Happy Chinese New Year, Year of the Horse 2014

Happy Chinese New Year 2014 to family, friends and loyal readers of this blog of mine.

Thank you for being around and hopefully you would stick around for many many Chinese New Years to come :)

This year, as in previous years, we celebrated moderately consisting mostly the same kind of stuff:

• On the eve, we had the reunion dinner where family members from near and far sit together for the dinner (basically food, food and more food). This year we have Annabel, Kwang and Abby over for the dinner as well (their first after moving back to Kuching). The reunion dinner is considered the biggest event of the Chinese New Year. As such children always make it a point to get "home" for this occasion no matter where they are. Not for me though, as I am considered married into dear hubby's family so I am with hubby and family (ah, complicated tradition ya? Never mind, leave this for some other time).

As usual, my favorite is the one right in the middle - fish maw soup :)
The rest....well I can ignore them.

• Final cleaning of the whole house after the reunion dinner (to sweep away ill old luck and welcome the new good luck). I thought we can rest after the fulfilling dinner but NO, we have to work some more....right till before the clock strike 12:00 am. Can't bring the dirt into the new year.
• Setting off fireworks (to scare off the bad spirit) at the strike of 12:00 am (although others started way earlier, like after dinner).

I am not good at taking fireworks pic.
This is the best pic I took.

• Next day, on the first day of CNY, first thing first, we distributed red packets or Angpows (with $$$) to the parents and the boys and the unmarried family members.

When we were young and single, this is what we looked forward
to every Chinese New Year because we were at the receiving end.
Once we got married (without kid yet), we don't look forward
to this because we will be distributing but not receiving :(
Once we have kids of our own, we don't really mind because
we will be both, giving and receiving...hehe.
Of course they go into the boys' account.
In this case, it is better to have more kids. You will receive more...LOL

• Then we dressed up a bit, preferably in red (pinkish for me this year), ready to receive visiting family and friends and vice-versa.

With Henry.
Looky, my tourmaline necklace.
Very matching my dress ya..<3 love

Ahhhhhhhhhmmmm.......Henry feeding Abby cupcake.
Cute!

• We visited the temples, praying for a prosperous, successful, happy, joyful, healthy, abundance, bountiful, smooth, good luck, peaceful, etc. etc. new year of the horse.

Tua Pek Khong Temple

At the temple with the boys.
How fast they grow.
William is almost as tall as I am.
It was only like yesterday when I held
this little tiny baby in my arms (10 years ago!)

William and Henry excited over the Kois.

Koi Fish symbolizes success and wealth.

• Lion dance performance. They are usually invited to perform privately or at special functions, at different days of the Chinese New Year celebration.

....look at the happy boy on the right hand corner....

That's about it - the happenings around our 2014 Chinese New Year celebration.

The way you celebrate yours might be slightly different from ours.

Feel free to share and comment.

Goodbye 2013, Welcome 2014

A brand new year is just 3 hours away.
Lets welcome it with our best smile.

Wishing you all, readers of this blog a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014.
May all your dreams and wishes come true and all resolutions fulfilled and accomplished.
Thank you for visiting over the years, and please continue to do so :).
Your support is very much appreciated.

I am looking forward to a smooth new year filled with more wire jewelry projects.

Beading Community - Borneo International Beads Conference 2013

Well, this is also an overdue post.
The Borneo International Bead Conference took place more than a month ago, from 11-13 October 2013.
I did not take part in the conference but had the chance to visit the bead bazaar set up by both local and overseas beads artisan. There were also hands-on workshop and demonstration organised but I missed that out too due to timing. Maybe next round.
Not many visitors were around when I was there - less than 10 person. Yeah, very quite.
Maybe not many people were aware of it or not maybe people are not interested in beads? Dunno!
Anyway, here are some photos of the interesting beads I managed to capture with my hp camera.

The venue - 1st Floor, Four Points by Sheraton Kuching

Beaded Shoes from Melaka. Very intricate and detail work.

 

Beaded Corsages

Paiwanese Beads from Taiwan, bold and colorful - beautiful.

The Paiwanese is an indigenous group from Taiwan.
Each patterns on the glass beads has different meaning and motifs.
Refer to the handwritten explanation below.

 

One of the local artisan, Ramsay Ong and his beadwork/jewelry.

Ramsay's Creation with local motifs

Ramsay's Creation - Pua Kumbu Beads.
Pua Kumbu is a traditional woven multicolored ceremonial cotton cloth used by the Iban tribe of Sarawak.

Ramsay's Creation.

They are from the Rungus tribe of Sabah.
Love their headgears and traditional clothing.

They are popular and got interviewed by the reporter here :)

This Bakelalan lady brought along some very rare items from the highland of Sarawak - Hill Salt and Beras Bijan (sesame rice, literally translated).

The rice is really tiny. I have never tried this rice before.
Very expensive!

These rings are by a Sri Lankan Jeweler.
I like his work of combining the two different metals - copper and silver.

These necklaces are made from recyclable material including bottle caps.

And here are other beads from our local Sarawak beaders. 

Paper Beads

Close up

Orang Ulu's Beadwork and design

 

Ah! I forgot to put watermark on the pictures.....nevermind.

Have a great week.

Crafty Community-Craft Promotion Malaysia 2013

This took place about two months ago.
As usual, I am slow with photo editing.
Some of the photo quality is not so good so bear with me.
These are pictures of the Malaysia Craft Promotion 2013, organised by the Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation from 30 Aug to 8 Sept.

There were about 70 craft entrepreneurs who took part and they came from all over Malaysia and showcased their products based on textile, metal, wood, clay and various other crafts.

Enjoy the photos and have a great weekend.

At the entrance.

 Some lovely hand roll ceramic beads.

This Lun Bawang clay beads. Just awesome and expensive.
The Lun Bawang is one of the indigenous people of Sarawak.
Most of them found on the northern part of Sarawak - Limbang and Lawas.

The Lun Bawang are famous beaders.

A silver smith at work.

Some of the ring he crafted.

Looks familiar? Looks like the Pandora charm bracelet ya.
They are not the real thing but you can find them all over the place.

Cute ducks crafted from shell.

Traditional fish traps made from bamboo, i think.

The Sape, a traditional Orang Ulu guitar/ music instrument.

A giant wooden bench.

 Keringkam - A Malay weaving art, similar to embroidery.

 What is Keringkam?

Pua Kumbu, a traditional woven cotton cloth of the Iban ethnic group.
The motifs of the design are those of animals, plants or other daily activities.
That's all for now.