My next craft market

Dear people,

Today I was like a demented person having conversations with the sun. Or rather the sky as the sun was playing hide-and-seek with me. It became quite clear to me that the sun was having fun with me. It would appear when I was doing other stuff and just when I whip out my camera it would disappear. Am I losing my mind?

I haven't been this productive for a while! I have abandoned all my duties as a housewife to sew two more bags. I love feeling the sewer's high. Nothing else mattered. My brain is just 100% centered on bag-making. It's quite scary to be around me when I get this way. I'm there but oh, so far away.

So why am I making so many bags all of a sudden? I think I told you that I'll be selling my bags at a craft market in Singapore. That's happening this week from Friday to Sunday.

Details here:

Friday, 29th July from 10am to 9pm
Saturday, 30th July from 10am to 8pm
Sunday, 31st July from 10am to 7pm
Venue: Novena Square (Velocity), ground floor

This event is in conjunction with The Singapore HeritageFest and this is the finale of the festival. There will be cultural performances and roving performers. I will be sharing a space with PeriwinkleSu and she will be doing live demo of her crafts. If you are in Singapore, I hope you will come by and say hello.

Here are pics of my 2 bags - whatever the sun "allowed" me to take.

This bag is similar to the one I posted on Monday. It's just wider. A lot wider. Perhaps too wide? I wanted this to be a large bag because I was thinking if it doesn't sell, I'll gift it to myself. The fabric is also from Ikea.

Haha. I couldn't help myself. I made another same-same bag with the butterfly fabric. This one's closer to the one I posted on Monday. I varied the angle of the side seams. Oh, I think some of you are on to me now. I'm really trying to get the perfect size and shape. I think I'm not quite there yet. I believe 1/5 bigger will do the trick. But the 80 deg angle cut for the side seams is just perfect, in my opinion.

Do you know I haven't gone out to sell my bags since March this year? I've almost forgotten what I have to bring. My gear are scattered all over my home. I feel so haphazard. To be honest, being physically at the venue is always the hardest part of the selling process. It's a new place. I don't know where the toilet is. I don't know where I can buy my tea and food. It's 3 days of very long hours. I remember how hard it is to kill time. The worst part is the bag critics. I hope none feel the urge to come up to me to "educate" me. Peace out.

Everytime you go away

Hey readers,

I know some of you are bloggers and I wanna know. How do you react when a follower unfollows you? Do you take it personally? Do you cry?

Well, there's no use hiding this from you. Everytime anyone unfollows me at my blog or my facebook page, I go thru' the 5 stages of grief:

Denial

There must be some mistake. It's Blogger screwing around again.

Anger

Who was it?? Tell me! What? Am I boring you?

Bargaining

Oh, please come back. I'll stop telling my long grandfather stories. I swear. I'll do a giveaway. I'll give away fabric, cash, anything!

Depression

Oh, why do I even bother to blog. It's all for nothing. No one reads my blog anyway.

Acceptance

Oh well. Some one else will come along.

I have a bag to show you.

I made this bag in 2009. Since then I had altered the length and size to make different variations.

Yesterday I fooled around with the variation but retained the top half of the bag. I made the bag a lot smaller.

Remember the Ikea butterfly fabric I loved? It's in stock and I bought more. I love this fabric.

I'm thinking I might want to make another variation of this bag this week if I have the time. The hardest part of making the bag is the handle. See you soon.

I have wristlets coming out of my ears

Hello my friends,

I sweated through another week. Actually I drank through another week. Cartons and cartons of cranberry juice which me hubs is constantly stocking the fridge with. It seems when I get really hot and humid, the only drink that will quench my thirst is cranberry juice. This heat is proving to be very expensive for me.

Hey, Singapore was spotted again. I'm sure you've read about the phone hacking scandal involving the News of the World. At the parliamentary hearing, Rupert Murdoch said:

Singapore is the most open and clear society in the world...where every minister gets at least a million dollar a year....and there is no temptation...and it's the cleanest society you'll find anywhere.

Let me just say this. As a Singaporean, I've never felt more embarrassed. I wanted to dig a hole and bury myself in it. We are certainly not the most open and clear society in the world. And that million dollar paycheck? People resent it. I think Mr M doesn't know this but the million dollar salary is being reviewed in response to public unhappiness as I write. Tik tok.

This week I made 8 wristlets. I wasn't feeling particularly creative. How could I? It's too hot to even think. I went thru' my archives and came up with familiar applique and embroidery.

Remember my big ole flower? This one's on very stiff denim. I must remember never to buy this denim. It's too stiff for my liking.

Ah, the rabbit returns!

And so does the butterfly.

3 hearts. How many ways can you place hearts?

Right. The heart balloons again.

I kinda like tulips now.

Flower flower.

Houses embroidery is still my favourite thing to do.

I'll be selling these wristlets next weekend at a craft show. Tell you guys more later. See you soon.

hello i am a fabric designer groupie

Hi there,

Another super hot day in Singapore. I hide at home all day yet I swear I'm getting a sun tan. My sewing area faces the afternoon sun. Darn it. Why couldn't I think forward when I selected my flat?

I had a small amount of Heather Bailey fabric and anytime I get left alone with pretty fabric and a bit of drawstring, I end up with drawstring bags! I feel like there's something wrong with the images I took today. The sun was so bright everything shimmered.

I think it's quite clear I love fabric. What you don't know is how I love to read blogs by fabric designers. It's always interesting to see what they make. Don't you ever wonder what the person who designs the fabric you buy would make? What? It's just me?

Here's a list of some of the fabric designers I read. Click on the links and see if you're surprised by who makes what?

hello my name is heather

the drawing board

anna maria horner

joel dewberry

making it fun

ann kelle

comfort stitching

FREE quilt craft workshop for kids

Guys,

Listen up. Do you have young kids? Who might want to learn to quilt? For free? Do you live in Singapore?

My friend, PeriwinkleSu will be conducting FREE workshops at Singapore Art Museum (8Q SAM)

Details below:

Date: 23rd (Sat) & 24th (Sun) July 2011

Session 1 (2-3pm) is for children 5 to 8 years old.
Session 2 (4-5pm) is for children in lower primary.

Note: Limited to 30 participants per session on a first-come-first-served basis.

wheel in the sky and it didn't rain

Hey folks,









Last weekend we celebrated me mom's birthday at a restaurant at The Singapore Flyer. The Flyer is like a big observation wheel in the sky. It has huge capsules for passengers and each ride is 30 min. I was right below the wheel and there was no way I could take a photo of the entire wheel. It is huge.

Do you have such a structure in your country?

Something interesting about The Flyer. In 2008 when it opened, the wheel revolved facing the business district and went down overlooking the sea. Feng Shui masters said The Flyer was going against the sun (west to east) and taking fortune away from Singapore. The Flyer was convinced and the rotation was changed. Funnily, a few months later, there was a fire. (a component failure) As a result, 173 people were trapped in the wheel for 7 hours. The Flyer did not blame the fire on the change in rotation.

You know what I think? Feng Shui masters have the best jobs in the world!

We didn't take a ride on the wheel because it would have cost the four of us $109.15. So we decided to use our imagination instead.

Being here at the big wheel in the sky brought back some memories - which I've tried hard to suppress.

Many, many years ago, me and BFF went to Perth, Australia on our first trip. In those days, my height phobia was dormant and we took a ride in a ferris wheel. I had never been in a ferris wheel before and it was wild. This one didn't just rotate - the cage we were in would flip upside down as well. Let me tell you, it was pretty scary. I screamed my lungs out. Although it was a lot of thrills, I was quite grateful to finally reach the end of the ride.

BFF went straight to the restroom and I followed her. She was like washing her face, arms, like crazy. It puzzled me. I mentioned casually that it was odd that when we were at the highest point of the wheel, it started to rain. And the rain stopped on the way down.

BFF looked at me and said with a straight face:

It didn't rain.

I was sure it rained. I said:

I felt raindrops all over me.

BFF looked at me again with a straight face:

Jane, I vomited.

It took me a few seconds to fully comprehend. I made the entire tour bus wait for me while I washed my face, my hair, my arms, my legs. Basically every exposed part of my body.







That's my little neph and me bro. The track is a F1 track.



The birthday girl. She likes to say that she's younger than Lee Kuan Yew. (father of Singapore)

Our dinner was at a seafood restaurant. I won't show you every dish. Just the ones I liked.



Birthday buns.



The sticky paste inside the bun makes it taste good. I had 2!



The appertizer from left to right: jellyfish, duck and deep fried silverfish. I love the deep fried silverfish. It's very unhealthy.



This is the most awesome roasted chicken I've ever tasted.



Asparagus with deep fried mushrooms. I didn't taste the mushrooms but it was good.



The spice in this fish dish was so fantastic but soooo spicy. Tears came to my eyes but it was worth it.



Our handsome waiter. Seafood restaurants have the best waiters. Maybe he wasn't a waiter. He's so well-dressed.



Would you believe this is prawns? The green one is wasabi. Tasted weird but good. Seafood restaurants have the best cooks.



Chilli crab. If you come to Singapore, you must eat chilli crab. Be prepared to go to the restroom afterwards though.



Pepper crab. I'm not a fan of pepper but my kids LOVE pepper so they really like this dish. My kids love pepper so much that watching them pour pepper in their soup is like performance art.



Leftovers. I left the restaurant with THREE of these bags. For 3 days this week, we ate nothing but leftovers.

See ya soon.

kandipandi is on projects by jane's wall of fame

Hello dear folks,

I hope the weather is killing you too. It's insanely hot here as usual.

Today another blogger is on my wall of fame. Yay! She is Kandipandi. (why do I keep wanting to say "kandipandi sitting on a tree"?)

I can't remember how I first came across her blog. But I must have followed her blog because suddenly her posts appeared on my reader. I really wish I can remember!

This much I know: she lives in the UK. She's a mom, she works (I mean really work), she crafts and has a folksy shop. And she does all these in the same number of hours that you and I have.

Anyhoo, Kandi bought my Perfect size reversible lunchtime pouch ePattern and here's what she made.



She used the pink flowers fabric for the exterior.



But matched the bottom with the interior "cursive handwriting" fabric.



This is the lining but it's reversible so whatever suits your mood.



I think the overall effect is soft and pretty. What do you think?

bad water

Hello dear friends,

It's been a really hot week in Singapore. How's the weather in your country? Things got heated up in Singapore this week over a song.

Once a year in Singapore, we have a parade/performance to celebrate National Day (9th August). A locally composed national day parade song which every kid in Singapore is forced to learn is usually part of the deal. This year, for a change, Lady Gaga's Bad Romance was chosen. Not a bad choice except the lyrics were re-written and it became the Fun Pack Song. You can go here if you want to see the lyrics.

A fun pack is really just a glam-term for a goodie bag/door gift. The organisers are quite generous. It's stuffed with lots of sponsored items.

Anyhoo, long story short, a video of the song during a rehearsal went viral and of course everyone poke fun at the song. The original video has been pulled but here are 2 other versions.

This is the animated version.

This is the acoustic version by art fazil.

The ndp organisers finally decided to drop the song totally after much consideration.

It is anybody's guess why a national day parade song is dedicated to a fun pack. Lady Gaga and her hair who were in Singapore this week was quite kind in her comments. She thought it was "great" that the lyrics to her hit was changed to celebrate fun pack items like sweets, biscuits and Newater.

Wait a minute! Did I hear Newater?

Here's the lyrics to the Newater bit.

I want Newater and I want a cold drink
You and me, let's share a bit
I want a biscuit and I want a sweet
You and me, let's share this treat

Okay, folks. I object. I object to "I want Newater". Seriously, do people really want Newater? In this universe?

In case you do not know, Newater is not new water. It's old water. It's recycled sewage water. Oh, go read about it here and here. Years ago, when Newater was introduced to Singapore, I was quite turned off and was determined never to think about it further. Because the idea of drinking pee water (and I'm being kind here) is something that requires a few decades of psychological care. But in those days, Newater was not for human consumption but mainly for industrial purposes. Over the years, Newater has been bottled and given away free to promote its use. But it's still your choice to drink it and as long as you don't look at the label carefully, you could easily think you're drinking Mountain Dew. Heads up, parents of school kids. The free bottles of water at school events could be Newater.

On Wednesday, I saw this table in the papers which disturbed me greatly.



Mathematically, the table completely doesn't make sense to me. But never mind. What struck me was that Newater is currently contributing up to 30% to Singapore's water. 30% sounds like a lot, doesn't it?

So, does that mean I'm drinking Newater from the tap? Am I already drinking recycled pee water? (and I'm still being kind) When I have my fabulous shower and water is running down my hair, my face, am I washing myself with recycled pee water?

All these questions are going through my head and you can understand my concern? Years of psychological damage, I tell you!

Okay, now that I've calmed down, 30% might not be that much. I mean it's like a drop in the ocean. Don't argue with me now. I'm trying to make myself feel better. Besides, it's processed millions of times. Trillions! Right? Right? The table also says that by 2061, Newater would contribute 50% of the water required. Me hubs assured me I would be dead by then.

Right now, I'm unsure if Newater goes into my tap water. I want to fool myself. And I'm trying very hard to block it out of my brain.  But one thing for sure. Some things are best left TOP SECRET.

In the spirit of making myself feel better, I've written a fun, satirical song. Here goes.....

Bad Water sung badly to the tune of Fun Pack Song by Jane Poh

---------

It's time for my shower

Alone time with bad water

Let's do it with no crying

That's right grab your towel

It's the bad water shower

Ey, better than corpse water

Hold up your head, let the water run

You can fight it, just don't vomit

Let's wash that hair

Scrub scrub scrub

Let's wash your mouth

Stick out your tongue, go on and gargle

It's processed water, means not toilet water

Just pretend

Oh oh oh... It's Malaysia water

(SPOKEN in sexy deep voice)

You know that I am silly

And you know that I got no choice

This country got no water leh

But I want clean water and I want it new

Nobody used before

I want a drink and I want it fresh

Nobody peed in before

O o o o o o o o o no

Time to drink water

O o o o o o o o o why

I no like bad water

Let's start with the pee

I'm sure you got rid of it

Actually it's the shit

I'm more worried

O o o o o o o o o no

Time to drink water

O o o o o o o o o why

I no like bad water

faster than the speed of light not!

Dear readers,

Ever since my home was wired for fibre optic transmission, we had been excited to upgrade our broadband to the speed of light.

Anyone still using dial-up? My dear, this is the 21st century. Write to your member of parliament, or mayor or town leader. I dunno. Who do you call when your internet access is one century behind?

My apologies. Please don't mind me. I'm just feeling very smug because we have 100mbps! Getting hooked up to 100mbps was not as easy as I thought.

First 3 very old guys came to connect the cables. My home is one of those really odd flats which has all the wiring hidden inside the ceiling. It's called concealed wiring. It's not a good thing. Contractors hate to do anything related to wiring in my home. As you can see from the image above, the fibre optic cables couldn't be concealed as that would require removal of my ceiling. Ah, the price you pay for the speed of light. Luckily, we are quite messy people. So the plastic thingy running all over my home doesn't really bother us.

This is the magic black box aka modem. There is another box but it's at the other end of the room. With our new plan, we get free subscription for the residential phone. The catch? We have to convert from our analog phone line to a digital phone line. We went for it. The catch? The power to the magic boxes must be ON all the time. In the event of a power failure, we have to reset the phone line. This we discovered by accident. Which is a little tedious. Which we weren't told beforehand. Dem you Singtel!

Then we became obsessed with testing the internet connection. Much to our dismay, it fluctuates. That means, we don't get 100mbps all the time. Sometimes we get 40, 50, 60. In fact, we've never ever gotten 100. And we're paying for 100mbps. Oh wait, it says maximum speed is 100mbps. Dem you Singtel!

You know what happens when you get a giant monitor followed by 2 monitors, followed by 100mbps? You want a faster computer.

Right. Looks like a new CPU is on our To Purchase list. This family's Great Singapore Sale budget is seriously busted.





Looks like I'm back to making iPhone zip pouches with my skulls fabric. Well, these are for my next ePattern - iPhone 4 zip pouches. And I've given it a lot of thought. Putting these on the cover of my ePattern will surely scare customers away!




See for yourself. I took this photo when it got dark and look how creepy the pouches look.

See you real soon.

to close or not to close comments: that is the question

Dear readers,

How many of you are bloggers? If you own a blog, whether you write occasionally or frequently, you are, for better or worse, a blogger.

My question to my blogger/readers
• do you close the comments of old posts?
• do you not allow comments for some posts?

Some of you are probably wondering why you would need to close/not allow comments. And I'm sure a few of you are thinking: you can do that!?

Okay, here's a true story. You might know I love to enter in giveaways, especially where fabric is involved. Scissors, metal tins and needles too catch my eye. I subscribe to blogs and forums which inform me where the giveaways are and I would do the hop and do the necessary to get my name in. On one such hop, I must have gone off-course because after submitting my comment, I checked to see when I should expect the results to be announced. To my horror, I had entered for a giveaway that had long ended. OMG. I was so embarrassed. And it was one of those annoying blogs like mine which moderated the comments so I could not take back the comment. Instead of just quietly going away, I wrote another comment to sheepishly inform the blog owner that I had realised my mistake and to ignore my entry. Then I rambled on and on about how embarrassed I was.

Of course right after I had submitted the second comment, I wanted to take it back.

It felt so lame. Why oh why? There's a Chinese saying,

yi qu bu hui tou
Once gone, there's no turning back

Okay, I dunno if this is the right saying. I'm not exactly the best person to learn Chinese sayings from. But you get it. There was no turning back. I know it's not a real tragedy. But the thought of the blog owner laughing her head off was just too much to bear.

Maybe something like this can only happen to me. But just to be sure, "as a public service", I closed the comments to my giveaways that had ended.

Some bloggers do write posts which attract a lot of comments and at some point they may have moved on from the event which triggered the comments. One way to stop getting any further comments on that post would be to close the comments.

And since there are a couple of you who probably want to know how to close comments, I've taken a few pics so you'll have an idea. This works for Blogger posts as well as pages.





In Edit Posts/Edit Pages, click on Post Options.
You will see 3 options:
• Allow
• Don't allow, show existing
• Don't allow, hide existing

If you totally don't want any comments, you will select "Don't allow, hide existing".



See where the arrow is pointed at? No comments icon.

To close comments to giveaways or certain old posts, click on "don't allow, show existing".



If anyone tries to leave a comment, she will get a message that new comments have been disabled.

Some of sharp-eyed readers might have noticed I referred to Pages. If you've never heard of Pages, they operate like posts except they are static. They do not get pushed to the subscriber's wall when first published.

I treat Pages differently from posts. My posts are chronological and I don't amend them once they are published. Yes, yi qu bu hui tou. If there are amendments, I will append the necessary and date it. For pages, I modify the information to reflect the current state. That way it's cleaner. And that's why I disable the comments to my pages. Seems more appropriate.

And that's all from your blogging "techie".