Burlap Christmas Cutlery Holder

Just two days before Christmas I went to a Flea Market and there I bought vintage silver-gold cutlery which was perfect for our planned Christmas Äretun gathering.  I got vintage silverware from my DMIL.  It was hers given during their wedding day and the whole set was super elegant - white with gold sidings and gold small flowers on the side.  Anyway, when I got home I hurriedly looked for my green burlap and started sewing cutlery holders.  I accentuated each holder with poinsettia which I patiently removed one by one from an old wreath.  Aside from the vintage cutlery I bought at the flea market, I bought different colors of band with tassel effect but for this particular project I used the white one.   I'm not really good in sewing but what the heck! I love how it turned out given that it was a last minute project.

 Here's the process:

 Yup, that's our very old dog, Kasper.  He always wants mamma =)

Fray the edges =)

Adhere the plastic poinsettia flowers using a glue gun =)

That's it!

Organizing my Used/Unused DMC and Anchor Threads

It has been more than a decade since I just kept my unused and used threads for cross-stitching in freezer bags.  The only effort I did was to segregate it by color then shoved it in a plastic container.  Not good!  You can't blame coz I have stopped cross-stitching when I moved to Sweden year 2001.  While I was in the Philippines I have done a dozen or more of cross-stitching projects but my interest changed after giving birth to my son.  In my mind I have planned and planned to sort and organized those threads but no effort exerted BUT finally I have done it, yippie!!!!

 For the unused DMC and Anchor threads, I opted to use left-over negative sheets and it works just fine.  Hhhmmmm my DMIL told me that she will give a lot of such threads next Saturday.  Oh boy!  I guess I have to think of another way how to organized those threads.  For now or should I say for this week I will let it be just as it is =)

Re-Upholster : High Round Chair

What's your very first project/challenge for 2013?

As for me, it was really a difficult one!  Why?  I'm not good in sewing because I can only do the basics BUT how can I say NO to my everdearest hubby, right?   The look in his eyes when he requested it sparkled with "I really believe you can do it, honey".  Whew!  Really?  Me?

Oh well, there's a first time for everything!

Story behind:

While we were at work and I was having my lunch break, he came in at the kitchen with a chair and says that it's perfect while he plays one of his guitars.  He found it somewhere and wants it.  In my mind I felt that NO WAY he's gonna sit on that chair.  I went home early and lo and behold he took home the chair.

Here's the sit of the high chair  after he removed it from the base:

 EEEeeeeeewwwww!!!!

The very same day he took home the high chair, I began working on it.  We both decided that a camouflage is perfect coz he wants it to look tough!

Please remember that I'm not into sewing so the procedure I did is what came into my mind using my common sense for short.

1.  I did cut a circle using an ancient method hehehehehehehe

2.  Yup, I did cut another circle, a black fabric and pinned together before sewing.

 3.  Being half-ignorant in sewing, I used an ordinary thread to secure the cover and so when it was nearly at the end the thread broke.  Yes, I had to find the thread for upholstering.  I'm so glad that hubby inherited his grandma's sewing kit and in it are different threads ... and one of it is a thread perfect for my project.

 4.  Yipee!  I did it =)  I had to put on the cover while at the finishing stage coz I was securing the cover with thread and not a garter.  A thick thread is perfect because to secure the cover you will have to pull and oull the thread until it looks ruffled.  Here's how it looks like without the base yet.

 5.  And hubby is proud to have his high round chair newly covered!

 All in all, I can say that even if you are half-ignorant in sewing complicated items, with a little common sense, you will be able to re-upholster a round chair high or low!


 

Sewing Madness!

Sewing.  I admire when I see a lot of women who can sew anything under the sun at any given time.  When I look I drool and wishing that I can do that.  Hhhhmmm but I am not actually a hopeless case coz I can make curtains and pillow cases as simple as that.  When I say simple it really means just straight stitch but of course I try different stitches since hubby gave me an embroidery/sewing machine years ago anyway.  I don't think I will ever try the embroidery machine because I get intimidated but as the saying goes "Never say Never" .... who knows, right?

Obviously I'm an amateur when iy comes to sewing.  It takes a long process for me to finish a curtain.  Why?  I have to measure and cut .... then fold, iron, and pin .... then I have to make sure that everything is even.  I also have to take it easy when I start sewing coz I have the tendency to sew uneven sticthes.

Every change of season I sew new curtains for the whole house and yesterday was a nightmare.  My goal was to sew 6 curtains and 6 body pillow cases.  Guess what?  I finished 1/2 curtain the whole afternoon.  Oh but I did get to finish the other half two hours ago and the curtain is neatly hanged at our living room.

As for the rest, well, will do my best to sew all the body pillow cases tomorrow.

These are the only fabrics I was able to measure and cut.

 I fold ... iron a bit .... and pin!

Oh darn!  Something went wrong with the embroidery/sewing machine all because of my stupidity not to check clearly.  There goes the uneven stitches heheheehehehehehhe.  I had to sew 3 meters x2 ... can you imagine how long each is just for the living room?  I had to make sure that it has the same measurement.

I hope I have the energy and lust to continue tomorrow, my free day.

Never Underestimate the Weather

Darn!  I literally froze this afternoon all because I underestimated the weather this day.  From the inside the weather seems fine ... sun is shining bright and not much wind.  Thinking that it would be a great sunny weather like last week hitting 25 degrees, I just wore a leather jacket over.  Hubby took me to the church since it's been a habit of mine to do that every Monday, before going to work.  My morning session at work went fine and I was in fact looking forward for my lunch break coz hubby and I would eat at the restaurant every Monday before I continue with my activities for the rest of the day.

Lo and behold!  When hubby and I went out of the restaurant the weather was too cold!!!!  Aside from the fact that it's only 7 degrees, the wind comes from the north which I later found out when I got here at home :(  Hubby went home while I have to go to the gym for my 3x a week session.  Geez!  Instead of just window shopping for at least 30 minutes before I can actually begin my gym session, I had to buy a scarf and soft gloves.  It took me half an hour to find the right scarf and that's when it dawned on me that I should have brought the scarf I patiently made last February.  Well can't sulk much so at the end I grabbed a black soft scarf with tiny prints of flowers in orange and pink hues and sad to say no soft gloves available anymore.

Everything went fine at the gym and I enjoyed the heat from the bastu before taking the shower and head home.  While waiting for the bus I was literally freezing coz of course the scarves one can buy at the stores nowadays are thin.  When I got home I changed my clothes and wore the scarf I made ... which by the way while writing this I'm actually still wearing it hahahahahaahhahahahaha.

Here's the scarf I made and it's actually the very first scarf I ever made ... maybe the last =)

A Big Help From My PRYM Flower Loom

While everybody was celebrating Mother's Day last week, I on the other hand got busy nursing my son from Sore Eyes.  It was really a bad week coz it hurts when you see your son suffering especially when a child can't see clearly.  It drove me nuts coz he just had his chicken pox for a week then he was able to go to school for one week and then the sore eyes for one week.  Alas!  He is well and he's back to school =)

Joseph is a kind of boy that when he is sick he wants mamma 24/7.  When I say he wants mamma, it means I have to be with him ALL the time plus he wants mamma to hug him while he's sleeping or watching TV.  I get to ecape only when I have to go to the toilet or be in the kitchen and of course when he is really deep in his sleep.

DH knows that I'm trapped and he knows that I have to do something while I'm beside Joseph.  So he got home one day and bought me a Flower Loom.  When I saw his gift, I literally dropped my crochet hook and check the gift.  Yeah, I was crocheting during the first day Joseph got his sore eyes.  But the rest of the week, I got busy with my Prym Flower Loom.

Let me inform you about Flower Loom.  First of all Flower looms are a simple way of making many different types of flowers which you can use singly or join together to to make clothes and accessories or to decorate anything.  In my case I plan to use the flowers to decorate packages, summer hats, purses, scarves, paper crafts and many other things. Check out Joan's latest handmade card coz she embellished her card with a flower using a flower loom.  I have no time to create anything as far as paper crafting is concerned but will do that when my hands are not full here at home.

The most common looms are round plastic with one or two sets of pegs, one set on the outer edge and one around the middle and we don't have that here in Uppsala.
There are many varieties and brands; Ronco, Prym, Knifty Knitter, Studio Twelve, Crazy Daisy wheel. The looms come in different sizes so you can make large or small flowers. Larger looms have double sets of pegs. You can use the outer set of pegs only or both the outer and inner set of pegs. Mine is from PRYM and it's a round loom with interchangeable pegs so I can create different designs in different sizes. Although it's round I can still make square flowers.  You simply wind yarn around the pegs of the loom and then stitch through the yarns on the loom to tie together.

Using different materials like chunky or thin yarn, fluffy or variegated yarn, thread, ribbon, string, wire or straw in different colours is a blast.  Beads can also be added as you make your flower but was not able to do that during my first try. To create a fringe edge one just have to cut the loops. 

There are few sites about flower looms but it all depends on which brand you have or you plan to buy.  To give you an idea how my Prym Flower Loom looks like:

Here are the flowers I made while nursing Joseph:

These flowers are the biggest size I can make using my Prym Loom. 
Size 10cm in diameter

These are about 6cm in diameter and I used double pegs ... 3 rounds of looping and 2 rounds for the inner flower

My Square Flowers ... 6cm .... 4 loops

Using 3 layers of pegs .... using different weight of yarns looped 2x.... also size 6cm

My version of pompom flower hehehehehehehehe looped 7x to achieve the fluffiness

My mini flowers ... size 3.5cm .... double looped

Hehehehehehehehehe my latest batch of crocheted flowers which I did on the first day Joseph got his sore eyes.  It's not so pretty but I love the blending of colors =)

Entry #75 - NCM 2010 : Mini Cross-Stitch Project "Mini Blossoms"

This entry was posted at my Multiply site last 27 March 2010 as part of celebrating the National Craft Month.  Yup!  very late posting here :(

Here's what I've written that day:

It's Saturday and it means In-Laws day =D  Saturday is exclusive day for my in-laws and they always look forward to that coz aside from having Joseph with them for 2 to 3 hours, we all go to the grocery together then we eat lunch at their place.  I always cook food for them the night before and just bring it the next day for all of us to enjoy.  Not even a sale in the city can break this Saturday bonding moments with them hehehehehe.  Not even parties or dearest friends invitations can break this.  But of course when we are sick or they are sick then we can't go.

Every Saturday of this month, I bring my mini cross-stitch project and do it while we all have a cup of coffee and swedish pastries after lunch.  My DMIL is so good in crochet and cross-stitch, too.  My DFIL is so good in building things and oil painting.  I would always sit beside my DMIL and just do our needle work together.

Finally, this day I was able to finish my oh-so-mini cross stitch project while holding tears.  It was a big relief!!!!!  Clap, clap, clap hehehehehehehehehehehehehe Took more than a month to finish hihihihihihihi .... Thailand then Sweden =)

I know, I know it's not a clean project but it's a good start that I can slowly heal the wounds in my heart when it comes to cross-stitching.  I'm also kind'a disappointed with how it looks coz looking at my previous CS projects it sure has a big difference.

Crochet Dare !!!

10 April 2010

Joseph woke up with a slight fever and he stayed at home with his half-brother while I went with our usual Saturday grocery day.  Sad to say we were not able to have lunch at my in-laws which we always do every Saturday for 5 years now coz I have to rush home and be with Joseph.

Since Joseph wants mamma beside him all the time, I decided to take out the Crochet box I bought and dared to try.  Hhhhmmm, all i know about crochet is the chain stitch which we did during our elementary days at Holy Spirit (Cubao branch) in the Philippines hahahahahaha but the kit I bought was meant for 8yrs old above so I was kind'a successful doing some flowers which I know I can use when I do some layouts.  I say kind'a coz I have to learn to relax my hands when crocheting.  I was so stiff that it hurts at the end plus the stitches turned out to be too tight in some areas.

Here are my works but remember I'm a first timer =)

 The square project is just a trial and called "Single Crochet"
The mini flowers (top right pix) is called "Small Crochet Circles"
The next flowers (middle right pix) is called "Crocheted Flower Shape"
The last flower (bottom right pix) is called "Fancy Circle"

The Small Crochet Flowers didn't turn out the way it is as seen on the instruction manual but will try again next time.  Will also try "Fancy Square" if I have time.

Entry #47 - NCM 2010 : Sympathy Card

I made this card last March 13 but we were so in a hurry to see Swedish couple who are very close to us, Anders and Agneta. Agneta lost her mother due to cancer then a week after Anders father died of unknown illness. It was too much for all of us and I had a hard time creating this card since I was crying.

Obviously due to the situation I totally forgot to take a picture and show you but hehehehehehehehe I called her and ask if I can drop by and take a picture so it wil be included in my National Craft Month celebration. They live 10 blocks away and I don't mind taking a walk in this wet, cold, crazy weather we have today just to take a picture - yeah, yeah all for the love of crafting hehehehehehehehe.

Anyway, while I was searching for Joseph's Spiderman winter boots at the basement, I found my long lost cross-stitch project. I started doing this early part of 2000 but I never had the chance to finish it due to work then my dad got sick then he died. This is the last project of mine and never dared to finish it due to memories. Hhhhhhhhhmmmmm, maybe one of these years I will finish this project but first I have to finish that super small project I started while I was in Thailand ... remember? hihihihihihihi

Crafty Sanity While in Thailand

I miss my craft room and all the tools that goes with it. I'm not in the mood for any digital scrapping due to heat .... the beach ... the shopping .... and the food. In fact, I have no lust to update any of my sites like the usual way or chat with friends around the globe coz most of the time my little boy just wants to go out swimming so starting anything will totally be distracted anyway.

For emergency purposes, I packed a small cross-stitch project. I have been staring at it since we arrived at Phuket last Feb 7 and silently laughing at myself for bringing it with us. I have long give up CS for a decade due to painful memories that it brings. Well, I guess plunging into it once again will do no harm. When I say small project it's really small. I don't want to push myself creating a big one for a start ... again.

When days are really hot and Joseph is into watching films, I sit beside him and do cross-stitch. From time to time I need a breather coz tears would build up and I don't want my son to see my tears. If he does I know he will ask why and that's the part I'm trying to avoid. Explaining to him why will take a long time and I don't want him be affected by my memories.

Anyway, this day I'm so pissed off coz I did not bring some DMC threads and of course without those threads how can I ever finish my project. DMC thread is not available here coz I have searched around but maybe or should I say I bet in Bangkok they have. Going to bangkok is out of the subject coz i have to take a plane - 7am flight and have to be at the airport bt 5am! Taking the train alone all the way to bangkok will drive hubby nuts so all I can do is re-pack the project and hide.

What to do next? Well, finally I was able to buy the 4th book of Stephenie Meyers The Twilight Saga - "Breaking Dawn". Geez!, I so love Eclispe and Breaking Dawn. I have the habit of being transported to the books story and literally feel .. see ... taste what's being said. I guess I have a big crush on Edward hahahahahahahahahha. The truth is now I want to be a vampire only if I'm with the Cullen's especially Edward - maybe I can be Bella hahahahahahahahaha.

All books have been read and that reminds me of going back to Jungceylon down Patong and buy new books to read. That can wait coz tonight I will be cooking Thai food and Tum, a Thai woman who permanently resides here at Kalimbay will show me how. Yes, I know how to cook and would humbly say that a lot of people go over gaga with my meals but I want to see how Thai women cook meals upclose and personal.

We rode her motorcycle and went to the market for all the ingredients needed. In front of the market is an open shopping arcade and once again I was magnetized hahahahahaha. Both few clothes to my liking then off we went to the market.

We bought fish ... veggies ... shrimps .... shiitake mushroom ... spices =)

Dinner was served beside the pool, naturally. Our guests were coupe from Holland, Norway, us from Sweden, and of course Thailand.

Preparing the dinner was so easy coz just like my mom's cooking vegetables shouldn't be well cooked .... add Thai spices which by the way bought a lot to take home in sweden. We served shrimp soup ... steamed fish in lemon grass ... veggie with mushroom and cashew .... baked duck =)

What a lovely day and night!