A Raya cum birthday gift for mum

On Saturday, July 25, 2009, under the heading “Going up in smoke smocking!”, I mentioned that I was making a bag for my mum from the pattern she bought when she was in the US visiting my brother from April to May 2009.

Well, I completed it at the end of July, but I did not want to post photos of it because I want it to be a surprise for my mum.

So, when I went back to Kota Bharu recently, I decided to present the bag to her as a Hari Raya cum birthday gift. Her birthday is on the 10th of October, but as I am uncertain if I will be seeing her on her birthday as it depends on whether I get to make a trip back to KB for work, or if she would be here in KL.

So, here it is.......

Not bad, huh? *wink*

I love the colours of the fabric and the japanese motif.

Look at the inside of the bag! It’s got a pocket for a handphone!!!

I am definitely going to make one for myself…..someday! *grin*

I already have the fabric, but, knowing me, I might change my mind and use another set of fabrics instead as I can be so fickle minded sometimes......err.....or, is that always! LOL! *grin*

On another craft note, in the same posting dated July 29, 2009, I also mentioned that I was learning how to make a smocking dress at my Epal class. I was going no where on the dress as the teachers at Epal did not actually go through with me the proper procedure of how to do the smocking like how much fabric do I need to make the pleats to fit into a certain size of a body of a certain size chest etc.

Having gotten frustrated from not getting the answers that I was looking for despite surfing the internet, I decided to drop by Craft World (formerly known as Yee's Button House) in SS2, last July 2009, during my smocking craze days, as June said that they carry quite a number of the Australian Smoking and Embroidery magazines.

I sure went crazy looking at all the ASE mags and if the sky was the limit when it comes to spending, I think I would have bought the whole stock! LOL! *wink* However that was not to be (a blessing really *grin*), so, I ended up with these....

With the books and mags I bought, plus with June's helpful tips, I managed to make progress on the dress, but only a little bit as I had to put it down when I suddenly had to attend my PTK in August.

This is as far as I got....

I am no longer allowed to do this project in class as the month for doing the smocking dress is over. I will have to wait till next year when the class is offered again. I just hope that my niece will still be able to still fit into it by the time I get it completed! LOL! Luckily, I made it a size bigger!

BTW, in my search to find out more about smocking, I found in my collection this book my mum had bought many many years ago and gave it to me when I moved out of her house after getting married.

I remember doing many of the projects from the book, and as proof of frequent flipping of the pages to get ideas to do the projects, the book is so worn out!

Just look at all those scribbling on the book!

Was I one of the culprits? LOL!