thanks!

thanks trashy, lucy and alice for playing in my 2ndYBSS!! a little something will be on your way soon!! :) i'm sorry for any passerby or any regular if you drop by today and saw i'd closed the specky-surprise so soon. but i think i can just manage to whip up something for 3 lucky persons this year.

i'd read a very aspiration word long time ago that if you've nothing to do (besides all your regular chores and nothing that fun, of course) but you really wanted to do something and you've time limitations, just quit! lol. a very wise saying from a quilter you can guess! :) well, why not?! i certainly fit into that description. and i had that specific mission put in my sidebar for SO long already! my mission-to-completion of a quit la-la!~~ lol. :) so, i've started on it and i've been hand piecing in every spare minute i got. i was initially dislike doing the piecing by hand. it took so long to see the end result compared by using the machine. but there were differences in the quality .. the stiffness .. the alignment between two method. and hand piecing yielded a better result. and i gradually like the time when i hand pieced every part.. the quietness and the patience of doing it was quite relaxing indeed! :)

so far i've finished 29 and i need 'around' 60! i have yet decide on the size of the quit.

another

yes. it is no fun at all when we're sick. all my senses seems to be in auto run which made me a total dumber in actions. it's so frustrating that after so many days.. my immune sytem still in battle with the virus. lousy body :?

while i was able to stay awake from the drowsy medicines, i'd finished another guestbook for my friend to use on her wedding dinner's reception. chinese wedding is all about red. the auspicious color of all time. so, i chosed a very satin-ly red fabric with golden embroidery which glared my eyes like machine gun under the yellowish lights from my table lamp :[ i'd copied this sticker diagram for the main embroidery on the book cover. the character means double happiness and the pair of ducks symbolized harmonious relations in a lovers. perfect :)

i'd planned to fill in the pictures.. with satin stitches. but i'm sure with my so-so technique, it would be too ambitious and ended up a mess! so, i'm contented when i can finished the outlines.

the last step of taking out the tracing paper was really tiring! lol.

my weeny way : w edding g uest book

the ring pillow was so well approved by my friend :) and she'd asked me to make her a matching guestbook for her reception! :} i should have inclined to say no after all the roller coaster ride of making the pillow but then the new challenge was something (i think) that i can manage coz in a flash all i think about a guestbook was just a ring-binding stack of nice papers inside with a pretty nice cover! lol. and the binding is so easy to get done in a shop too! sounds so easy peasy right! but not when i was about to start! :/ i've been deceived by my simple minded again~ dork!

so, i'm cracking my head to "make this work" (so tim gunn) lol :) hmm. well, some sketching i did after i'd finished the guestbook. it has produced a very thrilling & satisfying result so i guess i share it here. my weeny-way of making a wedding guestbook (my first!) .

• decide the size of your guestbook. mine was 24 cm X 17 cm. the number in bracket is the seam of the front fabric that need to be glue to the inside to cover the guestbook. this [4] is the center opening to place the ring binding book inside. *the size depends on the size of the ring. measure the ring like below pic. i forgot to take pic during the process. you should have 0.5-1cm larger than the ring size. **all these numbers also indicated the size of your cut out fabric to cover.
  
  

• cut out a piece of thick interface of the size of your guestbook include the [a] space exclude the seams. glued 2 thick carboards on left and right. then cut out a thin-medium batting foam and glued on the front of your guestbook on top of the interface. refer sketch above & pics below.

(batting glued on top)

• covered the book with fabric that already decorates with embroideries .*** never secure the fabric in front with glue; this will leave visible ugly marks/stains. glued a strip from the same thick interface to fit the center space. **** roll it before you glue so that it give you a curve rounded corner when you close the guestbook.
  

a soft spongy feel on the front cover with the batting on top.

• now, you'll have a very neat covered guestbook on the outside. the inside job is so much easy. ring binded your pretty chosen papers in a stationary shop. it costs me just a dollar ;) *****make sure you have 2 thick sheets on the front and back. these 2 will be glued to the cardboards. my stacks were the size of a half A4. they were smaller than the guestbook but i like it that it gives a little dimension.

• make sure you have added the trims/ribbons for the front and whatever you like for the closure on the sides before you glued the ring book in.
  

everything that show in front of your guestbook is glued inside, on the cardboard. same with the ribbon i'd used to tie at the sides.

• last step, before you glued the ring binded book inside. make sure the holes are aligned with the carboard. you need to push the fabric cover to the center from both sides like the pic below . so that, you'll have a nice curve at the center when you open the book flat.
  
  
  
  

this is it! a complete simple wedding guestbook! i think this is a very meaningful wedding gift for a bride. it's easy to make one and all the material are inexpensive too :)

yay! for the pillow!

yup yup! yippee yippe! yep! lol! i'm over the moon now!! :) i'm so SO happy that i'd finally finished the r.pillow last night. it took me forever to design and make it! some of you may be aware that i like to exaggerate something cute in things i made. but i need to make this into something formal and elegant and personal. so this would be a big challenge for me :o . every stitch was slow-mo after i'd ripped part of the border embroidery to resize the pillow. the experience was heart-strickening. lol . i'm so scared to mess/rip anything from the delicate fabric ever again. i've tried the vintage sparke buckle but it doesn't matched with the golden embroidery. so i settled with this little faux diamond button. the base gold color matched so fine with the others . the bride has chosed ivory+gold+apple green for the colors. i hope the green lace is apple green for her because i love it! :) not so bright and dark. a simple green to lighten the gold.

i love the back !!! a pretty bow to look at AND the effect was so :} just the way i wanted. i can imagine the bestman holding it standing infront~ so romantic! lol. no?

this would be a little gift for the bride. hope she'd like it.

mr.sunny sent

the mini-quilt i sent to lucy for our private swap landed safely in the locket's! :) 50% with machine + 50% with hand. actually i'd ran out of idea of what to theme on the quilt . knowing that i was not going to do some real patching with hex or any fancy shapes or whatever in a normal quilt. because i do not know how. theorically? yes... technically? no! never done any before so i don't want to take the risk here. loser :/ . so a theme is a must! and what a *bright snap* when i read this post :) saver! what's better than a bright mr.sunny with a big smile greeting you every morning without fail when you walk down your Famous-Lucy-Locket-Quilt-Wall!! a-ha! so i blind-stitched mr.sunny and his rays with a sunny-message on clouds! :) after all the binding ... i was pretty happy about it .. but the more i looked at it, the more i felt 'primitive' with the quilt! it looked so immature :? compared to all the quilts you'd received :{

but the quilt was 100% tailored made to cheer you up! :) i hope it does.



included was a packet of buttons which i forgot to take any photo. and a packet of these lovely daisies!! made from alice's so-neat tutorial. it was so addictive making them! initially i planned to put these all over the back! you know.. bright sunshine with healthy flowers?! another retarded idea of mine.. :[ so instead of doing that, i sent them separately .lol! hope you'd have a good use on them.

Everyday's a happy sunny day to you all!! :)

1YB-Specky-Surprise(s) revealed #

{those who still haven't receive , can skip this post}

i don't want to bored you all with my sneaky surprises anymore! lol . it isn't that sneaky enough since i knew 7 of you already got it and reading your thank-you post about them really makes me teary eyes and i'm melting :) . thank you for making a post about them! i feel so honored. let's begin with a little intro about the whole process shall we :>*oh gosh* this is boring as well! lol. please bear with me .
hmm.. i really don't have any idea of what to make at first but it's been a long time i didn't play with embroidery and hand-stitch.. so this come in very handy to mass producing in a short time! lol. i'd choosed 6 from the book and the other 3 were my own drawings that i'd tried to make them similar.

the fun begun when i started to drew

and

painted them with felt and beads

and

canvas them up in little scenes

the first one to land was 'bonjour' at lesley's

{adorable & so chic :) }

second, to lucy
{love the sequins, colors & the little classiness :) }

third landed at tricia
{one of my own drawing, plain-less beauty! & sparkled (the world sure appeal to be a little magical when it has more love and gratitude) , wanted to have the message standout :) }

fourth to received was alice
{this is so beloved! my own drawing too. simple yet so meaningful.. amitié the friendship balloon~ .. it speak all doesn't it :) }

fifth went to andrea -no blog
{this one sure full of kawaiiness! the bubbling teapot :) }

sixth went to sam
{all the colors are so pleased! they coordinates so well and i love it :) }

seventh landed at raesha
{down to earth-homey-lovely, happy crafting life :) }

edited: ninth goes to jess
{my own drawing too. life's beautiful when you stop and treasured :) }

edited: eighth went to kuky
{this is so cute and funny! wanted to make an unbrella that flung out from the scene! attach at the frame maybe. lol :) }

most of the pieces above were photographed using a same frame . they later put in individual frame . all brand new!! it is so coincidental that i have 3 bulks of ikea frames. each have 3. i bought them last year and didn't have plan to use them until now :) just-stock-when-spot. now i ran out of them, it make me a little bit jittering. lol . weird but do you feel the same when after you had used one button , you feel you need to stock back a dozen?! lol crazy :}

i wanted to line the back using another piece of fabric but it will add to the thickness when i already back them up with a thin batting. and this piece of paper that comes with every frame just do the trick nicely ;}

that's all!! see you in next year!! ~

NO! see you in next post! lol :)

hopped away!

what a happy surprises that my parcel for the bunny swap has arrived so fast to the moogs's house in 4 days?!! totally unexpected as it usually takes at least 2 weeks to send something abroad. way too quick for some easter surprise, i guess :) i shouldn't blah more about them here as lesley had make a post on her blog which made me so happy and yet so embarrased! lol. frankly, everything was so wonky. her dress may look 'dressable' but it was so tailor-ly made!! i thought i can just visually-minimize a real dress pattern for her but then i never sew a dress before! everything look so complicated with the measurement for a bunny! so, i eventually took the fabric and wrapped around the bunny and cut whatever out trying to have something that fit-able like a dress! lol. the process was so messily done but with lots of fun and so glad everything look presentable at the end :)

i wish i can do something more 'pro', like some serious printing and painting for the handmade card. but all i can wipped up is this little frame-like card made with cord bias.

;>

wonkily made with lots of ♥

if not in the name of love~

i'm so happy with this felt house!!! times were much spent deciding on the details. like the little embroidery knots flowers in the 'bar grill' pots (not sure how to label them) under the windows. the little patio with a small patch of bushy with wild flowers AND i'm totally love the rooftop & the little awning with the rounded front :) the colors brown and green are the preferences from päivi who initiated me to create another felt house by placing an order. i'm so glad when i'm not bound or ask to replicate the exactly designs that i'd created previously.

for ma

on my recent trip back to my parent's place, my mom showed me back alot of things.. memorable stuff that i'd used when i was small. and she still keeping some of the clothes that i wore when i was a kid and i will pass it on to ashley. one of the thing was this little pouch that i'd made for my mom long time ago. {sorry for the blurry photos} it's been quite some time that i didn't make anything with felt.. or anything at all! *itchy hands* can't wait to start on something after the move :)

no more lost & crooked needles~

first of all i would like to say thanks for all your lovely comments about my first trial quilt patch. it's definitely worth all the pain! :) so while i am still waiting for a good thimble, i make something that is equally fun!

i like to make pincushion or needlebook for others or in swaps. they are so versatile to make and i've so much fun with the pic/pattern on them. but i've never have thoughts to make one for myself to use. i'd use a fabric scrap to pin in my needles together with the leftover floss in a metal box and that's very messy! i always lost count of my needles because sometimes they would drop out into the sea of floss and i will pricked my fingers looking for them. and the worst part is, when i was in a hurry to pack everything up, i would quickly cramped the floss together with the scrap and shut the metal cover of the box and *clack*! i'd clamped in the needle too and they crooked :/

so until recently, when i'd started to have more specialised needles like quilting & applique & more long pins.... i think i got to have a more decent place for them. a needlebook would be a good idea :) so i'd made one!! with a wee smiley cloud cushion too :>

it was made from muslin and batting and i'd inserted a cardboard in the front so the needles would not be easily stick out through the layers. size: 9cm x 6.5cm .

... the fun part is the bias binding!! the result is so satisfying! lol. :) & i'd chosed one of my ambassador girls for the cover because i still missing them! lol. ;}

the tree button was from a swap. i think it look quite cute adding it here. and the cloud.. ashley said it look like a fish in the sky :'

at first, i planned to use a sew-on snap for the closure but i think a cute button would be quite nice. but this button is definitely not cute at all!!! lol. i tried to match with the colors too and i only have this that's red :(

~ Happy Needles & Pins~

:)

hoorah for next week coz i'll be going back to my hometown visiting my family with ashley for two weeks!! :) and totally no internet connection :( lol! anyway, would enjoy the break and catch up with you all again when i'm back!