Handmade Grocery Bags

Ok ok, so this looks like it's going to turn into a handicraft blog instead of a once-inspired-to-be travel blog. But just bare with me as I struggle through this period of my life as I try to cope with having a new sewing machine to play with :)  Heck, this week alone, I completed 3 projects! I'm on a roll!

But I'd like to take this moment to tell you how all this madness started. It started a few years ago, with a SGD10 donation to the Children Cancer Foundation sponsored by MUJI. This here shows my favorite fabric bag which I got in return for my donation. I love it that its cotton, and it's Christmas themed :)

So I had at the back of my mind, wanted to make a handmade grocery bag similar. My chance came last year when my dad was hospitalized for heart failure. I spend a lot of time in the hospital with him, and as he was sleeping most of the time, I got a lot of sewing done. This here is my first hand sewed fabric bag. It took two admission to the hospital and one aorta replacement surgery to complete!

 

At first it was used as a library book carrier. But after I got my tablet, I stopped visiting the library, and the bag evolved to a grocery bag as I'm big on not using plastic. But the problem was, I usually end up with two bags of grocery, but only one fabric bag to carry them in. So last week, I made a companion bag for my hand-sewed bag, so now my grocery trip is as perfect as can be :)

Benefit of these bags? They look lovely. They feel wonderful cause I have a fetish for cottons. They can take the weight (my groceries tend to be lots of bread flour and canned baked beans). They are washable and very compact when folded to fit nicely in my handbag. They are made with love, and are one of it's kind in the world!!!

Ref:
MUJI
Aorta Replacement Valve

"Kua Chai Siow Bak" Soup

  

When my Mum stays with me in Singapore, this dish is one she likes to cook as it's easy and delicious. It's called "Kua Chai Siow Bak" Soup, which translate to Chinese Mustard Cabbage with Roast Pork soup. Yummy. It taste sour (because of the tamarind) and bitter (because of the mustard cabbage). The lemongrass adds a unique fragrance to it as well. Don't you just love peranakan food that is just so variant in taste and smell? Yummy! Ingredient as per above shown.

Cooking Instruction:

1. Add oil to pan, add in garlic and fry till fragrance.
2. Add Chinese mustard cabbage and stir fry till cooked.

3. Transfer the cabbage into a pot. 

4. Smash up a stick of lemongrass and throw it into the pot.

5. Throw in the roast pork to cook till everything is slightly burned (you can skip the burning part if you like, I just like the fragrance of it).

6. Add one bowl of tamarind juice (Asam-ko), and let it boil for an hour.

7. Test taste it, it should taste sour and slightly bitter. If it's not sour, add more tamarind juice.

 

Ahhhh. nothing beats home cooked food :)

Ref:

Chinese Mustard Cabbage

Fragrance Pillow Cover

Next project is a fragrance pillow cover. Actually it started out just being a pillow cover, but along the way, it kinda evolved with laces, and a pocket to keep fragrant sachets of perfume from Fragonard! This one is as sweet as pie! And it smells sweet too! Here are the assembly line....

And the zipper, god I hate zippers! I still don't know how to sew them! Although this one is actually an improvement from my first zipper that has a hole at the end! At least this one is all zipped up, but I kinda got one of the tail wrong.....

And lastly, the end product. Awwwww, so sweet looking :)

Ref:
Fragonard

Lunch Box Carrier

Decided to make a lunch box carrier for myself as I've decided to bring lunch and breakfast (and snacks) to work every Monday to Thursday. Reason being it takes 10 -15minutes to walk out for lunch, and 10-15minutes to walk back. Plus, the food outside is expensive, and taste awful. And I was kinda inspired by the book "The Art of Eating In" by Cathy Erway. But bringing two lunch boxes is kinda hard to fit into my handbag, so I thought I'll make two lunch box carrier to bring my lunch in, two so that I can wash one and still the other one to use :)

Since it's my very first hand made lunch box carrier, I wanted to make it as unique as possible. I got these two ginger bread man and plan to use it like a logo for my carrier. Cute eh? More such toys and where to get them can be found here. I also recently got some great teddy bear patch cloth that I was dying to use, and o-o-o, teddy bear buttons!

Anyway, I've been fascinated with double layered bags, where the inside is of a different pattern. It kinda make it classier, like those branded handbags. So I thought I'll make one like so. So here is the assembling process. Usually I use pin to hold the cloth together, stitch them over one, and then machine sew over them. You'll be shocked to know that I don't use any measuring tape, nor marker :)  I just fix them up as I go along! (hence the weird shape of the end product :P )

Anyway, here's the end product. Not too bad really, if I can bring 3 to 4 lunch boxes a day, this would be perfect. But since I'm bringing two, it's kinda baggy, so maybe I'll start bringing fruits or snacks or desserts to work with me :)

Ref:
The Art  of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove by Cathy Erway

HTC Rhyme Workshop

Attended the HTC Rhyme workshop on 18-Feb-2012. Saw it on their Facebook page and signed up for it, more for the goodie bags that actual interest on the phone. Don't get me wrong, I'm no cheapo who attend events to get free stuff! I just happen to really really like HTC, and really really love their products, and kinda like collecting their gifts :P Before I start, here's a clip on the HTC Rhyme to share.



The event was held at Cathey Cineleisure @ Kbox, and I arrived on time! The presentation lasted one hour, after which food and drinks were provided, and since it was a girl's workshop, you could get your nails done, glitter tattoos, massage and erm, that's it. Nothing fancy. I queued for the tattoos, and we get a pick of 3 designs. All the girls went for the design without the brand. I went for the HTC design :)  I mean, besides me loving the brand, I thought I need to pay back a little for the freebies they were giving me. Besides, I'm really glad I pick that one cause at least it's memorable :)

Next the goodie bags! It's just lovely! It came with a 1GB thumb drive from J'aime, and it was wrapped up in a nice Paris themed envelope which I thought was really really nice touch. The thumb drive is also shaped like a handbag and comes in pink! Adorable! There was also an umbrella inside with a umbrella bag that can be transformed into a carrier bag! I love that as well! And the design was simple and elegant!

Now my thoughts on the workshop. As compared to the Incredible S workshop I attended previously, I felt that this one was a lot more well organized, and the goodie bag was really really wonderful. In terms of product, I love both product, but I'm not the type that buys a new phone every 2 years. But if I am, I would definitely get the phone, the innovation is just lovely! Simple and lovely. Not much to complaint for this workshop except the following:

• We were really disappointed that the HTC Rhyme did not come in purple color as in most advertisement. They told us they only carry white in Singapore, what a kill joy. And they keep saying ladies go for the design, yet they provided a dull color with no options.  
• The goodie bag came with a SGD200 voucher to purchase the phone with, but the validity is only till end of February. Can't they give us more time if they were really serious in allowing us to purchase the phone?

What I love about the HTC Rhyme? Happy to say lots! (except for the specifications)

• Love the docking station that transform the phone into an alarm clock/radio while charging it wireless! Awesome, can I have that in all future phone please?
• Love the charm for the ladies, can we have that in all future phone please?
• Love the phone cover that came with it! Again, let's make that a standard feature cause I'm having a hard time buying a cover for my HTC Desire and my HTC Flyer! I have no such problem with my HTC Touch cause it came with a cover!
• Would love it more if it came with better specifications, some ladies do go for specs you know!
• Would love it more if it came with Ice Cream Sandwich

 I now leave you with some wordings from my new umbrella carrier :)
Btw, I just signed up to be part of the HTC community. Hope they accept me. Heck, am thinking of applying for a job there too! Will see how that guess :)