Category Archives: Creativity

Randomly Captured : I am ‘HUT’

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One Sabbath afternoon, my friend and I were invited to enjoy the beauty of our friend’s garden. She is Mrs. Anas Situmeang; she’s the epitome of creativity; a woman who is blessed with a heart of gold. Although she’s much older than us, she reflects a vigorous young spirit. It’s always been a pleasure to be around her. One thing that I admire from her is her remarkable passion for nature.  Spending hours and hours in her garden is what she loves the most–gardening is her soul. She told us once that she doesn’t mind being under the scorching sun while planting; because she loves doing it.

That afternoon, she excitedly showed us that she just built a small green hut. Enthusiastically, she shared with us how she designed and built it by her own hands, however, she also got a help from a student who stays in her house. We entered the hut, scrutinizing the details of it. She told us that she always spends her time reading, writing, and correcting students’ papers inside the hut. Indeed, when you truly want to create something and you make it happen, the joy is indescribable. I could see the sparks of bliss in her eyes. She does what she loves!

WITH THE OWNER


SIMPLY MARVELOUS


ENJOYING THE VIEW

I do love nature, but what I don’t have is the passion for planting or gardening. I wish I could steal that passion from Mrs. Anas. One time my mother showed me that she just bought a flower in a pot and asked me to baby-sit her newly bought flower while she was gone for a couple of weeks. It was a beautiful flower. To my surprise, that was the first time I saw my mom buy a flower in a pot. I didn’t question about it.  I just agreed to do what she ordered.

Day 1: I was so ready to water the plant. Day 2: I was still aware of that little creation of God. Day 3: I almost forgot to water the plant, Day 4: I totally forgot about it, Day 5: I didn’t even think of it, Day 6: Was it still there? I wondered, Day 7:  When I checked, I saw it withered. Yes, it had taken its last long breath.

Upon her returning from the trip, she saw her dead flower. She summoned me and started asking some questions. The only words I said to her was ‘Sorry, mom. I forgot’. That time, I was blind enough to see the beauty of God’s nature; I didn’t even care. I should have realized that NATURE is the glimpse of God’s smile.

Thank you so much for taking time to read my post. I hope my post is worth reading and I excitedly welcome inputs from you who may share some common interests. Just to let you know that I love your kindred spirit.

Epitome of Creativity

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I wish I could do lots of things in my life. Taking piano lesson. Being in pastry class. Learning how to sew. Plenty more. Well, I accomplished none! I’m a person who cannot play any kinds of instruments, I also don’t know how to cook well, and I’m hopeless of learning to make my own skirt. I wish I could turn back the time, and learn what I wanted to accomplish. No, I don’t regret MY life. I just wish something might be different if I had done this . . . and that . . . ^.^

My mom is someone I look up to. She has accomplished many things in life. She knows how to cook, bake, sew, fix a broken cord, braid her own hair without looking at the mirror, chop the head of a chicken (ewww. . . ), well, it is hard to narrow down to a few. I envy her somehow. She’s such a hard-working person; she is my epitome of creativity. I’m truly the opposite of her. But here is the thing I would like to share–something that runs through my blood that I got from her.
My mom loved sewing us dresses when we (my sister & I) were kids. The last time my mom made me a dress was when I was 20 years old, but now she’s too way busy with her woman’s ministry. Mom designed and stitched us beautiful dresses. Though, there were also some of her designs that couldn’t match my likeness. (I loathed wearing them that time). There were times we debated in terms of design. I wanted this but she wanted that. I wanted to show a bit of my thigh, but my mother made me a nun-like skirt. I wanted the arm part to be sleeveless, but she ended up making long sleeves, wherein I could wipe my snot. Nevertheless, lots of her designs made me blissful. One thing that I couldn’t understand that time was why she always made me yellow dresses (had plenty of them).
 One time my mom taught me how to stitch. At the very first hour, I was so excited and alive, but later I couldn’t endure the intricacies–my mood began to shrink. I got tired and grumpy. I stopped. Until now. And at this very moment, part of me wanted to go back to that time and be with her, stitching and designing elegant dresses, I wish . . .
One night when I arrived home for a vacation, I opened mom’s closet. I saw plenty of quality fabric, sitting still on the top shelf. I touched each of the fabric; it is soft and has its own character! I told my mom whether I could have some of the fabric, and she allowed me to get some (not all ^.^). Indeed, that was the time I fell in love in designing dresses. I can’t sew dresses, but I always search for good seamstress to make me the dresses. Those dresses below that you’re about to see are my designs. I read plenty of magazines, articles, blogs to gain some insights to make the patterns. My interest has changed; I prefer to ask someone to make a dress for me with affordable price than to buy dresses in a mall.

1. Semi-Kebaya Gown

2. Korean-style Kebaya

3. Kalimantan-style dress

4. Ghanaian Print

5. versatile, monochromatic dress

6. botanical dress

7. printed dress

                                       8. embroidered bolero

Dress no.1
Actually the design wasn’t supposed to be like that; the seamstress made it wrong. She made a tube-style gown which I hated so much. So I asked her to create an emergency bolero to cover the upper part. And Ta-da it turned out ‘fantageous’. ^.^

Dress no. 2
I made this kebaya special for my sister’s wedding. I don’t really like wearing kebaya. Everytime I wear one, I look like a hundred years old. So I designed something cheerful to make me look younger.

Dress no. 3
I love the fabric so much. It won’t rumpled even after you wash it. It is from Kalimantan (somewhere in Indonesia). I truly love the design. I wore this during my friends’ graduation in the Philippines.

Dress no. 4
It was a present from my Ghanaian friend for my graduation. It’s such a beautiful fabric. I had it made in the Philippines. Unfortunately, my friend hadn’t had time to see me wear this dress.

Dress no. 5
I truly dislike the fabric at first. It’s easy to rumple and hard to iron. I asked my seamstress to buy me the fabric, but she bought me the unquality one. It was also costly. However, I couldn’t argue too much; she had sacrifice her time to buy that fabric. Well, it turns out to be OK and versatile, I can easily spice it up with other clothes or accessories, as you can see in the picture.

Dress 6
It was from my mom’s closet. I love the simplicity. It’s so light; I can feel it every time I wear it. Well, I almost tore it out because I gained weight a lot–as you can see the difference between the first picture and the second picture. I’m maintaining my weight so I can always wear it. ^.^

Dress 7
I bought the fabric in the Philippines. I didn’t plan to buy it. That time I was accompanying my friends to Divisoria (somewhere in the Philippines). I found the print intriguing. The intricate print made me buy it. So, I asked my seamstress to sew it for me.

Bolero 8
Another fabric from mom’s closet. It’s sort of uniform in the family (mom, my elder sister, and my younger sister). They made blouse and skirt, but I told the seamstress that I only wanted a bolero.

I still have plenty of dresses that I designed by myself, but I just haven’t got a chance to take picture with those dresses. Will set time soon to upload more designs. I thank my mom for being my best epitome of creativity. For your information, this coming December vacation, I’ll start learning how to sew a skirt with my mom. I’ve booked her for that. 😀 Can hardly wait! Yuhu . . .

Thank you so much for taking time to read my post. I hope my post is worth reading and I excitedly welcome inputs from you who may share some common interests. Just to let you know that I love your kindred spirit.