My little helper

We decided to clean up the back balcony and maybe start a small garden there again. I used to grow my more exotic carnivorous plants here, at one time there was more than a couple of hundreds different types of drosera, dionaea (Venus flytrap) and sarracenia, but unfortunately I no longer have them. 

When Q found out that we are spring cleaning the balcony, he's the first to volunteer last night. Right after breakfast turned up asking when will we start. So we started by dismantling the old damaged racks and cupboard. And since 'interning' at Jaddu's workshop, he's quite familiar with working with screwdrivers, though he did mention that while this screwdriver is easy to use, the powered screwdriver at Jaddu's is a bit easier. Q removed all the wheels on his own, H helped with a couple of screws before giving up, he tired he said.

And Q is not done yet.

Without being asked, after he's done putting away the old plant pots, he went downstairs to get a broom and dustpan and started sweeping, and even after I told him he doesn't need to sweep the floor, he kept at it, doing a very fine job of it too. 

He then insisted that he can carry the Hylis rack to place it against the wall. And he refused to take any break at all, just chugging water and iced lemon tea as he work.

This one's really love helping around the house.

Finally, what's he's been waiting for all morning, the water jet! And he got rewarded with a water jet mist shower as I worked on the rest of the floor.

I love you Q.

Peace Flower & Denim Surface Pro 4 Case Cover

I haven't sewn a stitch (on the sewing machine) for over three years. Mama kinda misplaced the foot pedal attachment and I wasn't motivated enough to really search for it. Lucky she found it during one of the spring cleanings last month. Timing couldn't be any better, so I got to make a case cover for the Surface. 

Deciding on the material wasn't easy though, as my stash of fabric are all of my favorites. And then there the matter of using the machine, as I sat upon it, I realized that I can't remember where the power button is, let alone wind the bobbins! But as riding the bicycle, it all came back slowly, with a few loose stitching episodes that let me practice my profanities. Thank you to the person who told me to "check sekoci", as it was really a bobbin issue, I forgot to hold the thread taut as I wind. I'd say stitching quality and neatness is not as it used to be, need to practice on it and I still can't remember how to use some of the feet. I took two hours to draft the design and cut the fabric the night before and spent about three hours to stitch the case (as I figured how to use the machine). Fitting was quite tight initially, but after awhile it became just right. Of course I had to make it fit, H & Zz both keep saying there's no way it'll fit but I know my calculation was right and the tightness is due to the felt bulk, nothing a few bouts of ironing and easing in couldn't make right.

What was originally supposed to be a simple felt cover became a lined denim cover, which at the last minute got turned inside out much to the dismay of someone. The 'Peace Flower' fabric by Micheal Miller is too pretty to just be the inside of the case, and that is one of my last piece of the fabric. I also made a cable and charger pochette with hanging tab with whatever leftover fabric I had, and I managed to keep fabric wastage at under 2% (yes, I measured and calculated!)

So here it is, my first sewing project in over three years, 'Peace Flower' Tablet Protective Case, lined with denim, padded with 1mm felt. Double Stylus/pen loop on the inside flap. 

Not too well made, but original enough to be one of a kind for me.

Dusk by Gabriela Mistral

Dusk

I feel my heart melting 

in the mildness like candles: 

my veins are slow oil 

and not wine, 

and I feel my life fleeing 

hushed and gentle like the gazelle.

by Gabriela Mistral

Dear Human, you've got it all wrong

Dear Human:

You've got it all wrong.

You didn't come here to master unconditional love. This is where you came from and where you'll return.

You came here to learn personal love.

Universal love.

Messy love.

Sweaty Love.

Crazy love.

Broken love.

Whole love.

Infused with divinity.

Lived through the grace of stumbling.

Demonstrated through the beauty of... messing up.

Often.

You didn't come here to be perfect, you already are.

You came here to be gorgeously human. Flawed and fabulous.

And rising again into remembering.

But unconditional love? Stop telling that story.

Love in truth doesn't need any adjectives.

It doesn't require modifiers.

It doesn't require the condition of perfection.

It only asks you to show up.

And do your best.

That you stay present and feel fully.

That you shine and fly and laugh and cry and hurt and heal and fall and get back up and play and work and live and die as YOU.

Its enough.

It's Plenty.

Courtney A. Walsh