Starting two new projects

We have some good news this week. The immigration department has approved our application to stay in this country. They have also given me authorisation to work too. So this week I have been working on my resume and have been looking around for suitable work in my local areas.

It has not been a good week for Poppy because I was not doing routine stuff with her. Also after the long break between Christmas and New Year my husband went back to work. After we dropped him off at the airport, when we got home, Poppy went and hid in the garage, in the dark, and sulked. She was missing her human daddy.

By Thursday evening I was ready for a break from the job search and was sorting things out to start some new craft projects; I think Poppy felt that she had had enough too and would not be ignored anymore. She came over to me, stepping on to my sewing paper pattern that was lying on the floor, did a big lazy stretch and proceeded to bark. The result of her complain? The sewing pattern was tear apart by her paws and my plan to do some craftwork was postponed.

Well, her human daddy returned home yesterday. Poppy was a happy puppy again. I managed to tape the pattern together. I want to sew an apron to replace the one I wear when I do hand-spinning. It is the shorter length one in the picture.
Then late last night I started knitting this cutie called Victoria. Go to her blog's sidebar on the left for the free pattern. It is knitted all in one piece. I asked someone who has already done it and she said that it is not simple, at certain points, it can be tricky. So far I have done the two front legs and am working on the body towards the bum.

Unless Poppy is mad with me again, I am hoping to finish these two new projcets quickly. Till next post. Take care.

A cold start to 2010

We carried on with more home improvement work last week: replacing internal doors, stripping wall papers, painting walls, doors and ceilings…so I have not been doing much craftwork at all.

I did spend time tidying up my craft room though and set up a Work-In-Progress section in my blog’s sidebar. Going through my hobby stuff, I realised that I have finished all the projects I started in 2009, but the three pre-2009 projects are still outstanding. I really would like to complete these in 2010. So I set up the work-in-progress buttons as a way to motivate and to remind myself to get them done.

Last year I have done well with using up my stash of yarns, but I need to sew more and spin more in 2010….yes, I confess… my stash of fleeces and fabrics are just as big.

Also I found that I really enjoy making toys last year. I think my youngest sister knew because she gave me these adorable knitting patterns as my Christmas present. It sure is a good way to use up remnant yarns and I guess I will be making more toys in the New Year.
Talk about gifts, you know how some pet owners say that their cats and dogs bring in presents like dead bird or mouse? Well, thank goodness Poppy is not like that. Otherwise she would have brought in a big dead lizard. This is what she found this morning. Poppy just altered me there is something strange in the yard and I went and checked it out.

The weatherman says that a deep freeze is moving across the world. It is cold here too. Cold blooded reptiles shut down their system when the temperature drops below 40fº/4cº. It was near freezing last night. It was just too cold for them. In case you are wondering, this is what it normally looks like.

It has been a cold start to 2010 and a slow start for me with my craftwork. Let's hope that it is going to warm up soon. OK, I will say bye for now. Take good care of yourself where ever you are. Stay warm and stay safe.

Just in time

Normally Christmas is easy and cosy with just us and our doggie to please. This year, however, has been busy and all because we wanted to replace the kitchen floor before Christmas.

It was after we ripped up the old floor we realised that it was not going to be a simple removal task because the old floor was glued down.

We managed to put the new floor down just in time for Christmas. Poppy had already decided the best spot to keep an eye on the oven and to wait for dinner.

After a few days of helping my husband doing home improvement I was glad to pick up my needle and thread again and worked on my cross-stitch.

Before I end this post I just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

Pocket for my Calendar

This is my 2009 calendar and I keep it in the kitchen. I purchased this because I like the pocket design. It can hold pens, appointment cards, birthday cards to send…etc a very useful organiser for me. My husband likes it too because he can always find a pen in the pocket when he needs one.
I keep meaning to go to a bookshop and buy a 2010 calendar but just have not got round to do it. Then two weeks ago when I went grocery shopping at a Chinese supermarket they gave me a 2010 calendar for free. It is a lovely one too showing both the Chinese and the western dates. The only thing is – it does not have a pocket.

I have been busy this week sorting out Christmas presents and cards. That’s all done now. Sooooo…today I set to work and made a pocket for the new calendar.

I kept it simple, using a fish appliqué design from SummerPond by FatCatPatterns and just quilted the background with two curvy lines to suggest water. Now I have a pocket again to hold my pens and all those little things.

Gnome-in-law's

I have three younger sisters. This year for the first time I have knitted something for each one of us for Christmas. A gnome for each sister and the gnomes are named after our husbands.

I just finished the last gnome. It has blue eyes and blonde hair - Mike gnome -this one is for me to keep.

I took some group pictures of the gnomes before shipping them away.
The tallest gnome is at the back and the height of the men are in the order too.

銀杏 Ginkgo Biloba

I love Ginkgo trees. The Chinese name for Ginkgo is 銀杏 and in strict translation it means silver almond. Pretty name and its leaves are pretty too with very unique shapes.

Here is a picture of the leaves from one of my two baby Ginkgo trees.
As a young child I was confused by my mother when she used ginkgo nuts for a Chinese vegetarian dish but she called it white nut. It is not white. Now I know why: it’s white when it still has its shell but yellow when it’s cooked.

So when I came across a crochet pattern for ginkgo leaf and nut, I simply could not resist.

I am going to make more of these then decide what to do with them.

Delray Christmas Tree

Delray Beach Downtown is very pretty this time of the year, especially in the evening.

I remembered my camera when we walked Poppy down the Avenue last night.
A 100’ man-made tree: children can go inside the tree to visit Santa.

All the palm trees are decorated too. The City also put up a small outdoor ice skating ring next to the tree. So even though we don’t have snow, young children can still do a little ice skating. Isn't that sweet?