She's growing....

First, the good news: the zoo safari dress is DONE!

I just love the little pop of zebra print!

And I also love the red flower buttons (bought from Antiq Rose in Chinatown -- in the same building as the hawker centre and fabric shops).

Oh, and my darling little monkey likes the dress as well. BUT ...

... it is too small for her. Sigh. I'm going to make her another, in a larger size.

The "zoo safari" dress - progress in pics

Progress has been made on both the quilt and the "zoo safari" dress!

This time, instead of sewing only when I have a chunk of time to do so, I've sewn in little snippets at a time. It seems to help and I don't feel like I'm so behind on projects. Cutting out has to be done when the little monkey is not around, though, as she's too curious about what I do and loves nothing better than to snatch fabric away from me ("for my babies, mammy," she says).

Speaking of the little darling monkey, she has informed me that that by her birthday (at the end of next month, she turns 3), mammy has to teach her how to sew. LOL! Funny little girl.

Anyway, the dress is almost done. I just need to sew on a pocket and do the hem. Here is the progress of the dress in pictures:

It has been a while since I sewed a placket, but the Oliver + S instructions were so detailed, putting in the placket was actually quite simple. LOVE the groovy zebra print. LOL!

Close-up of the placket. Please ignore the blue fabric marker markings. Those are the locations of the buttonholes ... which reminds me that I need to hunt down some red buttons for this dress.

On goes the collar. The top is the animal print and the undercollar is the zebra print. Now I'm wondering if I should've done the top in the zebra print. Hmmmm maybe next time.

And on go the sleeves! The sleeves have funky zebra stripe tabs too :-)) The pocket is done too -- it just needs to be sewn on. Then, I'll add a strip of zebra print fabric to the bottom of the skirt, hem it and then ... ta-da!

The dress fits the little monkey quite nicely now, but I should've gone up a size as I think she'll get just one wearing out of it, maybe two, before it becomes too snug. Oh well!

Ah, about that colourful quilt, the top is all sewn together and looks quite happy, if I may say so myself. I just need to actually quilt it and add a binding and it will be 100% completed. It was meant for a friend's daughter. Guess who has declared it to be hers?

Bits and pieces

Yesterday, I learnt that a little simple cutting will transform this (9 straightforward squares) .......into this (fuuunnnkkkyy!). And this is just one variation.
And yes, I've started on ANOTHER quilt. This one is for a colleague's little girl. She loves bright, cheerful colours and so I hope she will appreciate this quilt :-)) I've also decided to sew some funky patchy reusable grocery bags for colleagues for Christmas. This method is a wonderful way to use up scraps of fabric.

For those interested in trying out this method (or just to explore patchwork), Quilts & Calicoes has charm packs all cut up already. Ira also has classes for the curious :-)

Now, it hasn't been just all about quilts around here. After several auditions, I've finally chosen the darling monkey's birthday dress fabrics and pattern:

That's the Oliver + S Jump Rope dress and I plan to sew up View B (not shown) which is more like a simple shirt-dress. The fabric is just right for a trip to the zoo :-))The zebra stripes are for the trimming -- I plan to use just a bit of it and perhaps add some red buttons. The darling monkey has approved of the choices and sewing should begin shortly!

A prezzie for the in-laws (work in progress)

The Christmas present sewing has begun and the first is near completion! I can't believe that it took just two evenings to cut and piece the front of the Japanese Cranes quilt for the in-laws. Here's a yucky pic of it:
And here are some shots of the details:This quilt is from a kit which I bought from Quilts & Calicoes (Tanglin Mall). They also have it in a gold/red colourway, but my in-laws really like purple and this will look nice in their lavender and Oriental-theme bedroom.

Yesterday, I got some backing fabric and the batting. So what's left is the actual quilting! This time, I'm going to do some simple machine quilting because it's a whole lot faster than hand-quilting ... hahahha!

Roll the credits, please ...!

It is DONE!
My first adventure into the world of quilting and getting stabbed with an itty bitty needle while hand-quilting is officially OVER. Mission Accomplished!

I'll post pics as soon as I can find that thingie which connect the camera to the computer (it has gone walkabout, the slacker).

The binding was a dream to sew on and I'm so pleased to have learnt the "secret" to good mitred corners (patience and some simple precision sewing).The little monkey, however, isn't as enamoured of her new quilt as mommy is. She says it's "not soft"!!!!!! She has promised to like it "tomorrow," though, so we'll see. LOL!Oh, and I've begun the Japanese cranes quilt for the in-laws. (She's NUTS, I hear you say ... hahahhaha!)

The finishing line

(I'll update this post with pics later)

What I thought would take just a little time, expanded across several weeks .... BUT .... the finishing line is finally in sight! 99% of the hand-quilting is done on the monkey's fairy quilt and I've started machine-quilting the borders. On Saturday, the binding goes on (hopefully) and then, ta da!

(this pic above shows some hand-quilting, including the a hand-quilted outline of a butterfly which wasn't a part of the print but which I included cos I thought it looked cute).

My poor darling monkey has been patiently waiting for her quilt to be finished. She wants to play "house" with it. Hahahahhaha!

Speaking of the monkey, she had her first hair-cut last Friday! Now my baby looks like a little girl and I'm happy and sad at the same time. I'm such a sentimental momma. I get it from MY mom, who was there at the hair-dresser, video-taping the whole event. Hahahhahahahha!