Garden Chef's Needle and Pen

Hello everyone! I know I haven't posted anything for the past two weeks. Just been quite busy with office work. Do you remember my last post? The one entitled, " Holiday Season Crochet Marathon Part 3 ". Well, in that post, I featured some crocheted items I made for my friends and colleagues during the Christmas and New Year holidays. Among the featured gift items is a set of rainbow coasters . Here is the original pattern and the set I made. Photo by Crochet Spot I got the original design from Crochet Spot , a site that provides crochet patterns and tutorials. Let me share with you my experience while working on the  Rainbow Coasters and how it led me to discover the glittering pot of gold!  Read my featured article, Golden Treasures in Rainbow Coasters. Or you may click this link: http://www.crochetspot.com/golden-treasures-in-rainbow-coasters/

Hello there! How are you enjoying the new year? How was your New Year's celebration? In my last post about my crochet work, "TheLoving Hugs Newborn Booties" , I posed an invitation for guesses at what my crochet gift items for friends this year would be. Sad to say, there were no guesses posted in the comment box, so let me just show you the things I made for the past two weeks. Are you ready? Here, take a look at the gifts I gave away...

Happy New Year to all! Last Christmas Eve, I turned my kitchen into a dance floor. This time, the New Year's Eve preparation has turned my kitchen into an experimental laboratory. If you have read " MY PROFILE ", it says there that I'm fond of making experiments especially in my kitchen. What are examples of these experiments? Well, certainly not the ones using test tubes and flasks. The usual experiments I make are on veggies and salads. I would either follow or modify the ingredients by adding or subtracting based on what's available in my refrigerator or cupboard. For this new year, here's how I ventured into some recipe tests...

My last post about crochet was the marathon of the Fingerless Gloves. I promised to post the Loving Hugs Newborn Booties next so, as promised, here it is... the making of a pair of booties especially for the baby of my officemate, Julie.  See the invitation personally made by Lee.   When we first planned about having a shower party, I immediately thought of making a pair of socks as gift. (Actually, I've been thinking of crocheting a pair of socks for months now. The desire came about the moment I signed up in Make Socks, a group initiated by Cheryl Isenberg in Stitchtalk, a sewing community. I joined the group hoping to be able to make at least a pair so that I could share it, but the project just brewed in my mind and has never materialized.) "Now is the time," I said to myself. I just thought crocheting a pair of socks would be a perfect gift for a baby shower.  So the first thing I did was to look for a pattern as I had none in my files. I had only a few d...

What's up on Christmas Eve?  Well, my migraine had its toll on me. But good thing I was able to make reservations the previous night  thru text messages for my fish, chicken and veggie purchases from my favorite market vendors.  Surprisingly, there were still a lot on display at 10 o'clock in the morning!  I was able to take home salmon belly, boneless bangus, cream dowry, chicken lollipops and breast fillet, and veggies, of course. But those wouldn't have been complete without fruits so I got persimmon, pear, apple and honey melon. And the leche flan, of course, I almost forgot to mention!  And so the kitchen ballroom dance began… Maestro, music please...

Hello! It's been exactly two weeks since my last post. It's Christmas season and everybody is just too busy with gifts and gift-giving! While holiday shopping seems to be the only thing that matters for many this season, I ventured into a holiday crochet marathon which started more than a week ago.  I began the marathon by browsing over the patterns from my crochet files and the Internet. Since both Christmas and New Year's Day fall on weekends this year, we don't have extra days for vacation. No extended days off from work. That means less time for my crochet projects. :( Oh, how I miss my crochet hook after several months! For this year I thought of choosing easy-to-finish projects to be given as gifts for my friends. Last year, I gave away some USB / MP3 holders made by Ana Cristina, my younger daughter. (I have featured her works in my previous post .) But before I embark on my intended crochet give a ways, I already started running the marathon and finishe...

   "You are responsible for what others think of you." Can't remember where I first heard this quote--- from the preaching of a former Pastor, a Sunday School teacher or a former college professor? I couldn't recall anymore. :(      But the truth in this statement has since then reverberated in my mind. Is this dress too revealing? (Haha! As if there's anything to reveal afterall! :) ) What if I say or do this? Not that I fear what others might think of me for being the real me. I simply mean that it (the quote) should make us more cautious lest we be a stumbling block and others be offended by our actions. By actions I mean anything we say or do. When we get surprised, are amazed or in awe of something, we often utter words we don't really mean. Unknowingly we may actually be blaspheming the name of God with our expressions on those unguarded moments. The way we dress, our facial expressions, places we go to… virtually anything that would allow others...

     Hello everyone! Nice to stay home on a Wednesday (that's yesterday, a national holiday in the Philippines in commemoration of the birth of Andres Bonifacio, one of our national heroes). Yesterday, while browsing the Net, I incidentally explored the art of photo editing using free online photo editors. I have been so used to edit photos and do picture collage using Picasa but today I had a chance to use piZap, FotoFlexer, Photo Frames, Phixr and Paint.NET.      After taking on the challenge, here are some of my creations...  piZap

Happy Saturday everyone! Why so happy? It's because I got my first blog article in Crochet Spot ! Crochet Spot is a site that talks about how to crochet and where you can find simply "funtastic" crochet patterns to work with. Founded by Rachel Choi, the goal of Crochet Spot is to provide easy to follow tutorials and crochet patterns. Now, you may click on this link to read an article I submitted as guest writer at Crochet Spot . The post is entitled, " From Umbrellas to Rainbows " . Featured at CrochetSpot.com See you again soon! :)   " Yet after brick and steel and stone are gone, and flesh and blood are dust, the dream lives on. " Anderson H. Scruggs Quotes

     Sorry, this is not about the world's worst dog in the movie, "Marley and Me" which stars Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston with their family dog. Take note, it's Marly, a former nursing colleague who used to work in the same cardiac center where I work for 28 years now. Actually, I call her Ma'am Marly because she used to be a Nurse Supervisor and some (just don't know exactly how many) years  my senior, but I decided to drop the "Ma'am" in this post. Marly now works and lives with her family in California, USA. She left the Philippines about 25 years ago. Marly and I just got ourselves reconnected a few months ago through a social network and since then, we have discovered that we share something in common---our love for crochet. But no, I will not talk about crochet. I mean, not for now (though I really plan to post something about her crochet works another time).      So, if not crochet, what's it gonna be? Well, it's about th...