My simple tote--Let's go sailing

What I did for the past few months? Well, I had been busy with my work from September till mid Nov. When my holidays started in mid Nov, I went travelling in China with my hubby for 2 weeks. We went to ZhengZhou, LuoYang and Xi'an. It was such a wonderful trip !

After back from China, I spend most of my time on baking, gardening and watching movies as well as reading novels.

Finally before the end of 2011, today I managed to sew a simple tote. lol !

Chinese lunar New Year is just around the corner, I will be very busy in the coming few weeks.

School holidays coming to the end, spring cleaning, baking cookies , sewing new clothes for the coming celebration........Oh, how I wish I could have 48 hours a day ! :P

Thanks for visiting my blog. Wish you lots of laughter and happiness throughout the coming year. HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Peanut shaped pencil case

The paper pattern for this pencil case was given to me by a friend.

She guessed this pattern was created by a Korean , since it is very popular among the Korean handmade lovers.

She told me it is called peanut shaped pencil case in Korea.It does looks like the shape of a peanut shell. I think it also looks like a dainty lady with a small waist as well...,hehehe!

I love the shape of this case , so I give it a try.

Both fabric used are cotton . I love the sweet small floral print fabric .

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weeked!

Happy Chinese New Year ---- drawstring bags and cookies

Happy Chinese New Year to all ! Today is the first day of our Chinese New Year celebration .

I am so lucky because I have nine days Chinese New Year holidays started from 26^th of last month. Besides being busy with my work , I was busy preparing for this festival in the past few weeks too. Spring cleaning, baking , sewing and………., phew ! I am glad all were done and now I am enjoying my New Year celebration.

Of all the traditional Chinese festivals, the Chinese New Year is the most important and grant celebration for the Chinese. It is the time for family reunions, and for visiting friends and relatives. This festival stressed the importance of family ties.

Yesterday we attended a Chinese New year's Eve dinner gathering in my brother's house . Even though my parents had passed away more than twenty years, members of my family would still gather at the old house where we grown up . Every year, we sisters and brothers together with our families gather there for the important family meal on the evening of the New year's Eve. It was among the most important family occasions of the year.

This year I was able to make some drawstring bags as little gifts for girls.

I used patchwork style cotton fabric for making these bags. The inner lining fabric is satin. Since all the bags are made from the same fabric, so I did some embroidery work to make sure each girl would be able to identify her own bag. You know, so many of them gathering together in our old house, playing, talking and giggling around, their belongings will definitely misplace and mix up.

Red packet with money is put inside each of the bags and given to my lovely nieces yesterday . They were happy to get their bags respectively.

For your information, red packets are actually small red envelopes, printed with greeting and best wishes wording. During Chinese New Year, red packets will be given to children, unmarried adults or elders with money inside them.

For this celebration, I managed to bake more than 40 tubs of cookies .These cookies are prepared for our relatives. I only have time to make five different types, i.e. pineapple nastar rolls, cashew nut cookies, chocolate almond cookies, butter cookies and semperit butter fingers. Besides sewing, I actually enjoy cooking and baking too. How I wish I could have more time to bake more variety of cookies .

Well. I have to stop here because my hubby is waiting for me. We are going to visit his uncle who stay nearby.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a happy and enjoyable week !

I am back

I was too busy with my work for the past few months and could not spare time on blogging.

Heavy workload sometimes really drives me crazy. Luckily my passion for sewing always helps to erase the stress and tension that exist in my life. I found myself living in peace and content as long as I can sit down to sew , may it be just a few stiches.

I did not come out with much stuffs for the past few months, but every small project or stuff make me smile.

coasters

batik dress

patchwork zipper pouch

crocheted rug rag

floral blouse

denim box pouch

apple coasters

strawberry coasters

" gardening " zipper pouch

" embroided scissors " pincushion

I will not stop sewing. I will only post if I am free. :)

Three denim pencil cases

I made three pencil cases this morning, recycled from an old denim skirt of my sister. These are handmade little gifts for my students.

Hope you have a Happy Sunday !

Another patchwork zipper pouch

Inspired by Red Penguin , I made a patchwork zipper pouch last month . Yesterday I made another one , measuring 6.5 " x  4 ".

My friend saw my cell phone case and told me she likes the fabrics I used . I made this pouch as a gift for her, using the same fabrics . I am sure she will be happy to have it . :)

Patchwork pencil case

The size of this  patchwork pencil case is 8.5" x 3.5". I made it a couple of weeks  back. It is a gift for a Malay teenager.

Patchwork cell phone case

I never buy any cell phone. The cell phone I used is an old  phone of my hubby.Sometimes my hubby insisted that I must carry it along when I go out .You know, I do believe in the  hazard of cell phone use. I always try my very best to reduce my cell phone use or turn it off when not in use.

I made a patchwork cell phone case for my old cell phone yesterday. I sewed a zipper for this case.

Pull the zipper open and put my phone inside.

Now pull the zipper again to close it up.

The cell phone is inside the padded case now , hope it can help to  reduce a bit of the radiation. :)

The lining of the inner part

It is fun to make this little case. I really enjoyed sewing  it ! :)

Polka dots pencil case

I made this pencil case ( measuring 7.5 " x 3.5" ) for a 13 years old Malay girl. She is a well-behaved and  hardworking student of mine. Just hope she will like to use it.

The other side of the pencil case.

I use pink colour polka dots fabric for the lining.

The three roses are cut from this cotton fabric given to me by my fourth sister .

Little house drawstring bag

Yesterday  afternoon , I made a small drawstring bag with batting . My hubby thought  it is  for  holding a cell phone, but it is not. It is quite small, only measuring  5 " x 2.75 ".

I made this small bag for holding my thread clipper. The dark blue fabric is medium weight linen cotton blend . The inner lining fabric is white and dark green gingham check flannel. I simply used some different colour cotton fabric to cut out a little house pattern for the machine applique` . The applique` turned out quite cute. I love this  little house on  the green ground with cloud above !

I have been using this thread clipper  for more than 20 years ! This 4 inches long thread clipper was imported from China . It is a bit rusty now, but the blades of this handy tool are still very sharp. I used to do some stitching work whenever I have long distance travelling. Now with this little bag, I can always keep my thread clipper as well as other small sewing notions such as  seam ripper and small scissor inside my handbag for convinence. :)