Stitch! and i forgot to sign up, too! perhaps because it was my birth day that weekend.. i got a really neat present from DB. combi birth day and Christmas.  i hope he and his wife like their presents, too!

but i digress..  undaunted, i promise to continue stitching tonight if it kills me (please don't let it, lol)

i've been really torn by these really cute freebies from the blog i mentioned in my last post.. we'll see.  i plan to bring my stitching along over the Christmas break.

now, off to bake!

Some things to share

I found a really cute Noel SAL at Lili's blog and it's free but you have to subscribe to her to get the entire chart .. nice, cute small pattern!  she can be found here:  http://gtlilih.over-blog.com/ (somehow I seem to have forgotten how to post a blog name and the link to it in one..)  :p   she also shared a new Christmas chart.

As you can see not a lot of stitching is going on!  But I promise to have a post (with sewing progress in it!) soon.

My friend Parsley is having a really generous PIF going at "Seasons of My Mind".  Check her out on the side bar! I should only be so lucky... :)  It's so difficult to find any good charts here.. hardly any of the neat stuff featured in ABC and 123!

That's all for now, folks.. may your Christmas preparations prosper!

stitch-related things

found at Daiso -  i thought it looked like the stitching aid at 123s

my prorgress thus far..

thanks for stopping by!

10,000 blistering barnacles!

as Capt. Haddock puts it.    isn't it cool that there's to be a new film version of Tintin?  

i am so upset, i can't find my skein of DMC 501 green!!  put down the green sewing (the doll's dress) to do her face in 948.  next thing i know (wanting to finish her dress) i couldn't find the green!   arrrgh.  i'm too upset right now.  will have to make a special trip this weekend to buy the color, right when i still have my christmas shopping to do!

that's all for now.. i'll see what else i can do.

Famous Last Words

here's where i am with it.. i'm going to do a bit more after posting this:

left the collar to do (it's ecru!) but finished both sleeves. notice the other day's pic vis a vis this one...the dreaded frog visited and stayed a day! aside from that, my brother arrived yesterday (sad that my sister-in-law could not come along) so overall very happy!  will try and finish dress now.  the trim, i dunno.. it's DMC Metallic #5270 which i could not find.  i'll get a substitute instead!

Cindy, thanks for all the encouragement!  I really love to hear your comments, lol  I'd really love to hear more!

er...

half-done!  i miscounted, so there's a half line i have to frog..  you know how it is... you feel so disheartened when it happens!  anyway, i'm not overly bothered though i am behind (way behind!) schedule.  i told my mom "Christmas", what i forgot to say was "2012"!  lol  i will finish this tomorrow, for sure, and show a start on another square.

so we finally brought out the tree - no fresh pine here, alas!  it is our old tree, foreshortened - it used to be a foot taller, but when we moved somehow 2 sections disappeared and a year since moving we have not found them.  also missing are some cute prism ornaments that we bought at Borders Singapore.  i am not sure if this is the store that closed, same as many of the US ones - has it? i remember my first visit, to the one in Torrance/Del Amo.. and i remember being so overwhelmed that even after a half day parked in the store, not being able to choose any books at all!  that was when i first heard the term "the paralysis of infinite choice" and boy was that apt!

anyway, back to the ornaments.. we have saved (or we saved) many ornaments throughout the years, as it was always our (my mom's and my) thing to shop at the different bazaars, way back from when i was in high school.. and that was, oh, 25 years ago!  the only bazaars then were Casa y Jardin by the Catholic Women's Club, and the odd Rotary or Zonta and the FOB bazaar by MM, and the International Bazaar that the embassies used to take part in.  now they are a dime a dozen, and the quality of goods.. meh.   lol   we bought a lot of our ornaments in Casa y Jardin and FOB.  anyway, here are some of them:

this was my brother's ornament

and another brother's ornament.

and my other brother's.  i think little toy soldier used to have dangly legs but they have since been lost to time.

a favorite star.  we had several felt ornaments with embroidery on them.  my ornament was a little dutch girl made of felt. she had a pink overskirt and a green apron, and a white cap a little bit like "the Flying Nun". she's missing - i think she may have got thrown away because 3 or 4 years ago, i washed her cap.. disaster! she came unglued - literally!  there's also a quilted angel ornament but it was too dark so i will have to take another picture later.

a partridge, i'm guessing 

a little pig

a wreath

another star

some teddies.  the white one i bought from Bloomingdale's in LA, with some chocolates, for my dad.  the other 2 teddy bears are for my nephew and niece.  no Bloomie's pedigree for them, unfortunately.

the little horse isn't actually part of our Christmas decor, but it's Christmas-y, and i wanted to show it because it's at least 35 years old.  The pig in jester costume is part of our regular decor.  somehow things popped up with our move - i don't remember the brown bear but there it is!

and last...

my ornament!  ta-daaa!  isn't it beautiful?  it's flanked by 2 button wreaths which my nephew and niece made.

woo hoo, i'm on a roll! look at that!  the beginnings of the little doll!

and i will be very happy if i can keep it going!  i will finish her tonight.  look for my next post announcing it!

didn't spend the day stitching - i went looking for some presents! some Bragg's amino acids - seems it's a soy sauce substitute of some kind - organic, etc.  we love our soy sauce!  but i can't imagine how it can be better than shoyu or tamari - they're non GMO too and prepared in Japan..saw some other interesting things at the health store Healthy Options.. Bob's Red Mill flours of all kinds, flax seed, organic honey, shampoo, Bronner's castile soap peppermint - might go back for that - just nice wandering around..   and after all that, bought my nephew's present:

honestly, their toys are soooo much more expensive than ours were, when we were kids. wii?  DS?  PSP?  man oh man.  we had the old Nintendo system and i saw it when we were moving but i don't think it was complete and anyway, with everything that was going on during the move i'm sure it's now gone completely...  anyway, my nephew writes blogs and is so creative!  he makes plots for Doctor Who episodes.. i mean, you really need an active imagination to write things like those! (takes after my brother, his dad)  it's nice that he writes, but i'm afraid that between that and the playing, he might choose not to socialize, and it's important at that age to make a little bit of effort, so that school is okay.   i made him promise to go out to run, or for a nature walk every afternoon (i hope he makes friends there).  i digress,  i bought that, then had to go to mass -- a journey normally 10 mins took me 35 minutes! i guess maybe the Christmas rush has started.  in the end i had to attend the 7pm mass (First Friday).

anyway, gotta get back to the stitching if i'm to have something to show tomorrow.. til then... happy stitching!