In the Mail: An Itty Bitty bit of Home

I was so surprised to receive this in the mail today!



My dearest friend Sherry Jess sent me a surprise package to remind me of home. Thank you my dear girl! I am having a good laugh reading through it!

So, just a brief introduction. Singapore English, or more affectionately known as Singlish, is a form of pidgin spoken in Singapore. Because we live in such a culturally diverse society, our everyday lives are a mix of many different languages. Singlish has become our very own unique blend of English, Malay, Tamil and all the various Chinese dialects!

As I flipped through the introduction, I was almost bent double in laughter, reading through the paragraphs heavily peppered with Singlish terms.

Here are a few excerpts of some of my favorite entries, the phrases I always use back home, but have not heard in awhile. And in my current situation, I am most likely not going to be understood if I were to use them.

alamak |ah-lah-ma'h|

A Malay expression of dismay, surprise or alarm that has long been rumoured to mean "Allah's mother" but more likely comes either from the Arabic "Allah Ma'ak", meaning "God be with you" or "Allah maaf kar" meaning "God forgive you". It is thus used to denote a situation or action of such calamity or stupidity that God's intervention is necessary.

(My note: Most people use it as an exclamation, an equivalent of 'OMG')

Usage:

"Alamak! Why you go and do this sort of stupid thing?" translates into "OMG! Why did you do such a stupid thing!"


kan cheong |gkahn tjee-ong|

A Cantonese and Hokkien term meaning nervous, harried, overanxious or uptight.

Usage:

"Your exam in June, now only March, you so kan cheong for what?" translates into "The exam's in June and it's only March now. Why are you so nervous?"


kan cheong spider

Epithet describing someone who's kan cheong, i.e. a nervous wreck.

Usage:

"Eh, don't so kan cheong spider lah! Also not late, hurry for what?" translates into "Can you not be such an overanxious twit. Why are you hurrying? We're not late."

Somehow, I feel very English after all the translations...


To PRISCILLA (this one's for you!)

pecah lobang |bper-cha loh-bahng|

A Malay phrase which literally means to break a hole. It's used in the same way as the English phrase "to let the cat out of the bag".

Usage:

"Don't tell him anything secret. He like the BBC like that, sure pecah lobang." translates into "Don't tell him anything confidential. He's sure to broadcast it like the BBC."

So if you're interested in reading further, or have plans to move to Singapore in the near future, The Coxford Singlish Dictionary is a very good guide to help you understand 3/4 of the population. Okay. Now i really miss home!

Crafting on a Monday: Tee-Shirt Recon Tutorial!

Yes! Being very good and productive today. Made a bag for another friend and did a little stash bustin' (double yay!!!). Dug out the J-man's tee shirts. Put them through the wash and got ready to cut them up!

This shirt has never been worn before. I bought a size too small for him. Well, actually it was just nice, but he insisted the belly showed. So, he never wore it. Hmph.



I liked the print on this shirt, and I love racer back tops.

So, I got out my seam ripper (insert sinister laughter)

First, i ripped the seams of the sleeves, and took the sleeves off.
Then I ripped the side seams. And last I ripped the collar seams and removed the collar.

All that's left holding the front and back of the shirt together are the shoulder seams. By keeping the shoulder seams together, you can easily pull it over your head and 'wear' it to measure out how much excess material you need to trim off. I did that and pinned the sides together while wearing it, to give it a snug fit. Then, without removing the pins, i (very, very) carefully took the shirt off by pulling it over my head again.

From my pinning measurements, I drew a line down the shirt, cutting off two inches at the top down to one inch at the bottom (see photo for clarification). This is so the shirt will taper inwards, giving it a more feminine shape (i hope!)



I also decided i wanted the back panel to be narrower, more like a racer back if you know what i mean. And because only the shoulder seams are intact, i could flip the front part of the shirt away from me and concentrate on the back.

I folded the back panel in half lengthwise. Then proceeded to trim off the excess material. I took a wild stab, no measurements needed or it really depends on how you like it to look.



Now to put the top back together again. Pin the shirt with right sides together. Sew the edges of the sides together. Now my shoulder seams were looking a little rough, and i was afraid after seam ripping near it, the seams would start to fall apart. So I cut off the shoulder seams, pinned it and re-sewed the shoulder seams together.

I apologise for the lack of photos, and if the instructions are not very clear. I was too impatient and excited, i forgot to take photos along the way. Feel free to add comments on how to make this tutorial clearer!

Anyway, here is the end product! Yaay! One more new piece in the wardrobe. I might just make it for the next Me-Made Challenge!



Daisy approves too!

Oh yes, don't forget to enter the giveaway, if you haven't already!

Spreading Good Cheer Giveaway: Where it all Began.

Time to spread some good cheer and love all round again! xx

In this post, I would like to take some time to recap and reminisce about how and why I picked up crafting.

Way back in time, when dinosaurs roamed the land, a group of friends and I decided to start our little 'fairy' store called Mustardseed, creating whimsical organza pouches and cushion covers, inspired by Shakespeare's fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Our collaboration lasted but a mere few months, during which we set up shop at flea markets or whatever fairs we could land a booth at. We had a steady stream of orders, but it was a pity we were all so young and new to life. We were at a transitional stage, waiting to get into college, waiting to start a new phase, waiting for exciting things to happen.

And so we went on our individual ways.

I never forgot the joys of camaraderie, of designing and sewing into the wee hours of the night, of rushing orders, preparing for fairs, of selling our items. We were so thrilled when we did an interview for the local paper about our little venture.

But I also remember one of the hardest pill to swallow was pricing. How to price our items so they could be agreeable not only to our customers but also our pride. So many times we had lost customers because we refused to mark our prices down. I think we were pretty naive, and not too market-savvy. One thing though, we believed ourselves to be true artists.

The next Christmas, I handmade my first gifts for my new college friends. I still remember the vaguely square shaped zippered cushion cover, saved only by the awesome print and colors. The tiny pink coin pouches, flimsy little things, without any lining (*gasp*), and horribly aligned zippers.

But I felt an immense pride.

Then I crafted on and off, letting the bustle of life distract me mostly. About four years ago, I lugged my sewing machine with me when I moved to China, where I rediscovered the joys of gifting my handmade items. Ten years on, I am still crafting, sewing basic shapes and simple stuff, but with more pizzazz. I am picking up neat tricks here, new skills there, and even made some crafting friends! Most recently, I started an Etsy store, just because I've always wanted to, and maybe (subconsciously) in tribute to Mustardseed.

So in honor of Mustardseed and my first crafting buddies, i am doing a giveaway. I just made a purse organizer for a friend's birthday. As usual, I made one more for the Etsy shop and one for this giveaway!



This Faux Patchwork Pouch / Purse Organizer is up for grabs! It measures 8.5" x 4.5", has a zipper closure and is padded with polyester batting and fully lined. Oh and it also comes with the cute button charm (or whatever you call it).

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment below by 4th of July, 11:59PM EDT. (Thought I'd make it a 4th of July celebration tie-in too!) I'm going to ship internationally too, so join in the fun everyone! I'll be selecting a comment at random. You don't have to, but following my blog will be really nice, give me an extra dose of encouragement, and not to mention reap good online karma.

So.

Good luck!

If you have any when-it-all-began crafting stories too, i hope you'll share them with me. I'm a sucker for sappy/ happy stories. Post a link to your blog entry together with your comment below. I WILL read it i promise!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

:: July 15, 2011 ::

J and I plan to make it a date night.

We're so excited! Are you?

Thrifting: Martha's Vineyard Community Yard Sale

In case we decided to go on a shopping spree, we limited our yard sale budget to $20.

We spent every dime of it, but in return we got


Another fabric stash! *YAY*


Hitachi Rice cooker!

And a juicer that i forgot to take a picture of.
Oh! And the Chime-o-Matic Rice Cooker makes a sound *diiing!* when it's ready! Too cute! I love it!

Butwe both got everything we needed, so money well spent!