Fabric Friday - I Won A Fabric Giveaway

Back in December last year I entered the Giveaway Day organised by Sew Mama Sew. I think my fingers went numb from all the comments I left on so many blogs participating in the event. And the result? I won two!

One winning arrived last week and I am loving the fabrics that I won. This one is from a wonderful blog WIPGirl. Kristel lives in Canada and I love discovering her blog and have been admiring her beautiful work.

The fabrics are cuts of boy themed fabrics. I love them of course now that I have a little boy to sew for :) I am thinking of making a patchwork quilt from these cute boy prints. We could never have too many quilts in the house. We use quilts a lot, sometimes as blankets most of the time to spread on the floor for the kids to lie down & play on. So a bigger play quilt would be a good project to start.

Kristel included this cute owl card inside, I love it as I love anything owl-y! Thank you so much Kristel, keep on creating and hugs from sunny Malaysia! :)

Fabric Friday - My Black Friday Haul

Yeay! Another new categorical  segment on this blog - Fabric Friday! :D

It's no news I'm a fabric-holic. No really. I'm serious. Since 2006 I have been slowly building my stash. And in 2009 I started sewing them into bags & girl's dresses for sale. Before that I only hoard. Come 2013 - I still buy fabrics but I have new excuses - I am going to sew/make something out of them. And 2014? Even better excuse, I am quilting!

My habit had improved after I become a SAHM though. I have not purchased as much as before, obviously because my disposable income is almost zero. But then, Black Friday came. And I caved lol...

Well my Black Friday haul finally arrived. It's not very big a haul but I love them...

These are Pam Kitty Picnic fat quarter bundles, yummy!! I LOVE everything by Pam Kitty Morning! I think her designs are just perfect retro prints!

I love the yellow bundle the most but look at the cute kitties having fun below? Aren't they the cutest??!

Love that this collection has a rather unusual navy color in it. Very pretty!

These are Fat Quarters which means they will be in my quilty projects. Can't wait to play around with them! :)

Till next Friday, have a great weekend girlies! :)

An Astro Boy Quilt For Baby Harith

I made this baby quilt for bff Ida's son, Harith. I love this space themed panel and prints by Jill McDonald, perfect for little astro boys :)

It's a simple panel quilt. No pattern, I just simply whipped it up as I go. I patched the top and bottom frame of the panel and added outer border. The quilting is a mixture of free motion meandering on the border and patched frame + some outline quilting on the panel itself. And I also machine bind the quilt.

I love the back of this quilt. I used an apple print backing and included a special little message on the quilt label :

And the best part of making a quilt for a baby is of course seeing the baby on the quilt! :D

Here is the cutest astro boy ever, baby Harith (he is 7 month old) when he came to our house to pick up the quilt :

Isn't he a cutie?

Ok the next photo is epic - we wanted to snap a photo of both Harith and my Erfan together but Erfan was sleepy and cranky. So this is what happened :

Priceless!!! :D

Eidulfitri 2011 - Family Edition

Salam Aidilfitri to my readers :)

How are you doing post-Eid? Honestly, I'm beat. Really, after I'm back from all the huha of Raya in my hometown, I basically feel very lethargic & have almost zero motivation. Getting back to previous routine after a long  holiday takes a LOT of work and I am slowly getting back into it.

To fill you up on our little family's Eid this year here are some pics I managed to edit for this blog.

This year, our Eid pics are only taken on the 2nd day of Raya. As you know I was on the road on the 1st day of Eid. We took some photos of my family side but they are all in my dad's camera I've yet to get hold of the pics. So these are us getting ready to visit hubby's side of the family in Sabak, Kelantan...One tragic story for me to relate here - see hubby there sans Raya's baju melayu? Oh well, to cut long story short, the matchy-matchy outfit was accidentally left in Putrajaya! Arrgghh....my bad! Lucky it was the 2nd day so we don't really feel the pain lol...better luck next year with the family photos!

I did not sew any baju kurung this year...I was up to my nose in orders, I bought mine practically the night before Eid while the girls' baju were birthday presents from their grandparents. Hanan later wore a few dresses I've sewn for her but not yet blogged about & somehow I forgot to snap pictures when she wore them.

The girls having fun with fireworks (or is it fire crackers? I dunno lol).....This is the first time for my girls, you could see how anxious lil Hanan was but she eventually got into the fun and it was a blast. This was taken on the 3rd night of Eid & we were at my parents new house in Kota Bharu. The front porch/lawn area is huge so the kids were having the time of their life!

Happy faces of us celebrating Eid (my sister & brother in law in the pics) & look at my little niece Asma Widad, she is so big & cheecky & such a delightful baby! I sewed the dress for her & I miss her already!

Last but not least, this year's Eid was a memorable & meanigful family gathering for us. I love how my girls are appreciating more the meaning of family togetherness during Eid, the blessings that comes with it & how we have Allah to thank for all the abundance showered upon us...

Me...I miss my late sister the most...it feels diferrent without her this year. I don't think I'll ever get used to it...

Here's again wishing you had a great one this year. I am gearing up myself for more sewing till October as well as getting ready to go back to school this Monday, wish me luck! :)

Stash Therapy

To be honest, I don't know what to blog about anymore...currently, life is so uninspiring, not exciting at all. I am still sewing, but only for custom orders placed months ago. Other than that...errmm..nothing. I don't really go out except for post office trips where I drag my little one along. At home, I cook, I eat, I play with the girls & I sew. I rarely watch TV too, only some cartoons dvd with Hanan while I do....ermmm.....this!

Mood lifting eh? Yup, these are my big remnants. They are too big for the scrap bin, too small to join the half yard folds, so I invented a folding system (if you can call it that haha)...that perfectly hides the hideous cutouts bits from the pieces and turned them into cute 4" x 4" little fabric sandwiches (please don't be fooled by the zoomed pics, they are really tiny).

So afterwards, turn them over and let them lie happily, folded side up in the crate. Nice?  I'm sure many of you have these precious remnants waiting for the perfect applique, stripwork, piecing project to come by but what a pain folding them! Dangling bits can be annoying. If you're interested I'll show you how I do it, I call it The Reader's Digest Technique LOL *hint hint*

So what about the other half yards and full yards? How did I fare in my fabric folding extravaganza? Errrmmmm.....not too shabby?

 I swear, I AM on fabric diet right now. No more new fabric till at least these are depleted to half.....*bow in shame*

Have a great, wonderful, happy, happy day!!

Aisha's First Craft Book

I found this book at MPH on our weekly bookstore trip. My girls love bookstore trips coz I usually allow them to choose 1 or 2 books to bring home. I set aside quite a large sum monthly for books as I think instilling book loving culture in my children is top priority. So, when Aisha saw this book she immediately flipped through it and I could see that familiar awe on her face...that inspired look...I could never not buy this one for her. There is no author but the book is published by Parragon UK and costs only RM29.90.

Inside, loads of goodies! There is a Sewing Kit Envelope with ribbons, embroidery thread, felt squares & mini sewing kit. There are also many pages of useful how to's such as color picker & applique techniques.

And loads of cute projects! Aisha is almost 10 yo now, and she's lovin' all the creativity on display.

So which project you want to make first? I asked her.

The easiest one, mommy, she said.

She pointed to this one. I thought oh okay my girl is growing up she wants to keep mom & dad out of her room now *sniff* but I encouraged her anyway..go ahead dear take whatever you need from mommy's studio to make the project...

And the result?

She actually made it to hang on my sewing studio doorknob! Awwww.....my heart just melted when I saw it this morning...the sewing will improve with lots of practice, but the fact that she shows interest and determination and inspired to sew plus actually completed a project, is a great achievement already. This is one of the moments that make me think how wonderful motherhood is. I'm a proud momma! :)

Sharing Some Family Photos

I'm sick....since yesterday. Very bad vertigo and it makes me vomit non-stop. The room is spinning and I can't have sudden movement of the head. The doc said its something to do with my inner ear, where the fluid that balance us stays, within some very complex looking tubes etc. So I can't sew, I can't drive at least till the weekend is over.

I think I have OCD or AADD or something coz I can't stand this not-doing-anything-ness!! I hate just lying in bed coz in my head I am VERY active and this proneness just bores me to death...So I prop myself up on the bed and asked hubby to hand me my laptop and here I am, wising to share with you some family photos. Bear  with me will ya? No sewing post till maybe Monday :)

Here's hubby with the kids i.e my girls, my nephews and Aina my cousin :)

Here's my little sister Lin (the youngest) with her nieces and nephews. She's in college doing TESL now.

This is my darling brother Iwan (Pak Wan to the kids). He's with Fedex now taking care of Australia & New Zealand accounts. Fyi, he's single AND looking ;) ;)

Another brother of mine, Fadzli (Ayah Li to the kids). The fourth of my siblings.

Here's my beloved dad, enjoying his grandchildren's company.

Here's the five of us. The fourth from left (in black n white) is my lovely sister Masni aka Angah to us. She's also doing her postgraduate studies now, under the PSD scholarship. Yep, you guessed it right, I'm the first of 5, the big sister :)

These two are BEST FRIENDS! Aisha and her cousin Nazrin aka Yayin. Love them to bits!

These are all photos from a small family gathering at my parents early this year. Okay, that's all for today. Feeling woozy again. Have a great weekend people, love ya! :)

Crazy Over Glam Garden!

Oooooohhhh......Aaaaaahh......Woooowwww......Weeeee.....

I want them all!!

That's me going crazy, drooling at Josephine Kimberling's new collection, Glam garden. Such pretty bright burst of colours and I love, love, LOVE the Bohemian chic designs!

(all images via http://www.josephinekimberling.blogspot.com)

Just my kinda prints for clothing. Perfect! Aren't they pretty?

p/s : Malaysian friends, these divine fabrics are available for Pre-Order in my shop plus many, many more fun prints! Click here to view.

Thanks! :)

Look What Mr Postman Brought Me!

Yeay! I've been eagerly waiting for these babies to arrive. Mr. Postman came knocking yesterday and I practically jumped up and down in glee!

I bought these fabric with writing from Ayumi of Pink Penguin fame. Such a talented sewist, no stranger to Malaysian crafters as I've seen many of her creations and tutorials popped up in local blogland, cherished by many.

I personally LOVE her pretty, fresh patchwork especially those cute pincushions! And in each one there will always be some fabric with writing peeking. I love it and when she made these herself, I just had to snap some up. And how sweet is Ayumi, she included a pink one in my order as I was a bit late and missed all the pink ones! Thank you Ayumi, you're wonderful!

And today, she's listing a few more of these fabulous writing fabric in her store, with many irresistible candy colors. I just snapped two more, hurry up, these will be gone in no time! :D