what's in the basket today?

it seems that hexey gets into the mind of crafters again. many of my crafting friends are into hexey patch again. me, just picking up the needle and resuming the long abandoned 'love and hate' relationship with my hexey patch :-))

Nine Patch Block - the simpler & faster way to do

I would like to dedicate these snapshots to all quilting newbies. Nine Patch is the most basic patchwork block, perfect for newbies. In these snapshots, you will learn to do Nine Patch the simpler & faster way. Enjoy !



(1) cut 3 strips each from 2 printed fabrics & sew them together alternately (sample measurement : 2.5" strip, min length is 15", depends on how many block u want)
(2) cut to 2.5" rectangle patches
(3) arrange the patches to make nine patch pattern
(4) join them block by block
(5) join the top two blocks, then join the bottom two. later join all of them together
(6) voila ! you now have a piece of mini nine patch-work top (sample measurement : roughly 12 1/2" square). You can later sandwich this piece together with batting/wadding and backing fabric, quilt them together and make it into things like potholder, table topper, mitten etc

box tissue cover

Like

Pictorial - Hexagon (English paper piecing technique)

 hexagon tutorial

*please take note, this tutorial is based on lefthanded person's perspective. yes, i'm a lefthanded crafter ;-)

What I've been doing - part 3

Back to crafting & sewing. Some of my projects including bareback dress and Happy Teacher's day banner.

Something small in the making - part 3

As at today 12.45pm. Will start quilting later.


Setakat tengahari ni pukul 12.45, akan mula quilting kejap lagi

Something small in the making - part 2

As at today 11.00am


Setakat pagi ni pukul 11

Something small in the making

I started to stitch the applique' flower and embroider the stem & leaves today. The background is a simple patchwork I made on Friday night for a Free- motion Quilting learning session on Saturday. But I've decided to practise on scraps a little bit more.

This small project in the making, is a quilt for the tray. Original pattern is from Patchwork Club magazine No. 61 last year. I modified it a little bit here and there.

Since it involves needle turn technique* for those tiny appliques and I don't really have a lot of time to spend on stitching/sewing every day, this project will gonna last more than a week I suppose.



Hari ni, mula jahit applique (sulam tampal) dan buat sulaman untuk daun & batang. Kain dasar tu sebenarnya dah dibuat pada Jumaat malam lagi , sebenarnya untuk kelas Free-motion Quilting pada hari Sabtu. Tapi aku tukar fikiran sebab aku rasa masih perlu berlatih guna kain perca.

Projek ni adalah projek alas dulang. Paten asal dari majalah Patchwork Club keluaran 61 tahun lepas. Aku ubah sikit sini sana.

Untuk projek ni, aku guna teknik needle turn* untuk applique yang kecil molek tu, aku pun bukan ada masa sangat 'menghadap' projek ni hari-hari, aku rasa memang akan ambil masa lebih dari seminggu nak siapkan.



* needle turn - handstitching technique for applique involves invisible stitches and gives emboss effect
teknik ni guna jahitan susup supaya tak kelihatan and bila siap ada kesan timbul yang cantik pada applique

Sew exciting

Back to sewing, at last. To keep my sanity and being creative at the same time. That's all for now, will be back for more. Will write a little about things that happened for the past few months.

¤ Akhirnya aku kembali ke aktiviti jahit-menjahit, untuk menenangkan fikiran dan dalam pada yang sama mengasah kreativiti mindaku. Sampai sini dulu. Nanti nak kongsi sedikit cerita yang berlaku sepanjang beberapa bulan lepas ¤

Quilt for lil' princess Shasha

Finally a quilt specially for Shasha. I didn't make one for her when she was a baby coz I had made 2 very simple quilts when Hanie was born a year before. All this while, Shasha was using Hanie's 2nd quilt.

I bought the pattern from a local quilt shop. It's their very own pattern And it was baby Alya who picked the pattern from the display rack. By the way, Alya technically is no longer a baby, she now is an active toddler who loves to run & climb and gives mommy a headache.

I finished quilting on Saturday evening. Teddie bears - machine applique'd. I did 'stitch in the ditch' quilting to give the teddies a puffy look. I also quilted some star shapes on the squares.

Since Alya is the one who loves this pattern dearly, I definitely have to make one for her and of course Hanie wouldn't sit still if she were the only one who didn't get a new blankie. In short, two more quilts to finish......

My 1st Foundation Pieced !

I went to ' Foundation Piecing/Paper Piecing' lesson on Saturday. I chose to bring own patterns for the class. i downloaded this 'Golf' pattern from one of the websites. I forgot which site, will update on the name/link later.

Block size - 8" X 8". It took me 3 hours to piece them up. Phewww! I'm glad that I made a decision to go to the class instead of self-taught. If you might noticed, the golf club is a bit dented. Nooo, the pattern is perfecto!!! it was me who didn't press the pieces well enough before sewing them up.

Straight after the class, I sat down and finished the block into a cushion cover as per requested by my darling hubby. I personalized it by hand-stitching his blog's name. I did stitch in the ditch quilting on the outline of golf ball & club and stipple quilting on the background , unfortunately you couldn't see it clearly in the picture.

There are 4 remaining lessons to complete. For the upcoming lesson, I have chose the 'Ladybug' pattern.

Another mini quilt

It is rather an experimental. Playing with prints, shapes and colour combination. The front - I used a fabric with colourful squares print. Binding - matching checkered fabric. The backing - pink floral print to match the binding.

A week of ....

.... patchwork & quilting. Last week was definitely a Patchwork & Quilting week for me.

On Monday, Zarina, my dear stitching friend in Penang was sharing her excitement. She began to fall in love with patchwork & quilting and started off a table runner project. I was so inspired by her story.

And on Tuesday, I made a mini quilt, size 10"X10". This is actually my 2nd mini quilt. I've done one last year for our darling Shasha who loves miniature thingies. She claimed that this time is also meant for her. Hmmmm... let me think first *LOL*
I chose autumn colours fabrics. Size of each small square is 2"X2". And sashing is 2" width. Not including seam allowance. Hand quilted. I'm thinking of doing more mini quilts since they are quick to finish. You could make one to three pieces a day depends on your quality of sewing machine and your sewing skill.

On Wednesday, went the nearest needlecraft shop - having a sale until the month end. Bought some fabric stash and inquired on their 'Foundation Piecing' classes. I'm really interested and thinking to start a lesson soon.

Thursday - spent the day flipping through all Patchwork & Quilting magazines and books in my collection. And daydreaming...*LOL*

Friday - went to Bernina 75th Anniversary Exhibition with my quilting friend. Baby Alya tagged along. Her very first bus and LRT ride and my first visit to such exhibition. She looked amazed and I was in awe. Martha (my friend) went stashing crazy at the exhibition. Too bad, I could NOT purchase much since I've done some stashing earlier this week (and in August as well). Met Josephine & Roz from the MYS Yahoo Group and new quilting friends there.

Saturday & Sunday - scrummaging for the UFO. Truly inspired to get back to my patchwork & quilting sessions after seeing those beautifully quilted bedspreads and wall hangings. I even had a dream that night - seeing quilts everywhere I go *LOL*

What a lovely week I had .....

This & that - April

Last week, I was too lazy to pick up a needle. I did some browsing, then decided to change the look of my blog. My hubby said it looks neater than the previous one. I'm happy with the way the blog header turned out though the blog wrapper is not the exact colour that I wanted.

Much later of the week, I continued sewing the baby quillow but somehow put off by the applique' blocks. It is my first time of sewing the turned edge applique' and yet to get the hang of it. Before, I've done the blanket stitch edge applique', I feel that it is much more easier and faster to sew. Certainly I need another to finish sewing the baby quillow since it is a handsewn & handquilted project. Wish me luck

Itching to see a finished item, I sewed up a small stitched piece (previously done in January) into a mini pyramid-shaped cushion. Since I filled it up with some poly-pellets, it can be used as a paperweight. Poly-pellets are the bead-like stuffing that we used in making softie/plush toys. I just found a packet of poly-pellets which I bought few years ago.There were 2 packets, I used one of them in flower arrangement, I filled up the flower vase with poly-pellets after I put the imitation flowers in the vase.


And then, I resumed stitching one of my WIPs - It's time for Tea by Alma Lynne. Surprisingly, I managed to stitch about 40% more with a faster stitching pace if I had to compare with the last time I was on this particular project. Another 30% to go, hopefully by end of this week I will be able to finish it.


And I also started a NEW project, a quick to finish 'cute hedgehog' from a magazine. Stitched on 14ct lilac aida using DMC flosses. It requires wholestitch only hence it's soooo cute, I barely took one morning (not the whole morning but few hours) to finish it


It seems, a stick-in-the-mud start for last week but happily ended with smile on my face

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is International Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast Cancer Awareness campaigns and programmes have been launched by Governement and NGOs throughout the country.

In Malaysia, Breast Cancer is the top cancer in women, thus women's no.1 killer. The campaigns & programmes are to raise the awareness on breast cancer screening and early detection since the consequences of breast cancer can be significantly improved if the disease could be detected at an early stage when effective treatment can be conducted.

Our Prime Minister's wife, Datin Paduka Seri Endon, puts tremendous efforts in the campaigns of fighting the disease. She shares her own experience with other women and spends time for voluntary work in support of breast cancer patients despite her hectic schedule.

In conjuction with the campaign, I stitched a Pink Ribbon applique' . I got the free pattern from Angie's Bits n Pieces - quilting website ( it is actually a ribbon template for Leukemia Awareness campaign in September). I embellished the pink ribbon applique' with the golden yellow heart applique' and satin roses.

** There will be temporarily no postings from me coz I'll be in Kuala Lumpur early October visiting my families and hoping that will get the opportunities for some stash shoppings *wink* . Happy Stitching & Happy Blogging to everyone.

Gifts for cousins

I would like to share the pictures of gifts for my cousins.

I stitched a simple 'Happy Anniversary' pattern by Maria Diaz for my cousin who just celebrated their 1st anniversary this month. I'm going to hand it personally to her since I'm going back to Kuala Lumpur in early October.

As usual, I made some colour changes to the pattern - I used overdyed flosses for the leaves and pot. This is my 1st time stitching for such occassion i.e. anniversary, wedding, engagement etc


There is another gift for her sister. I missed her birthday last time - I'm actually closer to her sister.

'My cup of tea' - an applique'd piece of a teacup. The pattern is taken from Patchwork & Stitching magazine. It is actually a teacup & teapot pattern for a cushion cover. Since my hubby and I had decided to travel light this time, I only managed to make the teacup aplique' for her so that it won't take up much space in our luggage.

This framed piece is perfect for her hobby corner i.e. singing. She shall put the framed piece beside her karaoke set or maybe she shall hang it at her cubicle in the office *wink*

bitten by a bug...ouuuchhh !

Dont't worry friends. I'm not literally bitten by a bug *wink* . Here is my story of being bitten by an 'applique' quilting bug '

Somehow about a week ago after visiting a LNS (local needle shop), I started on new needlework projects - hand applique quilting. I had tried machine applique quilting during the earlier days of my involvement in needlework. That was a very novice piece of work. But i am really amused with hand applique, never thought that hand-applique is lot more interesting than patchwork and machine-applique. Within a week I managed to stitch 2 pieces of applique stitching. I need to visit the LNS one more time before I do the quilting part.


Wash day blues

This pattern is from Naive & Country Quilts magazine which I bought a long time ago. It is a basic & simple pattern suitable for novice quilters.


tea time

This pattern is from Patchwork & Quilting magazine but I modified the pattern to my liking and planning to replace the sugar canister ( below teapot) with cupcakes.It took more time to stitch since it was trickier to stitch the overlapping appliques and the pattern size is bigger.

Almost any place, any time

On Wednesday evening, my family and I went out for dinner. Thank goodness, our little princesses behaved very nicely. As you may know that, dining out with toddlers is a 'no-no' to some parents. I guess, we are one of the lucky ones, though sometimes our little princesses do give us a hard time while we are enjoying our food.

Well, what I would like to tell is not a story of parenthood anyway *wink*.

We saw our friend and her cousin at the cafe. I went over to say 'Hi!'. Guess what! They were stitching Applique SAL while waiting for their kids from the tuition classes. It was so envious to see the pretty patterns and craftmanship. They have lovely cottons too! I was drooling over the stash they brought along. Inspired me to get back to patchwork and quilting. Actually I am thinking of getting back to patchwork and quilting (P&Q) in next 2,3 months. P&Q was my 2nd passion in needlwork. Surface embroidery remains my numero uno. When I was very green in needlework, a friend of mine taught me how to do patchwork. I still have almost complete P&Q tools in my stash collection. I just need to stock on cottons to restart P&Q. Wow! Another stash shopping mark on the calendar LOL !

a patchwork pincushion for Margaret (MYS Craft Exchange 2004)

It is a common habit among stitchers, to bring along their stitching bag and some of their stash collection wherever they go. And it is nothing extra-ordinary for us, to stitch in the public. some may even stitch in an airplane! Or even when the traffic light turns red , at the bus station, LRT station and many more.

Stash shopping is a never-ending story to us. Some may go stash shopping while they are on a holiday abroad. Stash shopping may a monthly activity to some stitchers. I got friends who take a leave simply because they are going for stash shopping LOL! To some, they don't even need to get out from the house for stash shopping. I'm one of them *wink*. Thanks to the cyber world, we can stash shopping from home! Internet needleshops (INS) are easy to find. Thanks to communication technology, stitchers can SMS or call each other while stash shopping!

It is almost anywhere and anytime, stitchers go for stash shopping. And we do stitching at almost any place and any time.