Taking Stock 2025

Hello friends and Internet strangers,

It's been a whole year since I last wrote. Not much has been happening around here. How about you? 2025 went by really fast. I mean it's good right? If time passes slowly, it would be awfully boring.

Want to hear something funny? I spent nearly the entire year thinking I was a year older than I am. It was only recently that I realised my mistake. What a nice bonus. Suddenly I became a year younger. Also a bit worrying. What's wrong with my brain?

It's that time of the year when I feel a little blue. Maybe it's the end of yet another year on earth. Maybe it's taking stock of what I've accomplished the whole year and realising I haven't done much. Could it be the increasing amount of scrap fabric I've accumulated? Or maybe it's the weather. The endless December rain due to the wet North East monsoon. Clothes not drying well, contemplating buying a dryer but knowing I won't because there's no space for one.. the usual year end blues thinking about my purpose in life, laundry and how to look forward to another year of the same.

There were a number of things I wanted to achieve this year. Did I achieve them?

Youtube

Amazingly, I kept going with my youtube channel. In all honesty, my youtube channel isn't very successful as I've not managed to get a big audience. Youtube is flooded with sewing tutorials so it's not a surprise. Maybe one day I'll get sick of it and stop making videos. But at the moment, the motivation is still strong. If you would like to send some love, subscribe to my channel! (I beg you)

These are the stuff I made for my youtube.

Digital Art

Last year I got into digital art and man, the progress was slow. I kept learning and forgetting. Re-learning and forgetting all over again. Now I know the basics well enough. As for the advanced digital art techniques, it's too hard for me to remember. What I hate about aging is you forget stuff very easily. 

This was my first piece of digital art. Is it horrific? 

I tried to improve it. Or maybe it wasn't worth improving.

I'm quite pleased with this one even though everything is very flat.

I liked it so much I made a free-motion quilt version, lol. It's quite scary to look at, isn't it? I don't know why I'm so attracted to it though. It's me, by the way. 

When I started drawing digital portraits, I didn't want to draw other people in case they get offended by how the drawing turned out. So I chose myself as the subject. I mean, how am I going to get offended by myself?

Here's another portrait I did. I actually LOVE this version even though my lines were shaky and my knowledge of Procreate was very basic. 

Here I improved on the drawing technically but I didn't like it as much. Kinda creepy.

I tried to go back to a naive style of drawing.

I made another attempt and here I tried not to get the flat look by adding shades. As you can tell, I haven't quite learnt how to draw hair yet. I also generously added brown spots to my face to make it more realistic.

This is the last portrait I did because I got sick of my own face. Here I wanted a more cartoon look and I think I succeeded! I drew my face super long because people are always reminding me that I have a long face. 

"You have a very long face." 

"Wah, your face very long."

"You know your face is very long, you know? You know?"

I doubt I'll ever forget I have a very long face thanks to the constant reminder.

What do you think of my digital art? Should I stop scaring people with my drawings or should I continue?

Comics

Last year I told you I have a vague dream to create comics. I was actually interested in a Far side style of comic - a one panel thing. Realistically, I don't think I have it in me to make any comics. I may have the humour bit but the execution of the humour in comics is truly hard. Not long ago, I came up with a few ideas for a one panel comic. Then, believe it or not, I completely forgot everything and since I did not write it down, I couldn't recall a single idea. So until I get another idea, this dream may be over.

Painting

I've not made much progress in painting. Before I could master water colour, I started trying out another medium - gouache. My god - this is such a difficult medium to handle. I think I'm way better at water colour. Gouache is not a forgiving medium. The mistakes are very glaring. I'm very close to giving up. I mean, painting isn't something I'm good at in the first place. On the other hand, painting gives me a lot of peace. It frees my mind of my worries.

These are some of the stuff I've done. I'm learning from books and Skillshare. (if you use my link, I get 1 month free if you get a subscription) To be honest, Skillshare is hit and miss. There are lots of video classes but you need to go through a whole bunch (of mediocre) to find the good teachers. The plus side is the subscription is very cheap. I got mine at 50% discount. 

Free-motion Quilting

As you know I fell in love with free-motion quilting last year and yes, I'm still in love. But I didn't invest in much time on it in 2025. Just a few small quilts for my home, nothing worth showing. 

Health

Overall, I thought 2025 was pretty good for me health wise. I managed to overcome my hives problems as in I can live without taking hives medication anymore. It's getting better and although it's not completely gone, I don't stress over it anymore.

I've also gotten better with my digestive health from following the Fodmap diet. Now and then I still get into trouble eating something forbidden but honestly, I've improved so much it's unbelievable.

Unfortunately, I completely neglected my physical fitness and didn't exercise at all. I'm likely paying for it now. Lately I noticed old problems like neck pains (myofascial) have come back. It's sending me into a panic and now I've started doing light pilates at home. I'm starting swimming as well. If all goes well, as in, I don't give up, I aim to swim once a week. Today was my first swim and luckily it was a non-rainy day. As hubs was off, I made him go to the pool with me. Having not entered a pool for so long, it was really refreshing swimming in the water. It wasn't cold and my old bones creaked (or cracked) here and there. I stopped swimming a few years ago because my skin got very dry. But now I have to choose between dry skin and debilitating muscle pain. Anyway, I've no one to blame but myself. I kept wanting to exercise and I never do. Yes, this is the kind of person I am. Procrastinate until it's too late.

I finally did my Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). It was on my list and I got it done. Never got around to doing my will though so I'd better stay alive until I do.

Travel

Yup, my family is still on a travel kick. One day we'll run out of money and it'll stop. So I should enjoy it while I can. This year we travelled to Osaka, Melbourne and Bangkok.

You probably know we heart Japan. But Osaka? I LUV. I don't even understand it myself. I mean Osaka zoo doesn't even have gorillas. What kind of zoo is that? But Osaka feels more like Singapore and is less crowded than Tokyo so that could be the reason. I guess I feel more at home in Osaka. Also Osaka is close to Kyoto where my gorilla family lives. We went in January and it was cold. 

My daughter booked us a fantastic room with a view. (Hotel Hankyu International)

I've yet to visit a good flea market

Kyoto zoo

Nagoya

In July we went to Melbourne so my daughter could see her penguins. It was also cold and super windy. The day we arrived while looking for our hotel, we found ourselves on this long stretch of road with nothing to block the wind. And believe it or not, we nearly got blown off by the wind. We hurriedly dragged ourselves into an alley. I thought it would be like this throughout our visit but it only happened that one time.

After our spectacular hotel room in Osaka, the one in Dorsett Melbourne was rather disappointing. The service sucked too.

Hubs said with my grey hair, I blended in with the locals in Melbourne. Also, we were browsing at a craft market and it was partly outdoors and cold and suddenly we realised the true meaning of Christmas in July. Lol. 

Food in Melbourne is very expensive. Like $17 for fried rice at a food court? Are they mad? How do the people in Melbourne survive? Once I bought kimbap and I was told to pay a weekend charge. I paid. The kimbap wasn't very good. One time we had pizza at a place we walked past and it was sold by the slice. Very expensive as well but omg, such mind blowing delicious pizza. So worth it. 

Another thing I observed - Melbourne buildings are full of graffiti. Awful ones not the artistic kind. In Singapore we cane people for vandalism regardless the artistry.

In October we returned to Bangkok to keep my daughter company as she was there for a concert. Nothing much to say about our return to Bangkok except that I bought more elephant pants and on the day we returned to Singapore, hubs and daughter had a big fight at the train station. Needless to say, I swore I'll never travel with them again.

And how was your year? See you some time in 2026.  

Ketchup and Bucket List

Hey folks,

First of all, those of you who are waiting for my bag pattern sale, it's on now at my Etsy and Ko-fi shop. No coupon needed. Until 3 December so don't wait ok?

Alright. Let's catch up. The year is almost over. So fast right? Doesn't time whizz by when you're not counting it? This is my second blog post for 2024, the fewest number since I started blogging in 2007. I kinda missed those days when I blogged about every little dem thing. It was nice but I don't have the energy for it anymore. Plus who's still reading blog posts nowadays huh? 

This year is sort of a special year for me. Special as in I officially became a senior citizen. In other words, I turned into an old lady. Yup, yup, yup. Plus, with me still stubbornly refusing to dye my super grey hair, I'm almost at Gandalf's level of old.

By Screenshot, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22187302

I've discovered there are a couple of benefits to turning 60. The supermarket (NTUC) I shop at gives a 2% discount on Tuesdays. I'm a bit pissed people who are older than me gets 3% discount at NTUC. Why is there a need for discrimination among us oldies? The other big supermarkets give a flat discount rate for seniors (3 to 4%). Unfortunately, where I live, the two supermarkets here are owned by NTUC. Pffft. 

The biggest advantage of being a senior in Singapore is the transport concession card. I'm not super clear what the exact discount is - something like up to 55%. But I've noticed I don't have to top up my card as frequently. Woo hoo.

Interestingly, volunteers (from Health ministry) paid me a visit. They were pretty persistent. The first time they came when I was out. The second time I was fast asleep. They waited a few hours and came back again when I was finally awake. They wanted to check on my welfare and to see if I needed assistance. Was it weird they took a wefie with me? Was it weirder I did a peace sign? It's kinda nice the government checks on the old folks. So comforting. The volunteers gave me material on managing my health, active aging and planning for future needs. 

They also wanted to check if I have dementia, lol. After I started getting older, I've noticed my short term memory isn't as good anymore. Also recently I saw a notice at my family doctor clinic that hearing loss is a risk factor for dementia. Since I've been deaf in one ear for 4 decades, I'm pretty screwed. When one of the volunteers said he wanted to test my memory, I was a bit scared. He gave me three things to remember. Apple, pen and table. Then they sneakily distracted me by talking about this and that and then out of the blue, the guy asked me if I remembered the three things. I could only remember apple and pen. What was the third thing? I searched my memory and there was a total blank. Then I remembered he pointed at something in my home when he said the third thing. Yes, the table! I was so happy I could remember the stupid table. So at the moment, I don't have dementia. What a relief. 

Bucket List

A couple of years ago, I started a bucket list. Unlike other people's bucket list, mine is mainly medical. The first few things on my list were to fix my lifetime struggle with gastric pain and migraines. Anyone else has endoscopy, CT Scan and colonoscopy on your bucket list? I had an endoscopy and a CT Scan last year and this year a colonoscopy. Have you done a colonoscopy before? The prep is no joke. Like you literally shat your brains out.

After my endoscopy and CT scan, my gastric doctor suggested I try a FODMAP diet. 

FODMAP are a group of sugar which does not get completely digested or absorbed in our intestine. These eventually end up producing gas which causes my stomach to bloat and hurt and I also get severe headaches. The doctor said people like me (with my symptoms) do benefit from a FODMAP diet. My endoscopy result shows I have multiple polyps which are possibly a result of long term use of omeprazole. Although polyps are mostly harmless, some do turn cancerous. Anyway, the best way forward is to reduce the use of omeprazole. With nothing to lose, I felt I had to give FODMAP diet a try.

The FODMAP diet is not easy. There's a lot to read up on . As it turned out, the FODMAP diet helped me a lot. I've discovered that cutting out the following from my diet has reduced my symptoms significantly. 

Food I cut out:

• Fructose
• Mushrooms
• Onions and garlic
• any ingredient that ends with ol

There is a method to figuring out your FODMAP tolerance. You can do it with a dietician or follow the Monash FODMAP's method. Everyone's FODMAP diet is different. What works for one may not work for another.

With the FODMAP diet, you can tweak it to include the "bad" food by using portion control. Like for me, 1 tablespoon of mango is ok, but nothing more. I decided not to eat mango anymore because who can stop at 1 tablespoon of mango?

There is a Monash FODMAP app (one time payment) which I find very useful. Being on the FODMAP diet requires a lot of discipline and reading of ingredients. I've been careless lately and just like that the symptoms come back. Eating out will always be a challenge. Still, compared to before, my wellbeing has improved significantly. I'm so glad the Universe sent me Dr Sara. Before I started the FODMAP diet, I was so miserable and forever second guessing which food gives me misery.

Sadly, as a result of poor gastric health for a few decades and the presence of polyps, I need to go for repeat endoscopy and colonoscopy in a couple of years. Fortunately so far all my polyps have tested negative for cancer and that is something I'm really thankful for.

I want to give myself a pat on the back for being persistent in searching for a "solution" for my gastric health. After years and years of being told there's nothing they can do and being continuously prescribed medication that hurts me, I'm so glad I kept pushing. I won't mourn the years of suffering I went through. I mean, you can't un-suffer, right? The battle is not over. The FODMAP diet isn't a cure. It helps you identify your food triggers. You also can't remain on a low FODMAP diet for life because you may end up with nutrition issues. It's a continuous process of finding the right portion of food to eat healthily that won't trigger symptoms.

Food will always be my enemy and every meal is a potential minefield. I have to constantly be vigilant and not let myself believe I'm cured when I feel good. (which I'm frequently guilty of) Discipline, discipline and more discipline. 

More health related stuff on my Bucket List - I've ticked off Bone Scan, Mammogram, twice yearly health checkup and dental checkup. Today I went for anti-shingles vaccine because the previous one I had - the efficacy had dropped to zero already. This vaccine is very expensive and you need 2 doses. In the future, there's a anti-pneumonia vaccine plus an eye exam.

I think when it comes to my healthcare, I'm very proactive. Although I always tell hubs I don't want to live a long life, I feel that I'm doing everything to ensure the opposite. 

Two outstanding things on my list are Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and a will. There's a centre not too far from my home where I can get a LPA done so it really comes down to doing it. As for the will, I dunno why we keep putting it off. 

The final thing on my bucket list is to declutter. I'm having a lot of trouble with this one because I live with hoarders including myself and since I'm the only one doing the decluttering it's a lonely battle. And today I bought a bunch of 2nd hand craft books! I need professional help.

Hives

I don't know why I'm doing this but I feel the need to update internet strangers on my Hives situation. Have I become the typical old person who needs to tell everyone about all her ailments? Maybe. Anyhoos, I went to see my skin doctor 2 weeks ago and I got a different doctor from before. The previous doctor had told me my hives would stop after 2 years. So I've been holding on to that because my 2nd Hives anniversary is coming up next March. Guess what? The new doctor laughed when I told her about the 2 year thing and she told me there's no guarantee. Some people, she said never recover. What? I'm so sad hearing that. What if I'm one of the "some people". At the same time, I think to myself. I'm equipped to handle hives as I have 2 medication - one for daily and one for super bad days. Hives or no hives, life goes on. 

Sometimes I dream of a life where I have no pain, no itch and I can eat whatever I want. I hope I can achieve it while I'm still young(ish).

Youtube

In my last blog post, I told you about my youtube channel. I've been slowly adding videos and if you would like to show my channel some love, you can click here:https://www.youtube.com/@projectsbyjane/videos

Making videos is challenging. I've learnt so much since my first video. One big thing I've learnt is this: I record my video on my iPhone in 4k resolution. But why does youtube play it at a shat quality on auto. Of course viewers are free to change the video quality but that requires effort. I discovered that to get youtube to play your video at a decent quality on Auto, then you will need to export the video in 4k. Otherwise, the auto quality of your video on youtube will be shatty. The downside of exporting at 4k resolution is it takes a lot of time. Both during exporting and when youtube processes it. But that's not a big deal because you can easily do other stuff while it's being processed. 

My Makes

I haven't sewn much this year. I made a few bags for my youtube channel.

I've used these 2 bags to death. I'm still very into free motion quilting. 

This one had a lot of hand embroidery. 

And this one was insanely hard - I painted the fabric. The base fabric is calico.

And this pouch was for a video tutorial.

For a while, I was in the mood for free motion houses. This is my childhood home.

More houses.

And more houses.

And applique houses.

I wanted to practise my free motion plants. I got sick of it super fast. And then I had to colour them.

Travel

Since we started travelling last year, we haven't stopped. This year alone I've been to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bangkok. Previously we rarely travelled because hubs hated to travel. Now? Hubs' a changed man. I think he was the one who kickstarted our Bangkok trip in August. 

I loved the window view from my Bangkok hotel. The malls are huge! I don't love the smell of sewage on the streets though. It was a very short trip.

Guess what? We're going back to Japan again next year. I think it was mostly hub's idea to travel again. Did he say he wanted to clear his leave? I forgot how it happened. 

There are many aspects of travelling that I dislike - the flying, the walking, the exhaustion and the bickering. Each time, I swear it's the last time I'm going anywhere. But then, I forget and get excited about another trip. I was telling hubs that if we intend to do anymore travelling, it has to be within these 10 years. Both of us are getting physically weaker. His knees are bad. Mine comes and goes. It's downhill from here on. 

New Obsession

I have a new obsession. A short while ago, hubs bought an iPad. I requested for the pencil pro instead of the regular pencil. Then I bought Procreate, an app for digital drawing/painting. I've been wanting to try this app for a while and I'm so hooked. I'm not super good at it yet and am still a bit wobbly. But it's a lot of fun. I've watched some youtube videos and a few skillshare classes (you need a subscription) to pick up some tips. It must be working because I'm getting better day by day. I don't have any big ambition with digital art. It's mostly for fun. But a small part of me was wondering if I could actually become a cartoonist which was my ambition when I was a teen. Probably not because I think the cartoonist gene is lacking in me. I also wanted to be a greeting card designer when I was a teen. Greeting cards are probably extinct by now so I'll just work on my skills first. Maybe next time I'll show you my digital art.

Thanks for reading till the end if you made it this far. I'll see you next year.

Video

Hey everyone,

How's your year going? I kept wanting to write a blog post and suddenly it's May. Hey, it's the Year of the Dragon. It's my Chinese zodiac year, not that it means anything except that I'm getting very old. <fake cry>

Would you believe I've travelled twice this year? What happened to the me who doesn't travel? In January I went to Hong Kong with my daughter. We didn't enjoy ourselves so I won't even talk about it. (One reason I was miserable was I couldn't poop.) 

In March, daughter, hubs and I went back to Tokyo. Too soon? Maybe. (I could poop, btw) Hubs lost his wallet in Singapore hours before our early morning flight because someone (me) had to go to the doctor after midnight and he had accompanied me and left it in a taxi. Hubs lost half his mind from anxiety but fortunately managed to get the wallet back after calling the driver. Recently, just this week, he lost his wallet again at a coffee shop and after losing half his mind the whole night, managed to get it back the next day. Hubs is now officially banned from carrying a wallet. 

Tokyo was freaking cold and windy. What I learnt about Tokyo wind is it BITES. We shopped our heads off and spent a ton of money. Overall, it was a nice visit but I really HATED the wind. 

Apart from jet-setting around, I've been occupied with making youtube videos. Last year I started to learn to make Youtube videos. I tried a few video editors. The first one I used comes with your windows - is easy to use but so unreliable. I think I made one video with the editor. Next I tried VSDC and it's so hard to use. I made one video but after a couple of weeks, I completely forgot everything I had learnt. So I gave up. Finally my daughter introduced CapCut to me. It's not too hard to use so in the end I settled on CapCut. I use the free version. 

Anyway, believe it or not, making videos is hard. I barely know what I'm doing half the time and I feel clumsy. One thing about uploaded youtube videos is, you're screwed if you've made errors. You either delete it, redo or live with it. There are some stuff you can fix but it's limited. For better or worse, I've published a few. I watched a Youtube video about making Youtube videos and this guy said, the first 50 videos you make will teach you how to make videos. I guess I have a long way to go! Anyway, here's my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@projectsbyjane I made a few playlists so it's easier to browse. Do check it out.

I've also just made a vlog. I don't really know how many vlogs I'll do but this is my first. I wasn't sure what I should put in my first vlog so I ended up showing off my hobbies! I mean, without my hobbies, I'm kinda nothing. I hope you'll watch it. (To watch video full screen, click play on the video and then on the square to the right of the word Youtube.)

What else? Well, life's been pretty hard lately, itch wise. Recently, I realised that I've had hives for one year already. I was at the skin clinic for a follow-up and my doctor conveniently said it'll take 2 years for my hives to go away. She's very unsympathetic because most of her patients' conditions are way worse than mine. What's a little hive? But I begged her for better medication and she gave me something extra to take when my hives get super bad. The something extra is really powerful. It put me to sleep for 14 hours the first time I took it. Now, not so bad, just 12 hours. And I feel sleepy all day. I only take the extra pill when I feel like throwing myself into the river.   

And for those who come to my blog to see what I've made this year, here are 2 textile art I made using my fabric scraps. Yes, it's birds again, combined with free-motion quilting.

And lastly, a quilt I made for my Angela Walter's free-motion quilting challenges.

Lastly, I opened a new shop to sell my digital downloads:https://ko-fi.com/projectsbyjane

This platform supports a Pay What You Want model which I really like. I hope to add more digital downloads to this category soon. 

And for supporters: