Random: mature

It is amazing how a child mature through schooling and experiencing differences in life. It is amazing to see how Stella stays with her commitment today, although the process was frustrated. Every day, I watch this child of mine mature in behavior and in thoughts. Each day, I try to capture her changes...

When Stella was 5, I taught her how to use the sewing machine. The interest didn't stay very long! She is the kind of child who is all about books, drawings and playing music. Sometimes, if I work on a same sewing project for a few days she might wanted to know what am I doing. Just curious why it takes so long and how will to look like.  Since we moved two years ago, she never asked if she can sew with me. As a mama I am sad and disappointed. I wish we could sew together again and share some of my fabric with her! I dreamt about someday she brings me to a fabric store and share a fat quarter bundle with me or get some fabric for me.  Does that sound crazy? I would like to introduce some of the sewing fun with her!

Today she asked, if she can sew with me? I was dancing in my head! Quickly I pulled out another sewing machine from the storage room for her and she threaded it herself. She picked out 9 different prints and wanted to make a little quilt for KiKi. A simple and easy nine patch block is perfect for her to start! It took her a few hours to get the line straight and a few times to ripped the seam off ! She was frustrated and wanted to give up! I asked her if she'd rather sew on my machine? She sat on my chair and set the speed down to 1/2 and slowly making the patch. The mini quilt is not perfectly made, but truly it is her very first quilt!   When she has it made I saw a big smile on her face and quickly she asked me if she can stamp KiKi's name. She pulled out the stamping box and did all the final touch work for KiKi.  KiKi was resting in her new quilt this afternoon. S really had good time making this mini quilt today! I knew that I probably need to get a proper sewing machine for her, since the one she was using is misbehaving itself lately. There are hopes that she will ask to sew with me again. {I crossed my fingers and toes!}

It takes time to let my little bean to sprout. It is hard not to wish the little bean grows faster and stronger, but yet at the same time hope the little bean grows slower and enjoy all the fun time. I am grateful to see the maturity in her each day,week, month. Soon she will sprout on her own and I shall be.... ready!

xxC

Random: Distraction

Summer break gives us excuses for everything! From late bedtime to long sewing hours and more! I don't see the excuses ended until school starts again. Before summer break started I made plans for S and she is running  her summer daily schedule nicely, but have missed a few things... sometimes she gets *distracted* if there's something in her mind that she must DO.. 

Our friend in town has gone for summer vacation and we are cat/ house sitting for her! It has been fun for S and myself!!The friend has a great garden and tons veggies are available to pick and she asked me to pick anything that's ready to be pick or they will go waste! Fresh lettuces for dinner? Fresh herbs for cooking? Nothing better than fresh veggies from the garden. Her cat- Shony is a lovely cat!! He is a cute/ gentle cat!! Stella has asked if I could made a fishy for Shony last couple of days.  Of course, I said yes! But while in the middle of sewing and everything else, I replied later. later, later...  Today she asked me again and again and I got distracted by her asking the same questions over and over.  I stopped everything that I was doing then went look for fabrics to make a fishy. I found the last piece of patchwork piece that I made last then turn it into a cat toy!! S was happy and play with it after I finished it! When she hung the fishy on her neck I though that was just too cute on her!! I think I could make a little puppy for her to play for the summer. 

Are you having hard time to fix dinner meals during the summer time? I do! I am having terrible time making summer supper here! The weather is not good for a pot of  hot soup or any heavy dishes! Sandwiches were good for a few lunch meals then it gets old on the menu. Salad never gets old on me, but not for S! While making the patchwork sampler. I can't stop thinking what to make for lunch and dinner! I boiled half doze of egg today then save them back to the same egg container, but added { ready to eat}note. Hoping S might be interest in the hard boiled eggs?? 

The patchwork sampler is coming! I made 7 alphabets today and also did more math on the piece. I think it is a bit overwhelm to look at these numbers together. I keep a graphic paper book for many years now. I always put down idea of blocks/ quilts on this book. It is great of keep information on one book. As I look back in 2007, the quilt designs that I attempted were very traditional. The fabric colors schemes also have changed one me.

As you have noticed , lately I have been making patchwork zippered pouches for families and friends, but myself. I though I'd take a few hours in the afternoon and make myself a new zippered pouch! I was under estimated the time that I needed. I redo the binding and zipper twice before I was happy with the outcome. After I finished this zippered pouch was already late!

It is a semi-distracted day here...Now I am sitting here and writing this post and review my day. I think I  had many projects accomplished! I was happy to get  S' fishy done for Shony today. She liked the hard boiled egg and hope she will keep like them. Made 7 blocks and cut down and label all the squares I need for the patchwork sampler. Best of all, I finish a little zippered pouch for myself!  I shall cross out my title Distraction to Satisfactions!

xxC

Patchwork sampler

It is cloudy this morning and finally is cool off a little. I pulled out these retro prints yesterday afternoon. It was fun to go through drawers and change ideas. Here are total of 26 prints for the little sampler that I have in mind. I cut them into 1.5" squares and sore in color orders.  It might rather be a quick project since it is all squares base!


The little package we sent has arrived to my family. Mom loves the patchwork zippered pouch that I sent and my sister actually likes the one I sent to mom  as well. So that added back on more patchwork zippered pouches to make on my { to do} list. The scarfs are both love by them as well!!


Another full day of sewing here and bike riding as well!!


xxC

Randome: Sew. Fabric. Fun

Summer break result lots fun time here and there. I whipped up this zippered pouch this morning for Stella. Since it is for her to store her things { can you imaging anything from rocks to tiny papers that she saves??}, I asked if she'd like to have her name on the pouch! She stamped on the sewing trim with her name and I sew it inside the lining. She was happy to have her name in this pouch!

I though I'd put a little width on the base this time, so that would create more room to store anything that's thicker in sizes.  These are the patchwork pieces that left from the messenger bag I made for her last week. She was a little disappointed the little deer print didn't make it into the messenger bag.

This side of the pouch has my favorite color scheme put together. I love how tiny these umbrellas are! Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt is just wonderful for any patchwork making.

For the zipper,  I used the metal zippered as always! It is sturdy and great of patchwork style bags and pouches!!

Lately, I have spend more time on flickr and viewing amazing works by talented people!  I wasinspired by Jeannie's  Sizzix Die Cut Tags. Instead the Sizzix Die Cut machine I used a pair of scissors that comes with large teeth { I got it from Michael a few years ago}. I used the heating bone as Jeannie suggested and press linen on both side of the fabric. I used the fabric ink for the stamping and go over with iron to make it permanent. If you are getting ink for fabric, make sure there are two different types. One is for normal stamping one is for fabric. These handmade tags are going to be great for swaps and gifts to friends!

My second fabric Swap with Paula aka paulapatchwork. She spoiled me with these 30's prints and some hard to find fabric!! I love how tiny these tea cups are and the abc print is just adorable! I am a lucky person to receive these yummy prints! Thank you, Paula! xxx

Another busy day ...

xxC

Update: quarter inch mark shop

I have been working on these charm packs for awhile now!  I have added some of fun fabrics in each charm pack, so each charm pack is different. They are all designer prints and Japanese prints put together.  It is great for make a summer patchwork quilt for little boys or little girls or yourself.  For any beginning quilters it is great to start out simple patchwork making. If you make a patchwork quilt from this charm pack. It will be 36"x45".

You will need other supplies for making a baby quilt:
1 and 1/4 yard of backing
1 and 1/3 yard of batting
5 strips of 2.5" width for the binding.
It is also great for making patchwork totes/ placemat/ zakka making for your home! It is $8.50 per a charm pack and have listed in the shop! You will be able to see what prints comes with the charm pack on the second image of the listing.

Destash: 
As you know that I have been reorganizing my sewing space and went through my stashes lately. I am ready to apart these Heather Ross' Medocino fabric. I have not listed in my shop. If you are interested you can email/ leave a comment and we can work through paypal with payments.  I have also listed some more destash prints today! You will see more destash coming this summer as I have been more interested in retro and small prints lately. Storage space is limited in our 640 square feet apartment and we sure need a little room for other things.

Here are the prices for each print and shipping costs. Any prints that's not sold will go to my etsy and will sold as one listing and will not sold in separated print.

 print #        price                             U.S. shipping      World Wide shipping
1. 21"x28"   $ 6.50                            $ 1.80                 $ 3.00   {sold}
2.16"x44"    $ 18.00                          $ 2.50                 $ 3.75
3. 18"x44" {1/2 yard}  $ 20.00         $ 2.75                  $ 3.75
4. 18"x44" {1/2 yard}  $ 20.00         $ 2.75                  $3.75
5. 34"x44"   $ 28                               $ 3.50                 $4.25
6. 15"x44"   $ 17.00                          $2.50                  $ 3.75
7. 16"x44"   $ 17.00                         $ 2.50                  $3.75

I'd be happy to make a combine shipping for you if you purchase more than one print and will refund you any additional shipping cost after shipping via paypal.

xxC

Random: Quilt for J

The weekend surely went fast and productive! Finished the quilt for J and bound another two quilts. We enjoyed bike rides as the weather was beautiful through out the weekend and best of all we grill out with friends! Play games and Stella worn out when we got home!! I spent the night bound quilts and getting some new ideas.  So something new for me! I wondered how many of you sign your quilts or label your quilts? There was only one quilt that I embroidered with my hand writing on  for Stella's quilt. After that I don't bother to sign/label quilts I made. However, a few weeks ago I was inspired by Alicia's quilt when I visited her blog. Her simple cross stitch on the quilt was just eye catchy and blended well with the quilt. 

I have some graphic paper fabric I got two years ago. It is prefect to start out the cross stitch. This is also my very first cross stitch try out! I never done this before,but I really love how simple to follow the small graphic boxes and count the boxes in between. Made a few mistakes, but it turns out better than I think . Here I cross stitch J's name, month and year, and made by C & S.

I don't have any cross stitch fonts in my computer, so I went research and look for the font. Here is the one and this one I found. You can simply download the font then drag it into your font folder in the computer.  It gives the quilt a handmade look and special touch with the receiver's name and giver's name/initials.

Do you like sandwiching your quilt? After many times of pressing I got all seams open up and ready for batting to go on top!

 How about sitting on quilt safety pins?

After pinning and trim off the extra batting it is ready to be quilted!

It took roughly about 4 hours straight on the same chair and two movies.  The quilting pattern is really simple. I use the loops in lines for this quilt! I have been using overall free motion quilting { puzzles, loops allover, straight lines}. This time was simplify.  I plan on print out some process images and make them into a book/album for her as well. Hope it will be extra special for her.

 I like how the pink and green work together! I think it is romantic combination!

 I hope she will love it!

Do you like hand-binding? Again my favorite part of quilting process. It takes another few hours to bind and I like to made sure each part is working well.  I used leftover fabric and made scrap binding.

 Backing is simple! I picked out my favorite prints. The labels became part of the backing.. {BIG}

This is the first quilt I made within a month. Thank to the summer break, so I can concentrate on making this quilt happen and bring it to her soon!

 Hope after a gentle wash the pencil marks will disappear! I plan on to sign my quilts now on and use the cross stitch method. There are many quilts that I made and don't remember when I made them.  Blog helps me to recall when I started making them or finishing them, but there's no actual information on the quilts. I like how this quilt signature turns out and I know in the year to come. J and I will remember when I made this quilt and we will be able to talk about it......

xxC

Random: improvment

 Check out the dresser! It turns out really nice!! After lots sanding and staining! The top three drawers' handles were broken, so replaced them with metal handles which turn out classical! After I took it home yesterday afternoon. I found far right bottom drawer isn't fit in, so well! I plan on sanding down the sides next week, maybe that will give it a little more room to fit in.  Can you see the far right top dresser with a little white dot ?? When I was drilling holes yesterday morning, I missed the space between two handle holes by one inch!! I was screaming inside of my head { completed think I was out of my mind}.  My friend helped me by filled it in with wood filling. It will take another day or two to let it settle then I will use small brush to stain on.  Also making a small quilt top for this dresser is on the { to-do} list now.

I had hard time to decided which handle to pick out when I was in the hardware store! The other ones are fancier in style, but this shape seem catch my eyes first. It is also great to pull out the drawers.

Now! Some of the fabric is out from the plastic boxes! I just need to remember where I put everything now! Still room for other fabric, but I was tired and ready a break last night! So far so good!

 The middle drawers are smaller, so this is where I store fat quarters. I like to put them in the {line set} instead of sorting them by colors. It is easier for me to find particular fabric when I am looking for one!

 The backing for birthday quilt has arrived yesterday! I ordered Gypsy from Amy Butler's first fabric line. So lovely in color and texture!! I see a busy weekend ahead of me! As some of you might know that I have been playing free motion lately! A big quilt really helps free motion improvement! I need to look for a simple quilting pattern for this quilt.
 

 I need to revisit my Farmer's Wife Sample blocks soon! I am half way through!  Are you playing this,too??

 The leftover patchwork piecing from S' messenger bag. I am making it into a zippered pouch to match her bag.  Thank you for join the flickr group. You have made your own patchwork style!! I love how color schemes in each individual's taste/style are different. I also love seeing your scraps becoming treasures!

Stella finished her drawing now! My job is getting them embroidered! Mini quilt project that we do during the summertime. Each year, the drawings are more detail and interesting! I love how how she humanized some of the drawings... strawberry girls! Can you tell?

xxC