A life with dogs: Balance and sleep wanted.
Daisy Dog, the Chinese acrobat
I’ve caught Daisy sleeping in this position a few times. I’m not sure how she finds it comfortable, but there you have it.
It was a particularly hot day, and you can tell by her face that she’s just totally knocked out.
I haven’t sewn anything in recent days because I’ve just been too busy learning how to cook for the dogs. Never have I come across dogs more fussy with their food. They would rather go hungry than eat something they don’t like. They were practically skin and bones on the expensive commercial dog food we used to feed them. They hated the dog food and I can’t say I blame them: I’ve always thought it smelled strongly of chemicals.
So it warms my heart to see that they appreciate my cooking. I’ve never seen them so excited to see their food bowls and I’ve certainly never seen them eat so heartily. The hard work is slowly paying off–we’re seeing meat on their bones at last, and they’re full of energy (except on hot days, as the photo would attest to).
Now, my task for this month is to find a balance between cooking, spending time with the dogs, sewing stuff and doing my Japanese homework.
Who doesn’t love Polaroids? Or Poladroids, for that matter?
A pretty poladroid picture of an ancient trishaw in Penang, Malaysia
I’ve been secretly wanting an instant camera for ages now. Even though I know it’s totally impractical. It reminds me of days of yore, when we were young, and my dad was still interested in taking photos of us with his Polaroid camera. The camera’s gone missing now (I assume so), and last I checked, Polaroid doesn’t make instant cameras anymore. There are lomo instant cameras, but way too expensive for a toy, which is basically what it will be in my hands.
So it was really exciting when I found out about Poladroid (thanks to my latest favourite blog, evangelione!). It’s a cool free tool that turns your digital photos into polaroid-looking images. It’s just amazing. I’m totally enthralled by the results.
p/s – I took the above photo at the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang. Plenty of history and intrigue, and a hauntingly beautiful place.
Happy 2009, and a list of things to make
I ushered in the new year with cake
I spent a lot of December 2008 baking. I’m not naturally a cook or a baker, but the urge struck, and so I baked. Prior to that, the last thing I remember baking was a banana cake for my home ec cooking exam. I was 17. A whole decade and a half later, I ushered in the new year with freshly baked cake, and it was very nice indeed.
Talking about nice things, I’m constantly being amazed by the amount of shared knowledge within the sewing and crafting community. There is such an abundance of good will and helpfulness. Everyone is so generous; the volume of freebies flying around from one blog to another is just astounding. People are sharing their intellectual property in a way I’ve never seen. It’s so inspiring, and I’m so glad to be a part of it.
I’d like to say a huge thank you to Ellen of thelongthread.com, who included one of my tutorials in her compilation of Top 100 tutorials of 2008. There are so many tempting projects on that list; I don’t even know where to start! 2009 looks very much like it’s going to be a really busy year indeed. I wish everyone out there a great year ahead. May your 2009 be blessed with good things and freshly baked goods.
Dazed and just slightly confused: mad sewing adventures
I sewed all these in half a day because I enjoy living life on the edge. Okay, okay, I procrastinated.
Our family used to have elaborate Christmas parties, complete with a Christmas tree and barbecued meats. We’ve downscaled in the past couple of years. We do a pot luck instead — everyone brings something nice to eat — and presents are optional. Since I’ve been meaning to make bags for as many people as possible, I decided I would sew up some bags as pressies. But, as usual, I left things to the last minute, so on Christmas day, I was literally a flurry of activity. And I managed to catch my Chinese drama serials at the same time (an accidental new obsession). Talk about multi-tasking.
I was quite pleased with this batch of bags, as I managed to calculate how to get the most out of the fabrics I did have. Grandma was rather impressed, too.
