Wonderfully Creative

Lately I've been obsessed with home photos. And decorations. And crafty things (yikes!).

Dont you just love these lovely things?

This workspace makes me drool. So much room for knick-knacks and so full of light (to get the perfect shade of beads for the kurung). & love the olive green on the walls too (honey, can we have this color the next time we paint the house?)

And somehow I have this fascination for b&w photos with seemingly-mismatched dark frames.

And I simply adore the winter trees wallpaper with the frames hung almost like from the branches. The orang putih can be so creative sometimes. Photos from living etc and design is mine.

And actually these fingers seem like they are (almost) itching for the feel of a needle or a whisk.. maybe it is time for another beading project or a batch of cupcakes or two.

And talking about beads / needles, this is an archive of an old project. More here.

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Last Year, New Year

And it is the new year (the 7th day, in fact).

It had got to be one of the most hectic end / new year to date I suppose. There was Hedir's wedding. No photos - I was too busy cooing the cucu's at the wedding that took place at Felda. My sis was hospitalized for back pain (hey, that ailment runs in the family!) recently and decided not to risk her back with the wedding stress / chores.

The wedding was great - no glitches. & met Pn Minah (the ex-boss) at the wedding. Turned out she and the groom's mother knew each other from way back (small world..)

And my mum came over to my place over new year eve. It's nice having her around. Keeping her company (or was that she who kept me company?) chatting over sibling stories / old stories / wonderful stories. The mango cake I got for Ilyas's birthday didnt agree with her. Darn. I need to remember to be more careful. She didnt like chocolate so I thought the mango cake would be a nice alternative..

And yes, Ilyas celebrated his 24th birthday. He was due on the 1st of Jan according to my gynae. He decided to see the world a couple of days or so early.. My words to him on his birthday is save, save, save and then get married. I think his girl shouldnt wait too long. Anyway..

There was also Ina's wedding (the aqad pix below). It was a nice wedding. It drizzled; but luckily the clouds quickly faded away. Maybe the bride's father's baju busuk on the roof did the trick (is that allowed, by the way..? although we had laughed when we knew about it).


My sister refused to have the tepak sirih as part of the hantaran; citing it as too traditional. There was a short silat stint when the groom arrived.. ( err.. isnt that traditional?) anyway all in all everything went on perfect.

And Luqman went back for his final semesters. Masya'Allah - time really flies.

And there was also lots of stuff to do for Eirfan for the new school year - books, uniforms, registration, tuition even.

I did lots of beading in Dec and finally have the photos below and more here. And had also managed to have my new year resolutions drawn up.


I think I have been very productive indeed!

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Beads and Baju Raya (or not)

Macam budak kecik, this year I made 3 baju raya for myself. But I can tell you friends who have 6 (baju raya & baju baru bukan baju raya. Oh, there is a difference? I had asked)

Or the other girl who shook her head and refused to talk about her baju raya. Trust me, she had many.

Anyway. Crazy as I am over beading I wanted to put them on all my kurungs.

The first is a bright red kurung with tiny flowers. No matter what I tried the beads dont look right. In the end I decided to do without beading on that kurung after all. Until today I had not taken out the few beads I had sewed on (sheepish smile here). So that didnt turn out to be a baju raya after all.

The second one I did turned out beautiful (ha-ha, even if I say so myself!) I love it. I think it looks superlicious (almost like food that looked so good it is a shame that you have to eat it). And I have that photo below. And more here.


The third is a nice kurung moden with puffy sleeves. I started on the beads on the 5th Syawal (ha-ha. Missed the deadline after all due to the baking that I did. Maybe I'll write on that baking stint later) - and that project is still work in progress. It's simply for the reason that as I was happily beading my baju someone called me and said you must jahit the beads on my baju because my husband is going to be awarded for blah.. blah..

I said ok, send me the baju. I completed her baju this past week and ps - her baju turned out superlicious too.. I'll put that here once I uploaded the photos.

So anyway, all in all I have only but 1 baju raya after all.

And at the same time I also did a beading on Iman's kebaya. I'll get a photo of that later too.

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Creativity Rules The Day

I love these. They are soooo pretty dont you think? I took about a week to sew these on the sleeves and a bit at the collar. It seem too bare otherwise. Iman kata, ma they look like they were done by a professional! (How nice a compliment is that?) More photos here.

Unfortunately I cant claim the designs as mine. It is my cikgu's.

I had finished this sometime back but I dont have photos of them. All my photos turn blur everytime I take a close shot of anything. I was thinking of buying a new camera with complex gadgets for good photography - an SLR or something.

FORTUNATELY I talked to a guy in the office who is a photography enthutiast who told me about the macro feature in cameras. I went back to the camera manual (had to look for it online; I lost my owner's copy - that's how old the camera is) and what do you know.. now my photos are all cantik and clear at close-ups!

I suppose I will have more phots on the blog after this. Maybe I'll even pick up photography. I am learning other features of the camera also - it's never too late to for anything - or so we are told.

Anyway currently I am working on a beaded tote bag for Iman's friend. After that there's another kurung I have to finish. I already have a design in mind for that but I have to dream about the colors a bit before I go hunting for the beads.

For now books and other stuff (including photography I suppose) have to take the backseat; I am going beading.

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Manjalara ku

I think for once I have a skema title for a post. Oh well..

I was excited about the weekend as I've signed up for a beading class with one of the.. wait.. Delinn, are you saying oh, oh, here she goes again at this point.. ? - takpa, let me continue with the story first.

I've signed up with a beading instructor whose work I adore (thank you Fatin for referring me to her fotopages). I tried to attend her class twice before but they were always full. Although I wasnt feeling too great on Sun I still went; and despite the fact people at home asked if I should really go too. Betapa teruja nya.. I thought if I dont feel too great during class I'll just make excuses to leave.

Needless to say I love the class and stayed the entire duration although it was an all day long session. Checkout my work, uh.. masterpiece (yele tu) for the day here.

It was more informative than the class I attended with the glamorous fashion designer (read the story here..)

So why the skema title? The instructor has a design she called bunga manjalara that is so gorgeous and I love so much and must have it on my baju.. he-he.

So Delinn nanti bila I pakai baju dengan bunga manjalara I tu (insya'Allah - I hate the word, never, forever and things like that - that dream baju could take eons to finish..) you jangan nak keek-keek-keek lagi.. Tapi kan, baju pun takde lagi - macam mana nak jahit..

ps - that's the manjalara I love so taken from noraini's fotopages of course..

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'Cikgu Saya' Part II

He's my bead-sewing instructor/facilitator/teacher. He's :
direct to the point,
honest ~ he does not mime praises if your work does not deserve it,
creative ~ you should have seen the clothes and shoes and evening bags that he showed us at class,
funny,
adorable ~ what can I say? he-he..
and impatient at times. Another fav teacher of mine.

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Going To Class

I can't see myself going back to school all over again. Not yet anyway. But recently I signed up for this interesting class ~ the beads sewing class. Totally not what school is about.

My friends said Iye? Some asked Why? Others said Rajin nye whilst still others said Gile - aka merepek je. Regardless what people say as long as I am happy with the class it's ok. I met a retired lady who's vey much into beads - she wore beaded shoes and make her own accessories. Met a teacher in her 50's equally passionate about the bead-thing. There was also a lady who has never sewn any bead at all in her life but she's now trying. And last but not least there is this pretty and quite famous actress determined to sew her own bajus like what Datin Rosmah wears..

And the instructor is none other that the famous Radzuan Radzwill whose clothes are worn by glamorous celebs and the rich and famous. He is also opening his own boutique at KLCC now.

According to the organizers all such classes are always sell-outs with many more disappointed beader-wannabes left twiddling their thumbs at home. It is a great class, maybe I will sign-up for other similar lessons and become if not the next international designer then maybe the next Radzuan.. he-he.

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