First, she made a double sided UCLA fleece blanket. Hubby was ecstatic about the UCLA print. After all, UCLA is near and dear to his heart. Plus, the blanket is SOOOO soft!! (We know it’s intended for the baby, but we just may steal this for ourselves instead haha)

The underside of the blanket:

And a matching baby hat to go with it! Too bad it doesn’t fit Hubby’s head. I would have made him wear it all over the house… haha!

And then a very pretty nursing cover for me. I love the print!!

And lastly, this is not really homemade, but I appreciate it just the same – Hello Kitty socks! For my hospital stay!

Thoughtful, handmade, personal. We love it. Thanks Les!!

A handspun, handknit, and handsewn Baby Surprise Jacket!

It’s reversible too, with a very cool lining. I absolutely love the colors:

Complete with Cheri’s etsy shop label (so professional and clean looking too! So impressive!):

(Visit her etsy shop here for all things children’s apparel, handspun yarn, and other gifts: Enchanted)

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And then there is a quilt that was put together by my high school friend Karen:

Aren’t the colors gorgeous?! I am so in love with this blanket, I know it will be one of my favorites. I was so touched by all the time and effort she put into this. And it has a yellow fleece underside:

And another delightful label lovingly placed at the edge:

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Lastly, handsewn baby leg warmers by Esther! Aren’t they adorable??

And just for kicks, I always love the gifts given by other fellow moms, who are always thinking practically.

Love the handwritten note on top. Thanks Esther! =)

I love love love this sewing book. It has a ton of fun projects, and here are just a few to wet your palate (click on thumbnail for a close-up):

Of course, these are just some of the pictures of the projects I really liked. There are also pillow patterns, an easy quilt, table runners, placemats, teapot cozy, dog collars, you name it. Lots of fun stuff. And not only does it have fun and easy patterns, a good third of this book has tutorials for beginning sewers – from basic tools to fabric know-how to basic hand sewing techniques. The way she writes is very organized, detailed, and practical. LOVE it.

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And on a totally different note, I’ve made my very first few pieces of jewelry (with real pearls and swarovski crystals). I proudly showed my hubby my creations, and he launched into a whole discussion on how I can totally make money from this and he proceeded to give me a very detailed business plan and approach. I took a step back and said, WHOA there fella, this is just my first couple of bracelets/earrings! Who knows what will happen? But I’m flattered that he supports my crafts/creativity 110%, and thinks I have alot of talent.

Of course, I have to practice learning how to photography jewelry properly. It’s so much harder than photographing a simple knit or sewing project! No handheld snapshots, this definately needs a tripod, as my hand isn’t steady enough.

Thanks to the lovely and generous Rain… THANK YOU! I have projects in queue with those yarns in mind, and I especially love the food items! I’ve already used one packet already. And the mango gummies…. I think I found my favorite gummy candy now. If only I can find this in the States…

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And of course, beyond receiving gifts, it’s always nice to give as well. I was recently in a secret pal exchange with my local SnB group, and boy was that fun! I got so many great goodies (thanks Marin!)! Sorry to say, I don’t have pictures of my received gifts and alot of my own gifting, but the only thing I have was something I whipped up super fast last week. May I present, Amy Butler’s Swing Bag! With zippered pockets!! (The zippered pockets on a reversible bag was a big deal for me, being a newbie with my zipper foot)

The recipient, a good friend (hi Lacy!), is a collector of all things parrots:

A zipper pocket (yea!):

The interior (see the other zipper pocket in there?):

This pattern was by far the easiest bag I’ve ever done (did I mention that this was a reversible bag??). =) I’m in the midst of making one for myself – I couldn’t resist. I’m usually a small bag kinda gal, but this bag is sturdy, roomy, practical, and I just love it. Next week, watch out the completion of another one! Yippee! =)

I haven’t decided whether this little dark bear is a boy or a girl. Hubby votes for girl because the little blue outfit looks too much like a dress. And my triple french knots for the eyes weren’t big enough – resulting in really shocked looking eyes. =P

A bit on the thin side, so I tried to see if this little Bear could make a good bookmarker. It didn’t look so good (especially with the bugged out looking eyes):

(P.S. The Lonely Guide Kenya book we just purchased – yes, we’ll be going there soon! Details to come later) These little stuffed felt animals are fast, cute, and addicting to make. Definately great if you need an instant gratification project (which is what I need now!). =)

Lastly, I made one of my favorite potato dishes – scalloped potatoes!

I love it creamy and cheesy, even though it is so NOT healthy. In this recipe, however, I thinned out the cream with nonfat milk, and it made a big difference in how it tasted -lighter, not so heavy – but still really yummy! I also parboiled the potato slices in the cream/milk beforehand, so it would cook faster/more evenly in the oven. Yummy! (The pan, on the other hand, was a sucker to scrub afterwards.)

P.S. Comments Update – Alot of you may notice that there has been an error message when commenting on my posts. Happy to say, I think I finally fixed it. Do let me know if it pops up again or not! Thanks! =)

My friend in pieces:

My friend fully formed! Little Miss Squirrel – tada!

Her backside (she doesn’t mind showing it off):

Playing in my potpourri:

Climbing up a tree:

I will be making more little friends in the near future. She’s not as perfect as I’d like her to be, but she’s my first one, so hopefully the others will be better. =)

And… I also made a handbag for her:

Side view:

I actually asked to make a bag for her – these Amy Butler patterns are cute, easy, and good sewing practice for me. And this pattern was a cinch, plus, I’ve done it before. We agreed on fabrics together – good thing she liked my previous blue floral fabric (they are her wedding colors!), and she picked out her lining:

Here are the front and back button closures. Instead of using a ribbon, I chose an elastic and more sturdier option:

I’ll be gifting this to her at the rehearsal – hopefully she won’t be checking this blog anytime before then (My guess is that she is so busy/stressed about last minute details that she won’t have time to do any web browsing). After I finished this bag, I really wanted to keep it for myself (it matches my bridesmaid dress perfectly!) but too bad, I already promised this for her… haha! This is the sturdiest bag I’ve ever made (I used peltex interfacing so it’s strong and not flimsy).

Okay, off to putting together her bridal emergency kit! =)

I’ve been itching to make this blanket. The pattern book shows it in a light blue, but I thought it would look more precious in a soft pink. Here are a couple close-ups of the top edging and the stripes:

All folded neatly and ready to be wrapped!

I hope the mother likes it as much as I had fun knitting it. The yarn I used was Rowan’s Soft Baby, and it is SO INCREDIBLY soft. However, it isn’t machine washable. In fact, when it hits water, it can stretch and grow, so it’s important to dry flat. So yes, it’s going to be a high maintanence type of blanket, but I couldn’t resist such a girly and precious looking (and feeling) blanket. =)

This is a completely different topic, but today I went to my third quilting class. My first class was exciting and overwhelming at the same time. My second class was disappointing and discouraging (due to a substitute teacher’s attitude and teaching style). I was dreading the third class, but was pleasantly surprised that the original teacher (from the first class) was teaching it and I learned alot and was encouraged once again to try it again and not give up!

We practiced on making squares and triangles:

I used to thinking the 1/4″ seam was too difficult to accurately sew, but in a couple weeks, I overcame that. Lately I’ve been thinking that the most difficult part was accurately measuring and cutting, but after this class, I’m feeling alot more confident with my skills. I’m still making mistakes, but I know how to correct/fix them and I feel that I’m capable of not repeating those mistakes. This could actually work for me! =)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sweet Chili Glazed Chicken Wings – Got the recipe from a friend. Talk about YUM!! Sweet, asian flavors, with a slight chili kick, and tender chicken meat. I have been requested by the hubby to keep this recipe on a regular dinner rotation. And yep, they are as juicy as they look:

Broiled Oysters on the half shell – This one I sort of made up. Pretty good for someone who has a bit of a cooking phobia with shellfish (there’s something gruesome about purchasing your dinner “live” and killing them in the cooking process). However, this does not deter me from my love of EATING shellfish or any type of seafood for that matter. Raw, cooked, I love them all. In anycase, I looked up some recipes online, did some research on oyster shucking, and this came out:

Pretty much I added a tab of butter/mustard mixture with a breadcrumb/dried herbs/cheese mixture, and broiled them on the half shell. What a cinch. (Except for the shucking part, those little suckers are strong!) They came out piping hot, crispy bubby tops, with tender soft insides.

And from the sewing room, an Amy Butler bag! This is one of her Madison bags. Sewing it was pretty fun. I’m a bit rusty, so her bag projects have been good at getting my gears back into sewing. I also added some pockets to the lining, as I remember some of my friends mentioning that she didn’t have any pockets in her pattern. Overall, it was a fun project – this bag isn’t particularly my personal style, but I loved the process of making it, plus the freedom to choose my own fun fabrics.

Lastly, a knitting project. I can safely say, this is my first pair of socks that I was ESTATIC about finishing. I liked the fit, the feel, and the overall simpleness of it. I used Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn, and the pattern was a very basic sock pattern from the inside label. The downside was the handpainted “stripes”. I loved the colorway, but the thing with handpainted yarns, you never know how they’ll knit up. There’s a bit of pooling, and some striping, but not as uniform as I normally like. But those that like the slight pooling effect, it works out.

I also think that my feet probably work best with a short-row heel rather than a traditional heel flap. But that’s okay. These socks totally work for me, plus, the yarn is superwash. I threw it in the washer, then tossed it in the dryer for delicate cycle, and ta-da! Nice, clean, soft, funky, wearable socks. =)

I have so many things I want to do, and so little time. I still haven’t casted on for my sock projects yet, and I’m holding back because I need to finish up my pile of WIPs. And on top of that, I am taking a series of quilting classes at a local quilt shop. I had my first class yesterday and it was so much fun – the first session was on learning to measure accurately, use a rotary cutter properly, and work on those 1/4″ seams. I have to say, the 1/4″ seams were a tad stressful in the beginning. For a whole hour, I could not produce accurate 1/4″ seams and it was so frustrating! Then after some consultation with the instructor, we realized that the problem wasn’t me, the problem was in the 1/4″ seam foot I bought at Meissner‘s the other day:

I had talked to an employee who said this would fit my Hello Kitty Janome, I was going to use my Hello Kitty machine as a portable machine for classes. Turns out, she lied. Check out the discrepancies (click for a close-up/zoom):

I ended up having to use a masking tape strip to guide me along. I didn’t lose hope over the foot though – perhaps the $9 I paid for it wouldn’t go to waste. Because I have another Janome sitting at home where it could possible work. After some fiddling with the foot on my other Janome, look at the results (click for a close-up/zoom):

I think this foot was actually meant for this Janome (not the Hello Kitty one), because it requires you to move your needle position to the right (centered), and my Hello Kitty machine doesn’t have that needle positioning option. But even then, it didn’t seem terribly accurate. Good thing that this other Janome has really good seam line guides not only on my needle plate, but on the transparent bobbin plate too. One line I found to be not just the 1/4″ seam line, but it was a scant 1/4″ seam line. PERFECT!

Just to make sure I did it correctly (and accurately), I sewed my seams very slowly. And was pleased with the results:

Pretty fun. I know this isn’t for everyone – a lady next to me in class had the same Janome foot and was having the hardest time with her seams. Being so anal and accurate can be stressful! I was thinking that patchwork/quilting in the realm of sewing was very similar to baking in the realm of cooking – you can do your best to fudge around and “approximate”, but the results can be disasterous if you’re not detailed and exact in the process of it.

Having said that, I can’t wait to practice and make more patches. =)