Getting off the hook

It's with a heavy heart that I've to shut down this blogshop in compliance to the policies laid down by the organisation I work for. I tried emailing and calling but being put on hold for 15 minutes only to be cut off twice just isn't my cup of tea. So, until all the i's have been dotted and all the t's crossed, the 'shop' part remains closed.

I'll still keep in touch, maybe on Instagram, so you'll know what I'm working on. I'm currently overloaded with yarn, yarn and more yarn,,,
There are

• vermillon / grey throw that I'm knitting on the bias. Garter stitch as usual because this yarn is so fine and I'm using 4 balls at a go. More than half done.
• DS' raglan jacket that I've yet to start
• DD's cotton blanket that's going to use almost 2kg of yarn. That's 2 balls of 10 colours in the pattern that she chose. Incidentally, she now prefers the wrong side of the pattern, LOL!
• semi-circle shawl using beautifully dyed tonal yarn that was on sale because it's discontinued 
• semi-circle shawl using deep grey yarn from a cone. Not so portable project that I tried to bring around. I'll just work on this at home.
• knit/purl throw in mustard and navy
• green shrug - I think I'll frog this
• variegated orange shrug - I think I'll frog this too
• rainbow coloured cowl - I think I'll frog this again
• knitting loom shawl - I'll need to figure out how to get it off the loom and I'll have another FO
• book covers wrapped with Uniqlo and Yacht 21 paper bags waiting for the inside covers and paper. I've yet to decide whether to stitch the book together or just O-wire the pages
• multi-coloured pages waiting to be sewn together, now that I've found the string and the wax. What stitch shall I use? Perhaps Coptic in a single colour so it won't fight with the colours and patterns.
• and there are simply too many UFOs to list. Yes, insta is good. Snap and post so you can see progress. My current phone has 13MP which is so much better than the previous 8.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy and continue crafting. 

Thank you for staying with me these years and hope to see you soon!

Quick and fun

Do you remember this fabric? I bought it ages ago from Spotlight. Bought two jelly rolls. Spotlight's having a promotion right now and I'm so tempted to drop by.

Anyway, this is a patchwork lanyard. Length is not adjustable, I just estimated, as usual. Wanted to use a bronze swivel hook but the hole was too small. Settled on the silver one. Wanted to rivet to but couldn't find a matching colour.

Earlier, I wanted to sew some pouches but, lo and behold! I couldn't find my zipper foot. Both of them. Boohoo!

Until I find them, no zippers.

Have a blessed afternoon!

Jelly roll series

I decided to concentrate on this range of cottons. After making these, I still have 1 more jelly roll that I forgot about, LOL! These were made with half the width of a jelly roll strip, actually. Narrower than a honey bun strip. Fun to sew, nevertheless. I still have a list of some other items to make but I thought I'd just post this update first.

More details on Facebook!

ps: A jelly roll is made up of strips of fabric 2.5" wide x width of fabric.

pps: I like the drawstring bag the most. It's not interfaced (padded) yet it's not too floppy since the strip of fabric basically doubled up behind so effectively, there are 3 layers of fabric.

Have a blessed day!

I only quilt in straight lines

I seem to be quilting more these days. These are thinner than honey bun strips. I cut the jelly roll ones that I had and just started sewing them together. DD asked me what I was going to make and I didn't think of anything in particular and therein lies the problem. How long should these strips be? If I were making a book cover, it'd be one of the standards sizes ... A5, A6 etc. Or a pouch would be limited by the zip length, or perhaps not. Card cases would depend on the size of cards. You get the idea.

I just pieced them and quilted.

Then I found the key organizer. The metal thingy with the 6 loops for attaching keys?

Key pouch it was then. I wanted to add a bit of colour so that's why there's a coin pouch. It's too slim for cards but good enough to stuff folded up notes. 

Finally DD has a bag to replace her usual for church. It's the middle one. The one on the right was supposed to be it but it was too small for her bible and other stuff. She brought it today and her friend asked her if I made it. Turns out, of all the times that someone asked her about the stuff that DD has, there's only one item that they asked her where she bought it. Most of the time they asked if I made it. I was joking with DD whether I should have a label 'My Mother Made This' or M3T.

I'm glad she used it today :-)

Have a blessed day!

Explorations

Sometimes I experiment and end up with stuff that I didn't think of making in the first place. Some turn out just great while some have been ripped apart or have long been discarded in the recycling bag.

I was playing with some jelly roll strips and decided to half them lengthwise and piece them together. Smaller pieces would be more fun, no? First was 6 thinner strips that were pieced together and then the whole thing was cut in half, flipped and sewn together. I did this twice more and ended up with the exterior of this. I decided to try out my new linen bias and thus needed a back so I used the other half of the thinner strips. I thought of finding a zip that would go round 3 sides but found this one instead. Two sides would be OK too, I guess. About this time, I realised that it was too narrow for a coin pouch. So I went to find a key ring with a chain and voila, a key pouch.

Have a blessed weekend!

After about a week

DS' patchwork blanket finally has a backing. I like the contrast of the ivory microfibre back with the brightness of the colours in front.

Have a blessed day!

Maybe It's Alright

Once in a while, I take a break. Sometimes not by choice 'cos I was ill. Sometimes by choice 'cos I can stare at my pile of materials and get a mental block. I'm a mood crafter, prefering to craft when the mood arises. I can still craft sans mood but I can tell in the little details even if you can't.

While I was away, I worked on these 2 patchwork blankets. DD's done so you can see the minky-like backing. DS' still missing that part. 

Made from jelly rolls that I bought from Spotlight (DD's, 6 different patterns) and from a US fabric shop (DS', 24 different patterns). I don't know what type of block this is. I do know that DS' has 3 log cabins 'cos I didn't have enough material for the squares. Each blanket has 7 by 5 blocks.

Have a blessed day!

Strips of joy

I don't usually buy jelly rolls, those 2.5" or 6cm wide strips of coordinating fabric, but I chanced upon this one and the colours are so pretty. I wouldn't have thought that yellow, pinks, green and browns would come together like this but they did. I made a tote which I passed to my mum and a pouch. Am keeping this pouch for now till I make another so this one will go to mum 'cos it matches her bag.

I'm planning a quilt. I'm winging it as I go anyway. Was contemplating doing a log cabin 'cos the fabric's already in strips but thought I'd try something different and I'm so liking the result though DD will probably claim it :-)

Have a blessed day!

ps: I got this at a bargain at Spotlight. Grab it now while stocks last. There are 50 strips in 6 designs. Each set of 6 can make at least 4 squares so you'll end up with at least 32 for the jelly roll. A baby quilt probably need 4 squares by 5 and the rest can be used for the backing. I'm thinking 6 x 7 squares for adult size so hmmm, are there anymore at Spotlight?

Square dance

DD asked me the other day why I didn’t make any A5 notebooks or journals. I’ve been making a series of A6 ones in preparation for the KKH bazaar in October and got carried away. I’ve made A5 ones before but they were hardcover ones and I wasn’t in the hardcover kind of mood. Folding paper can be therapeutic but there’s a limit to that monotonous cut, fold, slot cycle. So I wondered about what DD said till I chanced upon a stack of used exercise books :-).

After ripping off the covers and collecting empty pages, I ended up with a sizeable stack of paper. Along with these, I kept some pages that had kiddy scibblings by both DS and DD. My memories!

The cover was pieced together using 8 5” charms from the Whirlwind Romance Blush collection and quilted. Another 4 were used for the pockets inside.

I pierced additional holes into the 8 signatures and sewed them unto the spine using the criss-cross longstitch with silver thread that matches the 2 silver ribbon page markers.

The salvaged square paper was arranged from largest to smallest, just like how DS and DD bought smaller and smaller sized square exercise books as they grew older.

 

BTW, It took me an hour just to sew these signatures. I knew ‘cos that was how long DD’s swiming lesson was. LOL! Final touch were the 2 deliberately mis-matched metal snaps placed just so, for effect.

This is definitely not for sale. Just thought I’d like to share with you. Do you have any memories you want to hold on to? *grin*

Have a blessed day!

ps:

charm = 5” square

layer cake = 10” square

fat quarter = quarter of a yard, about 18” x 25”

jelly roll = 2.5” strips, length is width of fabric

honeybun = 1” strips

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

After sewing for a few days I decided to take a break and make a book. This time, I thought I'd combine both sewing and bookbinding and voila!

I made the cover first, out of linen. Patterned patchwork and plain oatmeal. I machine-stitched some of the patterns and some hexagons to bring out the print. Interfaced with 7oz batting so that the cover is sturdy. As for stitching the paper to the cover, I decided to use the criss-cross longstitch, deliberately sewn using contrasting thread. This book can open flat and that's why I put the stud on the flap so that there won't be a bump when you're writing on even pages. I was deciding between a ribbon tie or metals snaps for closure and snaps won.
Have a blessed day!

Bitten by the sewing bug

DD's largest sole project to date. We collaborated on smaller items before but this is the first time she's going solo. Since she likes greens, she picked these out from a cut fabric pile that I had (meant for sewing 5" zipper pouches). After a few false starts and re-sewing, this is the result ;-)
Made from oxfords, quilting cottons and linen from all over the world - JP, KR, US, AU.
More when she completes it.
Have a blessed day!

United nations

Before I go fabric shopping again, I decided to do a quick stock take of what fabrics I have on hand. I buy in bulk to get the deep discounts but this has led to a huge mess inventory of odd-shaped pieces of fabric. I didn't know how much fabric I had but I decided to make a flat patchwork tote out of unique squares (4.5cm x 4.5cm).

112 squares later I decided to stop even though I have more fabric still that I didn't cut squares from. LOL! Fabrics were from Japan, Korea, US, Australia and I don't know where. Used the final gifted cotton webbing for this tote. Plain for the patchwork and printed cherries for the linen / cherry side. Included a patch pocket from cherry fabric as well as a cut-out zip compartment which has a pocket inside as well as a pen slip. DD chose the bear zipper pull. It's cute and double-sided so you get the bear front on both sides. And it's solid metal so it's heavier than usual.
Have a blessed day!

ps: I wonder how much fabric I really have...hmmmm.....
pps: sorry for the washed out look. Don't know why the pics are like that, maybe 'cos of the hazy overcast sky? The colours are much richer than they look :-)
ppps: I just realised that I put the same patchwork side in the pic though I took both sides. LOL! Maybe I'll retake and give you richer colours, ah?

Patchwork phase

It seems that there are phases in my sewing. I think I mentioned this before. At a point in time I'm sewing lots of pencil cases, at another it's totes. This time, it's patchwork. Lots of patchwork recently so I decided that this giveaway will be a patchwork one :-)

5" rainbow patchwork zippered pouch which is fully lined with calico and interfaced. Come with your choice of zipper pull - house, bear, ball, heart.
This giveaway will be on if there are 7 or more Likes on the facebook page. Draw by random.org will be on 20May at noon.
Have a blessed day!

Sweet Memories

The body of this tote was made months ago but I couldn't find the right handle to go with it. Until today, when the fabric shipment arrived this afternoon along with these handles.

Made this for my sis out of small pieces of blue fabric. Some of these pieces are smaller than a 5 cent coin. Some are older than DD even.
Have a blessed day!