5 weeks’ worth of Fabric Stash Summary. This post is FULL of fabric goodness. If you are on a fabric diet, look away now

I ordered more fabrics from my favorite local fabric sellers again in May. Unfortunately, when they came through the door, I hardly had time to go through them. Today, I took some time to get them out of the bags to breathe some fresh air and of course, to take the pictures.

All Stars by Riley Blake

Lantern Bloom by Laura Gunn

Poppy by Lara Gunn

Dots by Paula Prass

Daisy Chain by Amy Butler

Michael Miller & Robert Kaufman

Cherish was kind enough to help include a special order for RK’s essex linen which I’m in love with. They are little trickier to handle, compared to 100% cotton, but easier (and cheaper!) than 100% linen. They are almost impossible to find locally and I would buy in bulk from the U.S. when we do a shopping spree online :p

Fat Quarter Bundle - 3 little bears

Fat Quarter Bundle - Mingle

Collect 'em all!

221 colours...

Cherish also helped me to source this colour chart as I’m deciding on stocking up on my Solids. Gosh… I absolutely adore EVERY colour!

As for what went OUT:

A few more custom-order crayon wallets

Fabric wrap for Benji’s friend’s 3rd birthday.

A few Matryoshka doll appliqued totes

Weeks 8, 9, 10, 11, 12: 24 May - 20 June

In: 126 yds (Ooops!)

Out: 2 yds

YTD total:
Purchased: 176 yds
Busted: 17.75 yds
net: -158.25 yds

Besides the usual work and family matters, we took off for a short get-away at Cameron Highlands and KL in Malaysia for about a week. It was a great road trip with friends and it felt like an extended playdate for our kids!

Hopefully I can get back into the sewing swing of things this week.

Tags: Fabrics, family, Moopie Fabrics, Needle and Thread, online shopping
Posted in Crayon Wallet, Fabrics, Kids, Sewing, Stash Report | No Comments »

The headlines in today’s papers caught my attention. The was my exact sentiment as I put away my son’s gift wrapping, the boxes/plastics that the toys are clothes were packaged in and also the left-over Christmas pastries in the pantry. It is really scary reading how much waste (esp. food waste) is generated in this festive period.

Over at our household, we are also trying to cut down the volume of trash that gets dumped in our garbage bins. We try to repair, reuse, recycle as much as we possibly can. One ‘green’ item is my fav re-usable bag: the Ikea Big Blue Bag:

image from ikea.com

We always have a couple of these bags in our car. They are great for carrying grocery, esp. the heavy bottles, or cartons, etc that the normal plastic bags can’t hold anyway. These bags are strong and easy to clean out. Best of all, they are guaranteed for life!

This year, I didn’t spend a single cent on gift wrapping paper either. All my gift items are either packaged in my Midnight craft sandwich baggies (made from recycled paper), tied with baker’s twine or with cute piece of decor tape. For bulkier items, I made gift bags and tried my hand at furoshiki wrapping too.

Handmade drawstring gift bags

1 yard of Ikea fabric, wave-cut, rubber bands at both ends & finished with ribbons

Furoshiki-style fabric gift wrapping

Fabric gift wraps are absolutely wonderful to make and to use. For the furoshiki wrap, I simply folded the fabrics selvedge to selvedge, right sides together, leaving a small gap to turn the wrap around. And I top stitch the square fabric and closed the gap. It was perfect for Baby Elliot’s soft book.

Tags: fabric gift wrapping, Fabrics, family, green living
Posted in Fabrics, Gifting, Sewing | No Comments »

The whole family was taking turns catching the cold/flu/sinus bugs. I had no bandwidth to craft, sew, or take any photos. The only thing that kept me sane was the occasional sale and convos from the Etsy shop. Hopefully, I’ll have more to share in Nov!

This Halloween, we were invited to a friend’s place for dinner and trick & treating around their neighborhood. The weather was DREARY. It rained and rained and stormed some more. But after dinner, the rain let up some and we brought the kids out for some spooky fun!

Talk about last minute ‘inspiration’, I whipped up this outfit from 12-1am Friday night. I don’t have any solid black fabric for the zig zag and had to make-do by using the reverse of a black fabric that has some grey swirls on the front. I used Therm O Web’s Strong No Sew fusible webbing and ironed the zig zag straight unto the T-shirt. Not a stitch sewn!

Forward looking: I ordered a WHOLE bunch of delicious baker’s twine (in various colours!) for the holiday season and I’ve been prepping them for a secret project. More about that later!

Tags: Fabrics, family, halloween, t-shirt
Posted in Kids | No Comments »

I’m especially heartened to receive emails and convos (through my Etsy shop) in the past few weeks. Some wanted to know where they can get quilting fabrics, supplies, workshops, etc in Singapore. Some people wrote asking for custom crayon wallets and also custom sewing for Teacher’s Day and Children’s Day celebrations.

I’ve also received some requests for custom quilt jobs. Now, making a quilt, a crib sized or full sized one, requires a lot of commitment, resources and attention. The 1st request for a few baby quilts was turned down because I knew I could not commit to that kind of quantity and timeline. But a week back, I received a convo from a nice lady who wanted a special quilt for a special guy friend. I initially said no, but she said that she would be happy with a lap sized, and simple pattern… how could I say NO to such an earnest request? So, I said yes and offered a price which she accepted. And I started hunting for patterns suitable for a guy, pulling out fabrics that are not too ‘girlish’, and in the process I really had fun. ALL because I was thinking how this would be a gift from such a sweet girl to a special friend. Well, since then I have not heard from the lady and it is a little disappointing to say the least. But this has sort of strengthened my resolve that quilting is reserved for special people in MY life. Until I have the bandwidth, skill and stash, then I can consider making quilt for cash.

Label of love

I mentioned I won’t post any pictures of the completed Mish Mash Moo quilt… but I just can’t resist adding this here

Tags: Crayon Wallet, family, Mish Mash Moo quilt
Posted in Gifting | 2 Comments »

Welcome to my NEW blog :> 

Looks pretty, doesn’t it? The new look, the move and the shop set-up all came together rather quickly - almost ‘inspired’, I’d say. It all started when my friend asked if I could whip up a baby quilt for her new baby. Of course I can! Being the generous soul that she is, she wouldn’t accept it for free, but I can’t (and won’t) charge for the quilt either! So, it is ‘butter-trading’ time! 

I asked Mama G to help with the blog’s and my Etsy store’s banners design in return for the baby quilt then. She came back with the cutest ideas and there was no turning back. The whole episode turned into a full-blown identity/branding exercise, which took us less than a week to complete: The new domain name, store, avatars, banners, blog page, migration of the blog, etc. This is how far I’ve come since the day of my 1st entry on blogspot.com. And this big move would not have been possible without my tech-guru-hubby and the super-talented Mama G.

THANK YOU!

Well, some renovation dust still lingers - I’m trying my best to clean up the alignment issues that cropped up during the move. But I’m not going to get caught up with the legacy issues… there’s so much more to do, and to talk about! 

Tags: blog, family, friends
Posted in Gifting, Kids | 1 Comment »