A couple of weeks ago, I had a few quick finishes. I remember being really happy, working on these projects. Because I got bust some Japanese fabrics that I was in danger of hoarding and also trying my 1st bias binding, and my virgin attempt at crafting with the baby strap hardware.

Cot-sized quilt made with ultra-cute Anpan man pre-quilted fabric, hand sewn bias binding

Stroller-sized blankie made with 100% cotton and backed with flannel.

I remember spending quite a bit of $ on ugly binky straps and general straps to tether items near Benji when he was little. So, I whipped up a couple of straps for Baby L that not only function as binky straps, but also as the tether strap for the stroller blankie.

Kawaii fabric tapes (for stroller blankie and binky straps) from Moopie Fabrics.

Tags: binky straps, fabric tapes, Japan
Posted in Books and Patterns, Fabrics, Gifting, Kids, Quilt, Sewing, Star QAL, Stash Report, Tools | No Comments »

Our work loft is a little messy right now… With all the recent buys and also new projects, it is a little hard to keep things neat and tidy.

I started on a new project a couple of days back (yes, yet another queen-sized quilt) and so far, I’ve made quite a good progress (by my standards!). During the process, I took my time to cut some blocks, sew some, iron some, square up some… relishing  each stage of production (read: I get bored easily). So, there are many mini piles of blocks/patches in various states of WIP scattered all over the sewing area and it was tricky moving the blocks/patches from the sewing machine to the ironing board, etc. And today at Daiso, I found the perfect helper!

These trays are like tubs without lids, and yet I’m able to stack them up. PERFECT. The little lids/catches at the sides are not very strong and I doubt they will hold much weight or many trays, but these trays are soooo handy and just what I need to get the little blocks organised for the sewing table/cutting/iron boards.

At SGD$2 a tray, it is really a good buy!

Here’s a sneak peek at what are in the trays right now:

Tags: Daiso, Trays
Posted in Hand Quilting, Kids, Quilt, Sewing, Star QAL, Tools | 2 Comments »

What a week! I am most glad LAST week was over - had my wisdom tooth extracted (ouchie!), rushed Benji to see the doc for his worsening sinus infection (had to wait an hour because we didn’t have an appointment) and worst of all, we had to fire our live-in domestic helper because she was smuggling men into her room in our house, even while we were all at home (that incident was complete with the police arriving at our home in the middle of the night). I’m glad it is over now.

{pull out & retract} x 100

Well, while the babe was recovering from the infection with the help of Indiana Jones movie-marathon, I managed to cut up some precious (read: in my stash for a while) baby panels, backings and also for a custom crib quilt for a friend’s brand new niece.

Fabric OUT
some for baby panel quilt and for custom Baby R Quilt (crib size)

Fabric IN
ZERO (though I ordered more to be delivered soon!)

Sneaky peek of Quilt Back

This came together very quickly (I love making crib-sized quilts! :D) and I’m loving the colours and look. Blue, pink, plum and brown… yummmm….

Fav. part of the quilting process: Binding

Week 2: 12 April - 18 April

In: 0 yds
Out: 4.5 yds

YTD total:
Purchased: 18.59 yds
Busted: 4.75 yds
net: -13.84 yds

Tags: binding clips, crib sized quilt, tape
Posted in Fabrics, Quilt, Sewing, Stash Report, Tools | 1 Comment »

If I get $1 for saying: I’m not going to buy fabrics for the next <insert #> <weeks/month/year>, I’ll probably be able to get myself a new Bernina sewing machine.

It’s silly, but I feel GUILTY each time I checkout a bundle of fabrics at the store. BUT I try to justify the buys for making things for the Etsy shop, for Benji, for the home, etc. Truth is, I should NOT feel bad about fabric shopping since I hardly spend on clothes, fancy restaurants or expensive holidays. Last year, my ‘resolution’ was to start on a NEW project only after I have completed another. That worked pretty alright since I completed a number of old WIPs.

This year, I’m determined to shed the guilt trip, and buy whatever I like and to complete more projects than I ever had. I came across Jaybird’s bog and I’m pretty impressed with the simple way of keeping track of your stash. I’m not going to account for what is ALREADY in the stash, (or what I bought in Japan in Feb!). I will simply start my report in April.

Here goes:

Week 1: 5 April - 12 April

In: 18.59 yds

Out: 0.25 yds

A quick fabric covered push-pin board

YTD total:
Purchased: 18.59 yds
Busted: 0.25 yds
net: -18.34 yds

Tags: Stash Report
Posted in Fabrics, Stash Report, Tools | 1 Comment »

Okay - these items are not really ‘tools’. However they are little-known life-savers for sewers and scrapbookers.

Tame your stash!

Recently, I ordered a bunch of Floss Bobbins and storage cases that come with a bobbin winder to help solve my unruly, tangled mess of embroidery floss from my cross-stitching days.

Why  floss bobbins?

1) Free up your machine bobbins: I transferred the sewing threads from my almost-empty bobbins to these bobbin cards. The threads on the cards will be used for my handsewing projects.

2) Portability: Carrying threads/floss on the bobbin cards is easier, compared to a large spool that tends to roll off my sewing table. I can stuff the card into my sewing box with no problems at all!

3) Organisation: Organising your thread/floss stash is very easy with the cards which you can label. Best of all, you can wrap the ends of the threads around the ‘legs’ of the bobbins and you don’t get unraveled mess of threads in your stash box!

4) Labeling: Half way through a skein of floss, the label bit with the ID number will DEFINITELY fall off and leaving my remaining skein anonymous With these floss bobbins, you label the DIRECTLY on the card. I LOVE THAT!

Here’s a walk-through on how I set-up the winder and got flossing! But the winder is NOT a requirement. You can always wind the thread/floss by hand.

1,000 pcs of plastic floss bobbins

Set up the winder unto the case.

Insert the winder on the ONE side of the case WITH the DIVIDER.

With the empty bobbin, insert side with the hole into the slot of the winder

Match up the hole in the bobbin with the hole in the winder.

Insert the little plastic pin into the hole.

Wind one end of the floss through one 'leg' of the bobbin.

Crank winder, filling bobbin with floss. When you reach the end, wrap the end bit around the leg of the bobbin.

Posted in Tools | 2 Comments »

Yes, I do love my Olfa rulers, cutters, blades and mats. Quilting can be an expensive hobby, and Rotary cutting is ONE BIG CULPRIT - the cutting tools burnt a huge hole right through my pocket when I first started sewing and when I purchased them from the local quilt shops.

Nowadays, I help my friends get their cutters, rulers, mats and blades direct from a local distributor, rather than the quilt shops that put a high mark-up on the prices, or suffer the price fluctuations (depending on luck!) on eBay.

Pinking Cutter - SGD$21.50

Wave Cutter - SGD$21.50

45mm Deluxe Rotary Cutter - SGD$26.80

I have since put up the supplies at my Etsy store, selling at more down-to-earth prices (if not lower) so that we can help each other stretch our dollars a little bit more. The items in my store are the ‘extras’ that I have to put through to make minimum order amount to the distributor.

For rulers and mats, I can only take on local orders (and I ship free locally!) because of the high cost and fragile nature of the mats/rulers shipping overseas.

Any questions on rotary cutting and the tools, please send them my way!

Posted in Sewing, Shop, Tools | No Comments »

I love Shopping, I love Tools… I guess that’s why I love quilting I guess you can get away with very basic tools, but why not make the process more enjoyable with all these lovely gadgets?

I wanna start this new series ‘Tools of the Trade’ because there are so much to share. I have accumulated a number of nifty tools and some are useful, some are just plain waste of $.

To kick off, I’m going share something that has come in SO useful for squaring up the blocks for my mish-mash-m00 quilt.

Easy Square Jr.

I bought this online after I decided to join in the fun at Bonnie’s Double Delight quilt-along. This tool is great for squaring up your blocks. It has a 1/4″ line all around, and the diagonals are great for matching up your ’square-in-square’ block like the ones in Bonnie’s DD quilt.

How is it useful? Well, when you work with Half square triangles like what I’m doing for the mish-mash-moo quilt, the ruler helps me to square up the block. When I work with HST blocks, I prefer to cut the pieces a little bigger so that I have more run to trim it down to the correct size.

Here’s the block before squaring up. Currently about 4 5/8″ square.

Line up the diagonal on the RULER with the diagonal on the SEAM of the block. And then line up the left and bottom sides of the block to slightly beyond the 4 1/2″ markings on the ruler.

This will allow the block to be squared up on the top and right sides of the square.

Rotate the block 180 degrees and line up the sides right on the 4 1/2″ markings on the ruler. Trim the right and top sides of the block.

There you have it! A bunch of 41/2″ squares trimmed quickly and accurately!

Tags: Ruler, Tools of the Trade
Posted in Sewing, Tools | No Comments »

So, we hope that the crayons/play doh will leave many creative marks for their parents to capture for a long time to come!

Posted in Gifting, Kids, Paper, Tools | 1 Comment »

Posted in Fabrics, Sewing, Tools | 2 Comments »

Heat & Bond No Sew fusible web - I was thinking of making some ‘iron-ons’ for friends who don’t sew. This is perfect for such ‘painless’ projects.

Posted in Gifting, Quilt, Sewing, Tools | 4 Comments »