The T-shirt

I've been thinking about doing up an appliqued t-shirt for Benji... for a long long time.

This is a good tradition to start - a birthday shirt! Sadly, I missed out 1 :p

Really happy how this turned out - although I'm a still a bit lost about which stabilizer I should use. Here, I used a tear-away for the number '2'. For 'I'm' - I used an iron-on stabilizer which I think its a bit too stiff. I used the iron-on because I was terrified that when I 'tear-away' the stabilizer, it would rip up the t-shirt! Guess I need to experiment a bit more :p

All the Mother-care or Gap clothings that have embroidery or appliques use some kind of iron to protect the threads from chafing the baby's skin. Any ideas what it is and where I can find it?

Oh Goody goody!

Benji turned 2 last week and we threw a Crepes party over the weekend for our big and small friends.

The goody bag is something that we take rather seriously here. We always feel that our little guests need to go back happy too! Just like how their presence and presents made our boy happy.

We think: What do I want Benji to get in his goody bag when we go to other parties? We know what we don't want: CANDIES, CHOCOLATES and toys that break too soon.

My friend helped with the goody bag preparation in a weekend - she decorated the paper bags, helped bundled crayons together, and supplied me with good and warm company.

For kids below 2 years, we included 1) alphabet and number stickers, 2) non-toxic bubbles, 3) a notepad, 4) 1 x Crayola TaDoodles Washable Crayon Buddy, 5) Cereal

For the older kids, We included 1) alphabet and number stickers, 2) non-toxic bubbles, 3) 4 pcs of crayons, 4) 2 tubs of Play Doh, 5) Cereal, 6) a note pad - I cut up my DCWV Printed Cardstock Stack for cover & Backing and also added 12 pieces of recycled paper - attached 2 mini brads at the top. I hope this will lead to more repurposing/recycling by the parents because I know how much materials we consume EACH day!

Last year, we used plastic tubs to hold the goodies. we included 'party materials' like noise makers, some plastic toys, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, etc. And we had chocolates for the older kids and biscuits for the younger ones. The younger ones received a Beanie Baby as well. It's quite a good feeling to see that the tubs being put to good use still when we visit our friends for playdates. But the cheap toys didn't last.

So, we hope that the crayons/play doh will leave many creative marks for their parents to capture for a long time to come! :D

Trip Around The World - DONE DONE

I've been loving this project since Day 1. The top got done quite quick and then I put it away after basting it for quilting. I meant for this project to be my 30th present for myself. But that came and went, and I didn't get it quilted in time.

Over the New Year, my only craft-related resolution was: Finish what I have started, before I start something that I don't finish (quickly) again. So, in the past weeks, I have been doing small projects for the home and for the boy - more about those later on. I've pieced 3 more backings for my completed tops so that I can get them quilted and Done Done sooner.

With a good friend's birthday around the corner, I thought I'd gift the TATW to her - as I remembered her liking it when I showed her the WIP. So, it was a few days of intense quilting during Benji's naps & bedtime. Here's the final product! It's a lap-sized square quilt, but it covered just the top of my Queen-size barely.

I simply enjoyed putting the binding on and handsewing the back down - I was like: Done already?! . Never mind that the mitered border & the mitered binding don't match much, it's still my pride and joy :>

I quilted in straight lines with the walking foot - even then my lines are not all that straight!

Here's how the back of the quilt looks like. LOVE IT.

For the label, I grabbed a verse from Dorothy Parker - how apt for a quilty gift for a friend! :>

Full Circle

Yes, yet another new toy :> I've been collecting all these 'sewing toys' like how we are collecting Thomas train sets for Benji :p I HEART my sewing toys ;>

Here's a 'must have' tool for cutting circles! It's the Olfa rotary circle cutter which I bought at Popular Bookstore during their year end sale.

This circle was cut WITHOUT any stabilizer, freezer paper, etc. It just works! I used it for the self covering button bought at Spotlight many moons back.

I'm already planning another project cutting up circles from my scraps for a home decor project. Hopefully I'll get to that soon! :>