Let the pictures do the talking

I bought some jute twine from Daiso recently and tried to knit it into a basket. This is my WIP:

Some times earlier this week, I sidetracked and made scrappy keychains. I found a tutorial here and made my own versions. I like the circle ones but my circles didn’t come quite as cute as I wanted them to be so I stick to squares and rectangles. 

My first prototype

The approved version

This is me going overboard!

I also bathe my cutting mat for the first time upon reading that my OLFA mat loves moisture. Here’s the link. It’s not my say so. I don’t have a bath tub but I managed just the same. It’s true, My mat loves it. It does feel more supple :) Try it yourself. 

I’m clearing up my stuff too (in my never ending to bring order in my sewing room) and decided to sell off my old fixed circular needles and straight needles. As to this point, my circular needles are all sold off and I have a few more straight needles selling at RM8.00 a pair. 

I’m letting go of my older needles as I’m making room for my new KnitPro Symfonie Interchangeable Deluxe set :)

And I made two version of Avabags using laminated fabric that I bought from IKEA. The one in front is the original version with cotton webbing handles. I padded the lining with 160gm fiber batting. It gives the bag a nice shape. The one at the back is more of a tote size Avabag which I increased 30% from the original template. I made the handles longer. Loving both of them. You can see them making their debut at the next craft market at JayaONE, this coming Saturday, 17 December 2011.

We are going to attend a wedding reception the evening of 17 December 2011. It’s my brother inlaw’s wedding recaption and the theme colour is grey. I decided to knit Arwen a top because I have some leftover Rowan Milk Cotton in Humbug. I used the pattern: Eastern Promises from the magazine Get Knitted which I recently bought at RM19.90. It has 70 patterns. What a deal. This project was super fast. I made it in 24 hours!

Here’s Arwen modeling it for me with the help of Danial with his bubble gun. I planned to have it paired with a puffy skirt. I’m making a short sleeve shirt for Danial with the same material. The only problem is I don’t have anything to wear.

 I finally got my business cards printed professionally by a fellow facebooker who owns a printing company. It’s a great deal. RM33 for 3 boxes. The best deal in the whole of Klang Valley! Fast service too. I got it in a week after confirming the design and made the payment. Thanks Kak Zamara Buang of RedBlack Art Studio.

I made my card plain because I wanted to personalize it with my scraps. Tested and I’m quite happy with my ver 2.0 of fabric bizcard. The ver 1.0 is here.

And I still have loads to do.... 

Ava Bags - All Five of Them

 Made these Ava Bags for Siti Hajjar. She gave me two weeks’ lead time. I lost one week due to the viral and bacterial fever. I spent the whole of this week on these beauties. Taking it slow and steady as part of my recovery process. I cut and prepare no 1,2 and 3 on Tuesday. Made the bodies on Wednesday, Prepared and attached the handles on Thursday. Cut and prepare no 4 and 5 on the same day (Thursday). Didn’t touch them at all on Friday as I had to go to Toyota to take back my care after the windscreen replacement and sent the kids to my mom’s for the night and went to the insurance company to submit my claim. Went for a movie with hubby dearie to celebrate our night’s away from the kids. I finished it early this morning with Azrai’s help and sent it to Hartamas after our brunch. 

Thank you Hajjar for your business. It was really therapeutic for me...

A Birthday Present for A Special Friend

I have a date with a bunch of girlfriends tomorrow morning for brunch and it will definitely stretch out to, who knows. One of them is celebrating her birthday this month so I thought I could make a bag for her. I’ve been using a lot of Gypsy Paisley in White from the Gypsy Bandana Collection by Pillow & Maxfield and I just love it. I looked around for a bag pattern not too difficult to make in a short period of time and decided to make the Ava Bag, a Tanya Whelan of Grand Revival Design. I’ve had this pattern for over a year and made one bag for my mom last year for mother’s day.

I love the fact that it’s reversible and mix and match it with Patty Young’s Zen Garden in Pear from the Sanctuary Collection. It’s not my neatest of work but given the time constraints, I’m quite pleased with the outcome. I just hope that Birthday Girl is equally happy with this little gift.

To make it interesting, I’ve spread out the contrasting fabrics that I used for the background of the picture. You can see the crease in the first picture :P

To my dearest friend, Nazlina Noordin,

I’m wishing you another year
Of laughter, joy and fun,
Surprises, love and happiness,
And when your birthday’s done,

I hope you feel deep in your heart,
As your birthdays come and go,
How very much you mean to me,
More than you can know.

By the way, these fabrics are available for sale at lilarwen.blogspot.com if you’re interested :)

My giveaway prize is here!

I was surprised to see Poslaju notice pasted on my front door when I got back from Bangi. I wasn’t expecting any packages. Then, I remembered, “Hey! I won Zura’s birthday giveaway. That could be it”. So I called up the postoffice to see if the postman has sent the package back to the office so I can go pick it up. The package is there and Arwen is still asleep in the car so I reversed the car and shoot to Poslaju office.

Alhamdulillah, memang rezeki to win this giveaway because I’ve been a fan of Tanya Whelan’s Ava Bag. I’ve even got the pattern. However, making the bag with other fabric didn’t do it justice. Maybe I’ll use one of these to make another Ava Bag for myself... hmmm...

Thanks again Zura for the lovely prize. That’s the easiest giveaway I’ve ever entered and the first too.

My first Ava Bag

Not exactly the first. My first attempt at the Ava Bag was with heavy cotton because I thought I’d get away with no interfacing. The body came out OK but I got stuck with doing the handles. I tried the thick, curved handles and ended up having to undo the stitches for the umpteenth time, I gave up.

I’m not happy when things don’t turn out as planned. As soon as Azrai came home from work, I went into my sewing room and start cutting my fabric for the bag. This time, I used the normal medium weight cotton from my stash. I just bought some medium weight interface from Karysma in Bangi. Azrai saw the determined look in my eye and knew that it’s wise to let me be and he took care of the kids.

This time, I made it with the thin trim handle instead of the thick curved one. Not one of my best work but I  made it!