Musings-Tribute to My Mother

This post is a short tribute to my mother. It does not in any remote way say ALL my "thank you"s and "love you"s but I am glad I am finally able to pen and share with you a tiny dose of my mum's selflessness.

I have often whinged and whined about how no one else shares my mini passion. Having said that, my mum did something so wonderful for me I am now taking all of that back.

Mum is the kind of woman who is really good with her hands. I have no doubt that she can be a great miniaturist if she ever had the chance. But life was a lot harder then and not only was she deprived of an education because she was an adopted child, she had to start work when she was barely in her teens, hawking cigarettes illegally.

Now that she can afford it, her eyes are no longer good enough for mini work. Even then, she had been knitting for me, little blankets/ rugs / throws and each time she showed me unfinished samples, I kept saying: "smaller, mum, smaller" and she would go "Ok, I will try, no problem I can do that". See the little white cover (4" by 4" without fringes") and the round rug with colourful flowers (5" in daimeter)? They were made by my beautiful mum.

After I picked up miniatures, I just wanted to do as many of the craft work myself as I possibly could. Mum is the one who points me ever so often in the way I should go with them . I wished I had started this earlier then maybe by now I would have learnt all the needlework from my mum. She can quilt, crotchet, knit, sew, embroider. I remembered how she had crotchet or knitted an animal from balls of wool.

I was young then and thought many of the stuff she made tacky. Now, I wished she had kept all her handiwork so I could show them off here.

These days whenever she goes "you should not have stitched so hard, you pulled the string too much, that's why your rug is now crooked" or "just be patient, and do it a few more times..." or "hmm, that's not bad" (all in my dialect of course ), I feel really close to her. As I was never interested in cooking, sewing and all the other girl stuff, I believed these are our 1st real mother-daughter bonding moments.

And during these moments, I feel like a teenager again. Its a nice feeling, this Curiosity (which I thought I had lost), or the Awe of my mother's talent, better yet, the sense of Accomplishment after I have completed a simple craft. But most importantly, this feeling that my mum loves me and is teaching me something that she is good at...now that is a feeling few can top.

You know, making these little rugs was hard for mum because her finger was injured from a bacteria attack that never went away. But does that stop her? No. Even after I told her not to make any more, she just kept asking me to buy her more threads.

So on some weekends, after Mum, Dad and I had our breakfast, she would ask if I want her for company, either to hang out at hobby shops or Daiso or Little India. Most of the time, it was for me to shop for My Maharajah's Palace but sometimes, we hang out at Spotlight to look for threads for both of us.

Now, the next time, you hear me whinged and whined again, give me a kick in the butt and tell me to shut up because you know it is not true no one shares my passion.

Love you so very much, Mum! I know I have wished you already but here's another " HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!"

About the picture at the top of this post, it was done by my ever talented bro, Win. He made this poster for my mum on her 68th birthday this February. The photo is of my mum when she was pregnant with her third child, Shir, also my 2nd younger sister. My mother who is as vain as all beautiful women should be, had an 18 inch waist before that and I think, 21 when she had my sis! Mum was over the moon that Win made her so beautiful again. In case you are wondering, it was a poster selling fabric set in the early 50s or 60s. Isn't that just so apt for this post? If I didn't tell you that is my mum, I am sure you will be wondering who's this Oriental beauty is, no?