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

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! :>

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) ! ;>

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...

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! :(

A couple of busy months...

It has been a while since my last entry. And this blog, quilting, fabrics and sewing have been consistently on my mind! There have been several knitting projects completed (not photographed yet), many yards of fabrics bought (I can't even begin to keep track of them!) and many projects stated (I need to tweak the WIP column very soon!).

Last week, I found a really neat shop, Sin Hin Chuan Kee, along North Bridge Road. It's a traditional wholesaler shop (read: old and not great with displays) that packs lots and lots of goodies at great prices. I found Chaco paper for tracing Sashiko patterns, elastic threads, tweezers (for getting paper backing out from appliques), and there are a whole of goodies in the store! I bought 2 reels of ribbons at just about US$1.90 each for X'mas crafting too.

I was packing up my stack of WIP the other night, then I saw my Zoo blocks looking so cheery and bright... and neglected. I remembered planning for the borders to be a deep shade of red. What a perfect X'mas gift for Benji! And I started to get into the swing of things (if I leave it till 'later' again, I will not get it done!), and started tracing the fabrics, cutting them, and taped up my layout mat on the wall. I'm now sewing the rows together, then will put up the borders hopefully by end of this week! Yippee!

Good Buy

I have a small working area and a smaller ironing board. and I HATE it when the wire gets in the way (and cause more creases) when I have to press those backings or bigger quilts.

And I found this beauty at the departmental store today. It costs about US$40.00 and I HAD to have it. It is a medium weight dry iron, different from my regular steam iron (I don't use the steam function for the quilts) which weighs next to nothing :p These lightweight steam irons are good for clothes, but not quite the thing when it comes to quilts!

Hubby was surprised that I would want an iron this heavy :p I explained that quilting is about PRESSING, not'ironing'... I think that left him more confused than ever! haha.

I've just applied the border to one side of my Star QAL and I'd love to try out this iron on the quilt then. I have not fired up this baby yet - not in the greatest shape to stay up in the studio tonight and sitting at the machine. I think I'm coming down with a flu or something... throat's a little scratchy and bones a little achy... not in the mood to get on the floor to pin the borders on tonight. Guess I will continue with my handquilting my sampler in bed then! ;>

Have a great week ahead!

About Stars and Sashiko

I've made some progress with my Star Quilt-A-Long project and I'm happy to say that I have completed all 30 blocks and cut up all my sashings/cornerstones, waiting for sewing now :>

There has been a number of completed tops at the group's flickr folder and I thought that the quilt is 'too square' to fit into any rooms in the house. haha. A quick calculation shows that I can turn this into a Queen-sized quilt with an additional row. So, I added 2 more Stars and 3 more setting blocks.

And I also took some time to pick out my border and backing fabrics too, and they are washed and ready to go when I'm done piecing the top together.

You can see the preliminary layout below, without the sashings/cornerstones/borders. I have a piece of tape on each block to indicate which row/column they belong to, so I don't have to bother with laying them out again until they are joined.

Here are my 2 additional blocks - Dutchman's puzzle and a 9-patch star.

Recently, I found that my quilt shop carries Sashiko needles and I got really excited (for nothing). Unfortunately, the shop does NOT carry the Sashko kits/fabrics or even threads. It has been very painful looking for Sashiko stuffs in our local craft shops . And that of course gave me an excuse to shop online ;> Bought a bunch of placemat kits, some samplers and also sashiko threads. Of course, I did not have the patience to get my camera and snap a picture of the parcel as-is, but I remembered to take a pic of my spree here after I started stitching on a few coasters.

I felt that the threads supplied in the kit are not as good as the ones that you buy 'ala carte'. They seem to be more loosely twisted and a bit harder to pull through the fabric. So I'll probably just buy the sampler or the marked fabrics in the future. This is my 1st attempt at Sashiko sewing, though I've known of it for a while. Never got the chance to try my hands at i till now, because they are almost impossible to find in Singapore.

Then I visited the bookstore and bought The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook by Susan Briscoe which is really packed with loads of Sashiko history and patterns for reference. I. Love. It.

Loads of WIPs since the beginning of the year, and I sure hope I have more finished projects to show for in the coming months.

Thanks for sewing with me!

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.

New addition

Finally! The Aurora 440 has landed! Actually it arrived at the shop earlier, but I could not pick it up because Benji was really ill earlier this month. Anyway, it is home with me now. Happy as can be. I have not done much sewing with it as much as I'd like to. But the BSR is a dream! I tried it out on a scrappy piece of quilt sandwich and it is much easier compared to my old Singer machine. Of course, I will need more practice with it to make decent stippling, etc but already I can feel the difference.

The instruction manual is marvelous too. Very detailed and also very clear - and that helps a lot too! The machine looked quite complicated, but it is quickly de-mystified with the instructions. Will be spending quite a bit of time playing around with the settings, the stitches, etc. I'm definitely looking forward to that ;>

Bernina Aurora 440 QE

I must be mad! Just placed an order for the Bernina 440 that costs me an arm and a couple of toes. So much for 'no big ticket items' for 2008!

How this madness started was when I took a machine quitling lesson with QNSF. First of all, the walking foot that came with my Singer was a high shank one (the shop gave me the wrong one), so that didn't work. And I realised how hard it is to control the speed when you need precise stiching on the drawn lines and also for free-motion quilting. The Singer (a quilter edition too) was simply put to shame when I asked that I try it on a Bernina 240 at the class. What a difference! Things I loved on the Bernina was the Free Hand System, needle down function, the great control (you can do one stitch at a time with the foot control!) and the fact that it was very smooth and quiet.

I was tempted by a Bernina when I started doing patchwork a couple of years back but decided that it was too huge an investment, and I could hand sew if I wanted. After the baby came, I really am not keen on handsewing because I don't want to risk needles misplaced and I really do not have the time/patience to wait for it to come together so slowly.

The Singer is a good machine for what it is. It is not the cheapest machine, but it is not as forgiving to a bad sewer like me as a Bernina would be. Decided to placed my crafty money on the 440 mainly because of the BSR (Benina Stitch Regulator). That would help a idiot sewer like me! And I'm going to justify this purchase with loads of projects!

Delivery for the new machine is end of March or early April. Can't wait for it to arrive. In the mean time, I will sew as little as possible (to save it for the new machine) and start cutting up my fabrics then! :>