The Birth-dazz

The first birthday of the year on my list begins in April and it came last week. From The Heart  is my theme this year for Jess W.

Stitched Design : Love Letters
By : With Thy Needle and Thread

Fabric (?)32ct Stitch ville from my stash

Threads All DMCs

The key :  ??? Can't remember

My entire package included a box, purposely left unfinished,  so that its open to ideas for Jess to finish the box to her heart's desire, its also for me not to spoil the box with mine?  Instead I put into the box some smallies of sewing things ..my way of making up for the nakedness. . . .  that box !

Within days after mailing out Jess's gift, I completed stitching this.

Design name : Alphabet Button Heart

By Ewe & Ewe & Friends

Fabric 32ct Spun Silver - Stitch ville

Threads Originally called for -  DMC 3790

I got an awkward feeling sewing the buttons so I resolved to sewing the buttons in no particular order nor in order as the chart not that the chart provides any markings but rather randomly picking up the buttons from the lot and sewing it on.

Finished into a heart

Backing Fabric : As shown Amy Butler

This is for the next birthday that came only days apart from Jess, its  Barbara J, fondly known as  BJ .

The package that I had put together for her. Now, I would loooooved to see how she finish her box ! LOL This is sure fun! I think I am brilliant in making these two girls work out their gift! Or they gonna kill me the next time we meet! Yucks !! n Shivers! Kidding ? In the box for BJ was a glass bottle with a note, BJ did you read the note?

Its my first attempt putting together a Magnetic Vial for needles. As I wrote to BJ, its a lot of gluing and hoped it will hold for a long time to come. . . . . eternity? maybe not. . . .  .never got the chance to tested it out if its good enough either, coz it went straight into BJ's box. Looks like a letter in a bottle doesn't it? I did put in 3 needles so BJ could get an idea of its use.

Well, that's about a bit of crafting news that ends in April and to begin May with. Thanks everyone who had come by and leaving me your comments and to all who had been on my followers list, I on the other hand haven't been visiting much in return as work hadn't slow down and  I am not feeling myself lately. I shall leave you then with some photos of the Bird from Margaret that I got to play a bit while in the process of taking photos. Actually, I wanted to emphasize its tail  which is beaded.  Pardon my bad photography !

The daylight actually made my camera captured a lighter and brighter fabric color from its original, and its looking a bit lost and lonely maybe? No worries, I'll have it join my Robin.

Happy Crafting !

NNC 5th Anniversary

A belated post about the Needles N Craft 5th Anniversary Meet a week ago, a bit long with photos but I try to be short where I can.

I guessed the most exciting moment at this NNC Anniversary meet was revealing the BIRDS which was the Challenge of the year.  Here's a peek at all the birds that flew in to the meet for the BIRD Challenge. Its a dose of creative inspiration by all participating members, thou there was the initial discontentment and grumbling, because chickens and owls are banned ? So, exchange mommy threaten to disqualify BIRDS and confiscate all that do not meet the criteria, which I think got the creative juices flowing! Its a good thing don't you think ? There was no hard feelings as everyone was pulling at each other's leg actually and the result was these amazing creativity. A reward was given to the best bird err...creator based on votes !

The second was the food, LOL. Just take a look at the simply breathtaking and yummlicious cupcakes by Mel, the hostess this year who had graciously offered her fabulous home for the meet .

Food was potluck and I missed snaps of  foods which was put up  a bit later. Thumps up favourite, The Chocolate Fountain !

Some random snapshots from the meet.

 The Exchange Gifts

 Getting to know you

 Sharing knowledge

 Items for Sale by members

The Exchange
My Yellow Belly Birdie, bird number two, flew home with Bee Ee who drew the bird from this tray

with a number belonging to me.

With that, my package for the NNC Anniversary Gift Exchange automatically goes to Bee Ee. My contents was the Dress and the Pair, read on for the details. I hope she will enjoy using it.

and guessed whose name I drew from the tray of birdies ? Number 9 = Margaret ! I received a fabulous  needle book which also includes wonderful goodies. Like always Margaret's finishing is superb!

 Especially the mattress like pincushion  plus I love her choice of primitive colors and naturally, her loveable bird came home with me.

The dress !
Barbie was pouting because she couldn't fit in . I am not ashamed to admit that it was Barbie, or rather her dresses that gave me this idea. Thanks to Diane who loan me a dress from her Barbies' collection. The first piece was disastrous, I not only need to figured it out how to put it together but also creating the pocket space for the scissor.

I shall just call this the Dress Form Scissor's  Pocket. A  closeup photo so you get an idea of it. I had to work from scratch since I had no template . 

 That's where the pocket is and excuse me for lifting the skirt,LOL, its like a mini skirt  underneath where it holds the scissor inside.

The Pair :
Wild Strawberries Pincushion and Blossom Needlebook
Blossom needle case design adapted from Pretty Little Pincushions design by Angela Bates

which includes the design for the Wild Strawberries pincushion and both goes together.

I came home with an extra bag of door gifts, contents of which was contributed by members, its not  compulsory contribution but contributed from the heart. Much thanks to all who contributed and here's a peek at the wonderful goodies from the bag.

 I must thank Margaret and sister, Jackie for the ride both ways, sorry for the bit of commotion in the car unconsciously causing the navigator, ahem! to lost focus of the road, won't go into the details but I am so sorry ladies....LOL! The wonderful and bubbly hostess, Mel,  for the lovely door gifts not one but three pretty treasures.

and my messy craft basket after weeks of crafting thereafter.

A bake on Thursday nite, Chocolate Walnut Brownies which I cheated with Betty Crocker Brownies Mix.

Thank you all for visiting and much much appreciation for leaving your wonderful comments, must find time to tidy up my basket again and get back to routine, if there ever is one.

The house is going to be quiet this weekend as my chatter box has gone away to camp, but DH is coming home this evening.

Hope you will have a good weekend and happy crafting !

The Challenge and the gifts

Inspired by a little Yellow Belly birdie that occasionally visits my little back lane garden lately  lead me to recreate this birdie for The Needles N Craft 5th Anniversary Bird Challenge.

Wouldn't you agree with me that this is definitely better looking?  LOL, Details of the nest and a little ladybird

How wonderful this could be if only these birds are real and nesting in my garden

I  happen to chance upon this thread cutter some weeks back while I was scouting for some things and thought that it would make a great item to contribute to the goodie bag aka door gift for the Anniversary Meet. I added a pin wheel to my contribution. I dare not dare myself to handmade twenty items even though I had initially thought of stitching up the Emily Rose  needlebook . 

Desperation  eleventh hour project for the Hostess, Mel who had graciously offered her home for this Anniversary Meet because the original one that I had in mind and completed failed on me at the last hour. Its another bird inspired theme CANDLE STAND  which I had got some of my blog readers very curious.

With velvet and felts I made this pincushion. The red Cherries on top are stumpwork cherries sewed on to the velvet pincushion. Here's another view from the side angle.

And I thought that the leg looked a bit plain and thus gave it a bit of a deco with an apple and some twigs and felt leaves. Hope Mel likes it.

More candle holder revealed ~ Mannequin Pincushion, a 2011 design by  Kimberly designs.

It wasn't smooth sailing sewing for me. I couldn't align the shoulders and had a hard time adjusting the neck, then how can I find approximate 2cm Christmas Ball at this time of the year to finish it off ? I practically hunt down (so to speak) a shop selling Malay wedding paraphernalia  and found the flower broach that kinda fit well with this since I do not have any other choice. Then fitting the Mannequin on to the candle stand with the form board base couldn't hold on the stand and I had to abandon two of this.

I substitute the base for my third project with  carpet tile cutting which turned out good. This was meant for  Margaret's new sewing room and home.  Its a belated gift Sorry for the blurry photo, The fabric was chosen to match the gifts of my cartonage box and needlebook that I gave Margaret on  her birthday last year. Actually. I've added some laces to the neck but forgot to snap that finished piece.

The next felt craft, Cornflower cone appliqué pincushion design by Elizabeth Hooper  from Pretty Little Pincushion by Susan Bate was made for Jackie in mind together with the Emily Rose needle book in matching colors

So my long silence from crafting is actually secretly crafting all these with the need to complete in time for handing over to the new owners at the meet.  I will be posting about  the meet and details of the dress soon.

Its gloomy now, thundering too, looks like rain is coming and I will need to get dinner soon, so wish you a pleasant evening and  a Happy Monday !

The fabrics, laces and felts reveal day!

Lets take a look at the peek-a-boo week and the hunting trip posting?  I couldn't reveal the ongoings  then as firstly, it was intended for the Needles n Craft 5th  Anniversary Meet Exchange  and challenge. Secondly, I was  in between of pondering and undecided of what it will be. Then again, there was this challenge, THE BIRD Exchange that was made compulsory by the exchange mom, Margaret. Everyone had to hatch A BIRD as part of the exchange ! yet  OWL and CHICKS are not considered A BIRD ! That was the undisputed rule! The best part was that there was no restrictions on the medium for the bird.

Being fickle minded like always, it took me some days to source for the bird ideas.I was totally clueless, told myself that if I I could not hatch a Bird I will not  sign up, yet I knew that if I ever hatch one,  mine had to be functional for use, like a pincushion or needle book.  Like many times before, I always need to test the waters before embarking for the first time as the end result had to be  almost  good enough if not perfect  to be given away.

I managed to nail down a template by Rebecca Thongkham bird and with  a bit of a modification, I finally hatch my first bird. The first one had to be A ROBIN, and there was this idea of a  nest.

My worry was how to weight the bird down onto its nest or will it hold Robin ?

Robin sat perfectly on a nest of flowers but I feel that a bit more weight would do better and make me feel a bit more comfortable too that it will not tumble. With some remnants felts I sew its edges to replica shreds of dried bark, twigs or rootlets of a nest. The beads and flower beads are actually pin heads. This is only the prototype! A bit cartoon~ish looking ! Come back and see the bird that was submitted for the challenge.

Next , dresses  fit for a princess ? The forefront two pieces was my prototype while the 3rd piece was perfected and deem suitable for the gift exchange, unfortunately Barbie couldn't even fit into it......

A Felted Blossom needle book,  a design by Angela Bate.

More felt needle book adapted from  Emily Rose,  of  Simply Vintage Girl. Again I embellish it my way.

Come back for the preview and details and also on the  Cornflower Felt pincushion and Wild Strawberries pincushion and if you are curious as to what I did with the candle stand.

Its been some productive weeks! Have a good weekend everyone. I had a great day with some wonderful ladies from my local crafting group today. Details will follow soon.

Baby going home to mama

Its the final and the last  round of our LHN/CCN Stitching Needlework RR organized by Margaret W for NNC group and I am  to bid farewell, actually shamefully admit am not only  the last person to complete this round, am also the last person to sent this home to its mama Joanne which is today..

 A preview of Joanne's RR

I stitched  Embroidery Guild for Joanne with some omission from the original design. Its not the initial choice. It was supposed to be Quilt Time but due to my square was short of 5 count in width, the option was either to chop something off from the design or substitute for another chart. A little discussion offlist with Joanne concluded with Embroidery Guild being chosen as the substitute with me given the total decision making from the chart design to DMC substitute thread color choices. Now that's a big hat for me. I hope Joanne you like what I have done for you.

For all the stitching ladies, namely, Diane M (South Carolina, U. S. A), Joanne N (Pahang), JuneT (Petaling Jaya) and Margaret W (Kuala Lumpur). I made each one a little gift,  Thread/Ribbon winder as a token of appreciation for doing the RR with me.

The RR them is LHN/CCN Stitching Needlework at  NNC group organized by Margaret W for year 2011 running through January to October. Here's a sneak preview of all the RRs with the first preview belongs to June's who choose  a nine squares block

So did Diane

Margaret's choice was individual pieces including a name block square which I have omitted here together with one other piece that I could not locate the picture from the group's album.

What a relieved that all is done now. However,  I can't totally breath a sigh of relieve yet, not until I know for sure that Joanne's RR is home safely . Until then, fingers crossed and I shall say a little prayer.

Thank you for coming by and for your wonderful comments in my last post.