Sewing Projects: The four unfinished projects

As mentioned in my previous entry, I have 4 sewing projects to finish up.. So, saya buat satu entry khas tentang projek-projek tersebut supaya saya tidak lupa!

1) Sulaman Reben (Ribbon Embroidery: Initial 'a' )

I think this particular RE project has been in that state for a couple of years already.. You see, whenever I design my own RE pattern, I would be indecisive.. Especially, if the design is a bit elaborate.. I find it difficult to answer this simple question: "Is it completed?" Tengok ni, kadang-kadang saya rasa dah cukup dah.. Tak perlu tambah bunga dah.. Kadang-kadang saya rasa macam ada something missing.. Tapi, nak tambah apa lagi? Kalau tambah-tambah nanti kalau tak cantik macam mana?

When I could not answer that question, I cannot move on to my next question:
"What shall I make with it? A Tote Bag? A Cushion cover? Atau frame kan aje?"

Sebab tak boleh jawab the first question, maka lipat-lipat masuk dalam beg..

Since then, I would work in reverse.. Saya akan fikirkan end product before I start with any projects.. Lebih mudah sebab kita dah boleh tahu apa keperluan end product tersebut.. Contohnya, I'd know if I should go to the shop and buy zipper, ribbons or bias tape..

2) Teddy Bear


Tengok badan dia ni, macam katak pun ada kan?





Ini Nina punya.. Mama dia beli kat US.. berbeza sungguh rupanya dengan si katak di atas..



Yang ini kesnya sebab konon-konon sayang nak buang perca kain.. Jumpa free pattern online, terus gedik2 nak cuba.. last2 malas nak jahit tang kepala dia.. Tiba-tiba teringat cerita Ali Baba Bujang Lapuk.. Panggil Apek jahit kepala..

Awas Apek longkang oi kaki melompat

Apek jaga depan ada longkang!

3) Baju Kurung

Hehe.. Saya baruu nak belajar jahit baju kurung.. Belajar dari kawan-kawan yang memang dah pro jahit baju kurung.. Hasilnya, tengoklah sendiri.. Terkandas di tengah jalan.. Eh, saya bukan salahkan tok guru saya.. They are awesome teachers.. Anak murid yang agak gayat nak cantum jahit, tak confident.. Seriau tak muat nak pakai baju yang dijahit sendiri.... But don't worry, I am slowly gaining my confidence.. Insya Allah.. Kalau tidak, jangankan nak mencantum, nak menggunting kain pun tak lepas-lepas! Tujuan asal nak belajar ialah supaya saya boleh jahit baju kurung sendiri.. Kalau tak confident, macam mana nak capai tujuan asal, kan? Oh, dan juga sebab saya tak mahu seni menjahit baju kurung hilang ditelan zaman.. Aiceh.. Bajet jawapan standard Gadis Melayu ayu pulak I.. Cet..

4) Nina's Quilt Cover

Nina is my eldest niece.. Anak buah yang sulung.. Si comel yang bila takde, rindu.. Bila ada, constantly buat my blood go upstairs.. Samalah dengan yang lagi dua orang tu.. Kalau baik, memang die oranglah the cutest little angels.. Kalau nakal, rasa nak gigit2 jek..

Anyways, I promised my sister to make Nina one nice little cushion cover.. That was like three years back? Long story cut short, the promise somehow turned into making a queen sized quilt cover.. In case you're wondering why this particular project is not completed yet after three longg years, let me just repeat myself once more.. QUEEN SIZED QUILT COVER.. need I say more? My progress is like 25%, kot? When If this project is finished, I'll tell you why it took me such a long time to finish.. Maybe I need even not tell you why.. You'll know when you see it.. :P You don't get to see it now cuz it's suppose to be a surprise.. Kalau dah siap, takpe..

Haih.. Okie.. We have roughly a month and a half to go before 2011.. I would try my bestest (best of the best) to finish up project 1 - 3 before the end of the year.. That one last project? I give it 6 more months, eh? Hehehe..

So, till we meet again..

Toodles!

Sewing Project: Cake Mixer Cover

Yeay.. Another sewing project completed!



From this..



To this.. :)

My sister's cake mixer cover.. I showed it to her last Saturday when it was about 80% done.. She liked it.. I'm sure she would be thrilled to know that it is now finished.. I normally take a loonggg time to finish any sewing projects.. Hehe.. Coincidentally, this would go well with her kitchen theme colour.. Green! Funny, cuz I didn't actually consider that when I chose the fabric.. :P

It fits nicely with my cake mixer.. Memanglah, dah beli cake mixer yang sama! :P

Hampir-hampir rasa tak nak bagi.. But mum gave me idea on how MY cake mixer cover would hopefully look like.. So, another sewing project in my To Sew List.. Thanks mum.. for the inspiration.. :)

But I have to finish 4 sewing projects before starting that one off.. Yikes!

Okie now dearies.. Till next we meet..

Toodles!

:: Kek Batik ::

Kemas-kemas jumpa ini..

Tetibe dapat idea nak masak kek batik.. Macam 'tingg' ada lampu menyala cerah di atas kepala.. Dah lamaaa tak buat kek batik.. Heh, hari tu puding karamel pun kata dah lama tak buat.. Nampak sangat dah tua.. Eh, eh.. Ehemm.. back to kek batik.. So, pergi beli main ingredient iaitu Biskut Marie Claire.. Eh tak, tak.. Marie Claire tu brand kasut.. Beli Biskut Marie.. Hmm, I wonder how it got the name.. Emm, takpe.. next time je selidik..



So, inilah rupanya Biskut Marie.. Comelnye dah packing by bunch macam ni...



Ini rupa dia bile dah dipatah-patahkan.. Suke, bau die wangi..

Chocolate in a pot.. Milo, koko, *secret ingredient, gula, air dan susu segar.. Bila dah larut, masukkan butter.. Bila butter dah cair, masukkan telur.. Kacau sampai likat..

Masukkan biskut yang dah dipatah-patahkan tadi.. Kacau..



.. dan anda akan dapat hasil seperti ini.. Wah, like the pot calling the kettle black.. hehe..







Rata-ratakan dalam bekas, and refrigerate overnite..



Dan inilah hasilnya setelah dikeluarkan dari dalam fridge.. Kalau tabur serbuk milo, agak2 nampak macam tiramisu tak?

For full recipe and list of ingredients, refer here. Credit to the blog owner.. But I tweaked the recipe a bit.. adding *secret ingredient, susu segar and some chocolate chips.. You really can't go wrong with this.. You can even put anything you fancy, just as long as it makes sense.. Macam saya letak chocolate chips.. But you can also add in nuts, cadbury milk chocolates, and perhaps marshmallow? Janganlah tiba-tiba pergi letak peria katak dalam ni.. Hehe..

Okie dearies.. Till next we meet.. Perhaps an entry about my sister's cake mixer cover? It's almost finished.. Almost.. :) *grinning sheepishly

Oh my secret ingredient? 1/2 tablespoon of nescafe.. *grins.. Not so secret anymore, huh?

Toodles!

:: Spaghetti Lollynese ::

Bolognese sauce (ragù alla bolognese in Italian, also known by its French name sauce bolognaise) is a meat-based sauce for pasta originating in Bologna, Italy. (source: mr wiki)

I don't think you can find this sort in Bologna though.. Sebab saya tak rasa orang sana tumis cili kisar untuk kuahnya.. :)

Toodles!

Smile From Your Liver

If you haven't watched Eat.Pray.Love, the subject above will put a question mark on the top of your head, I'm sure. :) 

Takpe. Lolly explains.. Liver = Heart.

Sekarang, faham tak?

Ok, saya bagi masa untuk awak work out the equation.

1,

2,

3..

Eh, tak dapat tangkap lagi? Aiyaa.. Seloww laa! Takpe, cuba lagi..

*Smiles

So, as the subject reads, I had plenty of things to smile about.. I had a productive weekend with baking/cooking and sewing projects.. So, let us see what the projects were:

1) My sister's cake mixer cover..

In this picture you can see the two sides of what I hope would turn out as The Cover, which must be attached to the center part, which I have not yet sewn.. All senget benget.

Lovely.

*Smiles

2) Puding Rumah @ Puding Bumbung

Mum had been raving about this since she saw Mak Uda made one last Ramadan. Hint = Buat, jangan tak buat. So, we did and what you see in the picture below was the outcome. Ada tak ala-ala rumah panjang? Ke macam rumah setinggan? Tee hee.. It has more room for improvement, I'd say.

Takut tengok kaler bumbung.. Terlebih taruk cat biru.. hehe

3) Fruit Cocktail Pudding

A friend has just moved into a new apartment in Kota Damansara. So, I thought I'd bring some nice cold puddings. Konon2 macam house warming party walhal langsir pun belum naik lagi. The decision of actually going there was kind of a last minute call, so the puddings pun last minute la jugak. As a result, they didn't exactly 'set', as in they didn't quite hardened as much and were not as cold as I would've liked them to be. But they tasted ok, I think. Sorry no picture, am making a mental note of taking some pictures when I make them some other time and post them along with the recipe. It's so very easy. You can do it in 15 minutes time or less..

Later, we watched a late night movie in Cineleisure. Guess the title of the movie? Yes darlings, it was 'Eat, Pray, Love'. Sangat amazing tak tertidur dalam cinema. Am not going to start doing movie reviews here, but it was actually an OK movie. Not kebabom but OK.. I like OK movies.. so there.. fullstop..

4) Puding karamel

Iye, hujung minggu yang penuh dengan kegilaan puding. Kegilaan diteruskan dengan caramel puddings. Lihat gambar, ada tak bak bulan purnama? Berlubang-lubang and all wrinkled up. Hehe.. Should have seen them masa dalam pengukus. They were puffing up and I was like 'Ni puding ke apam ni?' Mind you, I have not been making caramel puddings for so many years. Hehe.. So, terima je lah seadanya. Janji boleh makan.

5) Faiz D's Blankie

I've shown you Tish's baby quilt, yang ini pulak abang die punya. They're gonna have their birthday party this Saturday, combine sekali je sebab budak kecik yang nama Tisha tu macam la faham pun amende itu birthday party.. I used batting for Tish's, and her name was beautifully embroidered, but that was because I did the sewing at Snazzy's. She has sewing machines yang boleh jahit macam2.. And she has sewing gadgets yang macam2.. Saya hanya ada pembaris, kapur biru, gunting dan Mesin Jahit Bunda. So, I did a simple blanket for my little hero. With baby blue fleece at the back. Konon2 nak buat bantal sekali, tapi jahit tepi untuk blanket ni pun tak siap lagi. And I have only one more week to go! Erm, ditching the bantal idea kot.. Hehe..

Well, those pretty much summed up what I did last weekend. There were loads of other stuff as well but they don't fall under the crafting @ baking @ cooking @ sewing category. (Eh, tapi tgk movie pun tak termasuk dlm kategori tu.. Tee hee..)

I made all these for the people that I care, love and cherish. I may not be able to pull off any of it with perfection, but I made them with a smile from my liver.

Okie dearies, till next we meet. Toodles!

:: Butter Prawn.. Nyums! ::

I am a huge fan of Prawns.. or Shrimps.. whatever you call them.. As long as they fall under the crustaceans family, saya suka.. Kalau dapat makan udang galah yang cooked to perfection tu lagi lah sukaa! Udang galah. Butter. Garlic. CUKUP.. yang penting, the tender, juicy flesh yang fresh.. oh nyums..

Ehem, anyhew, lately I've been obsessed with making the perfect Butter Prawn.. Punca? Mantis Prawn.. Apa itu Mantis Prawn? Sila Google.. Mana nak dapat kat Malaysia ni? Rahsia... haha.. takdelah.. pi carik kat pasar kat Sungai Besar.. murah murah jek.. Punca kedua: teringat-ingat the fine, silky threads of the eggs.. paling marvellous yang pernah dicuba ialah di Kelana Seafood Restaurant.. Dah tak wujud dah pun restoran tuh.. dah kene runtuh nak develop apa tah pulak.. Nowadays we go to Sri Ayuthya Restaurant to enjoy this dish.. Sri Ayuthya ada a few branches.. USJ, Damansara, and my friend claimed that they also opened one branch in Penang.. but that's just my personal preference.. I'm sure you can find this dish at any good seafood restaurant..

Back to my obsession.. So I tried cooking this dish a few times already.. Tastewise, almost menyamai yang kat restoran2 itu.. But I cannot seem to produce the fine, silky threads of the eggs.. Frust ok.. Kalau I sumpah-sumpah, sure I akan keluarkan stress spots I.. (baru tengok National Geographic kat TV tadi).. Translation sumpah-sumpah : chameleon.. Selagi tak dapat achieve that fine strands, I akan berusaha lagi dan lagi dan lagi.. For now, I have to be satisfied with my Butter Prawn looking like below:



Ini bukan mantis prawn, ini udang rimau



Usaha tangga kejayaan.. Ye lah.. Pakai lif ke, escalator ke tak leh ek? Huhu.. As soon as I get that fine, silky threads, I am soo gonna be happy.. Okie dearies..

Toodles!

Sewing Class

No, I am not conducting any sewing classes.. Haha.. Mahu sesat semua anak murid.. It has been a looong time since I last sewn anything. I used to take Home Science Economy (translated: Ekonomi Rumah Tangga - ERT) as an elective subject when I was in Form 1 - 3.. I must say, I preferred the KMT better though (can't remember what it stands for) cuz it was more technical.. A lot of carpentry, mechanical etc.. which I love.. ERT taught finer, delicate and more feminine skills like sewing and cooking.. I remember once we had to sew a skirt - which I hate.. There was also a quilt project or some sort.. If my memory serves me right, I think the result of the projects turned out quite ok but I didn't like any of them.. hehe.. Which explains why I did not keep any of them.. Haha.. But don't get me wrong, I like sewing and stuff but those projects were really driving me nuts..

So you see, between those days until now, I've never really sewn anything.. Some teeny tiny projects maybe, and a bit of altering here and there but those were just about it, I think.. Lately, I have a renewed passion in crafting, and that includes sewing.. I stumbled upon http://www.snazzyandsuch.com/ and discovered that she conducts sewing classes. I thought I needed a refresh course on sewing, so I contacted her, made the arrangements and went learning. And these were the results.. I completed all these in 2 days.. I amazed myself.. really.. :P

  

I gave this to a dear friend @ the office

Dah jadi travelling solat bag

 

Placemat yang senget-benget



Oh, I also did a cute pin cushion but I gave it to a friend's little baby.. Tak sempat ambil gambar.. Snazzy, my lovely tutor commented that I should not have taken beginner's class cuz my sewing skills are really not that bad.. I guess I underestimated myself.. I should thank my late Opah and my ERT teachers for that.. I had fun though.. And I amazed myself for being able to complete all these projects in 2 days.. hehe..

Okie dearies, till next we meet..

Toodles!