Let's The Sewing Begin

Let's The Sewing Begin


This is what my Janome 4120QDC looks like. It is computerised. It comes with the extension table. A lot of decorative sewing, including letters and numbers. Now i can personalised my sewing. ^_^. On top of that I can sew without foot control, just need to press start n stop. Cool right!

I really couldn't wait for my fabrics and sewing tools to arrive from Singapore. I couldn't wait to start sewing. So I hunted for fabrics first. Buying fabrics in Toronto is really expensive and plus the 13% tax. Online.. i can find any better online fabric shop than Fabric.com but the shipping to Canada is more expensive than shipping to Singapore. Funny huh!.. We are just neighbour. *_*

Finally I  found the place where I can get cheaper and good fabric. It is Fabricland. It has all sorts of fabrics, Robert Kaufman, Michael Miller, Riley Blake, Benartex, etc. Howerver, this store doesn't have doesn't have online store  (how i wish they have it) so I have to go the store and grab it. I normally waited when there was a sale and sometimes it can be really cheap. Like these fabrics, i only bought it for $4/meter. ^_^.  I think it'll be my favourite store to go from now.

Can't wait to start my new project! There is always new sewing projects new house right. ^_^

My New Janome 4120Q

This is crazy! Lately we have been spending a lot for the furnitures, kitchen stuffs, autumn/ winter clothing's, etc and yet i also bought my new sewing machine. Janome 4120Q.

I can't wait to get my hands on my new Janome. This time i bought the one with extension table. But unfortunately all my sewing tools and fabrics have been shipped and they will arrived probably in early August. So i guess i have to wait till they arrive before start my new sewing project.

The sewing tools and fabrics here are super expensive. I would say it is more expensive than Singapore. It is just so strange, the tools and fabrics in America are so cheap and yet they are so expensive in Canada. They are just neighbors, just like Singapore and Malaysia. Moreover, there is 13% HST in Toronto. In my opinion that is high. Almost all things are expensive in Toronto compared to Singapore, except houses, cars, clothing, toys, public transport fare, etc.

Now i am still sourcing for a good fabric store. I just hope that they can make tax in Toronto cheaper so i buy more fabric.

Pasir Ris Park, Singapore

Our family were invited for BBQ with my "International" sister at Pasir Ris Park. Staying for 15 years in Singapore (since 1999),  I'd only been there once. I wonder what i would be like now..

It is surprisingly a very big and nice park. It is a great place for family gathering and good place for kids to run around. It has BBQ pit, beach, bicycle rental, big playground. I love and fortunate to visit that place once more before we move to Toronto. Here are some pictures from Pasir Ris Park.

 I called this spider web. I just love this since young, climbing up and down, plus the big slides from the top.

 Another spider web.

 K is enjoying himself .

 Enjoy the walk and the nature.

 Enjoy the picnic foods.

Here we are who went there that day.

Thanks for the fun and everything all! We miss u and love u so much!

GBU all.

Farewell with Singapore school

Honestly my boys have the longest school holiday they have ever had. We came to Toronto in end of May and they will only start their school in early September. Yes!! It is 3 months holidays. Super Duper LOOONNGGGGG!! I was so bored with just staying at home, thank God our apartment has a swimming pool and gym. But the boys are enjoying themselves even though they didn't have any activities. They just simple enjoy entertain themselves with Netflix and playing with lego the whole day. I asked them if they wanted to go out, they said,  "No, Mommy. We just want to stay at home." DUH!! In the first place, I was worried that they will feel bored, but looks like i don't have to.

During the spare time i did a lot of cleaning because our stuff are still everywhere. So i tried to organize them so our apartment looks more cozy, neat and comfortable. Then i came across the scrapbook that K's PCF teachers gave to him. Suddenly i miss Singapore. Yea, i have a homesick. I looked at pictures of those presents that PCF gave to my boys, they were not expensive stuff,.. but it's the sincerity and the warmth of the people that i miss.

These are what they gave:

 These cute cars are from Zach (Kane's classmate).

 Scrapbook done by teacher Fauziah. My favorite gift!

 Dayne loves these books. Thank you teachers!

 Looked what Dayne's classmates and teachers did for him!! Lovely!

Dayne's & Kane's classmates in Beijing language school.

Miss them so much!

We are in Toronto, Canada

This is a flash back post.

Tuesday, 27 May 2014, we took our flight from Singapore to Toronto via Japan. It was 5.45am flight, so we had to be in the aiport by 3.45am. YES, it was early morning where everyone was still asleep.
It took us one day to reach Toronto. Finally.. Wuihh.

We are grateful that our best friend offer us to stay in their house temporary (3-4 weeks) while we were looking for a rental apt and settled some our documents and necessities (bank, phone, schools, etc)

We found a rented apartment on 9 June 2014. The size is only 89 sq meter. It was pretty small, but the location is pretty good, near to Walmart, T&T supermarket, Toysrus, and most importantly is Langstaff train station. In front of our condo there is a viva bus stop 86 that will take us to Richmond Hill Terminal Centre which is just next to the train station. So it's pretty convenient for our family.

Though we rented from 9 June 2014 but we could only moved in on 12 June 2014 as our mattresses just arrived on 12 June.

The apartment was unfurnished but at least most of the appliances are there (washing machine, dish washer, microwave, fridge, oven, stove).

This was what our apartment looked like. It is small but we love our new home.

Without furniture. The kids were sitting on the living room. On the left, it will go to kids room. My husband and my room will be on the right. You can see behind the kids is the kitchen where there is a counter top.

So many things that we need to buy, sofa, dinning set, TV, TV console, kitchen appliances (knives, bowl, pan, pots, etc). Thank God for all the sales that happened that time, we bought some items on a very good deal. :)

Most of our furnitures are from ikea. They had Mad Friday sale that time. We bought our TV console at only $69. We also bought trovast rack at $17. Pretty good deal huh! You can see in the picture we were working hard to assemble our furniture asap so that we could enjoy our house soon. Card boxes, nuts and bolts were everywhere. 

God is good. In the midst of our messy house, our landlord come with a beautiful welcome gift for us. It was a pot of orchid. ^-^

This is our house with full furniture. 

And this is our kitchen. 

Even though it is small, i just love it. There are not much things in our home now compared to our house in Singapore. Less cleaning up and from the kitchen i can oversee the kids while they are playing. 

Now it is time to settle my driving license, schools for kids. Not forgetting shopping for my new sewing machine. I can't wait to get my hands on sewing.

Cheers

Port of Lost Wonder (POLW), Sentosa , Singapore

We had a chance to go to Port of Lost Wonder (POLW) at Sentosa, Singapore before we left for Toronto. It is a water playground with a pirate theme. It is a really good place for the kids to spend their holiday.

Water Spray

Foam pool

Snack time

Playing some sand

Indoor activities / games

Pool with few good and excited slides.

Every kids that enter POLW will receive $100 POLW money (they call it CUROS). With this CUROS, kids can some cotton candy, balloons, play in the foam pool or indoor games, etc. It is free and at the same time kids can learn how to manage their CUROS.

When it rains, of course kids have to come to shelter area and no one is allowed outside or in the pool. But don't worry about kids getting bored or have nothing to do. The POLW crews have prepared some games or something for the kids to play while it rains. You can also have some bites at the restaurant. Basically, everything in POLW is about the kids and for the kids. 

For more information you can visit  www.polw.com.sg. If you are a frequent visitors, then becoming a POLW member might be a good deal for you.

Cheers.

Farewell parties before Toronto

I know I was really late to upload about this post but i just want to share the wonderful friends that we have in Singapore and the supports that they gave to us.

The last 2 weeks before we left for Toronto were full of farewell party with friends. Almost everyday we were meeting them, said goodbye, thank you and even sorry. Actually, I am not a person who like to say goodbye, I prefer to say "Until we meet again."
Many of our friends treats us breakfast, lunch or dinner, some of them just gave us unforgettable gifts.

This is the egg tart made by Henry's mom. It tastes really fantastic. Superb!! I am not an egg tart person but I really enjoy every bite of this tart. Thank God I still had a chance to taste it before we go.

This is our cell group family. The spiritual family where we spend time praising and worshipping God together. The family where we can share God's goodness in our lives.

My best Sengkangers ladies. I am gonna miss them so much. No words can describe how I am forever grateful to have you in my lives. You are always there for me and my family. Thank you.

And a beautiful present from my best girls.

This is a personalised drawing of our family from our dear Sister-in-Christ, Mulyanah. Thanks Mul for this beautiful gifts. We will put it up in our new house.

Coach wristlet from Rebecca, my best friend from NUS

We also received encourgement cards and some financial support from Elvira and Hendra. Honestly, we are not that close to them but yet they still help us. Thanks Elvira and Hendra. 

My family are so blessed to have them in our lives and during our stay in Singapore. I am sorry if I didn't upload some of the photos of you gifts for us. We were so busy with packing that we have no time to upload it. But just want you to know that we love you you are always be a part of our lives. God bless you all, my friends. Until we meet again.

We are going to Toronto

Hi guys, 

I told you last month that we are going to migrate to Canada. This time i am telling you that we are going to Toronto. It is really the adventure of faith for our family. Here is our story.

When we decided to move to Canada, it was really a big step of faith for our family. We didn't have any job, house, etc. Our fund was only enough to sustain us for few months. We prayed to God and felt peace that we should move there anyway. God has given us an assurance that He will sustain us, He will never leave us nor forsake us. My favorite scripture is Psalm 37:25. With that assurance, we go ahead with buying the air tickets, packed our things, threw/ donate/ giving away all those things that we might not able to bring to Canada. 

Fandi tried to send his resumes to some of the companies in Canada, but no one replied back from an interview. We thought it might be easier to find a job there. But God has different plan for us and it was ever more beatiful and beyond what we can plan or imagine. Fandi told me that recently there were a lot of projects need to be done for his department, so we decided to give an early notice for his resignation (according to contract he was supposed to give 1 month notice, but he gave them 2 months), not wanting them to be in great suprise. God is good, He gives Fandi a good boss, he was asking Fandi if he wanted to be transferred to Toronto and of course YES YES YES!! They tried to complete the paperwork as soon as possible. On the 8 May 2014, Fandi signed the letter of offer and we are officially going to Toronto.

We are really amaze at how God's work in our lives and we are forever grateful for that. There were few times how i wished God blessed us with financial/ material blessing, just like what our church friend testify most of the time, but it is not. He didn't just give us a financial/ material blessings, He gives us more than that. He gives Fandi a job, with a similar income as in Singapore. The company where Fandi is working is also willing to pay our air tickets (YES, our air tickets are FREE) HALLELUJAH!! It also gives us some money for shipping and some help during our first few days stay in Toronto. A good friends of ours offered us to stay with them for 1-2 weeks, while we are looking for a house/ apartement. Our God is indeed a miracle working God. He is never too late, He is just on time because He knows the best for us. There were so many times when we felt lost, but from this experience i felt that God wants us to focus on Him and have faith in Him.

I pray and pray everyday that my family and i will never forget God's goodness and faithfulness, even when we have settle down and doing well in Toronto. Instead, we will be more on fire and serve Him for fervently.

Trifold wallet

My 2 boys are big boys now. The other day we had a playdate at McDonalds, D saw his friend had a wallet, he bought food himself. Then when we reached home, he asked me to make for him a wallet. Of course K wanted it too even though he didn't know how to use it properly yet. K just want to follow his big brother. Whatever that D has, he has to has it. That's why some of the toys in my house are double. I wonder how to teach them to share. This age is just about jealousy, whatever my brother has he must has it too.

Ok, back to the wallet. So i look for the pattern and tutorial, as usual i found it in Craft Passion website. As usual, it comes with free pattern and tutorial. Seriously folks, this website is really good for beginner, a lot of nice projects.

Here is my boy's wallet with Superman fabric.

I made some amendment with the inner compartment. Sewn in more places for cards since he likes to play with CHIMA cards nowadays.

Overvall, this tutorial is easy to follow. ^_^

I'm gonna search for more projects to do now. Have a blessed week.

We are moving!!

Yes, we are moving to Canada next month May 28, 2014. Actually we are going to migrate there. It will be super duper fast, only left 1.5 months to go to pack our things, to sell some stuff and get ready for the new adventure.

When we told our friends about the new, they were so shocked. Many asked, " Why is it so fast?". Actually we have applied for Canada PR early 2010 and just received the approval in Dec 2013. So in total we have waited for almost 4 years for this answer. Pretty long huh. Yea.... That's because there was a strike while our PR was in process. That what made the process super long 😔.  We almost lost our hope in this application during the waiting period. But God is always good and forever good. He knows what we need and how to prepare us to be a better person, to depend and surrender to Him. During this waiting, while there were a lot of uncertainties, it was the best way to just look up, look to Jesus and cried out to Him. Even until now when the door is already opened for us to go, i pray daily that we will not forget God's goodness, faithfullness, mercy and grace forever. I pray daily that we keep growing strong in faith and in Him.

When we got the approval letter in Dec 2013, i got a mixed feeling. I was happy that finally it was approved. At the same time i was confused what to do next as we already "used to" waiting. Even until now i still can't believe it that we are going to there. Is it just a dream??

So many things need to packs. Our kids stuff, toys, clothes, books, shoes, my sewing stuff, my beautiful fabrics and our COLLECTIONS. Yes, we are toys collector. We collect lego, die-cast pixar cars, tomica cars, chuggington, thomas. My husband collect transformers, coca cola. Below photo just shows 1/5 or our collections 😓😱. Still have many to go. 

I also made some things for our friends and teachers as farewell gifts.

I made monster eye masks for kids which they might use in the plane. You can see the tutorial and download the pattern from Spoonful.

 

Add hooks to our neck pillow for easy carry during our trip. 

I have been staying in Singapore for almost 15 years, since July 1999. I am gonna miss Singapore so much. I'll miss the sun, beach, Sentosa, but i won't miss the haze though. But what i will miss the most are my friends. I will miss the Sengkangers Gals so much. I will miss my "International" sisters and their kids so much. I love them so much and enjoy spending time with them. They have been a great help and support when i need them. Tq my dear sisters. As for now we just need go treasure our time together.