Earth Hour 2012

What were you doing between 8.30pm and 9.30pm today?

I took some pics of my neighbourhood. Not much difference, don't you think? 

Have a blessed evening!

Itsy bitsy

I once found an itsy bitsy pencil case in a shop at the basement of Jurong Point. It was really cute. Zakka-like in its simplicity. It caught my attention 'cos it could fit only 2 pens. Snugly. I wondered why would anyone want such a small pencil case. Wouldn't a 'normal' pencil case have a few pens, a pencil, eraser, ruler etc? 

Anyway, I made this pencil case which was meant to house 2 uniball 0.38 gel pens, one with blue ink, one with blue-black. It could've been smaller but I wanted to follow the pattern on the fabric and have it 2 squares by 6. It'll fit 3 uniball pens now.

Have a blessed day!

Sneak

Can you guess what these are?

I used to just leave the quilt batting alone and not quilt but it seems like so much fun, especially for the orange polka dots. Yup, I use up much more thread than usual and it takes more effort to quilt it but I like the effects. There are only 2 quilt patterns at the moment, diamonds or squares, well, almost squares. These were all quilted freehand without any marking. That's the fun in sewing, no?

Have a blessed evening!

Playing with colours

Orange isn't a colour I use often but it's pretty too. Not as commonly requested as green or purple or even blue. I'm not sure how to match it but it looks pretty cool with the greens and blues. 

Have a blessed day!

Tutorial : Flexframe pouch

Have you been to Daiso? I'm not a regular but I'm a fan. Since everything's $2, it's easy to get carried away and buy stuff that I don't need. Like the printed ribbon below and the flexframe. Again, I don't remember when I bought these so I can't tell you if they are still available at Daiso. You could always try :-)

So, with these 2, I decided to make this into a tutorial, as a giveback for those times when I've learnt how to sew from others'  blogs, LOL! Do email me if the instructions are not clear.

 I used 3 different fabrics - plain green for the exterior, checks for the top and florals for the lining. Cotton Ribbon and Spring Frame from Daiso.

 And made this.

 Which opens like this.

 Cut 1 piece for exterior, 1 for lining and 2 smaller for the top. I didn't measure 'cos I'm not using a pattern. Estimate using the spring frame, as in, the width of the top (checked fabric) is about a third longer than the length of the spring frame.

 I quilted the exterior fabric and sewed on the cotton ribbon. You can omit this if you wish.

 Fold in the sides of the top pieces twice and sew the edges.

 Fold the sewn top pieces in half and sew with the edges facing top of the exterior piece.

 Place the lining on top and sew together. Open up and top-stitch it down like this.

 Fold the whole piece in half (exterior to exterior, interior to interior) and sew all 3 sides. One side would be the folded side. Remember to leave a gap for flipping the pouch right side out.

 Square the corners and sew. Think tetra pack drinks.

Flip the pouch right side out, sew the gap close and attach the spring frame. Instructions would be with the spring frame packaging.

Have fun!

Destashing my yarn...

Am letting go some of my yarn on facebook at really great (lelong) prices. Posting here so you can have first deebs before I move them to another site. Limited quantities available. Local shipping is $0.50 per ball/skein but I'll refund you the balance if you buy multiple lots (and if you provide me your bank account number too!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still have lots and lots of yarn. Some I want to keep for DS or DD, some are partials. I think I have at least 3 cones (2 cotton, 1 silk) somewhere. Of the 2 cotton cones, the blue one reminds me of blue denim. The 8 plies are not so tight so the resulting item has a softer hand, and because it's on a cone, I can just knit / crochet continuously without having to join yarns. The downside is that such projects are not very portable 'cos 1 cone has a base with radius about 12cm. If only I can find it, I'll take a pic and show you how nice it is :-)
Have a blessed day!

Giveaway : Handmade notebooks with the Lorax theme

I received this set of stickers of Dr Seuss' The Lorax and decided to affix them onto some notebooks for giveaway. Dimensions 14.5cm x 10cm with 24 pages of white unlined pages inside, made from sustainable forests, saddle-stitched onto textured cardstock covers. There are 12 different books and I'll give away 4 books (my choice) per 10 participants.

Either

leave a comment here

LIKE the facebook page/post

email me

Draw will be at noon on Friday, 23 March 2012.
ps: Free local shipping only

True colours

I bought another Finepix. I'm used to mine so I decided to continue with another. Add the seller's eagerness to sell the camera to me by throwing in additional battery and 8GB card on top of the existing freebie of 8GB card, case and tripod (which I swapped for screen protector).

And so, there are pictures :

Remember the picture I took yesterday? These are what the 'true' colours are. It's a huge messenger that can fit A4 size files. Stress points have been reinforced by request so that it can accommodate a Macbook White though there is no interfacing. The owner will have to use a Macbook sleeve but otherwise, this is one tough bag with lots of stiff navy denim and baby blue canvas. The flap and internal large pocket are made from laminated cotton which reminds me of oilcloth. Fully-lined pockets inside with a pocket for the PSP and 2 pen pockets per request out of the 6 -7 pockets inside. I can't remember :-(

Just for the record, I'm adding this other pic for comparison with earlier versions in the blog. Which camera do you think is better?

Have a blessed day!

My heart is heavy

This is not some special effect that I'm using to create this picture. My camera has been with me for a while now. I can't even remember when I bought it. I think, 6-7 years ago or more? Since then it's been overseas, dropped, got caught in the rain and still it served me. It started showing some signs a few weeks ago when it didn't want to boot but I got round it by removing the battery and resetting it. Else I used the playback button to switch on the camera then switched to photo-taking mode.

So, for a while until I get a new camera, there won't be any more pictures.

Apple of my eye

Look what the delivery man just brought...apples!

10kg of Korean fuji apples that smell so great! There are 10 bags in this carton with 6 in each bag so that means 60 apples...woohoo! Bought these at a deep discount using a Groupon :-)

Found it!!!

I've been searching for this for the longest time. I searched the fabric stacks I had on the floor, and amongst those that are hung up. I even searched the scrap box. After several rounds of such, I simple couldn't believe that several yards of fabric could just *poof* into thin air. Some fabric, I understand 'cos I used till there're tiny scraps left but this, I strongly remembered having about 3 yards left.

And so I found it. Won't tell you where 'cos it was hidden in another stack of fabric that I forgot was there, LOL! I have more 'new' fabric to play with now.

Sorry for the delay on purple-themed orders, I'll get to it very soon. Cheerios!

Heavy metal

Just wanted to share this picture. Perhaps it might just cheer you up like it does to me. :-) I think I'll be happier when there're lesser of these. Maybe I should set myself a target to finish using these by end of ... 2012?

What would you like me to make for you?

Have a blessed day!

If life gives you lemons

image from wikipedia

Two days ago, Singapore passed the Lemon Law.

What this means is that from 1 September 2012, the consumer can get the retailer to repair or replace the defective item. If this is not done 'within a reasonable time or without significant inconvenience' to the consumer, he can choose to either keep the item but demand a discount, or return it for a full refund.

While I've not stated this on the blog, Bunny Bags, with immediate effect, will honour this lemon law. This means that if there are defects within the first 6 months of purchase, email me for a replacement or refund.

To be fair, while I've had numerous compliments (thank you!) I can recall 2 negative feedback. Actually, my customers are very kind.

Customer 1 informed me that the fabric ran in the wash and the colour bled out slightly.

Customer 2 had a burst pouch but thought she overloaded it.

While I triple-sew stress points and take extra care, I'm not able to predict usage nor how the materials I get will function. In some cases I make prototypes so I'll know but I don't do this all the time.

Anway, just for the record, any items purchased from BunnyBags, Tobias' Shoppe or Tiffany's Shoppe will be backed by the lemon law from today.

Have a blessed day!

Finally they're here...

I've been waiting for these 6mm antique brass double cap rivets for about a month. Finally, they arrived yesterday. While it's just as effective to sew across like the bottom right pic, I prefer the top right one with the rivet. For a change, no? :-)

I'll be adding more rivets and then list more pouches on Tiffany's Shoppe. Check them out later!

Have a blessed day!

Afternote:

I went to put rivets and didn't realize that I have so many pouches, LOL! Some were sewn for the NUS Bazaar but I got carried away and have so many more at home and more along the way. Hmmm...

How far can you turn your head?

Did you see the snowy owl in HP turning its head around? Owls can turn their cat-like heads between 180 - 270 degrees. Other interesting facts here.

Made this reversible tissue case on a whim. Would that be too many owls? Most of the time owls can be found on Japanese fabrics but this is from Timeless Treasures. Can you count how many different owls there are on each side, LOL?

Have a blessed day!

Tutorial : Round bottom crochet tote

I completed this at the NUS bazaar yesterday, in between sales. Made from Lion Cotton that I found at home that I cannot remember when I bought. I thought I'd share how to make this with you 'cos I've had some queries but the thing is, I don't have a pattern. I crochet on the go so if you have any doubts about this pattern, send me an email and I'll try to paraphrase. The assumption is that you know the basics of crochet. Else, I suggest you pick up some books from the library like how I learnt or watch youtube :-)

ch - chain stitch

sc - single crochet

hdc - half double crochet

dc - double crochet

Summary : This base is 10 concentric circles followed by a sc and then hdc's till the desired height is achieved and then the rounded handles are made.

Base

Round 1: Make a loop, 2ch then 15dc. Pull loop to close gap. Total 16 stitches.

Round 2 : 2ch, 2dc into next hole, (1 dc then 2dc)*repeat till end. Total 24 stitches.

Round 3 : 2ch, dc, 2dc into next hole, (2dc then 2dc)*repeat till end. You'll realise that you've been increasing stitches above the previous row's increased stitch. Continue like this till Round 10.

Side

Sc then hdc till desired height is achieved.

Handles

Turn work to back and sc 9 sts back and forth for 4 rows. On 5th row, instead of flipping work, join other side to make a round and continue like this till desired length of handle achieved. Turn work over and sc back and forth for 4 rows and sc onto the side of the tote. Sc along the rim till location of next handle and repeat. Cut yarn and weave in.

Enjoy!