Threads, Beads and Thots

For Nephew

2011-11-02T21:34:00.000+11:00

My sister's expecting a baby this December. Unfortunately, I won't be around to witness his arrival. Hopefully, I'll be able to say hello to my nephew when he's about 4 months old.

Since I've started quilting and sewing, I've made quite a few quilts already for children. The first two for my two boys, of course. I just think they are one of the best gifts you can give to a child. Not only does the colourful quilts make their bed cheerful and keep them warm, the precious thought of something handmade personally for them will keep their souls warm and happy too when they grow up.

So this one's for you little fella. The quilt is made up of 2 patterns of 6" x 6" blocks. The design is simple but vibrant blue and orange tone gives it a Spring and happy mood. Hope you'll like this quilt and always remember your aunt in Australia.

Because I was into making toys at that time, I also made a little stuffed bunny from fabric scraps which carries a rather unusual backpack - a thermos flask. Bunny because the nephew will be born in the year of the Rabbit. As for the thermos flask, well, I found it a useful item when you have babies. In Melbourne, I notice most shopping centers have baby rooms with microwave ovens for mums to heat up baby food. However, in Singapore, such facilities were not very common. (Not sure if it has improved.) So I found that whenever I travel outside with baby, a thermos flask is very useful for bringing out hot water, either for mixing milk or heating up milk bottles/baby food. Baby can play with Bunny while mummy heats up the milk.

Knitted Angry Birds and Android soft toys

2011-10-31T11:29:00.000+11:00

I've not been updating this blog but actually I've been very productive and creative this whole Winter. Some of you would know that I renewed my interest in knitting again, after a 15 year break. And this is my latest product, Mr Android, completed 3 days ago.

Looking back on the last three months, I've come a long way from my first project - a simple black ribbed scarf.

My knitting journey started on a wintery day in July 2011 with thoughts of a warm woolly scarf around my husband's neck as he walks from one block to another in the city. I dug up my one and only knitting needle, a 4mm circular needle (thank God I bought it along when we moved to Oz), purchased my first ball of yarn for $2, a black arcylic one and sat down with a friend who refreshed my memory on how to knit and purl. Unfortunately, that black scarf never got longer than 1 metre as I don't have much patience with knitting and purling over and over again on plain black yarn. It's a slow, repetitive and non-stimulating process so before long, I moved on newer challenges. I started knitting with different yarns and trying out more difficult knitting techniques, following instructions and learning new patterns from knitting books borrowed from the library.

XX's beanie which he wore for the whole winter

Scarves matured to beanies and I soon made Three Scarves and A Beanie. Since then, another 3 more beanies were made, one for each of the boys in my family. I also started on a bigger project, making a knitted poncho for myself that saw me purchasing 11 balls of pure merino and alpaca yarn. I'll put up a photo when I eventually finish it.

A wool beanie for Hubby modelled by XX.

A Fair Isle beanie for KK where I experimented with mixing colours.

The next thing I know, I experimented with making knitted soft toys. Thanks to a book called Knitted Toy Tales. They were small projects and the end results gave my children much enjoyment. Believe it or not, even boys love soft toys! They will bring them to bed and have lots of fun tossing, squeezing and talking to them. And they keep requesting for more!

In the beginning, there were 2 bunnies, a penguin and an owl.

Mr Hoot for KK while Bunny 2 and Pingu belongs to XX

Bunny 3 for KK

Then a red Angry Bird joined them. But he soon flew to Singapore as a gift for the male person who requested him and gave me that inspiration. It's my first attempt and a really poor imitation but it was very challenging trying to adapt what I know to create matching features of the original cartoon character.

My sons pestered me for more Angry Birds and a King Pig. KK wanted a black one, who is currently awaiting its eyes and XX wanted the tiny pale blue one which I've completed. Unfortunately, unlike it's cartoon version, this one cannot split into three when you throw him. The King Pig is my most satisfied creation so far. For these latest soft toys, I did not follow any instructions from books but instead created them by adapting existing patterns of knitted animal shapes.

Seeing so many Angry Birds being born, an Android fan in my family (who else) requested for an Android soft toy as well. It was a unique request and not that difficult to achieve. So he was granted his wish too.

I had so much fun knitting this Winter and am glad the knitted stuff I made were used and appreciated by my family. I now have a whole box of different coloured yarns so it looks like knitting will be another craft that I'll continue to pursue. I'm still quilting and stitching, currently working on a sashiko wall hanging, though that has taken a back seat this whole winter. Come Spring, I might just take a break from knitting for a while. Well, maybe until my next requests from my boys comes along...:)

New Chair Covers

2011-05-10T17:52:00.000+10:00

Our dining chairs got a new look recently.

This was its original colour:

Producing the new chair covers started as an experiment as No. 1, I had no experience in making chair upholstry and No.2, I can't imagine how the fabric I had would turn out dressing chairs. After I made a prototype, I did a survey of the family members on what they thought. Hubby thought it looks good, KK gave it thumbs down. It was down to XX to decide and he, as usual, was supportive of everything I did. I decided to go ahead and make the cover for the other five chairs.

My workmanship is as usual amatuer but it was at least fitting. I have feedback that this new fabric looks even better than the old one. But I should use a thicker material. The advantage is these covers can be removed for washing, so it'll protect the original seat from stains and dirt. When I move to our new place, I might make another new set of covers to complement the colours of the interior.

Three Pouchettes and A Bag

2011-01-07T10:31:00.000+11:00

Recently I borrowed a book from the library called "Fat Quarter Bags". Fat quarters are basically small pieces of fabrics, usually a metre of cloth cut into 4 quarters. They are useful for making small projects and this book uses them exclusively to create different designs of bags.

I was inspired enough to attempt 2 of the designs - one for pouchettes (which I made 3) and the other a swag bag.

First Attempt using left over half-triangle squares from making baby quilt

2nd pouchette

3rd and most satisfied pouchette using scrap fabric from a bed sheet and track pant. Gave this to my sister since material came from her.

A cheery orange swag bag that I swing along

Denim Bags By Mom

2010-10-12T10:23:00.004+11:00

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

2010-08-04T16:13:00.005+10:00

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

2010-04-09T18:22:00.003+10:00

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

2010-02-11T17:23:00.006+11:00

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.

Zippedy

2009-08-25T16:38:00.004+10:00

I was in a crafty mood that day. I completed the last stitches to that 80" quilt that I promised I'll make for my mother and started playing around with the fabrics for design ideas for a cushion cover for my mother-in-law's birthday. I've since completed the cushion cover as well but I'll have to delay showing both pictures on this blog until the presents have been received by the recipients.

In the midst of all the scraps and ideas, I managed to complete a little project that I've long wanted to do. A coin pouch for my husband. He's always used a coin pouch in addition to his wallet and way back (I can't even remember when), his coin pouch started falling apart. First the metal handle to the zip broke. I managed to attach a spare metal handle to it and he was alright for a while until that metal handle broke the hinge that held it. The zip still worked but opening and closing it was difficult without a handle. We had tried to buy him a replacement back in April for his birthday but that cheap pouch's zip came off even before it was used!

So it is a long overdue project. I'd bought the 4" zip weeks ago from Spotlight and finally I manged to zip it all up! Both the coudroy and white denim material are recycled from old jeans and I chose them because they're stronger fabrics. Hope you'll like it, Hubby! All that's missing are the letters "LV".

Sister's Gift

2009-06-30T16:18:00.003+10:00

Happy Birthday to my dearest sister!

I sent her a little gift, a homemade tissue box cover. It's small and light, easy to mail over to Singapore.

This one's my favourite creation so far. I love the bright blue and green colours, it's so cheerful. I got the blue flower material from Spotlight for only $1 as it was on clearance. I tried adding a self made organza ribbon trimming this time and although my workmanship is not up to standard, the effect is very pretty.

Another Bag

2009-06-25T14:08:00.004+10:00

This bag features a clutch handle and a rounded bottom shape. It took me some time to get the handles, trimmings and figure out the shape pattern. You see, I followed the project from a borrowed issue of the Handmade magazine but forgot to scan the pattern. So I traced another flower design and tried to figure out the shape of the cloth from the picture. Well, glad it didn't turn out too awful. And I really enjoyed stitching the flower embroidery.

Roads & Tracks Quilt

2009-06-06T17:07:00.004+10:00

I completed this quilt for KK some weeks ago but has delayed the taking of photographs and the blogging. Finally, my wish to make something for my 2 boys as a keepsake has been fulfilled.

I got the inspiration for the name of this quilt from my Dad when he saw this quilt and described the log cabin zig zag design in the center as "Roads & Tracks". I admit I never saw it as that and indeed a fresh perspective sometimes really helps. Based on this concept, I added more "roads" to the top, bottom and sides to complete the quilt. So we have Big Bird and Elmo skating down the tracks in the center and fire engines, trucks surrounded by circuits on both sides. All around, I quilted "road dividers" stitches on the green roads.

Patchwork That Works

2009-05-27T14:48:00.004+10:00

I love making small patchwork projects.

They're fast to complete, giving satisfaction in seeing the end result easily. Also, I enjoy running through my 'scraps bag' to see what pieces of leftover bits of cloth I can use to turn them into something I can use.

In a span of 3 days, I've completed 3 small crafts - 2 tissue box cover and 1 toilet roll holder.

Check them out!

No more running out of paper!

'Coffee & Cream' Tissue Box Cover

The colours remind me of a Spring Garden!

Bead Necklace Collection

2009-05-18T13:44:00.003+10:00

Presenting Pinklavender's bead necklace creations!

Cushions Big and Small

2009-04-21T16:55:00.007+10:00

Here are a series of cushion (and a bolster) covers that I've made so far.

This is my first cushion cover, inspired by the lovely cupcake print material that I could not resist buying, especially when it was on offer. Not too perfect for a first attempt, the size of the cover ended up slightly smaller than expected. Thus the cushion cover was very 'tight-fitting' and the back of the cushion needed some buttons to make it stay close....hehehe.

This bolster case was pieced within hours as a gift for my cousin's 18 month old son Alexander. They had left his familiar bolster on the plane and were looking for a substitute to hug at night. I used a favourite piece of flannel fat quarter as the body and matching lilac ribbon. I have been wondering how to use up this cloth effectively. The cartoon prints were so cute that I felt it's not right to cut it up to use in patch work. So with this bolster case, I used up almost the whole piece without cutting it up to much. I hope my little nephew will like it.

This 2nd cushion was made from scraps leftover from making the quilt. I decided to make a matching cushion and voila, it turned out quite well. I'm happy with the size and the final look.

I made this cushion cover using a large piece of red cloth, kindly donated by my mother. I had borrowed this book "Cushions and Throws" from the library, which featured very interesting self-made designs. I didn't exactly follow any of its designs, but was inspired enough to venture outside of the usual cotton to experiment with a soft material. I finally bought 4 red buttons recently and tried for the first time to sew button holes for this project.

I made this little pillow for my mother, including the cushion insert. She, like many people I know, also needs to hug a small pillow when she sleeps. I had borrowed this book on Appliques and there was a project to make felt bags. The circle flowers designs were appliqued onto the bags and I liked them a lot. I used some scrap materials and followed a similar design for this pillow. Nothing too difficult and very fun to make!

Old Fabrics, New Bags

2009-03-24T15:09:00.007+11:00

One of my favourite part about patchwork is the recyling or reuse of scrap fabrics and turn them into something beautiful and useful. It's challenging and also gives me the satisfaction that I've not wasted any materials. My little contribution to Mother Earth....hee...

Here I've used some really small scraps of cloth to make into a pin cushion, which my mother has taken a liking to and requested that it be given to her.

I know my mum has a collection of cloth which she'll sometimes use to make clothes (eg nightdresses) for herself and us. I asked her to give me some that she does not want. Who knows what I can use it for. In patchwork, the more cloth, the merrier.

Sure enough, when Hubby brought back the goodie from Singapore, I was inspired enough to use some of her fabrics immediately to make 2 new bags.

The maroon red cloth on this quilted sling bag is from her collection, while the printed ones are from 2 pieces of left over fat quarters. This bag is useful as I can put all the little barangs barangs (purse, handphone, keys, camera, sunglasses and whatnots) and have my hands free to carry things/XX.

Would you believe this blue and white denim bag is made from what used to be the legs and pockets of 2 denim/cargo pants? I found them in the stack from my mom as well.

Besides using them, I've had bags of fun making them.

Lots of Love Quilt

2009-03-22T22:39:00.000+11:00

Finally, after months of on-off patchwork sewing and tedious hand quilting, plus some help from my visiting mother, the quilt that was meant for my son is completed!

Lots of Love (60" x 48")

This is one of the earliest project I've started but it is not my first completed quilt. (More about the FIRST quilt later.) I was new to patchwork so I started experimenting with fat quarters, making small square blocks. I played around with different combinations and added more pink and blue blocks to make the centre quilt top. This piece was folded up and stashed away for a few months until I cut up a flannel bedsheet for its border.

Once the border was added, I started to add in some details. I appliqued big and small hearts into the squares and around the borders. After binding and quilting one round, I decided to hand-quilt the borders further to join all the hearts in a "wavey-dotted" manner. The stitching of the hearts were all done by my mother. (Thanks!)

Sweet Dreams Baby

I'm quite happy with the final look of the quilt. Thank God my lack of planning (not recommended) and last minute ideas did not turn out too bad. Its bright and bold colours makes this quilt very vibrant and cheerful. I have used 100% cotton batting and a flannel bedsheet as its backing, so I hope that it will also bring warmth to my son when he covers himself on cold nights. I hope he'll keep this quilt forever and remembers mummy's love to him always.

Quilt Crazy

2009-03-22T22:17:00.000+11:00

I created this blog mainly to showcase some of my hobbies' creations.

I used to do beading and have created quite a few necklaces, mostly for myself and as gifts to family and friends. But since I've stopped working and thus the need for dressing up with accessories, I've all but given up making any new creations. Nonetheless, I'll endeavour to post up some pictures of my beading creations.

The current hobby I've started is stitching, patchwork and quilting. It first started as a little handmade project making a personalised pillow case for my husband's Christmas present. Then I got ambitious and started to think if this could be a business idea? I love the idea of personalised pillow cases, with names, special thots and dates of special occasions stitched onto the fabric.

Hand-stitched 'Merry' with a snow man and christmas tree made of felt

Hand-stitched 'Christmas' with a Santa's hat, gift and christmas stocking in felt

This idea soon evaporated when I realised it's quite tedious to do handstitching on a commercial basis without an embroidery machine. Guess I can only manage time to do small time projects for the people I love.

I can't remember how but my stitching and playing with felt fabric soon evolved into me reading up and learning about quilting. One thing leads to another and very soon, I found myself looking around and eventually buying my first sewing machine - a Brother XL-2230 for $169. I actually cannot believe that I'm suddenly into sewing! The last time I touched a sewing machine was when I was doing Home Economics in Secondary School and I don't remember I liked it that much.

With the machine, I started to create more craftworks. Some are still Work-in-progress, but here are some things that I've created so far:

A wall hanging "Love and Live Happy" for my parents' anniversary

Another wall hanging "Always Love You" for Valentine's Day

Playing around with quilt blocks design