Creative Happy Tuesdays: Goal Check!

Have you made progress with your craft projects? I am still on pause right now. Discovered I have vitamin D insufficiency and after experiencing arm pain I thought it would be prudent to rest. I can't stop thinking about creating though, so thought I'd review my crafting goals for the year. TBH, I don't think I've made much progress, but let's see.

1.New covers for my kitchen appliances and O2 concentrator. 

I have so far finished making a new cover for my KitchenAid stand mixer and Philips food processor. The blender cover is in progress. Learned how to make cat quilts because of this project. I have not started thinking about what cover to make for my O2 concentrator (it's ginormous!).

2. Cover/blanket for the benches. 

Nope, not yet started. I think I might make it Star Wars themed. Hmm...

3. Finish the dining room seat cover and make a non-Christmas one. 

Errrr, it's stuck.

4. Throw pillow covers for our currently non-existent sofa (lol).

Still no sofa, so no throw pillow covers.

5. Make more pot holders. 

None yet.

6. New curtains 

So far, only for the kitchen. I used oatmeal colored Swissdot fabric which I thought was very cute. I got another color for the living room, but haven't got around to making it. 

7. Make essential oil holders (been meaning to do this since 2020!) 

Finally, something I completed! I also made several and gave it to my friends.

8. Key holders 

Nope, I cheated and used a duplicate Yoda lego key chain (hehe).

9. Oven gloves (I got this huge roll of heat resistant wadding which needs to be used!) 

Not started.

10. Experimental projects, a wall hanging and something that requires a zipper.

I'm still figuring out where to place it, so I can think about what to do. 

Well, one thing I should have included in this checklist is the maker room renovation! We finally completed it in early April. I've been working a lot more though in the family room. We moved my sewing table so we could save on electricity (use one aircon only). I also have to finish sorting through the plastic boxes of materials. 

Score: 3/10! Ugh, need to get moving!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: Getting Decors for My Craft Room

I hope I can start using my craft room again by early next week. I had the opportunity to visit Papemelroti in person after almost four years! I've just been buying from them online, but the experience is so much different when you visit the shop. I'm so glad the shop in Glorietta is still around. Sadly my favorite resto, Don Henrico's, has been replaced! It used to be beside Papemelroti. 

I was so happy I had the opportunity to pop-in Papemelroti yesterday. Thought it would be nice to find some decors for my craft room. I already have a unique clock, but I want to add a couple more things to make the place more cozy. Papemelroti feels like home. I've been visiting the same shop since the 90's! 

I went through all the corners of the shop to familiarize myself with what they have now. Last time I got to visit was in November 2019. They have a lot of new stuff and it seems they have retired some items (i.e. wrought iron decor, they only have flat metal ones now). They have a lot of clocks and wall board decors now. I went through all the boards. I liked a lot of stuff and was so confused, haha. 

I ended up getting two items. A #Create board and a cute message board. I #Create board would be perfect for the craft room. I think I'll stick to the "create" theme for the craft room since that's what it's meant for. I have a couple of miniature sewing machines I collected. Oh! And I have a thimble collection from my travels. I'll bust them out once renovations are done. :)

#BeKind #StaSafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: Sewing Tools I Can't Live Without

Scrambled to pack my sewing tools and equipment the other day because renovation work is going to start again. It's best to be out of their way so they can work faster. That meant I had to pack everything I need. I'm targeting to finish the Santa seat covers by month end. This way I'll be way more ready for Christmas 2023! 

Here's what I packed -

• 
  Sewing machine
• Sewing machine extender
• Thread
• Sewing scissors for fabric and thread
• Cutting mat
• Sand paper
• Quilting rulers
• Fabric pencils
• Bias tape maker
• My ginormous pincushion with pins and needles
• Safety pin canister
• Quilting clips
• Iron
• Wool ironing mat
• Fabric and buttons I need for the seat cover

It would be a bummer if I forgot something! My cabinets are going to be covered and inaccessible for about two weeks. I decided not to pull out my sewing table since I have an extender. I can just plop down my sewing machine on any table. I can't wait to see my craft room completed.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: Cramming for Christmas!

I haven't touched any of my quilt projects the past week. We've had to prioritize renovations and adulting stuff. Renovation work was supposed to finish today and be suspended until the new year. We're not done yet, haha, so work has been extended until Thursday. We hope to do some cleaning on Friday with the help of Gab's angels (a.k.a. Squeaky.ph). And possibly put up the Christmas tree on Saturday. Photo finish indeed! Well, nothing new because the same thing happened last year!

We had a light moment with the renovation team today. Chanced upon them in the dining room. Everyone was supporting Allan who was working on the top part of the cabinet. Told them it was a Kodak moment and I whipped out my phone to take a photo, that's why they were smiling when I took the photo. I like Team Alab because they have been pretty chill and have good teamwork. They always talk calmly to each other and I've never heard any of them raise their voice. 

I finally started wrapping gifts. It's been a huge challenge to find the gifts because the boxes have moved around a lot, haha. I have a list I update every year. We didn't have to shop since we have accumulated gifts from the past two years which got stuck with us in SG. Only thing we bought were noche buena items for the renovation team. We're not going to send Christmas cards again this year since the post office is very far. I still have some cards from last year which I wasn't able to mail (oh noes!).

Well, I don't have gifts yet for my boys and my Mom. I didn't get to buy it early because I didn't want it discovered.  What I wanted to get are out of stock now, haha. We've been so busy, we'll just improvise haha. Crossing my fingers we'll be given the go ahead to cook our noche buena. We'll know tomorrow if it's safe to use the induction stove*. 

The good news is Grey the Cat (the cat who adopted us) is back! He was MIA for a week and we were starting to worry. We have to work to make him feel safe again since we want to bring him to the vet. Meow! Happy Tuesday everyone!

*I can't use gas since my lungs can't tolerate the fumes. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

 

Creative Happy Tuesdays: Maybe I'll Do a Cross-Stitch Project After Christmas

I like cross-stitching and doing embroidery. It was one of my favorite sewing lessons we were taught in school. I think I will find the sampler I made once we finish unboxing and decluttering our home. The other day Sweetie found my original sewing kit. It was a pink toolbox which I think I had Mom buy for me maybe 30 years ago? 

I don't have the patience though to finish huge cross-stitch projects. I honestly still haven't finished the mother and child cross-stitch my Mom had me do when Miggy was a baby. He's now 28 and I still haven't finished it. The project has also moved across all the homes we lived in, haha. The box of DMC thread is still intact. Found it hard to complete because the design is very intricate. I'll review whether I'll continue to do it once I find all the materials. 

While de-cluttering some books, I found a give Miggy gave me almost ten years ago. "Subversive Cross Stitch", a collection of designs that will freak out my Mom (hehe). I think Miggy got it for me because he knew I'd be cool about it. I laughed as I went through the pages of the book. DMC ads keep popping up on my stream (bakit kaya?). Maybe I'll do something soon since DMC seems to have a monthly sale. 

Brought up my old sewing kit because I found two quick projects I made many years ago. A Hello Kitty cross stitch which I think is still very cute. It's probably time to frame it since my plan is to have a HK themed powder room in my craft room (yes, I'm having the shower removed since the bathroom is too small). 

And I found a small butterfly project I did. I don't recall anymore when I made these. I probably made it before I left for Singapore? Yes, probably between typhoon Ondoy and before I left for SG. Dating it after Ondoy because all of my things got wet during the flood. Luckily, both projects were in the sewing kit so it was kinda preserved. 

I'll probably stick to smaller cross-stitch projects from now on since I don't have the patience to finish bigger ones. Plus I think my trigger finger would not be happy. That's also the reason why I rarely hand quilt now. I make sure to do some PT exercises when I do to avoid pain. #signofoldage hahaha. 

You don't need to just do one kind of craft. I like exploring and incorporating my crafts. Sometimes I do some embroidery on my quilt projects. It's not perfect, but it makes me happy. Here's one I did two or three Christmases ago -

If I stuck to cross-stitching, I probably wouldn't need my own craft room. LOL. 

P.S. Santa seat cover project is progressing very slowly. Things have been crazy busy with renovations. 

#BeKind #StaySafe