A Sunday Tote For My GrandAunt

We celebrated Tai Koo Poh's 80 something birthday last Saturday and she also bought us a special post Chinese New Year dinner. I made her a little Sunday bag for her to put her bible and a cardi when she goes for her Sunday service. It was pretty easy to sew and it took me exactly 2 hours.

I love this material when I first spotted it at Kamdar. Used less than half a meter with a little bit of canvas for the lining too. This Sunday tote is knotted at the handles, so you have to assemble the body first and sew the handles last.

Took apart three antique silk roses and embellished them with vintage white buttons. Ribbons are from Shen-ni's birthday gift to me - they must be expensive, you won't find any velvet ricracs here! The Flower ornament is detachable.

A shot of the inside. I used some of Margaret's laces she gave me with the needlebook. I also made a cardboard base so the bag will be sturdy and these bags don't look nice wonky.

Love these buttons. They're actually cherry blossoms. I wonder if I can dye these buttons?

Valentine Goodies : NNC Valentine Exchange 2009

I took part in a few fun exchanges this year and right after our anniversary gift exchange we had to rush to complete the NNC Valentine Exchange. Have a look at my lovey-dovey gifts from Lillie of Home of the Little Needlecrafter .

My rose pincushion! Love the felt hearts. Thanks Lillie for being so thoughtful. I will use them for special projects.

Inside Lillie's card is a cute little envelope with a heart bookmark tucked in. So sweet!

The card features a pretty cross-stitch piece, good enough to be framed.

My stash includes a cute heart shaped bathmat and strawberry scented soap too!

This is my exchange to Lillie. It's a little zipper pouch with my favourite applique 'Cupcake!' (Whatelse!) , my crochet cupcake pincushion and a compact little beadbox as a stash.

Close-up of the applique on the pouch. I used flannel for the pouch, it's one of my treasured finds from Chinatown - starry-starry night theme. Must go back to the shop to buy more.

Thanks Lillie for the exchange. I hope you had a romantic Valentine's Day!!! Thanks Margaret for organising it too.

In Good Company : NNC 2nd Anniversary Gathering

I joined NNC two years ago and I missed the first anniversary gathering and have regretted eversince, so it was a pact to make it for this year's gathering. Check out Nik's (the founder) yahoo group here. We're a cool bunch - All passionate about crafting! Here are some of the photos my friends took of us having a great time eating & sharing last week.





All of us with our 'HANDMADE' gifts and stash.

The Gift bags Tini assembled for us all.

Lot's of goodies from everyone!! Crafters are very generous souls!!

Group photo of us all! Notice the pressies in front from our gift exchange.

I prepacked colourful buttons for the gathering.

Don't they look yummy!

I got these from Alice and did'nt even notice the rainbow shades until I packed them.

Here's Tini demonstrating her baby 'buttercup' embroidery machine. Very impressive one!!!

My gift from Margaret. She's a wonderful cross-stitcher and I'm blessed to have two gifts from her todate. It's a beautiful pinkeep with a cute little pincushion and some seriously great stash for some great projects! The gift came with a box of green coordinated beads too.

The back of the pinkeep features a little lambikin! So cute!! Thanks Margaret!!

The spread of food everyone contributed. We sure had a great time eating too!

My contribution : The Macadamia Mango Cheese Cake : Easy Peasy to do, maybe I'll post the recipe in my next post.

Here's Nik with her Sizzix machine. We were all so amazed that it cuts both felt and paper.

Here's me demonstrating the shrinkable plastic craft. I printed individual tags for our members.

Everyone paying attention as I passed each one their individual tags for cutting.

The finished tag. They look so cute together.

Me and my prized possession!

I also made needlebooks for everyone. Look at the pile-up!

If it's not crooked - It's not from Mel's! I had fun sewing these. Perhaps a tutorial in the near future?!

Shades of Pink

I can't explain this 'Pink' phase I'm going through. I think it's contagious. SO beware...
I went stash shopping at Macy (Petaling Street) and went overdose on pink yarns. A thousand shades of Pink. I was pairing the colours as I went spree shopping. Come'on they were only RM1.70 a skein!!!

Three strands for each colour band. I started with a darker shade and progressively reduced the shades as I went. I think it doesnt really matter how many tones under, they turned out quite nice. Use your imagination. If the shade is not what you were looking for just unpick and rematch again.

A close-up of the shades. I'll try something out of this world one of this days. Maybe contrasting colours in all three strands?!

The finished bag for the NNC gift exchange. I added velvet ribbons and a magnetic clasp. Glueing the button to support the clasp looks like a good idea too. The bag opens smoothly and closes with a good snap.

One bag usually leads to a few more. Here are the other shades. I used excess yarn to make a little pouchette. Maybe a little camera bag.

Don't they look lovely. What is a bag without a felt flower? I used the same method as in my previous felt flower tutorial and made these with a little flower petal Dianne sent me for scrapbooking. Just sew a button and attach to a pin.

Close up of the pouchette. This button is gorgeous! Thanks Dianne!!!

Close up of Felt flower.

The stash and bag all packed up for Shanny!

My friends at NNC met up for an anniversary get together. After much chit chat, demos and good food there were feedback on my blog and I found out that my blog loads rather slowly. So I've decided to eliminate some of the ads appearing on my blog. Keeping it simple so that I don't irritate my blog visitors. Do keep in touch by leaving a comment if you have any suggestions, requests or a simple Hi! will do too. Keep in touch!! Hugs...!