My Weekend Cross stitch Project

I received my order from Jane of Neddle Little Love last Thursday and was delighted to have received my order which I had wanted for so long.....some patterns from Little House Needleworks, Lizzie Kate and Waxing Moon. She also include one small pattern from Prairie Schooler...(thxxx Jane for the lovely package!!)..The parcel reached me right before I am stepping out of the my office to have a lunch date with my buddy stitcher Miya so I took the opportunity to share viewing with her...

I am so excited that on Friday night I started to check on my floss inventory for the Waxing Moon Design "My Needle and My Floss". I have to put aside temporarily the stitching of "Bouquet for Cheryl" since I will have enough time till my target date ie end of Sept.

I managed to find most of the DMC thread and started stitching them at 12am the same night. I spend 3 hours in the middle of the night stitching on my bed with the light from my stitching lamp. Half way through Rozi woke up and asked me why am I still wide awake stitching .....there it goes once you had been attacked by the xs addiction....

I came to know this design the first time when I visited Barbara at Sanguine Stitcher. I guess it would be nice to hang this work on my dining hall for my guest to let them know about my seriuos hobby. I hope to finish this piece before end of next week.

Title : "My Needle and My Floss" by Waxing Moon Design

Fabric : 28ct linen

Thread : Mix of DMC, Anchor and Carrie's Creation

I have to finish my "Bouquet for Cheryl" before I move on to the rest of the three patterns....but I guess I can stitch the Lizzie Kate's "Cross Stitcher in Residence" for my weekend project....yeaaahhhh my fingers are also itching to start the Waxing Moon's "House of Needle Worker".....

I been thinking of rearranging my blog, updating the finish projects and adding my latest discovery of my favorite links but so far I do not have enough time to do so....

Till then H a p p y S t i t c h i n g............

Shopping for Cross Stitch in China...

For those who had been waiting for my entry, welcome back.......this entry will be full of stitching stories!!...life has been in a heywire off late due to the extensive travelling but nevertheless, I can still find sometime stitching while on the move.....I can't still figure out why I am not able to sign in to update my blog while I am in China ((:...

On my stitching achievement, I managed to complete this project while juggling between work, travelling, family, bla...bla...bla...I use aida 14ct (i think so..) and stitch with swap linen thread I got from my buddy stitcher Miya in exchange with my CC thread. I really appreciate Miya's willingness to swap with me...thanks buddy!

My latest project is a competition organised by Barbara from Sanguine Stitcher. I started this project on 24th August in the mpv which took me 4 hours to reach Shanghai. Then continue my stitching in the flight to KLIA. I have been making quite a good progress with this one, I guess because the design is easy and I only use one color thread plus doing my marking in advance so that it's easier while stitching on the go. I picked the color because it looks like redwork and I really enjoy stitching redwork design. I hope Barbara will pick up my progress by reading my blog.

Title : "Bouquet for Cheryl"

Fabric : White Aida 14 count

Thread : Carrie's Creation

Shade : Olde World Red

I finished stitching 1 out of 4 areas, and now working very hard to complete the top right side. Based on my planning, 1 area took me a week to complete with continuos non stop stitching, does not matter how much time I spend a day to stitch, minimum was 30 minutes and maximum was 2 hours. I set a target to complete this project by end of September.....I hope I will be able to adhere to my plan...hhhhmmmmm....

On my stashing....again it has been a must place to be every time I am in China....the small shops in the wholesale market opposite the hotel......this time I had place a few orders for the kits since there is no stock available on hand. The shop owner does not speak a word of English, but still we manage to communicate with my simple understanding of mandarin. She showed me the catalogue and I picked a few kits for her to order for my September trip. For this trip I picked up this petal of roses kit for myself......I also picked a couple of cartoon kits as a gift to my stitching friends (can't show it here since I have not mailed them and also some of them pay me a visit here...he...he...he...)

Also, before I left to China, I received a bulk of my CC thread order from Barbara. The color are so stunning and I am not sure when I will have a chance to use them (I hide the purchase from Rozi and Ayong as I do not want to hear any more complaints from both of them .....)

I found this cotton stitching bag while I was on window shopping at Yiwu. I like the flowery motifs sew with laces....the pastel color is very soft and soothing.....it's really ideal to stuff with all my stitching thread n tools while I am on the go.....

I am now waiting for Needle Little Love to send my online order.....hhhhhmmmm.....I guess I just can't resist and keep on piling my stashs.....

I hope to have more time to write on my discovery to Yiwu and Shanghai....till then, Happy Stitching and Peace to the world!!!

BTW, I would appreciate it if you could leave a message if you have drop by reading my entry.....I hope you have enjoy reading my discovery and tales on my stitching....

My trip to Hangzhou ....

I will not write anything on stitching for this entry....instead enjoy my findings in Hangzhou, China!!

We visited Hangzhou on our first weekend in China. We had decided to spend the weekend there just to kill time and go for some sight seeing. We hop into an express bus and it took us 2 hours to reach Hangzhou. Basically, Hangzhou is a tourist city and the most popular spot is West Lake Garden (it remind me of the Summer Palace Garden in Beijing :))). We did not cover much places since decided to keep it for the next time once we have permanently based in China.

We are very impressed with the express bus service....the bus is very clean, on time and even serve mineral water free on board (I hope it's the safe one!!).....same goes for the bus in the city its clean and punctual...for 2 yuan you can take a ride anywhere in the city...one thing I notice the public bus make an automatic announcement everytime it make a stop .......it has been a very fullfilling experience riding the buses in China.....

Beside West Lake Garden, Hangzhou is also famous for its tea, silk, silk umbrella and chop sticks.....these are a must buy if you are in Hangzhou.


This is the city of Hangzhou from the hotel window.....

This is some of the views at Westlake Garden. The lake is full of lotus plants and they are soo loveeelyy in the summer.....I took these photos at 7:30am and as you can see some of the ladies are doing their exercise routine (group dancing by flipping fan on their hand...quite interesting)

Shopping time......

On the left is a place called Wushan Market (I hope I got this right!)....this place full of souvenier gifts ranging from silk dress, fans, umbrella, key chain, pewter items etc...etc..etc...

On the right side is Silk Market. This place is very huge and long, about 2-3 blocks I guess....the is a small Muslim coffeeshop at the right side of the entrance

Conclusion, one day is not enough to cover these two places especially the Silk Market. I don't do much shopping since I am not into it unless if I find something on cross stitching..........

An array of fabrics at one of the shops at the Silk Market.

Finally, the bus station in Hangzhou. As you can see here,

all are in Mandarin including the tickets so it's all up to you to figure it out so that you end up at the right destination (LOL)....

Next trip will be Yiwu........

Life in China...continue....

It took me more than a week to comeback and write.....let's continue...

The day after we arrived we straight away went to our client plant about 10 minutes drive from the hotel. It was a huge plant full of new buses since our client is the main sponsor of buses for Beijing Olympic. One thing make me real proud, they raise the Jalur Gemilang at the main entrance together with Union Jack, China and Germany flags.

Working with them is a very challenging experience since I have Mandarin limitation and they hardly understand English. But they are nice bunch of people and very helpful. We managed to overcome our limitation on our first week and towards the second weeks we managed to speak simple Mandarin conversation.

Back at the hotel, I started to gather some information to find some cross stitch shops. Apparently, one of the Asst Manager at the hotel, Jason, is into stitching. He showed me the shop a few step away from the hotel. The place is full of cross stitch kits...its a wholesale market not only selling stitching stuffs but also all sort of things women accessories, clothing, wools, shoes, herbs, tea, nuts, vegetable, etc...etc...all in one roof!!!...half a day was not enough to cover all. I went crazy seeing the wools for knitting...they are so nice, soft n fluffy...I almost bought a bundle but since I am not into knitting I have to on hold of my desire...I keep on telling myself "no...no...not now...still have sometime once I have settledown..."....this will be my next agenda once I started being away from the children....I grabs a few kits to treat myself and a few as a gift for my stitching buddies...........I hope they will love them!!

The wool in one of the shelves....

These are some of the kits for myself.... since I love flowers so much, most of the kits I choose are flowers motifs....

Some adjustable plastic hoops for myself and as a gift for my stitching buddies. The one at the top corner are cross stitch kits for purse. At the bottom are cross stitches for clock. The kit inclusive the clock mechanism.

The food we order at the Muslim Restaurant...beef, mutton and some sort of mutton kebab....

The building and road across the hotel:

These are some photos taken at the garden nearby the down town:

I guess it is common in China to have beautiful garden in each town...I have seen a few in the area and the Chinese people really know how to enjoy the garden and spend quality time wondering or just chit chatting at the garden bench.....

Talking about being away from the children....it has now become common questions from my friends and colleagues, how do I manage being away from my partner and children....one of my colleague bluntly commented how could I do that without feeling guilty....yes, its sound easy to say than done....for me I have my own way of planning my life, this is my choice and I have to live with it.......this is not one brain decision...I have been talking with Rozi and the children for numerous occasions... and all at the right senses.....its hard to explain and I thank Allah for giving me a very strong will power....I am glad and thankful for having Ayong around ...she has done a superb job while I am away...making sure that all her siblings is comfortable at home without me around by helpling in the kitchen cooking with my maid, taking good care of them and ensuring daddy always has his tea after dinner even without mummy around....we have been very open all the times...I had once asked how she felt about having to take my role temporarily......she said its always her obligations since she is the eldest....may Allah always bless her with successful life in the future!!!...In one of her emails she is complaining that 2 weeks is too long for her since she is running out of idea to cook....I know I always can count on her since she took good care of me while I was on wheel chair 2 years back...she is the one who bath and clean me, helped me with my urine and she is only 12 years old to face the situation....and all without telling her in advance how and when to do it..........

I have a choice to bring my children with me but the only problem is there is no religious school at the town whereI live...it's very difficult for them...I had decided that they will stay with me during the school holidays and Rozi can always visit me whenever he wants (it is a good reason since he hardly take his annual leave)

On my diet regime....its not so good........

Gotta continue again.....

Life in China

For some reason I was not able to update my blog while I was in China. I guess something is not right again with blogger. I left my house on 6 am on Sunday 16th July ....Rahim our taxi driver came on time as usual .....Rozi and my eldest girl send me off at the gate while the rest of my kids slept....I reached Shanghai at 2:30pm with Malaysian Airlines....managed to snap the photos..

The driver pick me up at Pudong Airport and we continue 4 hours journey to Zhejiang. Driving a long journey in China is a very traumatic experience...I felt as if I am on F1 track! The driver keep on changing lane from left to right and sometimes overtake another vehicle on emergency lane. What an experience! I check in the hotel at 6pm, bath and went out with my colleague to find some food for dinner. We found a Muslim restaurant at the corner of a junction opposite the hotel. I know it's quite easy to find Muslim food in China but just in case I still bring along some bread, instant noodle and 3-1 oats for emergency. These are some of the views from my hotel cafe and room:

This is the view from the hotel coffee house. I took this very early in the morning while enjoying the story book and sipping a cup of hot coffee.

This is another view from the cafe. It's the outdoor parking bay. Beside the parking bay it's an apartment building covered with fern leaf (can't really see it clearly from this picture...just notice the building)

I don't have that much chance to stitch since the work really consume most of my time. But still I managed to finish small project (will update the picture later). I felt a bit lonely since the children is not around but I use the opportunity to read (another hobby which I was not able to enjoy much now). Rob my colleague lent me a touching story book title " Tuesday with Morrie", It's about an ex student who discovered his former professor is dying of ALS disease, a Lou Gehrig disease. So he come every Tuesday to talk about life with his dying professor... I cried twice while reading this book. I usually wake up as early as 5am to start my day in China...took my breakfast as early as 6am then spend at least 30 minutes to read. It is something new that I never done while I am home. It is summer now and usually 5:30am is already as bright as 8am in Malaysia.

Gotto go now...will continue again shortly...