Special Gift for A Dear Friend

I quilted this lap blanket for a dear friend, Sr. Brenda, who is recovering from surgery.

Since her favorite color is green, I try to incorporate elements of the color in this quilt design.

I started hand-stitching it on Monday and just love the process. I get to train my patience and also enjoy the peace that I experience while quilting.

May Allah SWT granted Sr. Brenda a speedy recovery. Ameen.

Handmade Bag

Sr. Nor gave me a bag of fabric that was left behind by her friend when she moved.

I kind of like the look of this fabric so I sewed this bag and gave it to Sr. Nor.

I am glad that she likes the bag. Now I'll be looking for more bag designs to sew!

I'd Rather Be Quilting

Rather than be miserably because of dry & itchy eyes on top of running nose every day, I have been quilting and sewing like crazy. At least it keeps my mind off my allergies and keep my brain awake.

I sewed this pin cushion this morning. I'm using pink/rose/brown/beige combination for my sewing projects a lot nowadays.


Last week I quilted this blanket for Sr. Nor's 10 month old daughter. I quilted another blanket for her four years old daughter but forgot to take a picture before I gave it to her.

Yesterday I quilted a baby blanket using the combination of fabric below for Sr. Ju Qing's newborn daughter (April 12). I forgot to take a picture of the finished blanket as I was in a hurry to bring it to her.


Now I am quilting a lap blanket for my dear sister. After looking at some pictures of homemade quilted blankets on several blogs, I got inspired to design the blanket like so.

I am using this retro design fabric for the backing, which my dear sister has been eyeing since she last saw it on my blog.


Daughter has been helping me by handing out safety pins to me and smoothing out the fabric as I am sewing. Looks like I'll be having a quilting partner soon!

Beautiful handmade quilts:
http://daddytypes.com/2008/01/10/my_mom_made_this_rather_awesome_quilt_for_the_new_kid.php
http://paintitbright.typepad.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bysmallmeans/sets/72157604634765799/
http://vickitaylorsblog.blogspot.com/
http://leanneshouse.typepad.com/leanneshouse/2006/12/index.html
http://treefalldesign.typepad.com/tree_fall/quilting/

Fast, Easy and Cute Crafts

After looking at the tutorial posted on these web sites, my hands immediately went to work on these easy and cute crafts!

How to Make a Humbag Lolly/Party Bag
http://www.onehourcraft.com/?p=321

Felt Flower Pin For Summer
http://yoonie-at-home.blogspot.com/2008/07/tutorial-felt-flower-pins-for-summer.html

Peony Flower Felt Clip
http://yoonie-at-home.blogspot.com/2008/09/peony-flower-felt-clip-tutorial.html

Quilt Blanket for Daughter

Last Saturday we were at the River Legacy Park the whole afternoon. I guess my allergies started with all the strong wind blowing flower pollen and grass all over the park. Sneezing plus itchy and dry eyes really irritated me and since then I have not stepped outside because of my allergies. Here's the pollen count reported on a local news web site.

Pollen Count from http://www.wfaa.com/weather/
Fungus: 1721 Moderate
Maple: 682 High
Oak: 93 High
Grass: 54 High
Pine: 38 Mod
Ash: 31 Mod
Mulberry: 16 Mod
Total: 2635

Updated:March 26, 2009


To make good use of my 'indoor' time, I took about 10 hours to hand sew this quilt blanket for daughter on Wednesday. As I have loaned my sewing machine to a friend but this did not deter me from hand quilting a blanket. Instead, I quite enjoy the slow process of seeing this quilt blanket being completed.



Here are the three main 5x5 square inches patterns for the quilt: Dark brown, cream floral and retro tree designs.

My design for this quilt blanket consisted of 5 rows across and 9 column horizontally.



I sewed five rows of squares together first.

Then I sewed the 9 columns together.

I found the pink floral fabric in my stash and cut out 5 inches across and the whole length of the 9 squares. For the border I used the cream floral fabric while a brick pattern fabric was used as the backing.

While I was sewing, daughter kept asking me what I was doing. I told her that I was sewing a blanket for her, and she kept saying 'Really? For me? Thank you, Ma Ma!' When she saw the finished product on Thursday morning, she was really happy that I made something for her. Since then she has been grabbing this blanket whenever she sleeps. All my love for her in every stitch.

Starting a Sewing Revolution

On Wednesday I visited Sr. Eram and her family. It was a coincident that her daughter, Noor who is in 6th grade, likes to sew and I happened to have a bag of felt material, embroidery threads and scissors with me. I have always been looking for opporunities to get kids and teenagers to sew, so I was glad that she wanted to sew. Since she had prior sewing experience, she took only about half an hour to sew a small gift bag. I was really impressed by her sewing skills.

Sr. Eram also showed me her current embroidery projects, and a beautiful handmade sunflower wrap crocheted by her mother.

Before I left, I challenged Sr. Eram's son, Muneeb who is in 8th grade, to sew a small gift bag. I think that boys and girls should be taught life skills such as sewing and cooking. They'll gain more self-confidence and will be able to take better care of themselves when they eventually leave home.

Allah SWT willing I'll get to sew more often with Noor during the summer holiday.

Crazy About Sewing!

There are alot of great ideas on sewing felt gifts like baby booties, bookmarks, sachets, books, flowers and bags on craft blogs and web sites. My creativity energy got a boost from looking at those cute stuff and I've been sewing like crazy since yesterday.

Here are some blog and web sites with great ideas for sewing felt flowers:

Peony Flower - http://yoonie-at-home.blogspot.com/2008/09/peony-flower-felt-clip-tutorial.html

Flowers and Butterflies - http://www.matchingpegs.com/2008/02/

Flower Cupcake Decoration - http://whimsy-girl.blogspot.com/2007/05/pinwheel-pinwheel-spinning-around.html

Fun Flowers - http://blog.scrapbookingwithvanessa.com.au/?p=27

Flowers Template - http://wondertime.go.com/create-and-play/article/flower-necklace-printable.html

Flower Bouquets - http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/09/felt_flower_bouquets.html