Christmas crafts

I made these out of old Christmas decorations. I had to buy the little baskets, though. Found two little pots for the little santas. The pine cones were collected from a golf course a while back. I knew they would come in handy!! LOL At the back of the picture, against the wall are two half wreaths. I love Christmas!!!

All done!!! I added buttons to make it more interesting! The flowers on the left should be facing upwards!! LOL I really don't know why I did it that way....... Might redo it later!

Got to apologise for not being able to post the Christmas crafts.. The lighting was not good enough. I couldn't capture the true colors of the Christmas decorations! Will try for the next blog!


Quilted the middle and top sections with straight line quilting. Did the square sections with diagonal quilting. I'v e also made two plain handles with the same green fabric as the middle section. For the lining of the bag, I cut 3 inches green fabric and sewed onto calico. Made the green fabric as the top of the lining bag.

I was caught up with some Christmas craft projects and neglected this bag. But I'm back!! Will post the Christmas crafts on the next blog!

I added a darker green fabric for the bottom half of the bag and two lighter green strips for the top.

When I saw this bag in the book, I told myself this is one bag I must try and make! The only problem I have is that all the instructions are in Chinese! So I just 'agak agak' and went ahead with it! I love craft books and as long as there are nice pictures, I think all of us can somehow figure a way to make it!! LOL

Another Japanese Bag

I saw this bag pattern in one of the books I bought a while back. Been eyeing it for a while! I am using the same fabric combination as my other Japanese bag projects! Love the colors!! LOL

Machine is working well. Sorry it took so long to post this! Took this picture after trying the machine. There is a sound on the machine which I have yet to identify! I hope it is nothing serious!!! LOL

This is the same quilt that was on the frame when the disaster happened! Once the quilting and binding is done, I have to send this quilt to the laundry shop to try and get the stain marks removed. By the way, the electrician came on saturday to remove the fan and hopefully, able to repair and fix it back soon.

Disaster!

We got home from breakfast one morning and found we have a new shower place! When I came in through the front door, I could hear water sounds. Not a good sign when you know nobody is supposed to be home!!! I dropped the shopping bags and rushed upstairs! This is what I found ->

water flowing right through the fan and the lights! And guess what was under the fan????? YES...the Swiftquilter!!! It was a sight I will not forget! The quilt was dripping and water was also on the Juki! The floor was flooded.......the rest you can imagine!!! LOL

More clothespin bags!!

Made 24 clothespin bags for a jumble sale this weekend at the church. I started it last week. It was a last minute decision. Found some fabric, sat down and started cutting out the patterns. It took me longer than expected to get all these done. I needed an extra pair of hands to help me sew the buttons so I recruited my friend, Haminah. We completed the work this afternoon and even had time to visit a friend!!!

Geri Doll

Made this doll for Geraldine. I was babysitting her for the first time and I asked her if she would like a doll. I gave her a book to look through and she chose this. I think the process of making the doll really intrigue her! She got to see how it is made from scratch!

Today, I am back to doing quilting on my Swiftquilter! Lots and lots of quilting to do!! LOL

Tulips N Anemones

I have just completed these four corner blocks. Took me more than a year to do it! Last June, I managed to complete 10 blocks for the sides of the quilt. As I said, this is my 'while waiting' project!! I bring this with me if I know I have to wait for people......take this out and before you know it, time will just fly by!! Time well spent, don't you agree???.........LOL

Fickle minded!!

A few months ago, I machine quilted this Jacobean quilt. When I took it out of the cupboard today to do the binding, I look at it and decided I really do not like the multi color thread I had used. It actually made the quilt look very busy. I was going to hang this quilt on the wall at the staircase landing and would have to look at it everyday so I decided to redo the whole quilt!!! I started the unpicking process already so this will add on to my busy, busy sewing schedule!! LOL

Grandmother's Flower Garden

This is one of the best loved vintage quilt pattern. Many people, including me, dare not even try to make a quilt from this pattern. It is a labor intensive quilt pattern. First of all, you have to cut out hexagon templates. Then a piece of fabric will be folded over the template and basted down. The hexagon pieces are then whipstitched together. The result is a quilt top pieced by hand!!

This beautiful quilt was made by my husband's Godmother (pic). Aunty Theresa used scraps she took from her tailor. These are mostly scraps from baju melayu thus the beautiful colors which are great for this quilt. The fabric are of different mix as well. Silk, polyester silk, satin etc.. The difference between this quilt and a 100% cotton quilt is the puffiness of the hexagon pieces. They look like they have already been quilted all around!!!

I am proud to say I am the owner of this beautiful piece of work! Thank you, Aunty Theresa!!!

I had fun playing with this machine!!! As this is NOT my machine, I had to read the manual first so that I don't accidentaly 'hurt' it!! I thought, just for practice, I'll do a simple design with not too many thread colors. The outcome is the design on the right. I found this wording in a quilt magazine and thought I can try make something out of it later. I used two colored thread for it. Took an hour to embroider it. This machine is meant for embroidery only. The other machine that I am also looking into is the Janome Memory Craft 1100!! It can quilt, sew and embroider!!! LOL

Janome Memory Craft 350

Dream! Dream! Dream!

Wishing, wishing this is mine! LOL But it's not! This embroidery machine belongs to my friend, Haminah. She just left for Hanoi and put this machine in my care!!! Told me to play around with it!!! Woohooo!!! I better start reading the manual!!! LOL

For info, Luke went for his knee replacement surgery and is doing well. This is the second week after the surgery and he is walking without crutches and even started driving!! He still has to do a lot of physio sessions though. Can't wait to go back to my sewing rhythm!!!

I have not been blogging lately because my hubby and I have been in and out of doctors' clinics and I have not been doing a lot of sewing. His knee is giving him a lot of problem and he dreaded the news that the docs gave him. He needs a total knee replacement.

I just finished quilting and binding this baby quilt. Made some progress with the Swiftquilter. I am getting very comfortable with it!! Will be putting a bigger quilt on the frame soon!

It's just one stop to Orchard Mrt from Newton so I arrived there around 630AM! Found my way to Ion City and guess what??? I was not the first in the queue!!!! LOL.. second in fact!!! To cut the story short, I managed to buy two ipads and was the first to pay and get them. There were many people who made a beeline to get the covers but I thought I better buy the ipads and get out of the shop fast!!! For info, the original Apple ipad covers got sold out before the ipads!!! So I had to make this one for Luke!!!

I used the pattern for the Japanese handbag for this but had to modify it a bit because the ipad is smaller in size. I added 1/2 in of the same fabric all round the pattern. Made a flap with magnetic button. This fabric is nice because it doesn't look too feminine! Most of the fabrics I have are printed with tiny flowers of some sort!!

ipad cover

A short story of how this came about! I was in Singapore a week or so ago and Luke called me and said, 'hey! i heard d ipad is coming out on the 23rd.. errr any chance of you getting it for me?' I said,' sure.."without thinking twice! So off I went to Wheellock Place. The fellow at Epi Centre said, 'No more taking orders.. u have to come early on the 23rd n get in the queue...oh.. i heard some ppl are pitching up tents!!!' I told myself no way am I camping overnight to get it!!! So since there is another Epi centre at Ion city, I thought I'll try there. The salesman was a bit more hopeful.. he asked me to come n queue at 8am and get a coupon cos without the coupon, you can't buy the ipad. So on the 23rd morning (took my brother's advice), I got up really early..550AM showered, left the condo at 615AM, walked to Newton Mrt (lucky it was only a few mins' walk) the sky was still dark and I couldn't help feeling rather foolish...all this for an ipad!!!.......to be continued..

More Quilting!!

After a short break, I decided I better get a start on this baby quilt. My sister asked me to do this for her a couple of months ago and I have been carried away doing other things! Hopefully, I can get it done by tomorrow. I got started with this late in the afternoon and could not finish it because it was getting difficult to see. Poor eyesight........age catching up!! LOL

Made a calico bag to keep the 3 bags together. It is convenient to have them in one bag for easy storage in the car. The calico bag is just nice for a loaf of bread or a tray of eggs!

Bags galore!! Finally!! Completed all the grocery bags!!! Now I have a choice of bags to use when I go supermarket shopping!! There are 3 of each kind. The bags on the floor, the printed green and brown fabric are made from the two pieces of block out curtains. Made 10 out of them! There are 2 more sets of the colorful fabric bags which are not in this picture. I will post them on my next blog! I don't think I will make anymore of these as it was getting pretty crazy making them!!! I was just waiting to finish them ASAP! Getting bored after a while making the same thing!!! LOL

The bags that you can see at the bottom of the pile are made from old block out curtains. These are quite good and strong fabric which I think is nice for grocery bags. My sister gave me the curtains so I made them into bags for her. The rest of the bags are made from the nice fabric I bought from Nilai!

After cutting off the squares from the bottom of the bag, the next thing to do is to serge the sides.

After sewing the sides together, cut off two 4' x 4' squares at the bottom of the bag. This simple task took me quite some time to do because I have to do that to a total of 4o bags!! LOL

I flipped the handles up and sew a box with a cross just to make it stronger. I also double stitch the sides. These are grocery bags and they have to withstand a bit more weight than the normal shopping bags. I tried my best to finish as much as I can but still I find there are so much more to be done!!! I really need extra pair of hands!! LOL

After ironing the fold, draw the markings for the bag handles. I mark it on 5 - 6 and 12 - 13. I like to do it this way because as I sew, I can just slip the handle in between the fold at the marked area. There is no need to use pins to hold the handle in place.

I can cut three bags from 1m of printed fabric. The handles are cut from some plain fabric. Fold the fabric into half. Cut out each bag measuring 19" x 18". At the top and bottom of the wrong side of the bag, draw a line 2" from the top and another 3" from the top. Fold the fabric to the 2" line then to the 3" line and iron. For the handles cut out strips of 48" x 4" strips. After sewing the strips, half them into 24" strips.

I do have a lot of sewing to do before my holiday! LOL

Eco Bags

I went to Nilai the other day with my friend, Haminah. We ended up buying quite a fair bit of these fabrics to make eco grocery bags. These are heavy cotton fabrics and they will make wonderful grocery bags... the fabric is thick enough unlike those green bags in the supermarket which tear easily. Go Green is a good idea but I don't agree with some supermarkets which charge their customers for using the discarded paper boxes there. They should give their customers an option of either paying for the plastic bags or use paper boxes. I know of one supermarket which has prices for different size boxes.......LOL

Japanese bag

Lately, I have been buying a few of this Japanese pattern books and I told myself that I must make something from each of the books! This is one of the pattern in the book that I like. I modified the pattern a little bit because I wanted the bag to be slightly longer. I added some fabric at the bottom of the bag. This bag has a drawstring at the top so there is no strap or flap needed. There is one more pattern I would like try and make.........well, just have to see how it goes....!! LOL

CLown

I made this for Aunty Linda. She loves clowns. The body is also made of wood. The head is a styrofoam ball so I used a glue gun and stick the hair on. This is much easier than the doll! With the doll, I had to sew the hair. As you can see, this clown can also sit anywhere without falling off!! Just have to be careful if you have toddlers around.. that piece of wood inside is quite heavy.

I couldn't resist making a matching book cover for my Daily Light!! This one is without the pockets and the strap. It's just a simple cover.

I forgot to mention I made a strap for the book cover. Did it this way so that the extra bookmarks and prayer cards won't fall out. I also sew 4 rows of decorative stitches in the middle of the book cover. This is to separate the two pockets. The strap is sewed on the inside of the back pocket. Finally~!~ My Bible has a cover!!!

I have layered the fabric accordingly....starting from the bottom....1. Plain beige fabric (Omit this if you are not making the pockets) 2. Put the printed fabric right side up (This is the cover as well as the pockets for top and bottom of the book) 3. Two pieces of beige fabric for the book sleeves 4. Plain beige fabric for the cover behind the sleeves.

When sewing round the edges, leave a 2 inch (more if you like!) gap so that you can turn the fabric inside out.

This printed fabric will be the front and back pockets of the Bible cover. I like to have a place to keep bookmarks and prayer cards instead of putting them in between the pages.

I have been going out with my friend, Haminah, for some embroidery lessons! She just bought a Janome Memory Craft 350E embroidery machine. I like the idea of combining patchwork, embroidery and applique! Beautiful!!! Maybe if I wished hard enough I might get one too!!! Woohooo!!!

Book cover

I found this quilted remnant fabric my sister gave me some years ago and decided to use it to make a book cover for my Bible. I wanted to use it to make mittens for my kitchen but somehow never got round to doing it!

LOL!!! The printed fabric is for the pocket on the front and back of the Bible.

This is my doll all done up!! Added a ribbon on her hair and a little hat on her hand. I took this picture of the doll sitting on my Juki sewing machine!! This doll can sit anywhere!! LOL

I sewed two buttons for the eyes and glued a piece of red fabric for the nose. Chain stitched some stitches for the mouth. I took quite some time to make the hair! This is because I had to split some yarn into two then used six strands to make one braid! I had to make quite a few braids. This is how I sewed the first braid on.. leaving the ends as it is.

I wanted to use thicker yarn but in this town where I live... things are quite limited here! The thicker yarn don't come in the color I wanted so I had to make do with whatever I can find! LOL

Added lace on the dress. Then I decided to paint the shoe black. I think I should have done it before I put the dress and the pants on the doll. LOL

LOL My poor doll looked naked so I decided to make the dress first instead of the face! I also made the pants with some gathers at the hem for the it.

Just some update on my sewing room. The 6ft folding table arrived yesterday. I moved the 4ft folding table out into the TV room. After joining the two tables, I found out that I need to move the TV just a little bit more but I can't do it because the writing desk is next to it. I need some muscles to help me move them! So that's that for the day!! I then decided to make a book cover for my Bible! I wanted to do that for a quite a while and have been putting it off! Now's a good time!!

I've added two pieces of fabric onto the legs to join it to the body. It was a bit too short for my liking. Notice how nicely the doll sits on the table. That is the reason why I decided to use a block of wood for the body. The fabric over the wood makes it easier for me to attached the arms, legs, hands and head!

WOW! Time just flew by!! I saw my last blog and it was on Tuesday!!

arrggghhh!!!

I used running stitches to attach the doll's head to the body. Got to make sure that the head is upright and not drooping down.

First I sew the arms on the body. After that, the head goes on top. I did it like that so that I can adjust the head easily when I attach it to the body.

I used cotton to stuff the head, hands and legs. Made a small bag for the body to cover the piece of wood. As you can see, I didn't stuff the cotton all the way to the end. I left enough fabric to attach the parts together.

I drew the patterns on the calico by free hand. This is because I made some modification. All the patterns in the book are for dolls with fibrefill or cotton stuffing . I decided I wanted my doll to be able to sit upright properly so I will be using a block of wood for the body.

Country Doll

I bought a book on dolls and thought I will try and make one. Got the book from the Chinese Section at Popular book store. Sad to say, I can't read Chinese but...there are step by step pictures on how to make a doll! LOL The first thing to do is to dye the calico in tea bags!!! If you want the doll to smell good, use flavored tea!! I supposed if you want the doll to have a darker shade, you might want to use more tea bags!! LOL

The table and Hi-fi stand have been removed from the tv room. I'll move the quilting table there tomorrow. Then I'll try and get this quilted. I didn't realize the color combination would be this bright!! LOL

No, I haven't move into my sewing room yet!! Hopefully by this week!! I am still doing my work in the tv room! LOL

I've finished sewing all the blocks. In the process of adding sashing and border. Actually I didn't want to add sashing but three blocks in a row is a bit too small. So I added 2" sashing around the blocks.

I had to rearrange my sewing room again! At this present moment, it's in a mess! I have decided to move the Swiftquilter into the tv room! The tv room is where I multi task! Watch tv, blog and do some sewing! My private domain!! LOL I moved the Janome into the tv room after I set up the Swiftquilter in the sewing room and I found out that it's not conducive for me to work from there because all the things I need are inside the room! I need my sewing materials to be within reach!! I don't know how I managed to get this far with the project. I have been in and out of the sewing room when I needed something or another! By tomorrow I should be able to piece all of them into blocks. I wanted to do them today but I stopped and started to rearrange the two rooms! At least I managed to get the tv room sorted out first! Need to get rid of the hi-fi stand and the big table!!! LOL

I was in Singapore a couple of days ago and did not have time to go to my usual haunting ground.... Spotlight! The trip was just too short! Arrived in the evening, had a superb dinner made by my sister in honor of my cousin. Haven't seen him in years! The next day, went to Wheelock Place because hubby wanted to check out the Apple store. On my way to there, I found a shop which sell MBT shoes!! Woohoo, bought a pair of sandals!! That was my consolation for not being able to go to Spotlight!! LOL

Right back to the sewing board! Attached the white strips onto the squares. I am really taking my time making this quilt!

Today, I joined all the triangles to make squares. Then I ironed and trimmed all the edges off.

After that I sat down and wrote down a list of backlog projects! My niece is bugging me for her quilt, one sister is waiting for her laptop bag, another sister brought 2 quilts for machine quilting....I can go on and on and on....LOL