#Janestrike

Ladies,

On Monday, unhappy with the situation at home, mainly a dirty flat, lots of undone housework and the constant need to nag anyone to do anything, I made a plan to go on strike. My plans were as follows:

1. Write a blog post announcing my intention to strike. (this is to cover my ass as I GAVE NOTICE)
2. Leave housework undone.
3. Laze around all day, eat snacks, drink tea and watch TV. (I know some people are going to say: Isn't that what you do all day anyway? So, shaddup already.)
4. Do this until all my demands are met.
5. My demands are as follows:
- a 5-day work week
- a constant supply of bananas for my morning breakfast of crunchy peanut-butter and bananas sandwich
- a foot massage
.........

Well, I was in the middle of drawing up my demand list when something happened. First of all, a bunch of DVDs placed on top of a cupboard fell on my head and arm. (My head is now 1/4 larger) Son was very sympathetic (well, I was bawling my eyes out - DVDs freaking hurt!) and gave me his best chocolates. He said I would feel better. Later hubs gave me a back massage and that put me into the best sleep I've ever had. Then something so shocking happened. I heard the sound of cutlery and dishes being washed in the kitchen sink. Could it be? No! Why, yes! My girl actually washed the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink without anyone (mainly me) asking her.

So I called off the strike. After all, I do have a pretty good life. And a dirty home and undone housework are not the worst things to deal with.

* * *

 

On strike

Although I called off my strike, a strike did take place in Singapore.  On Monday, 102 SMRT bus drivers from China refused to show up for work. They were unhappy with their pay and living conditions. On Tuesday, the strike carried on but only with 88 protesters.

At first it was very confusing mainly because Singapore has not had a strike in 26 years. Later it became very weird because the "strike" was called a protest/wage dispute/sit-in even though every one can clearly see it is a strike. Finally, someone from the government came out to say, it is a strike. Which was a relief because couples (okay, just me and hubs) were feuding over the labeling.

On Wednesday, the strike ended.

Today, 4 of the instigators were charged in court. You see, they forgot to give SMRT 14 days notice of their strike. If you provide essential service like public transport, you must abide by the 14 days notice rule or you will be breaking a criminal law.

I expect some ugliness to come out of the 4 men being charged. Hope it doesn't get so ugly to the point where I fear buying food from a worker from China. (I will have to cook and eat the food I cooked which could be worse!)

This strike has in a way educated me somewhat. I've always had the impression that all strikes are illegal in Singapore. Apparently strikes are legal if they follow rules stipulated in the Trade Unions Act and Trade Disputes Act. Ha ha. I think that answers my question.

Edit 2 Dec 2012:
 1 more bus driver will be charged in court on Monday.
29 bus drivers were repatriated back to China today.
The remaining bus drivers were allowed to continue working for SMRT.

I can't help but feel sad how a pay dispute handled badly by SMRT ended this way. Hopefully, the 5 arrested bus drivers will be shown some mercy.

My one thousandth project

People in my monitor,

I'm very happy to announce that I have completed my 1,000th project. A few years ago I started counting the number of projects I have completed since I started making bags in 2007. The goal was to reach 1,000 Projects Before I Die. I did it.

If you're wondering if I'm dying, the answer is No. Back then, I thought 1,000 was a unreachable figure. I had no idea I could sew like a machine. I'm almost non-human!

You know when I started sewing and blogging in 2007, I imagined I would move on from bags to other stuff which was the reason why I did not call my blog "Bags By Jane". However, bags have occupied most of my waking moments and I only managed to make a small number of non-bags items. That's my biggest regret. Not that I'm losing sleep over it. It's just that looking back, I think I would have grown more in my sewing if I had also tackled other stuff.

It is a relief to reach 1,000 because now I can stop counting. I'm really sick and tired of keeping count. I won't set another goal of 2,000 projects because what's the point, right? Besides, my interests and priorities have changed.

For my 1,000th bag, I wanted to seriously get rid of more of my fabric remnants. I have so much fabric remnants that it bothers me. So I sewed pieces of the larger remnants together to form a quilted fabric. I did include a few pieces of fabric not from remnants because I thought they fitted in. Sewing the fabric pieces together took up a really long time. My god, I considered quitting and just making a regular bag.

Finally it was done and I felt so relieved. Sometimes I wonder why I always have to try so hard. I think that's my appeal, in a stupid sort of way.

Here's the front of the bag. I chose a simple shape because I like simple shapes.

This is the back. You probably recognise a lot of the fabric.

It's a top zip bag and I wish the zipper shops sell red zipper pulls but I have to use black because that's how it is in Singapore. Red zipper? Yes. Red zipper pull? No. Idiots.

I'm very happy with this bag. I think it's worthy of the title - the 1,000th bag. To celebrate this 1,000th bag, I shall give myself a one-day break from sewing. Also, my whole body aches like freaking hell after yesterday's run.

I'm going to this partay: Sew Many Ways and Tea Rose Home

See Jane Run

Readers,

I have let myself go for the past couple of months. After my knee stopped hurting, I found more excuses not to go running. Well, it kept raining among other things. One thing I've learnt. If I'm not motivated to keep fit, I will come up with any excuse not to exercise. I do believe I'm at my least fittest at this very moment. Growing old and gaining weight are my worst nightmares come true. But today I think I've started to feel motivated to run again.

This morning, me and hubs went for a organised run. He upped his game and did the 10km. I stuck to my 3km walk/run.

This is the t-shirt we had to wear. I didn't like my t-shirt because the neck is high and I think I ordered 1 size too big.

We left home at 5:45am. It was very dark and we hailed a taxi in the middle of the road because at that hour, we're king of the roads!

Hubs' flag-off was 1 hour earlier than mine. So I had to hang around. See the guy in orange in above pic? He came over to shake my hand and make small talk. Now, when total strangers make small talk with me, they will be confronted with a look on my face that says:

Why are you talking to me? Why are you talking to me? Why are you talking to me?

Mr Foo: Help! This lady can't do small talk.

Anyway, guy in orange saw the look on my face and introduced himself as Cedric Foo, the Member of Parliament of the constituency that the run was organised by. He asked me a few questions and soon moved on to other runners. I guess my face kept asking the question: Why are you talking to me? I'm a terrible person to make small talk with.

The wait for my flag-off was quite long, so I decided to sit down somewhere to take a quick snooze because I had not received sufficient sleep. Later, I was awakened when a person extended his hands to me and once again I had to shake someone's hands. It was Cedric Foo again. Man, he loves to shake hands. Anyway, he saw my "Why are you shaking my hands again" look on my face and immediately avoided any conversation with me.

So finally it was flag-off time. At first I didn't want to be in the front of the pack because I preferred to be a follower. Then I discovered that most of the runners wanted to walk. And I wasn't gonna walk 3km. So I leapt to the front and in front of me were 2 women, a couple and a small boy. After 50m, the couple who had been running like crazy stopped running because they were amateurs. They ran out of stamina. So it was just the 2 women, the boy and I.

To be honest, the signage for my run wasn't very good. At the end of the canal, an usher told me to loop back. So the boy and I headed back. I saw that the 2 women missed the instructions and they went to the 5km route. Ha ha!

So it was just me and the boy. The boy ran like lightning. He walked most of the time though. But every time I came close to him, he would sprint off. Once he had some distance between us, he would stop running and just walk, all the while keeping a close watch on me. The problem for the boy was that he was just a kid and since the signage was poor, he had no idea if he was going the right way. So he would keep looking at me to make sure I was following him. It's like I was his compass. Whenever we came to an usher, he would let me do the asking for directions.

This went on and on. Me chasing him and never able to catch him. The last leg of the race was quite confusing because some of the ushers were quite blur. Also we couldn't see the Finish line at all. The boy made a mistake of asking an usher who gave him the wrong information. She told him to turn back. But I was sure the usher was wrong because for the last leg, all runners will run the same route. The boy hesitated and that's when I saw my chance to outrun him. I sneaked past him very quietly. But the boy trusted me as his compass more and he turned to look for him. When he saw me running past him, he shot past me! Demmit! Hubs waiting for me at the finish captured our final leg.

In this pic above, the boy just discovered I was trying to sneak past him and he very easily regained his lead. Bastard!

This is the final 25m before the finish. See how I'm trying to catch up with him. He has legs like a cheetah. I'm wearing my glasses so I'm completely unrecognizable. I was doing a peace sign at hubs but it looked like I was giving him the finger.

After the race, each runner gets a 100 plus drink and a Del Monte banana. So of course I need to show pics of us holding the banana. NUH (the hospital) had some participation in the run so I'm thinking the bananas must be their idea.

Also we get this measuring tape that will tell us how fat we are. This is outrageous. We must never find out to the cm, how fat we really are.

This week I hope I continue to keep fit. Otherwise I threaten to use the measuring tape on myself!

The Least Emotional Country In The World

Dear readers,

I have a very important announcement to make. A poll by research and analytics firm Gallup has unearthed this very astounding and earth-shattering fact about Singaporeans. That we are the LEAST EMOTIONAL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! Go here and have a look.

Readers from Georgia (the country), Lithuania, Russia, Madagascar (hey, this is a real country!), Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan (not to be mistaken for Kazakhstan) you can stop smirking because your countries are very close behind Singapore in the emotion-deficit.

Residents were polled with such questions:
1. Did you feel well-rested yesterday?
Hmm... Let me see. I'm sewing frantically for my Christmas craft market which I have to because otherwise I will lose the rent money. So, no. I did not feel well-rested yesterday.

2. Were you treated with respect all day yesterday?
I live with 2 teenagers who are also my biological children. I don't think so.

3. Did you laugh or smile a lot yesterday?
I live with 2 teenagers who are also my biological children. Next question!

4. Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?
Yes, yesterday I learnt that if I eat food that I cook myself I feel very hungry the whole day. I feel hungry even when I'm asleep.

5. Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday? How about (enjoyment, physical pain, worry, sadness, stress, anger?)
I enjoy sewing but constantly sewing is a real pain. Also I worry I took the wrong babies home from the hospital. This led to stress and anger.

I noticed Singaporeans were unemotional but I had no idea we were the least emotional! Wow! Did any of you guys notice my lack of emotions?

Like a true unemotional Singaporean, I shall embrace The Least Emotional Country In The World title and from now on, I shall show as little emotion as possible. We don't want to lose the title to Georgia, Lithuania, Russia, Madagascar, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Nepal or Kyrgyzstan!

I have lunchtime pouches coming out of my nostrils

Ladies,

Have I told you guys how hard my work is?

I have to do a lot of fabric shopping. It's not an easy job. So many choices, so many designers, so many colours, so many different textures to choose from. It's difficult work. Not many can do it.

On top of stroking the fabric to ensure the best quality is bought, I have to sometimes roll around in them, just to soften them up.

Every day I have to make tough decisions regarding sales. Yes, I'm talking about all the constant sales the fabric shops are having. Especially the year end ones. It's crazy. Recently Spoonflower had a worldwide shipping day. I mean, what the hell is that, right? I have enough problems finding time to attend all the sales in Singapore. One week I received a 30% discount. Right after that, the same shop sent a 40% discount card. And what's up with the pre-Christmas, Christmas and renovation sale? Yep, one tough decision after another.

Buying the fabric is the easy part compared to working with the fabric.

Take the patchwork lunchtime pouches I had to deal with recently. They were such a pain to work with. All the fabric I have insisted on auditioning for spots. I had to decide who's in and who's out. It got really tiring gazing at all the eager prints.

Like I said, it wasn't easy but it had to be done. I finally decided on the final 25 prints. Not all the prints got along. So once again, I had to be the matured one and paired the agreeable ones together.

Even so, sometimes the bickering got bad and I let them fight it out.

Next I had to decide on the lining. Riley Blake, Michael Miller and even Amy Butler came calling. The Japanese fabric passed. They preferred to be the main fabric! Sniff. I'm not sure I like their attitude.

After much careful thinking, I decided to eeny meeny miny moe.

Keeping the pouches entertained when it was work-in-progress took up most of my time.

Honestly, they're acted like princesses. Me! Me! Me! Always.

Finally they're completed. All 10 princesses. Each one is one of a freaking kind. (OOAFK) Can't wait to sell them so I never have to look at them again. And guess who decided to join the party? A much neglected Bear. I think he had a bit too much fun.

Thought I'll show the pouch bottoms. (It was Bear's idea)

Bear proved to be difficult when it came time to put away the pouches. He refused to do the carrying. This is his "Who me?" look.

Bear doing his SULK.

Did I mention how hard my work is?

Oh, I made a few non-patchwork lunchtime pouches as well. So I have a grand total of 20.

Go to www.projectsbyjane.com if you want a closer look at the pouches.

p.s. if you want to make your own lunchtime pouches, you can. my pattern available here (without the patchwork instructions - just sew a few pieces of fabric together duh):
Etsy via email
Craftsy via instant download.

73 out of 74 projects completed. (1 more to go baby)

So, did you take the right baby home?

Ladies,

If you have at one point in your life given birth in Singapore at KK Hospital, you need to do the following:

1. Have a large cup of tea/coffee/vodka/whatever.

2. Carefully examine the features of your child. Check if child resembles you or your husband. Do take care when examining closely the features of any child age above 12. They may scream at you.

3. If you have doubts the child you have raised is yours, please sit down and have another cup of tea/coffee/vodka/whatever.

Here's what happened. In today's newspapers, KK hospital revealed it had SCREWED UP. Two families were given wrong babies. On Sunday morning, a new mother checked out of the hospital with the wrong baby. She had no idea because as you know, all newborns look alike. Five hours later, the first baby's real mother checked out of the hospital with the first woman's baby. She too had no idea because as you know, all newborns look alike. This second woman was more alert though. When she reached home, she saw that the id tags around both ankles did not both have her name. One had her name and the other had the real mother's name. I think this woman deserves an award. Let's give her The Most Alert Mother award. If she had thrown away both tags instead of checking them, it would have been a very sad story.

via

KK Hospital's CEO said the error was the first time ever and it'll be the last. Because he said it was the first time the error had occurred, I'm going to believe him because he is the CEO. However, he failed to say errors could have occurred without anyone discovering them. So, to all the mothers of the 1.4 million babies delivered since 1858 at KK hospital, if you like your child/children, do nothing. If you don't like your child/children (especially if they are hooligans, gangsters or went to jail or are mean to you), get a DNA test. Okay, I'm kidding about the DNA test. Just have another cup of tea/coffee/vodka/whatever. You'll live.

p.s. I did not give birth at KK hospital but I will have the cup of tea/coffee/vodka/whatever anyway.

I have drawstring pouches coming out of my eyeballs

I had a dream the other night. I dreamt that I had made 1,000 drawstring pouches. When I woke up and realised it was only a dream, I was soooo relieved. I mean, 1,000 drawstring pouches is a bit too much right?

The reason I dreamt about drawstring pouches is I had been making them, one after another. I had checked my stock and I counted there were 8. So I thought I would like to have a total of 20. It's not a superstitious thing, just that, 20 is a nice round number. So, 20 minus 8 is only 12. And 12 drawstring pouches should be easy peasy, right? Right?

I wanted to make these pouches, mass production style. First I cut up a whole bunch of fabric. Some of the fabric was fabric remnants I wanted to get rid of. (hee hee) Some of the fabric came from my new stock.

Work in progress - (keeping it real - see the mess behind?)

I don't want to make you guys crazy with envy by telling you the exact number of hours it took me to make 12 drawstring pouches. So I'm just going to be coy and say it took 2 days.

After 2 whole days of sewing and sewing and sewing the same thing over and over and over, 12 times, Yay! Finally I have 20 drawstring pouches.

And now I never ever want to:
- look at a drawstring pouch again
- make a drawstring pouch again
- think about a drawstring pouch again
- dream about a drawstring pouch again

Here are the glorious 20. Drool. Oh, if you want a closer look, you have to go to my Christmas catalog at www.projectsbyjane.com

And if you want to make your own and you seriously don't know how to make one, I have a pattern here at Etsy or Craftsy.

p.s. my home looks like crap now with fabric and sewing supplies everywhere. tonite i'm going to dream an elf came and clean it.

59 out of 74 projects completed (it's almost over)

Attending this partay: Sew many ways

10 things you should know

1. Any food offered to you with a "this is good for you" is sure to taste horrible.

2. Whenever someone starts a sentence with "No offense but..." you know you're going to get pretty offended. Same goes for "Nothing personal but..." Yes, it will be very personal.

3. The person who says "I don't mean to pry..." means to pry. Very much.

4. The person who says "I'm not trying to be mean..." is being mean. Very mean.

5. When you hear yourself saying "I hope I'm not boring you...", yes, you are.

6. If you say "It's for your own good" to your teenager kid, it's bound to end very badly.

7. When anyone says to you "I hope you are happy now" or "Are you happy now?" you know the person really wants you to be miserable.

8. Never tell a bad mother she's a bad mother. Especially if you're her kid.

9. Never tell a horrible kid he's/she's a horrible kid. Especially if you're his/her mom.

10. Anytime someone says "I'm not a racist but..." is sure to say something very racist.

2 retro clutches

You know I was in a rut a few days ago and I took a day off and went to see Argo. This is not the kind of movie I would normally go see but my girl wanted to see it so we all went, even paying the higher public holiday rate. It turned out to be a good movie. Really held my attention. And of course after the movie, we all wiki it to find out more about the events that happened during the period. I remember during that time, we had no internet and all our information came from the daily newspapers. The world is such a different place now with the net and wifi.

Anyway, not thinking about making my quota and freeing myself from any sewing obligations was so good for me because I felt so relaxed. And hey, thanks to those of you who left me sweet comments. 

I feel quite recharged and the first items I made were these 2 clutches. The fabric was stashed in my bomb shelter. I had them washed and dried. Both are quite thick, almost like upholstery level.

This fabric I had forgotten about. It's so retro, isn't it? I had only a very small amount so it fitted a clutch perfectly. I realised that in order to get out of my rut, I had to make something I haven't already made like a 100 pieces.

 

This is the back.

I couldn't find the perfect lining so I made do with this beige polka dot.

This is another fabric with the retro feel.

I used my rose polka dot which I think is a perfect match.

November is hurtling by so fast. When I think about it I feel so paralyzed. So I try not to think about it. Good luck to all of you who are scrambling to produce stock for the Christmas market!

* * *

Oh one last thing. I'm doing a little promo for Bethany of Sweet Bee Buzzings. And no, she has no idea I'm doing this. She is having a 10% off everything in her shop (HERE) through November 30th. You need to use the code BEESBUZZ to claim the discount. Please know that 50% of the sale goes to a fundraiser to help someone in need.

45 out of 74 projects completed.

See ya.

Cherry blossom

I love this fabric. It has cherries, sakura and little polka dots. It's also cotton drill which is my favourite kind of fabric to work with for large bags. But I got kind of lost while making my shopping bags. I really had planned on making a shopping bag but I asked myself a question:

What would this bag look like with a long handle?

And that's how my shopping bag ended up becoming a sling bag. Don't get me wrong. I'm not haphazard when it comes to sewing my bags. I work out all the details in my little Biology exercise book before I start cutting. But in this case, I asked the question and of course I had to go with the flow. This bag reminds me of my primary school days in the 70's (yes, I'm that old). A few of my classmates carried such bags on days when school was half-days, like pre-Children's Day. I always envied these kids because they had moms who made stuff. It wasn't called handmade in those days. I think more like homemade. One girl in particular I remember because she wore her long hair in 2 braids. We call them pig tails. She wore her hair this way right up till she was 16! Then one day she cut it all off. Anyway her name was Caroline and her mom made little pouches for her - for her water bottle, her stationery and these had a lot of work done, like cross-stitch motifs. One day Caroline invited me and a few other girls to her home after school and that was how I found out how poor my family was. I mean, you think you know you're poor but wait till you go visit a really rich person's home and you're like "Oh man." Anyway, this bag makes me want to cry a little when I think of the old days but don't you like it? It's worth the tears.

I didn't quite like the lining though so for the next bag I decided to go for blue polka dots.

Here's the shopping bag. I forgot to take a shot of the lining but trust me when I say the blue polka dots look better as the lining. I got really cross with myself making this shopping bag because I kept changing my mind about the handles so I ended up butchering the fabric. I ended up with strips of fabric I couldn't use. Oh, what a waste of money. 

I did get my lunchtime pouch though so I'm happy. Seriously, just 3 items out of the 2 yards of fabric is crazy. I have to do better next time. Oh, here you get to see the blue polka dot lining. It's not too matchy-matchy IMO.

I feel really saturated. It's not just about sewing. It's about life too. I don't feel like I know what I'm doing anymore. Really just living from day to day and I'm the kind of person who always needs an objective. Right now I have the craft market but it's seriously draining me. I don't know if I can do this again next year. Of course everything changes and tomorrow I know I'll be different. But one thing I do know for sure - next year I don't want to repeat what I've done this year. I feel I've got to move forward, one way or another, mentally, creatively, anything. Otherwise I'll feel like I'm stuck in this one place. Doing the same thing over and over again. I'm pretty certain I'm feeling this way because I am ready to do the next thing, whatever it is that I'm destined for.

Despite the gloomy weather, let's all have a great week. I know tomorrow I'm taking the day off because it's a public holiday. Happy Deepavali.

43 out of 74 projects completed.

I'm attending this partay: Sew Many Ways

Movember Girl

Movember

Today I got really tired of shaving.

p.s you get to see me in glasses too!

The remains of the starry starry fabric

Ha ha. It's confirmed then. You guys like the starry starry bag. Actually, I should start the post with hic hic because I've been hiccuping since I woke up this morning. It's not the horrific kind where your body gets jerked about. Just the little annoying ones that won't stop. I don't know why I think this way but somehow I feel my hiccuping is a result of something I did or did not do. Like did I not breathe correctly? Was it something I ate last night? Just tell me so I could go do it and stop the hic hic.

I did not have much of the starry starry green fabric and this is a young colour so I made my slouchy crossbody bag. This bag gobbles up a lot of fabric. And this time I'm absolutely sure I used the canvas handle because there wasn't enough fabric.

Come take a look at my inside.

I'm quietly building up my stock of lunchtime pouches. So glad I could squeeze this one in. I hope to have a total of 20 by 15th December. Is it possible?

There's a few tiny bits of this fabric left. I have decided to bury them in the bomb shelter. Oh by the way, thanks to everyone who commented on my starry starry bag post. You know I am so blinded by my bias for yellow-green, green-yellow that it's good to know what colours other people like. After all, I am a business woman (ahem, hic hic) and I must cater (sometimes) to what customers want.

* * *

Is it possible to sew every day? Yesterday I decided it was a day off for me. Hubs was off and we all went out shopping. And I'm considering it my exercise for the week. We walked for hours and hours. I'm a little disappointed the Christmas decorations aren't out in full force yet. I had wanted to take pics of the trees but I only saw 1. In one shopping center (Suntec City), I saw many shops were closed for a revamp. What a crazy time to not be open for business eh?

* * *

Sometime this year I kind of became a little self-conscious that I was perhaps sharing a little too much of myself on this blog. When you do that, you attract the crazies. I decided I would try to pick thru' the pile and just share the more interesting ones. The one about my eyes was one of those that should have been buried. But never mind. Since it's unfinished business, I've decided to do one last update on my eyes. It's pretty much confirmed. I have oily eyelids and the only way to maintain them is to use this gel to wipe the lids twice a day. Before that I have to massage the lids to push out the oil. This is a condition I will have to live with until the day I die. Other than irritation and some pain, it won't do anything else to me. Like it's not fatal or anything. Yep, I bagged another incurable condition.

* * *

Oh, a few days ago, my Tai Chi instructor called me to tell me not to show up for class next week as it was a public holiday. She also chided me for being absent twice. Want to know what a chickenshit I was? I just laughed and did not tell her I had quit.

* * *

Lastly, I wish to declare I am the last person to join Instagram. It seems nowadays anyone who joins Instagram thinks she's the last person. But I'm pretty sure I'm the last one. Hey, wait a minute. My hiccups are gone! I cured it with a cup of tea. I knew drinking tea would come in useful one day. Anyhoos, how I came about joining Instagram is hubs got himself a new phone and so his iPhone4 was up for grabs. Ever since I've learnt to use the iPhone4, I've suddenly found myself whipping out my phone camera every time I wanted to remember something. See? It's a learned behaviour. My id is projectsbyjane if you want to look at my pics. My phone only works on wifi though. :(

p.s. i have a instagram feed on my facebook page as well. It's below the cover photo, next to my etsy shop. Here.

Have a lovely weekend. I'm devoting it to making shopping bags and cooking curry chicken.

40 out of 74 projects completed. (34 more to go)

Starry starry bag

Starry, starry bag

Why did I pick this scary green?

Yes I remember now

There was a 50% discount

This is a great size for a shopping bag. Not my best effort honestly. Many things wrong with the colour, IMO. I think the green is too green. It needs a bit of yellow in it. Both my kids like it. My girl says it's cute! I would wave the cutest pouch in front of her and she'll go, um...it's okay. But this one she yelled out: it's cute!

I ran out of green polka dots. I think I've used up 10 yards worth since June which is not too bad really. So I had to use my "save-for-a-rainy-day" stripes. I swear these stripes aren't pajamas stripes.

I have only a little of the green stars fabric left. It's cotton drill by the way. I think I bought only 3/4 yards as that was all that's left and the shopkeeper said she'll give me 50% off if I buy it and you know me. I'm willing to buy scraps.

I shall devote the rest of today to making something out of the scraps. Hope I don't take a nap. Been sleeping too much lately. Dem thunderstorms make it so cosy to sleep during the day. Yawn....

only 38 out of 74 projects completed. %$%%$#@?+#!

The remains of the blue and white stripes fabric

A while ago, I had the evening all to myself and instead of enjoying some snacks and music, I went and cleaned the storeroom. We have a little storeroom that no one can enter because it is filled to the ceiling with my stuff. It is meant to be a bomb shelter. In the event of a bomb attack, we are supposed to run and take shelter inside this little room. It's smaller than a public toilet stall. But of course no one takes the bomb shelter seriously and use it as a storeroom instead.

To my horror, I discovered a lot of fabric remnants dating back to 2007 inside the storeroom. You know you buy a yard of fabric, make a few bags and what do you do with the remnants? You put it aside thinking you'll use the remnants one day. Which rarely happens. So what happened to me was, I had a lot of these remnants which I promised myself I'll use up one day and while I was busy buying and using new stock of fabric, the older remnants kept piling up. It's getting out of control! I have them in ziplock bags, rolled up, bunched up, in bags.

After recovering from my horror, I had them washed and dried and now they are stacked up again waiting for me to use them up. Sigh.

So when I was working on the blue and white striped fabric, I decided to use up as much of the fabric as I could. Because I know what will happen if I put them aside! I feel the most successful when I can squeeze out little pouches out of remnants. Certainly it is not economical for me to spend time mulling over what to make of remnants. I think most folks who make their own products will agree with me that time is our most precious resource. Then again, I hate to have remnants lying around.

I'm very very happy to be able to squeeze 5 items out of the remnants. Yes, 5! I stuck to simple to construct items so I won't feel like I'm being frivolous with my time.

First up are 2 simple drawstring pouches. I love the polka dotted drawstrings. I sewed them from bias tape.

The smaller one turned out to fit a iPhone5! All by accident. Yes, I really should have measured.

The second drawstring pouch is slightly larger. I hope someone finds it the perfect size. Son doesn't like the fabric I used for the casing.

Always room for a zip pouch. Check out the little tape at the side. Isn't it cute?

Yep, this is my lunchtime pouch. (pattern available here) I used an actual ribbon for the drawstring. It so happened to have polka dots.

Making my Get up and go go sling bag (pattern available here) was a little harder due to the irregular pieces of fabric left.

This is the back. And I had to use a completely different blue fabric for the handle.

This is all that's left. Little bites. It would take too much effort to make anything out of the little bits. So I shall bury them in the bomb shelter. I don't feel bad at all.

Okay, I'm pretty wiped out. I can't make anything else for a while. My hand hurts. My brain is empty. I ain't sewing no more. It's over. Zero. Go on now. Nothing else to show you.

p.s. i'm excitedly following bbc's coverage of US election. Currently it's Obama 275 Romney 203. i'm not really sure how the election works but each time a state is won, it doesn't translate to 1 vote. intriguing.

37 out of 74 projects completed.