The gift that almost wasn't

Almost 8 years ago, I started participating in an online forum where nearly everything and anything was discussed. It quickly became my social outlet, and some of the forumers; myself included; met up for lunches and 'Teh Tarik'. As with all social gatherings, cliques began to form and I found myself chatting with a couple of them on a daily basis. Addiction, you cry? Yes. There was a time when I couldn't chat with them and boy did I have major withdrawal symptoms. 

Anyways, we've kept in touch through pregnancies, change of jobs, parenting issues, novel ideas, etc. So naturally when I was about to set up this blog, I consulted one of them for a name. See, he became our de facto go to guy when it came to word play. He suggested a few.. but sew-handy stuck. As a token of appreciation, I offered to sew something for his lil' princess (coz I know a macho guy like him would NOT be caught dead carrying a wristlet :P  ).

 I naturally procrastinated on the project... sorry... but I finally did make good on my promise.. and churned out not 1 but 2 water tumbler carriers :)

I made them girly, made them pink.. totally suited for a lil' princess.

One of it (the larger one), had the lil' princess' initials appliquéd on.

 The other, I was playing with some 3D appliqué of butterflies.I was quite happy with the results.. what do you think?

I wasn't happy with some wonky sewing that kept happening though. I can't seem to be able to sew around circles well..

I must try again... lil' princess, do you need more carriers? :)

Edit: I'm such a scatterbrain.. I didn't explain the post title. It almost wasn't coz ... No, not cause I procrastinated too long.. :)  .. It was coz I sent it via Pos Laju and purportedly it's a next day delivery. Alas, DAYS went by and the gift didn't arrive. I was so worried that it was lost forever! After some calls to the post office, things got sorted out and the gift arrived safely into lil' princess' arms. In time for her birthday to boot ... booyah!

Wonky Backpack

Lil' Miss has a large collection of backpacks

1 for pre-school

1 for weekend outings

at least 3 soft backpacks for.. well.. for.. I don't even know what they're for.. They're just there.

Most of them are gifts.. in fact.. wait.. ALL of them were gifts.

Lil' Master on the other hand, has NO backpacks. Poor guy. I thought he could get a hand-me-down from the sis.. then I realised, the backpacks Lil' Miss has are either uber-red, uber-pink or uber-girly.

So what's a mum to do?

Sew one, of course!

Going through my stash, I found white flannel. Oooo.. Soft.. perfect for baby boys (he's 13 months).

Zip - check

Interface - check

Found the plastic pieces to adjust the back strap (what do you call em'?) buckles?

To personalise the backpack, I thought trying out machine applique would be fun. So I made out the pattern of a train. Made it with scraps that I had.. and fussy cut one of my other flannel fabric (yes, I admit.. I bought quite a bit of local flannel) with prints of a bear.

Loved the way it turned out.

2 hours and much grunting, sobbing and tugging later, lesson learnt was... sewing through interfacing and rounded corners is SO DIFFICULT. *sob*

The end result was kind of 'wonky'...Lil' Master didn't mind though (I think).

Oh, the other thing...I couldn't figure out how to line the bag! .. the inside is well, kinda messy. Wanna see?

Nah, let's not scare you off :P

I'll have to attempt the backpack again... hopefully this time it'll be less wonky. After all, Lil' Master needs to catch up in his collection of backpacks :)