Pink ribbon October

October is the Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

My mom is actually one of the breast cancer survivors. She had her surgery back in 2002. After a series of chemotherapy and 5 years hormone-therapy by consuming Tamoxifen, she was declared clean from cancer in 2008. She only has to do a yearly cancer blood test afterwards. Thus, I was given a warning on this matter. I should do an early detection.

P.S. This Hard Rock Cafe pin was bought by my hubby on his Bali trip with his high school friends a few days ago.

Another Side of Bali (3)

I visited one of the famous ceramic manufacturers in Bali, the Tanteri Ceramic. This company exports its products to foreign countries, such as USA, Japan, and France. I have to admit that its designs are very smooth and refined.

















Although the crafters use several types of machines and tools, the details are still done by hand. They carve, shape, and twist the clay carefully and neatly.




The products are very fascinating...

...as I finish writing this post, I realize that still there's no beach pictures in my camera.... just like the last time I went to Bali...

Another Side of Bali (2)

While in Bali, I stayed in Kuta area, one of the famous beaches of Bali. At night, the atmosphere is full with excitement; the loud music, the hectic traffic, the bustling cafe visitors, and so many more activities along the street. But in the morning, it is rather quiet. And this is the view from my room balcony.



And the Balinese people say that their building never exceed the height of coconut tree. And I am pretty sure about that (after observing the surrounding).




At Pejaten village, I visited the workshop of Wayan Kuturan, one of the pioneer in pottery-making. I tried to gather as much information about the pottery-making activities in this village. And I could not help to notice his shack's ceiling. It was beautiful. The wooden bar was decorated with carving.



And I just love the gold color.

Another Side of Bali (1)

Last Wednesday, I got a chance to visit Bali again...(unfortunately) for work. Well, I haven't had a chance to go there for vacation.. :-(
But then I thought that others do not necessarily have the opportunity to visit Bali for free, so I just enjoyed the trip and did my tasks at my best.

I always pictured Bali as an island with beautiful beaches and rice fields, thousand of temples and attractive dances. This time I got to know another side of Bali by visiting small handicraft industries at Pejaten village, Tabanan Regency. They produce ceramic handicraft and pottery. I was there to identify what kind of training that they need to improve their products quality and sales.

They used to make roof-tiles.



But in order to increase the added-value, some of them switched to handicraft making.


Many interesting things I observed here.. I'll be back with another post..

Pendet Dancer

I have finally finished my pendet dancer cross stitch. It was quite a challenge using metallic thread. I thought I was experienced because I did the metallic stitches on Lesley Teare's oriental Peacock and Peonies. But still, I went through a tangled and knotted yarn. But I enjoyed every stitch and observed the shape of the dancer appeared on my Aida.



Then, I will need a suitable frame for this, with a traditional touch perhaps ;)

Now, I'm getting back to my postponed tablecloth... :)

Aug 3, 2010
I was just googling around and I found out that the original designer of the pendet dancer pattern is Mrs. Aryati from Crossstitch Point, Jakarta. Well, it's too bad that the Hobby Craft shop doesn't mention it in the kit :(
And here's the preview of the complete set from Buletin Bisnis Website about Crossstitch Point.

Traditional Pattern

I always feel envious to see traditional cross stitch patterns published in the magazines or sold in the craft shops. There are lots of geisha, washi doll, matryoshka doll, hungarian motifs, dutch windmill, african dancer, you name it. I had never seen a cross stitch motif or theme of Indonesia. That is why I fell in love with this Balinese Pendet Dancer cross stitch kit since I first saw it.

Pendet is a traditional dance from Bali, Indonesia, in which offerings are made to purify the temple or theater as a prelude to ceremonies or other dances. Pendet is typically performed by young girls, carrying bowls of flower petals, handfuls of which are cast into the air at various times in the dance. Pendet can be thought of as a dance of greeting, to welcome the audience and invite spirits to enjoy a performance.

Here's the result so far. Two things left : gold stitches and backstitches.


Actually, there are 6 patterns available. But, I need to save some money first to buy the other 5.

(Pendet dancers photo from Wikipedia, courtesy of Christopher Michel, San Francisco, USA)

Mayday...mayday... Running out of floss...

I'm nearly halfway finishing the tablecloth, but I'm running out of floss #938..!! Ouch.. I'll have to do some shopping tomorrow...


In the meantime, maybe I'll stitch the Pendet Dance of Bali which I already have in my stash.