I wish........

Hello 2012,

Have you arrived in 2012 yet? I hope you're safe and sound. My family ushered in the New Year with a session of mahjong. I won. We don't play with money, just points. How did you usher in the New Year?

It's been pretty normal around here. Trains are running smoothly. It looks like it's gonna rain. I've lazed around since I woke up. It feels like 2011.

2011 was a good and bad year for me. 2 deaths in the family. Didn't see that coming. I still think of my neph and BIL from time to time. The first half of 2011, I felt like it was going to be my last year selling my bags. The lacklustre sales and ever-rising rental made me want to call it quits. The second half of 2011, things changed. I made more, I sold more and I ventured out to unknown territory to sell. And I launched my ePatterns for sale. I made a resolution to make the ePatterns happen and it did. 2 years later. It's never too late, my friends!

I'm not one to make resolutions and not keep them. I know I have willpower and the motivation. I have two resolutions for 2012.

1. Make 12 ePatterns.
2. Lose enough weight to fit into my thinner self jeans.

I've gained a lot of weight since I took and stopped taking "happy pills" for my myofascial pain. I've always been slim so it took me by surprise. Yet I've not been able to lose the extra flab. I'm blaming it on lack of exercise, poor eating habits and aging.

My gynae recommended that I read this book, Eat To Live by Joel Fuhrman.

I finally bought the book and I'll see if it helps me change my eating habits. My gynae lost a bunch of weight after reading this book. He said it changed his life and his lifestyle. And you understand my gynae is a REAL DOCTOR so if he says it's a good book, then I believe him. Plus he looked 10 years younger after his weight loss! I want.

One of the things I want to change in 2012 is to cook more. A big contribution to my weight gain is eating take-away. You have no control over the amount of oil used. And my kids love fast-food and since I eat what my kids eat, that's a big factor too.

One of the big reasons why I don't cook so much apart from laziness is my cooking tastes sucky. I don't love the food I cook. I'm a bad cook. This year, I'll learn if I have to from recipes. And when I say I'll cook, I do mean I'll really cook. Not just the usual grilling of chicken. I mean with a wok and spatula and ginger and onions and shallots. And actual boiling of vegetables.

My kids and I do not like salad but in 2011, we ate so much salad because mom is too lazy to boil vegetables.

2012, a completely new me.

To be honest, what really prompted this motivation to lose some weight started at VivoCity during my 8 days stint.

On Day 1 which is set-up day, I was busy doing the display and running about a lot when I realised my jeans were running away from me. When I sat down, my kids yelled out that my butt was exposed. I felt behind me and sure enough, my jeans were really loose. Had I lost so much weight? Sure I had been busy sewing but sewing never led to weight loss in the past. Still, my hipster jeans were barely hanging onto my hips and that had never happened for a very long time. In fact, sometimes I struggle to get into them.

It must be the sewing then. As I congratulated myself on my new svelte body while sinking my teeth into 4 chocolate laden cookies, it occurred to me I could be wearing this faulty Giordano jeans which I had bought years ago. After one wash, the backside opened up like a valley and it never fitted me after. I went to the restroom to check and sure enough, I had worn the faulty Giordano jeans. Demmit! And I had already congratulated myself with the 4 chocolate laden cookies. I must stop dressing in the dark.

On Day 8, as I was running around (I forget why), I felt my jeans running away from me again. Demmit! Why do I keep dressing in the dark? Later when I was in the restroom, I saw that I was wearing my Denizen jeans. Wait a minute. My Denizen jeans are my FAT JEANS. Which can only mean one thing. I had indeed lost weight. During the 8 days at VivoCity, I was so busy that I only ate 2 meals and snacked on fruits. Just to be sure my FAT JEANS were too big for me, I ran around and it was the biggest thrill for me when I felt cold air hit my backside.

It was only a mere 2kg loss and by now I've gained back most of it. But it really motivated me and I even ended 2011 with 6 jogs round the park. Sure, half way through I wanted to stab myself in the face. Why is jogging so hard?

Just out of curiosity. Why did I lose fats around my hips? Why not the tummy or thighs or arms? Why the hips? I already have the hips of a 14 year old. My gynae says my hips never widened despite having 2 kids. He said women would kill to have my hips. Okay, I imagined he said the last bit.

2010 was the year I sewed without inhibition. I made a wide variety of bags and focused on embellishments. 2011 was the year I focused on specific designs. From a creative point of view, not very fulfilling.

This elephant pouch I made a long time ago, makes me want to cry. For every 10 pouches I make, I can only afford the time to make 1 applique/patchwork/embroidered pouch. This is the reality for me. Time is a luxury for me. Plus the 9 fabric pouches help pay the rent.

In 2012, for my sewing self, I want these:

♥ More applique
♥ More embroidery
♥ More patchwork
♥ More needlebooks
♥ More big bags
♥ More flower-flower pouches
♥ More fabric remnants bags
♥ More heart with wings bags
♥ More stamping
♥ More adventurous play with fabric
♥ More me :)

In addition, I want to tackle new things like:
♥ brooches
♥ blocks
♥ androgynous accessories

I shall sleep less. It can be done. Hope your 2012 opens up new possibilities and enjoyment of old favorites. Happy New Year. 2012 is gonna be great.

p.s. no use begging. every pouch/bag you see in this post has been sold.

It's Over

Today was a rainy day. Ordinarily I wouldn't mind rainy days unless I was selling outdoors or have to be outdoors. Well, today was one of those days when I had to be outdoors seeing how my girl's school decided to re-locate to a holding school in her LAST YEAR IN PRIMARY SCHOOL.

The location of the soon-to-be-rebuilt school is within walking distance of my home. Now we have to travel by train and then by bus in order to get to the new school which is actually an old abandoned school. So, not loving my girl's school very much.

Yes, it's the school holidays and technically there shouldn't be any school. But apparently sports school carries on during the school holidays. So today I had to take my girl to her new school because she doesn't know how to get there on her own. On the way, I received a msg from me hubs that the postwoman had just delivered a big package. Of course I wanted to go home right away to open it but I had to wait around for my girl.

Waiting for someone for 2 hours is no joke. Not when where you are is in no-man's land. Just pavement, bus-stops and flats. I took the bus to the nearest air-conditioned place to kill time. You heard of "time flying" when you're engrossed and how little time you have to spare etc. Well, 2 hours did not fly. It crawled. It hobbled. It slithered. You get the idea. Time, it seems cannot be killed. It must be used or the boredom will kill you. So, not loving my girl's school very much.

1/2 hour before my girl was due at the school gate, I took the bus back to the new school which is actually quite a dirty school. Abandoned furniture and dust everywhere. It started to rain heavily. It poured. It thunder-stormed. Oooh, so not loving my girl's school very much. At the school gate, there was absolutely no shelter to wait at. I was early. So more time to kill. I told the security guard I was gonna wait outside the library where there were dirty chairs.

Time it seems is even harder to kill when you're wet and cold and just staring at the wall. It was just 1/2 an hour but of course it felt like forever.

What could it be?

Reaching home, this package really made my day. I love receiving packages. Don't you all?

My giveaway win

Yep, my cushion which I won in a giveaway from Pings And Needles arrived.

The back

It's not chewing gum

Sarah included a stick of "not chewing gum".

Guess who chomp on it right away?

FQ

Plus my fat quarter win from Just Carol arrived last Thursday. All my goodies have arrived. All good things must come to an end. You know what I learnt? Never brag about your winnings. Because that's when it all ends. That's right. My winning streak is OVER. See ya.

My Incredible Winning Streak

Hey everyone,

In my last post I told you my friend Jon came bearing gifts when I was at MAAD. Before I tell you what he brought, let me just mention that my friend Weng came bearing gifts too - my tea. Yes, I'm a tea leech. I hope my friends don't think I take them for granted because sometimes I do but I hope they don't know that!!

Anyhoo, one of my pastime is participating in giveaways. In blogland, many, many, many bloggers or fabric shop owners give away stuff. All they ask of you is you leave a comment. Sometimes they demand you become a follower. But it's a small price to pay.

This year, I entered in 2 giveaways because I'm a fan of the bloggers. To my surprise I won - a brooch and cards. Technically, I did not win the brooch. Because I was thick-skinned and mentioned it was my birthday, I got the brooch anyway.

The incredible feeling I got from being lucky was so great and addictive that I went on a giveaway entering spree. I don't go looking for giveaways. I get informed. Many bloggers would publicize giveaways because it gives them an extra chance of winning. If I happen to read about one, I'll go look-see and if it's something I really, really want, then I will enter for it. I mean, if it's a zip pouch, then I'll say No Thanks because I have zip pouches coming out of my ears. Get what I mean?

So, wanna know what I've won since the cards?

Do you feel faint? Yes, I won fabric.

Yep, they're all mine. These are Red Rose Farm fabric. All I had to do to enter was write a poem about what I would do with the fabric if I won.

Oh dear, I'm feeling a little shy now. Here's what I wrote...

Be mine
Red Rose Farm
I promise to be kind
And keep you from harm
A pretty purse is what I have in mind
Oh, you gonna charm

Yes, more fabric. These are Anthology fat quarters I won next.

And I kept on winning. These are my loot. I haven't received them yet so it's just a description.
I won.....
- a handmade Brighton print pillow (I've never had a handmade pillow, that's why!)
- a twirly girl skirt pattern plus enough fabric to make it. (I'm gonna make clothes for my girl!)
- 1 awareness fabric fat quarter

Each time I won something, I just want to scream with happiness and such joy but of course with the invention of facebook, I just facebook it.

Yes, more fabric. No, I didn't win them. These are what my friend, Jon brought. His sister had sent them to me! I am such a charmer! I'm kidding. I don't know what I did to deserve such generosity.

Jon and sis. I met her at April 2010 MAAD.

This fabric is very interesting. It has "quilted" diamonds PLUS crochet lace.

This one has a nice print. I like line drawings of flowers and leaves so it's very me.

That's all I have to show you for now. I hope you are able to get a good night's sleep despite reading about my new acquisitions. Sweet dreams.

Perfect Size Fat Bottomed Drawstring Pouches

Last night I went to bed feeling sick to my stomach. No, it's nothing serious. I just found out Gretchen won Project Runway. It's so wrong. I just want to tase Nina and Mr Kors. I know it's just television and I shouldn't feel so strongly that it affects my real being but I so wanted Mondo to win.

So no surprise. Today is a cold dreary day. It's been like that for a while now. I wake up shivering and have to shuffle around in my sweaters until I get warm enough to look like I live in a hot country. I think it's just me feeling the cold because I don't see anyone else dressed for winter. I dread the cold rainy weather because it makes my body all knotty. My muscles just won't unknot. I know part of it is psychological but it's still very hard to feel positive especially when I try to take pictures and the sky is just grey. I just want to tase myself.

On a positive note, my kids' exams are finally over and it's such a relief to stop having to watch over them like a hawk. This is the part of parenting I dislike the most - getting the kids to study for the exams. My son did average - no surprise. He barely touched his books. Another reason I'm glad exams are over is I have a neighbour who lives in the next block and she tutors her kid AT THE TOP OF HER VOICE every single night. Her screaming and shouting causes me a huge amount of stress. Every night, I just want to tase her.

October is nearly over. Yay! Next weekend, 6th to 7th November, I'll be back at red dot design museum selling my bags. Although I had a lot of time, I didn't make many bags. I just didn't feel inspired. For the past few days I've been busy making what I call Perfect Size Drawstring Pouches. The last few times I made drawstring pouches for sale, I had many requests for a smaller version. It seems women don't want their drawstring pouches to be huge like I imagined. I used a regular size wallet, key pouch, handphone and a packet of tissues for sizing. I'm imagining these are the essentials that every woman needs to carry with her. Here they are.

Guess how many I made?

You may recognise this fabric. It's apples print by Michael Miller. I kept the bag design very simple and functional.

 The inside.

These are all you need to carry around, ladies.

There's room to spare! You could throw in a lipstick, compact or whatever you  can't live without.

You know I was feeling kind of grey, so I had a ball with the fabric matching. This is the best part of sewing. Going thru' your stash and mixing and matching.

This clover print by Patty Young for Michael Miller you've seen before. I love it so I'm gonna use it till I have nothing left.

I think the colour combo is fabulous. Yes, I'm praising myself.

There's something very calming yet dazzling about this hard to describe blue fabric by guess who? Michael Miller again!

It's also extremely hard to match.

MoMo MoMo MoMo....

A blue-grey lining for this MoMo.

Who can resist a pink MoMo?

Another fabric you recognise? Apples and Pears by Alexander Henry. The lime green leaves called out to me.

I had the perfect lining in green and white gingham.

Pigs linen-cotton print.

 Some colour to spice things up inside.

The perfect bottom!

Are you salivating over this little red riding hood print by Kokka?

Of course the bottom had to be red.

I saw green for the lining. What colour did you see?

I think this is the first Amy Butler fabric I've ever used.

I saw orange for the bottom. What colour did you see?

This is a kokka print. It is delightful.

I saw purple for the lining. What colour did you see?

Of course the bottom had to be purple.

That's right. I made a total of 10 perfect size fat bottomed drawstring pouches. I'll be selling these at MAAD 6th to 7th November. Hope I got the size right. Otherwise I'll have 10 of these  pouches sitting around. Bye.

Moon Stories

Hello!

It's been a few days since my last post and I've been busy, busy, busy. Firstly, I've started my exercises again after getting very lazy for a few months. Two days ago I went for a jog and I'm still aching today! It seems after discovering ice-cream is a cure for migraine, I've been hooked on it. It didn't help that my freezer is constantly stocked with magnums. You know you can't eat so much ice-cream and not expect it to show up somewhere on your tum-tum. So my Giodarno jeans are no longer loose. That's my fattest jeans!

In my last post I mentioned that mid-autumn festival aka Mooncake Festival is on. I'm pretty sure it's over now as I no longer hear wheezing sounds of fireworks. Okay, I confess. I really dislike the Mooncake Festival. It started a long, long time ago. I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. How you celebrate the festival is on the 15th day of the 8th moon, kids walk around the neighbourhood holding lighted lanterns. My mother did not want to give us money to buy lanterns so my older brother who's really resourceful BUILT his own lantern. His was really fantastic. With leftover material, he built one for me and my younger brother. Of course ours were quite crappy. My mother wouldn't let us light the candles in the lantern until the actual day. I was really excited. Okay, here's what happened. My brother lighted the candles in the lantern for all three lanterns. MY lantern burst into flames immediately. I burst into tears. The big boo-hoo-hoo kind. I mean I had waited for days for this moment. Anyway, I stupidly continued holding on to the lantern while it was burning and would have burnt to death surely if my brother had not taken it away from me and stamped out the fire. I remembered holding onto my younger brother's hands sort of a token way of carrying the lantern when we did our parade around the neighbourhood.

That was the last time I carried a lighted lantern. I celebrated future festivals with unlighted lanterns. It really wasn't the same but I was ruined by the fire. When my kids were little and not embarrassed to do the parade, they had battery operated lanterns which were horribly annoying. Imagine kiddie songs played over and over again. Since I'm a Chinese mother, I felt it my duty to promote the festival to my kids and I dutifully accompanied them on their yearly parade. But I was ever so relieved when they grew out of it because what's really awful about this festival is the other kids would let off fireworks and sparklers. I often felt my life was in danger when doing the rounds.

News! I've a new date to sell at red dot design museum. It's from 2nd to 3rd October and that's next week! I've made a few zip pouches but this time, I wanted to use my scrap stash instead of the flower-flower kind.

I have a fat quarter of this very interesting print. I don't know the name of the manufacturer because it is in Japanese characters. I selected portions of the fabric which told a story.

A girl is pleased with a new outfit.

A card game.

My son said the 2 girls are getting married! This is what a 13yr old boy would say.

This is a Robert Kaufman print. The birds are adorable.

This RJR print is from the Trip Around The World MSU Museum Collection.

The sea theme print is by Lecien. My girl is so smittened with it she wants me to make her a pencil case out of it.

I wanted to show you the perfect lining I used for this pouch. Can you see I used a toy hair brush to prop open the pouch?

I hope to make 4 more such zip pouches and I'm currently working on 2 cotton drill shoulder bags. I'll show them once I'm done. See you soon.