my favourite room.

As usual, it has been ages since I posted. Strangely, in my last post, there were these funny colour "patches" which I cannot remove nor replace. I even tried deleting the entire post & re-doing it but still, the patches remain.

My sewing room here in Dubai, expands with more contents so it is even more cramped than it was in the previous post (over 2 years ago!!!).

A kind friend, Sabine, bought a new serger and gave me her old Viking Huskylock serger so that was really, really nice. That collection of large-cones you see here, has since doubled.

Now, there is also a dressform which makes this room complete.

A dress form which I have not fully used to assist in making clothes but which makes me happy when I look at it.
It is covered with a matt linen-like material but I have yet to remove the original clear plastic protection. 

This is my inspirational view when I sew. My favourite room. 

where I sew ...

A couple months back, one of our big windows shattered. It didn't crash down to the floor but there was a loud cracking noise & it was the biggest window in my studio. Later, we learnt that this can happen with sudden changes in temperatures, I had visions of millions itsy bits of glass coming down & all over my fabrics & so began the tedious task of emptying almost half the room.

After it was replaced, I had to move everything back again. The good thing is that I could re-organise as the sewing mess was multiplying in the night! I also re-upholstered my swivel chair which I have had for a very long time. From its original blue to a fun combo of purple "cheater" patchwork & purple dots. I love it when I come across other blogs with pics of their studios & fabrics so this post is about my space.

My sewing table is an Ikea desk, covered with a piece of much-loved yellow/ lime green,Japanese brand "Echino" oilcloth beneath my machine so I can wipe off fabric dust easily.

The wonderful acrylic extension table was a gift from my Bernina dealer in Tokyo when I bought this QE 440 model, after seeing it at the Tokyo Quilt Show. I think I am a very good customer at a number of Tokyo shops :)

I do love & missed the cherry blossoms hence the sakura decals all over my machine. The skirting below my sewing table, consists of 3 seperate panels so I can still reach underneath easily, for a few boxes of fabrics. Also hides some electrical wires.

To the left of this sewing table is my ironing space & that newly replaced big window. When I am at the sewing table, behind me is my cutting table. This is a larger Ikea table, covered entirely with a blue polka-dotted oilcloth. And yes, with few boxes of fabrics underneath. These 3 sections are in a U-shaped arrangement so I just swivel around. The other areas are too messy for any pics now though.

Around this U-shaped arrangement, there is space to walk around for my fabric collections, which are stored mostly on open shelves along the walls or in big clear plastic boxes.

The fabrics are folded or in bolts, organised mainly by colours, sometimes by theme (eg. checks, sewing motifs, sakura, rice bowls, dragonflies, Christmas, ...). There is also my sewing notions section & then, my books/magazines on 2 shelves in a corner.

As I have glass along one whole side of the room, there are various curtains hanging at partial height so I can sew in privacy yet still see the trees & sky. Also, these help to hide the mess when we have guests in the garden.

When it gets too hot (50 C / 120 F in summer), I can still draw another set of curtains (set higher up) so that the whole room is closed off. I like my room as it is pretty comfortable. There is a recycled cosy chair in it & my kids love to visit.

I am constantly in the process of re-organising my scraps stash. I used to sort by sizes so I am re-doing the whole lot by colours.

I have a great admiration for Catherine from New Zealand, who sews/quilts most creatively & also have the most healthy, energetic lifestyle of any mother I have come across. Via emails & through her posts on The Sewing Attic, Catherine described her sewing space (yes, a real cosy sewing attic space) & her fabric stash.

How do you keep yours then?

A full moon, a couple of lanterns & mooncakes.

Happy Mid-Autumn everyone! A favourite Chinese celebration in yet another city. 

Happy Mooncake & Lantern Festival too. There's a full moon tonight.  

The day started with this pretty box of mooncakes which friends have brought back from a recent Singapore trip. Thank you Chiara, Silke & Kalim.

 These often takes the place of a birthday cake since my lunar birthday is also today.

Yes, the Chinese have two birthdays - lucky us! We really try to keep our Chinese lanterns intact, as we move from city to city. 

On other days, the lanterns are displayed as part of our garden-trellis-headboard, in our guestroom & also by the kitchen windows. Too pretty to be brought out once a year. 

Tonight, we make & eat these jiaozi. Then we'll stroll around our Dubai neighbourhood, with the lanterns.

And a homemade card from my Annika. 

Partying, sewing & sneaks of my studio ...

It was a hectic week. After we got back from our Easter break in Singapore, it was more unpacking in a frenzy & more spring cleaning to get the house ready for some guests. Here's a glimpse of our new home, here in Dubai. Behind these 3 metre high curtains, is the garden with a pool, something which we never had before & which is really, really useful now with the present temperatures of 40s C / 100s F .

A couple of last minute cushions made with my favourite fabrics. 

 Whipped up a special dress for our special girl. 

Thank you all, who sent her bloggy birthday wishes in the last post - you made her very happy!

Had a little pool party to celebrate Annika turning 11. 

The pool was a real scary, yukky, mess the first time we saw it. 

That's why this pic is smaller so you won't get too put off. 

And the house used to be very empty & clean. This was my spacious (to me!) & empty studio. 

It was meant to be a family room with wooden sliding doors leading into it, from the kitchen (which I absolutely love!). I have placed my laptop to the left corner of this room so that when I type, I can still see the pool if my kids are in there. 

 The studio is fast filling up with stuff. Here is some (yes, some!) of my fabric.

Organised by colours & also by themes.

I try to be neat but I think these multiply at night !!!

In front of me is a curtain suspension rod, with various projects all patiently waiting to be finished...

Among this mess, I sewed this wristlet pouch for a good friend. Hope you like it, Linda !

Happy Birthday, Annika !

When you keep moving around the way we do, it is hard to form any friendship, let alone maintain the friendship when it's time to move again. So my little girl became my best friend & we do many things together. 

She draws & sews , like me. She knows which fabric goes with which & which fabric I would like. Today, my little girl has grown a little. 

Well, actually, she is now taller than me & she just turned 11 today! 

This is this year's homemade birthday party invitation card 
& 5 friends will come over, for lots of splashing fun in the pool. 

Each year, we make our own cake too.  

Happy 11th Birthday, Annika !  

Special times.

I never had any toy as a child. Not store-bought ones, at least. We play like most kids in our village - running around, hide and seek games & climbing lots of trees. One fond memory was the "5-stone" game we did, similiar to "jacks", I think. With no spare fabric scraps & no rice nor beans for the fillings (these are for eating only), I became quite good at this game as I had to use real stones. 

Now, I made these for my kids, not only when they were small but to play with, even now. It makes great sewing-projects-on-the-go. There are green beans stuffed in them as I no longer have to save every morsel for food. Seeing these makes me think of my mother, whom we visited over Easter. She gave up schooling at 8 years old so that she could work & support her family. She taught herself to read & write our Chinese language & now reads the Chinese newspaper every day. She adopted me so I could live & have a better life. And funnily, I have inherited my sewing skills from her.

She learns English so she could communicate better with my children, whose Chinese are sadly, not as fluent as their Po-Po's ( Grandma in Mandarin ) English. All these make us children & grandchildren, love her more. I am proud of her as she is proud of me.
Happy Mother's Day to my Mama. Happy Mother's Day to you all.

Quilting for Japan.

Thank you for writing, in regards to previous post. I truly appreciate the comforting words. 
Since then, there doesn't seem much we can do from here ..... except sew. 
I am making this quilt & giving it to my children's school 
(Deutsche International Schule Dubai), who will then hold a raffle, with all proceeds going to
 the German Lutheran Church in Tokyo, towards helping the people of Japan.  

This quilt is called "Ganbatte“.  In  Japanese, it means  “persevere, you can make it". 

Made entirely with Japanese fabrics, reminding us so much of beautiful Japan. 

In Red & White,  the national flag colours of a red rising sun on a white background.

“8” for luck as in the 8 appliquéd kimonos.

The Japanese children in the fabric design,  represent the families & citizens in unity,

bunnies as it's the Year of the Rabbit, fishes for strength, courage & luck. 

The gracious people of Japan will pass through these times of suffering, 

like fishes swimming through turbulent water. 

“ Ganbatte, Nippon ! “ 

Sad, guilty & lucky - a post with no pics.

It's been weeks & months since I've posted. We are now living in Dubai, amidst lots of boxes still waiting to be unpacked. This past weekend, we enjoyed our first dip in our own pool, at our new home. Enjoying happily... till we learnt that miles away, in Japan, in the country that we used to call home for the past 5 years, a massive earthquake had struck. By now, most of you would have seen footages of the disaster. We used to live in Tokyo & still have friends there. We tried calling our friends in Japan but in the initial hours, were unable to reach anyone. Slowly, we started getting emails from friends in Tokyo & from people who thought we were still in Tokyo.  

We were also having breakfast then & felt so bad & guilty when this happened. This is probably the "big one" that all Japan residents have been waiting for. When we lived there, we had an emergency backpack (copies of passports, cash, wipes, face-masks, inhaler, medicines, chocolates, walkie-talkies...) & in the garden shed; boxes of canned food, more sugar items, water, first aid kits. When Martin & I had to fly to Dubai for the look-see trip, we made sure the kids knew what to do/where to go, just in case.... . 

Maybe this is stupid but to be honest, the kids & I kind of wished we were still in Tokyo. I feel callous for wishing that we were there & then feel lucky too that we are not there. We have since gotten emails that our friends are alright & that some have left Japan, for fear of worst to come. 

Mothers waited anxiously at home & it was hours before they were together with the children again. Husbands were trapped in the offices & if they left, had to make the way home on foot as the public transportation had shut down. A couple of the kids' old classmates wrote to us already. Quite a number of schoolmates were crying & most thought that they were going to die. All these kids in fear & their parents were seperated from them, during all those hours! 

It happened shortly before 3pm on a Friday. The school buses would have left just after 3pm so the result was, most children had to remain in school till past 9pm since the roads were closed. The German school there is located in Yokohama, with a big river & overhead highway, between Yokohama & Tokyo. That highway was closed. We used to sign a form, allowing the school to take care of the children, if an earthquake should occur. Of course, a parent can also choose to go "rescue" one's kids from the school.   We always hope that if an earthquake does happen, that the kids would be in school since the school is equipped to have the kids there for 4 days, with food. 

Many walked home from the office & that was something which (when we lived there), my husband had also practised doing occasionally, to prepare himself. But then, it would have been a more difficult walk home now with thousands of people doing the same thing & the danger of aftershocks & falling debris from damaged buildings. He too, had an emergency backpack & an extra pair of good walking shoes, in his office. 

Keiko Goke, an incredible quilter & fabric designer, whom we met in the Tokyo Quilt Fest - she lives in Sendai, Miyagi Perfecture where it was most devastated, I pray that she is alright as so many are missing after the earthquake & tsunamis of over 30 feet in height. More than half the city has been wiped out. We are glad especially for our families' sakes, that we have left Tokyo. And we feel guilty & worry though, for our friends who are still there. (Edited on 15 March : Keiko & her family are alright & still in her own house in Sendai, which is so amazing!)

Over the oceans & across the dunes, from Tokyo to Dubai !

Our new life will be starting in an oasis. As you are reading this, the movers are here
& we are preparing to leave Tokyo. With fond memories, we say goodbye to these : 

For the next few years, we will be residents of DUBAI, United Arab Emirates.

Living in this city with the world's tallest building, 

and lots of sand between our toes.

For the next few weeks, we will house-hunt while staying at a service apartment. 

Keeping our fingers crossed for our dream villa, the term of which houses are referred to, there. 

Our children will start school on 4 January, at the Dubai German International School,
where there's palm trees in the courtyard. 

In their new school uniforms of white Polo shirts & black bermudas, 

they will learn German, English, French & Arabic 

(which replaces the Japanese that they used to learn in the past). 

And next week, on our first day in Dubai, we will not only celebrate this new part of our lives,
we will celebrate our wedding anniversary as 17 years ago, on Christmas Eve, we got married in New York City.
It might be quite awhile too, before I get back here so please bear with me,
while we move & then get settle & try to unpack those 600 boxes or so!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, everyone! 

Countdown, twice !

We are counting down frantically over here.

We count down in between panics, not only to Christmas but to our big move across the oceans. 

This year, we will spend Christmas in another country, where it will never snow (sob!). 

This year, we couldn't put up as many festive decor as we normally do. 

Except for our homemade Advent Calendar, 

everything else stays in the attic, waiting for the movers to come.

Our Advent Calendar has different sized pockets & removable wooden pegs. 

In our home, we filled up some of the pockets, Santa filled up the rest. 

Sometimes, the pegs moves around to fit the goodies accordingly. 

My husband is German so we celebrate German festivals too. 
So on 6th December, Saint Nikolaus (protector of children & a very good friend of Santa), 

will come by to fill up the children's shoes, which will be left outside the night before. 

Happy Advent !