My Cross-stitch Creations

My mom taught me how to cross stitch when I was in pre-school perhaps when I was 5 or 6 years old. She was a home science teacher and she taught baking, cooking, sewing & etc to secondary school children. In primary school I had cross stitch projects. I remember that I cross stitched a tote bag in Std 2 or 3. I used to tote my water bottle and snack in it to school - something like a bento lunchbag nowadays.

I continued with cross stitch even up to my secondary school years. I would go to the craft shop in my home town to search for cross stitch designs. My mom had a few cross stitch pattern books but I prefer to stitch Precious Moments.  I stitched mostly Precious Moments cos I just love the sweet designs and bible verses by Sam Butcher. During the school holidays, I took special orders from my church members and sold quite a lot of framed cross stitch. In the process, made some pocket money! I sold each cross stitch frame for about RM50-RM80 depending on the design.

Even in university I stitched a little here and there - nothing major - for weddings/gifts. In KL/PJ, I could easily purchase cross stitch materials and books! Upon graduation, I was posted to Negeri Sembilan. I had a lot of free time during work..... no internet access........ so do what? Cross Stitch! It cna be quite addictive once you start! I stitched the cats photographed above when I was in government service serving in the rural FELDA scheme (heard of FELDA Jelai anyone?).

Well, after having kids........ cannot concentrate on cross stitch already...... plus there are so many distractions now....... not like I am in a kampung or small town with hardly anything to do except watch TV/read/cross stitch.

I've got a stack of cross stitch books & thread in the cupboard..... perhaps can teach Evan Marissa to cross stitch when she's older! Now I am wondering why my mom didn't teach me how to crochet? Ummmmmm.... maybe she did but I wasn't interested! She also sent me to sewing classes after my form 6 but again I wasn't that interested in sewing...... She didn't really teach me to cook either so I am so not an expert in the kitchen. Baking? My mom can do it so well but I just use my oven mainly to make cheese toast.  My dad was good in sports eg tennis, volleyball, hockey, ping pong etc but I didn't even make the team to represent my school in any of those events.... Instead, I went on to play Chess!?!?  Now I wonder whether my kids will excel in whatever I want to teach them..... A game of chess anyone?

 Marissa requested for her photo to be taken by saying "cheeeeese cheeeeese" Then she posed and posed while I snapped. Finally she asks to see the photos in the camera over and over again......

Brother & Sister

 Marissa in her watermelon 2-piece set and her Gymmag toy.

 

Evan giving Marissa some art lessons..... Evan saw the Ikea stools at Ikea store and said pink one for Marissa and blue one for Evan! So I bought them for them!

 

When the both of them are not fighting over toys.... they can be quite adorable. Evan likes to teach Marissa new things (Just like Teacher Esther!) and even hold her hand when out walking. But when the fighting starts - it's "NO! MINE! NO! MARISSA TAKE MY TOYS!" and then it's more shouting and crying and etc.....

My Big Bookworm

Since I have blogged about my 'little' bookworm, I will now also blog about my 'big' bookworm. He's pictured here with one of his favourite books (he has so many favourites!) : Charlie Cook's Favourite Book by Julia Donaldson.

The book is about Charlie Cook who reads his favourite book and in his book he reads about a pirate who has a favourite book which is about Goldilocks. And in Goldilocks' story, she reads her favourite book which is about a knight. This goes on and on with many favourite books till Charlie Cook becomes a story himself read by a ghost. Sounds pretty confusing, huh? But Evan loves reading the different 'books' in this book. The text is well written in verse/rhyme and the illustrations are humorous!

Evan's favourite pages are the ones featuring the pirate, knight and the thief. This paperback book includes an audio CD which Evan listens to in the car. He can even sing the song as well!

Marissa peeking into the camera.....

My Little Bookworm

 

If I were to take part in the Little Bookworm Contest.... this would be my entry.... heheheh.....

Introducing..... Marissa with her absolutely favourite all-time book : The Very Hungry Caterpillar by acclaimed author/illustrator : Eric Carle! This is a board book & plush toy set.

Whenever Marissa wants me to read the book with her, she will grab the caterpillar and show it to me saying "read! read!". So I get the book from the shelf and sit with her to read.

"egg!" says Marissa pointing to the first page. Then when we come to the page where the caterpillar (who hatched from the egg) is very very very hungry, there's a spread of various food on the pages. This is when Marissa gets into action with her plush caterpillar.

"yummy, yummy, yummy" she says while her caterpillar 'eats' the strawberries, apple, pear, ice cream, sausage, etc etc etc.

"eat! eat!" as she continues stuffing her plush toy with more food!

When the drama is over, the caterpillar turns into a cocoon. This is when she will say "fat". Yeah - fat caterpillar and fat cocoon. Then the last page shows a beautiful butterfly.

I've since bought more books from Eric Carle for her but this one remains her favourite.

Time with 'khaufu'

Peek-a-boo! Marissa surprised us when she climbed into the cupboard as we were re-organising its contents!

My brother : Wei-Chung came back for a short holiday right after his graduation. He has since flown back to Germany as he had to attend a few interviews for work there. His area of specialty : Automotive Engineering. Marissa enjoyed playing with her 'khaufu' and can even call him but pronounciation is not that accurate.

'Khaufu'  is quite a pro with his camera and he helped my other brother, Sau-Wern, take lots of photos of his Lego collection to be posted in the Lego forum. It was newly launched a few weeks ago. Click here to visit! He also snapped some photos of Marissa parading in her tutu and accessories (much better than the shots I took!)