Monday, October 30, 2006

Beating the Plateau

I needed to be real sure that I've dipped under my weight plateau. And for 2 straight weeks it has. So this gives me renewed resolve to get to my target of 55kg (121 lbs) by Christmas! It should be doable since the weighing scale says I need only to zapp another 1.5kg (3.3 lbs) of lard. I am certain this happy circumstance is due to my increased cardio times and serious weight routines. And the flood of endorphins after a workout...I feel gooooooddd! :)

On the stitching front. I'm bringing my new resolve to completing all my WIP's BEFORE starting anything new. Gonna make a clean break by New Years. I'm got some stitching lined-up already for 2007!

This is what I've been working on. 18ct aida, tea-dyed by moi. 1999 Santa by Prarie Schooler.


Comment Notes:

Thanks Nik, Vonna and Cindy for coming by, ask away if you have any questions. And Vonna those snowmen noses must have been mighty cute! :)

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Mini Button Tips

As per Eileen's request :)

The buttons were made from polymer clay. Many brands in the market available namely Super Scupley, Premo Sculpey and Fimo.

1. Cut a piece of clay from the block, condition it i.e. roll it, fold it, squish it, till it's pliable like dough.
2. Do this on a ceramic tile, so no lint will gather on the clay.
3. If you want marbled buttons like I did, work No 1 & 2 in another colour.
4. Roll each colour into logs.
5. Twist both the colours around each other.
6. Fold, roll into a log, fold again, etc until the desired effect is reached.
7. Do not work No 6 too much as the colours will merge and will pass the marbled stage.
8. Finally roll into a log and use a ruler to measure even sized pieces and slice with a sharp blade.
9. Roll the clay between your palms, this should produce an almost perfect round bead.
10. Lay the clay onto a piece of tile and press them down with your finger, it will spread.
11. Use a needle/sharp object and make 2 button holes, ensure the needle touches the tile
12. Work Nos 9-11 until log is finished.
13. Bake in convectional oven, on 150 deg C for 20 mins. DO NOT MICROWAVE.
14. Let it cool and remove from tile.
15. You might need to poke the buttons again to ensure there is a hole big enough for threading.

Good reference is Polymer Clay Central, loaded with tutorials and much more.

Happy claying!

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Finished bourse

Thank you Joanie for your excellent instructions on how to make a bourse. I just had to try it, but without any stitching, just a bourse to carry my tatting projects.

I used a silky, flimsy fabric and hence it is not sturdy. For sturdy construction I will consider a piece of interface between the fabrics. Maybe for my next bourse ;) I did not sew a channel for the cord on mine, the buttons are holding the cords. However with a stitched inner piece a channel will be preferred. The results are fabulous and the possibilities of contrasting fabrics are endless. Thanks again Joanie for sharing.

Bourse - closed

Bourse - open, spilling with some tatting stuff :)

Comment Notes:

Randi
Thanks, hmmm personality of their own?...never thought of it that way...

Vonna
Thank you for dropping by

Lillie
Thank you, you'd think they were some jelly beans huh?

Eileen
OK, I will look into a tiny tutorial on making some buttons soon.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

So much for planning

Who was I kidding? Stitching on 22ct was ultra difficult, so I abandoned that idea and am now tea-dyeing a piece of 18ct aida for tonights stitching pleasure ;)

On a polymer note. I made a bunch of buttons as requested by a board member. I am 'supplying' to her for her onward sale on eBay. I think it's a comfortable arrangement. I get my $$ and she get hers. These were the "contraband" that was confirmed by an email ;)

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Better Button

I think this is better than the previous button but as in everything it can be improved ;)


Last night I completed some smalls and was very happy when I started striking off my to-do list. Sam and Jake's teddies are completed, and now there's just the finishings to go. Need to mail them by mid next month if I want it to reach Randi in NY before Christmas!

After seing so many ornaments in so many blogs I wanna stitch one too. So tonight it'll be The Prarie Schooler Santa 1999. I've tea-dyed a smallish piece of 22ct hardanger for it this morning...ah planning... comes in handy ;) But you will notice it's not on my to-do list :P Maybe I should start a 'I just need to stitch this' list :D

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

An LK Finish

I've finished Friends & Family, kinda got it out of my system :) I made that pointsettia button too, but I'm not too happy with it. I want to make another later with crimson, that'll be more realistic. So I shall strike Friends & Family off my list but I might want to stitch another ;)


Note: Thank you Margaret and Vonna for you kind comments. I want to try to make more buttons, kinda fun really.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Slow week up ahead

It's the holidays here and everyone is going at a snails pace, just chilling. I've got a tonne of work to plough through this holiday week but we're not too interested in that now are we?

Not much is going on the stitching front. I've managed to put in some stitches on LK's 'Friends & Family', coming along nicely, could have finished it if not for work :S Got the idea to use Rustico as the fabric from Nik's blog. Since I bought the chart 'second-hand' it did not come with the poinsetta button. I wanna make my own from polymer clay, so that should be interesting.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Good News and Bad News

We'll start with the bad news. The Pashmina shawl man wasn't at Pasar Malam last night...sigh. Maybe I went early because it was threatening to rain, maybe he's on Raya leave already. Hope he comes back to peddle his wares the Monday after the holidays.

Now the good news. Lizzie Kate's 'Bless our Home' is framed. Not for me though, for a friend that's going to shift into a new house this year end. Gotta stitch another for her sister and another for poor moi. Oh my, I think I've got my money's worth for this chart!


And the SHS...very slow progress. I am working on smalls lately so the lady has to take a back seat for a little while longer.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

3 down 2 to go

It's been a productive weekend. Here's my 3rd completed stitching for the MYS 5 Mini Challenge. Gonna be finished into a photo book later. It's a freebie from With My Needle.


I was stitching the Sara Hathorne Sampler by Hesters Needle last night and realised there was something amiss. The instructions were not very clear. So I stoped stitching and emailed Janie Applebaum. She replied very promptly this morning and I got my doubts cleared. There are some mistakes in the instructions for Band # 1, so for those who want to attempt the SHS please email her for the corrections or comment here and I'll explain it further.

I quickly set upon frogging some work I did last night, so that I can start stitching and not frogging tonight :)

Reply Comment to Nik:
I think you've got a different one, one that is more squarish with words all around a house I believe.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

2 down 3 to go

This is a small freebie from Atelier. Stitched this with DMC 115 courtesy of my group member Aw. I've kept the thread for some months not knowing how to utilise it to it's full potential until now. I would have never known the beauty of this thread if not for your generosity Aw. Thanks so much.

It's gonna be finished into a box but that'll be later. The framers called to say my LK 'Bless Our Home' is ready for collection. Can't wait till Monday evening :)



Friday, October 13, 2006

A Mini Semi-Finish

I finished Mr Buzz last night. I should correct that, I finished STITCHING Mr Buzz last night. It's a design by Bent Creek called Dance of the Bumblebee. He's such a cutie. His smile is so infectious.

I need to wash the piece, attach the charm and get it framed. Only then will it be a finished piece according to the rules :) I am gonna recycle some frames that I have with pieces I do not care for anymore. This one is about 10 years old which frames a paper-tole piece of Winnie The Pooh. I can't believe it's been so many years since those lessons. How time goes by so quickly when you're having fun...crafting :)

See how he smiles!

The frames a little knocked up, but it sure adds to it's rustic appeal!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

A tatting we will go

Thanks to Roz who introduced a link to Kersti's on the tatting board ShuttlesandNeedles. It had many many nice designs which I feel at home with. And which I can see myself tatting more from. It had patterns with simple designs, not too advanced which were rather appealing for me.

Diyana tatted the Sweet Heart bookmark prior and I thought well it was...sweet. So here's my version done on DMC 80 Special Dentelles. Was rather quick to tat up, just over an hour during lunch and what do you know!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Buttons & Charms

I did some baking this evening...the polymer kind. I had some canes that I made a long time ago so all I did was sliced them up, poked holes into them and baked em! I didn't realise I have so many other canes that I could make into buttons. I have some translucent canes and I'd want to make them into heart pendants, a method pioneered by Elissa Powell

So these are my results, the ladies look so pathetic don't they? They were suppose to smile :( Don't really know what to do with them, pendants? earings? I dunno...I'll just give it away and let the recipient figure it out ;)


And these are some buttons, the red ones are glow-in-the-dark. They actually do!