To Remember and To Forget

As 2011 draws to a close, I pondered on all the events and happening around me for the past 1 year and 2 words sum it up: "To Remember" and "To Forget".

Contradicting it may be but it really reflects my thoughts at this moment. I want to remember all the good things that happened in the past 1 year like the birthday parties for my 2 girls, the various outings that we had a family etc.. I also want to remember the pains and hurts that I went through because it was then that I learnt to depend on God and grow in Him. It was not easy but His strenght is sufficient for me and I know I'm loved.

Likewise to forget the unhappy events and sense of guilt eveytime I feel that I'm not spending enough time with my kids. I will try to do better the next time, I promise myself.

But many highlights are from my sewing journey this year. I particpated in the KCWC for the first time and did some amazing things for my kids. Made dance costumes for my girls and her friends and many many beautiful twirly skirts and bags too!

As the year draw close, I'm spending more time with my family and didn't have any energy to do much sewing. But I know I got to raise up soon cause there are 2 birthday dresses, 2 new year kids pajamas and 2 birthday parties to organise, all to be ready in the month of January! Gosh! I really need to sew..

In case I didn't have time to check in when 2012 arrives,

Happy New Year everyone!

Go! Baby Fabric Cutter

I finally got this one after seeing so many of the cute projects that this little baby can do.

I bought from Amazon instead of the lower price Fabric Hut cause Amazon provides free local shipping so it's slightly more cheaper overall. Like my Fabric.com purchase, I use VPost for shipping to Singapore. I wish we have this in Singapore and I didn't have to spent so much on shipping : (

To save on shipping, I combine some more shopping like few dies: Circles, Hearts and Rose of Sharon.  

Some Cutting Mats to go with my dies.  Just a note to all who are thinking of buying the cutter, you got to buy the cutting mat that goes with your dies. The dies come in different sizes so but careful to get the right ones!

 So, what did I do with the machine? Well, I can't resist the felt flowers that Jess did so I made some for the little girls for Christmas! These are hairbands with elastic bands to tie round the hair. I used some felt that I got some time ago from Diaso.  Elastic bands also from Diaso.

Jess did a fantastic tutorial at her blog. For cutting of the felt flowers, I hesitated a first as I didn't know if I should lay the felt over the whole dies but it will be wasteful as I don't need some of the pattern.  I've used the Rose of Sharon for the flower petals.  This is what I did.

First, cut the felt slightly bigger than the pattern that you want.  I wanted the 2" flower at the bottom right hand side of the die so I put a 2.5" square felt completely cover over the pattern that I want. I tried putting 2 pieces and it's ok. 4 pieces will be too thick and my felt shifted under the cutting mat.

Then, place the cutting mat over the die. Your cutting mat should be same size as your die so it should cover completely.

Place the die and cutting mat into the slot of the Go! Baby machine like so. It should fit nicely. You can turn the wheel and see your die going under the machine.

Once it goes through completely to the other side, open up the cutting mat and retrieve your cut felt! So exciting to see the beautifully cut felt flowers!

You can try Jess's tutorial and hot glue them to clips, hairbands or make some brooch.  I've made some clips.

Some modest simpler version for adults like me!

I cut up some card stock and clip the clips on to send out as gifts!

So pretty and easy! Especially so if you have the machine. Really saved me lots of time.

Wallet for Mum

My mum loves the last wallet that I made so I decided to make her one in the Christmas color of Red and Green.

She didn't need so many card slots so I do away with the middle card slots and just have 4. Love the details of the flower prints on the receipt pocket peeping out from behind the card slots.

A closer look at the coin compartment with the cute flower print. The bias tape binding is the same one that I made and used in the other wallet.

The notes compartment has nice print inside too!

Since she is not on internet, I can share some photos of the wallet. I hope she likes it and will use it often : )

Felt Finger puppets

My girl wanted to learn sewing and I thought felt will be a good starting point.

We browsed through some sewing books on felt and came across some cowboy finger puppet. She was really excited on the idea to sew something herself.

First we brainstormed on what she wants to make. She decided that she wants a girl and a boy. She choose the color and I helped her to cut out the tiny pieces like hair, main body, skirt, shorts etc. 

I taught her the basic on threading the needle and helped her to tie the knot at the end of the thread. She did most of the sewing for the hair, skirt and top. I helped her to sew up the eyes and mouth and the shorts since it is neater and faster, of course.  I was doing my sewing and teaching her at the same time.

I would say she did well for a 6 year old. I'm impressed that she didn't get pricked by the needle and is able to handle the needle well. I chose a bigger needle with a bigger eye so she can thread easily.

Her finished product! the skirt, shorts and top can be taken out. likewise the long hair for the girl can also be removed. 

Colourful Coasters

I did it! In my last post I mentioned that you can use fabric scraps to make coasters and that is exactly what I did! If you follow my blog, you will recognize some of the fabric from my past projects. It's the color beautiful?

I've made these as Christmas gifts for my friends at the office. They are so easy to make and I churn out those in one night.  These are some of my favorites

If you like to try making one, just grap some of those scraps lying around and cut them up. The size is up to you but mine measure 4" X 4".

Some simple instruction
1) Place the centre piece (right side face down) onto the wrong side of the coaster front.  The centre piece need not be the same size as your coaster but as large as the face you want to show.  I try to position it in the centre and just sew around it in various shapes like hearts, square, circle, leaf etc. I sew twice around.

2. After that, place the 2 pieces of coaster (right side facing) and sew around leaving a 3" gap for turning.

3. Cut out the coaster fabric inside the centre piece that you've sewn using a sharp scissor.  Your beautiful fabric will show through! Need not be precise but be careful not to cut the back.

4. Insert the batting and sew up the opening.  Edge stitch around the 4 sides and once around the pattern in the middle so that the batting don't move.  And you are done!

Some more of the delicious coasters!

Merry Sewing everyone!

Kids Apron

I'm not sure why but I did a non-Christmas sewing in this hectic month of December! But I was looking for ways to use some of the fabric with animal picture and this idea of a apron with pocket just jump on me.

My girl loves baking. She always asked to bake cookies and such. It's a pity that I'm not much of a baker so we ended up always throwing away the cookies. The strange thing is, she always thinks that my cookies were the most delicious thing in the world and would devour them quickly! I'm blessed that she is such a sweet girl.

I'm not doing a tutorial here since it is simple and I didn't have time to document my steps as I'm trying to finish it within an hour or so.  

Basically, you cut a rectangle that fits around your kid to make the apron. As my cotton is quite see-through, I use 2 layers. Serged them together at the sides and use as 1 piece.  Fold in the bottom hem and sides. For the waist ties, I cut out 2 long pieces of the same fabric, fold into half lengthwise, Right side facing and sew up  the long side and turn it right side out. Top stitch around the 2 long sides.

Fold in the top of the apron to the wrong side.  The folded portion is about the same width as your waist ties.  Attach the waist ties at the 2 ends of the apron and topstitch the top of the waistband. Find the centre point of the apron and sew on the pocket.  I've iron on some interfacing on the pocket so that it'll not be too sloppy. 

The pocket is actually made up of 4 square panels that I cut out from a fabric panel that I bought from Fabric.com. Can't remember the name of the panel but the kittens and puppy look so cute against the blue background.

I think a matching chef hat will looks good with the apron too, don't you think?

Christmas cushions

Remember that Christmas Placemats that I made in my earlier post? I've some left over fabric and decided that they will make 2 nice cushions for my sofa. It will add the Red and Christmasy feeling to the room. 

I didn't really have alot of fabric to work with so one cushion has an envelope opneing at the back while the other have fabric ties at the side.

I just use the existing cushion cover for the measurement and cut up the fabric. All in all, 1 hour is what it takes to make these 2.

I love how the Red brighten up the place immediately. If I've more of them, I'll make them into dining chairs cover to complement my placemat but oh well, the cushion is still a nice touch.

A suggestion for you with left over Christmasy fabric, you can use the scrap to make coasters, napkins and even Christmas tree ornaments!

Gotta go to sew more gifts...

Another Neck Pillow

Recently I had a custom order for a neck pillow from my sister's colleague's 7 year old girl. The little girl loves baby blue so my sister asked if I could make her one in that color.

So, I made one with a pretty baby blue floral print cotton that I had on hand and soft white minky dot for the back.  The blue fabric has some sheer to it so it's soft and nice to touch. The minky backing will be so cuddly on the neck. I hope the little girl likes it. 

baby blue floral cotton print in front

super soft minky dot for the back

I've adjusted the size bigger as the previous one that I made for her was a little too small since I made that based on my 1 year old girl's size. This one should be able to fit even an adult.

It's packed and ready to go tomorrow!

Christmas tree ornaments

Next up on the list is some fabric ornaments for the Christmas tree.

This year, I decided to make some fabric ornaments to supplement the Christmas ornaments that I have. I made some doves and hearts with colorful fabric scraps that I've accumulated.  I also use some of the nice existing prints on the fabric and just sew around them and attach ribbons.

They are so colorful and cheery right?

A closer look at some of them.

Here's how the tree looks when all are hung up with the lights and all! I bought the paper reindeers and the sliver hearts string up from Ikea.

This one is my girl's favorite. It was a scrap from her blanket project.

How's your christmas sewing coming along?

This year, I'll take my time to savour the seasons and enjoy the sewing process. Last year, I was so busy that I missed the joy of sewing and spending times with my family. Sad right? I lost sight of the important things to do the urgent things. So I hope I can get it right this year.

Enjoy sewing and take time with your loved ones too : )

Christmas & Chinese New Year Placemat

I've lot's of plan for Christmas and making Christmas decoration is one of my to-do list.  

First up on the list is a Christmas Placemat in the festive Red and Green of course! My hubby then gave me the idea to make a dual purpose placemat. Christmas placemat on one side and the reverse side for Chinese New Year! The Chinese New Year usually falls between January and February. Quite close to Christmas. It's a good idea to recycle the placemat else it will only be used once a year.

Here's what I made this year.

Front facing for Christmas

Back facing for Chinese New Year

I found the Christmasy Red home deco fabric with Reindeer and Christmas tree print from Spotlight. It match nicely with the Green fabric that I already had on hand.   

And guess what? Spotlight carries a very Mandarin style home deco fabric with dolls and floral prints! And the width is just nice to make 3 placemat since I got 2 dolls print on each mat! I bought about 1.25 meter as it will give me exactly 6 placemats.  The fabric has interesting patterns at the bottom and top. I snip off the middle strap for plan of another project, maybe a table runner ...

For the Christmas side, I roughly measure an existing placemat. The green portion is about 1/4 and red portion 3/4.  Pin the 2 panels right side together along one short side, align side seams. Sew with 0.25" seam allowance and press seams open.  I also top stitch for a neat finish.

Then, place the Christmas-side mat onto the Chinese New Year-side mat with Right Side Facing, align seams and pin all around. Sew with 0.25" seams allowance and leave 3" gap opening at one of the side.

Turn Right Side out through the gap and press. Top stitch all around and stitch the gap close.  

I made 6! So easy and immediately light up the Christmasy mood don't you think?

Birthday Shorts

Both my best friend and husband have their birthday in November, just 2 days apart.

I made a pair of shorts for my husband. Singapore is hot and humid all year round and my husband really loves to wear 3/4 pants.  Since I'm not sure which one he prefers, I made 2! One with Blue as the main color and the other with the leaf print as the main.

Added pockets for both. I cut the pattern from one of his existing shorts and made these with elastic bands.

He loves the leaf print version better. Said the blue is too striking but he'll still wear them, at home : P