December Is For Sewing Marathon

My sister Marina took-up my offer to sew for elderly ladies and brought some leftover fabrics her mother-in-law (MIL) asked to be made into blouses.  Luckily she provided ready samples so that I didn't need to measure her MIL who lives quite a distance away.

I completed the project pretty quickly.  Just measure and made patterns from the ready wears, then cut the fabrics.  I learned from my sister of her MIL's likes and dislikes. Hahah... she does not like froufrou stuffs so I cannot do any embellishing on her blouses. 

Here are the finished blouses:

These rose buttons are rare and I love them.  I found them in an old sewing store that use to sell sewing supplies now doing clothing alterations.  It matched perfectly with auntie's rose coloured blouse.  I hope she won't loose a button because there's no replacement hehehe....

The above sunset dusk coloured blouse is interesting to make.  It was the first time I came across this type of collar and taught myself something new.   She's going to wear it for the new year celebration.  Great! Thanks auntie :-)

Darn... I have forgotten to take a photo of the topaz coloured blouse.  I styled it like a baseball player's jersey.  Topaz coloured fabrics are rare here where I live, it gave me a hard time looking for buttons that matched.  I saw her wore it the other day going for her doctor's appointment and it fits her perfectly.  I bet she liked the boyish cut hehe...

Niways, that's all for December 2013.  Look forward to more sewing next year.  Wishing you a wonderful Happy New Year 2014.  Cheers.. ^ ^

My Diamond Ring

We were having lunch at Blue Ginger today (27 May 2013) and Sharif held my left hand and was looking at my fingers.  Suddenly, he took out a small black box with orange and white polkadots from his pouch and when he opened, there was a shiny diamond ring in it.  I was so surprised, I was speechless.... It was so beautiful.  He swiftly put it on my ring finger.  

He said it's an engagement ring. Ow My God... Never thought that I would finally be engaged.  

He was delighted that the ring fit perfectly in my finger.  He  was worried because of his last experience buying a ring for his ex-girlfriend named Julia.  The ring didn't fit and they had to choose another ring at Centre Point.  When he told his mom about it, his mom said that was a sign that the relationship would not last.  And unfortunately it didn't.  

Well anyway... I am smiling ear to ear.  Still can't stop   grinning when I put this in my blog today and hearing Rihanna's song "Shines Bright Like a Diamond" in my  head hehehe....  ^_^

Visited by the Sewing Fairies

Hahah..... I must've been visited by the Sewing Fairies these days because I just can't stop sewing.  See what I mean....

Project:       Marina's Shorts

Details:       Using leftovers Baju Kurung fabrics.  Super soft, 
                     bright coloured and suitable for warm weather.
                     Inspired by the Baroque Period.
The Vote:    Marina loved the shorts but said that it was a bit
                     short for her to wear outside.  She's a modest
                     mom heheh..  ^_^

Project:       Brenda's Grey Dress
Details:       A friend gave the dress to her but it was way
                     too big.  Funny dress because there was no 
                     zipper or buttons on it.  Hmm.. wonder how did
                     the wearer put it on?  I altered the dress to a 
                     more updated look with bit showy zipper
                     out front.  
The Vote:    She loved it.  It's more comfortable and easy to
                     wear.  But she wore the dress with zipper at 
                     back.  So old fashioned of her hehe.. ^ ^

Project:       Brenda's daughter, Girlie dress for outings and 
                     going to church.
Details:       Girlie is only 14 years old and was given some 
                     money to buy fabrics to make a dress.  She 
                     ended up buying just 1 meter of the polkadot 
                     fabric material  which was not enough to make 
                     a dress.  Fortunately I saw a designer style days
                     before in a website somewhere that I've wanted 
                     to make and thought that the polkadot fabric 
                     would be perfect for the skirt part.  For the top 
                     part, I bought a white fabric cool touch fabric 
                     which I really like that I also bought                     
                     black colour to make my pants.  
The Vote:   Brenda informed me that her daughter was 
                     thrilled to see the dress and it fitted perfectly.

Project:      Marina's work pants.  
Details:       Marina handed me 4 meters of black fabric that 
                     she'd kept for a long time and asked me to make 
                     her a pair of pants.  Eventhough this was my 4th
                     pair of pants that I made, I was still struggling 
                     during the process of making it.  Reason is 
                     because of the long duration from the last one 
                     made to the present one and I sort of trying to 
                     remember the steps with much difficulty.
                     Important notes to remember:  1)  It is easier to 
                     make a pattern out of the customer's current 
                     pants that she/he is comfortable with.  2) If you 
                     have to make patterns, pay attention to the 
                     crotch area.  Remember to measure the 
                     customer's thigh.  3) Pay attention to what 
                     the fabric material you're using e.g. whether 
                     fitted/tappered pants are suitable or not.
The Vote:   I haven't yet given it to Marina.  Hehe.. to be 
                     advised :P

Sharif and His Bad Days...

That evening Sharif and I were talking at one of the beach's gazebo in Teluk Likas (Likas Bay).  He seemed to have had a bad time that day, it was Wednesday 13 March 2013. 

He told me a story of when he was at a very difficult time of his life when he had only RM 28 money in his pocket.  He had phoned his employer several times to ask for his two months’ salary that has yet to be paid but his employer ignored his calls.  The rice stored in his house was good for one more cooking and that made him really worried.  But after so much thought, he decided to go out and buy additional food supply with that little money he had.

When he arrived at the shop, he heard a faint sound of an old lady crying nearby.  He approached the old lady and asked why was she crying.  The old lady replied that she could not help it as she felt helpless to help her grandson who was sick at home as she does not have any money to do anything.  She told him that both of the child’s parents were currently serving time in prison and she was left to care for the child.  She said that she has no money at all to buy food and medicines and no means of contacting her relatives for help.  Sharif felt pity for the old lady.  He weighted his options but with a heavy heart, he handed over the RM 28 money to the old lady and told her to use the money to buy medicines for the child and try to contact her relatives for further assistance.

He returned home empty handed.  He then ransacked his room for coins and found 40 cents.  He went to a public phone and tried to call his employer again.  But again there was no answer.  Suddenly, he noticed someone's wallet left  on top of the public phone.  He ignored it at first and waited from 7.00 pm to 8.30 pm for the owner to show-up looking for the wallet.  But there still no sign of the owner.  He pondered on what to do with it and decided to open the wallet and found RM 500 inside it. 

“Wow…. this is a lot of money.”  He thought to himself, “Hmm… maybe this is God’s way of extending his help.” He decided to leave only RM 50 inside the wallet and took the rest.  He then sent the wallet to a nearby Police Station and left his phone number with the police.  He also returned to the shop to look for the old lady again as he wanted to give more money to her but the lady was nowhere to be found.

The owner of the wallet never called.

Sharif then told me another story when he found an even larger sum of money. He said that it happened on the first day after New Year’s celebration that also happened to be his birthday.  He said that he went to a public phone booth and found a wallet on top of it.  Inside the wallet, there was RM 1000 cash money.  He took it for safe keeping and waited there for about an hour as he feared that another person might just take it.  The money could be for a very important purpose he thought and so he waited. 

He decided to drive around the place in his car to see if he could locate anyone looking for the missing wallet.   After the fourth turn, he saw someone looking around using torchlight.  He stopped and took out the identity card from inside the wallet and approached the man.  When he came nearer, the person’s face was the same as in the identity card. Sharif knew that that was the owner and gave back the wallet with the RM 1000 money still inside.  

The man was relieved and told Sharif that he took out the money from the bank to pay for his wife’s surgery.  He said that he had lost his handphone earlier and came up to the public phone booth to try and call whoever found his handphone to return it back to him but in his haste left his wallet there instead.  He chided himself for his bad luck.

He was so thankful to Sharif and gave Sharif RM 200 to show his gratitude.  But Sharif handed it back to him.  As the man still insisted, Sharif decided to keep just RM 100 and gave the other RM 100 to the man.  Sharif told the man that he is donating the RM 100 for the man’s wife surgery.  

He smiled at me and said, "I considered the RM 100 as a birthday gift from God to me".

Sharif then held my hand and told me of his late grandmother’s advice to never steal from anybody or take anyone’s properties.  His grandmother told him that when you found something valuable, just stand and wait on the spot for a few hours.  If no one comes to look for it, you may then take it but you must place a rock in its place instead.   

We were still talking when two small little girls walked near us.  They were probably the children of the homeless foreigners living under the nearby Likas Bay’s bridge.  I asked Sharif to call them out in his native language.  The children responded by coming near us.  Sharif then handed over to them a box of the KFC snake plate leftover chicken that we had for dinner.  He has such a good heart.  I hope his bad day will be replaced with a good day from tomorrow and continue onward.  Amen.

Sunset at Likas Bay