The case of black & white mini kurung Vs Swavoroski crystals.......

The case of Black & White………..

I know now that not everything in life is in black and white…except….in the case of Shin’s mini kurung moden (sutera Terengganu), which then catapults into a case of either my way or take the highway. Apparently, that mini kurung moden is a uniform and with it comes specific rules on beading. I received the parcel with just the dress and was missing one key piece of memo…the guidelines on beading works. Anyway, Shin called soon after and briefed me on the to-dos or rather not-to-dos… But, I somehow misinterpreted or may be misunderstood that spoken memo, and went on to what I usually do best… I was on the right path using black, white, silver and grey colour palette…but I missed the mark by a mile when I added Swavoroski crystals (it’s a big NO-NO). I am supposed to only use pearls, beads and sequins.

Thinking that my castle my rule would apply and so the black & white mini kurung has now transformed into a magnificent piece (I do say so myself) that will surely out-shine, out-stage, out-stunningly outrage everybody else at that event. What can I say? Some things are mean for greatness…and this is the piece destine for mankind’s ultimate greatness!!! So I thought….. but boy am I so wrong!!!! Soon I learned that failure to comply is unacceptable in this black & white case…

with swavoroski crystals

 

So when Shin came over, she immediately saw the crystals and instructed me to remove them out of the picture… Ahh well… win some, lose some…you can never win them all…right?. Removing the crystals sound simple enough, but when they are interconnected with one another, totally different ball game altogether. I need more time removing them then putting them on the first place… But customers always right attitude makes me forget about the hours sitting on my gluteus maximux and until the last crystal was gone. Hence I am posting the with-swavoroski and the without-swavoroski pictures for you guys to see. Enjoy…while I am off to the post office…. Post Laju here I come!!!!!!

without swavoraski crystals....

pearls replaced the crystals

The diary of a Beaderholic......

The diary of a Beaderholic………

As of right at this very moment, my entire household has all but one gone to dreamland and back and off to new once… In fact my entire neighbourhood has died down with the level of noise emission is at the very bottom of a reading, all I hear is distant sound of vehicles passing by and faded away soon after. What a bless to have this window of opportunity to be able to soak in the ambient and simply go with the flow.

Times like this is rare and far in between, so I usually would grab my beloved  ASUS either to catch up with FB or just cruising along the net. Tonight though, I have chosen to write my journal. My entry goes like this…

Date: June 20 2011, Monday

Morning: sent my son to school, drop by the bank to make a withdrawal, and went to the market and back. Had breakfast, took my meds, prep the groceries…

Mid morning: contractors came to continue with water-proofing upstairs bathroom and left soon after with the house looking like a battle field, cooked lunch, cleaned up the house and owner followed suit, got ready to work (Mdm Shin’s 4th piece Terengganu crepe kurung modern bead works)…

Afternoon: still at work (beading while listening to BBC news this time), made/received calls, continued working until my gluteus maximus felt numb from hours of sitting down, my deltoids and trapezoids were in serious agony from non-stop beading while looking down hours on end…must press on..

Evening: R&R (recharge & refuel), catching up time in fast forward mode, back to work, had dinner, much needed coffee, reviewing my latest acquisition of beads in awe (from my last visit to KL)..…

Night: attempted to clean my work station from previous beading work, hated this part of the job…, still cleaning my work area, gave up and decided to watch movie on line instead.. called my sis and her hubby to come over, plugged-in HDMI and so we watched Children of Men... The family went to bed, worked a bit more but decided to continue on Mdm Shin’s tomorrow after dentist appointment… Let’s  call it a night…………..

There!!!!!! Honest to goodness, I say it’s the most fun day I’ve had in a long time. Typically, I would get customers coming and going, running out of the house to received parcels from Poslaju , answering calls and chasing after my tailors, swapping delivery schedule, checking/updating my blog,  so on so forth in between the chaos…… You see some people have to join a gym/yoga classes while I get to be home and stay active all day long… What a wonderful feeling.

this is just a tip of the iceberg

reuse every single clear glass jar

empty bottles are becoming a rare commodity in my household

Thai Silk baju kurung Pahang sulaman & manik..(shimmering embroideries)...

Datin Liza’s Thai silk Kurung Pahang…….

To be continued…………

Now here is the much talked about blue Thai silk with matching tea/moss green chiffon shawl. It was originally supposed to be embroidered just on the sleeves but was later swayed towards full heavy embroideries…meaning neck, sleeves and bottom, accompanied with beading works. The whole nine yards!!!!!!!!!!....

Baju kurung Pahang made from Thai silks material or any plain fabrics are an excellent candidate for embroidery machine. For the lack of a better world…..it’s a match made in heaven. Thai silk/cotton/linen fabric can withstand the vigorous needle works and the stretching/pulling actions while applying the rim as well as having minimal breakage from constant threading…such robust materials. Truth of the matter is, if I was given a plain fabric, it’s like a kid was given a piece of art paper and a box of crayons….. Thousands of possibilities, ideas popping in and out of my head, then my heart would start racing and everything soon die out the moment I commit on a particular design in my head and transfer them onto the fabric. I mean some people like to trace a specific pattern onto the cloths….but that’s not how I function. I am more of a free-spirited, free-styling, fly by the moment type of person when it comes to doing embroideries and that goes the same to my bead works too. If you ever meet me, you will see that I draw designs on pieces of papers the moment I see you. There was never one pattern fits all….. It’s one pattern for each client with variations…..

Baby pink crumblelitous and matching shawl.....

Datin Liza’s baby pink crumble……

Here is a story behind today’s entry…. I received urgent orders from Datin Liza just one(1) day before I left for Johor… 1 plain Thai silk with chiffon shawl and 1 Indian saree with matching chiffon shawl as well…. Delivery date? Guess?  Well….6 days 20 hours later to be exact... YES!!!!!!! For both… not just one but two, and complete with embroideries (sulaman ayak kerawang), beading works on the outfit and on the two matching shawls. I was panicking like a mad bull. Lucky for me I have a good supporting team (experienced tailors) behind my back and as soon as I walked into the house from the trip.. I went straight to the embroidery machine to work on the Thai silk baju kurung Pahang.. No time wasted, no words uttered and no looking back… It was go,go,go and go. Fast forward 6 days later, I pulled the breaks, started breathing again and  then gave myself a big pad on the back….. YUP!!!! Huge smile was rewarded when Datin Liza saw the two pieces right on the dot.. And so the next morning I was off to Putrajaya and she was off to was it Ipoh or Penang,I forgot…. Some people work well under pressure (that would be your's truly) and rise to the occasion while others will simply crumble /frozen….Some even flat out refuse to even try to....

However, today I am showing off the baby pink Indian saree that was turned into baju kurung moden, crumble style beading on the outfit and simple bead works on the matching chiffon shawl. I haven’t got the chance to upload the pictures on the Thai baju kurung yet and promise to so in due time. To be continued...................

bead works on both sleeve and bottom part of baju

a glimpse of the matching shawl

Kek lapis Sarawak Buah (MIxed Fruits Layer cakes) for sale...

Kek Lapis Buah Campuran (Mixed Fruits Layer Cake)

I was MIA (missing in action) for a fortnight, but it seemed like a month. I was travelling from Kuantan to Rengit, Johor to Melaka and back to Kuantan.  A week later made a journey from Kuantan to Purtajaya and back with loads of activities in between, as well as tonnes of food consumed. So much so that I felt the car is getting heavier from each trip…to be honest, it was me getting heavier hence the car is heavier. Weddings, weddings and more weddings this coming weeks to attend to, how am I going to manage?

I bake a mixed fruits layer cake and a Haw flakes layer cake for Malik & Siti Khadijah’s wedding  reception last week and were complimented and well received. I was over the moon since it was my first time doing the mixed fruits layer cake amidst my last minutes bead works for one client. I sincerely was hoping to have more sets of hands to help with the crazy multi-tasking..but all in all…it was a success. I completed both tasks without a hitch..Phewh!!!!!!

Here are the cakes should you be interested in ordering….

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Pn Sharifah Fiza's crumblelitous flintstones.....

Crumblelitious/Flintstones embroideries……..

I was working like mad for the past couple of days to deliver 2 pieces of baju kurung moden and 3 pieces of baju kurung belonging to Pn Sharifah Fiza. What with a lot of other distractions going on like no water supply for 3 days with no prior notice what so ever. Even with the telephone number provided by JBA prove to be of no help…none, zero, sifar, kosong...... I was calling and calling for the duration of 36 hours and every time it was busy/engaged signals. What is the point of having the emergency number when it cannot be reached during such time.. Pointless….Useless…Meaningless…HUMANELESS… And to add insult to already bleeding injury after I finally manage to get muddy water on the 4^th day, the electricity went out…yet again another setback.. First I was dried (no water) and then I was fried (no power). Such sad situations, alas.. the show must go on and so I sucked it up until the last piece of baju kurung. There!!!!!! That’s was the story of my miserable days the past week.

So back to work….Thanks Pn Sharifah Fiza for your support and I hope everything is satisfactory. I am posting a picture of her Italian silk kurung moden with bead works and flintstone embroideries. Simply magnific!!!!!!!!!!