Two more bags

I made another two bags last week. The one below is a grab bag. It was not difficult to make. The finished bag was stiff as I used interface instead of craft fleece as indicated. It was my first attempt using iron on interface. I will make another grab bag but without the interface. I think the fabric is sturdy enough.

 

There are four pockets inside the grab bag.

 

 

 

I made a bag for my boy. It was supposed to be a 30mins boy messager bag. I thought: 'Great, just 30mins.' So when the boys slept, I started working on it at 9pm. At midnight, I was only half way through. I continued the next day. The bag below took me 5hours in total to make it. I find the front pocket too shallow. The next time, I will make it bigger. But I wonder when the next time will be.  

I am taking a break at the moment. I will most probably start making a new bag next week. Will post it once done.

Five stones

As I mentioned earlier in my post, the first thing I made from my sewing machine is five stones. Five stones are basically five little pyramids containing rice or beans inside. To play the game, we toss a stone into the air and try to catch it before it hits the ground. At the same time, we must use the same hand to pick up a stone or more (as the game advances) that is on the floor.

I bought some lovely fabrics and spent about an hour to made about two sets. Yeah, the slowest process is hand sewing the opening after putting in the rice. I guess I am good at making these. But I am a lousy player.

 

I went obsessed and made a jar of stones. Guess how many there are in the jar. If you get it right, there is a free set of five stones for you. Start counting. . . . .

 

Sewing bags

I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas and Father Christmas granted my wish. As a novice, I started making five stones. It was really easy. I will do a post about that later.

 

Now I am into bags. I found some interesting sites with free tutorials on making bags. Thank God for generous people who make an effort to share their talents on internet.

 

This is the first bag I did. As promised in the tutorial, it took an hour. I spent more time shopping for fabrics. It is not very practical to carry but I like that pocket in front. I use it to go to the library or to fetch A1 from school.

 

I bought a book titled 'Me and my sewing machine'. The book showed how to do stitches and hems and seams. At the end, there were various projects. I chose to do the bag illustrated and had done five of such little grocery bags. I love the colorful fabrics.

I also did a foldable grocery bag and had given that away before I took a photo. I have printed two other bag patterns and will try them out. I do not need all these bags and will surely give these bags away as gifts to friends. My mum-in-law requested for a beach bag. I hope to find a beach theme fabric and get it done by summer. Hopefully.... 

 

Sewing is fun.

Merry Go Round

Yesterday we went to Rambouillet which was a town nearby our village. The weather was spring like and everyone was out sitting at the terrace having a drink.

We had afternoon tea, ok, Seb had a glass of wine, I had a beer and the boys had orange juice. I asked the boys if they would like to go on the merry-go-round that was just beside the cafe. They said ok.  A1 never wanted to go on any merry go round but I felt that he had grown up and was curious about this beautiful merry-go-round in the town square.

Seb bought the tickets and for the first time, the boys took a ride on the merry go round. A1 wanted to be on the airplane and A2 chose the horse. We stayed beside the boys. It was a big merry-go-round and the boys had fun. A1 even asked for a second ride. We told him he could only do it once and it was time to go feed bread to the ducks in the castle garden.

The photo below is the said merry-go-round. It was closed when I visited Rambouillet with my friends from Singapore in February. Photo credit goes to Rachel.

  

When we go to Singapore this summer, I will propose the kiddy rides to A1. He refused it each time. I wonder will he accept it by then. 

Sonia Delaunay

The two weeks school holidays starts for A1. As usual, the teacher gave the parents the children's workbooks.

 

I am impressed with what they learn in school. Apart from the usual drawing horizontal and vertical lines; grouping images; coloring the différences etc..they had interesting experiments. One was playing in the snow and observing the frozen state of water. Then melting the snow. And freezing the snow in the freezer to get back to ice state.

 

 Recently, the teacher brought a little mouse to the class and everyone observed what the mouse was doing in its cage. Suggestions were given on what the mouse ate and the children experimented by feeding the mouse with suggested food. They then noted down what the mouse liked and disliked. In the end, they came up with three names and voted for the name 'Curieux' (Curious).

 

I saw this nice painting by A1 in his workbook. I do not know how much help he received but it was nice. The caption said 'Observing the master pièces of Sonia Delaunay and creating in one own's manner'.

 

I googled 'Sonia Delaunay' and realised she was an artist who used strong colours and geometric shapes. These 3 and 4 year old kids were exposed to arts at such a young age. I discovered an artist through my son.  

 

For my first Christmas in France, my sister in law gave me a book titled 'Petite encyclopédie de la Peinture' (Small encyclopedia of paintings). Then, my knowledge of arts were limited to what I learnt during those weekly hour of art lesson in Singapore. Over the years, I had learnt to appreciate arts more with visits to the abundance museums here. From now, I think I will learn more from my sons school work.