Nothing much ...

My sewing machine kaput on me.  I suppose I could drag out my old Singer.  Maybe I will, if I really need a fix to sew.  And to think the service people has not come and collect it for repair up till now :(  Oh well ... I figure there's many many more crafts that will be able to keep my hands busy apart from just sewing.

Enter my 'creative' space.  So I finally got off my butt and cleaned and cleared the corner and chucked some stuff into the store room.  It'll do until it's time for a deep clean before Christmas.  The dust bunnies were propagating!   

All those hand stitching crafts were staged!

While I was in the store room I dragged out my CW quilt.  Oh my ... when will I enjoy sleeping under this quilt?  So I've decided to tie-quilt instead of hand quilt it.  Sometimes I just have to be practical. Really hope it'll get speedily along.

Then there's more crochet.  I crocheted a placemat!  Jess W calls it the Dolly Mixture placemat!

 

I think the colours look really pretty together

 And my current WIP, granny squares for a bag.  There's 3 more rounds to go but I cannot proceed till the yarn stock arrives in early September :(

I need 17 granny squares for a bag.  There's only 8 so far

I'm hooked

... literally.  My days have been filled with everything crochet.  Even while waiting at the doctor's office I was reading crochet patterns and trying very hard to learn and understand them.  I think I'm drowning in crochet but please don't save me! LOL!!

 I've since added colours to my cotton yarn stash.  Variety is always good IMHO :)  So I've been following along Lucy's blog with some of her generous tutorials.  I came up with  hexie.

 Even did some organizing of the yarn labels with some yarn tied around it for 'future' reference!  I got out an old tote bag I made over 10 years ago.  Please ignore my terrible finishing.  I've since improved ... I think.  The tote had an obscene 6" gusset!  Talk about serendipity.

Then I discovered Heidi's blog.  She has an awesome tutorial of the African Flower hexagon on the side bar.  Gosh it's so pretty. I'm just playing around with all these grannys and learning how their constructed.

 I made another beanie, this time a turned cuff beanie.  A tutorial by Beth on YouTube.  The way ribbing is done in crochet is very interesting.

And finally this is my REAL current project.  It's a pattern from the Burda magazine that June T gave me for my birthday.  Is that karma or what?  It's the start of a cushion cover with a crocheted flange.  I need to learn to understand the instructions, slowly but surely.  The beauty with crochet is you can always rip it all off and start again! I also fancy the granny squares blanket on the right.  Next project perhaps?

My little gifts for my pals Merilyn and Elyte arrived safely in Australia.  Their birthdays fall on the second half of July.  I embroidered their house numbers on the roof of the house!

Some crocheting

What?  You ask.  Well I'm smitten ... what more can I say.  It was love at 3rd sight.  Out of the blue I thought I'd give crochet one last swing.  I've tried it before and the results were quite dismal :(  More because I did not have the correct yarn.  Yeah blame it on the tools.  Really ... I absolutely loathe those acrylic yarn that are easily available in every haberdashery shop from here to Timbuktu!  I am not a yarn snob but at least I know good yarn from bad.  And with the amount of work one puts into crocheting it better be worth it.

  

 These are cotton yarn that I bought from Maycraft.  I've not seen many shops in KL selling cotton yarn.  Since I was just testing the waters again I got only 2 skeins ... for now.  The hooks are those regular Tulip brand hooks. 

 Some of my trial granny squares.  The left square is from a tutorial by crochet supremo Lucy.  And the right is a traditional square by my favourite YouTube instructor Beth.  Gosh the colours red and white together is sooo damn classy!

And ... the basic beanie was the next project I wanted to tinkle with.  It was really really easy.  My sis wants a slouch beanie!  When I proposed some roses on the beanie ... she said please don't ... gosh no way that she will be able to look as cool as David Beckham with roses on a slouch beanie!  So watch this space for more yarn, more granny squares, more beanies and better quality crochet hooks!

Another local INS I came across recently is Popular Fabric. Lucy the owner is a most wonderful lady.  It also helps when she's passionate about sewing.  Going all out of her way to test a particular sewing foot for me when I requested for more info.  She even made good a short order with an additional pack on the house.  Now that's what I call SERVICE!!

Some button covers and 45mm pack of rotary blade

With Lucy's challenge via her Facebook page it pushed me to make the zipper pouch sooner than I anticipated.  It's from a free tutorial on Craftsy.

 

 I used a 12" zip rather than the called for 9" because then you can place the zipper pull out of the way of the zipper foot.

 Love that fabric combo.  So British for sure, thoughtful gifts from Margaret W. I have enough to make another two but with a different fabric for lining.

And a Union Jack thimble (again gift from Margaret W) to complete the picture.  This will be for my cousin's daughter Chloe who just finished a year of study in UK.

Month of June

First up was June T's birthday a couple of weeks ago.  It can be really difficult deciding what to make for June, as long as it's blue-ish I think I'm safe.  Since my friends has all got a mug rug, it was June's turn to 'suffer' one from me!

Stitchery pattern by Kaaren.  Hand quilted with Perle thread.

Bag tutorial by MSQC

Then Margaret W got us ladies some lovely souvenirs.

I think I want to make a zipper pouch from the oh so British fabrics!  Some pins for that lil teapot tray.

And yesterday I collected Merilyn's parcel from the PO.  Gosh was I overwhelmed.  It's suppose to be for my birthday but better late than never I say.

A whole load of goodies.  The fabrics are French General people! A vintage spool, vintage counted stitches book and a sewing machine pin.  Also an Olfa pinking blade which I know will come in handy in my sewing and the requisite chocolate :)

My Birthday Week(s)

It's always a thrill when my stitching pals send me birthday gifts.  It's something we've been doing for some years now.  And yet the excitement never dwindles.

So I'll let the pictures do the talking.  First up are gifts from Margaret W.

See that beautiful Lecien fabric ... a bag it will be!

And this little pretty purse is from Jackie W

The gifts from Lillie who is slowly ... but surely ... becoming a quilter! Yay!

Look at that gorgeous linen fabric cuts!

Next up are gifts from June T.

Ah ... my first Burda magazine!

And last but no way least from Jess W.

Oh my ... lovely trio of CW indigo fabrics!

My pals know me too well.  I really appreciate the thought that goes into it.  So well coordinated ... so well executed.  Humbles me plenty to be in the midst of these fine needleworkers.  Thank you all so so much.

Contrary Wife block

 I won a charm pack from Kathy Tracy's giveaway recently.  Of course I tried my luck especially since these are fabrics by Andover's Jo Morton!  What is there not to love.

 

The contrary wife block is Kathy's April challenge block on SQT.   When I looked at Kathy's cutting instructions, I found the charm pack to be perfect for this block.  So I've completed 4 blocks and will think about how I want to set them.  The middle piece is a woven from my scrap stash.  I pondered on adding cheddar but decided against it since I am shooting for a completely scrappy blue quilt.

 It's Jess W's birthday and I stitched a prim cat and sewed it into a pin cushion and a Needle Case from Kathy's book Civil War Sewing Circle.  The prim cat is a free design by Primitive Blessings.
Also a pair of prim scissors and a piece of printed linen.

Harmony

or is it?  More like a riot actually. But I love it nevertheless.

Harmony.  15-3/4" x 15-3/4"

This is one of Lori D's quirky quick QALs.   QQQ! :)  The best thing about it is that almost all the pieces are from scraps and I added a 'zinger'  just for the fun of it.  Makes me smile.  What a  mess the scraps made on my table.

I've run out of cotton batting.  So this will go into the hoop for hand quilting once I get some.

Here's the Asylum block April's Dixie Diary BOM by Barbara Brackman.

 

The blocks layout will be on point.  I'm trying to applique more Gay Bomer's Sally Post blocks to alternate the Dixie Diary blocks.

 

Some embroidery I'm working on for the Colette Laurel top.