CNY 2009

It's the Lunar New Year. The year of the Ox. That's my year.

We had Kimmy dressed in the traditional garb. Luckily I had the sleeves and pants shortened. She looked really cute in them and especially when she had her hair tied up. Thankfully her hair was long enough to be tied. I had just cut it to neaten it last week.



Her grandparents were thrilled to see her all dressed up.


With Ah Foh (Grandma in Hainanese)


With Grandparents

Here is my little baby all tired from the visiting (and only THREE places!) Must be all the climbing up and down of the stairs at Uncle James and Aunty Aye Leng's house.

Oh, I must put this down. This is an important and significant bit. My baby has started walking on her own!!! Yay! On the first day of the Lunar New Year!

Here is Kim walking with assistance in the morning.

And here is Kimmy walking on her own in the afternoon.

Baybe - a part of the Uglies

Here is Baybe. He's another member of the Ugly family. Baybe is Kimmy's first word. Along with babbling, it's the first word that she says constantly with reference to something specific (babies and kids that look smallish) and correctly. Unlike how she calls a balloon "baba" and other times she calls it "bor" (meaning ball). So we've named him Baybe, just because it's her first word.

Well, Baybe is a boy so his body shape is slightly different from Puki and Jeju. It's straight. And of course, being a boy, his clothes will need to be blue. Ha.

Now that leaves Papa Ugly. He's on an overseas trip and hence isn't in the family photo. ;)

Look what came in the post

I received a birthday pressie in the post yesterday! I love receiving packages in the post. Thanks Lorraine!!!!



Look what she sent me. Little projects to do. A ribbon ball (with fleece!!! so nice and soft!) and a donut! Yay. I hope mine would look yummy enough to eat too. Heh heh. And there are some tools too to make life easier when sewing. Cool. Shall have to put them to good use soon.

I love the fabrics!! I'm so envious. I was web surfing and alot of places do not deliver fabric internationally. :( I need to come visit you with empty suitcases and lots of money!!! Haha.

The two projects are so nice packaged I feel so sayang to open them. I shall admire them a little while longer before I embark on the projects. Heh heh.

Thank you thank you. :)

The second Ugly - Puki

I managed to make another Ugly today. But it didn't turn out as expected. Ugly is quite the word to use. What was it that they say? Cute means ugly but adorable? It is quite a bit bigger than Jeju. I guess Puki is Jeju's mom then and we have started an Ugly family.

And she says.......Jeju

As a child, I never liked dolls. I was a soft toy kinda kid. I especially didn't like the barbie type of dolls.....the kind where the eyes closed when it slept and opened when upright. And there was something about the hair that I didn't like either. But that is not to say that those who did are weird or that the world is more strange because of the dolls. I just didn't like playing with them. They gave me the creeps. But you are normal if you like them.

HOWEVER, just so that I do not skew my daughter in the same dislike as myself, she does have one doll at the moment. It was her birthday pressie from a friend. She hasn't warmed up to it yet. From the occasional reminder of finger pointing along with the words "baby", we know that she knows it sits at the corner of her bed along with her other stuffed toys. She also does grab hold of her foot from time to time and smile. I'm still trying to get her to understand that it's a doll and not a baby.

Perhaps it's to overcompensate for my dislike of dolls, I have been trying to hunt down rag dolls. In stores (ready made) and online (to make). I've watched some videos online and seen some tutorials. But since I hadn't bought the necessary materials, I decided to come up with my own version of.....no, not a doll but a stuffed toy. An ugly toy. Those you see in stores or online that are sold at ridiculously high prices? Ah...yes. One of those. Who knows. Perhaps I would get so good at them that I could sell those ugly toys and Peen and I would never have to work another day of our lives! Ha.

I managed to complete my first one in one day but over two sessions. It was rather easy to do except for attaching the stuffed legs to the body. Hence, one of the legs sort of looks dislocated from the body. When I showed it to Peen, he really liked it and has since claimed it for his own. And says that I should make another one for Kimmy instead. And he's even named it!!! Jeju. It's one of the words that Kim used to say repeatedly which Peen thought was really cute. That is how my first Ugly got its name.

So, please meet Jeju.

I guess Peen should keep his day job. :)

Another shirring project

I've attempted another shirring project.

This time with a slightly stretchy sort of fabric. It's not a tee-shirt material. I'm not sure what kind it is. But it's like it already has some sort of elasticity in it. Anyway, it would make a nice top for me too. So when I completed the shirring, I was kinda undecided whether to make it a top for myself or a dress for Kimmy. The latter won cos I thought she would look cuter in it.

I'm very pleased with it. I also decided to try a different sort of strap which turned out rather interesting. It's a much more successful attempt with the shirring than my first only cos I now know what to look out for and what to avoid. It's kinda long but I figure she'll grow into it. It would look nicer when she starts walking proper instead of crawling around in it and sliding all over because it's too long.

Well, here are some photos that I managed to take. One blurr one of Peen twirling her in mid air to show off the skirt. Haha.

More dresses!

I understand now what it means to enjoy buying and hoarding fabric. You buy nice ones with pretty prints, with specific projects in mind. But somehow when it comes to the actual transformation of the fabric into those garments, I have to think and rethink. Cos they are so pretty and it's so nice to just have them there to admire.

Well, I finally took out one nice folded piece from Spotlight and made two dresses out of it.

The first was a variation of the peasant blouse that I had done earlier. I had meant to cut it slightly different from the pattern so that I would get a longer "blouse" and it would end up more like a dress. But silly me, I sewed it wrongly so it became wider instead of longer. Sigh. I need to pay more attention! So instead of a loose fitting dress for Kimmy, it became a huge blouse. :( That is why some fabric should just remain fabric to be admired!

Well, I HAD to do something to somehow make it wearable without pumping my child with fatty foods just to make her fit in it. So to get something good out of this, I decided to try to extend the "blouse" by 3 inches by adding on......ruffles? Or is it a gathered extension? I really dunno the correct terms to use. So this is how it ended up looking.

And this is Kimmy wearing the extremely loose dress. She looks like she's wearing a giant upside down morning glory.

I wonder if i can somehow make it more fitting. Maybe add two long tails at the sides to tie the back with a ribbon? But there isn't a horizontal line to separate the bodice from the skirt so will it look wierd? Hmmm....I guess the only person who could advise me on this would be Lorraine. So Lorraine, any ideas?

The second is similar in design to the simple dress I had made not too long ago. Except that this time, instead of making the bias tape out of the same fabric, I used ready made tape. I thought this process would be much faster since I didn't have to spend time cutting and ironing to prepare the tape. But the ready made tape was half the width of the ones I made so it was alot more difficult trying to ensure I catch both pieces. Need more practice here.

But I'm happy with the contrast in colours here. Will have to try it on Kimmy to see how it fits her. It also does look huge. I guess the upside to this is that she will get to wear these for a LONG time. Then I would be able to admire the print for a LONG time too. Haha.