Purse : No Pattern

I finally settled my last installment on my sewing machine. The preloved machine costs me RM400 and it took me 3 payments to make it mine. RM400 isn't a large sum but I wasn't really going to use it promptly so I controlled my 'ngidam' and use my money on something else before finally settling the last payment last week.

So I have a sewing machine which doesn't scare me to bits as it wasn't too fast nor was it hard to use. It was easy peasy to learn especially a machine newbie like me. I had a little help from my mother in law and also the manual book, glad I didn't bought the new sewing machine which costs RM500, three months ago . Although I don't know much about sewing machine but I knew that the one my mum bought for RM1000 back in 1998 or 1996 lasts almost 2 decades. It's zig zag function is broken but still usable. But since I want a functional machine, I decided to buy myself instead of taking  my mom's.

So while waiting for my everyone to get ready to go out last Sunday, I whipped out my sewing machine and started experimenting. This was the result. I took the pattern from Pinterest but did it according to my ability. It is full of a newbie's marks but I am happy with it. Although next time i think I'll have to buy a more quality zip. This one feels lame and I think if the user is a ganas one, it would ruin quickly as purses are used heavily each day.

The front side.

 The back side.

Fiction : Separation (preparation for nanowrimo)

Sometimes the best way to love someone, someplace or something is to leave it and go away. Never look back for a while, just ponder about it from afar. Like the Malay sayings "If you love your wife, leave her when the need arises, and if you love your child discipline them. In Malay it’s sayang isteri tinggal tinggalkan, sayang anak tangan-tangankan.

After awhile when the heart grows fonder, return and embrace it back. If it seems awkward and uncomfortable maybe it's time to do something else or find someone else. Sometimes the things we really want are not always what we need.

Note: what is Nanowrimo you ask me? Click this.

Breaking Out Of A Rut

I think in whatever work that we do if the work comes into some kind of a routine we will at one time feel like we are stuck in a rut. My work starts to feel like that too. I will give birth in a month's time and I will be in a new life not so far away but knowing that I will probably be doing the same kind of work right after maternity leave - kinds of dampers my spirit. 

Well, it may be just me while my co workers all feels the same but like Allah has said. Only you can change your fortune, so I shall seek ways to change my present situation. At least how I feel about work.

I just came across this link http://tinyurl.com/pqtow64 titled 4 Ways To Break Out of a Creative Photography Rut by Mike Newton.

He offers 4 tips to get out of a photography rut. Okay so this is getting out of a photography rut, but it could also be applied to life in general.

1. Get out of your comfort zone – physically
2. Learn something totally new and uncomfortable
3. Try a new style of shooting
4. Start an ongoing project

Let me elaborate on each of his tips and how I shall apply it to my life.

1. Get out of your comfort zone – physically
This sounds easy but actually harder to do. One extreme take on this is to transfer to a totally new office in a different department. My qualm is that since I am going to have a newborn and it's hard to find proper childcare for a very young baby, I should postpone a transfer to any office which requires me to work on shifts - at least until my son is a year old. Since I also plan to breasfeed my second son, I think I should stay in this office. 

So physically means maybe I should start redecorating my work station to something which represents a new workplace. I actually have a tonne of things to get rid of but I am really attached to these material items. I should start throwing away some things today.  

Getting out of my comfort zone could also mean that I should expand my work onto other area. I realize I can speak English quite good should I practice more so maybe I can find some voice over jobs at my office's TV or Radio Networks and go for auditions for MC gigs. I am a bit shy about going to auditions but before this rut starts rotting me I better start getting out of my comfort zones.

2. Learn something totally new and uncomfortable
I want to learn how to build a website. Since I am probably going to be in the new media industry I better start learning more things associated to it. This knowledge is no just for work but also crucial to other parts of life. 

Yesterday I borrowed an office mate's HTML text book. She is a pharmacy graduate but ended up a programmer in my office. So I should derive a lot of inspiration from her. She did study HTML in university so she has prior experience in it but I have also dabbled in HTML before even if it's only minor editing in my blog. 

3. Try a new style of shooting - try a new style of ___________
In my line of work there are 10,000 approach to doing the same thing. But since I had to do most things myself so I am beginning to feel a bit resentful and this negative feeling eats me away. I am thinking whether I should ask my boss to relegate these tasks officially even though the ones who should be doing it are plainly ignoring it... or just quietly go into my maternity leave.

4. Start an ongoing project
I should start a research on this. No idea so far. I will post on this later.

"Getting in a rut happens to us all at one point or another. What ways have you guys found to kickstart your creativity? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below." - Mike Newton

I have a Canon 1000D with a broken 18-55 lens and a Canon 60D with a 18-200 lens which keeps giving me the error signal when put together. In December 2013 I got preggers and morning sickness came with it, and adding to that mix a digital camera Casio TR150  - all these factors left me out of any SLR actions. I think I only took my Canon 60D along with a 50mm lens for a rendezvous 2 months ago. I realize that I might have less time to go on a photoraphy rendezvous once baby came so I might go have a photo session with my firstborn that day rather than later.

Since then I have been taking pics on my Casio and also using VSCO cam uploaded on my handphone. A different kind of method used then but still photography.

Anyway I was supposed to go to a 3 day photography and photo / video editing course in Penang this Thursday, but since I have an appointment with the doctor on that date I think I should decline. My husband is against me going and since it's 4 hours from KL and involves a lot of things like having to lug a laptop and a luggage bag and me being at 35 ++ weeks, I really have to decline that offer.

Ok bye.

Art on Shoes

I am doing some digging for my present craze : Art On Shoe. Here I are some interesting links for you to discover and me to visit later for inspiration.

Boonga Shoes. It has been around since 2008 according to its blog and has been featured in Kosmo.
Link:  http://www.boongastudio.com/

A blog post
Link : http://meerkatsu-art.blogspot.com/2013/07/canvas-shoe-art.html

Other random sites with pictures of shoes on it:
Link : http://www.jcdizzystar.co.uk/shoes.htm
The site's gallery of shoes
http://gallery.jcdizzystar.co.uk/#!album-0

Shoes with colourful doodles on it
Link : http://www.shopthaneeya.com/childrens-shoes.html

Tips on using marker to draw. The writer said he used several pairs on a project alone.
http://www.johannabasford.com/blog-article/258

Redoing your wedding shoes into something funkier than the traditional white
LInk: http://www.studiojellyfish.com/11/

Instructions on drawing
Link : http://www.fahv.com/diy-personalized-hand-painted-shoes/

What media to use.
Source : http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Decorate-and-Personalize-Shoes 

Here is my learning pair. I had no particular planning on what to draw so I went with the flow.

One half done in a week.

Then I went on with my daily things for three weeks going to work and being a mom. After 3 weeks of lugging the plain shoe around I went down and start drawing. 

The second pair I tried to at least prepare it looking almost complete within a day because I couldn't take anymore of not finishing it.

I started sketching after breakfast while waiting for my MIL to return from a kenduri. Then left it to dry. We went out had lunch and came back at 4 pm, then I continued for a bit until about 6 pm. Here is the results. Tadaa.

A close up od "Maleficient'. I started the skin colour with orang and the layered it with pink, white and let it dry. Then I layered again with pink and white. The end result looked good. I dried it in a dark room so it won't fade while drying.

The sides.

Two or three more sessions of touch ups and let it dry overnight and then spray it with clear spray. Some websites suggested Fabric spray which makes designs stay or stay waterproof, when I get my next pay check I'll go check it out. I already have a can of clear spray so I'll use that first.

Update on My Shoe Art

The other pair is still plain.

Maybe I'll do it this weekend, after the child goes to sleep.

Getting yourself into sewing (or crafting)

From the Adventures In Dressmaking site:
Link: http://www.adventuresindressmaking.com/2014/05/5-tips-for-getting-into-your-sewing.html#.U4w2-HLHUuc

5 TIPS FOR GETTING INTO YOUR SEWING GROOVE

1. Set aside time (this one's obvious), within reason. 

Of course part of the problem is that we don't have enough time for everything, so of course we don't have 6 spare hours to spend working on a dress or slipcover or whatever. Unfortunately we often have to break up sewing sessions into multiple days (or stay up really late, if that's your thing). So find a compromise! Give yourself agood amount of time (even if you don't have quite enough for the perfect length of time), and do tips 2 and 3.

My take on this : I must learn to organize my time and certainly get home earlier than I do these days. The earlier the child(ren) sleeps or gets precoccupied with something the more minutes I can squeeze in.

2. Pick a goal milestone to reach. 

My mom always talked about getting projects to the "hanger stage." Like, a success worth mentioning was that she got two garments to the hanger stage that afternoon, ready to hang them on hangers and get them out of the way to make room for other work. (Also a win: the "try-on stage"!)You may not finish your project, but if you can get it to the point where you know you'll like how it looks, it's a lot less stressful to put it down.

My take on this : I think what I need to do is to do it like an assembly line. Like cut the materials into shapes, next is the sew it together, next embellishment - and document it down.

3. Find your happy sewing time. 

Some of us are "morning people," others work better late at night. Think back to when you had school deadlines or other big projects to do - did you do your best work first thing on the weekend, or did you prefer to stay up later than usual to really focus and cram? It may be that that timeframe still works best for you for today's projects, like sewing rather than math homework.

My take on this : Hmm, I think I studied best during the night when nobody is there to disturb me. Daytime is mainly for family time.

4. Find media you enjoy. 

I love getting into the zone on evenings by myself with Mindy Project or Modern Family marathons, or Gilmore Girls if I want to go back even further in syndication... or, I turn on Pandora to a station I'm in the mood for and enjoy that if I need to focus more on the project. I also have a nice ritual of Saturday morning catching up to my favorite podcasts that aired Thursday and Friday, often while sewing or doing chores. (Faves: Pop Culture Happy Hourfrom NPR and Balanced Bites.)

As for strategizing and working more efficiently (listening to TV shows is not geared at increasing efficiency, just enjoyment!)...
My take on this : Hmmm. I think I enjoy listening to songs while crafting because they don't distract me much. Some movies I have seen before frequent times is a good media to enjoy whilst crafting / sewing.

5. Cut out more than one project at once. (But not more than a manageable amount.) 

For most of us, cutting is a pain because unless you have a tall, large, clear table to use, you may be doing it on the floor or on a cramped table space, and you may have to move things out of the way to get enough room. Also, cutting is often the hardest part of a project, and you need concentration (or at least the right mindset and a big chunk of time) to do it right. Big chunks of time and concentration  are not always rich around here. So I like to design a few projects and let them accumulate in my cutting list, then cut out 2 or 3 at once. (Sometimes I'm even using the same pattern for a couple of them, which is extra handy--only have to get it out once and can sometimes use one lining as a pattern for the other dress!)

My take on this : Yep. do it like an assembly line. Cut 3-4 projects at one go.