Monday, September 15, 2008

I was in Shanghai meeting some Singaporean friends for Mid Autumn Holidays. Almost missed my early morning bus to Shanghai on Saturday. Woke up at 7am to catch 7:30am bus......I just grab whatever I can reached and leave the apartment at once. I even asked the cab driver to speed up to the bus station (LOL...)




Reached Shanghai South Bus Station at noon, took subway Line 1 to People Square and change to Line 8 headed to Liujabang Lu Metro Station to meet my friend Nora from Suzhou. We took cab to the Fabric Market at Liujabang Lu. I wanted to find a tailor for my winter coat, also some fabrics for my "baju kurung" and Nora wanted to buy some fabrics for her blouse. We were there for about 2 hours then heaaded to ShiLiuPu Cloth Market to get Nora's tailored pants. This market is more less the same as the one at Liujabang Lu but with lesser shoppers especially foreigners. Then we took a cab to Amilia's house. She invited us to stay a night at her place. She served us with curry fish, crab and some vegetable :) ..thanks Amilia!! She is a fulltime mom with 3 kids...move in to Shanghai from Hong Kong a few months ago......I like her town house setting....located in a beautiful housing estate with a small garden at her backyard.....how nice she has a pot of lemon grass at her garden .....hhhmmm....lucky lady!...



The second day Amilia drove us to the children market near Shanghai Times Square. She wanted to buy shoes for her children, while I am also looking for a pair for Wawa and Ueya. But did not managed to find one that suits the girls taste (yeaahh they had given the shopping list to Rozi on his last trip here). But I settled for 2 pairs of L*vi's jean for the girls and a pair of O**k*sh pants for Adam (off course all are from over run production I guess)...went into this market makes me of wanting to pregnant for another baby...all the baby and children clothing are nice and pretty...lots of selection for branded clothing......
Then Amilia dropped us at the us at Line 3 metro station a block away from the children market. We took the subway to our hotel at Nanjing Lu. Checked in rest for awhile and went out again to Yuyuan Market for window shopping. We did not buy much things but on the way back I found a market selling all the sewing supplies. But the market was about to close so we just looked around. There are lots of sewing stuff and I found a shop selling my stitching thread (tonne of thread and buttons)....I bought a few colors for my stash....If you are in Shanghai and wanted to visit this market, it is located a few minutes walk from the Yuyuan Garden (unfortunatley I can't remember the name of the road :( ....



These are the photos at the shops ..most thread are made of cotton and hand dyed (I guess...) ......some are DMC, local brand also Russian brand (judging from the packaging...)








Then in the evening we went to AP Plaza at Shanghai Science & Technology Museum to shop for Nora's handbags (off course we're looking for original imitation LOL....). But most of the shops closed early due to Mid Autumn Holidays. We just walk around for a while and went to Nanjing Lu wondering around for nothing.
On the third day, I went out early for strolling at the Nanjing Lu pedestrian mall. Unexpectedly I found a shop specialize in selling scissors....waited for a while for the shop to open. If you are a scissor collector like me and happen to be in Shanghai, the shop is located opposite the Sofitel Hotel in Nanjing Lu pedestrian mall and also there is another shop in Wushan Market at Hangzhou (walk toward the end of the market).

These are photos from the dispay window....chopstick, set of folk & sppons....and beautifully crafted special edition scissors (very expensive!!) but nice....I think this is special edition for the mooncake festival (forgot to ask the shop assistant since all the writing on the banner were in Chinese....)







An array of different shapes of scissors...






Special tools for seafood lover....you definately need this if you enjoyed eating crab....brilliant!!





Surprisingly the shop is very busy with people buying scissors and other products made of steel and metals...





Finally, my hunt for the day......a few thread and a pair of beautiful scissors to add into my collection (Darl! if you are reading my entry.........I do not wish to listen to your another "nice" comments......LOL :-) .......






From this picture, you can tell I think I have more than enough scissors to cover each day of the week........this is my collection for the past 5 years....it's ok you can say I am crazy.....I am use to that when people seeing my collection at home.....






I have not been stitching and crafting for 3 days....that is too long for me!! Gotta go....thanks for taking time reading my entry and to my fellow stitchers........sit back, play your favorite music, prepare a cup of fruit tea and start your crosses....Happy Stitching!!!!



Cheers!
Siti

Thursday, September 4, 2008

I went for my stitching supplies shopping spree last weekend..... I don't even know why I bought them ??...just adding my stash pile I guess ... ...


Some cotton fabrics and multicolor ribbons ....








A few laces............




My weekend project....my 1st floss tag.....which was unsuccessful coz I had forgotten to make the hole first on the fabric before I use the tool.......and it is too small......nevermind, there is alway next time....











My latest small project...I plan to assemble and make this into grocery bag with the cotton fabric I bought....hhhmmmm...sound sooo ambitious.....let's wait n see......






My active WIP....too much french knots on the RE...make me loose interest sometimes........not much progress on both...since I have been focusing on my xs card swap.......even my big xs project for Petal of Roses also has not been touched since I started a week before...I made mistake on a few rows and need restitching.........






I only managed to stitch the 1st 4 rows for my Petals of Roses.........the most ambitious project ever and the largest among all...stitch on 14ct Aida with image size of 25 x 36 inches.....from this snapshot you can see the rows of thread hang on the stitching frame.....gooosshhh........I have a feeling I can't meet the dateline in early December....only time will tell...........I hope I will finish the xs card swap soon so that I can start focusing on this one.....yeaaahh will lost 3 days next week for my Shanghai trip (arrrggghhhh.....I hate to be away from my stitching nest...)






Surprise my other half with my first RE card......handcarry back to Malaysia by a colleague of mine...


Another card for my adorable niece, Sufi wishing her for speedy recovery after her dreadful accident.....




Last but not least, picture taken by Rozi candidly during our last trip to Xi'an while waiting for the flight back to Hangzhou......as always stitching while on the go....LOL.......



Gotta go now......thanks for dropping by.....Happy Stitching.............
Hugs
Siti

















































Wednesday, September 3, 2008

MGSB **FREEBIE**- Update

Hi All....latest update on number of participants .....these are those who had registered for my birthdays freebies :

1. Maklang - xs kit
2. Alinone - xs kit

3. Naiz - ??

4. Julia in Aussie - xs kit

5. Wa'ah - xs kit

6. Honeydew- xs kit
7. Jelly - RE kit


Please do not forget to invite 3 of your stitching buddies via your blog.....ha....ha....I will do the spot check soon....LOL.....


Happy stitching ..
siti

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

My Trip to Terracota Warriors, Xi'an

Rozi came for a visit last month and I made last minute decision to visit Xian. Rozi had wanted so much to visit the Terracota Warriors. Since all the trains tickets was sold out, it leave me no choice other than taking the flight. I was very lucky since managed to booked discounted tickets via www.ctrip.com ......Rozi was flying to Hangzhou so I scheduled the trip out of Hangzhou and fly direct to Xian.


The trip was very smooth. The flight ticket was issued at the airport and I directly picked it up while waiting for Rozi there. The flight took 2 hours to reach Xian. We took a bus from Xian airport to the city. It is quite easy...at the airport you exit gate no 2 and there is someone outside seeling the bus ticket for RMB 27 per person. The bus will take you straight to the city and stop in front of Harmony Hotel (there are rows of other hotels too...and some shopping complex in the vicinity). The bus ride was very comfortable and it took an hour to reach the city.



These are some of pictures of our visit:


View of Xian from the flight.






This is the Beiyuan Men Muslim Street located a walking distance from our hotel




Our first meal in Xi'an at one of the Muslim Coffeshops at the Muslim Pedestrian Street





The most beautiful experience and will never forget was trying my fingers on Chinese Embroidery using 100% silk thread........the lady patiently guided me step by step and carefully show me the right way of stitching Chinese Embroidery........actually already thinking of spending my Mid Autumn Public holidays in Suzhou to register for this class but have to put off the plan since my friend said it is too expensive and the class cater mainly for European expats....hhhhmmmm..........




The entrance to the Grand Mosque.....sorrounded by beautiful and serene garden....I thank Allah for giving me the privielage to visit one of the oldest mosque in the world..........






The entrance at the main door to the mosque







Rozi had his silent moment citing praying........








Our entrance ticket to the Terracota Warrior and the main entrance of Pit No 1









The images of the human size warriors







The view of the Xi'an City Wall from the South Gate




We rent the bicyle and cyle on top of the wall....in a rainy day ...soaking all over....the raincoat definately did not gave us much help!!...bear in mind, if you are cycling on top of this wall...make sure do not speeding as the road is uneven and you may end up with flat tyre.........I helped two American tourist made an SOS call to the rental centre it is because they have too much fun riding (LOL..)...nevertheless, me and my other half had good time riding our double bicyle on top of this wall.....................back to our memory lane during our childhood days....








The view on top of the wall.....




The plenty of food choices at the Muslim Pedestrian Street. If you are visiting this place do not forget to dine at Jia's Brothers Restaurant...they serve a selection of dumpling....the shop located at the right side just a couple of doors from the main entrance.....I find it very unique the way they organize the dumpling in the bamboo steamer...since they are with the same shape but with different flavor, each flavor is organize with different pattern, ie. in a round pattern, straight line etc.


And you should not miss this porridge.....very tasteful...made out of rice, flour and some other ingredients...a bit sweet...and very nice to eat with your dumpling breakfast......gotta figure it out how to make them......


And some of the street food sell by the Muslim community which I am not able to taste at any other places in China........


That's about it........I hope you enjoy reading my travel journal to Xi'an...thanks for visiting me.
Hugs
Siti