Pancakes and Sifus - A Second Peek

I had cravings for pancakes lately, and so woke up really early today (my kind of early =P) to whip up some! They were such a flop! They did not rise fully, and were somewhat un-pancake looking. Nonetheless, I enjoyed dipping the "pancakes" into strawberry jam. Strawberry jam saves everything!

Hush, Sugar Rush sneak peek:

Coming from a Chinese ethnicity background, I grew up with some knowledge of Chinese stories/fairy tales. But I have to admit that my childhood books held little of those. My favourite books had always been Western-derived tales such as Alice in Wonderland and Red Riding Hood, two of which still remains my favourite today.

The student showing respect...

It is most probably due to the fact that I cannot read or write in Chinese. And most great books are written in the author's original language anyway. But when I have the opportunity to grab an English-translated Chinese storybook, I will take it. =)

...to his sifu

Hush, Sugar Rush - The Project

Time has always been so constrained. Opportunities to craft are scarce. These are to be blamed: Study and university! Currently, I am looking forward to the June/July holidays to fit in lots of intense crafting. But I am so eager to get on with at least one project now, and to keep this blog going with some crafty goodness.

My idea?
Project "Hush, Sugar Rush".

I love the idea behind this project, 'though it is still slightly sketchy. I have already started on it, and I have included a tiny sneak peek below! I promise to reveal everything, and the purpose behind this project as the weeks go by. Sneak peeks will be included!

Hush, Sugar Rush should be part of a birthday gift in Sept, which gives me plenty of time to finish it, in between studies and all. And I used "should be", as I am considering another option in parting with Hush, Sugar Rush once completed. An option which is more of a dreamy hope than anything else. And hopefully, a dream which will be (and can be!) realised soon. =)

I am so excited, and I hope you are too =).

Mushie Again?

I am going through some sort of mushroom mania. The fact is lots of people out there love mushrooms too! Owls, matryoshkas, birds and hedgies are hot items currently. But I have a sinking feeling that the phase is slowly passing through. I love those little cuties, but I guess I am open to new cute things =).

So these two fabrics are 2 of the 3 Japanese fabrics I have. I ♥ Japanese fabrics, but they are rare here. The two above was purchased from a seller on Trade Me (and yay for Trade Me!). And that's it - no other local based websites or brick-and-mortars carry kawaii Japanese fabrics. Auckland's a stranger to cute Japanese fabrics.

Because I love the fabrics so much, any plans with them must be done to perfection - dot the i's and cross the t's! No pressure at all! =P I would love to sew a pouch, but as of now, time does not permit me to do so =(. As a newbie to the sewing machine, I imagine it will take some time before I become with friends with the "zipper foot", "zipper" and what-nots.

And for now, I'll leave you with two of my weekend-snapped photos:

I was mingling with mushrooms in Devonport!

Fabric Flowers

This week has been such a rollercoaster! 4 hours of sleep per night and countless of cups-o'-coffee made me very jittery throughout the week. This should teach me not to leave assignments and essays till the very the last minute. =(

So, yesterday I decided to take a breather, and turned to some simple sewing projects. I had plans to make Heather Bailey's Yoyos for the longest time. I think they would look so lovely on a ponytail holder. And then I was reminded by Sew Mama Sew's post of the Jennifer Paganelli's Flower Power contest. The submissions for the contest are so awesome! I love the flower goodness. And while I knew I had practically zero chance in making something as good as those, I wanted to join in the fun. And I did =).

This was the first one I made using this lovely tutorial.

It probably makes one go "errrrmmm", when placed next to all those wonderful submissions! But I was so happy that fabric flowers are incredibly forgiving. I still have so much to learn about sewing (this is my second project using the sewing machine. Yes, I am afraid of that machine!), and I was worried that I would muck it up somehow.

Then, later at night, I simply had to try a second fabric flower tutorial! I tried this here and I added the felt leaves on =). I admit that the flower may not be so awesome here, but do visit the link to the tutorial, because the original flowers made are brilliant!

In addition to making the flowers, Sew Mama Sew requested that it be used or attached to something else. This was the difficult part! I could just sew flower after flower, and just collect them in a little jar! Hehe =D. But the more sensible thing to do, I thought, was to spread the flower-power love!
So I used the blue one to wrap my friend's 20th birthday gift (the celebration dinner was last night!). Seeing her face light up by that simple little flower was awesome! She's an architecture student, and she loves all things handmade.

The yellow one, is somewhat more dear to me. It's far from perfect, but I love how sweet the yellow comes out with the green leaves. This had to be used for something more special. And to me, nothing spells special but my little sister. She is currently going through a reading frenzy. This makes me so happy as I love books, and she has taken up to reading my library of childhood books.

Jane Eyre is one of my favourites. And this abridged version was given to me by mom when I was a child. It was actually gifted to her by her sister (whom is my aunt) in 1971! It's tatty and old, but so filled with sweet memories. I read it so many times, causing several pages to detach themselves from the spine.
The tradition shall be continued =). I wrapped Jane Eyre up in pink (my sister's favourite colour) tissue wrapper, ribbons and the flower. It is now waiting to board a plane with a family friend whom will visit my family soon =).

So the plan is to use fabric flowers from now on to wrap gifts =D! Now, I shall trot off to swoon at Jennifer Paganelli's latest fabrics, before facing the murderous law books!

Craft organisation

I am not organised (not at all, indeed!), I simply adore putting little things into bottles and jars!

I am a caffeine junkie. Coffee is my water. I'm not too fussed up with drinking only gourmet coffee. As long as it's yummy coffee, I'm all set for the day =). However, I do have a favourite - Robert Harris. It is the yummiest instant coffee E.V.E.R. sold in a supermarket. Okay, I may be exaggerating a little, but you get my point! =D
So, I have many coffee jars of which I reuse as craft supply jars. Those which cannot fit into those quite-mini-ish jars are placed into spaghetti sauce bottles (these ones are rarely saved as supply jars as the icky pasta sauce smell can never be rid of!)

And recently, I have been using plastic strawberry jam jars to keep ribbons in.

I am delighted with how the pictures taken by my phone camera are turning out. In the past, I have frequently pooh-paah(ed) the quality of pictures taken using camera phones (compared to a normal digital camera). Mine was especially yucky. But not anymore!

It has yet to disappoint me, although photos of big items are obviously no-nos. And I am still waiting for the USB cable to arrive. Tsk.

For now, it is an excellent substitute for my Panasonic camera. =)

Daiso, the Japanese haven

I love Daiso.

I have found cute deco tapes, porcelains, zakka fabrics and even those rare make-your-own-fabric-buttons there. The layout of the store, however, is not the best. Items tend to spill out from cardboard boxes, and porcelain plates and bowls tether treacherously from weak-looking shelves. And there are A4 posters plastered all over the entrance, displaying faces of shoplifters. Obviously, the interior is hardly as cute as they items that they carry.

Items are a little pricey as well. And lately, the store increased the prices, which was hugely disappointing to my Daiso-loving friends and I. So I browse, but I hardly make a purchase. =D

But today! Well, today was different! A purchase, or rather, 3 purchases had to be made!

Some yummy-looking felt. Love the colours. But I was pretty disappointed as pink was no where to be found. The lovely girl behind the counter saw how much I wanted pink (well, I was pretty crestfallen =D ). So she spent some time checking the inventory shipment details on a rather slow computer, and informed me that new shipment will be coming in mid-May! Eeeeekkk! Pink polka dot felt, here I come!

And on the very same day, with polka dots swirling in my mind, I got red Twinkle Toe sockettes with black polka dots. Actually, I got 3 pairs: One for me, one for my sister (which one of the two sisters, one may ask. Well, they may argue amongst themselves to get that pair) and one for a lovely friend...

Note: If you think there is something rather strange with my right foot, well, you are right! I hurt my foot sometime ago, and it's always swollen, with a capital S.

Piecushion

This is a pincushion which I made earlier this year.

It's simply a ball sitting on a Richard Gordon porcelain pie dish. The dish was found at a thrift store a year ago. It was in pristine condition, and I fell in love with the pastel green colour (my favourite colour by the way!). It's stamped "Cutie Pie" at the bottom. A cute play on words!

I thought the fabric choice was most appropriate! The wonderful combination of colours makes me happy =).

Mushies!

So I admit that I have a strange obsession with mushrooms! As long as they are cute and yummy-looking, my heart will melt.

This one is made of felt, and took quite some time (in the early hours of the morning) to complete.

It is capable of being loved and hung! =D Its tushi has a heart-shape red felt sticking on it. Hehe.

I have yet to name this little mushie. No definite name right now, but somehow "Bubblehead" keeps popping up in my own head!

And this is a better photo of my tiny matryoshka, Parsley!

Completed using the sewing machine (I am proud of myself for working it out! =P), and its face is handsewn.

They are not perfect, but I love how adorable they look to me!

I am quite easily pleased =)

Parsley the Paisley

It has been incredibly frustrating not being able to upload photos into the computer. I am still waiting for the USB cable to arrive from overseas. And just today, I finally decided to turn to my mobile and its camera.

I used the 'solarize' function to cover up the poor quality of the 'ordinary' setting.

Well, well, well!
It didn't turn out too bad! =)
My beloved matryoshka plushie. It's the creation of a rough sketch and an intense love for matryoshkas!

I am so in love with its blushing cheeks.

If I had to name her, it would be "Parsley". Just because it is made from paisley fabric, which well, sounds like parsley =P.

Far Far Away, At a Distant Land

... There Are Beautiful Fabrics to Be Explored, Seen and Loved...

I have always adored Heather Ross' fabrics.
I think they are simple, but always so adorable! How can something so ordinary like a bicycle or a caravan make me smile?

The key is being adorable!

The gnomes are making my heart melt!

Mind you, I have none of her fabrics. I have toyed with the idea of getting a credit card or Paypal to source for fabrics overseas. But at the moment, being a student presents a slight problem with that...

And now, her newest design is out, and hitting U.S. Etsy stores.
And being sold like hot cakes.
And I continue to admire at a distance, far far away...
Quite a distance I should say, considering that I live all the way on the other side of the world, Far Far Away!
So don't mind me while I sit in front of the computer monitor, salivating all over the keyboard. The computer hardware is probably going to shoot some sparks soon. =D