Be Dzaltastic

Carseat Organizer

2014-08-04T19:40:00.000+08:00

I pretty much love a sewing challenge! Got pretty excited when a friend suggested I make her a car seat organizer. Something she could put books and some of her daughter's stuff. This took a while to plan and execute, and had to source out materials from different places, but I must say I liked the final outcome very much ;)

I don't have photos of it in action but you just strap the buckle around the neck of the front seat (facing the back seat passengers of course) and tie/fasten the rope around the lower back of the front seat.

FREEBIE: Life as a Believer printable

2014-06-29T11:36:00.002+08:00

Once again, we've arrived at that holy month in the Islamic calender. Alhamdulillah. So here's a little something for our Muslim friends to save, print out, and share in your attempt to conquer this year's Ramadhan. Ramadhan al-Mubarak. May Allah accept all our good deeds on this blessed month and may it be a fruitful one for all of us. Download link below:

Make sure you set your printer to-fit to A4 paper since this printable is in A3. If you've printed it out, show me how you use them, or better yet, share them with me on Instagram by tagging @dzaltastic and #dzaltasticprintables cause they'd really make my day :)

Buying US Imported Designer Cotton Fabric in Malaysia

2014-04-30T16:12:00.001+08:00

Amy Butler, Ann Kelle, Robert Kaufman, Michael Miller, Alexander Henry. You've read and heard them all online and yes, consumed by jealousy over those gorgeous prints on craft blogs from overseas. Here's where I bring you the happy news, there are shops in Malaysia that carry those designers as well!

There are plenty of shops selling printed cotton somewhat similar to these fabric designs and cost cheaper. But really, once you're seen, felt and bought these designer fabrics of high quality, there's no turning back! Colours are more vibrant with unique patterns and thicker in weight. Currently priced at about RM40-RM50 per yard (about 10 cm less than a meter)

Here's a little list of my places to go to quench my designer cotton thirst.

Checkout that selection of chevron fabric =D

1. Yee Button SS2 Petaling Jaya
They do have a facebook page and you're able to buy online but I personally love to drop by their brightly lit fabric and craft shop just cause it inspires me! They even sell fat quarters of those fabrics, pricing about RM10 a piece. This is also your go to place to buy Minky fabric and also cashel fabric for cross stitching!

2. Shambijoux Shop
This little lady from Terengganu has quite an extensive imported cotton catalogue on her site http://shambijoux.com/ and one of my favourite shops cause there are just too many choices and yo can even ask her if she has those not on the list. But she normally takes pre-orders and it takes about 2 weeks for the stuff to arrive. That's when I drop by other places on my list.

3. Fabric Fanatics
Situated in Subang Summit, this is the go to place to get loads of craft supplies and even attend classes like book binding and bad making. They normally have zakka fabric (Japanese feel fabrics) but are bringing in the big ones like Ann Kelly and Michael Miller.

4. D'Amani Cotton Therapy
Visit http://damanicottontherapy.blogspot.com or https://www.facebook.com/pages/DAmani-Cottontherapy/ for a list of their fabric supplies

5. Cottage Patch, Ampang
Across Ampang Point. This is a really old establishment and has a really big collection of fabric on hand. It may remind you of your granny's place but you really need to stay a while and take out fabrics one at a time to really see its treasures. Not sure if you can find recent designers there, but it's a great place for quilters an fabric lovers!

So there you are, a list of my suggested places to shop for designer cotton fabric. If you know more places, I'd love to know where. Always on the search for new fabric places.

P/S: Good news is, I'm in dealing to bringing in juicy imported Korean Designer fabric soon. So stay tuned by subscribing to my blog or on my Instagram @dzaltastic OR my facebook page :)

Toddler Bookpack DIY

2014-04-27T01:53:00.002+08:00

Aidi's really into books and I have to make sure I have at least one kids book in my (enormous) purse to entertain him when we're on the go. Decided it's about time that he carried his own books and bags, cause really, add that to mummy's gadgets (and even dad's sometimes), it's a load too much!

Rummaged through my kiddy fabric stash and found these coordinating fabrics and a zipper to match. Score! Came up with my own toddler backpack pattern and made this square bag just the right size for his board books and his little water bottle.

That feeling you get when you make something for your kid and he doesn't want to take it off? Sheer bliss~

Much love,

Owl Tote Bag: An Artsy Crafty Babe Pattern

2014-04-02T23:10:00.000+08:00

Finally completed this cute Owl Tote bag after its fair share of dilemma after dilemma. From finding the right lining, buying the wrong interfacing, an unserviced sewing machine and a missing interfaced piece. Hoot hoot! Well...now I just need the right button to suit it.

I altered an Artsy Crafty Babe's free Pleated Tote pattern for this tote, as I fell in love with the pleats on her little polka dotted tote! Only customization I made was the different coloured bottom part. So I cut a 3-inch high bottom piece. Would probably add 2 inches more to the bottom piece just so I could see more of it on the sides rather than the bottom. Loving the effect nonetheless!

I'd also add another inch to the hoop just so it'll be longer and my button would be better placed. After a rough estimation, the measurement provided in the pattern is a tad short for my liking and now my button would have to be higher placed, nearer to the edge.

Besides that, I over-estimated my unserviced machine's capability and realised that it couldn't really manage the heavy interfacing on both sides of the fabric AND the thick handles. Am proud of the fella for sticking through the project, albeit slowly (more like nearly dying) making its way through the thick material. Now hoping my friend would be as happy as I am with this little piece of work.

And finally ending this entry with a photo of my little bag model helping Ibu (mummy) with the bag. Thank you baby!

Much love,

Freebie: Arabic Alphabet Printable Flashcards for Toddlers

2014-03-25T17:27:00.000+08:00

As a Muslim, the Arabic language is an essential part of the religion, so I've been introducing Aidi to the basic Arabic letters at this young age. Currently Aidi's at word vomit stage and will imitate a lot of words and sounds we say. He's been counting up to 4 and jumping straight to number 10 and finger spelling his ABCs so now seems to be the right time to get him used to these unique letters.

I made this set of colourful printable flashcards (with little arrows for writing directions) and would love to share them with you (click the download button below) This download is only up to the letter seen س and I'll upload the other letters soonish.

One way to use these flashcards would be to let your toddler follow the arrows using their fingers. This will encourage their fine motor skills as well! Sometimes, I'd take little pompom balls and let Aidi arrange them according to the letters. He loves that too. You could even print 2 copies of each letter and play matching games with your kids. Too many fun ways to use them. Laminate them for durability!

If you've printed them out, tell me how you use them, or better yet, share them with me on Instagram by tagging @dzaltastic and #dzaltastic cause I'd love to see little hands using these.

Much love,

The Malaysian Batik Purse Clutch

2014-03-20T00:27:00.000+08:00

Malaysian batik never seems to bore me. I think they're beautiful in their own unique way differentiating itself from the Indonesian batik and the designers' popping up now a days. So I took out my stash of Malaysian printed batik, made a purse pattern for a 7 inch zip and tada! Will add on a strap to turn it into a wrislet cause my smart phone fits nicely in it.

More colours will be added to this collection cause it just looks to pretty and vintage-y. Aidi, on the other hand, decided that the purse would work better as a remote control holder.

Fastest way to make a GIF image

2014-03-14T21:30:00.000+08:00

I love GIF images and love them even more when my son's in it! Videos take too long and hey, if people don't have the time they'd probably skip the play button. It didn't take long to make my GIFs, in fact, I only took the photos using my smart phone and copied the links to share them.

So here's what I would normally do. Photos from my Android phone are automatically updated using Google+'s Auto Backup. So whenever I want a GIF image, I would take multiple continuous photos of my son in action. Now don't lie, but I know you must have loads of photos like that, especially when they're moving photos and you're just hoping that one of them would be clear enough to be shared on Facebook. Now you have a reason to do so!

After taking about 3 to 5 photos, I'll wait a few minutes and I'll have a notification on my smartphone saying my image are already backed up and there are a few photos being made Awesome. Check those Auto-Awesome images on your G+ account and enjoy photos of your baby taking his first few steps. This was Aidi's:

Here's another effect by Auto-Awesome. Multiple similar photos made awesome with frames.

I've also gotten the same effect whenever I upload multiple continuous photo from my digital camera to G+ like this one:

If you're using an Iphone, you'd probably want to install the G+ app on your phone to use this function. Tell me how it went, would love to know!

Paperlove Blog Hop: Miniature Kite Wau. Wow!

2014-03-11T00:00:00.000+08:00

I've been a fan of paper for the longest time. Yes, paper! The colour of vibrant printed wrapping paper, the smell of old books and the sound of crinkling torn paper. I've been fascinated with it's capabilities to transform from such a simple two sided sheet to anything creatively imagined. That's why I love making printables and decided to take part in this bloghop!

I love how they can be intricately cut, folded into 3 dimensional objects or even as mere entertainment for an inquisitive little boy.

So for my Paperlove Blog Hop, I ended up reminiscing on my past art classes in primary school and recalled one paper project that was often a hit among the students. It was kite making! And not any ordinary kite. Our traditional kite, the Malaysian kite. The Wau!

With help from my little sidekick, I decided to make a miniature Wau as a tribute to the Paperlove Blog Hop. Made out of coloured paper, glitter paper, wooden sticks, thread and some beads.

The International Kite Festival 2014 happened just recently in the country last January. Sad I couldn't make it but I heard that there were some pretty impressive kites. So this came just in time!

Photo credited to my friend's husband, Joon Ming Photography, who has some pretty impressive photos of the event

The Wau is famous for it's intricate design and size. It's known as the biggest type of kite, measuring about 3.5 meters from head to tail. Aging more than a hundred years old, Wau flying has been a favourite past time for harvesters from the rural (kampung) areas. Creative people!

It's beautiful how people from all around the world interpret the use of paper and produce something amazing out of it. There are so many types of kites, from all parts of the world, all because a thin piece of paper can carry different meaning from one person to another. Come celebrate PAPER with us through this bloghop and visit other paper lovers (below) who have blogged about their love for this one piece wonder.

Now, what about you? What have you made out of paper today?

The PaperLove Blog Hop is a celebration of all things paper! Follow the links to discover more bloggers who love paper and use it to inspire and delight. And if you want to explore a whole world of paper, and stretch your paper passion further with a host of creative projects, why not join the innovative new online course PaperLove (starts March 31). Led by book artist Rachel Hazell, PaperLove is a five week creative adventure for paper lovers. Find out more here.

Majo Bautista / Tona Bell / Louise Best / Cathy Bluteau / Jennifer Bomgardner / Giova Brusa / Lindsay Buck / Beka Buckley / Joanna Caskie / Jonathan Chapman (Mr Yen) / Halle Cisco / Sarah Clare / Cathryn Clarge / Dawn Clarkson / Rhiannon Connelly / Jenny D'Fuego / Molly Dhiman / Ian Dudley / Ayisatu Emore / Akmal Farid / Monika Forsberg / Claire Fritz-Domeney / Louise Gale / Chrissy Gaskell / Julie Hamilton / Emma Hawman / Rachel Hazell / Holly Helgeson / Claudine Hellmuth / Kim Henkel / Sarah Hoffman / Joanne Hus / Paula Joerling / Beth Kempton / Julie Kirk / Eos Koch / Katie LaClair / Kristy Lankford / Michelle Manolov / Doreen Marts / Rosie Martinez-Dekker / Tori Mears / Maria Mederios / Lise Meijer / Debbie Miller / MaryJane Mitchell / Suzy Naidoo / Grace Noel / Hannah Nunn / Camilla Olsson / Jo Packham / Rachelle Panagarry / Monette Pangan / Melanie Paul / Nicole Piar / Jen Pitta / Liz Plummer / Julie Reed / Michelle Reynolds / Lisa Rivas / Angee Robertson / Natalie Ryan / Aisling Ryan / Elisabet Sapena / Kyrrha Sevco / Jamie Sprague / Elizabeth Steele / Terri Stephens / Juniper Stokes / Mary Tanana / Maike Thoma / Linda Tieu / Gabrielle Treanor / Tammy Tutterow / Deborah Velasquez / Jordan Vinograd Kim / Cat Whipple / Brooke Witt / Katie Wood / Amelia Woodbridge

Freebie: Frozen's Olaf & Sven Yogurt Pot Dolls Printables

2014-03-07T23:14:00.001+08:00

I'm a big big fan of Frozen and their song 'Let It Go' has been playing on auto-loop in my head. I've been seeing a lot of Disney's Frozen things recently and decided to jump on board the bandwagon. So I decided to make Olaf and Sven YoPots (yogurt pot) dolls for Aidi to play. We slid them down a pre-made slide using some books and had a yopot race. Weee!

Now here you go, a free printable from us so you can have as much fun. Download it, print it out and make these cheap easy toys for your little ones.

Would love to see the finished product so send me a photo at dzaltastic [at] gmail [dot] com or share it with me on Instagram @dzaltastic #yopots #dzaltasticyopots

Much love,

*This printable is only an art inspired and I am no way affiliated with The Walt Disney Company. All copyrights are property of Disney.

How I Made the Snap Clutch Handbag Purse

2014-03-05T16:21:00.002+08:00

I've been keeping this set of Korean Imported fabric for a while now. Ordered it directly from Korea from a friend of mine. Been waiting for the right time to use it. And it came. Yes it did! For someone extremely important in my life. (Will update more on that once I give the bag to her!)

Now, I'm no purse maker. This was my first time buying a metal snap frame and I just wasn't sure how to do it. Luckily, there's the internet and I found this wonderful tutorial at Guthrie & Ghani. I started off by making a pattern for the frame since mine measured bigger than in the tute.

The frame I bought measured about 10 inches across and I wanted it to be 6 inches deep. Normally I'd go all experimente and just cut the fabric without making a dummy, but this fabric was just too pretty to make any mistakes and I only had fat quarters of each material. So I carefully cut out my pattern using some remnant linen and once I was satisfied, cut out all the pieces for the purse. I also added some batting and interfacing to give the purse some body.

I coaxed hubs to get me some fabric/metal glue cause that was the one thing I left out. Duh! Luckily he can never say no to a trip to the hardware store. Once I got the glue, I secured the completed purse body to the metal frame. It took me a while to get use to gluing the fabric into place. Plus, the glue didn't come with a nozzle so I had to use a wooden stick to get the glue in the right place. Cloth pegs and paper clips came in real handy at certain places. The purse turned out so pretty once the glue set that now I feel like I need to make another one for myself.

Credit goes to hubs for getting me the glue and to my little wear and tear tester. Yes, mummy makes things with her hands and you destroy them with your little ones. We make a great team baby!

Freebie: Mickey & Minnie Yogurt Pot Dolls

2014-02-28T23:39:00.000+08:00

I've been having this dilemma. We have too many yogurt pots by the sink!

So today we made full use of a couple of pots and turned them into Mickey and Minnie Yo-Pots (haha...I crack myself up). Click the download button below for your own Mickey and Minnie Yo-Pot Dolls!

You'll just need a couple of yogurt pots, a colored printer (or black and white will do since Mickey and Minnie are mostly in b&w, except for her bow), scissors and glue. Acrylic paint is optional of course.

An easy, simple and a quick way to entertain that little toddler of yours. I'll probably make a few more soon, keep an eye out by subscribing!

Cross stitch buttons + Free Pattern

2014-02-26T01:28:00.000+08:00

Saw this tutorial on My Poppet and thought it would be so cool to cross stitch little buttons for Aidi's travel bag.

So got out all my supplies. I have had this button maker for months now and only used a few for a past project. Bought it at Daiso for only RM5. Woowee!

Check out the original tutorial here.

My buttons are bigger in dimension than Cintia's buttons and I wanted to make initials for the bag, so I decided to draft my own letter patterns. You could either use download Cintia's patterns or download my alphabet samplers here if you'd like stitch letters.

I pencilled in my button sizes and marked a cross in the middle to remind myself where I wanted to start sewing.

Half an hour later (yup, love fast and easy DIYs), I cut those circles out and centered my design in the plastic button case.

Pressed in the metal buttons and wallah! Cross stitched buttons!

Have fun making this! Xoxo

Embroidery Project Bag Tutorial and Pattern

2014-02-20T23:55:00.000+08:00

Weee...time for another tutorial!

I was pretty much inspired by an Instagram acquaintance @treadofhearts who made a project bag to put all her cross stitching stuff. I fell in love with the idea, made a bag with an embroidery panel to later stitch a design on and decided to share my work process. Change the measurements a bit and it can even work as an easy Ipad soft case.

You'll need:
A sewing machine
Fabric for the outer
Fabric for the lining
A small piece of Embroidery Fabric (You could either use linen or even Aida cloth)
Batting
Rotary Cutter/Scissors
Button (Optional)

First download my printable pattern here:

It's a scaled pattern, so please don't cut it up and use it to trace your fabric, cause really, you'd only manage to fit in bread crumbs in it. Use the stated measurement to cut up your fabric for a 12 inch x 12 inch final product bag.

Next, baste the batting to the lining fabric. You could even use fusible batting for this.

To start off, you're going to prepare the first panel of the bag. This is the part with the embroidery fabric for you to embroider or cross stitch your own pattern on the bag.

Arrange piece B (Linen) and D together with both fabric patterns sandwiching the linen. Straight stitch the sides leaving a 1/2 inch allowance.

Do the same on the other side of the linen.

After you've sewn the sides, fold the fabric outwards and press. Now you have a long piece of fabric which is the middle part of the bag.

Now take a set of piece A and sandwich the long piece with the patterns facing inwards. Straight stitch the edge, fold outwards and press.

The same goes for the bottom half of the panel.

Once you're pressed the fabric outwards, your front panel will look something like this.

Then, take a set of piece A and D, align them together and straight stitch the longer side of the pieces.

Top stitch these pieces and you already have your 3 panels to complete the bag.

Arrange the pieces together with the smaller piece in between the bigger pieces. Straight stitch a square around the pieces and zigzag or serge the fraying edges.

Finally, flip the bag inside out. You can secure a button on the flap, but I'm still searching for the right button to complete mine. For the time being, a buttonless bag will do to hold my current project.

And yay! You're done. Now go find a cute design to stitch on the front panel of the bag, or maybe just create your own pattern.

Good luck with the bag and don't forget to share it with me on Instagram @dzaltastic.

Much love,

100 Doraemon Secret Gadgets Expo

2014-02-16T17:04:00.002+08:00

This little earless blue cat is a childhood cartoon. Hubby and I both grew up watching him take out magical inventions from a pocket on his tummy since we were little and we Aidi got excited when we bought the tickets from Mydeal for this 100 Doraemon Secret Gadgets Expo.

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with the deal. I bought them for RM25.20 per adult (instead of RM28) but when I got there they stated that the tickets were RM25! Even the expo website says the tickets are RM25. So if you're planning to visit, just go and buy them at the expo counter.

Details of the expo are as below:

Duration: 14th December 2013 - 23rd March 2014
Time: 10am - 10pm
Venue: Viva Home Exhibition Hall 1 & 2 (KL)

Ticket Price: RM25 (adult) and RM15 (child)

Website: http://www.100doraemon.com

Here's their little ticket counter, but since we already bought ours through Mydeals, we could just jump the (ermm..) queue and enter.

The expo starts of with a little time warp tunnel and we heard husband's first cry of Japanese since a longggg time "どこでもどあ！" (which means "Dokodemo door!"), sometimes I forget he has another language lingering in his trilingual brain of his. I must admit I never knew the name of that door. Only called it "Pintu Ajaib" (Malay for Magical Door). So this expo was definitely informative.

Then at the end, they had a merchandise area where you could buy Doraemon stuff and a gaming area where you could win stuffed Doraemon merchandise (talk about being Japanese).

And they even had a little Doraemon cafe where you could get Dorayaki and Doraemon's Memory Bread. We just bought the Ice Cream Dorayaki for around RM7 each. Durian and chocolate flavour. Yum!

This random fella looks mighty happy to be leaving the expo with his purchases, so decided it's a worthy final photo for this entry. We were expecting real inventions but the expo was a fun place for photo taking and family outings. Now looking forward to Doraemon, The Movie which will be coming out soon. So till next time Doraemon and trusty sidekick, Nobita, Little Aidi will be reading the comics soon enough :)

DIY Cloth Blocks Tutorial

2014-02-14T20:08:00.000+08:00

This was actually one of those mistakes-turned-great kinda projects. I wanted to make unique cube Batu Serembans (or five stones) to play with but ended up making them a little bit bigger than expected. But Aidi and I had so much fun with these that I just had to share them.

You'll need:

Scraps of fabric you have left from another project.
A rotary cutter/scissors
A ruler
Some rice/green beans
Optional: A chopstick or something long

First cut 2 inch x 2 inch squares using a rotary cutter and ruler. You'll need 6 pieces for each cube. I made 30 squares for our 5 cubes.

Now take 2 pieces of squares and align two squares together. Place the fabric fronts facing one another. Stitch a line about 1/8 inch from the edge. A tip to remember about making cubes is not to sew until the end and leave about 1/8 from the end of the fabric.

Continue sewing pieces of squares together until you get a line of 4 squares.

Add on 2 more squares on both sides of the line.

Next align the sides together and stitch them together until you're left with only one side of the cube.

This hole will be where you fill in your rice or beans.

Turn the cube inside out. A chopstick or something long will help to push the edges out.

Now pour in rice or beans into the hole and stitch the hole up.

I didn't manage to take a photo of the single block, Aidi was just too quick!

We stacked them up, threw them in laundry baskets and even tried to juggle with them. Playing ideas are limitless and they're great for sensory play!After we've had a blast, it was time to tidy up. Phew!

Cross stitch supplies in Malaysia

2014-02-12T17:34:00.001+08:00

Where do I get my cross stitch supplies? I normally get them at Haby and Wool in Ampang Park which is situated on the 2nd floor of the complex, but I made a mistake by visiting it during the Chinese New Year holiday this year. They were already away for the long weekend celebration, so I made a detour and decided to check out the new Klim Craft in Ampang Point.

It's a crafters' haven! Once I got there, I asked the staff if they sold DMC thread and she showed me this embroidery thread tower. I nearly fainted! They even had the metallic floss and other special DMC thread.

Only downside to it is they have limited aida cloth selection but it only costs RM20 for half a meter of DMC 14ct off white aida cloth. Glad I got all the colors for my Once Upon a Time sampler.

Here's a little compilation of craft shops selling cross stitch supplies, in case ~~I'd~~ you need them:

Klim Craft
Ampang Point Shopping Mall
F11, 1st Floor, Jalan Mamanda 3,
Ampang 68000 Selangor
+603 4260 3386
klimcraft@gmail.com
www.klimcraft.com

Haby & Wools
Ampang Park Shopping Centre
3.16, 3.17 Jalan Ampang,
50450 Kuala Lumpur
+60 3-2161 5346
haby_wools@hotmail.com

Knit N Craft Centre
Giant Superstore Bandar Puteri,
1st Floor, Lot S-07,
No.7, Jalan Puteri 1/1,
Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.

+603-80631253

Lily Handicraft
G095,1st Floor, Sg Wang Plaza
www.lilyhandicraft.com.my

FREEBIE: Printable Doughnut Floss Organizer

2014-02-11T12:54:00.003+08:00

When you're making a yearly sampler, I found out that it's extremely necessary to be organised. I only needed 2 strands of floss for each colour. What do I do with the
rest of the thread? I can't just throw it away! Will be needing it to complete the sampler and we've been advised to be really frugal with our thread. I'd totally hate it if I'd have to buy a whole skein when I only require an arm's length of floss. Here's how I was keeping my unused floss before:

I used stiff board and punched holes in it. But then I decided to inject a little bit of kawaii goodness and tadaa! A free printable cute floss organizer for my readers, just cause I've been dreaming of doughnuts lately.

There are 10 shaded circles to punch holes on each doughnut and shaded rectangles to write down the thread code. You can download the file by clicking on the download button below:

Would love to see your work with my little doughnut friends here, so if you're on Instagram, don't forget to share by hashtaging #donutorganizer and tag me @dzaltastic.

Much love,

DIY Needle Minder Tutorial

2014-02-07T14:48:00.000+08:00

Being sick is definitely no fun. But I'm glad to be a part of the cross stitchers' community at #onceuponatimesampler and #thefrostedpumpkinstitchery while I lay in bed feeling sorry for myself. I've gotten much better but am still recuperating. You can see from the photo above I'm still stuck at making little dwarfs from Snow White. They're still eyeless!

While browsing through the hashtags, I've kind of fallen in love with needle minders I've been seeing on cross stitchers' work. They're oh-so pretty and they range from Victorian designs to cute kawaii designs. Would love getting one for myself, but that would mean having to order one all the way from the States or the UK. Postage prices are just getting more expensive nowadays.

So here's a little do-it-yourself Needle Minder tutorial:

You'll need 2 pieces of magnets, a flat bead, tape or double sided tape and scissors.

Simply, tape/double tape the bead to one piece of magnet. You could even hot glue it down!

Now take the other magnet and place it on the other side of your embroidery hoop. The magnets will stick together and mind your needle for you when you need to take a break from stitching to check your stove or even your little boy! How cute is that!

Will be making another needle minder soon. In the meantime, happy stitching!

Much love,

Cross stitching with The Frosted Pumpkin

2014-01-28T23:19:00.003+08:00

While cleaning the house today I found my old set of cross stitch thread and found the urge to start on a cross stitch project (again!). Haha..never managed to complete my last project cause I made my own pattern from a photo of my uni friends and I lost the pattern somewhere in my hard drive. Note to self, next time, please email yourself the pattern or print a hard copy of the custom made pattern.

And it's oh so pretty too. Shame that I can't finish it now :(

Wellll..moving on. I have an image of a cute design of Elsa of Disney's Frozen in my head but will need more time to think of the design and probably share a pattern on the blog. While browsing for more ideas, I stumbled upon this cute cross stitch pattern website/shop: The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

image source

Their patterns are oh too cute. Their whole concept is on creating kawaii cross stitch designs. Kawaii da ne!

I've downloaded one of their freebies on Kitschy Digital and now I just need new Aida cloth. Oh and maybe some new thread as well. Cause really, you rarely can find cute cross stitching patterns and granny designs are just too dull. I'd probably purchase their monthly sampler too. Not too late to join in on the 2014 fun on Instagram #onceuponatimesampler #thefrostedpupmkinstitchery. Been browsing the hashtags and am giddy with excitement.

Image from their Big Cartel and don't forget to read Amanda's (the co-owner's) blog too!

It's a one time purchase cross stitch pattern where they'll email a new pattern every month so you can add on the design to create a larger piece of tapestry. This'll also help motivate me to cross stitch more frequently The theme just came at the right time too cause I've been feeling a little bit disney-ish lately, I blame watching Frozen for this (>.<)

My first time with knit fabric

2014-01-27T19:38:00.000+08:00

Received my little pack of sewing stuff and fabric from Japan a while back. Happy happy as can be!

It's been super hard to find cute knit fabric in Malaysia, so was looking forward to get these knit fabric for the little one (If you do know of a place, please tell me and I'd forever be grateful >.<). Couldn't personally choose the fabric patterns but I asked for boyish designs from my relative who was coming back from Japan, just so I could make something for Aidi.

I was expecting a thinner type of knit, more t-shirt like, but I love the designs nonetheless. Was informed that they had cute girly designs but I still don't have a little girl to splurge my money on and part of the fun is making stuff for my baby. To be on the safe side, I only bought 1 meter of each design and my first knit project was a simple 'shorts' project.

My first impression of knit? The heavier weight of the fabric made serging (jahit tepi) easy. Yet, when the edges rolled up, I came to realise why the shape of the footer was in the shape of an L. To unravel the rolled edge causing it to travel flat under the needle.

I don't know about you but I found it much easier to serge twice. The first stitches helped bind the fabric thus no more edge rolls on the second round. Made this in about 15 minutes! Inserted the elastic band for the waist and my boy now has his own knit shorts. Ta daa!

Hubby came home and was jealous of the little pumpkin's shorts and demanded one for him too. Well, will have to see what I can whip up next with the fabric I have left.

Hey hey new bloggie!

2014-01-25T01:26:00.001+08:00

*Inhaleeeeee*

Ahhhh...The smell of a new abode. 2014, a new year, a fresh new blog and new resolutions. After finally settling my motherhood and dusting off my old wedding blog, I've finally decided to take the time to take a breather and spend more 'me' time. Having start off my Instagram account to document my sewing journey, I realised that I needed an outlet to spill out words and to arrange my thoughts too.

Coming out with a new direction for this blog wasn't as easy as starting a wedding blog. I wanted to keep our wedding blog a keepsake, thus using it to record my personal journey post-marriage was not something I intended to do. Hence, the new blog. This time, it's just about me! Well, maybe more of my child. And maybe my husband too...once in a while. Well, yeah, they're part of me, so I'd probably have to let them run loose in the blog as well.

Thank you Google+ for making my gif photos for me and making my photos 'awesomer'!

But definitely expect more things on my hobby of learning new things, especially on sewing and DIY projects. Sewing is now another love of my life and taking tailoring orders from friends is always fun, fun, fun! I might not get sewing gadgets or fabric as nice or current as those in other countries, but hey, we'll see what I can make out of things we have laying around this part of the globe ey?

So, take your time, stay a while and make yourself at home.