My new sewing gadget

I'm very excited about this post this evening because I have a new favourite toy to share with you! But...I'll keep you waiting just a little bit longer to tell you all about it. Here's my day.

Shopping, art and my new gadget

So, now you know what we got up to today, I'll go ahead and give you some details. There have been several highlights (or lowlights?), starting with the critter I found in my lunch. Here's a photo of the unfortunate little curry trespasser - RIP little dude.

Crunchy...

I was tempted to make the photo extra large, but then thought you probably wouldn't want that filling your screen. I suppose you'd like to know if I ate the rest of the curry...well, yes I did. I was only half way through and I figured that a) if I'd got that far I'd got the terrible lurgy it was carrying already b) there are probably far worse nasties to worry about than this little dude.

The next highlight/lowlight has no accompanying photo I'm afraid. Partly because I was so shocked in the immediate aftermath that taking a picture didn't even cross my mind. So, there were Sam and I perusing the stalls at Central Market when we came across some little packs of what looked like mints, rather like a tic tac packet. As they were for sale at a cosmetics shop, I asked the little old Malaysian woman behind the counter what they were, intrigued. I was certainly not expecting her to answer, completely unembarrassed "they're to put in your 'vaginia' to clean it out and make it smell nice". Well, I didn't know what to say. For the next minute she went on to describe the exact instructions for use, including other benefits. Hmm. Scarred for life.

To take your mind off that lovely thought, my third highlight (definitely a highlight this time!) is discovering the artist's studios behind Central Market. The portraits were excellent and there were some very inspiring urban drawings.

Sam admiring the artwork

Portrait gallery

After seeing the following drawings I decided that I really need to get myself an ultra fine drawing pen.

Excellent line drawings of urban scenes

Now, the fourth highlight, and the one which I am most excited about, is the purchase of a new gadget. A lady with a street stall was selling handheld sewing machines for a mere £2...yes...£2! I had to buy one!

Handheld sewing machine

I couldn't wait to test it out, so I fished out some material from my bag, left over from having this dress made in Hoi An, Vietnam.

My dress made by Kim's tailors at Ant's Silk, Hoi An

I decided to made a hair scrunchie because they're mega easy and just the right thing to practise on. Mine didn't turn out too great as I used too little material, so I made another one too.

The handheld sewing machine at work.

I did have a little trouble as the cotton is quite thin, so the sewing machine munched it a little, but by gently pulling it through it worked a treat!

The finished article

Scrunchie number two - made out of Sam's old t-shirt

This one was better as it had more wrinkle

And finally, somewhere in there I managed to complete my Every Day in May challenge - 'draw a map'.

Halfway through

Finished!

And that's that! Here're some pretty painted wooden eggs.

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