Running a marathon!

Heheh....you must think that I must have just ran a marathon of the real thing, and if I actually did, my hubby would be so impressed and envious of me as he has been wanting to run a marathon for the longest time! LOL! But, unfortunately, or, is that fortunately, it isn’t that kind of a marathon that I run, but, instead, I did a sewing marathon! LOL! *grin*

Yup! I had a sewing marathon of sorts over the last weekend. My SIL ordered a prayer mat and a bag to match it, and she is going back to the US on the 28th of August (they left yesterday. I will blog about that later) and wants to take it back with her.

I started working on it as early as 9.30am on Saturday, 21st August (Aiman had to skip his Saturday class as I negotiated for him to go on Sunday instead), and did not stop until 1.30pm for a short nap.

I had to go to Kelvin's at 3.00pm to get more fabric as I ran out of the fabric needed to make the bag. Luckily they still had plenty of stock of the fabric that I needed. Phew!

I almost went into a panic mode. I thought I had enough when I realised that I still have not taken into consideration the fabric needed for the bag handles and the binding for the sejadah (prayer mat).

Came back to pick up my son and hubby to go to the Bazaar Ramadhan (stalls set up to sell food for iftar), and came back to continue working on it right until it was time to break fast.

I started working on it again at 9.00 pm right up until midnight when I finally completed the bag minus the top stitching at the opening of the bag.

As my weekly maid did not turn up due to sick leave, I managed to start working on the bag again as early as 7.30am and completed it about 30 mintues later.

Here's the inside of the bag.

Without taking even a breather, I immediately started on the prayer mat and only stopped at 1.30pm for a short nap to gain back some energy, and to go to the Bazaar Ramadhan to buy food for the breaking of fast. My hubby took my son for his Art Class which he usually attends on Saturdays. Thanks, Dia!

I started work again at 8.30pm and completed the prayer mat at 9.30pm!

Quite a marathon, I think! LOL! The fastest I have done a bag before this is about 2 ½ days. This bag took me only 1 day including the measuring and cutting and sewing!

I am very pleased with myself. *grin* I feel very productive and hope to be able to stay up again to work on a bag for my niece whose birthday is coming up this week (the bag was completed in the same week. I will blog about that later too).

Coming up next ...... the bag for my niece and some embroidery work!

A set in black

They are finally completed – the bags for Idah!

I had actually completed the two bags that my hubby’s cousin, Idah, wanted me to make for her almost more than a month ago. But, while in Mecca doing her umrah, Idah smsed me asking me if I could make her a matching sejadah (praying mat).

I had set out to do it about midway while doing the bags for Diane but I had to stop when I ran out of the black cottons. I had to wait for a Friday when I could go out during my long lunch hour break to buy the cottons, and I was only able to do it two Fridays ago.

So, two Saturdays ago, after coming back from Aiman’s usual Saturday classes, I set out to work on the sejadah, and worked on it through Sunday, 11th April 2010. I thought I could finish it by that weekend, but, as I had brought back work home, I spent Sunday evening going through my piles of letters. On Monday and Tuesday, 12th and 13th April, I slept very early after a very stressful day at work. On Wednesady, I had to bring back work home again.

I was in Penang on Thursday and Friday.

It was only on Saturday, 17th April, while watching the AF concert, that I could finally find time to pick up the sejadah again to work on it, and I finally completed it on Sunday morning.

So, here is the full set – a big bag for putting in the praying garments (telekung), a matching pouch and the sejadah.

The big bag is smaller than the sample bag I had made earlier as Idah preferred it to be 2”smaller than the one I showed her.

As for the pouch, I got the idea from Idah’s very own pouch that she had bought at one of the departmental stores. She had wanted a similar one but in matching fabrics to the big bag.

I am afraid the photo did not do justice to the time and effort put into making all the little pockets, but there are pockets to put in 4 pens/pencils, a plce to put in a small a foldable shopping bag, a small note book and other little gadgets which we ladies tend to carry in our handbags! LOL

It was quite a challenge doing up this little pouch as it had many pockets.

It might be small, but I had to spend many more hours making it compared to the time I had spent making the big bag. It had a lot more details and quite a lot of time was spent making sure that everything matched up and looked the way it should.

It took a lot of planning before the actual work of sewing it could be done, but I have learnt some new things on making this kind of pouch. I’ll probably be making a similar one for Zai who had asked that I make a pouch for her and a craft bag. That’s my next project! *wink*

As for the sejadah, it was quite easy to make as it was like making a baby quilt. I had fun doing the embroidery to indicate the top of the sejadah.

I like the effects of the embroidery as it gave the sejadah a sweet touch to it. I just hope that Idah’s likes it as I think that even with the sweet touch of embroidery, the sejadah still matched the bag which Idah wanted them to have a corporate look. The embroidery wasn’t too overpowering.

Here's the whole set with the sejadah all nicely folded to show off the Aznique label. *wink*

I hope to hand deliver the set to Idah this weekend. I just hope that Idah will like what she sees.