September Run Through

Opps! I didn’t again. I missed out on my blog post for the whole September. OK, lets see if I can round up my activities in a single entry.

Heat Transfer Material

I found a t’shirt supplier online that also provided heat transfer materials. They cater for the custom design t’shirt makers I think but they also accept small orders from the likes of me. So I got some t’shirts for the kids and myself and personalised them.

Danial loves his Star Wars storm trooper Elite Squad t'shirt

Arwen loves her Frozen’s Elsa t’shirt too

 Baby Announcement Pillows

I still make them. There’s a bunch of them delivered to the respective owners. Thank you for your support. I hope you love receiving the pillows as much as I love making them for you. Here’s one that I made recently. You can check out the others in my instagram: @madebyrozirahman.

 Dar Salam’ s To Know Malaysia Exhibition

This happened on the first of September. Arwen is representing the state of Melaka. I cannot make her nyonya kebaya and the ones I found online is ridiculously expensive. So,  we settled for the traditional baju kurung. I love the cheerful and bright floral motive and the contrast of her orange sarung, don’t you?

 School Merdeka Celebration.

Everybody was supposed to wear a traditional costume. Arwen’s baju raya isn’t quite traditional so I had to whip something up only after I made her a baju kurung. This time we went for baju kurung kedah. I obviously I messed up some measurement, it came out slim fitting. The sarung is from her baju raya peplum.

DIY Laminated Fabric

I bought Legacy’s Vinyl Fuse Matte during one of Spotlight’s storewide sale and got it for 40% less. I’ve always wanted to make my own laminated fabric because one, the ready ones are expensive and two, I’m limited to the designs the store has. It isn’t too difficult to make your own laminated fabric; just follow the instructions and you can make your own. I made a simple wristlet purse from one of my earlier stash of Woodland Creatures.

My First Lace Shawl

I’ve always shy away from knitting lace as I’m a sanguine when it comes to crafting. You need to be someone rather Phelgmatic and Melancholic to actually be able to follow the pattern religiously. But then, I get bored easily if it’s all knit or all purl or occasionally ribbing, (that’s the problem with a Sanguine) so I challenge myself to make my first lace shawl.

I got the free pattern from Ravelry. It’s called ASHTON Shawlette. I could have made it with one ball of sock yarn but I made an extra row of the pattern and I had to get another ball of yarn. I was careful to use lifeline and had to frog my work several times too. Thank God for lifelines!

Air Dry Succulent

Always a sucker to pick up a new craft, I went for an air dry succulent workshop conducted by Schila Iskandar, a fellow ACG member. I love it! No issue of my plant dying if I forget to water them.

After call, I bought all the materials needed for more succulents and I made some more. For the next few days I was in succulent heaven :)

Heat Transfer Vinyl

After the successful trial and error experiment with printable heat transfer material, I ordered some heat transfer vinyl. Danial needs a new bag for school so I thought I’d give a try and make his backpack. I duplicated the storm trooper design I did for his t’shirt and cut it out with my Silhouette Portrait. I added Danial’s name for the bag. Long story short, he absolutely love it!

Spotted in Cameron Highlands 

Wedding Gifts

School breaks are peak season for weddings. We had two wedding reception invitation. My go to wedding gift is embroidered couple’s towels. 

Henna Art Workshop 

Idayu, whom I know from a planner group on Facebook and Instagram is an expert henna artist and when she announced that she’d be doing a basic workshop for henna, I quickly contacted her and signed up. I was the eldest in the group when we had the workshop but one with zero knowledge! Luckily, Dayu really went down to basics and 101 of henna art from the way to roll the cello to how to draw the henna design. 

She gave each participants 2 cones of natural henna and I put them to good use and guess who is my canvas? I love the smell of natural henna and nowadays the henna artists would add essential oils into the henna mix. I love the ones Dayu made where she mixed lavendar essential oil into it. Arwen loves it too. It became a therapy for both Arwen and me. I doodle at least once a week when the henna stain clears up on my hand or Arwen. I’d do a new design.

Arwen’s 3 Way Bag

OK, last but not least for the month of September. Arwen wanted another bag too after seeing how Danial loves his backpack. So I took out my old Cath Kidston stash and made her a 3 way bag. It has 2 handles which she can carry like a tote and the long strap can be attached as a crossbody bag or a backpack.

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.... 

Aidiladha Project, A Diaper Caddy, Laminated Cloth Project and Azrai’s Birthday

The title is so lengthy... That’s because I’m dumping a whole lot of news in a single posting. There’s actually more but I got lost half way so I decided to stick with what I already have. OK, here goes...

Aidiladha Project
I made a maxi dress for Arwen and a simple tunic for Danial. They’re inspired by Charlie’s Tunic by Made by Rae.

I have more pictures of Hari Raya Aidiladha but I’m keeping that for something special. There’s going to be a giveaway soon :)

A Diaper Caddy

This is a WIP. I need to put in the separators and a base for this. Isn’t it cute?

Laminated Cloth Project

I found laminated cloth nextdoor to Epal Training Centre, Puchong and was over the moon!!!! I went in after sending my machine of 7 years for some TLC last week. (which reminds me, they haven’t call me yet. It shouldn’t take so long!) Since we’re going for a short break to the seaside soon, I thought I make myself a bag. I have my heart set on the bucket bag pattern because I read somewhere that it’s best to use a simple pattern for laminated fabric. I used cotton webbing for the trimmings and handles and lined my bag with batting. One reason, I need the padding in case I decide to throw in my camera in the bag. I also added a key tab for a phase 2 of this bag. So, it’s still a WIP. Just that I get to use it already tonight when we went out for dinner and took Danial for his school consert rehearsal. 

Azrai’s Birthday

Saving the best for last, today, Friday, November 11, 2011 (11.11.11), Azrai celebrates his 43rd birthday. I made this video for him as a birthday present.

Other things in store

I’m going to have a free giveaway soon! Stay tuned for the announcement.