Made a Dainty Kitchen Curtain!

Mom left a huge stash of fabric and retaso (scrap fabric). It took me months to go through it and I'm honestly not done yet washing it. I found one really cute embroidered fabric, I believe normally used for dainty dresses. It was white, but was in a bad brownish state from being kept for many years. It took me a week to restore it to almost white. 

I set aside any delulu plans of sewing a dress or skirt. I'd probably fail since I don't really know how to sew clothes! After months of pondering I decided to make a curtain. The fabric was long enough to make one for our kitchen window. 

But alas! It wasn't long enough. I decided to be creative and thought about adding fabric to make it longer. I was inspired from browsing a book on curtains at Booksale (I regret not buying it!). Anyway, I decided to use denim-like fabric to keep it neutral. 

Mom also left some lace. It also took me awhile to restore their color to white. I think she got most of them when she was teaching me how to quilt when I was a child, so you can just imagine how long they've been in storage. Anyway, I added some lace as an accent.

Here's how I made it:

And my new summer curtains!

Now I have dainty kitchen curtains. The denim add-on matches my cat kitchen covers. :)

For measurements, https://www.needleadventures.com/2025/04/diy-dainty-summer-kitchen-rod-pocket.html

#BeKind #StaySafe

Made a Quilted Monochromatic Tote Bag

I was on a roll making tote bags. This one is a belated birthday gift. I thought it would be easy, but it was challenging to find fabric to complete the look I wanted. I also had to get Miggy to help me lay out the fabric since I wasn't getting the gradient I wanted. I was stuck there for awhile, but eventually finished it. 

Here's how I made it:

And here's my friend, Anne. I made her pose against an artwork at a hotel which looked a bit similar to the bag (just a different color).

*Thanks for indulging me to pose, haha. 

More information about how to make this bag: https://www.needleadventures.com/2024/08/quilted-monochromatic-tote-bag.html

#BeKind #StaySafe

Made a Star Wars Themed Quilted Cover

Finally got around to making a quilt cover for a bench at home. I originally had it made for my craft room, but we moved it to the family room where it fit better. I wanted to make a cover for it to prolong the lifespan of the pink cover. It would be expensive to have it cleaned often, so the best way to prolong it's life is to cover it. 

I wanted the cover to be colorful, so I matched the Star Wars fabric with orange, yellow, blue and green. I originally thought it would be too flashy, but Miggy said the accent went well with the theme. I thought I could finish the project in two to three weeks. It stretched to almost six weeks since I had other things to do at home, plus we had to work on our health. 

It turned out well, but I think I'll delay making another one later this year (we have two benches haha). I also want to make seat covers for the sofa set (that's going to be a super huge project). I'm still thinking about making it a modern quilt or a traditional one. I'll probably do a modern one since it's for our home anyway. 

Here's six weeks of work turned into a six minute tutorial video:

More info about this quilt project on my sewing blog: https://www.needleadventures.com/2024/03/star-wars-themed-quilt-cover-for-bench.html

#BeKind #StaySafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: Craft the Year Away!

I had fun developing new skills last year as I went through my sewing projects. I learned how to make curtains, finished my tshirt quilt project, a cover for my oxygen concentrator, and a Christmas tree skirt. I also made a couple of potholders and a Christmas placemat.  The only "artwork" I made was the pink vinta project. I wasn't able to finish my other Christmas projects and gave up on the planned handmade gifts, haha. 

What I learned though is to aim for the moon. Aim high so if you don't finish, you still get good results. I took so long finishing the tshirt quilt and I normally rest between major projects*. My craft room was also inaccessible for more than a month during renovation (it's not done yet). My overall plan for this year is to make more useful smaller projects. 

I created a long list of projects I want to make back in 2021. Good thing I wrote it in a notebook. The list kept growing because I'd get inspired from my craft books and Pinterest. There's so many cute stuff in it and I know I always learn when I create something. 

Here's what I'll prioritize this year:

1. New covers for my kitchen appliances and O2 concentrator.
2. Cover/blanket for the benches.
3. Finish the dining room seat cover and make a non-Christmas one.
4. Throw pillow covers for our currently non-existent sofa (lol)
5. Make more pot holders.
6. New curtains 
7. Make essential oil holders (been meaning to do this since 2020!)
8. Key holders 
9. Oven gloves (I got this huge roll of heat resistant wadding which needs to be used!)
10. Experimental projects, a wall hanging and something that requires a zipper. 

And note to self, if giving away handmade gifts, start making them in Q2! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

*Gotta prevent trigger finger and arm pain

Creative Happy Tuesdays: Christmas is Coming!

After browsing through my quilt books and Pinterest, I finally decided the theme for my holiday quilts. It's going to be all about Santa! I have a pretty ambitious list of things I want to make so I thought I'd make it easy to make. 

It usually takes me 1 to 2 days to just cut fabric, a few hours to piece things together (if I'm using the sewing machine), another day or two to sandwich the quilt and another day or two to prepare and work on  the binding. I found it more efficient to bunch up the work because it's faster. 

Working on a small space forced me to find a more efficient way to enjoy my hobby. My sewing table functions as my cutting area, ironing table, sewing area, sandwiching area and dining area. Yup, since it could get very warm during the day we also eat in the craft room. We used to use the family room, but the lights need to be fixed. 

I'm pretty happy how I assembled the placemats. I just used fabric that I already have and used old mattress protectors instead of wadding. I'm bent also on re-using old sheets as backing (must find ways to save since things are quite expensive nowadays). It will take a bit more time to finish it since I need to figure out how to attach the "belt buckle". I also always procrastinate when it comes to binding because I make them from scratch. 

My seat cover project is currently on a standstill. I was able to piece it together and sandwich it already. I struggled a bit making Santa's moustache. I'm now stuck figuring out how to make the nose and the tip of Santa's hat. I'm still practicing how to make it, so far I'm not happy with the result. 

Have to get moving on my projects since I have to evacuate the craft room by end of the week. I hope the contractor will be ready to install the cabinets next week. Yay!

#BeKind #StaySafe #CreativeHappyTuesdays

Creative Happy Tuesdays: A Peek at My Christmas Projects

Google Photos reminded me that I started the Christmas tree skirt on September 9, 2021. I had planned to finish it during quarantine. The 9 days were cut down to 6 though and I ended up sleeping through it, haha. I didn't finish the tree skirt because I was dilly-dallying over the fabric I used. I wasn't sure if they looked good. 

I was about to start making some place mats, but I was distracted with the seat cover offerings on a shopping platform. I couldn't find any that would fit my fat dining chairs so I decided to make my own. The funny thing is I ended up using the same fabric as the tree skirt, so I guess I'm going to stick to it now. I'm on a "use what you have" phase. 

Pieced together the seat cover design the past few days and spent the weekend sandwiching it. My goal for this project is to use what I have on hand. I was able to use leftover wadding from previous projects. I don't throw out wadding I've cut because I can still use the tiny pieces as filling. Those will go into the nose and the hat. Maybe I'll make small noses also for the tree skirt. 

I'm going to lose access to my craft room soon since the contractor will be fixing it. I need to pack everything again and this means I need to plan what I could work on for the next six weeks! Hope my projects turn out okay. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: Mug Rug

Pretty soon it's going to be Christmas again! Memes of Jose Mari Chan have been gracing the stream again. This tells me it's time to start thinking about Christmas. I really like making gifts instead of buying. I wasn't able to make any last year because we were so busy moving back and moving homes. 

I made mug rugs once and I think I sent cheese cupcakes with it. Most of my friends though used it for decor haha. They said it was too cute and precious to use to keep their mugs warm! Haha. 

Here's how I made it -

More information on how I made it is on m y craft blog: https://www.needleadventures.com/2021/02/how-to-make-quilted-mug-rug.html

I quilted and did some embroidery on the project. I like adding some embroidery to it for fun! I need to look through my list to figure out what to make this year :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: T-Shirt Memory Quilt Blanket is Done!

Woohoo! I finally finished my t-shirt memory quilt blanket! I started working on this on May 11, 2019! I worked on it on and off because the materials were in Manila. I eventually brought it to Singapore in January 2020. Thought I'd finish it there, but I didn't since I got busy with work and then was in and out of the hospital. 

Told myself I'll finish it this year. My deadline kept moving mainly because of my health. I just worked on it whenever I felt well. Worked on it slowly, but surely. I made bite-sized targets until I finally added the binding last weekend. The last stitch was added on August 20, 2022 (3 years 3 months and 9 days/831 days). 

Here's a tutorial on how I made it:

I also have a step by step guide here in case you want to try making one.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: How to Make Curtains

Creating something always makes me happy and calm. My doctor encouraged it when I eventually got depressed after going through several medical episodes. It helped center me and it became part of my therapy. 

When we moved back to the Philippines and moved to our new home, the first thing I had to make were curtains! None of curtains I owned fit the windows and sliding doors, so I resolved to make them. Making it by myself allowed me to choose the fabric to use. It allowed me to explore other types of fabric. 

It was my first time to make curtains. I figured it would be easy compared to quilting. Got help from the boys to measure the windows and sliding doors. After that I got linen fabric on Shopee. I was happy to find out that there were so many suppliers from Divisoria selling on Shopee. 

Here's a tutorial how I made a simple rod curtain -

Step by step guide also available on my Needle Adventures blog.

When I have time to make, I'll probably try other types of fabric :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Craft Tuesdays: Uniqlo Outfits + My Quilted Bags = Marvelous

My quilting journey started with making bags. For practice Mom cut 1.5" x 1.5" squares for me to piece together. It eventually became my lunchbag. Then she cut larger squares and it became a totebag. I still have those bags somewhere. I'll share it when I find it.

I still enjoy making quilt bags and it's easier to learn nowadays because there are a lot of YouTube videos you can follow. We dropped by Uniqlo today and I was once again inspired to think about making a quilted bag. Here's a few nice pieces from Uniqlo that would match with some of the bags I've made.

Hope I'll have more time soon so I can work on making more quilted bags. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Craft Tuesdays: The Baby Quilt Blanket I Made for Miggy

I mentioned a few posts ago about the baby quilt blanket I made for Miggy. I sewed it by hand and Mom took care of binding it (I didn't know how to do binding at that time). The fabric I used were cuttings from Tita Maming's export business. She always gave my Mom cuttings that they were just going to dispose. They had really nice fabric because their primary market was Japan. All the quilts I made during that time were from the stash she gave to my Mom. 

We used pink and blue checked fabric. The design was simple and I embroidered cute shapes on some of the pieces. I'm actually surprised that the thread has held up even after almost 30 years. The last square I embroidered Miggy's name, birth date and time. 

I was so happy when Sweetie found the blanket when he pulled out the rest of our stuff from the condo. Got it washed this week. There are some stains on it which I think I will need to hand wash. It still feels really sturdy and I'm thinking of framing. It will probably be nice to hang in my sewing room. 

Well, one assignment for me is to find Miggy's baby photo with it. For now I only have grown-up Miggy with it haha. This is one thing I will cherish forever :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Quilt Blankets I Made for Friends

I finally found the first quilt blanket I made. It was a baby blanket I hand-sewed just before Miggy was born. It was my Mom though who finished the process since she was more knowledgeable in binding than me. When I took up quilting again I realized my knowledge was incomplete. 

I took up quilting again I think in 2014 or 2015. I told myself I had to learn how to finish a quilt. Every project I started had to have a learning goal. I also wanted to make friends happy. In 2019 one of my favorite colleagues was about to give birth to a miracle baby. Armed with my rainbow fabric collection, I embarked on making a baby quilt. I sewed everything by hand and I was still sewing it when I went to Syndey. Luckily, I was able to finish it before I left and I gave it to her in between the events we were hosting. She has since sent me many photos of her baby playing on the quilt. 

The quilt wasn't perfect, but was made with love. I was a few months into making the Harry Potter quilt blanket for friends who just got married. For this quilt I wanted to improve on my stitching and piecing corners. I also wanted to use a sewing machine for piecing the bigger parts of the quilt. The small parts of the quilt were all sewn in-flight. It reached Australia, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. It took me two years to finish it since I got so busy in 2020. I finally sent it to Canada last year. 

Before I went back home I had this great idea I could make multiple quilts by using short cuts. I wanted to learn the shortcut to making pinwheel quilts. I told myself, ahhh maybe I can make two blankets. I ended up making four and gifted it to my friends in Singapore. 

Another friend got a different version of the Harry Potter quilt blanket. For this I followed a design from a book. Miggy helped me with the colors. 

Of course, I made baby quilts for my favorite doctors. I made two versions of it. By this time I was  quite confident at machine sewing. I slowly moved to machine quilting while making the blankets. I had to because I was starting to get pains in my arm haha. I enjoyed making the blankets for my doctors. My cardiologist has been sending me cute photos of him using it. 

Oversized lap quilt blanket for my cardiologist.

Lap quilt for my respiratory doctor.

I can't believe I made 8 baby blankets last year and I haven't even finished any this year. Well, I hope to finish my t-shirt memory quilt soon! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Quilt Projects I'm Working On

I've been focused on finishing the t-shirt memory quilt blanket for a few months now. I told myself I have to finish it soon since I started it in 2019. I've already made a number of lap quilts for friends, but I haven't made one for myself! I was set on finishing it this month, but I had to prioritize nursing my boys back to health so I abandoned quilting for almost 3 weeks. The good news is I have finished sandwiching it and have started quilting. If I spend 4-6 hours a day on it I might be able to finish it by mid-July. Still a big IF, haha. 

Another project I've been working on is a case for masks. Got this cute fabric last year and thought it would be perfect as a storage case for masks. I've made a couple and it just needs to be binded. I made this project to learn how to attach snap-on buttons. I usually attach a learning goal to my projects so I could develop more skills. I think I cut enough fabric for 10 mask cases, so I could attaching buttons. I gave one to my respiratory doctor's nurse in SG. She was so surprised I made it, haha. 

I still haven't completed making covers for all my appliances. I thought I was already done and realized I missed making one for the steamer and my oxygen concentrator. I've started the one for the oxygen concentrator. I'm using my rainbow fabric for it to match the other covers. The rainbow fabric has come a long way and I learned a lot of sewing techniques from it. I used to hand sew everything, but now I'm machine sewing as well to make the process faster (and to save my hand from carpal tunnel!). I need to finish this project asap! 

I just realized I only finished one quilt project this year -- the pink vinta throw pillow quilt! I wanted to make more, but I'm disciplining myself to finish my big projects first (I still have another blanket project that I started five years ago heehee). I hope when I have these things out of the way, I start other fun projects. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Pink Vinta Inspiration

A few weeks ago I was inspired by VP Leni's photo when she was in Zamboanga. It was a sunset photo by the bay with several pink vintas in the background. I've been planning to make a sea collection this year and thought I'd start it off with the vintas. Started the project by making a drawing so I could get the right measurements. 

I did everything by hand since I missed hand quilting, plus my hand has been cooperative (vitamin D3 + wall pushups ftw!). I happy to discover I have amassed a good number of pink fabric, mostly fat quarters and charms. Sweetie also got me a bunch of pink layer cakes last Christmas so it worked out perfectly. 

It took me two weeks to finish since I just worked on it at night while watching TV. And here's the quilted Vinta inspired throw pillowcases I made. I didn't fully capture the sides of the sail so I'll improve on it when I make other items. I plan to make a cover for my sewing machine and blender. I'll probably stick to smaller items since I only have fat quarters. 

Good thing my boys don't mind that I'm making our home super pink! Well just the living room for now. I relented and made yellow curtains for the kitchen, but pink checkered curtains would look nice for the kitchen so we'll see if I could stop myself hahaha. 

#BeKind #StayHome #VoteWisely

Finished the Shophouse Quilt Sampler!

Sometimes inspiration can be hard on you. I've wanted to create a shophouse quilt since I laid eyes on a book featuring Singapore shophouses. I super loved the colors of the shophouses. Two years passed and I promised myself I'll work on it this year. 

I started working on it three weeks ago. I thought I was going to finish it in a few days. It took three weeks because each block took almost two days to make. Selecting fabric, measuring and cutting took up a lot of time. Each block had 16 to 24 pieces that had to be sewn together by hand. After combining 9 blocks I had to add in the "windows" and "doors" for each block.

Halfway through the project I wanted to give up. Hand-sewing each block took a lot of time and I had to rest my hand in-between (apparently sewing can cause carpal tunnel too). There were nights when I'd look at a finished block and think it was ugly. They looked better in the morning (haha). I'm not one to leave a project unfinished so I continued work on it. 

I finally finished it last night! I used a sewing machine to put the binding on. My hand had run out of stitching power already. Yes, I also thought it was ugly last night. It looked much better when I woke up this morning (hahaha). 

Here's a video on how I made it -

This is a sampler project. I'm going to finish first other projects and then I'll work on my shophouses for my home quilt project. At the rate I'm going I'll probably get to it next year. 

*If you want to try making the shophouse quilt, I have the template available here.

Day 5 Gratitude Challenge, A friend. I have so much to be thankful for my friends. I consider them as my guardian angels. They are always there whenever I need them. Love to all my friends. 

Happy weekend everyone. 

CB///*Yr2/91 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/118 #NewG355 #Home129 #StayHome #BeKind 

May Challenge Completed!

I challenged myself this month to level-up my sewing skills. Majority of my projects have been sewn by hand. Sweetie got me a sewing machine, but I only use it for a small part of my projects. I pushed myself to learn more by taking on an advanced project - a quilted tote bag. 

Hand sewing is therapeutic for me so I combined embroidery and hand quilting. It took me ten days to finish the project. I discovered a few things about myself while making the project:

One - I really can't draw! My friends thought I was trying to draw an oversized avocado. I was in fact trying to draw a pair of scissors. LOL. 

Two - Tastas is life when something isn't up to par. Learned this from my Mom. 

Three - Still can learn new things. I've always been wary of using the sewing machine. I just needed a little push. 

Of course, I made a how-to video. Here it is -

More details on how to make this bag on my sewing blog.

For the month of June I plan to finish the Harry Potter blanket. I need to finish it before my scheduled cardiac catheterization! (My doctors are hell-bent on fixing me!). 

Happy Sunday everyone!

CB///*Yr2/50  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/77 #StayHome #BeKind