Strawberry pouches

I made this strawberry pouch with handles for a birthday present to a young girl who will be turning eight soon.  She is my younger daughter's classmate and the birthday party is scheduled this week after school.  We plan to put some new pencils and Japanese erasers (the ones with fruity smell) inside this pouch.

Inside is pink polka dots

Side view.  I attached some colorful clear beads as zipper charm.

Using the same strawberry fabric, I also made this pouch.  This one is without the handles, and I combined it with a denim fabric at the botom.

Inside is navy polka dots

Two strawberry pouches all lined up.  Which one do you like?

Headbands for young girls

My daughters, 2nd and 4th graders,  are both very self concious about their hairstyles (even at this age), and every morning, they spend quite some time in front of the mirror grooming.  They have to make sure that their hair looks all right before going to school...  (I don't do their hair anymore, they are on their own).

I made these fabric headbands for them some time ago.   The girl in the picture is my younger one.

The headbands are made reversible, so that they can enjoy it both ways.   I hope that this will help our picky girls to choose the matching headbands quickly on busy mornings...

Mohair crocheted flowers

Over the weekend, I crocheted these flower ponytail holders using mohair yarns.  I really like the dusty blue color of this yarn.   These crocheted flowers has two layers, and every time I make one of these, the crocheting process gets easier and easier.  I can still recall the first time I made one of these... it was such a pain in the neck!  I now enjoy making these in my spare time.

I also made more of these doll house items for my younger daughter.

It is a bedding set (?) for the little people.  I filled the comforter with extra batting to keep them warm at night...

Sweet dreams!

Cath Kidston love

My recent craft book addition ... Sew! from Cath Kidston.    I love Cath Kidston fabrics and goods, which are really popular in  its home base, U.K., of course, but also in my home country, Japan, too.  However, for some reason, their fabrics and goods are not available here in the U.S., which is really disappointing for me... :(

Even this book was not available here in the U.S... therefore, I had to have it shipped internationally.

The book came with this precut fabric and instructions kit.  The kit is to make the lovely blue flower purse printed on the front cover of the book.   I just can't wait to make this purse!

More images from the book...

All the projects in this book come with clear instructions, which is fantastic.  Aren't they lovely?

Patchwork box pouch and a tiny pincushion

I sewed up a patchwork box pouch, which I had been wanting to try for a long time.  (I have a loooong list of things I want to create by sewing, embroidering, stamp carving, patchworking, crocheting... and this was just one of them).

I used a 9 " zipper for this pouch, and it turned out to be a fairly small size pouch.  It's a little bigger than a size of my palm.   As you can see, I placed a brown cotton webbing at one end to make a handle, so that I can carry it around like a wristlet.   

Side view

Inside lining is brown

carry like a wristlet

I also made a teeny tiny pincushion for my travelling sewing case... This pincushion is made using my scrap fabrics and it's small enough to fit snugly inside the small mint can.

This way, it's safe enough to carry pins in my purse along with my sewing essentials.  And it makes good use of the empty mint can, too!

Cell phone charm

I like to hung cell phone charms on to my cell phone, and I crocheted this white and light blue cell phone charm using cotton yarns.   In the center of the crochet flower, I placed a small pearl shaped bead.

And my cell phone decorations? Yes, it's my handmade, too! I placed rhinestones on to the face of my phone with the help of a jewelry glue... Some people think that I'm too old (and insane?) to decorate cell phone like this... but I don't mind at all because I like shiny phones :)

Here, I placed the crocheted cell phone charm next to the bag charm that I made earlier.

By the way, I received a surprise gift today... some homemade scones!

I love English scones, and these scones are crispy outside and soft inside, with just the right amount of sweetness... it's absolutely the best!   Thank you very much, Mrs. Y, for the delicious treat :)

Simple Pouch

Simple Pouch, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

This simple pouch is made of my favorite retro flower fabric that I purchased in Japan last summer.  I liked the fabric so much that I had saved it for a long time... and I was such a chicken that I didn't have enough "guts" to cut this fabric into pieces...but I finally made it into this pouch.  And I'm glad I did it :)

For the inside lining, I used this "waffle" fabric to add that cushiony effect.

It's a perfect size to store my crochet hooks and scissors.

Here is the side view. 

And here, I wanted to show you the size comparison of the fabric baskets that I made recently... You can see how large the bigger one is! 

Hexagon piecing (in my car)

in my car, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

This photo was taken in my car by me, while sitting on my driving seat, at a parking lot, in one afternoon, while I waited for my girls' after school activity classes.... Besides spending time crocheting, I've been enjoying to use this waiting time to work on my hexagon piecing.

Once you begin, I bet you will get addicted to these hexes like myself!  Yes, I'm an HEX ADDICT and I'm loving it!  lol

BTW I'm not even sure what these hexes will turn into... we'll see...

Fabric basket (pastel dots)

Fabric basket (pastel dots), originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I whipped up another fabric basket last night.   I plan to put some sewing notions inside this basket and give it to my girlfriend who recently got married... She plans to start sewing to make clothes for her dog (how cute!)  and I thought a small sewing basket will be a good gift for her.

These are some sewing notions that I plan to place inside the basket.  A pair of sharp scissors, a cotton thread, needles pack, a tape measure, and a handmade linen tartlet pincushion...

After all of the items are placed inside the basket, it will look like this.

I took another pic with the original fabric basket I made earlier (shown on left).  They are like twins!

Once again, these fabric baskets were made from the very easy-to-follow tutorial from Pink Penguin :)  Thanks for viewing!

Large fabric basket

Large fabric basket (front), originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I liked the little fabric basket that I made recently so much, that I made a larger version of the fabric basket this time.  The original fabric basket was made based on  the  Pink Penguin's fabric basket tutorial.

This large basket is made with a patchwork of eight 5" x 5" squares (Happy Campers charm pack by Moda) and linen, and the handles are made of cotton webbing.

Other side of the basket looks like this.

And this is the inside view...

The basket is really roomy, measuring approximately 14 inches (35.5 cm) in width and 7 inches (17.75 cm) in height, not including the handles.   I can put all of my yarns and crochet belongings in here to carry around in our house like this.

Or place a tissue box and a large bottle of body lotion inside like this.

Using some leftover fabrics, I also made these little things for my daughter...  Are these pincushions?

Not really... but actually these will be used as the "cushions" for my daughter's doll house bedrooms... Our seven year old really enjoys playing with her dollhouse, and these cushions will be a new addition to her house!

I hope these small people enjoy their new cushions, too!

Handmade card with fabric and stamps

Lately, I've been enjoying making handmade cards like this one, using my fabric stash.  It's very easy to make.   These are all the supplies I used to make this card...

I cut out various small circles from the fabric stash (I used the circles template shown in above photo) and then used fabric glue to simply glue on the fabric circles to the card.  Then I stamped my hand carved eraser stamp (the ribbon one)  and the "Thank you" stamp (store bought) in the middle.  

It's really quick and simple, that even my kids enjoy making handmade cards for their friends birthday and other occasions : )

Patchwork Journal cover

Journal cover, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

Patchwork journal cover made based on the tutorial from the Quilts & Gifts magazine Spring 2008 issue.  I added some original features like the fabric covered button and strings to wrap around the journal cover.

The journal cover is made to snugly fit the 7 1/2 x 9 3/4 composition notebook.  Like this one that I got from the local Staples store ($1/notebook).

When opened, it looks like this with the notebook inside.

Other images (front and back):

I like the finished product, however, the width of the journal cover was a bit too small for the notebook... Can you see the inside flap sticking out from the frontcover?

Next time I make this,  I think I will make it about an inch wider... Yes, a trial and error is the key to success in sewing, just like anything else we do in our lives...!!