May Markets@JayaOne and FAB

I have lots to write about; My Mom’s day and Teacher’s day projects, my recent trip to Hong Kong, my new Big Shot acquisition and experiments and Little Red Market at Publika but all that have to wait as I’m pressed for time. I do love to write about them in greater details with lots of photos so a slip shot write up just won’t do :)

I’m doing a shout out for my next two bazaars this coming weekend. I’ll be at Markets@JayaOne this saturday, 26 May 2012 with SewFabby, my bazaar partner and at Fuyoh Art Bazaar in Publika on sunday 27 May 2012.

Here’s the banner for Markets:

We’ll be at booth #70. Right smack between Starbucks and Brussels.

I’ll update this post when I get the banner and more details for Fuyoh Art Bazaar aka FAB.

Till then, have a great week ahead. My work is cut out for me... I wish I have 2 or 3 more extra hands. But then, I’ll make more as a circus freak won’t I? OK, OK, got to sign off for now and on with some work.

When sleep eludes me

We had a long and hectic day today. Azrai decided to renew our passports for a trip we’re planning soon and Danial skipped school to do that. I wasn’t feeling really hot as I’m still dealing with my coughs. Azrai too had a bad case of stomach pain because he broke his routine of having breakfast by 8am. Nevertheless, we got it done.

I wanted to keep my date with Azzah of SewFabby who’s having a sewing class at Art 2, Publika today. Azrai agreed to take me there. The main reason was to get my pliers from Azzah. I’m itching to get started on my stitch markers.

We grabbed a late lunch at PappaRich, Publika only to be annoyed to be served with moldy toasts. I didn’t take a picture of it but we told the manager we’re not paying for that. In fact, we should have said to him that we’re not paying for anything. To add to the horror, we had a couple of cockroaches running around on the table while we’re having lunch. The manager himself squeezed one to get it off our table. How gross is that?

Anyway, back to my story. We rushed back to pick up Danial’s passport just in time before the office closes at 5pm. I got home, took Bena Expectorant for my coughs and got knocked out for a few hours. Azrai quietly gave the kids their baths and took them out for dinner. He even got me my dinner. Isn’t he a darling?

After I had dinner, took some more cough mix and paracetamol, expecting another knock out session. Well, that didn’t happen. I was staring in the dark till midnight and then I decided to take out my new toys; the pliers I got from Azzah and started experimenting with them. Wallah! these are the first 2 sets of my handmade stitch markers from the ceramic beads I bought last saturday. I would have made more but I ran out of head pins with the flat ends. I’m loving it!

Great Find in Gogo Bazaar Sogo

Last Saturday, I went to Sogo to check out the bazaar there. A few of my crafty buds were there salling their products. I was there to lend them some moral support. Check out the pictures in the slideshow for show and tell.

The greatest find of the day was these beautiful ceramic beads from Sarawak, my hometown; well, sort of. I knew immediately what I want to do with them and guess what? I got a new found interest in wirework especially after Kak Roza demonstrated how to make loop with the round nose plier.



Created with flickr slideshow.

First E-Award!

From Craft Corners

I4rr

I received an email from Kristina L, Editor of Craft Corners a few days ago. My blog has been chosen to receive an e-award!!!! My very first e-award. I replied her email saying I’ll be honored to accept the e-award and she followed up with another email today with the e-award HTML code.

Cool stuff this :) Thank you so very much :)

Handmade 1" double fold bias tape

After a casual chat on whatsapp with some friends, I realized that there's no ready made large size bias tape in the market. At least, not in Malaysia; or I've not come across any of them in the market. So, I made a quick check on the internet, I found a seller on etsy selling hand-made bias tape using cute cotton prints and I figured, why not?

So, breaking away from my bag making routine I made these prototypes. Cute, don't you think? I made a calculation blunder and these came out 64" long of continuous cut bias tape. I'll be making some adjustments and try to make 3 yards of continuous cut.

Cosmo bag with Corduroy and many more

I’m recovering from a cough and fever this week, just in time to finish another Cosmo Bag. This bag is made with dark blue corduroy. I love the contrast against the pink handles. I’ve used my new labels for the first time on this bag. Here’s one on one of the side pockets.

My coughs is a relapse from my first bout about two weeks ago. It must be the weather. I was getting better then I had a case of food poisoning and I guess the vomiting might have aggravated the throat. It got infected and I had a mild fever to go along with that.  I saw the doctor last Wednesday and took some antibiotics and on my way to recovery :)

Here are a few things that I’ve not updated since the last post. I’m blessed to have families and friends who support my small enterprise. Here’s a bucket bag commissioned by my aunt. 

Here’s a couple of pillows commissioned by a friend who loves cats. These pillows have been long overdue. Though her request was simple, I didn’t want to just make pillows and pillow covers for her and inspiration took a while in coming. I got idea from Spotlight, Singapore catalogue and added ricracs and buttons for embellishements. Once in a while, working on a plain canvas and having the freedom to decorate it, is refreshing :) Thank you for the opportunity to harness my creativity :) That is also a blessing of its own.

I also made a few more chalk cloth party banners. Loving this.

Another overdue project: A pair of tea towels for another dear friend and a staunch supporter. I managed to present this to her over a lunch date which she generously footed the bill. On top of that, she even has a little token for my Arwen, a lipgloss for my diva little girl.

A twill tape to hang the tea towels.

Just before I got ill, I managed to bind off a simple knitted bodice for Arwen made from a yarn Azrai bought from Spotlight, Singapore in his recent trip there. I stumbled into applied i-cord finishing for the edges in youtube and wanted to try it myself. I thought it was a great idea and love the finishing too. I extended the applied i-cord into straps for the bodice. I’ve paired the bodice with Tanya Whelan’s fabric which I won from Zura Lovemelot’s giveaway a few years ago. It’s half a yard and just enough to make the skirt for this number.

I made the back narrower than the front. I saw this in one of my summer knit pattern books and it’s called racer back. A great idea to keep the straps from falling/slipping over the shoulder. I hate that.
Notice the M&M or Smarties necklace Arwen is modeling? It’s one of our finds in GM Klang. We went there to to check the place out.

White party shoes to make up the look. It’s like ballerina slippers doesn’t it and Arwen with her hair up like that does look like a little ballerina :)

I received my labels from Insang Pari. All 1000 wonderful pieces of them. I made them half fold with printing on both sides and seams on the top so it’s considered top fold? Head on over to Insang Pari if you’re interested to make your labels too.

A wonderful gift from a fabric lover to another :) Thank you Dr. Zeti :) I wonder what I can turn this into...

Last weekend, there was a get together at a friend’s shop in Alam Damai. We get to meet the gentlemen in our so-called ladies only group. The get-together was fun as usual with lots of laughter and food. The icing on the cake was the little souvenir; a pretty stork shaped scissors. Thank you Azmir and Azmin :) Thank you Nani and the gang for being a wonderful host for the gathering. Thank you for all the ladies for your friendship and your sharing of knowledge. You’ve enriched my life with your friendship and kept my sanity in check.

I am LUCKY

I woke up this morning and after the usual morning routine, I checked my Facebook (I’m somewhat of an addict) and saw a notification that a few of my friends liked my status update. It turned out to be a Pixoto update. Hey! Waddayaknow, my picture won the best of the day award in Pixoto! What a way to make the day :) I was on top of the world and that didn’t cost any money :) Here’s the screenshot of the notification on my wall:

Here’s the picture that won the award:

You can view it better in Flickr.

I submitted it on Friday, 16 March 2012 and it won the award for the day. How cool is that????

It’s been a while since I’ve been out of a photo shoot mission like this. I was even tempted to skip the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta this year even though it’s happening in my own backyard. That Friday, I woke up extra early and got my gear ready. I felt a bit feverish and my throat was scratchy. I swallowed a couple of aspirins and some cough mix, put my jacket on and left the house before the sun was out.

The crowd was already building up and the hot air balloon crew were getting ready to fill the balloons with hot air when I got there. I walked till the end of the area where all the balloons were supposed to take off and parked my self there. It was still early, the air was cool and I was in a good position.

Long story short, here’s what I got for the day:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Here’s coming to the point that prompted me to blog about this. When I uploaded my pictures onto Facebook, one person commented, “...lucky you have nice photos”. I read that with mixed feelings. What do you mean, “LUCKY”? How did “LUCK” played a role in this? I wanted to say something  in response to that and recalled a quote I read somewhere a long time ago:

LUCK is PREPARATION meets OPPORTUNITY

I like to think that I was LUCKY because I came prepared and met the golden opportunity of a fantastic weather to capture the hot air balloons getting airborne. I won’t be so lucky if I don’t have a camera with me, would I? So, Luck is by design... not accidental. 

I better sign off... I think my cough mix is doing the typing now. Have a great weekend or what’s left of it... School starts tomorrow and I have a whole load of ironing to do.