Ahad, 31 Januari 2010

Jom Jahit: Sleeveless dress

I desperately wanted to sew and was run out of idea, and happen to stumble upon the Jom Jahit organized by tinihani. I hope it’s not too late for me to join.



There are 4 different attires to sew, and I chose the easiest one: Rixarixa Sleeveless Dress.

And being me I don’t really rely on the pattern given, just cut the fabric and sew based on my gut (and the photo attached, of course).

This is the outcomes:
Front:


As you can see, I added a pocket (so that, the dress look nicer) and ruffles (instead of laces) and bias binding to its edges.

Back:


This is the first time I’m sewing using zipper for Zahras’ dress. I normally use buttons. So, it looks really odd- it likes sewing a pencil case. Hehehe…

OK, that’s all for now. I’ve seen others and wow, they’re good, no joke.

Happy Sunday, people :-)

Sabtu, 30 Januari 2010

Top cover

Saturday simple sewing.

Something have to be done to fix the damage.

The damage was:



Done 'with lotsa love' by my DD. The other day, I was busy cutting the fabric and later to realize that the sewing machine cover has been use as a happy tool by my Zahra.

So this is the new sewing machine cover. Made by remnants:




OK, that's all for today. Let see what's up for tomorrow..

Happy weekend and Happy Sewing, people :-)

Khamis, 28 Januari 2010

Akhirnya..

Selama dekat setahun aku menaip pakai wordpad. Punyala kedekut Toshiba tak bagi free Microsoft, dan aku plak maleh nya nak gi mencari software tersebut even yang pirate sekali pon. Ok, tak pasti nak cakap samada Toshiba stingy atau aku yang cheapskate pathetic. Hehehe..

Sekali, kat hospi ni plak buat promotion jual Microsoft Office original rm59.



Netbook ini dilengkapi juga dengan Microsoft Office 2007.

Selasa, 26 Januari 2010

January's Books

These are the books/magazines that I bought from my January's salary:



I wonder will I still be able to indulge myself with sewing books or magazines after August.. erm.. (need some back-up plan then..)

I wanna be like my Ummi

Zahra ni betul-betul suka belajar dari aku.. hehehe.

We bought her lego-murah-made-in-china at the Kuantan Parkson, dan sampai bilik hotel, she was soo excited to play with it. Tapi yang kelakarnya, sebelum main, dia minta kamera, then snap kotak lego-tipu tersebut:


Dan setelah berjaya buat something, dia pon snap-snap hasil kerja dia:



Hehehe.. ni mesti terpengaruh dengan Umi yang asik dok tangkap gambo kain, gambo mesin dan gambo baju yang telah berjaya dijahit.. ekekeke...

Weekdays gateway

Kami baru balik: baru jer sampai rumah jam 3 petang tadi. We went to Kuantan, Mat having a meeting and aku sesaje seronok tagged along: sebab tak penah lagi pergi menginap di Kuantan (selalu pass by jer).

On Sunday, Zahra and me naik plane to KT to meet Walid (yang memang ada kat sana).


We reach KT at 9am, and headed to Kuantan later on that afternoon, and we stayed at MS Garden Kuantan.


Malam pulak, 2 hari berturut-turut kami makan seafood di Tanjung Lumpur. I know if you're Kuantanese, mesti rasa macam 'eee.. tak best nya makan kat Tanjung Lumpur', but for us yang sekali sekali makan seafood fresh memang rasa best jugak la Tanjung Lumpur ni. Not bad la.. Dah dua malam datang makan tempat yang sama mesti la something-kan. :-)

Ini apa yang kami makan:
Day 1:





Day 2:



:-)

Hotel dia menarik. Pool pon ok, but Zahra prefer mandi di bathtub rather than berpanas di pool. So, tak de la gambar di kolam renang sebab memang tak berendam pon.

Overall, Kuantan OK la. Tak ke mana pon. Setakat duduk di bilik dan dinner di Tanjung Lumpur. Ada rezeki, kot sesapa kawen, Kuantan, we shall meet you, again.

Sekali sekala berjalan memang seronok, accept that dalam mesin basuh kat bawah tu, tengah berputar-putar kain kotor yang perlu diuruskan.

Sabtu, 23 Januari 2010

Another embroidery stitching

I love embroidery stitching.. those simple lines-stitches. I would love to try something like Durra's did but I'm afraid I'll ruin the cloth. However, I'll try them one day (when I've already bought the book about hand embroidery which happen to be in my wishlist items for this year.. hehehe).

Did I mentioned why I love embroidery stitching? Well, they're really easy-to-do-laying-back-while-watching-television-stitches and the outcomes will basically bring something special to your lame-plain-boring shirt or top.

This is what I did today:
Well I forgot to take the before picture, so this is during (can considered as before):


And this is the outcome:


Up close the motif:

*Motif was obtained from googling in the net.

OK, thats all. Another top lining up to be makeover.. heheh.


Happy weekend, people :-)

Jumaat, 22 Januari 2010

Kemelesetan ekonomi

Berita terhangat di pasaran. Macam-macam spekulasi yang dibuat: minyak naik ke rm3 start Mei 2010 ni, untuk penjawat awam pulak elaun COLA akan dimansuhkan, elaun perumahan mungkin dipotong, apa yang pasti harga gula memang dah naik, begitu juga dengan Roti Gardenia yang sedap dimakan begitu sahaja. Apa pun, semua speku kekal propa selagi tiada pengumuman yang sahih dibuat.

Kemelesetan ekonomi seperti ini mengingatkan aku kepada zaman sekolah dulu. Zaman 80s approaching to 90s memang agak sempit la- at least for my family. Papa work very hard – lepas mengajar, malam-malam bawa ‘prebet sapu’. Mama pon buat banyak kerja: jaga anak orang, buat nasi lemak (yang aku pon pakat-pakat jual kat sekolah) and on weekends, gi cuci rumah orang. Banyak mende yang kena sacrifice waktu tu. I remembered my class nak buat rombongan ke Cameron Highlands after UPSR. Semua seronok nak pegi, but too bad, aku tak bole pergi sebab Papa cakap rm20 for the fees is too expensive. Sama jugak time dapat jadi Prefect on form3, nak buat blazer semua tu kena bayar rm150, Papa tanya, kalo tak jadi Prefect tak OK ke? I was like, mesti tak bagi ni.. rupa nya tidak.. dia hanya tanya sahaja and later at that night, he signed surat setuju perlantikkan and handling me over the rm150. Hehehe.. Semua adalah kenangan kisah dulu. Kenangan yang mengajar aku tentang value of money. Sekarang Alhamdulllilah, keluarga kami hidup dah senang.

Orang kata, duit bukan segalanya tetapi segalanya memerlukan duit. Ada sedikit kebenaran di situ. Tapi kena yakin jugak, selagi kita tidak putus mengingati-Nya (jaga solat lima waktu, amal maaruf, nahi mungkar..), insyaAllah, Dia juga tidak akan lupa pada kita.

Namun, apabila ura-ura itu-ini nak naik harga, elaun itu-ini nak kena potong, satu keluhan halus dilepaskan di situ. Harapannya, speku kekal sebagai propa: so that bole la aku apply itu cuti tanpa gaji menjaga anak selama setahun (atau lebih). Ekekeke…

Wearing your own made baju..

What’s your opinion?

***
Last night I sewed another maternity top. Have to, since I’ve outgrown most of my baju. Well, when pregnant for Zahra, as a first baby, my figure doesn’t expand that much. I still can fit the normal size baju kurung(s) even I’ve reached full-term. But now, at 5 months, I can’t fit to anything. So, sew I must (rather than spend money on expensive ready-made maternity attire).

This is the baju that I sewn:





I designed this baju based on one baju that I saw in the mall, and made it slightly bigger, so that I can fit throughout the pregnancy.


As you can see, the neck is a little bit horror: crooked here and there. It’s hard to pay 100% sewing attention to the baju, when hubs not around (he went to work out of town), and having an actively cunning-attention seeker daughter.

***

Ok, back to the topic.

Someone been asking me, what do I feel wearing own made baju?

I’ve sewn my first ever baju when I was in Form Two, during the Home Economic class. It is a very simple top, and I am pleased to wear the baju here and there. And I remembered at that particular time, our school was having a performance week, and my class decided to do something like choir/choral speaking/synchronized singing. We wanted to wear similar cloths like the boria, and I suggested the top that we’ve sewn for Home Economic class, but everyone was like saying ‘EEWWW’.

And I recalled my Sis saying something like, ‘Yikes, teruknya jahitan ngah. Sanggup tu memakainya..’, referring to my few first baju kurung(s) sewn. I have to admit, the baju kurung was totally a nightmare. Look at the neck. It seems like been sewn by someone who doesn’t have fingers. But still, I wore it to the office.

I don’t know about you people, but I am always proud like a peacock when wearing my own-made baju(s). The feeling was satisfying even the baju was poor sewn BUT of course, I’m not willing to wear anything that out of shape or uneven sleeves length, even I’ve burned the midnight oil to sew them.

Me, in the above baju:


OK, that’s all. Have a great Friday, people :-)

Khamis, 21 Januari 2010

Who am I

In this ‘ideal’ cyberworld I would love to declare myself as a professional sewist cum designer, BUT in the real life, I am just simply a..

M.I.C.R.O.B.I.O.L.O.G.I.S.T.

Yup, that’s what I do for living.

This is me in my office- on my desk to be exact. Notice the baju that I’m wearing? Hehehe..


And this is my lab section: I’m officer in charge of the Blood Bank Unit. Not much with the germs though, more on human blood and such.



My technicians and me.


I love my work, and I also love being at home with my kid(s), doing housework and of course, stay awake in the studio making stuff. Maybe one day, on a very one fine lovely day, when the guts finally arrive, I’ll have the courage to stand in front handling the letter of resignation to my boss. :-)

OK, that’s all. So, besides being a crafter, what you do for living (for real)?

Rabu, 20 Januari 2010

While I was on leave

Yup, I'm not working today, and am still not fully recovered. But having sitting at home doing nothing seems very boring. So, while attending my DD watching tv, I cut some fabrics: those fabrics than I've planned earlier to make another maternity top. After cutting those, I became energetic later to find myself in the studio, sitting in front of the sewing machine, sewing.

This is the outcome:



I used the same pattern like the previous maternity top but substituted the fabric to cotton- much easier to sew.

And tomorrow, I'll have a new top to go to the office. :-)

Little update

Rasa lama tak menulis di sini, being very busy with something that is not online related.. heheheh.

I'm mc today. Having a very bad flu- sampai nak tido pon dalam kesusahan sebab kena bernafas tru mulut. Takper la, lama tak sakit pon.

Last weekend kami balik Ipoh. Ipoh as usual was great: seronok balik sebab makan minum ditanggung halal (hihihi) and tido pagi tiada gangguan oleh Zahra sebab dia bangun terus jump-out the katil and cari her grandys. So, Umi dan Walid boleh sambung tido dengan aman.. ekekeke. Papa gave me something (yang sangat best) but I gave it back to him dan sekarang tengah teringat-ingat akan benda itu.. haish.

Mat tiada: going outstation for a week. Dulu, waktu ofis dia adalah 'research and services', norma kerja dia memang banyak outstation, lama-lama kat pelantar. Then bila they changed to 'research' sahaja, he no longer going else where. Sekali-sekala tu adalah but tak lama like one or two days sahaja. Selalu dalam hati ni tertanya-tanya, dia ni tak nak gi outstation ke sebab aku malas nak memasak. Hahahah. Tapi sekarang dah missing him very much. Cepat la balik sebab rasa cam tak best. Hehehe..

Okla, itu sahaja for a little update. Hidung tersumbat, otak pon turut tersumbat.

Selasa, 19 Januari 2010

Embroidery stitching

I've done this in primary school however was called to do it again when I stumbled upon this website: Sublime Stitching. And I have to say that this is so fun, easy and very relaxing (compare to crocheting which I have to knit-disknit-knit again and again just to make a pair of baby sole (I'll show you the outcome when the other half is done.. heheh)).

This is what I stitch.



If you think this is awesome, do join their Facebook fan page and view other people embroidery stitching which is totally WOW.. or at least I found it WOW.. :) And I like their tag line: This ain't your gramma's embroidery!

OK, that's all for this week. I am not feeling very well, having bad runny-nose at the moment. Thus, any activity in the sewing room is hold for the moment. I'll hit them as soon as my health back to pink.

You people, have a great, healthy day ahead :-)

Isnin, 18 Januari 2010

Welcome to Neeza Needles

As you can see, the blog now has a new name - www.neezaneedles.com.

It just happen that one of my friend said that why not you name your masterpiece as Neeza Needles as its an awesome name- yup, it rhymes. I'm immediately in love with the names, and wanna keep it to myself thus I bought the domain. But fret not, I'm still using Blogger as my hosting so even you type the old address, you'll be redirecting to this new address. And if you can see, the appearance of the blog still the same, only the address is changed. Well, I guess it clearly stated that I'm not very good with these IT thingies. Hehehe..

I love you readers very much, YES, I do. Keep on dropping, peeking and commenting. Your stays make my day. :)

Rabu, 13 Januari 2010

I plan to..

..embroidery stitching.



Let's see how's the outcome...

Pengalaman berpantang

Sebab anak pertama dan tak de experience dalam melahirkan dan surrounding yang agak moden, kaedah dan method berpantang banyak aku pelajari daripada internet. Fuh, semangat sungguh waktu tu- semangat nak dapatkan kembali bentuk badan sebelum mengandung. Hehehe..

Persediaan berpantang:

1. Bengkung

- aku beli OPPO Abdominal Binder kat pharmacy Watson: masa tu ada discount 50%. Kenapa beli bengkung ni, sebab aku baca kat satu blog ni dia pakai bengkung zap-on jer: tak pakai bengkung yang ikat-ikat tu dan sangat senang kalo nak ke toilet dan sebagainya. Dan sangat la berbaloi, sebab aku pakai dari hari ketiga (lepas bukak plaster di perut di hospital) sampai ke hari akhir pantang. Macam dah dirancang pulak, bengkung zap-on ni juga sesuai untuk mereka yang beranak secara C-zer.

Selain pakai bengkung ni aku pon pakai girdle Avon (yang beli masa nak kawen dulu).

Bersungguh-sungguh ni sebab nak perut kembali kempis selepas beranak. Aku admit aku penah gemuk: namun walopon dalam keadaan berbadan besar, perut aku tak la menggeleber loose macam tu. And my definition of cantik adalah body smart iaitu perut kena kempis. Tak kira la ko gemuk ker, ko kurus ker, ko akan cantik kalo body ko smart. Macam pengacara cerita Sugar channel AFC, dia agak berisi jugak tapi perut dia flat giler. Best la bagi aku body macam tu. Heheheh..

Lepas pantang pulak, aku pakai body corset set ni- Nano Body Shaping:

Senang sangat nak bf Zahra especially kalo nak nursing in public (nip) sebab dia macam baju dalam tapi agak melekat so kalo selak orang tak nampak perut aku yang horror itu. Hehehe.. Benda ni pon antara barang yang halal la yang aku beli: pakai sampai la disahkan pregnant baru ni dan stop pakai bila perut start gatal-gatal.

2. Polliney Pati Ikan Haruan
-yang ni mula aku beli sedozen jer. Konon nak makan untuk 12 hari pertama sahaja. Sekali tengok kena C-zer, I asked Mat to add another 5 packs (1 pack = 6 ketul). Yes, aku makan sebiji sehari selama 42 hari dari hari kedua melahirkan Zahra. Rasa dia, for me ok jer: tak sedap tapi tak la tak sedap langsung sampai tak bole makan.

Untuk baby-belly, aku plan nak beli Sup Ikan Haruan ni:

Kat Hospimart ada jual: satu tin rm16. Tapi nampak cam horror pulak sebab ikan tu nampak seketul-seketul.

3. Set Lepas Bersalin Tropical Herbs Amway
Tak.. aku tak beli apa-apa set bersalin, but SIL did. Dia beli set ni, tapi tak pakai dia punya Campuran Peramping Perut (tapel) dan Campuran Penenang (pilis). So, she gave it to me. Since dah dapat free tu, aku pon pakai la sehingga habis paket-paket yang ada (15 paket semua kalo tak silap), tepek-tepek kat dahi dan kat perut after mandi (sebelum wrap dengan girdle dan pakai bengkung). Hehehe.. tak de keje kan..

4. Pil Kacip Fatimah Orang Kampung

Yang ni aku beli 2 botol sebelum bersalin, dan Alhamdullillah, selamat makan semua. Beli yang 60 kapsul sebotol, satu hari kena consume 4 biji (2 pagi, 2 petang), cukup untuk 30 hari makan. Kenapa aku beli pon sebab aku baca kat internet. Kesannya, entah la. Hehehe..

5. Halia muda dan lada hitam
Ni lepas bersalin aku suruh Mat beli kat K4. Punya banyak dia beli, tapi bagus jugak. Halia tu aku memang wajibkan ke atas setiap masakan aku: sup sawi dan ikan bakar lumur halia. Lada hitam tu pulak aku makan macam tu je sesambil cecah dengan nasi putih.

OK, kembali kepada kisah berpantang: aku tak berpantang di Ipoh, di rumah mama TAPI berpantang di rumah mertua- Kuala Terengganu. Sebab nya, Mat ada course di Instep, KT selama 2 minggu, starting from 22 April. So, aku nak ikut stay ngan Mat.. hehehe. After keluar hospital, aku stay kat my SIL house for a week, then flew to KT on the 20th. Mat arrived on the 21st pagi tu.

Pengalaman berpantang di kampong (dan di rumah orang) memang sangatla menyesak jiwa. Mat memang banyak membantu: mandikan Zahra every morning. Tapi Mat was there for two weeks je, and after 3 May, Mat balik Putrajaya and I was left to stay for another two weeks. Both my PIL adalah tua dan agak uzur: MIL tak berapa gagah manakala FIL pulak memang kurang upaya (dia kena stroke, so one of his hand memang tak boleh gerak). Luckily ada Makcik Moh, yang jaga makan minum aku, dan mandikan Zahra setiap hari.

Tentang makanan, every morning aku akan breakfast Oat+Milo. Lunch depends, kadang makan nasi, but most of the time makan sup sawi + halia + lada hitam, yang ni memang aku akan makan banyak la (2 mangkuk paling kurang) dan ratah ikan bakar. Petang makan biskut semula. Sebab susu mengalir macam paip bocor, so, antara aktiviti aku waktu pantang adalah mengepam susu. Masa ni memang tak involve langsung dengan forum dan pengetahuan tentang bf juga setakat pamphlet dari APSH, yang aku refer sampai naik lunyai.

Lepas dah perah susu, mesti la rasa dahaga kan. Pantang orang melayu kan tak bole minum air, bagi kes aku pulak, aku bole minum sebanyak mana air yang aku nak minum tapi must make sure air tu adalah air panas bukan suam. Memang suffer memula nak minum air panas yang berasap-asap tu, tetapi lama-kelamaan, aku immune minum air panas tu. Bole jugak la aku minum segelas geduk-geduk air panas.

Kampung pulak adalah super panas: ni yang aku cakap ketiak ku hangit hampir setiap masa (hehehe), dengan susu yang asik nak mengalir jer. Argh.. tensi! Bayangkan la kena minum air panas dalam cuaca yang panas.. huh. Tapi walopon cuaca super panas, aku rasa aku masih gagah sebab setia memakai stoking 24-7.

Btw, aku tak berurut mahu pon bertungku. Tak de sapa nak cara. Hehehe.. Lagi pon beranak C-zer kalo tak tungku pon tak pe: peranakan tak lari.

Ok la, tu je story aku berpantang hampir sebulan di kampong. Dan berkat dengan disiplin diri yang tinggi, aku berjaya turun hampir 12 kg (berat semasa melahirkan 67kg, lepas pantang adalah 55kg).

Kali ni weol masih keliru- kat mana nak beranak dan kat mana nak pantang. Nanti cerita lain la.

Another V-neck dress

I sewn another dress just like the Doraemon dress for fellow friend, since she's so in love with the dress design. And just right in time, her daughter, Aina Maisara celebrate her 2nd birthday last Saturday (10.01.10). So, this is my birthday gift for her.





I hope she'll happy having this simple new dress. :-)

Isnin, 11 Januari 2010

smelly-NO-more


I bought tis deo and been using for the past few days and it seems to work on me. Yeay! No more ketiak hangit.. hehehe..