~ t w i s t e d ~ a n g e l ~

I have no one to blame but myself on the lack of update. I don’t think I want to write about my everyday routine here, otherwise you don’t mind reading the same thing over and over again.

Aaaanyhooo.. I think I want to see if I can commit to something on this blog. Since I’m about to move to my own house soon, (which now I’m already used referring to ‘our house’ instead of ‘my house’ with my better half), I’m planning to have it documented here. So you will get to know the progress from a very basic condo (I bought it new from developer) until, well, it becomes a home.

As a start, I consider this condo as my second ‘grown-up’ purchase, after the car (I bought my first cosmetic when I was 13, so that’s not grown-up purchase). I bought it late 2007 and early this month, I received the letter informing the house is ready. I have to tell you, we were over the moon

We already set an appointment with the developer for key collection and house inspection tomorrow, and we both applied for leave from work for this.

Please do not expect a snappy magic of the progress, due to our decision to involve loads of personal touch to our house, this might take a while. Which ever that can be done ourselves, will be done ourselves in stages. Both of us are into making things, and this will help with our financial too, owning a home does not come cheap.

There are progress bars on the side and I categorized it into house sections, so we can keep track of the progress.

Here are some pictures I could share, I already sew the dining table cloth (and another one soon). I also painted the dining table (chairs) white. I thought I could complete painting the dining table set (chairs and table) in one weekend, boy I was wrong. We only complete the chairs this weekend. Primed in one day, painted in one day. It didn’t help that this process can only be done during the day when sun is bright.

I bought this red checkered cloth in Bangkok during my trip in July 2009. Had the white ric-rac sewn around so it doesn’t look that plain. Table mats are from Daiso.

I got myself this dining table from IKEA when I moved into this apartment I’m renting, it’s an INGO dining table that came in plain wood color. Then I purchased the plain wood color STEFAN dining chairs to complete the set (I couldn’t find the plain wood color in IKEA website). Now they are white!

New tag added - our crib. So stay tuned!

It’s been awhile since I posted my card work. Here’s one I did for Aidilfitri 1429H.

I hope it’s not too late to wish all my friends and readers Eid Mubarak, please forgive me for any wrongdoings, intentional or unintentional. My humblest apology for my shortcomings.

My raya this year was slightly different. We have Haiqall around

The sewing training center gave me a RM500 Janome voucher for my birthday. This voucher only valids for sewing machine purchases (any Janome model). Since I’m not around and definitely won’t be spending for another sewing machine, I’d like to give this voucher to anyone who wish to buy a Janome sewing machine. I’m giving this out for free and if you’re a serious buyer, kindly leave a comment or contact me at laydiefa[at]silent-echo[dot]org. Closing date is 29th August 2008.

I’m using Janome model Harmony 2049. I’m not sure if this the most basic that Epal (Janome’s sole distributor in Malaysia) brought in, but this model is what i saw people always buy. This is how my Sabrina looks like:

Here are the features and free gifts you will get with Janome sewing machine.

I wish i can explain it simpler, but i think i like this machine a lot there’s so much I can talk about it

Main functions:
- 22 sewing patterns including: jahit tepi, jahit lurus, button sewing, embroidery (without using the embroidery sewing frame), one step button hole sewing, zipper sewing, and jahit sembat. - can sew on thick fabric like leather and jeans.
- can sew on elastic fabric.

Features:
- double sewing (double sewing needle given for free)
- adjustable sewing size (broad and narrow sewing pattern)
- adjustable distance in between sewing pattern.
- sewing light
- thread cutter
- reverse sewing
- removable free arm.
- sewing plate with scale.

Suitable for:
- quilting
- clothing
- seni tampal
- patchwork
- embroidery
- house interior decoration
- craft

The price of this machine is now RM2499, and it comes with the following package:
1. Sewing machine Janome Harmony 2049
2. Free 1 year sewing course, 24 projects (you can choose which one you want to do)
3. Magic Kit - 15 extra sewing foot (this is really worth it, when I bought, the Magic Kit was not included in the promotion, but now i’m saving my money to get it.. and it’s close to rm400)
4. Reference book set - Fabric Art; 26 projects (this one also I didn’t get, but I saw them already. Really informative)

I received two awards from Debbie and Tini, for Brillante and Kreativ awards respectively. I just looked up in the dictionary and found out ‘brilliante’ means shining very bright. Auwww. I’m not sure if I deserve such honor, because if I compare what I did to what they did, I’m very far behind. But with these awards I hope I go seriously crafting instead of seriously craft shopping.

I hope they both don’t mind if I combined the awards together so it becomes Brillante + Kreativ Awards.

1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 5 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

1. Julia Honeyshakes.
- if you think creative only means crafting, think again. Julia Honeyshakes is the girl who designed her own blog and icons. Crafting doesn’t necessarily means doing scrapbook, beading or cards, but when you can pull out a blog as good as her, you’re a star. By the way, she is creative with food too. You should see how she did her bentos.

2. Tizzalicious
- creative, having fun and making money out of it? Tizzalicious is the girl!

3. Soule Mama
- Amanda has my dream job. SAHM + crafter. If you’re the kind of SAHM (if you’re not familiar with this term, SAHM means Stay At Home Mother or what our older generations called housewife) who keep telling me that you don’t have time to do your hobbies (funny how you could follow endless soaps), read Soule Mama’s blog. She’s a wife, with 3 kids and a bun in the oven, who spent her days crafting and do fun stuff with her kids. And wrote a book while at that. I’m green with envy.

4. Making It Lovely.
I got myself hooked with Nicole Balch blog’s when I started looking for interior design ideas. She documented the progress of her house renovation and beautification of interior and exterior on the blog. One word; impressive.

5. Willow & Paisley.
If you think my cards are cute, wait till you see hers. Just the way I like it, clean and simple, yet stunning.

My exchange partner, Margaret Wong already received my parcel to her. So here’s what I did on my piece. I wanted to get away from cross-stitch, but I haven’t master the skill of crochet. Since I had few fabric scraps from my recent project, I decided to overcome my fear of machine stitching small pieces of fabrics.

I cut 1 inch x 1 inch pieces of fabrics, attached them together, added another piece for the back and filled it up with polyfil. I made small daisies using the beads, which by the way do they look like one? Because I don’t think so, but the tutorial says it’s daisy. Anyways, I digress.

I attached the heart to the piece with a velcro. I wanted to heart to pop out. I also made a simple card for her, written:

Dear MW,

My heart pops out for U!

Yeah it rhymes!

I participated in one of activity craft yahoogroups that I joined, it was called Creative Exchange. It was my first time and initially, I wasn’t quite sure whether I fitted in and at par with the rest of them members. You should see what they’ve been making. They are really good.

Basically we need to prepare a 7″ x 7″ fabric, make 1 inch border, embellish it anyway we want, but inside the 5″ square there must be a heart made from any material or heart-shaped thing.

We were given one and half months to complete it and courier it to the assigned recipient. Anyways, we would not get to exchange with the same partner. In other words, we would send our piece to a member and would receive from another different member. I love surprises!

I just received my exchange last Friday. And it happened that my sender is the (the one and only, somebody please correct me) male member of the group. Paul gave me a heart he cross-stitched with strands and beads. It was lovely and his work was so neat! Included in the package are more cross-stitch strands, iron-on patches and butterfly stickers.

I’d like to share what I did on my piece, but my partner has not receive it yet. It won’t be a surprise if I put it here tonight. Maybe tomorrow after she received it. Come and check again this space!

Here’s the thing. I never thought I’d completed this piece in the first place. Reason being, it’s my first time, and it’s big, nope, make it huge. It’s almost as tall as me.

I thought my progress was slow, at times I felt like I was really tired and it was going nowhere. But the more I did, I got more enthusiasm to finish it. The patchwork consisted of 620 pieces of fabric, not including the borders, which added up to 8 other pieces of fabric.

I learnt quite a lot of technique, glad I took this project for my sewing classes. And I could never did this with my mom’s sewing machine. I love my Sabrina! Tell me if you want to get one of this marvellous Janome machine too!

I was err.. comot, so no face please.

This is how it looks up close.

So there, my first piece of wall decoration for my own home. Soon.

I’m a brand new aunt.

Well, he’s actually 3 weeks early (his dad - my brother, was 2 weeks early). I already saved up my annual leave to be in JB in middle of July. But that little fella just being smart and tricked everyone , oh by the way, his head was not even engaged last week, and decided to make everyone went lunatic when he wanted to come out and decided to see the world on Saturday noon.

My parents just came back from 12 days trip on Friday night, so imagine how hectic we were after my brother called on Saturday morning, imagine a house full with laundry and the packing for the trip there. My parents supposed to be in JB next week and accompany my sister-in-law until the delivery and her confinement. They went off right after lunch.

I hope my sister-in-law will enjoy her confinement because with my mother, there’s no such thing as ‘confinement’ .. heheee.. so syiok. All my mom asked is NEVER to visit the baby and the mother after dawn. That’s it. No cannot eat this, cannot eat that. No must wear this, must not wear that. Pardon my insensivity, but I just found it’s miserable with capital M.

So Muhammad Izrael Haiqall, welcome to the family!! You’ll love us definitely. We are the funniest family on earth so far (because I haven’t found any family at par with ours :P), so please expect a noisy house at all times. We love animals, we have cats, fish and.. and.. of course we love food. We love trips to nowhere. We love fishing. Your Tok Ayah has a boat and three modest properties along the coastline. And another one next to a downstream complete with a small jetty. Everyone in the family follows sports (badminton, soccer, F1, golf) except me. I was not bombarded for not being one, so it’s okay if you don’t want. Your dad might entice you to become Manchester United fan, but err, that one you have to deal with your father lah.

You are the first grandchild on our side, and first grandson on your maternal side. So please expect exclusive attention and getting showered with gifts and what nots. Because I, was the first child, grandchild and great-grandchild, I’ve been through all that too. Hohoho.. But please keep your feet on the ground, because the youngsters along the family line will envy you for the fact that you’re given responsibilities and trusts earlier than you expected. Haih.. Maybe I should save the last part for another 7 years lah. First child syndrome skejap.

Another thing to note is, our family NEVER practise gender discrimination. That means, either girl/boy, men/women has EQUAL opportunity and right of opinion. We are not like some families who give extra attention or special treatment just because you were born with a birdie. In our family, the boys also cook, do laundry and wash their own dishes, and the girls also go fishing and camping. Everybody does the same thing. Paham dak?

Aku ni pun, budak tu baru keluar dah garang². Kesian. :p

Here’s Haiqall few hours after popping out. His eyes are so round! Sorry for the picture quality. MMS-ed by an excited first time grandfather.

I haven’t decided what he should be calling me. I’m thinking in between ‘Tante’ (aunt in German, I think Indo too) or ‘Tia’ (aunt in Italian). He’ll be calling my sisters Cik Yin & Cik Yang (Yin & Yang???), my another brother Uncle Adik (double ???). And for my mother, we’re still deciding in between ‘Lola’ (grandmother in Tagalog) or ‘Nonna’ (in Italian).

Hehe gedik.

Lucky my mom, the quilt she made for her first grandchild completed just in time. This blanket was handstitched. Each pieces of it. All. The. Way. Gigih okay. *I’m not worthy*

The tag I made in like, 5 minutes? Everything was express.

I’m driving down to JB this weekend. Will stay there for a week or so. It’s been years since I drove alone on a long trip. Maybe I should think of what motherly-perasan-penuh-feeling-keibuan picture poses I can do with my nephew in the future to beat the driving boredom (personal joke with Lucy, hehe).

So this is what I’ve been doing in between life and ‘baby project’.

Collect GSC The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian shotglasses. One more to go and I’ll have the complete set. Hurrah!

My little sisters came for sleepover and before they went home, I asked them to choose one fabric that they like from my collection. Then I sew them one scrunchy each from the fabric that they have chosen, plus one for their mom.

I did couple of pin cushions. My mom wanted the same as what I sew in class, so I made her the pink one. Then suddenly I also wanted the same :P. I made myself the green/black pin-cushion. Pictured here with my Clover Quilting Fine Needles. It’s so fine it went through sewing machine needle. It’s a sewing notion made by the genius. Love it!

I’m doing patchwork. It’s a wall decoration patchwork. Only about 40% done. That’s 31 patchwork per piece. And I already done 10 pieces only, shades of red and green. Another 10 to go, this time in shade of pink and blue. It’s pretty time consuming but this is one of the thing I can do for hours without getting boring. And I love the spiral shades of colors too. So what the heck. 310 patches to go. Gambatte!!

Goodness.. Look at the mess.

Each of this piece has 31 patches.

The best thing about buying Janome sewing machine is I get 1 year free sewing class. Each month they will sell around two sewing tutorials together with materials and instruction. I can choose to do which one I like, and I’m free to go to the class whenever I wanted, and they are open on weekend too. Tell me if you’re thinking of getting one of this splendid machine, email me at laydiefa[at]silent-echo[dot]org.

I hope my next few entries will reveal what ‘major’ thing I’m currently working on. Can’t wait to share already.

This is another project I did during my sick leave. It finished within a day, but I only managed to put the finishing touch last night after I got myself a bottle of fabric glue for the butterfly patch.

This is the sketch book I’m using to sketch (duuhh?) and draw or jot down any ideas I get for my craft. I bought two of these sketch books and gave one for *The Boyfriend* for his birthday. Love love love the paper, it doesn’t bleed.

I combined two fabrics for the cover, and glued an iron-on butterfly on it. I always have a thing for stuff with butterflies, and ribbons :D. I’ve choosen to glue instead of ironing the patch because from my experience with iron-on, they fell off easily after a few wash. And finally I glued a pair of eyes on the butterfly.

Me love me sketch book!!

The original sketch book.

Fitted with a cover.

Beware, I’m writing with half-opened eyes. Please expect lots of typo and grammatical error.

I think many would agree with me looking a gift for a guy is not easy. This year for his birthday, I decided to get *The Boyfriend* something he couldn’t get anywhere else. I bought him a sketch book (the nicest paper material I ever found) and sew a book cover.

It’s not just another book cover, because I backstitched a “logo” on it.

Nyehehehee.. Sumpah tak jumpa kat kedai!

This is my first card using sewing machine stitches. You can see my hand-stitches on previous cards here and here. I just want to know how would Sabrina fare on paper. Everything looks good and I use the same tension as I did fabric.

Word ‘you’ is written freehand (my printer is running out of toner). I think I should’ve wrote that slightly bigger, because it looked sunk next to the big heart.