NNC Pincushion Exchange 2013

This is another over due posting. I am about 6 months overdue, if not more.

I have so many things I want to write about, but so little time. So, what else is new, right? LOL!

I missed posting on this year's NNC Anniversary Meet. I hope to still blog on it some day as I have some exciting news to share...well, exciting to me!! heheh.....

Anyway, back to the exchanges organised at NNC, I have not joined that many exchanges this year due to heavy work schedule, but I did join these 3 exchanges - the Pincushion Exchange, and 2 Hexagon Exchanges.

For the Pincushion Exchange, I am to send out to Maria, and I am to receive from Shanny. It was actually a secret exchange where your partner does not know who her partner is.

I didn't know my partner was Shanny until she returned home for the holidays recently (Shanny is a Malaysian staying in Switzerland) and hinted to me that she's got something to pass to me and had hoped that I would be able to make it for the Bee held during the fasting month of July.

Initially I thought that she had brought back some Swiss chocolates to give to me. She did, actually, but she did not just have chocolates to give to me but also box of tea and, the most exciting item of all, was the Pincushion Exchange!!

I received a lovely pink (yes, Shanny knows my favourite colour!) pincushion.

Just look at the details. Shanny even provided for a tab on the cover to make it easy for me to open the tub. 

I think Shanny had recycled an old tub. I can use the tub to put in all my smalls.

Shanny even included 2 small containers. She said it's for my pins and what nots for me to bring on my travels since I travel so much for work. 

She also included some lovely pins.

Shanny was also very innovative when she made the top of the pincushion cover to be able to detach from the cover and put on the wrist as a wrist pincushion. I just love it!

Thanks, Shanny!

On my part, I made this cathedral pincushion as a tryout, and when it turned out nice, I decided to make 2 more - one to keep and two to giveaway.

I gave away the one on the one at the bottom right hand corner to Maria, my exchange partner who is in Portugal.

I have to apologize to Maria for sending it out late, even though I had actually finished making the pincushions more than 2 months before the mailing out date was due.

But, when I started travelling almost non-stop for work, I could not find time to get to the post office to mail it out on time. When I finally did find time to squeeze in a trip to the post office, I was late in sending out. :(

Anyway, I am glad that it arrived safely, and I hope that Maria likes it and hopefully it will be her constant companion when she works on her sewing work.

Thanks to Diane for organising the exchange.  

As for the two Hexagon Exchanges, wait for my next posting.....

I’ve got the blues!

Heheh..no! no! Not that kind of blues, but a pincushion kind of `blues’*grin*

NNC recently just concluded it’s Blue Theme Pincushion exchange, organised by Usha. Some had received theirs during the NNC Anniversary Meet in March.

My partner for this exchange is Peggy and Zai. I should be receiving from Peggy and I am to send off to Zai. The last mailing out date is this coming Monday, 31st May 2010.

I received mine from Peggy on Wednesday, 19th May, 2010 as I was about to leave for a meeting in the afternoon. So, not wanting to be late for the meeting, I packed it up to bring it home to unwrap it.

Excited as I was to unwrap the parcel, but it had to wait as I arrived home very late on Wednesday night from work, and I still had the dinner to get ready and also, I had to pack as I was leaving for Johor Bahru the next day after office for a project site meeting. I arrived home from Johor Bahru and Melaka past 11.00pm on Friday night. I finally managed to unwrap the parcel on Saturday morning.

I was in awe of what was in the big shoe box that arrived that Wednesday at my office.

Not only did it contain the blue pincushion, not to mention, a BIG one at that, but it also contained plenty of blue stash to get me all excited like a little girl opening up her birthday present! LOL!

Peggy sent me 3 pieces of blue fat quarters, a cute little container containing little blue buttons, 3 skeins of variegated blue threads and a note pad complete with blue pen and pencil!

I love everything she sent me, especially the huge pincushion, the biggest I have had so far! I wonder if I can make a another pincushion bigger than that, not that I want to! LOL!

I wonder if I will be losing many pins and needles inside this huge pincushion! LOL! *grin*

I just love the threads surrounding the pincushion, and they are not just any threads, but they are Coats and Clark, which are quite expensive here in Malaysia! Thank you so much, Peggy!

I tried pulling out the threads but realised that they are all interconnected. I wonder what happens when I have used up all the threads and want to replace them with new threads. Errrr........Do I have to take out everything and re-thread them with new elastics, Peggy?

Anyway, thank you again, Peggy! Hugs!

I will be uploading photos of the pincushion I made for Zai as soon as Zai receives it, which i hope will be in a few days time.

In the mean time, here's a link for a tutorial on how to make the lovely pincushion. Thanks for the link, Peggy!
http://monkeyroom.blogspot.com/2007/01/tutorial.html

A pouch and biscornu for Diane

After completing the bag and pouch for Diane, I decided to do something extra for Diane in colours to match both the items, or rather, in colours that I know are her favourite - brown, blue and green. I decided to make her a biscornu and a pouch using Em, which lately, I have neglected to use as I have been so busy with work and making bags.

A very simple biscornu and pouch, but I hope that Diane will find both items useful and handy to use.

NNC 3rd Anniversary Celebration 2010

NNC is 3 years old already! How fast time flies!

Anyway, we had the celebration last Saturday, 27th March, and this time Sabariah graciously offered her house as the venue for our Meet.

The organisers were supposed to meet at 10.00am at Sabariah’s house, buy I did not get there until close to 11.00am! Sorry about that Margaret, Paul and Sabariah!

The night before I had slept close to 3.00am trying to finish up the tags for the door gifts, Thank You gifts, and the bookmarks for the door gifts.

I also stayed up to make two pincushions as Thank You gifts to Margaret and Paul for helping out to organise the Meet. After that, it was time to pack up all the door gifts, Thank you Gifts, the Hostess Gift (for Sabariah), and the Anniversary Gifts, but not before I took some photos of all of them, all after midnight! LOL!

It was never planned for me to do everything at the last minute as I always prefer to get things done early and just wait for when the time scomes, but, this week, things turned upside down when I find myself coming home late almost every day except Thursday. I even came home late on Friday when the traffic was bad again, arriving home only at 8.30pm. I could not get to work on the tags and pincushions until after dinner was done with. I finally sat down to work at 10.30pm!

I actually woke up quite early on Saturday morning, but, maybe because I was lacking in sleep, I must have moved ever so slowly, and by the time I got breakfast done and the laundry hung up to dry, it was already 9.30am!

I rushed to get ready and finally headed out to Sabariah’s house. I thought that I could get there in 20 minutes, but I missed the exit to her house and before I knew it, I was heading towards Meru in Klang!

Luckily I realised it not too far off from the exit, and was directed back onto the right road after getting more directions from Sabariah. By that time, I was told, Sabariah was already `talking behind my back ‘and grumbling as to why I am still not there when I should have been there at 10.00am! LOL! Sorry, Sabariah!

Anyway, when I got to Sabariah’s house, I quickly got into gear to get the door gifts ready.

I had a lot of help from almost everyone who were already there to fill in the bags, as everyone was curious to know what they were going to get! LOL!

We started the Meet, as usual, with the food, and there was definitely plenty to go around for twice the number of people that we had, and we could even have more than 2 rounds. Just look at the spread!

Everyone was eyeing Mel’s delicious Strawberry Cheese cake, but not so much for the cake than for the fresh strawberries on top of it! LOL!

There was also another lovely cake I believe was contributed by Jo.

I can’t recall all the food, but there was Nasi Lemak, Apple, or was that Peach Pie, Fried Mee Hoon, curry puffs, samosas, nuggets, jelly, tarts, rendang, and fruits, just to name a few. Everything was simply delicious!

Our next agenda was the appliqué class demo by Janet. I had initially wanted to join in as I had already cut up my fabric to size and brought all the things needed for the class demo, but, since I was lacking in sleep already, I dare not strain my eyes further, especially since my reading glasses was also not very clear. I needed to have the power checked, only that I just could not find the time to visit the optician.

Anyway, those who did join in the demo were Margaret, Jackie, and Mel, while the others just looked on and listened.

Usha’s 3 daughters too managed to squeeze (it was a small coffee table meant to serve only tea and coffee, and not meant to do a sewing demo! LOL!) their way in to learn some new techniques from Janet.

Thanks a bunch, Janet!

While the demo was going on, Sabariah showed the rest of us who were not into learning the appliqué around her house which she had just moved a few months ago.

Just look at all those cottons she has in her cabinet, and taht's only some of her stash!

I simply love the purple curtains in her daughter’s room, but I forgot to snap some photos of the purple curtains. *sigh*

Then it was time for Show and Tell, though this year, I noticed that fewer people brought things to Show and Tell. I wonder why.....

I had brought many bags that I had done in the last 3 months to Show & Tell.

I even brought along Diane’s big bag to show off (I will blog more on it later), though I had yet to put in the buttons.

Zarina brought a few lovely quilts that she had done, and I really love her free motion quilting. I wonder when I can ever get to that level of free motion quilting. *sigh*

In the mean time, Faizon was also busy showing how to tat to some of the interested members while Sabariah showed how to bead.

It was time to eat again before it was time for the much awaited event of the celebration – the Anniversary Gift Exchange! But, not before we had a lucky draw to give away a felt flower book courtesy of Diane all the way from the US!

And who could have won this great book, but yours truly! LOL! I was like going, “really?”I opened the number I had drawn earlier wondering if I was dreaming! LOL!

Thanks, Diane, for the lovely book!

Then the next draw was for a tatted bookmark courtesy of Faizon. Paul’s number was drawn, but since he had already got a similar one from Faizon (hey! How come only he got one? heheh...), he offered up the prize again for a draw, and the lucky recipient was Jackie, Margaret’s sister.

I also announced a prize for the 60,000thposting at NNC and it was won by Zarina.

Next came the highlight of the Meet . But, before that, here are the gifts all in a row..err...., well, sort of! LOL!

Below are photos of who got from whom....

Mel received MW's gift (co-incidentally, she also received MW's Anniv Gift last year!!)

Rose received Janet's gift, while Faizon received Diane's gift. It was coincidental that Diane received Faizon's gift in return.

Alynn received Sabariah's gift, while Tini received Mel's gift

Janet received Rose's gift, while Zarina received my gift.

Sabariah received Alynn's gift

MW received Zarina's gift

Usha received Tini's gift, while Paul received Shanny's gift. Coincidentally, Shanny also received Pauls'gift.

Here's me opening up Usha's gift.

Each time anyone opens up a gift, Headmistress Margaret was quick to check to see if we had included in our gift the compulsory felt flower. At one point it became so amusing that we started teasing Margaret! LOL!

Here are all the felt flowers put together. Don’t you think they look quite real?

Up next was opening up the Hostess Gift.

I think Sabariah had great fun opening up all the lovely hostess gifts and was recommending to everyone to open up their houses next year for the Anni Meet so that they too can get Hostess Gifts! LOL!

Seen here is Sabariah with the tea cosy set I made for her.

I also made pincushions for Paul and Margaret to thank them for co-organizing the Meet this year.

I completed both the pincushions at 2.00am! So, Paul and Margaret, if you see any flaws on the pincushion, just shut an eye, OK? LOL!

Some of the members had brought their Pincushion Exchange to pass on to their partners, and so, it was another exciting time opening up those lovely pincushions one after another! LOL!

I salute all these talented NNC members! I hope more will join in the exchanges organised at NNC.


When all the excitement of receiving and opening gifts subsided, Faizon left together with Jo, followed soon after that by Alynn and her family.

I wonder what does Alynn’s hubby thinks of all our screaming and laughter and excitement! You think he will let her join us again? LOL! *wink*

The last event of the day was another demo, this time by Mel on how to make fabric covered buttons.

I just love big fabric covered buttons. They would look lovely on my handmade bags! Now to go look for more of those button casing!

I think this year we had more demos than we had things to Show & Tell. Could it be because our Stitching Bees are more regular now (every 2 months) and so we tend to bring things to Show and Tell during the Bees rather than the Anniversary Meet and leave the demos to during the Meet when we would have more time and space to do the demo.

Anyway, whatever the reason may be, I had lots of fun last Saturday! There was so much food, laughter and excitement.

Thank you, Sabariah, for hosting this year’s Anniversary Meet. Thank you to Paul and Margaret and Jackie for helping out to organize the meet. Thank you to all the contributors of the food, door gifts and the kids’ goodie bags.

Thank you, Janet, Mel, Faizon, and Sabariah, for the respective demos.

Thank you all for coming and for making it another great NNC anniversary celebration! I hope that everyone had a great time! Hugs!