Teacup Pincushion Exchange Part 2

Yesterday, a beautiful, beautiful box arrived at my doorstep.

   

What d’ya know, it’s my pincushion exchange from Diane Merlock, all the way from the US of A.

   

I just love how dainty and delicate the teacup pincushion is, from the fine cross stitches to the queen stitches to the eyelets…

   

Not to mention the lovely antique teacup. According to Diane, the “Thomas R Germany” mark at the bottom indicates that it’s from 1953-1960.

   

The painted flowers on both the cup and saucer are exquisite. The saucer is also perfect for placing my scissors on while stitching.

   

The package came with some yummy variegated threads, an Erica Michaels’ cross stitch chart and a colouring book (not shown).

   

Thank you again, Diane, for the wonderful exchange!

Teacup Pincushion Exchange Part 1

Three months ago, I joined an exchange organised by NNC. It's been so long since I've joined an exchange that I've forgotten how it works. Almost :P

My assigned send-to partner is Paul Lionel and the exchange is a teacup pincushion to be exact. Here's the box that greeted Paul when it arrived at his doorstep yesterday ^^

I decided to make a rose teacup pincushion that I modified from this Rose Coin Purse. The teacup and saucer are a matching set from the Bretagne line from Provincial Living.

I had purposely picked a green teacup and saucer as I feel it would resemble the sepals and leaves of a rose, thus better showcasing the rose pincushion. I really love the scallop detailing on the edges of both teacup and saucer.

Together with the rose teacup pincushion, I had added a box of Matilda's Own Flower Head Pins. After all, I didn't want the pincushion to be lonely without pins for company XD

In the package, I had also included some fabric buttons, charms, a box of green tea and variegated yarn from Lincraft (I absolutely love this Australian crafting store... So much goodies).

Made a simple card to accompany the package too. And that's it! Exchange completed. Happy that Paul is happy with it :D

Till next time, Happy Stitching! Now, back to my uni assignment. Sigh!

Coaster Exchange

Back in June, NNC had another exchange. This time, it was a coaster exchange. I received this gorgeous set of coasters from Bee Ee. 

 

Her handiwork is so fine. Absolutely exquisite!

She also included some lovely items in the package. 

To my chagrin, I had completely forgotten about the exchange. Hence, it wasn't until July that I sent my exchange to Usha.

I made her these coasters. The tutorial can be found here.

   

As you can see, these coasters can be either used the traditional way or put on the base of wine glasses. 

 

I made each of them slightly different to enable the owner to identify their glasses. No more wine glass mix-up :)

Included in my package are also some random craft goodies.

 

I hope Usha likes them.

Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Plethora of Bookmarks

23 April aka World Book Day... Yup, another long overdue post.

To commemorate this occasion, NNC had a bookmark exchange. I had previously picked up these two kits from Japan and I took this opportunity to put them to good use. 

 

I bought a selection of Japanese origami paper from Daiso in case I messed up with the materials provided. I shouldn't have worried. 

 

The instructions given in both English and Japanese were surprisingly easy to follow. I ended up making five shiori ningyo (Japanese Dolls). 

 

Here they are with front and back details. 

 

So happy I learned to create a collage in Lightroom :) 

 

I think they're so delicate and pretty. 

 

As usual, they differ a little from the samples in the kit. A flaw of mine - I can't help changing things up. 

 

Two were given to Zarina, my bookmark exchange partner. 

 

I presented them in printed origami envelopes. 

 

I think they turned out pretty well. 

 

It's my strongest belief that presentation counts. 

 

The other three were given as lucky draw gifts during NNC 7th Anniversary Meet.
The NNC 7th Anniversary Meet was held on 12 April 2014. I wanted to contribute to the door gifts. I experimented to make a butterfly bookmark as shown here and ended up with this prototype. 

 

Encouraged, I folded more using double sided origami paper. 

 

Packed them into sealable plastic bags. 

 

Tada!

   

We had tons of fun that day. Here's a group shot of all who attended. 

 

And the haul everyone brought home with them. 

 

I was also given my bookmark exchange by Sally. 

 

Which comes with a book to boot! Close up of the pretty tatted bookmark. 

 

And the book-matching peony bookmark. 

 

It had been a really great day!

Pincushion Exchange

Where has August flown to? In the blink of an eye, it's already September.

First and foremost, I need to apologize to my fellow bloggers. I'm so behind in visiting your blogs that I have no idea how I'm gonna catch up. My Google Reader is exploding with 1000+ unread posts. I think I just might clear it and start over.

Let's see, what have I been up to? I was pretty much incapacitated by migraines near the end of July to the first half of August. For some reason, during that period, my migraines intensified from once or twice per month to once a week, lasting two to three days each time. It wasn't pleasant to say the least. All this while, doctors have only given me painkillers which didn't help much, if at all. Finally, I went to the hospital and was prescribed Metoprolol. The pain stopped and once again, I can function like a normal person again. Thank God!
As a result, I don't have much to show. First off, here's my TUSAL update. My ort jar is posed with the Coca-Cola Olympic glasses offered by Macdonald's. I managed to collect them all and meant to post this in August. That didn't happen. Sigh! Best laid plans and all :P

I did, however, participated in NNC's Pincushion Exchange. My partner was Bee Ee (no blog) and she sent me not one but three pincushions along with a cut of fabric. Lovely, aren't they?

For my part, I went on a Cathedral Window Pincushion making craze and ended up with a stack of four.

I think they're so pretty. Do you agree with me?

This is the one I picked to sent to Sally.

I sure hope she likes it. I gave one to my mum too ^.^

And guess what? For returning to visit my long neglected blog and sticking till the end of this post, I have two more to give away.

Just leave a comment letting me know you'd like to be included. That's all. Winners will be drawn on 15 September 2012.

Also, watch out for My Memories Suite giveaway next post. I've been given two free copies. One for me and the other for you :D Now if only I could find the time to play with it. It sure looks fun.

Happy Stitching!

For the Birds

Caution: Another picture heavy post.

Last October, a challenge was issued by Margaret for 2012 Anniversary Gift Exchange. Similar to the Gingham Heart Challenge last year, in addition to a handmade item, every participant will have to include a Bird this time round.

Not an owl, a chicken or a duck mind you, but a bird. Note the discrepancies in this statement. I can assure you, objections were voiced but our protests were futile. The decision has already been made.

A week ago, I showed you a sneak peek of my silk ribbon embroidery. After yesterday's NNC Anniversary Meet, I can finally reveal to you... my Bird.

Yup, it's a zippered, fully lined pouch as you can see here.

I added a piece of satin ribbon to the zipper puller because I think it gives the illusion of certain birds with feathers behind its head ^.^
My bird wears a necklace of lace with a birdie pendant.

I embroidered its wings with some flowers and beads.

Here are the flowers I showed you in my previous post, located on each side of its body.

Both wings hid a secret... There's a pocket under each wing.

The tail acts as a handle to carry it.

And that is the bird I designed :)

As for my gift, I made a bag.

A bird cage bag to be precise. I don't know what's to be said about my sense of humour but it just amuses me to make a bag fashioned like a bird cage where the bird pouch can be put into it. LOL!

The black bars on the bag are actually sewed on satin ribbons. For my first dabble in appliqué, I pick Sweet Round Bird from Cinderberry Stitches Tail Feathers Block of the Month.

Don't you think he's the sweetest bird you've ever seen? Huge thanks to Jo for sparing me some of her HeatnBond so that I didn't have to buy an entire roll to make this.

I bought the wooden handles off Etsy. I love the flower detail on it.

I really hope Shanny likes them. I can now breathe easy again. I actually took Thursday and Friday off just to work on this. Am I the queen of procrastination?! Oh the stories I can tell you of my last minute induced panic, motivation and inspiration. ROFL!