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.

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! 

Fabrics all around & a teenager too !

A friend asked what fabrics do I have & how much.  

So, here's a part of my ever-growing stash. 

Some are folded.

Some are lying around, 

patiently waiting to be sorted out, by colours, theme or by designers. 

The hardest part of my projects, is always selecting the fabrics, 

which seem to be oozing out from every corner of my small & crowded studio. 

...and a new quilt top...    

Today, our Niklas, is 13 years old. He sure loves to read.

He has been waiting a long time for this day, to be a teenager.

And we waited a long time for Niklas to be in our lives. 

Whenever I pick him up in school, he hugs & kisses me which really means a lot to me.

I am happy that he does that, whenever he sees me or his sister. 

He holds his sister's hand when she is frightened. And removes her shoes for her, 

when her hands are full with schoolbag & ice cream. 

生日快乐，权权! Shen ri kuai le, Quan Quan !

You are finally a teenager. Have fun with your new Kindle.

Lots of sewing & reading.

I have a few quilt tops that I need to work on, so they are all over the house.

Sometimes I sew in the studio, the living room & the terrace too.

Especially ever since the landlord built us a roof !

Our terrace isn't big but pretty cosy to us. Most Saturdays, we eat pancakes out here.

In between, I am happily distracted by presents.

New quilting books, lovely flowers & drawings by the children

& more books that came with my new Kindle.

All wonderful birthday presents from my children & husband

as we celebrated special days (see previous post).

When asked which cover should they order to go with the Kindle,

the children said "No Papa, Mama would want to make her own cover!".

And so I did...with a Laura Gunn oilcloth & a cheery Japanese fabric too.

It's been lovely days!

Happy, Happy Day !

I do have much to blog about & no time to blog. In past months : the cherry blossom season came & went, I have become more interested in quilting, acquired a new, fabulous sewing machine (Bernina QE 440), & made a couple of quilts too.

.

The children grew older & Annika played at her first piano recital, in this homemade dress. She also turns 10 today.

Annika was born in Singapore, 15. May 2000, the Year of the Golden Dragon. She set her alarm clock to 7.55am as that's the time she was born. Coincidentally, her brother, Niklas was born at 8.44am (on 15. Oct).

Happy Birthday to my sweet child, my partner in sewing.

16 years ago...

...we got married on Christmas Eve in New York City. 2 friends who were staying with us for the festive season, didn't know of our plans until that very morning, except that they had to bring something proper to wear as we were "...going somewhere special" on Christmas Eve.

So we went to the German Lutheran Church in NYC to be married by the Pastor, had drinks at The Rainbow Room with a fabulous view & cruise around Manhattan in the evening, in a yacht.

No, it wasn't a private yacht but it was a yacht with more fabulous views. On the way home, it snowed - a perfect end to a special day! Happy 16th year to us!

Our home is pretty cheery at this time. Couple of pics are from last Christmas since we do about the same thing each Christmas :

A special Advent Calendar to help the kids count down the days. Our traditional wooden hand crafted Angels from German, a collection started by my mother-in-law for us. She sent us a couple each year & I'm glad she did this!

Each Christmas, the children put up hundreds of these paper gingerbread boys & girls. Annika & Niklas made these when they were both still in kindergarten. I pre-cut these from 3 shades of brown paper & each day when they got home from kindergarten, they would "decorate" a few. If you start in June, you will get hundreds by the time it is Christmas!

On our tree, besides twig-stars, gold & red tinsel balls, we have hand-painted mini clay dolls from China, kawaii painted wooden clogs from Japan.

Beneath the tree is part of our quite-large Brio trains, a collection which started when Niklas was one. And he's 12 now.

Here & there too, are craft made by the children, like Christmas mobiles made in Kindergarten. And this Chinese Doll made from a halved-milk carton.

And some old pics of the kids when they were really young!

Have a wonderful festive time & stay warm!