Grandmother's garden patchwork project

I am eager to try Grandmother’s garden patchwork project for so long.  So far I have been looking for shape of bags that is suitable for my new patchwork project.  Finally I decided to make bucket bag for this type of patchwork.  I have been choosing my fabrics these few days.  I think vintage floral fabrics will be very suitable for my new project. Here are my selections of fabrics.  What do you think ?

Sunbonnet Sue Round basket bag pattern in my Etsy !

19/11/2014, started working from early in the morning 

Finally, I managed to pull myself back to the working mood again, my heart was still with Paris last week. 

Ok, I finally appliqué the other side of my new project.  It’s a cozy house with heartwarming trees.  I am not going to appliqué the front road or the field this time, I think I want to embroider a little details here.  Am still trying to think hard for the embroidery details I want to present the field.  Will see  !

20/11/2014, Shopping day !!!

I just want to stop from work, if not, i am afraid I may become anti-social lady soon, i am just too addicted to working.  My husband encouraged me to go shopping to relax myself, yeah, I guess he reminded me that I haven't been doing any shopping for so long. So am sneaking out for some shopping.

I love Kinokuniya bookstore, sometimes I can just stand there and reading the books for many hours.  There are just too many books to read !  Am adding up these 3 books for my library collection.  I think I have more books than clothes compared to other ladies.  Is it normal ?? 

21/11/2014, Done with my quilting !

Finally, all the quilting details are added to my project.  Hmmm... it's just so romantic !  Time to bind them together 

  < ---- excited, excited !!

About Anne Story Quilt original digital pattern file available in my Etsy now ^U^

Hello, everybody

Story Quilt About Anne cute tote bag digital pdf sewing pattern is available in my Etsy shop now.

The digital pattern is in photo illustrated step-by-step instructions.  I will guide you through almost every step, at the same time, I also use a more error proof way to help you through your sewing process. All you need to do is to understand every step and take it to your own pace.  Apart from making a beautiful bag for yourself or your love ones, you will surely enhance your quilted bag making skill from my pattern too.

If you wish to find out more about this pattern, please check out my Etsy shop or by clicking on the photo below.

If you are interested to purchase this pattern, please feel free to email me at 

StoryQuilter@gmail.com

or visit my Etsy shop at the link below. 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/storyquilt

Weekend is coming soon, so any special plan ?  Enjoy your weekend ^v^

New Tote bag , About Anne, of green gable ? Maybe ^v^

The moment of truth has come !  Finally my bag project is completed.

It’s the story about little Anne , of green gable ? Maybe.  I remember this scene in this story book where Anne was sitting by the plain field waiting for the someone from the big houses to pick her up.  The view is pretty soft and pure.  I just love it and immediately started designing this handbag.

This is the result of my tips of making applique bag.  Please feel free to read my tips at the link below.  I hope my tips can help you make beautiful applique bags.  You will surely be so proud of your works for sure.

http://storyquilt.blogspot.com/search/label/when%20making%20applique%20bag

*** Note :  The pattern for this bag will be available in my Etsy shop soon.  Please feel free to visit my Etsy shop at the link below.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/StoryQuilt?ref=l2-shopheader-name

The handbag measurement :

Measurement of this bag
Height - 17.5 cm
Width (body)– 26 cm
Width (top zipper area) 11 cm
Width ( bottom) 12.5 cm 

handles  approximately 37 cm

Front / back of the bag

Closer look at my hand stitched applique

The other side of the bag with little Anne 

waiting patiently for someone to pick her up

The bag can also be a decorative item for your book rack too ^v^ ( I really love this idea)

Side of the handbag

I hope you like my work, have a good week ahead ^v^ 

**The bag is sold out immediately after it is launched **  ^v^  

Home sweet home wall hanging / mini quilt

As always, my projects started from sketching like this, from smaller pieces of paper to bigger and bigger one until finally coming to the real pattern stage. 

This is a Home Sweet Home project for our new home soon.  I am now in the middle of gathering fonts for the applique …. Besides that, I will add little 3 D candies applique for this project.  I am experimenting the technique now … ^V^

Hopefully the project will end up as what I wished for... wish me luck   (^o^)

30/9/2013, sunny day, 5:45 pm

I stuck half way while sketching out the design of this Home Sweet Home mini quilt.  I was struggling to decide on the details I am going to put in for this little quilt.  A little change in decision will make the following design to have a lot to amend.

 Finally I decided to choose the fabrics for the words first rather than bothering too much about the layout and detail first.  I know half way through I will surely have something to amend.  My main decision now is what kind of style should I use for my quilt, whether it is chic, country, elegant or Victorian etc.  Taking a look at my renovated new home, I will choose something floral and comfortable design, I like it nature and easy feeling in my living room. 

Few hours to choose fabrics ….. matching ... figuring out , throw out unsuitable ones ….. finally come to decide the fabrics I want for my quilt ^v^

It is a good idea for you to cut out small pieces of fabrics and match it to your background fabric.    Using this way, you won’t waste too much wrongly matched fabric.

Here are my chosen fabrics for my mini quilt today.  I am so excited to sew them to my mini quilt and see the result tomorrow .

(waiting for tomorrow to come **)

   

My Wedding Ring Quilt was featured in Sewmamasew's blog.

WOW !!  My wedding Ring Quilt was featured in Sewmamasew's blog yesterday.  This is such an encouragement to me.



Fantastic feeling this morning !!

My wedding ring quilt

Finally finished, my wedding ring quilt.  I remember I brought along those pieces and sewed them in Leeds, UK last year.  Going to hang this cheerful ring in my living room in Kuala Lumpur on my next trip back home. 



Apple core patchwork

It's so great to come back to Malaysia, I can access to blogspot whenever I want. I haven't been able to update anything for the past few months, staying in china really has lots of restrictions. While in china, a lot sites were banned, blogspot, youtube, facebook etc, I wonder why is the reason.

Here's my latest work. Currently I am working on 3 other projects at the same time. Hopefully I am able update before I leave for china again.

Sunbonnet sue multipurpose pouch

I brought this project back to my home town and thinking that I was able to complete it on time. I was wrong, I just got to complete it today <*shame but I have a good reason for slowing down, again, my neck problems. I have been working very hard to complete my projects and some orders this two years, it is actually not good for my health. Long hours looking down stitching the projects has cause injury to my neck. I started to feel dizziness and my hands and legs feel like electrified when i look up. I was very worry and immediately sick help at one of the hospitals in Shanghai. After the X-ray, I totally understand the big problem at my neck. Currently I am going through few sessions of therapy to adjust the neck bones and muscles back. I feel blessed because I detected this problem earlier because problem like this could end up very serious injury if not treated properly. So for those craft addicts like me, please make sure you do stretching and relax every 30 minutes, avoid long posture.

23/2/09


Slowly, I tried to stitch the pieces for the background and applique of Sunbonnet Sue. Next, the basting took place followed by the quilting. Then stitch the two sides together to make it an oval shape.


4/3/09



About to complete soon. It has been raining for almost 4 days in Shanghai, so cold.....

I need to stitch the bottom of my pouch. It is important to adjust the bottom to fit nicely to body of the pouch, so use any many needles to pin it as you can.

Everybody can make a bag, the only difference is the how a person take good care of every single detail. When 'shaping' the bag, pinning up every pieces carefully is important or your bag will look clumsy.

oops, it's almost 11pm, got to sleep now.


8/3/09

I didn't touch the pouch for the past few days. Today, I managed to bias straped the bottom and the top only. I need to avoid looking down until my neck problem recovers.



12/3/09
Finally, I finished this one already !!! YEAH !!!!! Though a bit slow, I am still very happy to see the result. Oh, I found that the back is too plain, so i added something myself :p




Back view


inner view


Now i can relax and eat already.

Sunbonnet sue casual bag

Country Style wall hanging patchwork project

This is supposed to be my beginner level project but I didn't managed to complete it until after almost a year later, I started to remember I still owe my instructor something.

This project is supposed to have 25 pieces of love applique but I decided to cut down to a few pieces. I finished sewing up the pieces into a bigger piece today. Right now I am locating the suitable fabric for the border. I guess I should be able to complete this project by end of the week (hopefully)... (11/11/2008, 3:00pm) It's time to design Maggie's bag now.

4/12/08, I finally completed my work, so happy, I can enjoy a few days break from now on.


14/11/2008, 1:42pm
I am still working on the border and the applique charaters today. While working on this project, I also work on my intermediate project at the same time. Right now I have the last piece of block pattern to complete, then I am half way to completing my course already. YES!




4/12/08, 10:30 am, I finally completed my project. I can take few days break from now on :D, hehe...


Take a look at my hearts

Hexagon, nine patch

I decided to choose color blend more towards red brown this time. I think I must have wrongly prepare the pattern this time, the size of the hexagon is actually smaller than the actual project pattern. I only got to realise it yesterday. Otherwise I would have finished patching by yesterday :<. I am more than half way through now. I should be able to complete it today. :> (6/11/08)

Casual bag

I haven't been writing blog for sometimes. Blogger was having some problem for the past few weeks.

I made this bag before going back to Malaysia. I remember I was still sewing the bag while in Kuala Lumpur(my hometown is in East Malaysia). Rather than rushing to simply complete this project, I prefer to sew it to perfection. This is a gift for my sister. After seeing past projects, she must have gained some confident about my work, that's why she kept asking me in very polite manner if i could make a very simple bag for her. She finally got it.

Like a little school girl, she quickly walk around my little hometown showing off her bag to her friends. At first she was quite disappointed because her friends didn't know how to appreciate patchwork bags and they don't even know the value of handmade item. My sister never show her bag again to her friends after that. But few days later, she became noisy again because a few friends from very rich family background spotted her bag. They love this bag so much and envy that my sister was able to have one so easily. One of the friends even asked me to make a pouch for her and she was willing to pay a good price for it. I was not willing to accept the order in the beginning but my sister kept advising me to take this opportunity. It may be a little career for me who knows.

Right now I am sourcing for the suitable design and pattern. Am thinking of making Sunbonnet Sue this time but not confirmed yet.

Husband's bag

This is my second project for Intermediate level. Collecting the fabrics were such a hassle cause during that time, most of the beautiful fabrics were out of stock. I went to a few fabric stores around here to collect fabrics I wanted at the same time waiting for the new stock to arrive. that's the main problem of learning patchwork in Shanghai. We always know that most of the fabrics were made in China but you will be surprised that it's really really hard to get nice quality fabrics within China, this is because most of the nice quality stuff are meant for export. how strange right ?

It took me 2 weeks to complete this bag. I gave for my husband as a gift cause he is my main sponsorship for this course .
At least this should cover his mouth for not complaining me buying too many fabrics that stock up our reading room now. :>

Notebook bag

Marks the beginnng of my intermediate level. A bit regret I didn't take the the photos of each stage of making this bag. Any way, take a look at the inner view of the bag. The center compartment is for notebook and paper. This bag is suitable for small notebook, definitely a good choice for ladies.

Teddy pouch

While trying to complete my beginner projects, I still find time doing small pouches to relax my fingers. Did I say that ? Yes, fingers. Remember that all my projects are 100% hand stitched. When making big projects, and especially when the layers of fabrics are thick, my fingers can really get hurt. I remember I suffered thumb injury for almost a month. During that period, I feel like I was going through "detoxing" period. Like some of my coursemates said, "patchwork is like an addiction, if you don't sew a few stitches in a day, you feel so lost". I totally agree with this coursmate of mine.

As a result, when I want to relax my fingers, I will do small project like pouches, handphone casing just to make the day more meaningful.

The cotton fabrics were from Japan, called sakizome momen. The color for sakizome momen may look dull but after completing a project, you will be surprised that it turns the project into very special country like look, this end up producing very long lasting effect as well.