Flashback...

I don't know... I'm a bit mellow these days and came up with this flashback.

The reason I made this blog in the first place was to accomodate my weird and contradictive habits...
I love writing journals and diaries but I get bored easily, not to mention that I'm moody. So I've always ended up with uncontinued diary books. I thought that making a blog would be my solution and saving me from wasting diary books (and saving a forest).

Here's what happened in my everyday life that I've shared over the years here on A Day In The Life.

2007

August 2007 - I started this blog and was still figuring out what I should write & share
November 2007 - I posted my first entry about my work team. I can recall the day, it was a hectic day full of pressure that I came up with a post to motivate myself.
Desember 2007 - I was still struggling with contents to put in my blog and posted a random entry about my characters.

2008

February 2008 - I was still as random as I could be...
August 2008 - I had a blast attending my high school reunion.
November 2008 - I finally found my old passion and started cross-stitching again. It started with my first piece of cross-stitch and several pieces followed suit. And then my passion grew bigger and started to found cute designs. And I started writing in English instead of Bahasa Indonesia because I felt awkward writing in my native language (Yes, I'm weird like that o_O).

2009

June 2009 - I found myself exploring my hometown for cross-stitch supplies more often and of course roaming the internet for ideas and informations. That's when I fell in love with colorful designs of Jeremiah Junction, fresh color of strawberries, and my all-time-favorite designers, Margaret Sherry.
August 2009 - I made a cross-stitch piece for my sister's birthday.

2010

May 2010 - I posted a belated entry of my Oriental Cross Stitch by Lesley Teare.
June 2010 - I enjoyed making birthday gifts for my daughter's friends.
July 2010 - I tried out new designs, monochrome and traditional.
August 2010 - I love(d) batik, I should learn photography, and I stitched so slowly.
September 2010 - I learned new things about cross-stitching and blogging, a Stitch-A-Long and Blog Giveaway... And bought another traditional theme design of the Balinese Dancer.
October 2010 - I attended my university big reunion and stitching this and that.
November 2010 - Bali!!! I stitched a Balinese dancer design and did a work trip to Bali.
December 2010 - I finished my Balinese dancer and did my first New Year Cross Stitch Exchange with fellow Indonesian cross-stitchers.

2011

January 2011 - It was time to reveal what was inside the New Year Cross Stitch Exchange package. I also updated my monochrome tablecloth progress and started my Parisian Street. I also made Violinist Cat from Margaret Sherry for another birthday girl.
February 2011 - More updates on Parisian Street, how I 'build' my 2nd storey of the cafe and then the 3rd storey.
March 2011 - A family gathering and another birthday gifts for Nabila and Tasya.
April 2011 - I did a slow update on my Parisian Street.
May 2011 - I finished my Margaret Sherry Lovers SAL #1, the Culinary Cats.
June 2011 - Parisian Street was finished and maicih was trending.
July 2011 - I finished my monochrome tablecloth and uploaded my blackwork piece.
October 2011 - After two months break, I was back with random post and old pieces post.
November 2011 - I enjoyed mobile photography and captured my everyday life through its lens.
December 2011 - Year-end has always been a hectic time, I struggled to do some stitching and spent holiday at home. And I joined the New Year Cross Stitch Exchange again.

2012

January 2012 - New year and late posts of work trip.
February 2012 - More about my social network service on mobile photography and getting used to mobile blogging through my smartphone.
April 2012 - I joined Margaret Sherry Lover SAL #3 and finished its first piece. I used pictures from my phone camera for blog entries on mobile photography SNS, gardening try-out, and my birthday.
May 2012 - I started to drabble too much and did some updates.
June 2012 - I tried other form of craft, made changes on my daily routines, and prepared Margaret Sherry Lover Summer Exchange.
July 2012 - I finished cat #2 from the SAL and started Ramadhan fasting.
August 2012 - A start to hectic months at work and celebrating Eid-ul Fitri.
September 2012 - It was great participating in Margaret Sherry Lovers' Summer Exchange and doing a Pixie Parcel for a friend.
October 2012 - Appreciate life through Breast Cancer Awareness Month and treasuring friends and family we have.
December 2012 - Time to celebrate special days. And I actually did a New Year Cross Stitch Exchange for the third time, but didn't have time to post about it. Maybe later...



*phew*
Enough with the flashbacks...
Let's enjoy some coffee and happy stitching!

My treasure (part 2)

Good coffee is a pleasure
Good friendship is a treasure

-Unknown-

And so, after receiving the two Germany mugs, I began to think of what to send Sylke in return. Then I decided to make a cross stitch card to send to her. My choice was My Cup of Tea from CrossStitcher Magazine #229 by Margaret Sherry.

I have stitched this one at the end of 2010 for New Year Cross Stitch Exchange 2011 with fellow Indonesian cross stitchers.

The reason for this choice was because I thought Sylke loves cat & tea :)
Few words written expressing my gratitude, it was ready to fly to Herne, Germany.

Since I knew that Sylke's hubby loves to collect stamps, I decided to send the card by regular snail mail, so I could use my special choice of stamps. Despite the convenient amount of time travel needed, I feel like sending mails via Express Mail Service lessen the fun because of the lack of stamps to be attached...

I hope she will like this super extra special tiny card :)

Pixie parcel for a friend

Dream. Believe. And make it happen.
-Agnes Monica- (Indonesian young & talented singer)

So, unfortunately one of our Summer Exchange participants, Francesca from Italy, didn't receive the exchange package nor a notification about it from the supposed sender. So, Nia & several fellow stitchers decided to send her surprise little packages to make it up. I'd love to participate because it'd be fun and kind of thoughtful. We called the surprise packages attack as Pixie Parcels to the Rescue.. (cute... ^^)

Since I didn't have much spare time to stitch lately, I decided to make a tiny piece of a bookmark. So it didn't take too long to finish. The butterfly design is from 80+ Cross-Stitch Kind Thoughts book by Kooler Design Studio. And I added butterfly wooden-buttons into the package. (I think I'm kind of match-freak, aren't I?)
I sent the package at the end of August.

So, there went my package all the way to Florence, Italy. And 2 days ago I received an e-mail from Francesca which informed me that the package has arrived at her door.
Glad she liked it!

I'm glad to take part in this and very grateful to get to know friends from all over the world.

Happy stitching, friends!

Summer Exchange

A very very very late post of my Summer Exchange with fellow crossstitchers/bloggers of Margaret Sherry Lovers group blog.

I should send the package to Lu from Brazil, and supposed to receive one from Judith from Germany.


So I made a Margaret Sherry piece Love Bugs and stitched it into a polkadot red string bag.

I also stitched these bookmarks, one with the ladybug to match the Love Bug pattern and one with a saying and colorful pattern.

Added three kind of ladybug buttons and three different color of flosses, there went my Bag of Summer.

Last touch, a personal note on a postcard and I sent it to Lu.

And this is the package I received from Judith.
A personally written postcard, a red striped ribbon, a butterfly wooden clip, a wooden hanging ornament and a lovely hanging ornament of an adorable Margaret Sherry cat. It made my day when it arrived at my door.

The cat is the Margaret Sherry's Picture Purr-fect design if I'm not mistaken.

I'm very glad I took part in this exchange. It's been a great experience.... Looking forward to another exchange!

Happy stitching, friends!

Oriental Cross Stitch

Di pertengahan tahun 2007, tak sengaja menemukan buku ini saat 'browsing' buku di Toko Buku Gunung Agung. Karena desainnya cantik-cantik, akhirnya dengan berat hati dibelilah buku ini, karena harganya lumayan mahal untuk ukuran dompetku. Kebetulan waktu itu belum terlalu 'literate' dengan internet. Jadi belum tahu bahwa di dunia maya sana, cukup banyak pola-pola cross stitch yang bisa didownload....



Pola pertama yang dikerjakan adalah pola 'Peacock and Peonies' karena polanya cukup menarik dan menggunakan beberapa benang metalik.. Bukan hanya warna emas metalik, tapi juga biru dan hijau metalik. Sebetulnya direkomendasi benang metalik keluaran Kreinik, tapi susah juga nyarinya di Bandung ya... Akhirnya dicari benang DMC yang hampir mirip, jarang juga tersedia, kebetulan dapet di Hobby Craft Jln. Gandapura.


Sebetulnya pola ini desain aslinya untuk bagian atas kotak perhiasan, tapi berhubung gak punya kotak seperti itu, akhirnya dibingkai sajalah. Bingkainya pun yang sudah jadi, sehingga kurang pas ukurannya.. Pola ini mulai dibuat bulan Desember 2007 dan selesai bulan Februari 2008.

Pola berikutnya yang dibuat adalah geisha, ada 3 pola dengan warna yang berbeda, tapi lebih tertarik dengan 2 pola warna biru dan hijau.

Pola Peony Geisha dengan kimono warna biru, baru dibuat akhir tahun 2009. Kemudian dibingkai dengan bingkai yang sudah jadi yang dibeli di Jonas Photo Jln. Banda.



Pola Chrysanthemum Geisha dengan kimono warna hijau mulai dibuat minggu ke-2 Januari 2010 dan selesai minggu ke-3 Maret 2010. Lumayan lama, kira-kira 9 minggu untuk menyelesaikannya.



Masih ada beberapa pola lain yang menarik... tapi kayaknya selingan dulu pola lain, biar nggak bosen...

Another Brides Cross-stitch

For my cousin's wedding day at 16th November 2008, I decided to do another Javanese brides cross-stitch. Then I stitched after office hours, for less than two weeks. And I gave it to Yasni 2 days before the wedding.



I made minor modifications by using gold DMC threads for the accessories at her head and his buttons.

Favorite Pattern

There is one favorite pattern of mine. I stitched it several times, all of it are for birthday gift. This pattern has a curly girl hang on a hook. With a few modification, here are the results.


This one is for Aqilah, my daughter's best friend at kindergarten, her birthday is the same as mine... at 19th April. She is at the same elementary school that Tifa goes.


This one is made for Dita, my niece. Her birthday is 20th May and she has curly hair just like the girl on the pattern.


The last one is for Nadya, my best college friend's daughter, Yanti. Her bitrhday is at 8th September. And she also has those curly hair.

My First Stitches After 15 Years

Setelah terinspirasi dan tergerak untuk ngotak-atik kristik lagi, first thing to do adalah browsing internet…! Akhirnya dapetlah free pattern yang cukup unik dari http://silepointcompte.free.fr/.




Kebetulan aku dan anak2ku memang seneng bentuk ladybug (we called it tumblebugs, refering to one of those computer games). Setelah cari-cari aida dan benang-benang yang diperlukan di Hobby Craft - Teracotta di Jl. Gandapura, then I started to stitch again….

This is how it ended up :




Lalu, langkah berikutnya aku mau nyontek pengantin jawa punya adikku… Tapi kayaknya perlu sedikit modifikasi nih, soalnya aku bukan pengantin Jawa… Mmmm, pengantin Jawa dan Sunda beda-beda dikit laaah…. Beda blangkon dan gak pake paes item-item di kening ceweknya… Fiuuuuh….jadi juga.



Kebetulan setelah itu adik ipar adikku mau nikah… Balik lagi deh ke pattern pengantin Jawa contekan… Kali ini modifikasi di warna baju sesuai pesanan…. Pengantin ungu...




Hmmmm.. I need more challenge..! Mulailah browsing lagi dan nemu pattern bunga violet di www.maurer-stroh.com. Setelah jadi dan diframe, ternyata bunga ini dipinang sama suamiku untuk dikasih ke Uncle Randall, one of his colleagues, yang tinggal di Ubud-Bali untuk kado ultahnya di bulan November 2007 lalu.




Dan satu lagi pattern dari buku yang dibeli di Hobby Craft - Teracotta, juga dipinang untuk dikasih ke Mrs. Lela Thomas di Ubud juga… Gambarnya tema environment awareness gitu, stop global warmning... Hmmmm… kristik2ku jadi laku nih buat gift.


What's next?

Being Crafty with Cross Stitch

Perkenalan pertama kali dengan salah satu bentuk prakarya ini adalah pada waktu SD kelas 6. Untuk pelajaran keterampilan-nya bu Ani, semua murid cewek diminta bikin kristik lengkap dengan piguranya untuk dinilai. Waktu itu murid cowok dapat tugas bikin benda-benda berupa wadah dari triplek yang diassembly sedemikian rupa. Supaya lebih gampang bikin kristiknya, dicarilah starter kit kristik yang udah lengkap kain strimin, benang, jarum, dan polanya. Waktu itu gak terlalu susah nyarinya karena letak sekolah deket dengan toko Indotrio yang menjual barang-barang untuk keperluan yang berbau handicraft. Toko yang menarik, biasanya kalau sudah masuk ke toko itu, lama sekali bisa keluar karena sibuknya browsing pernak-pernik yang menarik banget. Sekarang Indotrio ini udah gak ada, ganti jadi rumah makan kalau gak salah. Akhirnya dipilihlah pola kucing dan lebah ini.



Inilah karya kristik pertama yang dikerjakan siang dan malam mengingat deadline yang rada mepet, karena masih harus sisihkan waktu untuk dikasih pigura.

Setelah penilaian untuk pelajaran keterampilan, seingatku pernah ada tawaran tambahan bonus nilai kalau hasil karya kristik ini boleh dibawa pulang sang guru keterampilan...
Waaaah... dengan berat hati kesempatan dapat bonus itu dilewatkan saja mengingat ini karya pertama dan bentuk pola kucingnya juga lucu... Aku lebih memilih membawa pulang sendiri hasil karya ini. Kristik ini kemudian dipajang di kamarku selama bertahun-tahun, sampai akhirnya sekarang berakhir di dinding kamar rumah ibuku di Subang.

Setelah itu ada satu karya kristik yang ukurannya cukup gede yang dikerjakan bareng dengan ibuku. Tapi setelah jalan kira-kira 70%, akhirnya kita menyerah dan memilih untuk diselesaikan oleh ahlinya, tetanggaku yang hobi dan menerima pesanan hiasan dinding dari kristik. Soalnya kain strimin yang umum dipakai dulu kala adalah strimin plastik yang berlubang-lubang, jadi cape rasanya ngisi background satu warna yang bidangnya cukup gede (mungkin kain Aida dari dulu juga lebih mahal dibandingkan strimin plastik). Selebihnya karya kristik di rumah Cikutra lebih banyak karya profesional alias pesan yang sudah jadi....

Memori saat-saat bikin kristik ini muncul lagi setelah acara nikahan adikku Anne, tahun 2005. Seorang temannya memberikan kado kristik pola pengantin Jawa, lengkap dengan nama pengantin dan tanggal pernikahannya. Sangat menarik karena kristik sekarang dipercantik dengan jahitan-jahitan back-stitcth yang bikin gambarnya lebih hidup. Jauh berbeda dengan pola-pola kristik waktu jaman SD. Dari situlah keinginan untuk bikin kristik lagi mulai muncul.