Crayon Wallets for little girls

More cupcakes crayon wallets. 

Difference is that I'm getting paid for them now! (cue The Count laugher)

A friend custom-ordered 2 of these crayon wallets and I made one extra with left-over fabrics. 

If you are interested in getting your hands on a fabric wallet, it costs SGD$18.00 (comes with 8 crayons + 1x100-sheet memo pad). Please add $2 if you'd prefer washable crayons. 

It's a wrap!

It's raining babies here! :> Seriously, I have no idea what the government is talking about when they say we are not having enough babies. The gynae's office is always packed, the malls are filled with families with strollers, babies/kids everywhere in the zoo, etc... Then again, I have been visiting 'kiddy-friendly' places hence the observation may be a 'little' skewed :p

A friend delivered earlier this month and I dugged out my old nursing cover and created a new one based on the pattern. 

It's a double-sided cover, with a flexible boning strip to give you some 'view' to the nursing child. I used the cover as a stroller cover too when the baby's asleep and you want to keep the lights out and curious aunties poking their faces into the stroller :p

The backing is a japanese 100% cotton brown striped fabric which is very soft. 

I think its a great gift: The shops sell them for quite a bit of $$! With a cover, I don't have to wear a nursing top or risk flashing my boobies at anyone! 

Speaking of modesty, we were out at the zoo a couple of weeks back and when I neared the gibbons section, I noticed a yummy-mummy, in a nice denim tube dress, seating at the bench with a fussing baby. What surprised me was that she popped her breast out of the dress, before she positioned her baby to nurse. Hmmmm... Talk about self-confidence! hahaha

Book Me

I picked up some notebooks from an old favourite store Muji at Paragon over the weekend. They gave 10% off the stationery supplies. Whoopee!

I'm in a bit of a sewing rut at the moment. Nothing pretty or productive coming out of the machine or cutting table. But good news is that I'm handquilting on an old WIP, sash by sash, cornerstone by cornerstone each evening.

Since the needle in the machine is quite old, I've been sewing some recycled papers together for scribble pads around the house. There's never paper or pen when you need one and when you don't, they are all over the house for your to pack them up.

And I jazzed up the notebooks with some iron-on experiments. And I made some for my brother - who knows better than to criticise my workmanship, or lack of. Haha.

This is a simple iron-in. I don't really like how 'bare' it looks - and the edges are not 'pretty' enough.

There, much better! I tried another scrap fabric appliqued to the book, using a zig-zag stitch.

Ok... the sewing needs a bit more practice... but overall, I like it :>

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! :>

Denyse Schmidt - Mix-it-up coasters

One of my favourite crafty books is this one. It inspires me a lot, in terms of colours, designs, etc. More of all, it shows me that sewing/quilting should be done YOUR WAY. No quilt police to tell you that your sewing must be 100% accurate, that your colours must consist of this & that, that your blocks must be true & true traditional, etc. The quilts are very different from the ones I see displayed at the quilt shops/workshops. DS' quilts are so refreshing & modern and I simply want to try each and every one of them.

After many months of book-ownership, DS flickr-group browsing, I finally decided to create something out of her book for a friend's new home. COASTERS! I know, I know. It's nothing challenging or great as a quilt or some of her other quirky project, but this gal gotta start somewhere, okie? ;>

Well, looking at the book, I thought: geez, I can make these coasters in 15 mins. I was SOOOOOO wrong. I ended up slaving away the entire evening over this set of 6 coasters.

Step 1: Enlarge pattern design

Step 2: Roughly cut up the pieces from the pattern sheet

Step 3: Stick each piece on a plastic template sheet & trim

Step 4: Punch out the points where the 1/4" seam lines intersects on all sides of the templates (6 pcs)

Step 5: Pick out 6 different fabrics

Step 6: Cut out fabric rectangles & stack them

Step 7: Trace pattern (mark out the 1/4" points too) on the top piece of fabric with water soluble pen & then cut them out. I rotary cut the 6 layers of fabrics.

Step 8: Switch the pieces around to make sure each top will have a different combination of fabrics.

Step 9: Match points, pin, sew, iron, repeat again & again & again...

Step 10: Square up

That's just for making the coaster tops. When I finally made them into cushy coasters and quilted them, it was just sooooo sooooo satisfying. Overall, the coasters are just nice for the couple's new home, which has a comfy basement/entertainment room, with orange walls, some nice grey tiles... I picked the fabrics with their colourways in mind... And I think my friend appreciates them, so I'm happy. :>

Okay, another house-warming coming up next week. More coasters??? :>

1st post of 2009!

It's been a LONG while! Well, it had been a busy Christmas, my hubby & I worked through the New Year and now we having the Lunar New Year coming up next Monday! Gosh... I need a holiday from all the holidays!

Found time to start a new project at the beginning of the year, though. More updates when it gets closer to a better shape to be shown! :D And I also indulged a 'little' online retail therapy, which arrived last week!

Over the Christmas period, I managed to sew up a few made-with-love (read: wonky sewing) items for some special people.

Remember the cupcakes fabrics? I made the crayon wallet for a friend's little girl since it was such a big hit with Benji :> I LOVE LOVE LOVE how sweet this wallet turned out.

For another creative little 3 YO, I made the crayon wallet with the scraps from Gram's Fairy Tale baby quilt and it turned out perfect (in my opinion! :p)

I believe I will continue to make more of these wallets for more of our little friends! :>

Good Buys 2

December has been a month of crafty indulgence for me :>

Well, I haven't given into temptations YET with all the online fabric stores' sales & coupons. But I have been checking out the local crafting supplies stores, stocking up on notions and what-nots.

A couple of weeks ago, I visited a local store in Chinatown. They sell loads & loads & loads of Clover products that made me a very very very happy girl :>

Here's what I bought finally, and I did show some restraints when I returned a few items at the cashier before I checked out the items :p

1) The mesh transfer sheet - handy for transferring quilting patterns without cutting out template sheets.

2) Bias Tape Maker - you need one for each size!

3) Gauge - which came in very useful when I had to fold over 1/8 seams in my last project. But this gauge is in metric, so I had to measure it against my other imperial rulers first.

4) Water soluble marker - gosh, this works like a charm for me! Why I didn't get this much earlier is beyond me. LOVE IT! The marks wash out beautifully and most importantly, the marking is much more accurate and clear.

5) Iron-on transfer-pencil - I love the idea that I can trace out a pattern with this pencil and then transfer it to the fabrics just by simply ironing on it. Downside is that the markings will be permanent. No immediate plans/projects that call for this pencil yet. :p

6) Fabric glue stick - this will be useful for the applique works

7) Variegated thread - too pretty to be left out of the shopping basket ;>

8) Heat & Bond No Sew fusible web - I was thinking of making some 'iron-ons' for friends who don't sew. This is perfect for such 'painless' projects.

I do consider myself somewhat of a 'gadget-girl' (I love gadgets, but I don't go queueing up for iPhones just to be the first ones to get it...), and perhaps that explains why I fell in love with sewing again, after all these years. All the toys that you can buy for just marking patterns! For cutting fabrics! And once, I spent an entire day just search and surfing for various presser feets and their functions... And of course, the Internet has also made researching much easier and interesting, bringing me all the inspiring blogs of people who share their love & passion for their crafts.

Alrighty. Time to get back to work now and earn more $$ for my crafty fund (and Benji's diapers :p) ! ;>

Fabric Gift Wrapping 2

Here's a package of booky-goodies going to a friend in New York. Her family has moved from Singapore for almost a year now, and we bought some Chinese books for their 3 little ones, sort of like helping them to get in touch with their 'Asian Roots', so to speak :>

This came from Ikea's 'mini-bolt' which I love to buy. I used another one when I used fabrics to wrap a gift for another crafty mama's baby party.

This fabric wrap is a little more 'structured'. I based it loosely on a pattern in this book and while I don't have linen & silk, I do have loads of Ikea's cotton fabrics ;> The length of the ribbon is much shorter though, but given the thickness of these ribbons, I don't wish to add too much bulk to this parcel. Keeping it S I M P L E and S H O R T.

9 more days to Christmas! :>

Cupcakes, anyone?

Now, who can resist a Spotlight sale? 20% percent off... I've expected the shop to be a scene of madness again, especially when it was the Hari Raya Haji holiday last Monday. While I was there for the buttons (for projects that I can only reveal after Christmas), I caved in and bought some poplin fabrics and felt too. The solids bundled on the right were picked up from Golden Dragon earlier in the day :p

Yummy...

Punch & stamp

Now, I have to perfectly honest with you. I can't draw. I can't even draw a stick figure well. And Benji's a psychic when he is able to figure out what the heck I have doodled for him when we do our 'ca-yon' sessions together.

So, in my quest to create things that people MIGHT find pleasing, I depend a lot on prints & templates, etc... This year, I finally caved in and stepped into a scrapbooking shop (cringe) to pick up some stamps. I'm simply intrigued by these clear stamps that Amy - the angry chicken - was talking about. And lo & behold, stamps from HEATHER BAILEY in the shop! I felt like I struck jackpot - I could not even find HB's freshcut fabrics locally, and yet I can buy her stamps?! WONDERFUL!

The girlies at the Made with Love shop were so helpful too. They helped me pick up a stamp pad (which can be used on fabrics... I'm skeptical still), stamp cleaner (I guess clear stamps need more maintenance than the rubber ones), and the 'acrylic' holder. Notice I didn't buy an acrylic block? Well, they were out of a lot of sizes, and what they have on hand are a bit pricey for my liking. But one of the staff said I can use these acrylic album sheets and they work just as well too. And best part of it: there are 2 pieces in there! And this is less than half the price of the blocks. BEST!

I'm intending to make gift tags out of these stock-cards. Here's one of the 'test' tag and see how super handy it is for adding in name/message? I'm hoping to make quilting labels with these stamps too. Hope they will stand up to washing! heh heh...

Christmas Skirting the issue

The Christmas Skirt is officially off the tree this year.

Here's a quick look at the 'finished product'. Nope. It's not been washed yet - I'm terrified of the colours running (I didn't pre-wash the fabrics for this project)... but let me figure out a way to get this in the wash without too much drama later on.

Applique close-up. Featuring the 12 gifts for the 12 days of Christmas.

The tree would have been PERFECT with this skirt under it. But, its not meant to be, for this year, at least. :p

So, we have 'relocated' the skirt to adorn the old-style coffeeshop table and placed the candlestickholder/wreath over the centre to cover the hole. Perfecto!

It's starting to feel a lot more like Christmas now! :>

My Christmas 'mini-Skirt'

The Skirt is DONE DONE DONE. The Tree is up (left the lights to get sorted out). So, I got the Skirt out and fitted it on.

AND THEN... I realised it was too SMALL for our tall tree! :( What a HUGE disappointment!

I should have at least measured the size of the tree stand when I started on this project, but I didn't. I'm so disappointed with this, and I even contemplated running out to buy a baby tree so I can dress it up with the skirt. But what am I going to do with 2 trees in the house? :(

So, I'm going to think up a way to use this skirt then... More pictures later.

I've been busy sewing up coasters for our Christmas dinner this year. And the cat is enjoying all the activity because she has a nice warm board to cosy up to after I'm done with it. :p

Let me go have a think about the Skirt now... headache, heartache! :(

12 Days of X'mas - Tree Skirt

I've been complaining A LOT these days that the malls are putting up X'mas decor earlier each year.

On the other hand, I've been keeping my eyes open for X'mas gifts, planning schedules around the holidays and also keeping a list of things that I will need to do, clean, craft in time for X'mas. The X'mas tree skirt pattern caught my eye when I was at the local quilt shop. I attended a couple of sessions at Quilts and Sew Forth and this is what I have done up so far! :>

The creases you see are due to the folding and packing. I chose 7 different X'masy fabrics and a lovely beige/gold background fabric. I chose to cut out the 12 days of X'mas gifts from a panel for the applique, instead of tracing, and hand appliqueing other designs from scratch to the tree skirt. I simply used some Heat & Bond and machine sewed them with a blanket stitch. Quick & Easy! :>

The skirt is now basted and I will machine quilt this baby after I have joined the blocks for Benji's Zoo quilt. I'm looking forward to this skirt gracing our X'mas tree this year :>

Sashiko Coasters

Finally got round to completing the set of 5 coasters after choosing the backing fabric. Although the Sashiko coaster kit just require you to sew up the sides without any batting or backing, I chose to add on a lightweight iron on interface and a backing fabric.

I chose a dark Japanese print Kaufman fabric (almost black) with Kanji prints on it. I feel that it brings out the Japanese-ness of the Sashiko stitching.

I'm looking forward to completing the rest of the Sashiko kits!

Fabric Gift-wrap

Last Sunday, we celebrated a crafty friend's baby girl's 3rd birthday. I decided to use the remnants of my Ikea 'mini-bolt' to wrap up this gift, so that the mummy can have some fun making her little girl stuffs too!

1) The present was first wrapped up with kraft paper first. Then I was deciding if I should use safety pins to pin the folds in place or fabric glue, or a ribbon to tie it all up?! Then DH had a brilliant idea for my to sew everything in place!

2) So, I 'wrapped' up the present as you would with your gift wrap paper. And pin and pin and pin the fabric into position.

3) Using a darning needle or similar, run your stitches along the edge of your fabric. Make sure you catch the bottom fabric! This is where the initial brown paper comes into play. The brown paper prevents 'injury' to the box when I stabbed too hard through the fabrics, etc.

As for the thread, I just use a single strand of polyester-cotton thread to sew this baby. No need to use strong threads as I wanted the gift recipient to be able to rip out the threads easily, and not damage the fabric!

You can consider the stitches to be almost like 'basting stitches', instead of real quilty stitches ;>

Lastly, I pinned a gift tag to the present with a curved safety pin. Sorry, no pic here. Did it on the fly just as the gang was at the door waiting to go for the party! :>

Distracted

It's been a while since my last post. Not to say that there has been much going-ons, but on the sewing side, it has been a bit more quieter ;> Not a bad thing, actually.

Let me explain.

We took another road trip with the family to Malaysia again, and it was great! We enjoyed the cool air of Cameron Highlands and of course, the yummy food. I packed away my sewing machine and cleared out my sewing corner before we left because there was some renovations done in our absence. I have not reinstated the machines, mats, etc because the work is still not done to our satisfaction yet.

BUT I have been hand quilting every night for the past 2 weeks, and it IS getting easier and quicker (relatively) for me. I have completed 2 blocks and starting on the 3rd one now.

The other reason why I have not caught up with AmandaJean's QAL is also because of this:

My hubby bought this for my 'small' 3-0 birthday. And we have been racing each other at MarioKart at every chance we get! :>

Ta, for now. I will be back with more news of 'gifts' I bought for myself! hahaha.

What a month!

Back from our vacation, and I think I need another one again! ;> It was Benji's first flight and I'd say he did quite well. Don't think he was very comfortable in our laps though as he is so used to having his own seat in our cars. And too bad that I only realised infant flight vests (or for lap held babies) are available after our trip. I strongly encourage people who travel with small babies to get one of these. We could not get car seats for the kids in our tour van and we had to carry Benji in our laps again. It was uncomfortable and nerve-wrecking at some points of the journey through the Bangkok traffic. Again, we would have felt safer if he had the vest secured to our seat belt.

And since our return, my time for sewing was affected when my folks took off on their own vacation. So, I had Benji all to myself for 2 weeks, and could only reply my emails during his naps and bed time. BUT I managed to squeeze in some therapeutic and quality time with my projects ;>

1. Banana Milkshake Shrug

I finally completed the shrug made for my good friend and Benji's Godma. Meant for her BIG THREE-O birthday and I hope she likes it! I hope she will remember to take a picture of herself wearing it ;> It was really a joy to make this for a good friend, and very easy!

2. Soft book for Baby Joey

My friend's youngest, Joey (6 months old), went into surgery the week before for her heart problems. She just got discharged from the hospital and we are all looking forward to her speedy recovery. This is the same soft book panel I made for Benji before, but then I did not have the embroidery function on my old Singer. This time, I had Joey's name stitched in place for her with the Bernina 440 :>

3. Trip Around The World

I completed basting the lap-sized quilt and what a sense of accomplishment. Yes, it might not be a big quilt, but it was most challenging to squeeze time to get this quilt done within this busy and tiring month.

I had some strips left over and decided to make a pieced backing. I'm not bothered whether the strip is dead center - horizontal or vertical, I'd rather have it asymmetrical. I think it works better for this small quilt.

Actually I could have completed the quilt top earlier. But I found myself a few inches short of the outer border all around because I forgot to include the inner border's width! I tried to take a short cut by piecing the border to make it longer. I deliberated for a few days after I 'fixed it'. Ultimately, I could not bring myself to accept the mistake and ripped out the entire outer border, cut new ones and sewed it back on. I'm glad I did that. This is how one of the mitered corners of the borders turned out.

It is now sitting at a corner of my sewing table, ready to be quilted. I really hope that this could be ready before my birthday at the end of June. Not sure if I'm going to keep this quilt for myself - if yes, it will be my 30th birthday present for myself, if not, I'd give it for my mom who helped me babysit my boy during my quilting sessions!

And THANK YOU to all who have left nice and encouraging comments in my blog. I'm still pretty new to all the sewing stuff and sometimes wonder if I'm making sense about what I blogged (??). But ultimately, I want to share about what I'm doing, the mistakes I made (so you won't make the same), and the tips I discovered, and to give back to the craft blog community since I have been so inspired by many of your blogs :>

Have a great rest-of-week ahead!