At last.....

......I finished the Drunkard Path quilt! Yay!! I pieced the top many, many moons ago...actually I can't remember when I started ....I think in the early 1990's and have kept it until now! Well, I did begin this year with the resolution to complete this quilt and ta-da.....it's FINISHED!  

Ok....I confess that it's not a quilt in the true sense, as I did not use batting.....only the front and the back and  in our hot weather, it will be enough for cover up on a cool night!! *grin* Another confession.....the curves are not really pieced, but appliqued using a full circle on a square, then cut into quarters and pieced in the drunkard path design! Anyway, I'm happy that this quilt is completed at last!!

PS. Found out that this is my 100th post!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I have been MIA for sometime - a very unexpected thing happened in 2012 which I shall not delve here!

Anyway, I just want to wish everyone that 2013 will be full of SUNSHINE and RAINBOWS! 

Sneak peek of a quilt I hope to complete in 2013 - the backing is laid; just need to sew the border. 
BTW.....the challenge for the coming NNC Anniversary meet is FABRIC House set by our esteemed headmistress, MW! And I'm pleased to say, I have completed ! *wink* I have also completed the Gift Exchange to go together with the Fabric house. Unfortunately, I can't show the pictures at this time yet! 

Those DARN birds!

We at NNC celebrated our 5th Anniversary last Saturday (14th April 2012). It was held at one of the member's house in Sg. Long, Selangor. Like previous years, we had the gift exchange and a challenge issued by our madam headmistress aka MW. This year's challenge was to make a BIRD, not an owl or a chick! And it started a avalanche of complaints....there were many cute owls out there in cyberspace and fairly easy to construct, and the members were sooooo...tempted to make one for the challenge, until MW threatened to confiscate any owls/chicks submitted during the meet ......thus the members meekly made their birds. Look at these awesome creations.......

Veroncia (winner again). Her bird is actually a pouch and pockets underneath the wings!

Bee Ee (centre - pink)
Diane from USA (left-green)
and I don't remember whose is on the right.

Lillie

This one literally flew in...... from Shanny who reside in Switzerland.

Sally (made with over 500 pieces of paper)

Zarina - so delicately tatted

Jo - a coin purse

Mel

The very popular Angry Bird crocheted by Usha.
No. 12 by Radha (who unfortunately could not attend)
and the beakless one by Vivian.

by moi

Don't you agree that this is an amazingly talented group of ladies? There are some birds which I couldn't photograph as my camera battery was about to go flat towards the end part of the meet. :(

Write-up of the meet can be found here and here

Week 7 & 8

I'm a bit behind in this stitching.........*sigh*

Here is Week 7 and I used the HDT again by Zarina

This is Week 8 - this one was a challenge as I used metallic thread (DMC), and it keeps breaking so I had to used short lengths! However, I'm quite happy with the final effect as it looks like a chain!

Coming up.....Week 9 - Couching (not my forte, though!)

Friendship Bag Exchange

This is the first swap for 2012 at NNC. My partner was Usha who is an expert at crochet and this is her first attempt at sewing a bag.....and she hand-sewed this very pretty draw-string bag. Furthermore, she also embroidered the two hearts (using the chicken scratch technique) and appliqued it onto the bag.
Besides making and sending the bag to our partners, we have to fill up the bag with stash which we think our partner would like to have, and Usha sent me some very nice stash which I definitely can use! Thanks, Usha!

In return, I made this bag for her. I followed the tutorial here.

TAST - Week 6

Stitched on Aida 16 with DMC perle #8 and a wee bit of DMC #80

DOODLING

In between of stitching, I participated in a free online workshop called Doodles Unleashed: Mixed Media Techniques by Traci Bautista. Below are my attempts to be an artist! lol What I doodled were only from Week 1 - 3. Week 4 requires one to add a face which I do not have the courage to do yet. Maybe, later......

TAST - Week 5

It's week 5 of the TAST. I stitched this on Aida 16 using DMC Perle no. 8.

Here are all the 5 weeks pieces:

TAST - Week 4

This is the first time I make this stitch. I have to watch some videos before I figured out how to sew it and the design came out pretty nice especially the 'closed' Cretan stitch done on the hearts. I particularly liked the centre criss-cross! The open stitches were done randomly after seeing some samples of work by others.
It is clearly an experience in learning new stitches and using those that I've known to sew creatively! :)

TAST - Week 3

I decided to do a free-form stitching for this week's Feather Stitch. It is still ATC size stitched on cotton using a HDT by Zarina. I made a boo-boo - I wanted to wash away the water soluble blue ink and then realized that the colour of the thread had run after the put the piece under the tap! :( ......so please excuse the blotches on the piece!

YEAR OF THE DRAGON 2012

TAST - Week 2

Stitched on Aida #16.
Words & purple heart - DMC Perle #8
The buttonhole stitch is done using a hand-dyed thread (by the seaside) by Zarina.

New Challenge

I took up a new challenge ~ TAKE A STITCH TUESDAY 2012 this year....for the next 52 weeks I will be stitching the stitches posted here.

For the first week which began on 3rd January 2012, it was the FLY STITCH. I have never seriously used this stitch before in any of my craft/embroidery work, but when I started to work with it and looking at the other stitched samplers, I realized that it can be varied and the variations made interesting patterns!

Week 1 - Fly Stitch 2.5" x 3.5"

stitched on Aida #16 using DMC Perle #8
except for the dark green using 4 strands of floss.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

Red & Green

Lillie sent me this cute snowman with the cute card.

Lee Fun and I were discussing about some crafters giving the empty toilet paper roll holder a new lease of life and this is my version......

....the big tag is also recycled - a tag from some clothes I bought. I covered with a pretty candy wrapper and the smaller tag is a 'cheat' from some papers I got free from a magazine.

Enjoy!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

Paper Art

Below is a private ATC swap with a friend and her daughters:

.......and she even made a booklet so that I can store the cards. :)

MOOS....is basically a narrow card that is 1 inch x 3 inches. I participated in this exchange with a Yahoo group and the theme was Christmas as we were to swap the cards before mid-December! And since it was for Christmas, we were requested to add a string, ribbon or whatever that will enable us to hang it on our tree! :)

Wishing all a very joyous CHRISTMAS & peaceful NEW YEAR!

This is so pretty.......

When I saw these here and here; I wanted to make some too! So I got some giant paperclips and took out my box of ribbons - and voila.......

Thank you for coming by!

ALL HALLOW'S EVE......

&

Thank you for visiting!

Mug Rug Reveal (Part 2)

Now that my other partner has received her mug rug, I can show it here. I used the same wonky word technique as the other mug rug. Guess what Astrid likes to drink? :)


After waiting for sometime, and giving my partner sleepless nights whether her package will arrive safely - I finally received my mug rug all the way from Swissy land. Shanny calls herself a beginner where sewing is concerned, but look at what she sewed for me! The mug rug is reversible and she used different techniques on each side!

Seminole piecing & FMQ

(I have not tried this piecing technique before and I've been sewing for a long, long time......)

Machine applique & hand embroidery (steam coming out of the mug)
This side is so yummy!

Thank you, Shanny! You have done a great job! :)

When Shanny came home to visit her parents last May and we had our NNC Bee to coincide with her visit, I gave her a mug rug. (She was not my partner for the swap; even though I did give my other partner her piece during the same Bee! See the earlier post)

Crazy patchwork

Outline quilting & crocheted edges directly onto the piece.

A is for.......

ANTIQUE TILE
These blocks turn out rather pretty, but unfortunately it is not a quilt filmsy. They are for a block swap 2011 at NNC and will be going out to the various participants soon. In return, I will be getting a similar pair in different colour way!

ATC
I took part in a fabric ATC exchange with one of my fave theme - CUPCAKE! This is my piece that went to Canada:

Unfortunately, my piece from my other partner in Holland went MIA. However, she is so kind that she will be replacing it. (will post pic when I receive it)