For Nephew

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

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

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

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

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.