Beautiful Life : Pets

The majority of people like having a pet in the house, but not me. I don't like any kind of pet. I don't like their smell and don't like to take care of them.. a lot of work to keep them at home.

My kids asked for a pet every single day since they were little. I always told them : "Yes, we can keep ant if you want a pet" (LOL).

But I changed, about 4 years ago I suddenly agreed when my kids and my hubby ask for a cat at the pet shop.. when I looked at the kitten eyes, I fell in love with this little creature. We named him "Master Yoda", and he has some babies from our friend's cat. But we gave them away, we only keep him. One is enough :))

One day, my daughter brought a little turtle. She called him "Kiddo". She keep him in her room. Having a pet to take care of will teach a child responsibility, and a pet is a friend for them.

When I was young, our neighbor left their dog when they move. My mom liked to keep him, his name was "Kincit". My mom took a good care of him. She fed him with our leftover food. She gave him a bath using one brand hair shampoo.. a famous brand and we never use that shampoo until now because it smelled like Kincit (LOL)

Back then again, still when I was young my dad has two chirping birds. He named his birds "Kamandaka"and "Kamandanu". If I'm not wrong those names are from Sundanese's folklore. Every weekend, I went with my dad to chirping bird contest.. He put the birds in the back of his yellow pickup car. I didn't understand about the contest, I just loved to go out with my dad.

Bunny the rabbit.. they are cute but I don't think I want to have them... too much work work work. 

So all I can do to have them is to make this cute appliqué block. ;)

People say:

If you are as good as your pet believes you to be, you are probably a really good person.

Beautiful Life : Butterfly and Friends.

After five appliqué flowers for 11th row, I finished up my 10th row this morning..
Butterflies, dragonfly and ladybug will flying around my flowers.. so lovely!

The butterfly counts not month, but moments, and yet has time enough.

The Dragonfly hums its way through life, dipping its wings in the sun to shine.

The Ladybug, a humble little creature of this earth, so satisfied with his turf.

The 9th row should be piecing/patchwork blocks, but I am going to put it a side for awhile. I will make the 8th row, still appliqué blocks. I still want to enjoy my sitting and calm time and listen to my favorite songs.. (No need to rush!)

I love this song, Sting and the movie too ;)

Beautiful Life : Flowers

Just finished some appliqué blocks for my new project. I will make a quilt for my daughter, she asked for pink and green colors. And I have plan to make it row by row quilt. These cute flowers are going to be the first row if I count it from the bottom.

I planned this project last October  but I started to make it 2 days ago.. Still a long way to go! :))

"Focus and Smart".. done before NYE!

Today I finished this "clean look" quilt, before New Year Eve.. I'll be going to a party tonight!. 

My son said:"Finally mom you finished it!"..It took so long to finish this project, too busy doing some other things made this project untouched. This is going to be his quilt, I give it a tittle "FOCUS and SMART". I mix and match two blocks, 12 Ohio Star blocks and 6 Log Cabin blocks. My son is a smart young man (He's 18 last week) and he needs to focus on his dream...I wish him all the best.

Ohio Star means Smart.

Log Cabin block means Focus.

Simple Tutorial.

Cut:

Red  3 1/2" square (1x)

White 2"x 3 1/2" (2x)

White 2" x 6 1/2" (2x)

Blue   2" x 6 1/2" (2x)

Blue   2" x 9 1/2" (2x)

White 2" x 9 1/2" (2x)

White 2" x 12 1/2" (2x)

Sew white strips to red, left and right side.

Sew white strips on upper and below.

Next, sew blue strips with the same steps.

And last the white strips again.

Ohio Star tutorial, here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013!

Charm Pack Baby Quilt

I have 1 set of charm pack (42 squares "Grow With Me" from MODA), nice soft fabric with cute design.

I made half-square triangles from 5"x 5" precut fabric. I tried some background fabric for these nine four-path blocks but I prefer it on the white. It looks modern and nice. I hope this baby quilt will done by the end of this year :)

I took this picture for an idea about colors because sometime I will need it.. these yarns look so delicious (LoL).. My friend will give birth next month.. Ohh, I wish I still have time for knitting a tiny little hat and shoes too. 

LeMoyne Star : Big Star

Why would I want to sew fast? Do I need to speed it up?

Well, actually I like hand sewing, making applique project and sitting on my coach and listened to slow music.  But I want to challenge myself, so I chose an easy project with 24"x24" block size. I had to learn the tricks how to finish it quickly and correctly.

I made this LeMoyne Star block about 2 weeks ago, but I didn't feel to continue it.. I wasn't in the mood so I put it aside.

Yesterday, I started this project again...

Get Set !!! .. Set the right tools. Cut all the piecing fabrics or used precut fabrics.

Ready.. Sew !!! Make sure your spare bobbins loaded. Check the seam allowance, if your machine don't have a 1/4-inch foot you can put a strip of masking tape as a 1/4-inch sewing guide.

Chain sewing!.  Saves time and thread when sewing multiple units.

Speed-piecing!. Then press carefully, place an iron near the working space.

7 done, 2 more to go!

This song became the background music while I'm speeding up my work. The song tittle doesn't match but the music is great for a high speed spirit.. and I love Rob Thomas! (...)

Something came up.. Scary bee suddenly appeared at the window in front of my sewing machine. This buzzing bee scared me, I had to stop my work and run...

Today, I finish 2 more LeMoyne Star blocks and assembling the quilt.

Fabrics Hunting : Tanah Abang

Last week my sister asked me if I want to join her to do "Fabric Hunting".
Her text message : Sis, do you wanna go to Brotherland this weekend?.
I wondered: What is Brotherland?.. Is it a new place like Disneyland?.
Then she called me with her big laugh. It's Tanah Abang, sis!...(LOL) She got me!
( In Bahasa Indonesia: Tanah means Land, and Abang means Brother)

So we went to Tanah Abang yesterday morning. Tanah Abang is subdistrict of Central Jakarta, Indonesia. The subdistrict hosts the biggest textile market in Southeast Asia, Tanah Abang Market.

The best time to go there is in the morning (around 9AM we already there), because in the afternoon it's very crowd. People come from everywhere and the traffic was worst (we don't want to get stuck in there).

My sister is the best guide in Pasar Tanah Abang, she knows exactly the way from one shop to another shop. I always followed her, I don't want to get lost there.
Just in case I need to go there again, I have to remember the shop's name and their places so I took some picture of the shops with my phone camera... but still I don't think I can go there by my self :).

"Sumber Katun" is my favorite shop. Pak Mulyadi the owner is a nice guy. His fabric collections and the prices are nice. I like him because he will tell you if there is a defect on the fabrics, and he will let you choose if you want to buy it or not, it's ok with him.

Here are the other shops that sell cotton fabrics.

 And here's the results of my hunt..

and these batiks are my favorite.

Quilter's say:
I love quilting and have plenty of material witnesses... And my husband lets me buy all the fabrics I can hide! (LOL)