Thursday, October 27, 2011

My (little heart) Creative Space

Little love hearts

Tonight I have been stitching some little felt hearts.  I felt (haha) that we needed some home made loveliness after we had an eventful afternoon.  Abbey's dear friend from kinder fell over while running, split her head open and we saw it all happen.  There was so much blood as it was her temple and she did need a hospital visit and stitches.  Abbey was very concerned for her friend.

Abbey found it difficult to get to sleep tonight, I could tell she was anxious about her friend. She kept coming out of her room saying she had a tummy ache and asking after her friend.  When I got a text just after 9pm saying her friend was OK, stitched up and tucked up in bed, we could tell Abbey her friend was OK.  So Abbey was finally tucked up in her own bed with a heat pack on her sore tummy and a little hand made heart in one hand.  Made with love.  Some extra ones made for her friend (and her mumma)

Happy Creative Space day to you.

Cat.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Virtual flowers for a friend

Happy Birthday, Nell! 

Dear Nell,

Happy Birthday to you!  Here is a virtual bunch of flowers for you.  I am thinking of you on your birthday and wish I was there to help you celebrate.

Thank goodness for modern technology, I am loving seeing you on skype every week - even when our kids still interrupt our conversations.  Some things never change.

Moving so far away from you has made me really appreciate how wonderful our friendship is.  I feel so blessed to have you in my life.  You are an amazing person, one of the the best cooks I know and a fabulous friend.

See you in December!

Love from Cat xox

Monday, October 24, 2011

My first time

Hi lovelies,

Today I am doing my first ever guest post over at Emma's lovely blog Frog, Goose and Bear.


Pop over and visit my post for today then stay a while, Emma's blog is full of fabulous ideas and easy recipes.

Have a lovely day.

Cat.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

My (meow) Creative Space

Today I hope to sew up some new bibs and burp cloths.  I have not made any of these for over a year. Around 13 months ago, when the the vague possibility of moving to Hong Kong was early days and still just a possibility, I stopped making them.  Then, rather quickly, we really were moving to Hong Kong and no more bibs or burp cloths were made as I was busy packing and sorting.

Now, this week, a dear friend has had her first baby.  These fabrics are so her.  Yes, the pink and red strawberry fabric is getting used again.   I guess you can tell I love this fabric.

I don't normally share on my blog presents I am making for friends before they have received them.  In this instance, I am sure she wont be reading my blog, so I should be safe.

I best get sewing, I want to get them in the post as soon as possible.

Happy Creative Space day to you.

Cat.

Cats and strawberries.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

All about spirograph, the Dancing Man and Chinese parsley

It is probably high time I talked about living in Hong Kong and not just about the wonders of fabric shopping in Sham Shui Po.  We have been here for a little over 3 months now.  I have really started to enjoy living here.  At first it was a little overwhelming - a new city, a different climate, different cuisine, a different language.  No friends or family, not knowing where to buy some everyday items.

Now, after 3 months, I know where to buy the avocados that will ripen (from the wet market) I know where to buy yummy ham off the bone. We know where NOT to get a haircut (the Shropshire boy had 2 hair cuts in one day and it was still not great)  Some days you go into a supermarket and they will have an old favourite food item from Australia or England - like Hula Hoops or BBQ Shapes.  They may never stock them again, or could run out of them and take 2 months to re-stock, but this is OK now as we know what to expect.  Hong Kong really feels like our home now.

Fun fun fun!

I bought Abbey this spirograph set recently.  I remember playing with one when I was a child.  I can assure you, it is still lots of fun!

Here are some completely random points about our time in Hong Kong so far:

  • The Chinese do not like babies to suck their thumb.  They think it is dirty and disgusting.  I wish I had a dollar for every time a local has (gently) tried to take Zoe's thumb out of her mouth or made a comment about sucking her thumb.  I find it very funny now, as I am Zoe's mum, I know she loves sucking her thumb.  
  • Today I was quite shocked to see a baby in pram sucking it's thumb!  You do not see that very often.
  • (Most) People are so friendly here.  The local Chinese really, really love babies and children.  So many people say hello to us everyday (well, say hello to Zoe first and then maybe Abbey)
  • Yes, even with the above point, it is quite common here to have a full time,  live in domestic helper/maid.  Most of these women come from the Philippines or Indonesia.  They are not paid much and work 6 days a week, away from their own families.  I am still struggling to understand how this works.
  • Coriander in Hong Kong is called Chinese parsley.
  • We live near some apartment blocks where pets are allowed.  Most days I see a few pampered dogs being pushed around in a baby pram, being taken for a walk - not actually walking.  
  • There is a local Grand dad that dances to pop music in the street.  We call him the Dancing Man (or Groover Man) and walk past him most mornings on the way dropping Abbey off at kinder.  The girls now wave to him, and he waves back.  He is a great dancer and is always smiling.  He makes me smile just seeing him in the same place every morning, happily dancing away without a care in the world.
Until next time, have a lovely day peeps.  

Cat

Thursday, October 13, 2011

My (lego) Creative Space

Hello there my friend.

Hello there, my friend.

This week I have been finishing the lego bunting.

Lego Bunting.  Lovely.

This fabric is so lovely to sew with. 100% cotton, Kokka, made in Japan.  Gorgeous.

Bunting

I want to keep making more bunting with this fabric as it is just feels so good.  Some more Christmas presents finished - yay.

Peek-a-boo!

Peek-a-boo

I love visiting all the other Creative Spaces every week, find them over here.

Happy Thursday to you.

Cat.

Monday, October 10, 2011

When all went quiet.....

When all goes quiet....

When all went quiet, I knew Zoe was up to mischief.......

No harm was done to either toddler or Janome.

Have a lovely week peeps.

Cat

Thursday, October 6, 2011

My (WIP) Creative Space

This week, I still have lots of sewing projects on the go.  The only things I finished this week were the zippered pouches.  I am still working on the rattle cubes and the pink and sparkly bunting.

This gorgeous collection of green and orange fabric is destined to be bunting for my besties daughter for Christmas. She is 6 years old and I love it that pink is not her favourite colour like most other girls her age - she loves orange.  It is a refreshing change to be sewing with some colours I would not normally have chosen for myself or my girls.   I am waiting for the just washed fabric to dry.  That won't be too long as it is still warmish here in Hong Kong, most days this week have been in the low 20's (celsius)  The stifling heat of the past few months, I hope, is behind us.

Orange and Green

I want to finish off this lego bunting I begun way back at the start of July soon after moving to Hong Kong.  I only realised yesterday that I do not have the right shade of blue thread.  (Zoe and) I have been exploring the Sham Shui Po area one day a week since we first visited this amazing area of Hong Kong.  I now know where to buy more fabulous ribbons, zippers and beads beads and so many more beads.  Last week I found a shop that sells sewing machine needles for my Janome machines.  I have not found any threads, anywhere, yet.  Some more exploring is in order (yippee!)

Lego Bunting

All the other lovely Creative Spaces are over here.  Happy browsing to you.

Cat