Went shopping but came back with nothing to show......

Huh? Went shopping but nothing to prove it? How’s that?

Well, read on.......

Epal had some sort of a road show to sell fabrics, gadgets and what nots related to sewing on the 7th of November, 2010. I thought they were having a sale. At least I thought that was what they told me when they called me to inform me about the event a week earlier. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a sale, but just a road show (they call it that) to sell things which before this are not available in their shop. I went there after 2.00pm when the weekly maid had left and after lunch was done with.

I think I will let the photos tell the story as a picture paints a thousand words.

Just look at all the fabrics on sale!

I went crazy looking at all these fabrics! I think I bought almost 1/3rd of what was sold! LOL! *blush! Opps! Shhhhhhhh! Better not let hubby here me say that! LOL! *grin*

Seen here is Ain writing down my very long list of orders! *grin*

There were samples of bags to give you ideas on how to use the fabrics on sale. Alas, they don't have classes on how to make the bags. *sigh* If they did, I think I'll probbaly sign up without even giving it a second thought! LOL!

There were also many quilts on show giving you more ideas and tempting you to buy more stash! LOL!

I especially like this quilt of tea cups and saucers!

I went crazy shopping for all the fabrics (like as if I don’t already have enough fabrics at home! LOL! ), almost bursting my budget but came home feeling like something is missing as I could not come home to play with my new stash of fabrics, as we can only order what we want, and it will only be made available in 2 weeks time. *sigh* Doesn’t that make you feel odd?

Anyway, here are SOME of the fabrics I bought.

I have many ideas on the types and design of bags that I want to do with all these newly acquired stash. The only problem now is that I need to find the time to do them. Now THAT is a BIG problem as work in the office does not look like it is going to slow down! *sign* Maybe around Christmas time when all the bosses go on holiday? I can only wish....

In the mean time, I shall be sleeping with my stash........ LOL! *wink*

Back to school....

Well, sort of. It’s been more than 8 months since I last went for any classes at Epal, unlike the year before where almost every other month, I would at least take a day off from work to attend classes at Epal, and I would also go to Epal every other Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

This year has been very hectic at the office front that I have not been able to take that many days leave from work to indulge in my hobbies and to pamper myself. So, last week, I decided to take 2 days off from work to coincide with my son having his exams.

I wanted to make sure that he has a proper breakfast in the morning, and I want to pick him up from school instead of having him take the bus to his grandparents’house, where my hubby would then pick him up from there at about 7.00pm. By the time they get home, it would leave him with little time to study, and we wouldn’t have time to check on him to see if he is prepared for the next day’s exam.

So, by taking leave, I can pick him up directly from school and bring him right home, giving him plenty of time to study and for us to check on him to make sure that he studies properly. His grandfather is quite strict actually, and he does make Aiman study during exam week, but, I thought since I only get to spend very little time with him lately, this is the best excuse I have to spend some extra time with him.

By taking leave during Aiman’s exam week, I also get to kill two birds with one stone, as his school only ends at 3.30pm, so, I get to attend a class at Epal while he is in school, yet be in time to pick him up from school.

Classes at Epal starts only at 10.00am and I would have leave Puchong by 2.30pm to be in time to pick him up just as his school ends for the day.

The first day I was there on Monday, 25th October, after 8 months of absence, I felt I was a little disorganised. There were many things to learn from the new kit I had just bought, but due to my being a little bit disorganised, I only managed to learn two things from the kit that day. I learned how to make a lace using dissolvable stabilizer and how to do the appliqué for Sun Bonnet Sue.

I felt very unproductive that day when it came to my crafts.

The next day, Tuesday, 26th October, I decided to get a little bit more organised. I planned on what I wanted to learn from the kit.

So, when I got to class at precisely 10.00am, I laid out all the kits that I wanted to learn that day and told the teacher that I want to try to learn at least 4 kits today before I have to leave by 2.30pm.

So, the first thing I learnt that day was to make the tissue holder. That was quite fast to do. I got that done in less than an hour.

Next, I did a cat pincushion all done in the hoop. I think this cat is kind of cute!

My 3rd project is quilting using the embroidery machine which I find very interesting as I can see lots of the quilting that I have been wanting to do I can now do that using Em. Yeah!

I am sure I can’t do all my quilting on the machine as it is not a quilting machine, but, I am sure the possibilities are plenty enough to get me excited! LOL!

My 4th project that day was something I hadn’t imagine possible – to do a sulam tekad emas using the embroidery machine! I was really amazed at the results. Just take a look! Doesn’t it look almost like the original?

I also managed to learn to do a 5th project – how to embroider motifs that has holes in them like I always see on exclusively designed baju kurung.

All this while, I thought that I would have to patiently poke the holes one by one to get the see through effects. Now I know the trick, and no, I am not going to share the trade secret with anyone! LOL! *wink*

A special request

I had a special request from my hubby's cousin to make her a bag. She saw the praying mat bag I made for my mum at my blog, and wanted me to make her a bag that she could put in a praying mat, the praying attire (telekung) and a make-up cum purse cum handphone bag.

I feel very honoured that she thinks that my bags are nice enough for her to want me to make her one. I am excited, but, at the same time, anxious and nervous! LOL!

I am excited because this is a special request from my hubby’s side of the family as most of the bag requests so far only comes from the immediate side of my family, and they are mostly requests from my nieces, mum, sisters, and SILs, or rather, I make bags mostly for them. They are my biggest fans! LOL! *wink* I have also made many bags for my stitching friends.

I am anxious and nervous because I am afraid that she might have expectations that I might not be able to fulfil, me being only an amateur at making bags with special requests. BUT, excited I still am, and I just hope that I will be able to fulfil all her requests. *smile*

Anyway, my hubby’s cousin, Idah, requested for a bag in black, a colour that I don’t usually work with, but, definitely it does not mean that I can’t work with black. Being architecturally trained, I tend to love bright colours more, and the only other black bag I have made was for my sister, Lin, who is a lawyer, and only dresses in black and white when she was still working as a lawyer. I made her that bag for her to be able to take it to work. I made a grey messenger bag for my hubby about more than a year ago.

Idah’s other request was for it to be in linen. She also wanted a long leather handle that can be slung over her shoulders, and maybe have some of the trimmings to be in leather. She also made a request for a make-up bag cum purse cum hand phone pouch to match the main bag.

I made two proposals for her, one which is almost similar to the praying mat bag, and another one is more like a tote, like the normal bags that I have always been making, but, this time with zippers. This will be the first time that I will be making it using zippers made this way.

Unfortunately, I had to tell her that I have never worked with leather before except to sew the handles on, which I think I did not do such a good job of, and I am definitely not yet confident to work with leather anymore than to fix the handle, what more the trimmings. I have never worked with linen either.

I feel bad that I couldn’t fulfil that part of the requests from her, but, rather than attempt it and do a lousy job of it, I would rather work with something I am more familiar and confident with and do a good job of it. Then maybe, she will recommend me to her many other friends, cousins, etc. LOL! *wink*

Idah has chosen the tote bag option and she asked if I could make a paper mock-up of the bag before I actually get down to sewing the bag because she wants to be able to have a feel for the size of the bag.

I asked a few stitching friends how do I go about doing it as I was afraid that the paper mock up might not look nice and do justice to the design, because I am quite confident that the bag which I will be making will look nice with the choice of fabrics that she had already chosen.

A few friends suggested that I make an actual bag but using a different fabric from the one that she had chosen as they said that I can always sell off the `sample bag’ once she has made her comments. That way she could have a feel for the size of the bag, and it would also give me an opportunity to try out this zipper method that I have never tried before without getting too stressed out over it if it did not turn out okay.

So, about 2 weeks ago, I sat down to cut out the fabrics to size with the intention to start work on it immediately. Unfortunately, however, I was down with the flu for about a week, and did not touch my sewing machine at all until during this Chinese New Year holidays.

I worked on it all day, well, almost all day Sunday, 14th February. Yup! We didn’t go out for any Valentine’s Day celebration this year as my hubby and I, together with our son had already gone out all day on Saturday, taking my mum, brother and niece out to lunch, we did some shopping and went over to my brother’s place so that my son can play with his cousin Miki.

We came home quite late that Saturday, and so decided to spend the Sunday at home doing our chores and taking care of the home, which I think has been neglected due to our never-ending stress at work! LOL!

Opps! I am digressing again! LOL! *grin*

Anyway, I finally completed the bag at about midnight that Sunday (I had to stop several times to do the household chores, see to my son’s needs etc. You know all those boring routine stuff that you have to do when at home, right? LOL!)

And here is the `sample’ bag........

As this is the first time that I am making the zipper this way, it was quite tough doing it.

It looked pretty easy, but trying to get it to align on both sides was tough, while trying to fit in the lining of the bag at the same time. I need to find an easier way to do it, but I like how it turned out. I just hope that Idah likes it too.

I have another way to put in the zipper like the way I had learnt at Epal, but it probably won’t be as nice as this one. I guess something that takes more effort to do will surely give better results. What I need to do now is to find a better and easier way to do it.

I kind of like this flowery black and white insert fabric to this bag, though this was not the fabric that Idah chose.

The one that she had chosen is the one on the furthest left in this photo below, which I think will also look really lovely once it is turned into a bag.

There is actually a pocket to the front of the bag, but, because it is all black, it is not that obvious. Maybe that should be good if you want to put something on the outside without it being too obvious.

As for the purse cum make-up bag cum hand phone pouch, I managed to complete the bag at 5.00pm today (took leave to give my MIL a break from baby-sitting Aiman).

It looks more like a handbag than just a purse to put in a hand phone and makeup. I actually designed it to be that way because I thought that maybe Idah might be able to use it to double it up as a handbag without having to transfer her personal belongings to another handbag should she find herself needing to attend a function that requires her to be dressed formally in black or white.

It wasn’t the easiest bag to make though, and I think it has to do with the thick interfacing that I had used for the inside of the bag. The front of the bag is quilted, and I had enjoyed doing the quilting as it gave the bag the body, and made the bag look really nice, if you don’t mind my saying so myself! LOL! *wink*

Should Idah find this bag suitable and to her liking, and I have to make this bag for the second time, I will be using a thinner interfacing for the inside so that it will be easier to work with.

The tough part was the curves on the sides as the thick interfacing was really tough to work with.

I broke 2 needles before I could finally finish the bag! LOL! I almost gave up working on it last night and wanted to just toss it aside and start designing a different purse this morning. But, after a good night sleep last night, I woke up feeling refreshed and determined to complete it.

I told myself that after completing it and it did not turn out nice, I will design a different bag. But now, after having completed it, I think it did not look too bad. *grin* I just need to make a few changes to it to make it easier to work with it though.

The inside of the bag is quite roomy, with 3 compartments.

It could definitely fit in a hand phone, a few make-up items and a medium size purse.

Putting the handbag together with the main bag, they do match and look like they have been destined to be together right from the start! LOL! *wink*

Anyway, now that both ‘sample bags’ are done, I hope to find some time to meet up with Idah to show her the bag in person. I just hope that she likes it.

Going on a diet!

No! No! Not the food diet! Well, I think I should go on the food diet too, but, not today, not now. *grin*

Today I am going to start on a Stash Shopping Diet! *grin* Believe me, I am! *grin* Yeah! Right! My stitching friends are going to shake their heads in disbelieve, knowing how much willpower I will need to get myself disciplined to really not stash, knowing very well how much I love to stash when it comes to my hobbies! LOL!

This evening, instead of going for my class at Epal to finish off my Telekung (Praying atttire) project, I decided to stay home and get my stash organised, as my son was not yet fit to attend his Robotics class. He still has not fully recovered from his chicken pox. He still has a few more scabs on his face and hands, and we did not want to take the risk of infecting any of the other kids at his Robotics class.

So, while my son and hubby took an afternoon nap, I decided to go through my fabric stash, and try to sort them out according to colours, or, at least, try to get them sorted out.

I spent almost 3 hours going through my stash before I finally got everything all neatly folded and nicely stacked up, although I did not finish organising them into their respective colours. I was beginning to get tired, and hungry! LOL! I must have used up all the energy from lunch to sort out all my stash! LOL! Goes to show you how much fabric stash I have! LOL!

To tell you honestly, though embarssingly, I think I have enough stash to last me more than a lifetime! If I were to convert them into bags, I think I can make maybe close to 50 bags, or maybe more! *blush*

It’s time I really start seriously thinking about turning my hobby into a money making business! Only then I will be able to use up as much of my stash as possible, and then, maybe after that, start buying more stash! Oopps! NO! LOL! *wink*

Here’s part of the stash.

The top photo shows fabrics bought at Nagoya and Kamdar. The bottom photo shows fabrics bought either at Sakura or Quilt Gallery.

The photos were taken when I first starting sorting out my stash, After going through 4 drawers of stash, I got too tired to take any more photographs! LOL! *blush* I was also getting too embarrassed and guilty to show off how much stash I actually have! LOL! *grin*

Definitely I am going on a Stash Shopping Diet, in that I will try to refrain myself from buying anymore fabrics! ...at least for this year! LOL! But, notions like zips, buttons, threads, etc, I will still need to buy in order for me to make my bags and other projects.

So, will I succeed? *wink* Wish me luck!

Aznique products by Em and me!

It’s been some time since I last updated on the projects that I have been doing on Em. I have been extremely busy at the office these last few weeks that I have been coming home extremely tired, mentally and physically, that I could hardly keep my eyes open even if it was only 9.00pm.

I have been doing some projects, though not much. I have in fact gone to class at Epal only once this month of December, and with my schedule, at home and at the office looking even busier, I doubt it if I will be able to find the time to go to any class this month.

Whatever leave I can take from the office, I prefer to spend the time with my son, taking him to his classes and where ever that he wants to go. I feel that I need to spend a lot more time with him. I don’t want to have to regret the times that passed that I have not been able to spend with him.

Soon, he will want to spend more time with his friends than his parents. In fact, even now, he’d rather be spending time with his cousins than us, boring parents. LOL! *grin*

Anyway, back to what I have been working together with Em the last few weeks, in support of going green and saying ‘No’ to plastic bags, here is a bag that folds neatly into a purse and can be carried with you in your handbag.

Should at any time that you need a bag when you go shopping, just unfold it, and tah dah….you have a bag!

I think this is so cool, especially when we want to encourage the public to go green to save the environment.

The material, however, is something like a rain coat, and I am not sure where I can get more of these materials to make more to sell or give away. I am thinking of trying out with canvas, and if it works, I might make many more to sell or give away.

Did I say sell? Yup! I am trying to sell some of the things I make if I can get people interested to buy. I have been spending so much money on my crafts, I think it’s time I make some money from my hobbies (notice the plural? LOL!), so that I can buy even more stash! LOL! *wink*

Remember some months ago I posted about a bag I learnt at Quilt Gallery, which is actually a praying mat? Well, at Epal, part of the Home Base Business program (a program that I got as part of buying the embroidery machine), I also learnt how to make a praying mat, but, this time, it was taught differently.

This is good, because now I can actually combine the knowledge that I got from both classes, and come up with something that best suits me and how I actually want the bag to look like.

I love the fact that the bag kit came in PINK! *wink*

The last class that I went to Epal at the beginning of December, I was taught how to embroider a `tudung’ (scarf). While doing it, I feel like pulling my hair apart and almost gave up doing it.

I had trouble matching up the embroidery, and the teacher had also failed to tell me that the pattern calls for me to flip and rotate the pattern that I ended up having the patterns upside down! Uurrghhh!

I finally completed embroidering the scarf, but, after much `cheating’, tweaking here and there, when it came to matching and aligning the motifs.

I don’t think I will ever make another tudung, and for sure, the tudung will definitely not be an item I will make to sell! LOL!

The market is already saturated with embroidered tudung already anyway, so, I might as well concentrate on things where other people have yet to try out – the niche market, so to speak, right? *wink*

Oohh! This next project I like! *grin* I can see myself doing many more of these to give away, and maybe even to sell! *wink*

Isn’t this tissue box holder so sweet? It did not take me long to make once I got the technique on how to do it. I am definitely making more of these! Any orders? *wink*

I made many pouches to give away, and here are some of what I had made and given away to my nieces and nephews.

The one that says “SARAH” and “FARHAN” went all the way to my niece and nephew in the US,.

This one that says “When we love we grow” went to my niece in Kota Bharu.

ALYYSSA will get hers this coming 19th Decenber, the day of her birthday.

I even made one for my hubby, and this time, it was a request from him. He wanted it to put in all his computer gadgets.

He wanted it to be as simple as possible though. He in fact wanted the motif to be in black, but I managed to convince him otherwise, as I told him that having the motif in black is like having no embroidery at all. He had chosen the motif himself.

I am so happy that he actually asked me to make something for him. *smile*

I love doing these pouches as I get to play around with all the beautiful embroidered patterns available on the internet. I just love playing with all the lovely coloured threads and seeing the patterns come to life!

I feel like I am colouring, but with Em is doing all the hard work! LOL!

This next piece is a must see……*wink*

My sister-in-law, Eina, made a special request to me recently. She had wanted me to cross stitch a nameplate for her 3rd child. I had cross stitched a nameplate for her two older children soon after they were born, but when the 3rd one came along, I had sort of put cross stitching on hold when I went patchwork, and now, embroidery crazy. *grin*

So, when she put in the request to me, I told her that if she wanted it in cross stitch, she might only get it when her son, Akmarul is 20! LOL! So, I asked if she would mind if the name plate is embroidered instead, especially since, at that time, I had just gotten Em, and was looking for an excuse to play with her (Em). LOL! *grin*

She totally bought the idea, and hinted that she might even want me to make another one, God willing, for her unborn child due in March. That way, the two older children wouldn’t feel jealous like Akmarul is being treated special, and Akmarul wouldn’t feel odd at getting something different from the older two children.

I was nervous, however, when I started on this project, it being my first embroidered nameplate, and at that time, I have yet to fully get acquainted with Em. Em had only come home with me for only two weeks then.

I am glad, however, that it turned out well, and my SIL said that Akmarul loves it so much and would keep looking at it and asking her, if that is really his. *smile*

That made all my efforts worthwhile. *smile*

I hope that the next one that I will make will be even better.

Keep a look out for more updates on projects soon! I have more to show!

My new toy!

Heheh…yup! I got a new toy! An embroidery machine! *grin*

She was already mine on Sunday, 25th October, 2009, but, because I had already planned to take leave on Monday, 26th October, to learn how to play with her, I left her in the care of those at Epal.

I also didn’t want to have to leave her in the car if I had carried her home as I needed to make a stopover at Carrefour to get some supplies before heading home. I didn’t want anyone passing by my car to get curious and tempted to take her away from me.

So, the next day, Monday, 26th October, I raced *grin* to Epal very early in the morning! LOL!

I just couldn’t wait to see her again. It was a sleepless night for me that night as I anxiously waited for morning to get acquainted with her! LOL! *wink*

We spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon on the 26th October getting to know each other.

Eric (the sales manager) told me that you are the friendly sort, and I shouldn’t have much problem playing with you.

I sure hope so, but, as I was doing my first project after some test runs, she made some clanking sound and the threads came out uneven. After some investigative searching, the technician found out that some threads had gotten stuck in between the bottom thread dial.

After that was cleaned up, she purred like a kitten! Oohh! I love her! BUT, before my MC6500 and 17 year old Singer gets all upset, I must say that I love all my toys! They all serve a purpose, especially my 17 year old SINGER which has served me well, and I hope to have as many more years playing with it.

Back to my new toy, hmm… shall I give it a name so that I can easily refer to it? How about ‘Em’ for the E on the machine?

It is, after all the JANOME 350e. I can’t call it ‘Janome’ since that is the name I call my MC6500. OK, Em it is…..

Well, on the first day of class that Monday, 26th, I learnt how to sew the embroidered border and how to match them up when doing continuous borders for the Baju Kurung or Kebaya.

It takes a little bit of getting used to to get it right though I did actually get it right on the first try. But I did two more border designs as practice pieces before I could start on the actual project.

My first project was the ‘Thank You’ towel and ‘Happy Birthday’ Towel.

Ooppps! From the photo now my Sister-in-law Eli is going to know what her birthday present for this year is going to be…*wink*

Oh, by coincidence, today is HER BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Eli! This towel will be coming your way hopefully next week if I can get to the post office. In the mean time, I hope you have a great day today! Take care, and hugs!

I gave the ‘Thank You’ towel to my hubby to take to the gym, to thank him for all the support that he has given me, and for never looking down on my hobbies, and encouraging me to venture further to a business level . Love you, Dia!

I came home and played some more, but since I still had very little knowledge on how to operate it fully, I played around with making name tags for my son and labels for my bags.

As it turned out, I had ran out of the tags I had made at the professional embroidery shop, so, it was timely that I had Em.

However, with limited built-in font options in the machine, I couldn’t get the label to look as good as those I had them made at the professional embroidery shop.

After many trial and errors, I finally made the one shown below, which I can say that I am quite happy, but, I still hope to improve on it further.

By the way, look at some of the things that came with the machine!

A container full of yummy and colourful embroidery threads!

I also got 19 project kits and a year of free classes, though I have to first complete a 10 day course on Home Based Business, a module that was offered when you buy the machine. They encourage you to try to make money from the machine. Now isn’t that cool?

I only hope that I can take leave to attend the course, knowing how hectic work at the office can be sometimes. It would be a waste if I don’t take the opportunity to learn the ropes in the business world as I hope to someday venture into some sort of business with my business minded brother, Ayis.

I have not touched Em since Tuesday since I have been coming home late almost every day this week. I was so tired that I have fallen asleep in front of the PC on 3 nights already.

Tonight, though, I am feeling a little better despite being caught up in a bad traffic jam. It must be because I spent the first two hours in front of the TV just sitting and watching TV, and pretty much doing nothing instead of watching while doing some household chores, like I always do.

My hubby said that I must learn how to relax. I told him I don’t like to waste time and prefer to multi task so that more things get done within the same time. But, tonight, I took his advice and just sat and watched, guess what? Sehati Berdansa on Astro Ria and Nur Kasih on TV3! LOL! I must really be tired actually! LOL!

Tomorrow Aiman has replacement class, and as my hubby will be taking him to school, I hope to go for my second class. I can’t wait to learn what more I can do with Em!