Pink Pouch from Zarina!

I received this so very cute pouch from a good stitching friend, Zarina, when I met up with her and her hubby for breakfast a few weeks back, during one of her trips to KL.

I just love the fabric, inside out! 

And, the fact that it is PINK makes it even more adorable! LOL!

Thanks, Ina!

You just gave me an idea what to make as gifts!

It does not look too difficult to make. 

Maybe I can get them done in a jiffy...if I can find time to try making it, that is.... *grin*

Zippered pouch by Uniquely Aznique!

Need a pouch for all those little things you carry around? 

Need a quick gift that is small and cute but can pack in a lot of small items that is absolutely necessary to carry with you? 

Why not buy a pouch specially made by Uniquely Aznique! 

Check out our collection at

http://uniquelyaznique.blogspot.com/2014/09/zippered-pouch.html

Uniquely Aznique making a comeback!

I have been extremely busy since the start of the new year, both at the office front and at home with my craft projects under the Uniquely Aznique label.

Ever since the start of this year, I set myself a target to try to use up as much of my stash as possible and to try to make as many items as possible, either to give away as gifts or to sell under the Uniquely Aznique label.

I think it’s time my stash works for me to bring in some extra cash. *grin* 

I think I will be needing a lot of extra cash come the end of the year when a certain purchase we made, God willing, materializes, at the end of the year.

So, this year, I set about making as many Little Missy handbags as possible as my time would permit, at the same time having so much fun playing with the colourful fabrics I had accumulated over the years and coordinating them to get just that right combination.

I finally put up my first Little Missy up for sale on the 4^th of March 2014.

Guess what? 

It was snapped up within hours of being put up! Wow! I am ecstatic to say the least! LOL!

To add to my excitement, my friends from school started making orders for my personalised embroidered towels and pouches! 

Talk about taking the right step at the right time! LOL!

Syukur alhamdullilah!

The last 2 months was also my busiest time at the office front, coming home late on most days. So I ended up staying up late almost every night fulfilling the orders.

I am not complaining, of course. I enjoyed staying up working on the orders, and getting reacquainted with Em (my embroidery machine, to those who doesn't know that I call her Em) after ignoring her for almost a year!

On Friday, 21^st March, I delivered, well, ok, my friend, Lela, picked up her order for 2 sets of towels containing a bath towel, hand towel and face towel in purple, and 2 single orders of bath towels in blue.

I did not get a chance to personally meet up with Lela to know if she likes my choice of design, *wink*, but she did say that her boys like them. *smile*

The following weekend, I spent fulfilling another personalised embroidered towel order for 2 bath towels in blue and a single order for a bath towel in pink.

I really enjoyed doing the embroidery works for the blue sets of towels as I really like this maritime design of an anchor and a compass. I just love the colours!

They were delivered the end of the week that I finished the order, just as requested by Aini, a friend from school.

I hope Aini will like them as much as I had enjoyed embroidering them.

My next order was for two cosmetic pouches.

Nora had ordered the pouches with personalised embroidery.

I made the pouch a little bigger than the pouch I made before shown at my blog, because I thought that a bigger pouch would be better to put in make-up as some make-up items might be taller and bigger. 

The original size of my pouch is 3 ½” x 3 ½” x 7”.  This new one is approximately 5” x 5” x 8”.

I hope Nora likes them.

Just as I was about to mail out the pouches to her, she made an order for 2 towels.

Thanks, Nora, for your second order. :)

Thanks to Aini and Lela too for your orders! 

More Little Missies will be posted here soon. 

I am just looking for the time to photograph them in good natural lighting.

Do visit again soon.

Like magic!

My mum bought a video camera recently when she was here in Kuala Lumpur. She came over to my house to spend the night, and while here, my brother asked if I could make a small pouch for the new video camera for mum as the camera bag that came with it was too big, and he can’t imagine having mum to carry it around.

When my brother first asked me to make the pouch, I drew a blank but in my head, I was trying to figure out what kind of pouch would best suit the cute little camera.

I had to stop the design process and imagining in my head when we went out for dinner to celebrate my son’s 12th birthday, but the minute we walked back into the house after dinner, and my brother asked again about the pouch, I thought I saw a light bulb in my head! LOL! I was like doing a magic trick of sorts by pulling a rabbit out of a hat, only it wasn’t a rabbit that I pulled out, but a pouch out of my bag of pouches which I had recently made for the NNC Anniversary Meet.

As if like the pouch was meant to be made for the camera, the pouch I had in hand fitted the video camera perfectly like a glove!

How cool is that? LOL!

The pouch measures approximately 6 ½ x 4 ½ inches. I think the size is just nice to fit into a handbag, and can also be used as a mini purse or handphone wallet.

The pouch is available for order at my blogshop , but you can also order them here too. It can be customized to include a monogram or with your name or the name of the person you want to gift the pouch to at an additional cost, as can be seen in the picture below with Usha's name.

Chicken Rice and a pouch finally completed!

OK, that title sounds confusing, right? LOL! *wink*

Actually, this posting is way overdue. In fact, I have quite a number of overdue postings, but I will still eventually put it up as my blog is a record of things my family and I do for the benefit of my son to read in years to come and for my long distance family and friends who keeps in touch with me through my blog.

Anyway, back to this current posting, my niece, Kuya, who is currently studying at HELP Institute, spent the last weekend of the fasting month with us.

It’s been a long time since I last cooked any decent meal at home as I have been coming home late almost every day and weekends are filled up with other commitments. So, that weekend, since my niece was around to help out, I decided to cook Nasi Ayam (Chicken Rice) for Berbuka (Iftar).

I had forgotten how to make the chillie sauce that usually accompanies the chicken rice, but, with my niece’s help, our chillie sauce turned out great! It was delicious!

Instead of frying the chicken, we decided to make it hainanese style by baking/grilling the chicken, but I cooked it for too long that it almost got the chicken burnt and we were left with very little gravy to pour over our rice. But, none the less, the chicken tasted great!

I forgot one major dish though. I forgot the soup! *blush*

Overall, the dinner was great! Well, at least my hubby, son and niece appreciated my cooking! *smile*

Earlier on in the day, my niece sat down with me to complete her pouch which she started with me some 8 months ago when she last visited me during the last December school holidays.

It’s finally completed, though with her name spelt wrong. *sigh*

Not my fault, actually. She herself forgot how her name was spelt!

Can you imagine? LOL! *grin* Trust my niece to forget how to spell her own name! LOL!

A great time playing together – Me, Ma and M (Em)!

If my son sees the heading, he would get all excited. He is always excited when things rhyme, I don’t know why. He has a fascination for anything that rhymes and could go on and on to try to make things rhyme! LOL!

Well, this doesn’t actually rhyme, but, it can still get him all excited by the fact that it sounds almost similar! LOL!

Ok, I am digressing again even before I could even start on this posting! LOL! *blush* So typical of me, huh? *grin*

Anyway, my mum stayed with me 2 weekends ago, from the 19th to the 21st of December, 2009 . She came home with me after the Kenduri Doa Selamat at my MIL’s place.

It turned out to be a very busy and hectic weekend as I wanted to re-learn how to make the Kuzi, a dish I grew up with as my grandma loves making Kuzi Kambing.

So, the second day that my mum was here, we had Kuzi Ayam for lunch.

We also had Acar Timun, which I forgot to peel off the skin, though! LOL! But, I had washed it thoroughly! LOL! *grin*

My mum also made sambal cili. My mum makes the best sambal cili in town!

My mum also made Nasi Minyak to go with the Kuzi, Acar Timun and the Sambal Cili. It was one of the best home cooked meal I have eaten in weeks!

I still have the sambal cili and the Kuzi, but minus the chicken. I have put it in the freezer, and hope to buy more chicken pieces and recook the gravy with the chicken as I still can’t seem to get enough of the Kuzi yet! LOL!

I even dip bread in the Kuzi for breakfast and it is so yummy! Even my hubby and son loves it!

While my mum was here, I also felt like making `claypot’ chicken rice for dinner, but minus the claypot. I replaced it with Corel instead as I did not have any claypot in the house.

Maybe I should get one since I love making claypot chicken rice?

Well, I have not made it (chicken rice) in ages. But, with my mum here, I was inspired to cook it again. I served it with some fried veggies.

I was also busy frosting the Carrot Cake while my mum was here, on Sunday, 20th December, as a neighbour’s friend ordered two for a Christmas Party. I had baked the cake the day before.

But, what I spent time most while my mum was here was playing with Em, making things for my mum. She was fascinated by the machine as she kept telling me how she had learnt the embroidery by hand in her younger days. Wow! I salute my mum for her patience!

I was, of course, excited to show my mum on how the machine works, and so decided to make something for her.

My mum chose the design and the colours for the design, and I made it into a pouch for her. She also decided on the wording for the other side of the pouch.

She is now happily using the pouch to carry all her daily medicines. I feel so proud to be able to make something for my mum that she is happy to use. *smile*

Just before my brother picked her up on Monday night to spend the night at his house, I managed to embroider her a pocket which she said that she wants to make them into a pocket for her praying mat bag which she hopes to go home and make using the notes she got from me which I learnt at Epal.

Good luck, Ma, and have fun!

Thanks for staying with us! Thanks for teaching me the Kuzi again, and the sambal cili. But, sorry about the unpeeled acar timun though! *grin*

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!