Blog Award

Thanks to my dear friend, mbak Ina of Feathering a Nest for this award, I'm so happy and honored :)
Hmm, 7 things about my self... see if I can make it 7, since actually, I'm a boring person, lol.
Ok, let's start then...

Fathia and her new creation

It's been a while I haven't see Fathia and her family, because of the school holiday; I went to my hometown for a week and when I got back, it was her turn, they went for two weeks, spending the holiday.

When we finally met last week, she told me that she went to Crayon in Bandung, her favorite place and mine too. Well, actually Crayon is every crafter's haven, they sold craft supplies and provide free course and tutorial (as long as we bought the supplies there).

So, in her latest visit to Crayon, she learned how to make stuffed animal from recycled sock.

Fathia and her latest creation.

Corsage Craze 2: Finally, a perfect bloom :)

Those who've read my previous blog, know that I have a thing with fabric flowers.
Because I haven't made anything near my expectation, I kept looking for corsage tutorials.

In my quest, I came across this tute. I tried to make one, still haven't got what I was looking for.
Then, I modified it a bit, still using the same template, but instead of only 4 smaller flowers, I used 9 smaller ones, so it became 4 tiered.

Voila ! I've reached the result I've always wanted. Instead of pin backing, I used magnet, so as not to make a hole on anything it attached to.

A perfect bloom

This is why I prefer to work alone...

Well, not completely alone though...there's one who helps me sew things (based on my designs). But designing, hand stitching, ribbon embroidery, beading, fabric drawing, making handle-necklaces, shopping for supplies, etc, all done by my self.

I used to have another who helps me with the sequins & beads, but unfortunately she moves to another place, quite far from where I live. So actually, I need more assistant(s).

I was happy when my best friend offer me her new employee's assistance, just when I was about to over load with works for bazaar's stock and orders. She said, because she doesn't have many jobs for the new employee to do at the moment and she was going to Jakarta and Bandung for sometimes (to spend the school holiday with her family), then I can temporarily use her new employee's assistance.

I gave her the job that I thought the easiest one, which was sewing laces. I dropped the job over my friend's studio, gave the new employee some instructions.

The day after, I called to see if she finds any difficulties and she said her sewing machine broke, so she hasn't done anything. I suggested her to do what I usually did, which is stitching it by hand.

A couple of days later, I came to see the result. Apparently she done it wrong, so again I gave her instructions on how to improve it.

I gave it another week, but what a horror I found when I visit her to collect the job...she has done nothing but one (and only half way done too) ! And it's all wrong, it was stitched upside down! And the bazaar is next week!

The messy laces

How to make a wound rose (ribbon embroidery)

A very dear friend asked me how to make a wound rose (side way) like the ones I made on the above bag.

Honestly, I'm not much of a teacher, but I'll try to explain it here. So please excuse me if there's any confusing parts, but I'll try to answer if you have any question.
Mind you, I didn't invent this technique, I learned it first from a book titled "Sulam Pita, edisi 2" by AJ. Boesra, so I won't take any credit for it. Well...not exactly the same though, a little simplification here and there, because the rose I made was quite tiny . But this tute's pictures are all made by my self .
So, here we go...

Rara and the Calyx coin pouch

A few days ago, my hubby's ex high school mate, bapak Uun and family, came to Bandar Lampung for a holiday and visited us.

Their daughter, Rara, seemed interested in what I do and asked me to teach her some basic stitches of ribbon embroidery. Of course I gladly taught her and her mom was a bit surprise on how fast Rara learned the stitches. I said, she's talented and a fast learner :)

She made some spider web roses, daisies, french knots and some more. Unfortunately I haven't got a chance to take a picture of her works...

Then, I showed her my sample of Calyx coin pouch. This pouch has never been made for sale yet, just a mere sample. I made this pouch of cotton, with my fabric drawing of Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), embellished with seed beads, ribbon embroidery, hand stitches and punch needle works.

She liked it a lot and I gave it to her as a souvenir :)

Smiling Rara, showing off her Calyx coin pouch

"Sleeping Beauty" pouch, front side

"Sleeping Beauty" pouch, back side

Meeting mbak Tarlen @ Tobucil, Bandung

Mbak Tarlen and I have been online friends for quite a while.
As a fellow crafter I've been admiring her works and her online shop, Tobucil, full of rare, unique books, dvds and of course, crafter's knick-knacks

A few days ago, when I went to my home town, Bandung, I had a chance to visit her and her off line shop.

Whatta wonderful shop!
I felt home instantly, seeing beautiful crafts she sold there and her personal collection of craft books... mbak Tarlen is also a wonderful person, so warm and friendly, I will definitely visit you again whenever I come to Bandung...
I was so glad to find out that she will also have a booth at Pasar Seni Itb 2010 .

Thanks so much mbak, it was really a pleasure and can't wait to see you again at the PasarSeni ITB this coming October, Insha Allah !

My 2nd appearance @ the MBMuslima online magazine :)

The 12th issue of MBMuslima online magazine has published, and alhamdulillah, my article about Calyx & Primula products at the Inacraft 2010 were featured there

Please visit www.mbmuslima.com to read it clearly...they have informative and useful articles about Islam as well