Denim Bags By Mom

During one webcam session, my mom showed me what she has been doing at home in S'pore to kill boredom - altering and redesigning existing clothes and making a denim bag out of jeans scraps after alteration. That's my mom. Never wasteful and always creative. I had made a similar bag out of recycled jeans too but hers is definitely nicer. She was a seamstress in her younger days and used to make clothes for ladies. I've seen her make clothes for us but never before a bag. This is probably her first time making a bag? In any case, given her background, without inspecting it, I know her workmanship would be better than mine. Especially the butterfly embroidery, I thought that was very pretty.






Since then, she has been inspired enough to make another two more, all different designs. One for me, one for my sister and another one for herself. And she wants me to put it on the internet to encourage anyone who wishes to try. If you have a pair of jeans that you don't wear anymore or if you just cut off the helm to alter the length, use the scraps to make something useful! It's environmentally friendly and it's great to have an extra bag!

Now you know where I got my sewing genes from :) Well done, Mom!

A Baby Quilt

My latest sewing project was completed almost 2 months ago and since then, I've not managed to start another project or stitch anything else. Ever since Hubby started office-bound work, I've felt my free time significantly reduced. I never realised how much help he was when he was around the house those days. Even though it was just helping to send KK to school and fetch him back, the uninterrupted time I have at home and another person to help distract XX makes a difference. Now, I struggle to even find time to complete reading a book, even after having to renew it 2 times.

Anyway, back to the project. It was a little baby quilt for my yet to be born nephew. Hubby's sis is finally gonna have her first baby and I find it very appropriate to send her a handmade baby quilt as a gift. It's much more personal and special than those store-bought ones and for the family, it's worth the extra effort.

Inspiration for the quilt came from 2 books that I borrowed from the local library. Both are totally disctinctive in their themes - one is on Japanese quilt blocks and the other, country style quilts. I radically combined them together in one quilt, but I guess it turned out alright. Four 9 x 9-inch bear face blocks, a favourite for kids, were mixed with some self-designed "bow-tie" blocks, surrounding a single chinese character "fu" (Happiness). I want the quilt to represent their joy and also convey how happy we are for my sis-in-law and her hubby.

As usual, I had a lot of fun sewing it. The quilt is machine stitched but this time, I hand quilted the whole quilt instead of using the sewing machine. It's a lot more tedious but after a while, I got the hang of it and I'm able to make smaller even stitches faster. It's better than pulling the whole quilt through the little sewing machine that I have.

Hope baby M will like it. Congratulations, SP and James!

A Perfectly Matching Necklace

To commemorate our wedding 10th anniversary, I decided we should take some family portraits together this year. After some time, I finally found a photographer and managed to organise a session with her last Thursday (08 Apr 10).

For the occasion, I had bought a lovely ivory satin dress during my last trip to Malaysia in Sept 09. But when it comes to nearer the date, I find myself shopping last minute for accessories to go with the dress. This includes hair accessories, necklaces, earrings and also shoes.

It was Monday night. I sat down after dinner and a day of shopping and suddenly decided to try making my own necklace. I'd seen the necklaces at the shops earlier and was thinking to myself, why should I pay for something that I can easily make? But it has been a long time since I'd touch my beading things. And I'm not even sure if I have the necessary beads. Anyway, I was inspired enough to try.

Two hours later, past midnight, I beamed proudly as I tried on my stringed necklace made from ivory, grey round beads, black grey heart shape glass beads and sparkling clear crystals. I had used whatever beads I could find in my supplies and stolen a few from a bracelet. But the colours were all perfectly matching to the colour scheme of my dress.

Projects So Far

I do realised that it's been 5 months since I've updated this blog. Not that I haven't been productive at the sewing machine. Just a tat bit lazy in uploading the pictures. There's been quite a few people who's been receiving my handicrafts as their birthday and wedding gifts. Some of the projects took me quite a few months to complete but I've had much joy in the process of making them. I do hope the recipients will appreciate and cherish my humble efforts.




A Christmassy Table Runner. This is a project I followed from a magazine and I've given this table runner to my sister as a Christmas gift. It matches her green curtains in the living room.

Purrfect Together. A wall hanging quilt for our newly married pal of many years. They love cats, so I hope A & Z will enjoy their new life together and be like the loving cats in the picture.

Best Man Gets Married - Finally, our best man for our wedding 10 years ago is hitched! To congratulate him (pity we can't attend), I made him a little patchwork wall hanging called "In the neighbourhood" for his newly set up home.

Two special little girls came to visit us over Christmas and the new year this year. I made these 2 personalized bolsters for them to hug during their stay here and to take home to Singapore.





One of my biggest project ever. Took me a few months to complete. It was a request from my mother to make her a quilt for her queen size bed and I brought it to Singapore for her birthday in Sept last year. Glad she likes it!

Made this quilted cushion cover for my MIL's birthday. She likes flowers so I have specially chosen this bright floral fabric for her cushion.