amiguruMEI’s first Singapore Meet & Greet

March 22, 2015March 22, 2015 by amigurumei ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It’s been a week since I returned from Singapore, and I miss the place loads! Haji Lane, especially, where I had the honour of holding my debut amiguruMEI Singapore Meet & Greet and first ever amigurumi workshops.

It was my first time visiting Haji Lane and boy did I fall head over heels in love with the place! I was so busy and worried about having my meet and greet and workshops go well that I barely had any time to enjoy the street as it was. But there’s always next time!

And so here are glimpses of the meet & greet! I met so many new friends, some of whom who made me feel like I knew them from way back when 🙂

And we have the first visitor of the day, Shanny, from Malaysia! I was a bit taken aback when Shanny said she is currently using a picture I took in Hello Kitty Crochet as her desktop wallpaper :') Thank you Shanny for making my day! And I love the Hello Kitty bag! — And we have the first visitor of the day, Shanny, from Malaysia! I was a bit taken aback when Shanny said she is currently using a picture I took in Hello Kitty Crochet as her desktop wallpaper :’) Thank you Shanny for making my day! And I love the Hello Kitty bag!

Ning, who also joined us for our beginners workshop :) — Ning, who also joined us for our beginners workshop 🙂

Nancy, who often participates in a Taiwan-based crafters group who crochets to cheer up the children at a local hospital. They've made Tuxedo Sams and Little Reds based on amiguruMEI's patterns :) — Nancy, who often participates in a Taiwan-based crafters group who crochets to cheer up the children at a local hospital. They’ve made Tuxedo Sams and Little Reds based on amiguruMEI’s patterns 🙂

Tian Min of @5ambento and Lin of @maysatch from Instagram who came bearing gifts! What an honour to meet them finally!

A crochet monster jar from the sweet Yaney of @bisukiut!

Sharon's dress matched the balloons perfectly :) — Sharon’s dress matched the balloons perfectly 🙂

It's a pity I didn't get to meet Mr Ling's wife, Loretta, who couldn't make it to the meet & greet. My friends told me that they came by again later and waited to see if I had some time to chat, but unfortunately the beginners workshop went on for a tad long and they had to leave! I hope I'll get to meet you one day soon Loretta! — It’s a pity I didn’t get to meet Mr Ling’s wife, Loretta, who couldn’t make it to the meet & greet. My friends told me that they came by again later and waited to see if I had some time to chat, but unfortunately the beginners workshop went on for a tad long and they had to leave! I hope I’ll get to meet you one day soon Loretta!

Chuu I said she was so glad to find my book smiling back at her in Kinokuniya!

Special thanks to she who loves Moomins: Wendy of When I Create and Craft Assembly, who first wrote to me over a year ago to ask if I was interested to drop by her zakka store to host a series of workshops! Her superb organisation skills have made everything possible. I look forward to visiting her collection of vintage Kewpie, Moomin and Woodland dolls again!

And a few selfies before we go. My besties Pey (L) and Huey Yi and Fei (below) who surprised me with some Strawberry Shortcake Hello Kitty balloons!

I was super excited that I got the chance to meet everyone, but I was really dead-tired by the end of the two-hour session. And I still had a beginners workshop to host!

I was also feeling super uncomfortable in my dress, which I thought looked very French-maid-like!

I hope you don’t mind that I take this opportunity to say a few words to everyone who has made a difference to my Singapore stay…

To Serene of Ponde & Donut: Thank you for taking the time to bring me around all the kawaii stores in Orchard! I’m so glad I’ve found a friend in you and I look forward to many more amigurumi + cute-as-polar-bear exchanges soon 🙂

Shanny, Yaney, Min, Nancy, Yan, Tian Min, Chuu I, Siew Fong, Lin, Vivian, Carissa, Mr Ling, Ning and Sharon: Thank you so much for coming by and dropping me a line in my haphazard Shinzi Katoh guestbook. I really hope to be able to meet everyone again the next time I head to Singapore!

To my dear friends Huey Yi, Amanda, Alycia, Teen Nah and Roshini: Thank you for coming by just to catch a glimpse of your ol’ friend! I’m really touched by your kind love and support 🙂

To my besties Pey and Fei: Thank you so much for flying in to Singapore with me and making the trip a truly memorable one! Love you girls!

To my hubs, James: Thank you for always being there for me, and flying in for just one day so you could be a part of my first ever workshops! XOXO Love you lots!

P/S Special thanks to Pey for being my photographer of the day!

amiguruMEI as guest crafter at Spotlight

March 22, 2015 by amigurumei ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

The last two weeks were incredibly busy weeks for me! Apart from my Singapore trip, which I will write about in the next post, I also had the great honour of being invited as a guest crafter to officiate the new outlet opening for Spotlight, a mega craft store from Australia. What a dream come true!

I loved Spotlight ever since I first stepped into one and it was their outlet in Singapore. It’s just too bad that I didn’t have any crafty sense back when I was studying in Perth (over 10 years ago!), otherwise I would’ve gotten acquainted with the store way earlier and would’ve possibly started my amigurumi adventure then!

I got to meet fellow crafter Joanne of Craft Passion again and also Samantha of Stuff and More Crafts, and the three of us were thrilled to be one of the first few to see Spotlight’s new store at IPC Shopping Centre (formerly known as Ikano Power Centre).

The new store is snugly fitted next to Popular Bookstore, and it’s basically right next door to our favourite Swedish brand, IKEA. What we love about Spotlight first and foremost is that it has aisles and aisles of yarn! Show it to us, Jono!

Jono Gelfand, Spotlight's General Manager of Marketing. — Jono Gelfand, Spotlight’s General Manager of Marketing.

I had good fun hosting a crafting session in-store — but instead of an amigurumi workshop, we dabbled in some needle-felting, which I’ve always felt to be a great starter craft for self-proclaimed crafting noobs 🙂 Needle felting is fun and a great stress-reliever; perfect for members of the media and bloggers who joined us for the day.

Oh and I made a mini Hello Kitty x Haruka-chan for Jono as a gift of congratulations to Spotlight. I hope that you’ll get to see her and my book in one of the Spotlight stores soon, unless Jono have kidnapped the two back to Australia 🙂

I had loads of fun and it was really great meeting new friends! Managed to see Joanne off to the airport before I drove all the way home and crashed in bed. Who knew that a day of just crafting could be so tiring? A big thank you to Spotlight for inviting me over for a spin!

P/S I just visited Spotlight this weekend and came home with a bunch of Marvel yarn in all shades of pink! Everything was at 30% off 🙂

Amigurumei Singapore Meet & Greet and amigurumi workshop

March 6, 2015March 10, 2015 by amigurumei ♥ 3 Comments

I’ll be going to Singapore for my maiden amigurumi meet & greet workshop next week. Yay!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Wendy of When I Create and Craft Assembly for agreeing to host me for the event. I’ve never met Wendy but I think it was about two years ago when she first dropped me a mail to invite me over to tour her When I Create zakka store.

Needless to say, I’m super excited to meet her for the very first time, and also to meet other fellow crafters in the field!

Here are the details of my Singapore visit:

AMIGURUMEI MEET & GREET

Date: March 14

Time: 2pm to 4pm

Venue: Craft Assembly, 49 Haji Lane, Singapore.

What to expect: I’d love to meet you! Bring along your fibre-stuffed friends and we can take we-fies, amigurumi groufies, anything! And if you have a copy of Hello Kitty Crochet with you, bring it along too and I’ll promise to pen down my best wishes for you. If my dolls agree, they will be up on display in-store. It’ll be their first trip to Singapore, so I hope everyone will be nice and accommodating!

Date: March 14

Time: 5pm to 7pm

Venue: Craft Assembly, 49 Haji Lane, Singapore.

What to expect: If you have always wanted to make cute little amigurumi by hook and yarn, but have always had trouble understanding how to start, this workshop would be perfect for you. And no pressure! Even if you can’t finish making the doll by the end of the class, you can always finish up at home — I promise to make a video to further supplement your home learning (but do give me some time, ok?). The idea is to have fun, and find your calling, if crochet is indeed your calling 🙂 Oh and we’ll be making a mini Piyoko. The pattern should get you off to a good start to make other cute critters 🙂

AMIGURUMEI BEGINNERS WORKSHOP #2

Date: March 15

Time: 10am to 12pm

Venue: Craft Assembly, 49 Haji Lane, Singapore.

What to expect: The same as above, but on a more relaxing Sunday morning 🙂

AMIGURUMEI INTERMEDIATE WORKSHOP

Date: March 15

Time: 3pm to 5pm

Venue: Craft Assembly, 49 Haji Lane, Singapore.

What to expect: If you’ve already been making amigurumi on your own, but would love to chat a bit about how to make your dolls cuter, slimmer, longer or prettier, then this would be THE workshop for you. We’ll be attempting to make Keiko-chan, who is currently ranked as the world’s cutest (and tiniest) Hello Kitty fan. I suppose two hours would not be enough for everyone to finish the doll but no worries! What’s most important is that we all have a great time crafting together and enjoying everyone’s company. If you have any tips and tricks you would like to share, please feel free to do so! Bring along your favourite handmade amigurumi and we can take some fun pictures together!

So counting down, it’s about 7 days till I head over to Singapore!

Please e-mail craftassembly@hotmail.com for more information on the workshops. Fees is SGD$65 per person. We are keeping the classes a small and comfortable size of 10 crafters, so do sign on quick 🙂

I hope to share more photos when I’m back! Wish me luck!