Zakka Style Sewing Kits

I was thrilled when my copy of Sewn by Hand by Susan Wasinger, i (heart) patchwork and Zakka Style by Rashida Cole-Hale books arrived in the mail recently.  These books are fabulous - full of small cute, fun sewing projects and the instructions given were clear! 

After browsing through them, I've decided to make a sewing kit as my first project from the Zakka Style book. 

I've made one for Haslina as a birthday gift.   I've used Robert Kaufman's Essex Linen in Sand for the cover and pockets and Natalie Lymer's Woodland Neighbors in Grey print for the lining :

I've enjoyed making it so much that I made another for Nordzie using Essex Linen in Jungle and AMH's Summer Totem in Tart print :

another for Nahar using Essex Linen in Dusty Pink and Joel Dewberry's Dogwood Bloom in Berry print :

and another for Kak Dah - Essex Linen in Sand and Alexander Henry's Starling In Pink print :

then another one for Zila - Essex Linen in Jungle and Amy Butler's Disco Flower in Tangerine print :

Reason why I couldn't stop at just one  was simply because my friends at my small quilt group has birthdays just a week or two apart from each other, so I thought I'd just sew up for all of them at once! hahaha  

I've made a double fold binding for the ties instead of leather strings suggested in the book and used several stamps, lace trimming and buttons to personalise the gifts.  This is a quick and easy project to make up and they were such a pleasure to sew.

I made one for myself too... I've used Echino Fall 2011 Forest Patchwork in Multi print for the cover and pockets and Kona Solid in Grey for the lining.

Can't wait to pass these prezzies to my friends at our next 'Pieceful Ladies Quilt Group' meet!

Happy Sewing Everyone!

May 2012 Giveaway Winners are ...

Thank you to all 148 of you who participated in this giveaway!   I love reading the best handmade gifts received by all of you.  Thanks again for making my giveaway a success!   It was fun and may become a frequent thing on my blog... whoot!  Your comments were so appreciative and encouraging... 

For the draw, I've separated the names according to the 2 colours preferred - red / blue, thus I couldn't use the random number generator.  So, I did the old fashion way... cut the comments up, dig deep and pick a winner for each colour choice!

The winners of the Japanese Knot Bags for Sew Mama Sew's May 2012 Giveaway Day are....

Amy Butler's Wine Paradise Garden Japanese Knot Bag :

Sydney Cole

Blue Japanese Print Knot Bag :

Michell

Congratulations Sydney and Michell!  I will get in touch with you via email to get your address and I'll mail the package right out to you.

I had so much fun visiting your blogs ( haven't quite finished visiting all of you yet, but I'm looking forward to it ) you all are a talented bunch!


Have a great weekend everyone!

I'm part of Giveaway Day!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED !

If you are a new reader or my bloggy-friend - Welcome!!!

This is my first giveaway on Giveaway Day, I'll try to keep it short and sweet as I know you have many more blogs to visit.  Initially my giveaway at  Handmade by FarahLin  will be for one winner but thought that it would be more fun to have TWO WINNERS instead, don't you agree?

Here are my humble giveaways :  Two Small Japanese Knot Bags.

I saw the pattern in a magazine and immediately thought of making one for myself but before trying the pattern out I did ask my quilt group friends whether they were interested in making this bag during one of our weekly meets - love our weekly get together  =)   and I was so thrilled when they've said YES!!!  We did have a few err moments trying to piece our bags as the given instructions were unclear but managed to figure them out and they've turned out pretty!  I've made a few eversince - party favors and Teacher's Day gifts. 


The bag is approximately 5 1/2" height without handle and 9" wide.  It will nicely fit your phone, small wallet and keys.  Fill it with your things and push the long handle through the small handle to close!

The one above is made in Amy Butler's Wine Paradise Garden from the Love Collection, lined with Denyse Schmidt's Four Square Piney Woods from the Hope Valley line.

I've used Japanese prints for the one pictured above and the fabrics are 100 % cotton.

All fabrics were pre-washed and they can be washed if they do get dirty.

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment with the best handmade gift you've ever received.  Also include your preferred choice bag - red or blue - one entry per person.  You don't have to follow my blog to enter, but I'd love it if you did anyway...  =)


That's it! Easy Peasy!


The giveaway is open worldwide and I will draw a random name for each bag preference.  The giveaway will close on  Friday, May 25th at 5pm PST / May 26th at 8am ( Malaysia time ).  The winners will be announced on Saturday, May 26th.  Don't forget to make sure I have a way to contact you!  If you are a no-reply commenter or if you don't have a blog, please include your email address in your comment!

Giveaway closed !!!


Good Luck to everyone!

I'll be popping over to Sew Mama Sew's blog to check out all the other giveaways and 'meet' new friends in blogland!

Thanks for sticking with me / visiting my blog!

Giveaway Day Coming Soon!

I will be participating in Sew Mama Sew's biannual Giveaway Day next week!  Starting Monday 21st May at 6 am PST / 9 pm Malaysia time and it will run for 5 days.  There are no words to express how fun this will be.  This is open to all sew/quilting/handmade bloggers everywhere.  You'll be able to find new blogs, support your favourites, meet all kinds of new people and an opportunity to win something fantastic.

I will be giving away one of my handmade bags.  To enter, simply leave a comment on the Giveaway post and you'll be in the running.
The giveaway is open to all and the winner will be announced on May 26th ( US time ).  Good Luck!

Meantime, go check out more details over at Sew Mama Sew and don't forget to check back here May 21st!

My Precious Little Folks Quilt

My Little Folks lap quilt is finally finished!  Thanks to Kelly of KelbySews, the host of My Precious quilt-a-long in encouraging quilters to make something with their precious fabrics instead of hoarding setting them aside.  I am so happy that I took the courage to cut into those precious fabrics by Anna Maria Horner.

Well I guess some of you have heard me rambled on about the piecing bit, but in the end it was sooo worth it.  I pieced the half square triangles with solid white.  I was frustrated a little when the points did not match up.  Voile has the tendency to fray if you have to rip out a seam and that happened to me a few times, but please don't let that discourage you from quilting with the voile. 

There are many beautiful quilts made from it and there were no issues so far.   It's just my lack of experience in making half square triangles and this being my first attempt in making a whole quilt with just HSTs.

The back is pieced with the leftovers from the front.

I've hand quilted using white embroidery floss - stitched 1/4" away from the seam on the white areas only as I wanted to preserve the softness of the fabric.  I bound it in Marine from the pastry line and added a thin strip of scraps placed on the top  right of the quilt.

The lightweight fabric makes it the perfect quilt considering the weather over here and I'm sure I've mentioned before how wonderfully soft they are.  It's machine washable too!  My precious lappy measures 54" x 72".

Over all I LOVE this quilt and can't wait for it to get a bit cooler ( it's been raining alot recently...woohoo ) so I can snuggle under it...

linking up with

Cast a Vote for Baltimore Blues

Over at Quilting Gallery, it's time to vote on Quilts for Mom.   I have entered the Baltimore Blues quilt into their weekly contest and would really appreciate your vote!

This quilt was a gift to my mom for Mother's Day last year.  It's the second Baltimore Album quilt I've made. It measures 60" x 85".  The pattern was purchased from Fat Cat Patterns by Sindy Rodenmeyer. 





Do check out the wonderful quilts submitted over at the Quilting Gallery.   I would love for your vote to be for my Baltimore Blues, but if you find others you like better, I certainly understand.  They are all just gorgeous!  Voting is taking place now through Monday 6pm Eastern. Click HERE to get to Quilting Gallery.

Thanks a bunch!



And to all the lovely moms out there, hope you have a fabulous weekend with your loved ones!

My Precious progress

Half Square Triangle quilt has been on my to do list for awhile and what better way to start making one using one of my 'precious' fabric, Little Folks line from Anna Maria Horner for the quilt along hosted by Kelly at Kelbysews.

I like the pattern on one of Quilt Story's quilts which I thought would be perfect to show off the beautiful warm and rich colour prints of this line.  My HST blocks are slightly smaller than their's, measuring a 4 1/2" finished each and I did a 12 x 16 blocks layout.

Prior to starting this project, I did mention about my worries dealing with voile to the members of the flickr group.  One of them suggested using thangles, a very useful tip, unfortunately, delivery takes approximately 2-3 weeks to reach here and I didn't want to wait as I was really excited on starting immediately!  The next suggestion made was using spray starch, and THAT I do have!   So I've sprayed, ironed and it did help to stiften the light weight fabric a little but it was still slippery to work with.  I've had my share with the seam reaper when I was piecing these blocks, my points didn't match up most of the time!!!  It took me almost a week and a half to get this top done, stopping and putting it aside whenever I got frustrated with it. 

If you have worked with voile before, feel free to leave a comment on how you have pieced yours.  I can't blame the fabrics used though - it is my 'precious' after all, maybe it's just my lack of experience in piecing HSTs...  As frustrating as it was dealing with voile, I simply love the super softness of this fabric and would definitely use it again!

Well anyways... my 'precious' top is finished, it has it's imperfections but I've moved on....  and here is what I've done so far.  I've pieced the backing with scraps I have left from the front. 

I've basted and started on hand quilting using white embroidery floss.  I have not decided on the binding yet, probably I'll play around with whatever I have leftover.

Hope to have a few more pictures soon.

It is still not too late to join in the quilt along. The only rule is to use up your 'precious' fabric, the item you sew is irrelevant ( bag, apron, pillow, quilt, etc ) and the fabrics need not be old, popular, or out of print.  It runs till mid August with prizes to be won every 15th of May, June, July and August.  Click here and it will take you to the Flickr group.

NOTE:  Thank you for all the votes for my quilt over at the Quilting Gallery!  It won 2nd place!  I appreciate all the comments and emails received over the weekend, I'm truly grateful for all your support! xoxo

Thanks for stopping by  =)

Vote for me and Liebster Award

Quilting Gallery is having a weekly themed quilt contest which starts now and the theme for this week is 'applique'.   I have submitted "My First Baltimore Album" quilt which I've blogged about it earlier.  If this is your first visit, you can read about it here.   Voting is taking place now, so please do stop by and check out all the quilts - and if it's not too much to ask, VOTE MINE!   hahaha....               a BIG THANK YOU if you do so, I'm deeply grateful....  =)

Click HERE to get to the voting page, it ends Sunday 11.59pm.

And now for the Liebster Blog Award.  I've been nominated for a Liebster Blog Award again, twice last week, both at separate times!  The lovely Zara @ A Fabric Case and the lovely Marsila @ missionpossible-sahm were the nominators.  I find myself truly, truly touched by their kind words.  Please do check their blog out when you have the time.

So what is the Liebster Blog Award you may ask? I shall tell you!

 The Liebster ( German for favourite ) award is for bloggers with 200 followers or less.  As a recipient of the award, you have the chance to thank and link back to the blogger who gave it to you as well as pass it along to five other deserving blogs.

I now have the privilege (for the second and third time) of selecting ten blogs in return that I think deserve this award.  So here are just ten of my favourite blogs (who also have fewer than 200 followers)!  Each of these blogs are worth a look, enjoy them all and please do leave them a note!  So in no particular order :

Denise at My Life In Quilts

Kati at Kati's Quilting and Sewing

Carol at The Polka Dot Chicken

Kathy at Kathy's Quilting Blog

Molly at Sew Wrong Sew Right

Sharyn at Quilty Pleasures

Kristin at The Crafty Quilter's Closet

Tiffany at Pinks Sweet Treats

Linda at The Quilting Violinist

Krista at Krista Quilts


The acceptance conditions are :

1. Thank your award presenter on your blog and link back to him/her
2. Copy and paste the award to your blog
3. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that you think deserve to be recognised.
4. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

Congratulations to all the recipients and I hope they accept and appreciate their uniqueness and become part of the Family of Recipients.


I'll be linking this post with Sew Many Ways' Find a Friend Friday.

Have a great weekend everyone!