Escape from hastle and bustle 偷閒郊遊

On a sunny winter afternoon, I did cycling to Ma On Shan along Tolo Harbor. What a brilliant crispy day. Further is Pat Sin Leng. The ridges are clear in sight.一個和熙的冬日下午, 踏著單車往馬鞍山, 瞧對岸八仙嶺清晰的山巒, 小灣平靜如鏡.

Tranquilty with sampans . The other side of the bay is heaven of kids and pigeons.

I passed by a path where the grasses were just trimmed. I love the fresh trimmed grass smell. Hummm, what a lovely nature ! Sunset - goodbye and heading home.

What am I showing ? 我要展示.....

I'd like to show you.... not only our Mogi but the fabric bag I made for my sister, Pauline. Pauline said she would like a shoulder bag for summer that looks care free and asked me to do it not in a hurry. I was so eager to have it finished and tried everything handmade. Will give her this Sat. Hope she loves it. 你看看我的貓兒 Mogi很可愛喲, 我要展示的是我特別做給妹妹的斜肩布袋子. I've been inspired by Sandee's fabric bags and Felted House's lovely Archie, a black cat. I decided to make this bag with the used curtain fabric and wet felt the black cats. 網友的手作袋及黑貓 Archie是我的制作靈感.

This looks practical that the front has pockets for book and pen. 好實用喲, 前袋可放書及筆.

The back also has pocket and with lining. Button is a ceramic leaf made by me. 前後有袋子, 內夾裡布, 鈕子是我做的陶瓷葉子.

I cut the template of a cat and wet felt it. The machine sewed button hole doesn't look good. So I wet felt a piece of wool and inserted in between to form a hole. 機縫孔我不滿意, 我用羊毛氈化套入孔內成為一個圓鈕孔.
When we're kids I constantly bullied my sister, I was selfish and taken all the good stuff from her. Now we have own family and we're getting along. I will do whatever she adores. This is a simple bag and my needle works are not that good but it's made with love. 小時侯妹妹總是被我欺負, 我們 成長後各自有家庭, 我對她更顯關愛, 祗要她喜歡的我有求必應.

Another experiment of nuno felt and "Treasure Box" 又一羊毛披肩實驗與 "月光寶盒"

A glowing box - I call it "Treasure Box" 我的 "月光寶盒"

First off I must thank my pottery studio tutor Choi Chi, she's the first one to give me a Christmas present - a Nuno Felt book - the one I'd been looking for. Great that I got it now. She read my mind. I started only a year the wool felt crafts and really addicted to it. Thank Choi Chi for lining up some classes for me that drive me to try many creations from simple pouch, brooch, needle felt to nuno felt.......
謝謝蔡芷送給我一本我想買的Nuno felt書 , 好開心收到第一份聖誕禮物, 好一個靈感泉源.

Today I finalised a nuno shawl. This will be a gift to a prominent lady L. Hope she loves it. This light piece can do variations, even good at a breezy summer night.
These boxes are new trials of nuno flowers on lids. No no no, the white cat is hair of my cat Mogi. Very soft and easy to felt.
See, the boxes with LED lamp inside. True light is better than pictures. Personally I find these the most beautiful I've ever made !!

These are some of my felt making reference books. Two from Choi Chi. Want to do this and that. I'm full in mind but with less time.

With the year drawing to the end, I wish you (thanks for reading !) a festive season.

Happy felting, happy crafting, happy........ whatever you wish...... ~.~

Cycling on a chilly weekend

We've chilly days but with sunshine it's not that freezing. Today's Sat, as usual I see my mum in Shatin. Before seeing her I cycled along the Shing Mun River bank. Cycling is my favourite outing second to hiking.

River is calm and there's rowing practice today.

Further is Ma On Shan which means Horse Saddle. The shape looks like it. Here in Hong Kong we've quite some greenery and hiking trails. This looks good, right?

Love me love my dog - special gift for someone. 愛屋及烏- 送給特別的朋友

Last Sunday I spent 3 hours to make a nuno shawl for a special one as X'mas present. It's made of pure silk and merino wool. The silk pieces are mainly of purple flower patterns. I put on black and little purple wool which migrated firmly around the silk pieces. she doesn't know my blog. Hope this makes her surprise and she loves it.

The model is my daughter Jasmine ~~~~~~~~ This piece will be for her boyfriend's Mum !!

Decoupage bags making with colleagues 午間小敘- 圖案袋制作

When our office was in downtown we used to do grocery or window shoppings during lunch break. Since moved to the remote district, there’re nothing to shop, we can only promenade after lunch. That’s good exercise but what else can we do for a work-life balance? Decoupage is nice and easy to make. I prepared all the materials and offered my colleagues a free session. This day five of us together after a light meal, ready to go……

Wow, sweet snowman !

Rosina Wachtmeister's cats are gorgeous, Santorini is romantic and Santa Claus is festive for Christmas. All well done in an hour !

Here you see how they made it with the plain bags I sewn .

Put the glue on the bag and blow-dry it.

Then put on the napkin pattern.

Brushed layers of glue to cover the pattern.

After 3 layers of coating, (1 layer of coating is enough. Eva corrected me after that's done) all dried and finished. It's simple and easy. Girls enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to Eva who taught me this skill. Love to share other sorts of crafts later.

Nuno 3D flowers bag 立體絲花手袋

Fabric is art. Put the silk and migrate down into wool to make a night bag with nuno 3D flower is icing on the cake. I just made a small bag with flap - a one piece handbag for any occasion.

I stitched the interfacing and made the wool button embellished with glass beads to make easy pulling.

Tied with wool felted and glass beaded stripes.

Here's how I made it:

Loose stitched the silk pieces. Made it pedal look and pulled it into a flower then covered with some wool in between.

Laid down wool and cover the whole resist .

Laid the flap

Put the silk flowers onto the bag. The wool migrated down through the fabric, seams of flower become invisible.

The stripes are detachable. It can be used as a pouch.

I'm happy to share this. Your comments are welcome.

Thanks for viewing. Have a good day.

My joy of daughter's Master graduation 我女兒的碩士畢業典禮

I'm delighted to share with you my daughter Jasmine's Master graduation in the HKU - Faculty of Architecture, Real Estate & Construction. On 1 Dec we attended her graduation ceremony at the City Hall and followed by photo taking in the campus today. 12月1 日在大會堂參加女兒芷臻的碩士畢業禮, 繼而在這和熙的周日在大學校園拍照, 我很高興與你們分享這份喜悅 .

My bright and gorgeous Jasmine

I was waiting to be seated in the Concert Hall

Jasmine at the presentation

Jasmine's brother and dad

Jasmine and Dave

My mum and sister

Time flies. The sweet kids are grown ups now. I always keep these photos in my wallet. They're 2 & 4 then. Sometimes when I open my wallet at the cashier people asked "Wow your babies ?" I replied yes sweetly. Jasmine kidding me that I like to carry their baby pictures just let others to have the impression that I've young kids and I'm also young. I told her that they're the sweetest and most obedient at those ages. She said that just like cats when they're kittens, they're naive, innocent and gorgeous. Girl, now you're adult though naughty at times, you've your way of thinking, you're smart. I can't deny I'm old. I proud of you ! I'm over the moon for your achievement !

My leisure trip to Hangzhou & Shanghai 遊走杭州與上海

Escape from the hustle and brustle routines, I went to Hangzhou and Shanghai with friend Aileen. Hangzhou is renowned for the scenic West Lake. It's now autumn with cool weather. We walked along the West Lake for almost a day and seen the typical scenic views. 難得有假期, 忘卻繁囂, 與朋友Aileen去了幾天杭州及上海, 漫步綠柳西湖. Beautiful view of pagoda over a bridge with willows dancing in the air.Water lilies are dried but still another good view of West Lake
Leaves are turning yellow. After a walk we sat by the lake. What's more relaxing than having a creme burlee and admiring the tranquility! 輕踏黃葉, 細味秋意
Goodbye to Hangzhou and heading to Shanghai by the highspeed train .
Infrastructure of Shanghai is fast developed and everywhere with skyscrapers. 上海高速發展, 浦東高樓處處, 彼岸黃埔灘仍幸保留很多歷史古舊建築

Some old buildings of French, Belgium, British are still well kept.

Xitiandi (新天地) - affluent shopping, eating and entertainment areas famous for the "stone gate houses".

Tianzifang (田子坊) - a fusion of art and historic. I love this area, love the alleys with art studios and galleries.

Collage of people

I bought painting books of van Gogh and Wu Guanzhong (吳冠中), a book of bags making as well a book (重訪邊城) by the famous Chinese modern writer Eileen Chang's (張愛玲). I found that the hotel I stayed in just next to the apartment where Eileen Chang stayed when she's young.

I'd a relaxed trip, enjoyed the leisure and admired the old and new of Shanghai. The economy of Shanghai is soaring. The hardware is ready for world competition. Software still have room for improvement.