Flower corsages and bag charms

Look how many flower corsages and bag charms that I've been making lately... Just too many! I'm totally hooked on making these.

These are my "regulars".  Crocheted flower charms with covered fabric buttons in the middle.

This one is made of strips of cotton and linen fabrics only.  Very natural looking.

And this one is my favorite... I made the flower using lace.  In the center of the flower are the "pearl" beads.

Add one flower corsage to the handmade bag and it really makes a difference... Don't you think so?

Mini tissue holder

This is a small folding pouch to carry a mini tissue and a hanky, etc. on the go.   I used small fabric scraps of linen, gingham check, and a Cath Kidston florals to make this... I like the soft combination of these fabrics ;)

 When the front flap is opened, it looks like this:

It is quite convenient because there is a small pocket behind the tissue holder, where a small necessity, such as some band-aids, a chapstick, or a folded hankerchief can be stored inside, like this:

And  I followed this Japanese tutorial (sorry, in Japanese only).   This tissue holder may look quite simple to make, and yes, the tutorial was well written and easy to follow, but it was still challenging for me to sew... Well, I guess small projects does not always equal easy sewing!!

Crocheted mini basket

I love making handmade baskets, and this time I made a mini crocheted basket using regular (wool) yarns and fabric yarns.  Leather strips are used for the handles.   I decorated the basket with white cotton crochet flowers to add a finishing touch.

The bottom part of the basket is made with regular yarns, crocheted in the round...

Then, I used fabric yarns to crochet the top few rows of the basket.  This fabric yarn is basically a 1/2 inch (1.25cm) wide cotton fabric strips that I handcut from my fabric stash a while ago.

I changed the yarn and kept on crocheting for few more rows...

And added leather handles and cotton crochet flowers.

The basket measures about 4.5 inches (11.5 cm ) in diameter.  I think it's a good size to store my buttons and sewing notions, like this, on my sewing table.

By the way, look who's been visiting our backyard lately... a (wild) peacock!  Our girls get all excited when they  find a peacock walking in our backyard, and the pictures below are taken by our oldest daughter. 

She (the bird) does no harm to us, except that she cries really loud!  They sound like a broken trumpet, they really do.  And sometimes, she brings her family members, too. We've seen a total of three peacocks walking together... So many birds!

Patchwork small tote

Remember the patchwork work in progress that I was working on earlier this week?

Well, I made a small  tote bag using some linen and several blocks of 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) patchwork squares.  I used 24 squares in total, with some linen, and the handles are made of cotton webbing.  The fabric squares used for patchwork are from the Moda snippets line.

Inside it looks like this

This lining fabrics is one of my favorite fabrics.

Once again, I followed the very helpful fabric basket tutorial by Pink Penguin when making this patchwork tote.  However, I made several changes to the fabric basket this time, such as the size of the squares (2.5 inch squares used instead of 2 inche squares) and where to place of the handles (front and back, instead of left and right). 

Here, you can compare them.  One to the right is the fabric basket (original size) that I made a while ago.

I love the cheerful patchworks, it's so spring like and fun!

Seven things about myself...

Hi, all :) I was tagged by my dear blog friend Sam of Sunnysidey a while ago, to come up with seven random things about myself, and then tag seven other people...  I try my best to keep it short and simple, so hope you bear with me... So here I go!

Seven random things about me...

1. Craft addiction...
Okay, this is how my crafting table looks like. To the left is a refrigerator (my craft space is located right next to our kitchen area) and right behind my back of where I sit, our kids normally do their homework, play games, eat snacks, and make noises...

I became a craft addict after I bought a sewing machine for myself when my youngest daughter started kindergarten.  Since then, I've been sacrificing sleep and enjoying making things with my machine!

Updated 3/15/2013: My current sewing machine Juki TL-2010Q

2. Radio vs T.V.... I'm a radio listener, and I always keep my radio on while I work, drive, cook, clean, and even when I craft. During the day, I mainly listen to the news radio and at night, I like to listen to easy music.  On the other hand, I almost never watch TV, probably less than an hour a week is a max for my TV time!

My kitchen radio that I listen to when I cook

3. Good food with fine drink... I love eating tasty food with a glass of good wine (or a cold can of beer, or a bottle of Japanese sake, or with Korean soju, or you name the drink, I'll take it!)  I also enjoy cooking, so when I cook dinner, I like to have a can of beer or a glass of wine with me...  What a great way to do three of my favorite things (to cook, to eat and to drink) all at once! 

4. Makeup... I started wearing makeup when I was in my senior year of high school, I think, and since then, I've been wearing it every day.  Well, sometimes I skip it, but on most days, I wear it. I think of it as part of my normal daily routine, just like brushing my teeth or checking my e-mails. 

daily makeup ritual

5. My hubby...I met my husband when I was nineteen years old and when he was twenty two... We got married about a year later and here we are, still *happily* married after more than two decades of being together, now with two kids...which is quite amazing for me!

6. Babysitting vs parenting... When I was growing up, I was the oldest of five kids in our family, and I was the babysitter of my younger siblings all my life (until I left home for college.)  And because of my background, I used to think that having and raising kids of my own will be a breeze... But boy, I was damn wrong...!!  Parenting was so much different from babysitting!!

7. Accounting... I know that crafting and accounting doesn't really mix... but I am a Certified Public Accountant here in the U.S.  Before I had kids, I used to work very long hours as a C.P.A., and back then, I was so busy that I had no time to craft at all! Poor me! Luckily my current work schedule is much more flexible and with fewer hours, it allows me to spend more time with my family.

...Phew! This must be my longest post, ever, on my blog.  Oh, and by the way, I don't think I really know seven other bloggers well enough to tag them, so any of you bloggers out there who feel like posting your own random seven, just give it a try!! And don't forget to let me know when you post 'em ;)

Thanks for reading and happy crafting!

Work in progress...

I started patching these squares last night... I will post it again here when it's done ; )

Natural linen x black handbag with corsage

This is my latest sewing project : a natural linen and solid black cotton handbag.  When I made this bag, I had my girlfriend in my mind, who often dresses in black or white tops with denim jeans.   I thought that a simple linen x black handbag will suit her image.

She is a dear friend of mine, and ever since she gave us very generous and beautiful holiday gifts for myself and our girls for last Christmas, I've been wanting to make a special handmade gift to her... And after more than four months later (sorry for the delay, friend!) I thought it would be a good timing  to whip up a handbag for her for the spring season, since April is her birthday month.

On the face of the bag,  I sewed a black/white ribbon on to the part where the linen fabric and  black cotton are pieced together.

This is the ribbon I used.

Close up view

Just like the flower print bag that I sewed earlier for myself, this bag is also reversible, and the reversible side looks like this.  Black and white dot stripes with wavy curves.  I think this fabric is from our local Joann store.   

Side veiw

And here is another side view.  It may be a bit hard to see from the picture below, but

 I attached a tab with a D ring on this side of the bag to hang keys.

This is how this linen x black bag looks like without the flower corsage... Doesn't it look a little too boring without the corsage, maybe?

Speaking of flower corsage, I had a hard time making this linen flower corsage...

I normally crochet the flower corsage with yarns and crochet hook, but this time, it was my first attempt to make one with several layers of linen fabric.  The toughest part of making this was when I sewed the layers of fabric petals, laces, and leather  strings together, and it was so hard to pull the needle and thread through the layers,  that  I pricked my finger with a needle pretty badly... Ouch!  I had to cease everything what I was doing until my bleeding stopped...(to prevent the corsage from turning bloody... how horrifying!)

I'm a pretty clumsy and careless person, but I guess I shall be more careful when using needles, especially when I'm handstitching :( 

New flower print bag and our weekend trip

Using my favorite floral fabric, I recently sewed this bag for myself.   This navy floral print is a discontinued fabric that I purchased a while a go for about a $3/yard at a discount fabric store.  It sure was a bargain!

And I made this bag right before we left for our family trip over the weekend.  I like to sew myself a new bag before going on a trip, because the new travelling bag simply adds more fun to the trip.

 

The bag is reversible, and for the other side (reversible side), I used navy/polka dots fabric. 

Attached on the side of the bag is a small tab with a D ring to hang my keys.

Side view of the bag (another view).

So, our girls' school is on spring break right now, and we took a short family trip over the weekend.   We packed up and jumped on to our minivan and drove off for several hours to the destination...

 During our trip, we saw the Eiffel Tower...

And the Arch of Triumph ...

We even visited Sphinx and the pyramid...!

And the medieval castles...

Oh, the beautiful waterfalls...

So, where did we go? 

Yes! We drove off to  Las Vegas, Nevada, and enjoyed a family getaway.   I didn't really gamble this time but we sure had a good time at the "sin city"!!  It's  no secret that I used to gamble hard when I was childless...but I'm trying to take a break in gambling right now while I'm raising two young kids... See, sometimes it takes a self discipline when you're a mom : P

Viva, Las Vegas!  And I hope I can go back there soon ;)

Urge to... stamp carving

Hand carved strawberry stamps

Once in a while, I feel this strong urge to carve eraser stamps... and when that happens, I just have to carve stamps! (I know, I'm a weirdo : P)  So, this is what I had been doing for the past few nights... carving eraser stamps, and I enjoyed every moment of it, despite the lack of sleep...zzz

Here, I decorated our kids' brown lunch bag with the hand carved stamps.

OMG this heart shaped stamp was one of the most challenging stamps that I've ever carved!! So much details... On the other hand, the bunny guy was pretty simple to carve, just in time for Easter!

Stamped on to the brown bag again

I also carved this "frame" stamp

This is another great book about eraser stamp carving.  There are many beautiful stamp designs and inspirations inside.   I purchased this book when I visited Japan last year.   The author is a mom of three young children, and she also has a popular blog of her own.

"Enjoy your time with eraser stamping"

ISBN-10: 4834728935

By the way...our neighbor just returned from their trip to England, and look what they got for us. A passion Fruit tea and a shortbread cookies from Harrods.  Aren't these packages pretty?   And I looooove the rich buttery taste of these shortbreads.  So addicting...!  Thanks, neighbor, for the goodies ;)