why kuE love antiques: they have a story

people who knows this often asked me upon occasion, why do you like antiques, when did you start liking antiques, or have you always liked them. it did make me wonder.

a visit to ah teng's shop this morning gave me an idea to blog something about this! grandma asked to me to buy rice and potato ;) so while waiting for nya (ah teng's wife) to weight the rice, i stood infront of the shop with ah teng. then when i looked at this view (pic below), i know that its hard to find that big jars no more. i quickly took my oly in the car, and snapped this—

and when i got closer to get a close-up view, ah teng told me, "sudah lama orr... itu balang. sikalang susah mau lapat orr..."

"berapa lama?", i asked.

"aiyoo... macam lu talak tau, pulut-pulut taun lor..."

most of us that are are collectors of antiques have some sort of favorite heirloom that was passed on to us from a beloved family member or perhaps a close friend. for me it is an antique bed that was my grandmother's mother. i remember that i did post some pics here. i also have a few other pieces of furniture that were either my grandparents or treasured accessories that were both my grandmother's and my mother's as a child.

what is my point to all of this you ask? well in about few more years i will then pass on to my puteri and megat some things i have acquired over the years. things that are special to me, and that i hope will be special to my kids. i also will try to pass on my love for all things old. i figure if i start to surround my kids with antiques then maybe by the process of osmosis this kid will love them as much as i do. i am already planning in my mind some of the vintage influences i would like to incorporate into them.

back to ah teng's shop, by the time i wanna pay for the goods, he was already busy with their other customers. so i asked nya about the age of their sempua—

i know from some of my researches, that sempua is referred to as the world's first computer. this 600 year old calculating device is still used as an effective calculator in many parts of asia, including ah teng! hehee... you can learn how to read and work with this ancient invention here.

"dari bukak kedai sudah ada", nya said.

"nya agak berapa lama?".

"ayooo... manyak lama... masa tu lu olang pun belum ada! bapak lu pun muda lagi, sekolah, belum kawen.", replied nya. then we laughed out loud!!! rotfl ;)

of kuE' passion—

finally... i have completed hand-sewn my kid's cloth badges on to their uniforms, 6 pieces altogether the other night *phew* yea!

i sew 'blanket stitch' that i find suitable to sew a badge. this embroidery stitch is worked from left to right. bring needle up and hold the loop of thread down with left thumb. make a vertical stitch (refer this link for a better picture or click on the above image for a larger view), bringing the needle out over loop of thread. read more about this stitch here.

i like to do most of the things myself because i'm passionate about what i do and when you're passionate... well, when you're passionate you don't settle. you don't do second best. it's an all out, stay up 'til midnight CREATE.

its just like getting a personalized gift, especially one that’s hand-made… with love. and, of course, its a way to show your loved ones how much they mean to you! a hand-made gift shows that you put extra thought into their gift, not to mention the time and attention you devoted to putting it together.

both my puteri and megat said that they are so proud of their mama. the badges will surely be last long like the past years. while according to megat, his friends badges would normally torn off after quite some time. well as you could see, its actually the iron-on type cloth badge. an ustazah did ask megat about it some time end of last year, of how nice it looks like although the school days almost end; and megat proudly told her that it has been hand-sewn by his mama. see... its not that hard to make your loved ones happy :)

personal touches make handmade gifts more precious

i was at kinta city with my hero megat yesterday to look for some birthday cards for our loved one's upcoming birthdays, when i told myself that maybe i shall just made my own birthday cards this time as i haven't make them for quite some time. maybe some of you people dunno that i just love arts and crafts. it was so nice that i found three types of brown theme rose' wrapping paper by a.e.i.o.u., at mph; specially for puteri, my sister and mother. anyhow, their birthdays are very closed to each other anyway.


i was more than happy when i saw fragrance papers with rose patterns (ref above pic, on far middle end) at jusco. that papers were meant as lining papers. i chose cream colour and paid them right away! owh... by that time i already can't wait to get started then. as you could see from the above pic as well, the one that i chosed for puteri was actually meant for weddings. thank god that i got some creative minds when i folded the brown colour lines, then... voila!


the word 'wedding' was already hidden in the folded brown lines (above, right). i made cut-out letterings out of white sticker papers to make the word 'daughter', 'sister' and 'mama'. but end up i decided not to use the stickers for mama as i find that its already good as it is.

for the inside of the cards, i printed some suitable poems for each of them on a piece of white A4 paper. i cut them accordingly (the size should be a bit less than the main cards) using paper cutter and stick them on the cards.

now take a look at the below pic people. doesn't it look familiar to you i.e. like a store-bought card maybe? *glurp*



and the following card was meant for mama—

actually all those birthday cards are to be given during puteri's surprise birthday makan-makan tomorrow night.

so don't you just love handmade gifts people. i do. in fact, i should say i really prefer handmade gifts.

it's not that i don't like and appreciate other gifts. it's just that with the handmade gifts i know how much time and effort has gone into making them and they, therefore, become more precious to me.

i love giving handmade gifts now as a matter of choice. however, when i was younger and times were tough the only way i could afford gifts was to make them.

baking vs quilting

a cousin-in-law kak zaireen approached me few weeks ago, when i was attending nephew daniel's birthday. as soon as she arrived, she asked me whether i still make quilts.

i was like, "WHATTT?!!".

"why?", kak zaireen asked.

"auww... how i wished i could go back into quilting, but i definitely do not have the time no more", i told her.

"o ok", kak zaireen said. "i thought what makes you surprised lol... remember my friend, the one that i bought the baby quilts for her last time? she was wondering whether she could have the same quilts for her soon-to-be-newborn. so what is your hobbies now?".

"i am into baking!", i said to kak zaireen while showed her the cupcakes that i brought for daniel.

"wow... now i wished that i am near to you!". lol...

actually people, both baking and quilting are part of my greatest passions. i always hoped that i could do them both. but unfortunately my work-loads are tremendously a lot i tell you :P

on another incident, happened last weekend—i was baking cupcakes for my little cousin yasmin. cousin kak roza dropped-by our place from ipoh. then came along another group from kl, including auntie tun. kak roza is actually very good in cooking, vise versa. both of them were debating about what's the best to do—cooking (baking) or sewing (quilting)? i love both! wahhh.... what say you? which one do you prefer? or do you have any other hobby(ies) that you would like to share?

kuE's quilts ~ show & tell #1

i have been wanted to post this for quite some time. now here it is the part 1 of my show and tell.

some of you may not know yet that quilting is used to be part of my passion since about 7+ years ago. but too bad i do not have the time for it ever since i ventured into this business. anyhow i do missed it now and then especially when i have some times for myself. i didn't go for any quilting classes. i am a self-taught. i learned every single things about quilting from the internet. that's where i knew how to cut triangle or square or hexagon blocks without any template. that's also where i started to understand some of glossary of the quilting terms like applique, basting, fusible web, chain piecing, ufo etc. then i joined some of the on-line quilting groups. i have known new quilting friends from other countries especially u.s., canada, germany, australia and many more. they were so helpfull. i also had the chance to swap fabrics, blocks etc with them. there were truly a wonderful experience. we are still friends and keep in touch with each other until now anyway. that's the best thing about quilting.

here's some pics of my one of the very first quilts that i have sewn. i named it world sun-bonnet-sue quilt, if i'm not mistaken. i made it for puteri's birthday, five years ago i think.

this quilt was machine-pieced and hand-quilted. while we sew the blocks using paper-pieced method. it was one of my special one because the blocks came from seven other countries from a block swap that i did with my on-line quilting friends. the sue's dress must indicate our own country ie canada - maple leaf, japan - oriental, malaysia - batik etc. i sew the squared borders from a fabric swaps that i did from other swap.



can you guess which one was my block.



here's puteri showing the back view of the quilt. each of us have to include a signature block. i sew it at the back to show whose block was who.



close-up view of my quilting ;)