I’m gonna miss a lot!

Fiuuuuh…I finally have some time to continue my blog. Some major events in my days, makes it difficult to enjoy tatting, put them in picture, and blog them.

Like I said before, I had a month of tax exam, a month of study, and a month of tat-free. Naaaaah…..you won’t believe such lie, will you? LOL. A quote from a movie, well not exactly the precise words I think : “ A drunker always have something to celebrate” ; and I always have reason to tat ^_^. The reasons were silly, yet I managed some time to make some patterns from Mary Konior book.

While struggling with my exams, I also planned to quit my old job, looked for new job, had some interviews, and fortunately, everything went well. Right after I finished my exam, I moved to my new job.

A less-bright side of this new job is, they don’t give me internet connection. I won’t able having lunch reading my tatter friends’ blog like I used to, searching for ideas to tat, blogging or uploading pictures. All that have to wait until Saturday, after I sent my husband to office, done some housework, and get lunch prepared. Hoooouuuh see….I really gonna miss a lot of time with you girls….:((

Enough about bragging that thing on my shoulder! Fact is I still have some time to sit back and tat. Right now I have 2 little projects. First project is to decorated this Christmas sock. Well, to be honest I’m not satisfied with the color, and the pieces I put. But, I have no choice on the sock’s color and I only have a little time to finished it, so it’s really the best I can get. Maybe I can do better next year.

Second project still from Mary Konior’s book. Masquerade table mat. I’m quite challenged to make it as big as I can. But to avoid dullness, I tend to stop once in a while, make another piece, then come back to continue this mat. Huh…I guess it will take quite a long time to finish. LOL

Seriously, I think I’m gonna miss you a lot. Hope it’s only temporary, until I can adjust with my new routine. Till next time…Have a great great days everyone.

Last Post for the next 1 month

I guess, it's gonna be my last post before my TAX EXAM next week. 12 subjects in total, 3 subjects per week, well, that's make 4 weeks filled with rules and numbers. I'm afraid there won't be much time left to tat or blog **sigh**

About a month ago, my mom took a trip to Australia to visit my brother. Last week she came home. And look what my brother gave me

Look at all the sweets he gave me. He really spoilled me this time!

But the sweetest of all of this is....taaaaaa daaaaaaaa.....

Don't we just love this book?

So many fabulous designs, too bad I won't have much time to try them. Haaaa...another *****sigh***** LOL. But I manage to make "Large Cross". Can't show it now, for it's being pressed down under this pile!

Last night, when I put the cross into my magic pressing machine , I found, not one, not two, but THREE. Yes, three pieces of - I don't even remember where I put it- tatted bookmarks. Been there for quite some time I guess ^_^

Do you know that I went to economics school, majoring in Accounting? At the top of this pile is "Accountant's Bible". The GAAP = Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. It's a guideline for accoutant to make Financial statement, it's include standard, rules......eeeeeeeerrrrr. Let's be honest : I never really use the book, until I realize that this book is heavy enough to press my tat work!!! LOL. Therefore, to express my gratitude to this multifunction book, here it is

Here it is, the cover of Indonesian GAAP, posing with 3 well known patterns :

1. Flower bookmark, Pattern is being modified by Sabina Carden-Madden. Here is the pattern .

2. Christmas tree from Nancy Tracy. Click here to find the pattern.

3. Pattern from "Tatting Pattern and Design" by Gun Blomqvist and Elwy Persson

Last but not least, the weekly giveaway from Lady Shuttle Maker still continuing! (On the second thought, I'll be back next week and weeks after, to post another entry for next giveaway ^_^). Have you put your name on the bowl? Check on this link to see this generous giveaway.

Well, that's that for now. See you again in 4 weeks, 'till then, have a great days everbody ^_^

Making "PERMATA"

3 blogs in a week? I beat my own record LOL

Can't wait to share my "Permata" as I've mentioned on my last post.
For that, I want to share some pictures from other tatters. Many thanks to Jon and Elizabeth for permission to use their lovely picture here.

It's JON's lovely picture in her latest book .

and

It's ELIZABETH's picture. We can read the story in her blog .

The reason why I put their pictures here is to make comparison to my piece. Here's what I have. Can you really spot the difference?

No...I'm not trying to make new design out of Jon's. It simply because I'm really not a good student, failed to follow Jon's clear instruction!!!

I was, unconciusly, adding the count of DS after placing the beads. After slipped the bead, I secure the bead with one DS, and adding another 2 DS as instructed. After third quater, I realized, I have added another DS (times 8 for every beads) , made my ring more full than it's suppose to.Ended up with this modified piece.

A close observation of Jon's example and a very detail image by Elizabeth's (though she added several DS on the chain, but same counts on the ring), I'm really sure that I've made a big mistake for they only have 2 DS after the beads.

Since opening a ring is not an option for me, there's nothing I can do than skip some DS's, 2 rings, adjusted the outside chains, ignoring the fact that the center motif looked like a 3-legged man, and conficed my DH that I did all the modification in purpose LOL

Then, I get confuse about this whole DS count. One question, if the instruction is 5 - 5, after completing the picot, how may DS left? Is it 4 or 5? I never worried about this before, because without the cabone ring, if I do either 4 or 5 DS, as along as its consistent, guess I have no problem at all. But the DS for plastic ring have been counted accurately, adding more DS will result...another piece! ^_^

PS : once again, the first two pictures are not mine, added to my blog with generous permission from Jon and Elizabeth. Thank you for let me sharing those images.

Back to Busy Life

After 10 days of retreat from office, datelines, courses, traffic jams, morning rushes...including internet connection...here I am, back to my uncomfortable office chair.

You might wonder, what have I done during the holiday? (Well, even if you don't, I'll tell you anyway LOL)

Me and my DH continue the "living room project". We installed the parquet floor (yes, measuring, cutting, installing and reinstalling for about FIVE times before we get them in line). Exhausted, and satisfied enough for what we've done, then my DH got tooooo lazy to finish the ends. So this is what we have : a nice living room, with unfinished floor. Haaaa..boys...!!!

Between slaving myself as servant who cleaned the house, did the laundry and cooked as well, I also tatted some pieces. I like to share one of them.

Christmas Tree pattern from Japanesse Book. Haaaa, believe me, the picture on the book is much more beautiful than mine...:( But I'm quite happy with my trees. It's quite a challenge for me to join the trees.

I also tried a pattern from Jon's latest book. And it's another whole story...I intend to tell the story complete with some pictures, including pictures from other tatters. Still waiting for permission from the image owners, after it's completed, I'll tell you on my next blog.

For today's lunch break, I think I'm gonna try Ellen Lai's Jolly Sun paperclip . But now, 3 hours before, had reports to be checked. Till next time, have a good day everybody! ^_^

Another giveaway week

Back to office, with some exciting news about giveaways :

First , is from Aileen the Wickedtats. I was quite behind with this news, most of you must have entered for this "HALLOWVERSARY MYSTERY GIVEAWAY". And I have to get 3 entries to beat you LOL. Check the rules HERE

Second , (or third, since it's the third week ^_^) the Third monday of Lady Shuttle Maker giveaway. Not getting lucky on the first one, miss the second one, I should put my name on the bowl this week LOL. Check it out at her blog .

A Day Before Holiday

Yiiiippppiiieee...It's almost holiday. Indonesia who has Moslem for major population, celebrates Ramadhan. Offices and schools, almost every activities closed during this celebration. For me, it's a free pass from work for a whole week ^_^

Last week, my best friend was going to UK to continue her study. And I thought I have to give her something to remember me of. Here's what I came out with

It's a sketch book, with color papers. I decorated the first page, planned to be the "fancy girly cover". But I gave up, really can't make anything fancy nor girly LOL. Second option is making mushrooms (because she loves any mushroom dishes). With my husband's sketches, I made 3 mushrooms, grass, and bflies.

I didn't tat anything new. But I'll have a whole week to spend on my lovely bean-bag chair. Hope can make something new. Till then, have a great day everybody. And Happy Ramadhan for all of you who celebrate it.

A generous Giveaway

A generous giveaway from a talented tatter, shuttle maker, an artist ^_^
I'm so excited, ddaaaa...who doesn't? LOL I don't have anything to post except to spread the news about this Mondo Monday. Please click on the picture on my right bar to go to LadyShuttleMaker blog.

I'm currently work on small project, a gift to my friend.Bit runnin' out of time, I hope I'm able to complete it by this Saturday and post it on Tuesday; after I hand her the gift.

I also realize that I have 16 followers on my blog. Woooow...never cross my mind that 16 persons will visit my blog ^_^. Thank you all my friends, you're all such a great friends in tat-land. I hope all the best for you.

A NEW WALL ^_^

It's been 3 weeks? I can't believe it's been that long. Time flies faster than I thought. And for those 3 weeks, I didn't do much tatting. WHY?

Because the house was to dirty, I hardly found a clean spot to tat. WHY?

It's really a mess in my house, it's so difficult to clean it, with all the stuff on the floor. WHY?

Do I start to annoy you? The big secret is : I'm repainting my living room. Well, most of it was being done by the painters actually LOL.

The painters did the basic boring wall. Because I want to have a less boring wall, me and my husband (honestly, just the two of us) do a little creative thingy on one side (and FYI..it's going to be just ONE side of the room LOL). It takes about 20 hours to set it up, and another 2 days to have guts to open the tape ^_^

Enjoy the pictures :

Started by placing the mask tape, drew some circles, and cut it out

paint it (upps...the "melted" chocolate down there : my mistake ^_^)

Another paint here and there and wait until it dries, open the mask tape and taaa daaa....here what we have now

And the last picture, the man behind the wall, who's asking to be remain un-faced ^_^

Well, I do a little tat to, here and there, mostly at the office during lunch break. Just some old patterns,

A spiral bookmark

Lots and lots of Birds on the Wire paperclip

And the pretty shamrock paper clip By Ellen Lai

It's such a tiring yet an exciting week. And I hope you also have a nice day...

WE ARE NOT AFRAID

Indonesia has suffered from some bombing around Bali and Jakarta. I can't talk a lot about it, but it has created fear for everybody, not only local, but tourists as well. Terroris has a powerful weapon to spread fear and it might lead to degradation of a country.

The last bombing was happened on July 17th at Marriot Hotel Jakarta and Ritz Carlton, which only appart few minutes. It was shocking because we just had a Presidential Election just 2 weeks before. Even Manchester United cancelled their visit to Indonesia! What a shame...

Recently, a group of young people make a campaign, a movement called IndonesiaUnite . Like it's written on their website "Indonesia Unite is a movement. A stand point that Indonesia is united and have no fear". In a spirit of nationality and to celebrate our Independence Day on August 17th, this is what I came out with :

It's absolutely not the best ^_^ This is my first block tatting. Please forgive me for the mess. But hey...I'm not afraid...(to show it) LOL

I also made some phone dangle. I was very sleppy on one of my tax class, so I start to draw sketches, nothing original, I must saw the design somewhere. But I think it's quite easy to figure the DS count, so here they are

I try hard to create a "Happy ending" : something that doesn't need end-hiding. Do you have idea to make a better ending?

And of course more phone dangles from familiar pattern :

Pretty pretty design from Jon Yussof. Thank you Mak Cik Jon ^_^

Valerie square from Eliz Davis. Here's the lovely pattern.

That's all for now. Thank you for dropping by. Have a nice day to all.

Things You Won't Leave Without

There's an application PICK 5 at Facebook, you pick 5 things you won't leave your house without it.

Here's my top 5 :

1. My tatting bag

2. Wallet

3. Handphone

4. House Key

5. Hand Sanitizer

And what will happen if I don't bring one of those?

When I miss the last 3 things, it simply : "Uuups...forgot them..ah well...I'm gonna be fine"

Wallet is indeed important thing in my days. I got my money, and ID, driving license. Should bring them all the time. But if I left it, just cross my fingers, hope that there won't be any inspection whatsoever LOL

But when it come to forget about tatting bag : MISERABLE it is.

That's what happen today. A chaotic morning, running late to office, and no tat session during lunch break. Ouch!! What a gloomy day!

Few weeks ago I finished another cross, pattern by TeriDusenbury . Thanks for sharing the pattern Teri. She's such a talented person isn't she? I hope she's getting better soon.

It's going to be my new Biblemark ^_^

And a pattern from Japanesse book (sorry again to the author..I can't remember your name). Originally created to make a vest. But I can't manage big project, so I repeat the inside square patterns 4 times to make is as a coaster.

Made with olympus No. 40

Well, that's that for today. Back to work and hope that today is not so gloomy as I thought ^_^ And good day for all of you.

my little space

A fun blog challenge from krystledawnetats for us showing our tatting land. And I actually have the chance to show others space to my husband, and finally can say : "So, my sweet dear husband, this is what I want for my own tatting space!" Poor him LOL

My supplies might be a little more tidy than others for 2 reasons :
1. I just have a small number of supplies

All my supplies can put into small thread container, a tool box, and a -ready to go-bag.
2. My husband is a tidy man (me...not really a fans of tidy up LOL). He's gonna freak out if I left my tatting supplies in unproper place.

At the bottom is my fancy thread, the middle is of course for less fancy thread from local shop. And the top box, is just an empty box which just now, I realize, what is the use of it LOL

This is a tool box which is very useful to put small thread and beads. I use it for threads and beads I'm going to use soon. I sometime replace the thread with another threads from the big box.

And this is my ready to go-bag. I use it to put all projects I'm willing to make. Never missed this bag, anywhere I go ^_^

So the question is, where do I tat? Simply anywhere ^_^

My house is rather small. We only have 2 bedrooms. One for me and for my husband. The other room was used by my parent in law. They were moving 2 days ago. And I have a room left...yiieepeee....

It's temporarily used as a storage room, quite a mess huh. It's gonna be our new "Entertainment Room". My hubby with his guitars and me with tatting corner of course.

The Best Medicine

I'm not really sure about other culture. But in Indonesia, we simply expected to go to school, find a good work, get married and have children. For those who's not following that path, is punished with questions.

And for me the hardest part of being "childless couple" is dealing with questions : "When are you going to get a baby?" Huuf, is it really need to asked? It's not like we don't want it, right?

Lately, I realised, I'm not only being asked, but also given ALMOST ANYTHING to enhance our possibility.

From a modern supplement for me and for my husband :

I hope the label is quite clear, it's a line of honey, milk, vitamin E and B, omega 3, and other stuff I don't even know how to spell.

Chinesse herb

an unknown perscription

turn into an unknown ingridients

boiled into an un-delicious beverage

To a health stone, a set of necklace, bracelet and ankle bracelet.

It's kinda pretty though, so no problem at all with the jewelry LOL

It doesn't include the recommendation on some doctors, IUI treatments, hormon therapy, massage, accupunture and so on. Wow the list is getting longer.

After all questions and medicine, they told me for avoiding STRESS?!

They feed me with that!

What they don't know (but you girls already knew ^_^) that we have a best medicine :

Do you agree with me?

They are my best friends on my 3 hours waiting time at the doctor, the best stress reliever, the best reason to go all the way to singapore, it's just...the best of all.

Just drop by to say I miss you

This last two weeks, I worked on old pattern, or in Eborall's term : tatting in auto pilot, it's really automatic, I don't even remember what I've made ^_^

All I remember, I spend quite some time on sewing the ends. It's not my favorite step, so I tend to put them back on my treasure box, until I have a mood to sew them. And there, I was spending hours of sewing in the ends. Surprisingly, it's fun...to finally able to see the piece without any thread left over.

To think it for a while, I think I have made some from new pattern, I just don't have a chance to picture it. I'm taking tax class at night. Just right after office hour at 5, I'm rushing to my tax class until 8.30 pm. By the time I arrived at home at 9.30, I'm already too tired to do anything. Hope I can spend some time on this weekend to make new pattern and to give them a nice photo shoots.

I'm a bit uncomfortable to make a non-pictured blog. Feels like something is missing. But for now I really miss blogging. So, forgive me not able to share any picture. I just drop by to say I miss you ^_^

Scrambled (EGG?) ^_^

What happened to me for the last two weeks is silly. It started when I preparing pictures for my new entry. Then I don't know what happened, I simply forgot them. After few days, I wanted to start blogging, I THINK I hadn't prepared the photos yet, so I planned to prepare the photos first, then blogging. Another days passed, another week passed, and I still hadn't prepared the pictures. But today, I open my flash disk, suddenly I realized the pictures are THERE this whole time LOL. (Gosh...can you spot all the grammar mistakes I make? past tense always drive me crazy! ^_^)

Back to business....I've finished my homework yeeei

Months ago I promised my cousin a bracelet with her name on it. After so many excuses, I finally able to make her one.

I make it in purple color, her favorite. Using the alphabet beads I bought in Singapore lasat month, I formed a word L E V I N A. I was a bit dissapointed with how its looked. As always I never feel confidence with what I made. But turn out that she loves it ..hhhmmm or she's just being polite? (see...I did it again ^_^)

I also make a, what suppose to be a bookmark from tatbit . Don't you love the classical looked of flower inside a frame? It should be 3 frames to form a bookmark. But I decided to separate them, just because I love the way it looked. Thank you for sharring the pattern Teri.

And finally...something happened : my schruncy snapped!

I wondering what should I do with this?

I Need to Share it

I'm in a great sadness. So sorry to share it to you, but I think I need to spill my mind and my feeling.

Remember my trip to Singapore 2 weeks ago? I was doing a procedure called IUI (Intra Uterine Insemination); some of you might familiar with this procedure. For those who don't know IUI, this is how it works :
I was taking medicine for several days to stimulate folicles in my ovarium, I also having some injections until I'm ovulate. After I'm ready; my husband has to produce his sperm, bring it to lab, and they will "washed" the sperm to get the best of it. After the sperm ready, those 'tadpoles' are injected to my uterus and then we just hope for the best.

It was quite a stressful experience; I have to see doctor everyday for about 10 days , I have to remember all the dose he gave me, I also have to face my fear with needle, and dealing with the 75% of failure. Everybody reminds me not to get so anxious and stress. But it's rather easier to speak, isn't it? So, I tried (hardly) to enjoy my 2 weeks in Singapore, pretended that I'm on holiday!

And yesterday, after 2 weeks of waiting for the result, I had to accept the fact that my first attemp of IUI is officially...FAILED! I had my period yesterday evening.

I'm the weak one, so I told my husband, and I just kept crying all night. I saw my husband so worried about me, he's afraid that I can't handle this. Though I know that he also quite sad, but he's so strong and keep calming me down, makes my mourning time lot easier.

That was last night, and I kinda make a deal to my self I can pity my self all night long ,but only for ONE night! Tomorrow is a new day. Well, I'll try my best. Today, I make decision for my next plan : I am taking a break, no pills, no injections, no med check, find some distraction, let go all the fears, have fun, and just keep believing in His path. Wish me luck !

HIBERNATION

Few weeks ago my husband asked me what is Hibernation? And I answered : That's what I'm going to do...Hibernate

2 weeks leave from office to plan on pregnancy in Singapore, gave me time to relax and to enjoy a forced holiday. And also a chance to tat more and to shop a lot ^_^

I can't wait to show my new toys I got from Singapore

The threads I bought at Daiso, Golden Dragon, and from Ellen Lai

Beads I bought at Art Friends at Takashimaya

And Some other stuff I bought at Golden Dragon in China Town

Golden dragon in China Town, is such a heaven for me LOL. Do you think I'm overreacted? No...it's quite a nice and complete store. Lot better than one I have in Bandung. It has more threads and shuttles and anything you need to get creative.

My main purpose in Singapore was to get my self a treatment in order to get pregnant. I spent quite some times at the airport, airplane, MRT, and doctor's waiting room. So...what's better than tatting to spend all the time I had? Since I don't remember many patterns, I have to make simple projects.

I love making hearts and I have plan to make more. Though my husband said that I should make them on several colors, but I think I'll use red, pink, and white colors only.



I just love this cross. It's easy to make and it looks lovely when we use the right color on it. Actually, this cross was my first love to tat ^_^






I also tried to imitate Jon's snowflake. I hope she doesn't mind. I instantly fall in love with this cute snowflake the moment she gave me one. And I started to count the stitches, and I managed to make the dark purple and sky blue snowflake. Not as pretty as Jon's, but I think that's enough for now.


And my last project was tatted scrunchy (do I spell it correctly?!@) And as you know, it takes a long long time to finish, so long so that I can't do any more project and until last night when it got pictured, still on progress ^_^

Many thanks to Ellen Lai, who spent some time with me. She's the one who took me to Golden Dragon, and invited me to her house to tat and stay for dinner. I've learn a lot about tatting and also a friendship in tatting. Thank you and I hope I can see you again someday.

That's that, my 2 weeks hibernation. I've enjoyed my time and I hope you all too...^_^

Some Failures and Some (nearly) Succeed Pieces

This week end spent by me having fun with my threads and shuttles.

But some of it didn't turn out really well. Here's what happened

I love the pattern that Vinnie kindly shared on her blog . It's really beautiful and challenging. The first flower on the center is already giving me a hard time. I don't know what's wrong, but I cannot make 5 petals without overlapping another rings. And my other problem is I can't make a smooth join between split ring and normal ring. All I get is dimpled join ^_^. After 1 layer, I decided to stop making it. It hurts to see such a pretty pattern destroyed by my hand.

Then I tried another pattern. Instantly I fall for cute pattern by Ellen Lai. The butterflies are (easily noticed) having uneven wings. I hope practice really makes perfect ^_^. My friend said it was cute enough. But, still...not so good for me!

Finally, I had chance to try covering plastic ring. I'm not making any pattern with the ring. Only try to cover the ring. Yippie...I did it...LOL I'm overreacted, don't I? ^_^

That's all I got for weekend...between cooking and watching tv...I'm a slow tatter ^_^. I also spend some time to check on my tatted animal. Still messy with all the threads left. But I intend to sew them on small blanket, so I guess I dont have to cut them until I sew them, do I?

Can't wait until next weekend. So I can tat all day ^_^