Sunday 30 March 2014

Melaka nightmare

We went for a short trip to Melaka During the Chinese New Year break. We didn't plan for it. Ops redah and terjah.

We wished we never left home. 

We arrived in Melaka only to be greeted by massive traffic in Ayer Keroh. Too many attractions located on that stretch. And too many traffic lights. Melaka is really the land of traffic lights. And grave yards! We could see 1Malaysia even in the afterlife. We went straight to Holiday Inn. It was fully booked. The next one was also full. And the next. And the next. We called almost 20 hotels, pricey and budget. No availability! The kids were already whining blaming us for bad planning.

We went to Umbai supposedly famous for its ikan bakar. It was totally awful. Fish not fresh, slow service (waited 2 hours but only half of our orders came), and pricey! That's our first and last.

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Still no luck with the hotel we decided to drive back home at 10 pm (after spending only 4 hours there). On the way to the highway I saw a signboard of a hotel. Told my husband we should give it a try just in case there's availability. It was a few minutes away from the main road. We were greeted by a big porch and bright lights. I thought wow this is so grand and promising. To my delight they did have rooms! The kids jumped with joy. I chose a cheaper room as we'll only use it for sleeping.  After checking in while the kids bathing I decided to google the hotel as I never heard of it before. To my horror I found this Puteri Resort Ayer Keroh Melaka     That's exactly our room!!!!!!

Without finishing the reading I told my husband we need to change room immediately. I only explained afterwards. We took a more expensive room. It was obviously refurbished so different from the haunted one. I did more internet research next day about the hotel. Some guests reported spooky experience there. Any coincidentally my friend said one of our company's staff died in the swimming pool there!







The breakfast was horrible. And returning home we had to endure 6 hours of public holiday traffic though we took an inner road.

All in all Melaka is a nightmare.

Monday 3 February 2014

Baby pillows

I made these over the Chinese New Year break. What else to do right? Gifts to my friend on the arrival of her new baby boy.


Mental design : Simple. Buntings pattern sewn over white material. I imagined for the inside fabric to peep through.

Supplies : White cotton material with embroidery details (leftover from my previous pillow case project). Patterned coloured cotton materials (I used blue + brown + stripes over white). Perfect for a baby boy - some masculinity. Super soft grade A kekabu filling, I bought in Perak during our road trip holiday last year.

New sewing skills learned : Sewn-over bunting patterns. Making a bolster (making the rounded cap at the end required some skill. I got my hub to help calculating the diameter, radius, etc. At the end I hentam jelah tracing the shape using a jar! Haha)

Dear my friend Sha, I hope Muhammad Umar Zharif loves to snuggle the pillows...



Sunday 26 January 2014

Sewing with love

My mother-in-law has been sewing blouses for her mother for quite some time. Ah Mah (grandmother in Hokkien) has been wearing nothing else except these homemade blouses. The pattern is all the same - front buttons so that it's easy for her to get dress due to her aging bones. It's always cotton, mainly flowery, for comfort.  My mil said it's not easy to buy ready made 100% cotton blouse these days. My mil is making one now for the Chinese New Year. The octogenarian will be elated. So sweet. This is love.



Monday 20 January 2014

Sawadee Chiang Mai

Our family holiday in Chiang Mai Thailand on 24th - 29th Nov 2013. Flying Thai Airways. Overall verdict - not that great. It would be more appealing to westerners. For us the weather, culture, places, experience are similar to what we have in Malaysia. We made mistake by joining group tours, cramped in small van for 3 consecutive days. We loved the hotel. And it is a shopping heaven for some. I'm not one of them (husband sighing). Our memories of Chiang Mai:

Boutique hotel - Yaang Come Village.

Reception

Reception 













Wednesday 1 January 2014

How to celebrate New Year

01.01.14 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

How to celebrate new year?
After satisfying dim sum brunch.. head home and spent time in the sewing room.

Been wanting to try making this Union Jack cover since I saw it a few years ago. Not that I'm an anglophile though. I used old t-shirts and scraps. Worked we'll since I didn't have to serge the edges. The white cloth was purposely ripped to fray.  The cushion fits well in my son's bedroom.



When I showed it to my husband, his remark was 'you are in the wrong country'. My son said 'I don't like America'. I said this is not America.. it's England. He said 'I don't like England... Uhhh what's England?...

Haishhh people give me break will you. I just want to make something pretty..

Enjoyed my crafty afternoon.... Listening to Nasional FM Radio station...macam mak mak...heeeeee