Simple teething pads
Pattern details | None
Batting | PSR Quilt Bamboo batting (0.9 m x 1.25 m)
Fabric | 100% cotton fabric from www.fabric.com

Of lately, Noah has taken to gumming the straps of the Ergo carrier whenever I babywear him and I can’t exactly dump the entire carrier into the machine to wash it even though it’s okay to do so (not frequently tho – as per manufacturer’s recommendation). I was not very keen on spending around €20 for teething pads and decided to make a simple pair with the leftover batting I had from the quilt I made from him. To match the green of my carrier (Ergo Performance), I picked a paisley patterned fabric I purchased while I was in Singapore.

While measuring it, I thought I had enough fabric to go around the strap in order for me to utilize the KAM snaps I have in my stash. However, after topstitching the layers together, I discovered that I had forgotten all about seam allowances, resulting in a pad that didn’t lay on top of each other. I will have to make do with hook-and-eye closures instead so until I get my hands on them (tomorrow, I think), it’ll be held together with basting pins.

I didn’t use a pattern, just decided to layer the batting on top of the fabric (right sides facing in), sew and turn it inside out before topstiching around to reinforce, beautify and close off the opening. It’s a quick project (I did this while doing other things like checking out diet pills that work) and you can whip up a pair of these in under 30 minutes or less, depending on how fast you sew and cut/prep your fabric.

Quilt #5: Noah’s Stripey Cuddly
Width | Approx 75 cm
Length | Approx 84 cm
Pattern details | Inspired by A Quilt Is Nice’s stripe baby quilt here. Top made from cotton stripes from stash (Coton & Colour, Nil’s trip to India and www.fabric.com)
Batting | PSR Quilt Bamboo batting (0.9 m x 1.25 m)
Backing | 100% cotton fabric from www.inespatchwork.com
Binding | 100% cotton fabric from www.fabric.com

I had been thinking of sewing a nice warm blanket for Noah (since I made one for Eva – it’s not so warm but she likes it) but never found the time or inspiration. When it was decided that Eva was going to stay with my father-in-law for the week, I decided to dust off my sewing machine for good and get back to quilting. I dug out a few different fabrics I have in my stash and came up with a few combinations. What initially was to be a repetition of about five stripes turned out into a double repeat of 13 stripes of different fabrics. Nil insisted that I use the fabric he bought from India to add some colour while I insisted that I wanted something pleasing and co-ordinating. We settled for what is the end result – this stripe colour combo.

Because it had so much going on for the top, I decided to stripe to a simple (but not too plain) backing with a stripe of the remnants of the top going across. I hunted the Internet for local fabric suppliers and came across this very lovely black-grey pinstripe pattern. So it was black for the back – I figured it would bring out the colours of the top piece.

For the batting (yes, it’s my first time using batting for quilts), I settled for bamboo batting but only because the cotton ones were out of stock. It is a first for me – basting and batting. Took me an afternoon just to bast the quilt and even then, I didn’t really do a great job as it showed on later when I machine-quilted the top. To make matters worse, my sewing machine doesn’t come with a walking feet so my top fabric ended up bunching. This also resulted in the back puckering – as you can see in the photo above. It took me 2.5 hours just to machine-quilt the top (about 30 minutes or so just to test out the sewing and get the right tension – GAH) and mind you, I was just doing stripe outlines. Towards the end, I cheated and skipped some stripes. It adds some variation to the pattern thought but I think I botched the stripe for the back portion.

And I haven’t even reached the part about the binding. It has been ages since I last sewn binding on anything so I did a couple of errors which resulted in me having to use a zigzag stitch instead of topstitching as I normally would. Well…I don’t think Noah would care if the errors were obvious or not – it’s a bit annoying though. I reckon in time, I’ll forget about it…just like how I forgot about those errors I made with Eva’s blanket!

And oh, those are the woven labels I had made originally for the store’s handsewn items. Since the store is in hibernation until further notice, I thought I would use them for my personal projects, namely sewing and weaving.

Y’know, I’m quite proud at having completely my first batted and quilted blanket. It’s a little on the small side – smaller in terms of length – compared to Eva’s blanket. Instead of getting a nice 116cm as I calculated, I lost a good 30 cm or so due to cutting and trimming. Still, it’s a nice size for Noah…for the first two years before it becomes a cover for his blanket (like what we do with Eva’s – mind you, she’s attached to hers and won’t even let us keep it!).

Mmmm, the sewing machine is now back in the cupboard. Time to focus on my other crafts – soaping and knitting namely. Am so itching to get back to designing lacework too!

Simple Striped Blue Pillowcase
Size | 65 x 65 cm
Pattern details | Cotton fabric mix from my stash

I made this a while back but never got around to blogging about it. It was subsequently upload onto Facebook and I forgot all about it until today. Oops.

Anyway, this is my first time sewing something other than quilts for the house. It was a simple patchwork-styled pillowcase for the sofabed in my office. My hubby wanted something that would contrast with the red cover – he always wants something contrasting and bright. Me? I like things to go together, fit well. Needless to say, he thinks he has a better colour palate than I do. Bah.

Going back to the pillowcase, well, for the fabrics, I dipped into my stash. These colours and design were originally planned for my handsewn booties, which didn’t kick start due to a lot of issues with the sizing and pattern. They ended up sitting in the cupboard for a while and didn’t fit in any of the quilt colour schemes that I had. Since the hubby wanted something blue, I decided to destash.

I wouldn’t say it looks awful but I don’t think it looks that fantastic either. Will probably relook at the technical aspects of the design before I attempt another pillowcase. Talk about complicating something as simple as this! Heh.

Nil’s grandmother was a crafter – sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery (I suspect), a bit of painting – so when she passed away, Nil together with his dad and uncle had the task of sorting through a lot of things. Coupled the crafter’s natural “ability” to stash, Grandmama was also a hoarder of some sorts. She was never one for wasting or throwing away things, something I find to be common with people her age (she was 94 or 96 years old at the time of her passing). When she first passed away, Nil passed me her nearly new 70s sewing machine which is still in use today. (I should have serviced it in Singapore but forgot due to the rush with the packing, etc.)

When we moved to Dole, we took a lot of the furniture that she left behind – dining table with chairs, armoire styled bookshelf, buffet or dresser (something similar to this but bigger and with more drawers) and a work table. Nil surprised me with her sewing storage kit – “I figured you might want to use this since it’s just sitting in the garage and no one else has a need for it.” So I adopted it.

This little kit opens up just like your toolkit and at first glance, contained a whole boatload of things. I never got around to examining its contents until recently. The bags you see behind it are actually trash – Grandmama had A LOT of things. From four pairs of the same scissors (she has a total of 10 over scissors), to bobbins and spools of threads, cross-stitch bundles, buttons (I need to sort through this), accessories for bra repair, reclaimed zips (basically zips from clothing that you don’t need), FIVE measuring tapes, tons and tons of sewing needles (enough to last me this lifetime and the next), timbles, and what-not. She used very old metal contains to keep some of her things so I hung on to those – they are very cute and no one uses such tins these days.

As you can see, I’ve reorganized it to fit some of my sewing material – I can’t say that I’m any better than her as I have bobbins and spools of thread in another storage container, buttons, felt, scissors, and other things. And oh, Nil even found my sock blockers when he assembled my spinning wheel earlier and they fit in this kit! Another thing I love about this is that when it folds up, it doesn’t take a lot of space and doubles as stand for my pot of aloe vera!

So yay to my new storage kit!

Quilt #4: Log Cabin
Width | Approx 200 cm
Length | Approx 150 cm
Pattern details | Cotton strips from fabric from Cotton & Colour & Spotlight
Batting | None
Backing | 100% broadwidth cotton fabric from Spotlight
Binding | None

My project from when I was pregnant with Eva is finally done and as predicted, it is a lovely single sized quilt. Yes, they are definitely getting bigger although I might go back to making baby or children-sized blankets for Noah and Eva (she loves her Red & Pink Cuddly and will roll around on it, in it, etc) since we’re heading back to Europe and just in time for winter too!

Initially, I had planned for the quilt to have a “lighter” look to it with a pale border instead of the royal blue which Nil insisted that we try. He also pointed out that white or anything pale wasn’t exactly great since it would get dirty more easily that dark colours. So I decided to go for blue…again. (I will definitely opt for a green-blue-white blanket next time around – am getting tired of the whole dark-colourful combo!) For the back, I chose a printed fabric instead of plain because I wanted to give it some variety; a big plain piece on its own, I figured, didn’t really look nice at all.

For the finishing, I decided to do a pillow-case styled edge by sewing both right sides facing each other and turning it inside out before topstitching around the edge for reinforcement. Initially I toyed with the idea of a zigzag around the edge but after inspecting my machine, I thought I’d play around with some of the untested stitch designs. It turned out to be quite pretty but ate up a lot of thread and I ran out halfway around the edge only to find myself carefully positioning my needle in order to start on the right spot. It took about 30 minutes to finish the topstitching.

The result is a simple, not-too-fancy quilt which we’ll probably use as a sofa cover-blanket. I’m still not very convinced about the colour combination and would have preferred to see it in something other than blue like cream-beige or a very pale latte colour. O’well…next time, *I* must have dibs on the colours for the border and backing! In the meantime, it’s back to more packing and trucker gps software assignments.

I have been using these template pencils for all my quilting projects and never had any issues washing them out – they are washable, in case you’re wondering – until bloody now. At least five of my handmade toys have template pencil stains which will not go away even after two washes (with detergent), application of stain removers as well as things like lemon juice + baking soda paste. I may have to resort to oxygen bleach in order to get the job done but that means risking a bleached-looking toy (which definitely cannot be added into the shop’s inventory). ARGH! This is just as annoying as having blackheads on nose which won’t go away!!!

This has been bugging me for the last two days; I ended up spending at least one to two hours just trying to remove the stain(s). Right now, I’m sick of sewing and am awfully tempted to break the offending pencil into two. And in case you think I’m joking, look at the picture below and see why I’m not exactly in the best of moods right now. Hmpr.

Army of Piggies
Fabric | 100% cotton (remnants)
Pattern | Lenny the Guinea Pig from Bit of Whimsy Dolls

These are actually made for the give-away which I held recently for the shop. Three will be going out to the winners together with some booties which I’ve been struggling to crochet up (it’ll be a month since the draw OMG) because of my crazy schedule – me falling ill (and am still recovering – I got hit by a double dose of flu back-to-back) didn’t help at all. The fourth piggie – seen above and called Winnie – will be heading off to a lovely home in Lyon to Nil’s friend who just recently became a dad to a very cute baby boy.

I’m actually thinking of including some soft toys into the inventory and phasing our baby bibs & burpies for the store – a few people have asked if I’d like to sell these. I’ve always felt that sewing is way more faster in terms of product gratification so it’s left to be seen if I’d like to continue on with the booties. Apart from guinea pigs, I’m thinking of adding the usual repertoire of creatures like the dog, cat and lamb to the list and a newbie – the hedgehog for that added twist of texture.

Trouble now is that I just need some extra time to squeeze in the sewing on top of the stuff that I’ll be doing and oh, the move. Yes, did I mention that we’ll be moving to our new place at the end of this month? Talk coping with a crazy schedule! ARGH!

When I need to take a pic or video, my camera batteries break down or just throw a huge tantrum. My previous phone was fabulous for this sort of thing because it took pretty good pics but alas, I lost that phone so am stuck with my other mobile which can’t take pictures good enough to save its life. I doubt pumping it full of e-vitamins would help.

Hai. Looks like piggie pics will just have to wait. Sorry folks.

Sewing is much more gratifying than knitting – at least that’s the case for someone like me who is struggling with knitting projects more than her sewing and spinning WIPs. I lack stamina when it comes to these things plus it’s always so hot that there never seems to be a good enough reason to knit.

I had initially planned to work on these soft plushies over the weekend but a bout of food poisoning left me too tired out; in fact, I’m still battling the aftermath but it’s getting better despite going on medical leave today.

One thing I discovered about sewing up toys is that it uses up a good amount of leftover fabric that I have in my stash, which is good news for Nil as he often remarks on how my stash of fabric never seems to go down. Oddly enough, he never says anything about how it never goes UP. Gah.

Anyway, after a nice afternoon nap to recover, some Prevera reviews and a trip to the babysitter’s to pick Eva up at the usual time, I spent the night relaxing in front of the sewing machine and churned out two rather cute little piggies in under two hours. Only thing left to go around the eyes, nose and mouth – no buttons here as they are meant for kiddies – plus to cut out more fabric combinations to make more piggies.

Heck, I won’t be surprised if we get a piggie invasion over the next few days! LOL!

In an effort to cut back on my fabric stash, I have inadvertently added to it. I’m planning on sewing up some plushies and had to hunt down some chenille, fleece as well as some fat quarters in green. So before my food poisoning episode came, I made some time from all the usual stuff I do online (hcg diet reviews, etc) and offline to hop on over to Spotlight with Eva in tow.

Not a great idea because an hour after lunch, my stomach aches got worse and Eva got fussier. By the time I was done with the shopping, I was pretty much dying and even Nil remarked that I looked awfully pale. Instead of going with him to meet his friend, I took my shopping and myself home (he got to spend some time with Eva instead). Heck, even the cab driver noted that I was tired because I fell asleep in the cab!!!

Anyway, that aside, I managed to score some ivory and brown chenille – no black unfortunately – together with some skin colour felt and other fabrics that I think will look great as part of a toy. They didn’t have fleece in the colours that I wanted and no plain flannel so I ended up with wool felt instead. I figure it should be just fine.

I think I shall start prepping for my sewing projects once my tummy gets better. Hopefully it’ll be by tomorrow. *sigh*