October Happenings

Oct is the month of examinations in Singapore.  Not that I'm sitting for any exams, my 3 children are.  I can't afford to take leave to stay at home, so I could only do some last minute revision with them (especially with Kristine) on weekends and evenings.  This year was worse without a maid :(  But we managed!!  And Joey come in top for Sec 1 in her school!  

I didn't find time to blog too often, but here's an update.

For the Prayer Flag-ATC swap, we have Bonnie Jean Larsen's (USA) flag of Love...

and Dina Greer's (USA) 3 different flags.  Bonnie also sent a very chic and artistic piece with her name, while Dina sent extra hand-drawn and painted cards.  The kokopelli is so cute!  

(A kokopelli is also known as a fertility god, prankster, healer and story teller,usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player, often with feathers or antenna -like protrusions on his head.)

The swap was completed and ATCs sent out to participants in mid-Oct.  Thank you for playing, Bonnie, Dina and Sarah!

For the Inchies-onexone group swaps, Debbie House is back on track from her house shifting, and we have received the Jun, Jul and Aug swaps.  Plus the 6 inchies missing from the Heart pocket-ATC from Debbie herself, and 4 choice inchies from the May swap (bottom right black card): Muffin from Marjorie Grace, You Take The Cake by Lynn Lipchak, Cheeky from Brooke G and the last one with button and ribbon from Polly.

For the Alphabet inchies (Jun-Aug):

Q, V, X - from Marjorie Grace

R, S, W - from Sandra Hanson

T, Y - from Polly

U, Z - from Debbie House

Rinchies (choice) for Jun swap:  Bird from Debbie H, Heart from Barb P, USA Flag from Marjorie Grace and Flower from Polly.

More May swaps: 

(Top left black card above)  Oriental inchies - 2 from Polly, 1 Japanese from Debbie H, 1 Japanese from Marjorie Grace.

(Top right black card above) Stamped images inchies: Striped cat & deer from Polly, Cat from Lynn Lipchak, Nest of eggs from Debbie H.

Jul swaps:

(Bottom left black card above) Happy - Dog & Rooster by Debbie H, Bride by Polly, Winnie The Pooh by C. Robin.

(Bottom right black card above) Inchies (choice) - Postcard/flowers and Rabbit book (in envelope) from Polly, Dream from Brooke G, Truck number plate from Marjorie Grace.

(Photo below) Inchies (choice) for Aug swap: Flower from Katherine, Halloween from Marjorie Grace, Clock from Polly, and Double from Brooke G.

We also swapped ATCs - Fused fibers (Bird) from Debbie H for Jun swap, Lavender fairy from Polly and Eat Cake inchies on ATC from Lynn Lipchak, both for Aug swaps.

I did some gifts for colleagues - 2 tatted bookmarks (my favourite oak leaf/acorn and zinnia patterns again) and a birthday card done with all die-cuts (birthday greetings from a few of us signed at the back of the flowers and butterflies).

I have just sent this pair of Flower doll-ATCs to Phyllis Boggs (USA) for Oct swap.

Think I have forgotten to show this Birthday ATC I did for Marja Maas (The Netherlands), whose birthday falls on 8 Oct.

Mid-Oct, I taught 2 big tatting classes at HCI to JC1 students, 25 students in all.  Very, very tiring, but a great sense of satisfaction. 5 of them were still struggling at the end of the class, but a good number of them were able to tat rings and chains and went on to simple motifs. 

I'll end again with this last flower arrangement Kristine did in school - her best scored arrangement.

And oh, Joey just managed to learn cycling this weekend!

Swaps Received from Inchies-onexone Group

Finally, March, April and May swaps came in!  I have almost forgotten what I have sent in for these swaps - see my March (1), March (2), April and May items submitted.  

March swaps: Debbie House's Pocket ATC (oops, Debbie missed the inchies!) and Stitch in Time ATC.  The feather Simple Fold ATC with inchie has no name - wonder whose work is that?

Debbie House's Animal People ATC (for May swap) and Window ATC (for April swap).

Top 3 cards (March swaps), going from left to right...

Debbie House's paper punch inchies (1st 3 on the top left corner), Polly's paper punch inchies (2nd 3). 

Patricia Ann's Easter inchies (top 2), Polly's Spring inchies (middle top), and Debbie House's Spring inchies (bottom 2).

Candy/gum wrapper rinchies: Patricia Ann's kiss, Marjoeie Grace Sayers' Trident, Debbie House's Halloween and Polly's sweetie.

Mid-row cards - A to P alphabet inchies (March-May):

A, F, K, P - from Debbie House;

B, G, L, O - from Sandra Hanson;

C, D, E, H, I, N - from Marjorie Grace Sayer;

J, M - from Polly.

Last row cards -

Rinchies (choice) for May swap - Nuts from Lynn Lipchak, purr from Debbie House, yellow flower from  Marjorie Grace Sayer and flutterbies from Polly. 

Debbie House's spring flowers moos (April).

Last but not least, Debbie House's sleeping babe betwinchie and Lynn Lipchak's betwinchie cat (April).  


A set of inchies (choice) for May swap seems to be missing :(

Nevertheless, kudos to everyone for the wonderful, colourful, creative works, and Debbie for hosting the swaps!!

Catching Up on More Swaps

The latest Birthday ATC was done for Kalona Simmons (UK), with crocheted flowers and tatted butterflies.

A similar piece but done on a different felted background was sewn up for The Linen Shelf's July ATC.

June and July inchies/rinchies/ATC swaps sent to Debbie House (USA), plus 2 extra ATCs for Debbie herself.

The background for this ATC and the one on the top left-hand corner above were made up of scraps of torn fabrics (waste leftover from my previous fabric book project) and yarns weaved and fused together.  I'm quite happy with the result!

Rinchies "Flowers", "Happy" and inchies "Garden" - all embellished with tatted elements.

Inchies - Q is for Quiet, R is for Ring, S is for Snowflakes, T is for Tulip, U is for UFO, V is for Vase, W is for Wreath, X is for X-ray - all done with die-cuts/punch; Inchies "Oriental" and "Stamped images with glitter".  

I just love the challenge of squeezing sufficient details onto the 1-inch squares to bring out the themes.  Try it out if you don't believe!

Back in June, Kayenderes Green (Canada) surprised me with a mail in my letterbox, when I wasn't expecting any overseas mail.  

Kayenderes wanted to learn to tat and I have previously sent her some threads, so I sent more threads and simple patterns to her.

For Jun doll-ATCs swap, Sevgul Sumer Dielemans (Belgium) sent a pair of very lovely shimmering mermaids. 

My ATCs sent to Norma Soulet (USA) - cut from free postcards.

Last Thu ATC session in Bishan Library, we used postage stamps to create ATCs.  

The theme for the night was "Under the Sea".  For my "Riding the Waves" ATCs, I used the inside of envelopes to create waves and made some slits for fish to jump in and out of the waves.

Origami ATCs I received from swap with Rita, and beaded fish from Vicki.  The water lily pond was what I did using a postage stamp. 

In conjunction with our annual August ATC exhibition "ATC on Parade", our group planned for an international swap "I Am Hungry".  I did some ATCs ...

and developing the idea further into paper dolls - Ms Ambassador of Food 

and The Hamburger Boy.  These are done for the ATC-ArtDolls group July Challenge "Food People".

Jun Challenge was "Bird Cage Lounge".  These were what I came up with, putting my die-cuts to good use.

Catching Up

I have been real busy with lots of things in hand.  I have quite a bit to catch up and to show.  And this new blogger is giving me problems :(

After the first "Butterflies and Buttons" ATC, I tatted more button flowers to sew 2 more ATCs - 1 for Linda Keller (USA) for the Birthday ATC swap (her birthday falls in May), and another for the month of May for The Linen Shelf's ATC Challenge.

I finally decided to dig out my semi-precious stones to make these bird nest pendants, but personally, I still prefer flowers and butterflies to bird nests.  

  

Nancy Tracy's free pattern for April was a bumble bee. I think white wings would look better, but nevertheless, they are real fast to tat up with just 2 colours.

Here are my April inchies swaps sent to Debbie House (USA), the host.  Besides inchies, there are betwinchies, Moos and an ATC.  

The alphabet inchies are totally done using die-cuts.  I just love to challenge myself to squeeze in the details in the 1-inch square.

The Moos with tatted flowers and betwinchies with roses assembled from punch/die-cut. 

The ATC with windows "Who Are Behind M & R?".

My May inchies swaps are also mailed out to Debbie. 

Continuation of the alphabet inchies, all done with die-cut so far.  

ATC "Playing Pirate" - animal head with human body.

The April doll-ATC swap was Tooty Fruity.  My ATCs with Mr Pear and Miss Grape.  

And dolls received from Mary Flower (USA).  Mary's dolls also look so lovely and colourful.  I'm so happy to be swapping with her finally!!!

Button fairy, Ms Papillon Chic, created for the ATC-ArtDolls April challenge. 

And finally, for the May ATC session in Bishan Library, we did some collage work with painted textured papers, taking inspirations from Eric Carle.  We produced some really awesome works within the half hour!

Here's my piece, and the ATC I swapped with Mdm Au "M is for Mouse".