My 2013 unfinished business

Today is the last day of 2013 and instead of having a review of what I'd made the whole year (you can just check out my archives), I thought I'll show you what I started but never managed to complete in 2013.

Oh, just before that, a big thanks to everyone who came by to leave a comment about my interview.

Now, for my unfinished projects...I've been very disciplined when it comes to finishing any bag I start. Except for these two.

I made these two bags while I was busy sewing for my Xmas craft market. I guess I lost interest and next year I'll have to do something about them.

This pendant is still incomplete and I haven't even sewn up half the length of the necklace. I was planning to wear it for Chinese New Year. Next year's Chinese New Year falls on the 31st Jan and 1st Feb which is just a few weeks away!

Another bead project - it's meant to be a pendant but I just couldn't complete it. It got uglier and uglier as I progressed. I mean, what's the point of finishing something that doesn't look good?

This beaded stone-pendant is more or less finished. I just need to hide the threads and find a use for it. It weighs far too much for a pendant so I don't think I'll ever wear it.

And finally this butterfly? It's not mine. It's my friend's. I was supposed to learn to make it and I did start on it - maybe 1/3 of a wing. And then I misplaced my 1/3 of a wing after all that sewing. In case you're wondering about the "sewing", all my beads projects are done with a needle and thread. Sounds weird? That's how it's done. There are other methods of creating beaded stuff using wires but I've never tried doing it.

Are you looking forward to 2014? I am because I'm so done with 2013. See you.

I'm featured on ChrisW Designs Blog

Hello internet people,

You probably know more about me than you care to, but just in case it's not enough (is it ever enough?), you can read my interview over at ChrisW Designs blog here.

Oh, there's also a chance to win my 9 patterns. You have to enter over at ChrisW's. There's a rafflecopter thingy you have to use. It's on till the end of 2013. And tell Chris I said Hello.

VivoCity Xmas Craft Market Post-Mortem 18th to 23rd December 2013

My Christmas market is over and I can pretty much sum it up as - the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good

- Catching up with craft market friends I've collected over the years. You know how with some friends, you don't meet outside the common place of interest?

- Getting visitors.

This is my Elven friend, Su. We met at Red Dot Design Museum years ago. Yes, my head is twice hers. So please don't adjust your monitor.

They came too but I didn't get any pics!
Angeline (also from Red Dot alumni)
Momshoo (another Red Dot alumni)
Mandy (another Red Dot alumni) - but I missed her visit because I was in the toilet a very long time (long story)
My sister Elaine

Hubs surprised me one day spending almost the whole day at the market with me on his day-off.

And both my kids came faithfully for 5 days to take over so mom could go have a nice meal at a coffeeshop.

- Getting food from friends

My hand model is Fa of Frozenfa.

This was wicked delicious. (I ate most of it)

There were a few more which I ate before I remembered to take pics.

The Bad

- Sales
This is my 3rd year doing the VivoCity craft market and my sales was not as good. I put it down to poor fengshui and a smaller stock/variety of bags. I did make money overall so no worries.

- Location, location, location

My table was at a no-man's land. There was not enough walk-in traffic. Still, I got enough sales each day that I didn't feel depressed. Walking space was tight and there was a small altercation between vendors over space. In a craft market, physical space is tightly guarded and tempers often flare when one feels another encroaches on her paid space. I dislike tension and confrontation and was really glad to have the opportunity to move to another location on the last two days. On Monday - the last day of the market  - I had fantastic sales. It made such a difference to be in a different location.

The Ugly

I think it was last Thursday. A group of gaudily dressed aunties came sashaying up to my table. I knew they were trouble right away. They laughed and joked and touched everything on my table. Of course they bought nothing. Before they left, one of them saw my ladybird hair clip. I have a small mirror on my table so customers could see how they look with my accessories. Almost like in slow motion, I watched in horror as the auntie pinned MY hairclip, the one she hasn't yet paid for on her hair. She looked at her image, laughed loudly and then pulled MY hairclip off her curly, curly permed hair and PUT IT BACK on my table. Then she sashayed off with her loud friends.

I was shell-shocked into silence and couldn't even utter an indignant "HELLO!". I was more consumed by another horrifying thought. I wondered if she had left any hair behind. On the hair clip. At that moment, hubs came and I told him my fears. He bravely went to look at the hairclip and lo and behold, there was a strand of hair.

Ladies and gent, I present to you - Exhibit A.

I've been selling hair accessories for a while now and not a single person has ever dared to clip their hair with my hair clips before paying for them. Isn't it common courtesy not to leave your DNA behind? What kind of world do we live in ...(alright, I'm done ranting)

Hope you guys enjoy the last few days of this year. If you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas to you. Peace to you. (anyone miss my peace sign?)

p.s. On Sunday I showed up at the market to discover someone (I'm guessing a kid) had left a small cow figurine on my table. I think it's my good luck charm because my sales that day was so much better than the other days. So thank you, little kid, whoever you are.

VivoCity Xmas 2013 Craft Market

I'm all packed for my VivoCity Xmas 2013 craft market. I've done craft markets so many times that if I forget something, it's like whatever. Unless it's my wallet. Or my bags. How to forget my bags, right? Actually, there was one occasion...

Sadly, I don't have a lot of stock. I tried. I really tried. It's enough for 6 days though. I actually fear I don't sell much and have to lug them all home again. Sigh. There's a lot of competition nowadays. It seems everyone sells bags and pouches. I still remember the good old days when I was the only one.

This year I'm going to have to drag both my kids to the craft market every day. I've been told there's a new rule. We can no longer have our meals at our stalls. I guess we all look so low-class wolfing down our meals while customers are gawking at our wares. Of course I literally fainted when I heard the news. I rely on eating to keep myself awake throughout the long hours. So my kids have no choice but to man the stall while I dine somewhere. I might finally lose some weight after all. Woo hoo!

Still, it's difficult to say with my kids. So in case you've come down to buy or collect your bags from me and no one is at my stall? Just hang around until I come back, okay? I'm probably lurking in some dark corners eating.

You win some

This week almost became a no-sewing week partly because I was out a lot. And mainly I have no mood to sew. It's my last week to sew. Next Wednesday, I'll have to go to VivoCity to sell my wares.

This whole week my kids did not go "work" for their aunt. Their work involves "editing" their aunt's website hanokkoreanclass.com. Their aunt teaches Korean language. (yes, she's Chinese)

Here they are busy at work. Sometimes they come home with $10 each. Yes, they get to keep the money.

We went to see The Desolation of Smaug. After the BIG YAWN of An Unexpected Journey, I was prepared for another disappointment. It was a little better. How could it not be? An Unexpected Journey was horribly draggy. Still, The Desolation of Smaug has the usual "let's drag this thing out so we could have a trilogy". Basically, you have the dwarves and Bilbo on their journey. Gandalf as always, abandons them. The journey is long and filled with adventure. Where were they going? It took so long I stopped caring. Oh yes, the dragon. Only the elves saved the movie. Every time Legolas appeared, I was like, oh man. Totally worth it. There was also a unnecessary love story between a dwarf and a she-elf. You understand I've never read The Hobbit so I don't know if the movie follows the book. Guess I'll have to see the last movie to find out how it ends. Oh, we saw the HFR3D version and nowadays the cinemas expect you to bring your own 3D glasses or buy one.

This is my week of shame. Only 4 items.

And guess what? This one - has some bleeding on the white. So I can't sell it after all. &%$#@#(+?

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Gandalf

Today I got tired of looking like Gandalf The Grey, so I went to get my hair done.

Basically, I look the same except less grey. The hairstylist was really nice to me. She gave me such a nice scalp massage too. But she was careless and burned my face with the hair dryer. I may have screamed excessively. She felt really bad so even though I wanted to scold her, I did not. At the end, I got to poke some balloons on the ceiling for a lucky draw. My prize? If I get a hair treatment next time, I'll get a free haircut. Ah....?

And I got a package from Suzee today. Woohoo!

About last night

Last night was crazy. Sometime after 9pm, there was a fatal traffic accident at Little India involving a private bus and an Indian foreign worker. An ambulance and a police patrol car responded to the accident. In the midst of trying to extricate the deceased from under the bus, the crowd turned unruly and started the riot - attacking the bus driver and his assistant, the bus, the ambulance, the police car as well as the officers.

Wait. Did you hear what I said? There was a riot. In Singapore. There hasn't been a riot here since 1969. When I first heard of the riot, I actually thought it was happening in India and not Little India in Singapore. 

Things turned ugly very quickly. More people joined in and it spread. Everything and anything became a weapon - beer bottles, tiles from the ground, dustbins, flower pots, vegetables, uprooted trees, stones, bricks. The target: the uniformed officers.

It was Sunday night in Little India. This means the place was very likely jam packed with foreign workers. I've been to Little India on a regular riot-free Sunday afternoon. It's pretty scary. So many people squeezed together.

You can read more about it here and here.

Not everyone participated actively in the riot. Many were just bystanders. Some just jeered or cheered. A few were taking videos. In this video, you can see a guy trying to get the mob to stop. In vain. I wonder what happened to him?

Utter madness:

via asia one

Meanwhile, me and everyone else in Singapore were watching the riot on fb and twitter. It was really terrifying, yet unreal.

This video rattled me. The mob surrounding the emergency vehicles.
In this video, emergency officers ran for their lives. I felt so sad. The mob was jeering. How frightening for the officers who don't even make that much money.
In this video, the mob tried to overturn a police car and there are people in the car!
This video shows the tailend of the riot.

Thankfully, within an hour, the situation was under control after busloads of riot police came. Amazingly, not a single shot was fired. The police really exercised maximum restraint. It's a good thing guns aren't allowed in Singapore otherwise there would have been more tragedies. Weirdly, only 27 people were arrested. I guess, the rest ran away.

I wonder if this guy was arrested.

The total damage:
22 Police Officers and 5 Auxilliary Police Officers, the bus driver, the bus assistant and 12 SCDF officers were injured.
16 police vehicles, 9 SCDF vehicles(three ambulances, one Red Rhino, one fire engine, and four support vehicles) were damaged.

Thankfully, no one else died. The bus driver has also been arrested and is out on bail.

This weekend, there is a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol at Little India. Meanwhile life goes on. But for the authorities, they have much to do and think about.

No Giveaway

Hey, anyone doing the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day on Dec 9? I've been doing the giveaway in the Sew Mama Sew Link-up a number of times but this round I won't be participating. I have many reasons for not participating one of which is I don't want to. But if you want to hold your own giveaway, go check out the rules and stuff here.

If you're wondering what you could get out of holding such a giveaway, let me see if I can paint the picture for you, based on my own experience. Imagine your home (blog) being used as part of the route of a marathon which is 1 week long. Over the course of the week, runners will come through your front door, have a quick look around and leave through the back door. These runners come in throngs. At first. Later you get the smaller groups. As the end of the week nears, you get dribs and drabs. Most times, these runners yell out a quick "Hi." and they're gone. (so that's one comment for you) Some hate your home at first look and leave very quickly. (no comment) A few may pause a while, look around your home and say, "Lovely home you have. I like how you decorate it." (long comment) Oddly there a few who say something totally unrelatable to you or don't answer the question you have posed for the giveaway. (these are what you call "copy and paste" commenters who don't even bother to read your blog post)  A very, very small number may like how you decorate your home so much they take note of your address so they can come back and visit.

If your home doesn't attract so many runners most days, you will get the shock of your life. You will feel like a celebrity. It's your 1 week of fame. Enjoy it.
Will these people come back later once the giveaway is over? Most won't even remember your blog name. So you have to lasso them somehow. Get them to like your facebook page, follow you via twitter, instagram or whatever else you use. It takes effort to unlike/unfollow someone. So count on that.

Now back to me. I have 12 giveaways lined up for you guys next year. Yes, in 2014. And since you guys are already my loyal readers, I'm basically doing the giveaways to reward you. To thank you for sticking around. Reading whatever crap I write. So 12 giveaways coming up - one per month. It'll be something I make!

9 Drawstring Pouches

My invincible sewing streak is over. I am now a mere mortal. I struggled to sew these past few days. On Saturday I was presented with a day alone. My kids had gone out for piano, followed by "work" at my SIL's, followed by movie. That's many hours of alone time. I could sew.

I didn't sew. I squandered the day on many, many TV shows. Well, mostly The Blacklist. This is such a fantastic show. I'm a bit surprised I like it so much as I didn't care very much for James Spader in The Practice and Boston Legal. In The Blacklist, James Spader plays a bad guy. A complicated bad guy. And James Spader gets to show how good an actor he is. I often find myself longing to be Special Agent Elizabeth Keen so he could be my daddy! I didn't burn the whole day though. I salvaged it by making 3 drawstring pouches.

Yesterday I was once again presented with a day alone. The kids had gone out for piano, followed by "work" at my SIL's, followed by dinner out somewhere of their choice. I immediately started to squander the day away watching sitcom after sitcom. Fortunately, they aren't as riveting as The Blacklist so I had plenty of time to atone. I managed to make 6 more drawstring pouches.

So I have 9 drawstring pouches. I'm done. I have 2 more weeks to sew before my VivoCity date. Honestly, I don't want to sew anymore. Today me and the kids were at Orchard and I took the opportunity to make a quick trip to a beads shop. The owner had messaged me that she was having a 30% discount. How to resist?  Big mistake. Now my head is full of beading fantasies when I should be thinking of more bags. Grrr.

Would you rather?

One time not long ago, the four of us were on our way home by train and it was maybe just 5 or 6 stops but it was a depressing kind of day and to kill time, we played the game would you rather. I think you know how this game works and it's bound to get a lot of giggles.

One of the questions asked was:
Would you rather be rich but unhappy or poor but happy.

We all chose rich and unhappy except hubs who preferred to be poor.

Anyway it lifted our mood and one of the questions I asked was:
Would you rather be hairy with a pretty face or smooth skinned with a butt ugly face?

Okay, no offence to all my hairy readers but I chose butt ugly face. I simply can't face being hairy. Yes, I know you can shave and all. Still, butt ugly face it is.

So, would you rather be hairy with a pretty face or smooth skinned with a butt ugly face?

Today I made one bag. It's very likely to be my last crossbody curvy bag. It's about time I move on to smaller items. November's almost over. Demmit!

I used sashiko thread for the blanket stitch. I prefer straight stitch (for the look) but blanket stitch is more secure. Holds the rabbit better.

Beige and white canvas polka dot for the lining. Feels good doesn't it? Just looking at the polka dots. See you.

My Xmas 2013 catalog has been updated. HERE.

A Cycling and Walking Day

Yesterday we went cycling. Yes, all four of us. Outdoors. Under the hot sun. Willingly. No gun to our heads.

I've never seen hubs ride a bike before and it turned out he can. I myself have not been on a bike for decades. My 2 kids had learnt to ride bikes from my SIL. We travelled by train to a station in the east and somewhere near the station we could rent bicycles. It was hub's idea to cycle from that location all the way to the east coast.

Except you can't cycle all the way to the east coast. At one point, we had to cross this overhead bridge which spanned across the highway. It was very long and scary. Hubs and son just went ahead. At one point I saw hubs turn back to give me a "you're on your own" look. So I had no choice but to cross the bridge. Going up was scarier. So I hunched my body and that helped a lot. But once I was on the highest point, walking across wasn't so bad. I haven't had a chance to see if my height phobia is back but I think I'm getting better. Of course don't expect me to go bungee jumping.

We pretty much just did one thing. Cycled all the way to the end of the path. I was last. I was always last. It was quite exhausting cycling. Every part of me hurt. Especially my buttocks. (still does) At the end of the path (and it was after cycling for a very long time), everyone turned back. Somehow I got separated from the rest and got lost. A search party of one was sent. Hubs came to my rescue.

After returning our bikes to a kiosk, we went in search of public transport. We saw a underpass and after consulting a cyclist who told us we could reach a road where we could get a taxi and it's only like 1.8km away. I don't know what we were thinking. But 1.8km sounded so doable to us we just took his advice.

On our left was the highway. On the right, it looked like an army camp. We had no other way but this little path which went on and on and on, further east. Finally, we gave up. 1.8km was ridiculously far. We decided to turn back.

Going back where we came!

But my girl was exhausted. We had to drag her along. My son is really fit. He never once complained. We kept walking and walking. Then it started raining. There was lightning and stuff but the rain never got bad.

Finally, we came to an area where we could possibly take a taxi. Hubs saw an available taxi and sprinted forward as it was quite far away. And he nearly got hit by a cyclist. The taxi didn't see us so we kept walking. Then another taxi came and this one saw us. Woo hoo! We got into the taxi and headed home. After a short while there was a thunderstorm and we were so glad not to be out in the rain.

But our taxi got caught in a massive traffic jam and it took us a very long time to reach home. In fact it took us $40 to reach home. Despite everything, I enjoyed myself. Once my buttocks stop aching, I'll make hubs take us there again. Next time we'll be smarter, I hope.

Although I was so tired, I made another bag before I went to sleep. I felt a little guilty having not made anything since Monday. I used the Anna Griffin fabric which one of my readers had suggested using as an outer fabric. I think this bag looks really nice but for some reason, it doesn't look as good in the photos. I showed it to hubs and he said WOW. And he rarely says WOW for anything I make.

My Xmas 2013 catalog has been updated. HERE.