Celebrations : On the Joys of Gifting

Tis the season for gifting again!! I stepped into IKEA two days ago and they already had their Christmas decorations up for sale! Goodness! Is it me, or did this year just fly by?


The end of the year always fills me with excitement. It begins with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. I start to plan hand-made gifts for family and friends around the end of September. This year I intend to make some cozy lap quilts for J's family. Very ambitious, so I better get started, because before you know it, BAM, the holiday season will be just around the corner!


Gifting always makes me fuzzy inside. I don't know if I'm the oddball, but I prefer to give than to receive. I love planning, making and finally wrapping the gift, with a specific recipient in mind. The process is taxing, but it is so rewarding when you see the faces of your loved ones receiving something you had so carefully crafted.

Some of you might remember my ambitious twin sized quilt project. Here is the finished product. My friend was quite speechless when she received her gift, she sat and stared at the squares for a while. It was totally worth the blood, sweat and tears (in retrospect, of course).



I also bought a stack of Eric Carle's Brown Bear Brown Bear fabrics to make a baby quilt for my friend's son. It was a happy coincidence that Brown Bear Brown Bear was Dex's favorite book. Here he is, playing happily on his quilt.




That said, receiving gifts is always a lovely surprise. I hadn't had the time to post, this was from a while ago, but Jess from Avant-Garde Living sent me a personalized cross-stitch in a gilded frame. Isn't that awesome? I was torn between displaying it or sewing it onto one of my canvas tote bags. I finally decided to display it in my craft room.



Finally, my dear friend S, surprised me with a lovely musical box in the form of a sewing machine! She had fretted about how I would be able to carry it in my luggage, but I made sure I had room for it! It is a miniature old fashioned sewing machine with a step pedal, complete with fabric and a presser foot that moves up and down when you wind it up! Too cute!




Happy gifting season!

Thrifting: Prints for the home!

Source: design-seeds.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Our walls are looking a tad plain. I think it's about time to dress them up.
Found the above image on designseeds.com, which by the way is a great site for color palette inspirations, go check it out!

My living room walls are a shade of forest green like the first color in the palette above, and the craft room is a pebble gray like the 3rd color.

I was hunting out frames for some pictures/ paintings/photos i already own and found this set at Goodwill today.



I think I love them on the green walls! And I love the gardening theme too! We got a seed catalogue in the mail and they have some lovely full page photos of fruits and vegetables that I might want to cut out, mount and frame. I'm keeping a look out for pictures/photos of birds / mushrooms / plants for the house. Here are some on the wishlist!






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Crafting on a Monday: Bloodshed for a tote

I bought some upcycled bed linen off Etsy and used it for this...



This is a first, sewing a bag with a base, and adding those darned wooden handles. i am pleased, but could have been neater. My sewing machine kept jamming up so i had to hand stitch the straps that held the handles. That was before I found out I could unscrew the handles from the metal hooks for easier sewing and handling. *GGAAAAHHHH*

Hand stitching through 4 layers of cotton and canvas + many pin pricks = bloodshed and tears


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This is a much calmer me, after a whole morning of an endless tirade of expletives. I shall attempt another bag on another occasion for the shop. and then i can add in a pocket or two, and a metal clasp for closure. With some experience and more planning this time, it should be easy-peasy! i hope. *blinks*

Crafting on a Monday: Beach dress Reconstruction

My MIL got a stash of clothes from her friend but as usual, everything was a few sizes too big. So as we sifted through the pile, imagine my excitement when I found this! I knew immediately what I could do to it!



And so I begin my rogue adventure to making my very first SKIRT!



I cut off the top bit of the dress and used the rest of it.

I didn't really bother with measurements, as I said, I'm a rogue (or maybe lazy) crafter.


First I turned the dress inside out, then I folded the cut end in about 2", and pinned it down.



Then I proceeded to make the casing for the elastic band. I machine sewed two lines of stitching about half an inch from either end of the casing. Because the fabric was fraying at the edges from the initial cut away from the dress, I used a zigzag stitch to keep the frays in check.

I left a gap of about 2" at the lower running stitch so I can slip the elastic band into the casing. The length of the waistband to use would depend on how tight you want your skirt to be. Generally, it is about 1 to 4 inches smaller than your waistline. I took the measurement for my natural waist, because it would be further shortened when I joined the two ends together.

Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic band and slip that end into the casing. Run the elastic band all around the skirt, but hold on to the other end at all times. I searched high and low and couldn't find a safety pin in the house (!!) and had to resort to tying a knot at one end. As a result, it took me twice as long to thread the elastic band all the way through. It was definitely the most painful part of the whole skirt-making process.

When the elastic band is threaded through, stitch the two ends together, overlapping the ends generously.

The result:


ONE NEW SKIRT in the closet! I'm loving the final length of it!

P.S. what would you do with the top bit of the dress? I feel like it's such a waste to throw it away! I love the crocheted middle!

Sew Exciting!

Have been shopping online for a neat little sewing machine for myself. Couldn't take just reading crafting blogs and sites and not doing anything about it. And what with holiday seasons around the corner, I gotta get me one!

Found this site that helps compare basic features at a glance.

Sewing Machines for Beginners

And boiled down my choices to 2:



Singer 7442
$168.95 with Free Shipping (on Ebay)



Brother XL2600i
$86.54 Free Shipping (Amazon)

Does anybody know anything about these 2 babies? I'm more inclined to go with the cheaper one of course. They both have great reviews and a few negative ones (of course, you can't please everyone). Will read some more about it before I place my order. The money is already in PayPal, so it's just a click away...

*excited*