Stamp carving fun!


Hello all :)

Today I'd like to show you some of the eraser stamps that I carved recently.





I designed my own motifs for these stamps. They are an apple, a pear,  a coffee cup with a saucer, and a square with a ribbon inside...




Here I used my stamp for packaging my shop item.

 I love stamp carving because it's fun and rewarding!  Just like sewing and crocheting, I lose concept of time when I'm carving these little ones ;)


Thanks for visiting and happy stamp carving!


What is your favorite pincushion?


This is one of my favorite pincushions. 

 It's my handmade flower shaped pincushion that is filled with a mixture of poly fill and  wool roving to prevent needles from rusting.



I like to place it in a cup like this to make it handy and user friendly :)




Most of my pins were getting bent from heavy and poor usage by me :( so I replaced them with the new ones.  I like to use thin needles with glass heads. 



But when I found these pins at our local Joann's notions wall, they were too cute to resist!!


It's so apparent that the heart pin to the left are too thick and I don't prefer thick pins...




But they go perfectly with my tiny pincushion with crocheted flower so that's okay ;)


So what is your favorite pincushion?


Chopsticks and cutlery holders in my shop


Can you tell what these are?

These are traditional Japanese style chopstick holders, made with zakka taste.  These are eco-friendly and easy to use items that are now listed in my shop.

These holders can hold not only the chopsticks, but also forks and spoons, to help cut back on the use of those disposable chopsticks and plastic cutlery out there.



My hubby brings bento (lunch box) to work everyday, and he brings his own chopsticks to work with this holder.  Can you see the hopping bunny guy in his chopstick holder above?

Well, a hopping bunny may be too cute for a middle aged Japanese man... But that's okay, because he doesn't even notice about the bunny even after using it for a few weeks now! lol!


Anyways, the design of these holders are very unique.  As you can see from the photo, one side of the holder is left open to fit chopsticks/cutlery of various lengths. 

In the image, a standard size chopsticks of 9 inches (22.5 cm) long are shown.



It works like this.  The chopsticks/cutlery are placed inside the pocket (left end of the triangle above), then the opposite side (right end of the triangle) is folded inward.



Then the holder is rolled up tightly and the cords are wrapped around.



Finally, tuck the cute embellished ball under the cords.   Then it's ready to go!



The back side of the holder looks like this. 



The embellished ball is sewn at the cord ends. It is filled with small amount of poly fill.



I designed the case slightly oversized to hold longer chopsticks, cutlery, crochet hooks, knitting needles, or any item up to 12" (30 cm) long.  It can carry several chopsticks at once, too.

So even if you have a bigger family, you can still carry chopsticks/cutlery for everyone in your family.  Here, I placed 6 pairs of chopsticks (or 12 chopsticks) inside and rolled it up easily.


Here are some close up images of my other chopstick/cutlery holders that are made with different fabrics.

This is a cute one made with pink gingham check x light blue floral prints.



This one is a combination of Kasse Fasset and linen.



Here is my another favorite.  Japanese imported purple butterfly fabric x gingham check in light purple.



So let's go green and carry our own chopstick/cutlery to work and school :)

Thanks for visiting!

***Love, Amy***







Crocheted potholder with fabric strip yarn


I recently crocheted a potholder using fabric strip yarn.


You may recall that I've made a couple of crocheted kitchen mats using upcycled fabric strips before, such as this one shown below.


When cotton fabric strips are crocheted into mats with large hooks (I used size P or 11.50 mm hook), they create a sturdy, thick rug that is perfect for heavy use (e.g. our kitchen).

 So this time, I crocheted something smaller than the kitchen mat. 
A potholder using fabric yarns.



 Leather strap is attached at the corner.







 I'm happy with how my potholder turned out.  Well, I shall now enjoy a cup of tea now!

***Love, Amy***





Hanging sachets and more

hanging sachets, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing (amy).

Hello all! Hope you're enjoying your spring days :)

Here in the U.S., the tax season is finally over (phew!) and our girls are back to school from their one week spring break.   Which means that I'm back to my regular schedule, and back to blogging time :)

Actually I've made a couple of handmade items lately, but I just haven't had a chance and time to post them on my blog :(

So here are some of my latest creations.


 Hanging sachets using my favorite Japanese imported fabric.  These sachets are literally packed with dried lavenders and they smell soooooo good!



The back sides look like this.  As you can see, I used different backing fabrics (organza and light weight linen) for these sachets, to see which one works better.  Organza is slightly trickier to sew than the light weight linen, but it is certainly better when it comes to the aroma of lavender...Ahhhh!



Next runner up is a flap pouch with a leather cord and wood bead.   Linen is used for the interior fabric.  The design of this flap pouch that closes with a wrap around cord is one of Japan's  traditional design that's been around for decades.   I think it was easier to sew these design in the earlier days even when zippers and buttons were not available in Japan...



This pouch is just the right size to fit pens and pencils, and some crochet hooks, too.



I've got a real soft spot for fabrics with cups, saucers, pots, spoons, and anything relating to kitchen items, and this fabric just stole my heart!


So what's your favorite fabric theme??  
Love, Amy***


Handmade Easter wreath with bunny and flowers


Just in time for this Easter, I handmade this yarn wreath and decorated it with felt flowers and rhinestones. In the center of the wreath, I placed a handmade felt bunny, which is sewn with my sewing machine and filled with poly fills.



I've made a yarn wreath before last fall, and once again I followed this very creative tutorial to make this wreath. 

This time I wanted to make a wreath in cheerful and springlike colors, so I decided to used a mixed color yarn that I had in stock...  But now when I look at the finished yarn wreath, I think it looks more like psychedelic and 1960-ish than Easter looking!! (lol)



Anyways, I found this cute bunny template online from this awesone tutorial here and reduced the size of the bunny to fit inside the wreath center.  White pom pom is attached to the bunny using a glue gun to make the bunny tail.



I just hang this handmade flower and bunny wreath on our front door.  Yes, the colors are a bit flashy and hippy looking... but I think it puts us in a mood of spring! Well, kind of... right?

Before I go, I'd like to wish you all have a Happy Easter with your loved ones :)

Love, Amy  




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