Scrappy bird pouch and the peacock... ハギレのポーチと庭の孔雀・・・。

Without much thinking... I stitched up this scrappy log cabin patchwork zipper pouch. It was a fun and speedy project with instant gratification!

ハギレを縫い合わせてファスナーポーチを作りました。特に何も考えずに気ままに楽しむパッチワークは楽しいものです♪

I got the center bird fabric from our local Joann. It's one of the Cloud 9 fabric line.

ポーチ中央の鳥さんの生地は近所の手芸量販店 Joannから。Cloud 9という人気ファブリックシリーズのものです。 →☆

And guess who's been visiting our backyard lately?

さて、鳥といえば我が家の庭にお客さんが遊びにきました・・・。

Yes! It's the peacock again!  In our neighborhood, we often spot these wild peacocks, as mentioned in this earlier blog post.

そうです、またしても孔雀が遊びに来ていました！私達が住む一帯には、なぜか野生の孔雀が生息しているのです。当ブログでも何度か野生の孔雀についてご報告しています。たとえばこちら。→☆

He likes to sit underneath our backyard table and leave droppings... lol

Has any bird visited your backyard lately?

Just a reminder that my handmade zakka giveaway is still open until this Friday night.  Hope you have a chance to enter if you haven't yet!

庭のテーブル下でくつろぐ孔雀さん。美しい鳥には違いありませんが、必ず置き土産（う〇ち）を残していくのが困り物です！　皆さんのお宅ではどんな鳥が遊びに来ますか？

さて、私の手作り雑貨のプレゼント企画の締切りは今週金曜日なのでまだ間に合います～。詳細はこちらからです。→☆

***Love, Amy***

Echino bird eco bag set (and the peacock visit) エチノの生地でエコバッグ作り（と野生の孔雀が遊びにきました）

 

A little while ago, I sewed this matching reversible eco bag and a mini drawstring pouch set for a gift to our family friend. I used my favorite Echino fabrics to make these bags. As you know, Echino is a popular Japanese imported fabric line by designer Etsuko Furuya.

 

知人の方へのプレゼント用にお気に入りのエチノの生地でエコバッグとお揃いのミニ巾着のセットを作りました。　ご存知のように、エチノは日本のファブリックデザイナー古家悦子さんの世界的に人気のあるシリーズです。

 

 

 The size is roomy enough to be used as market tote, baby bag, gym bag, library bag, etc. The bag can be used reversible, and it is made from my original pattern.

 

バッグは自作の型紙で作っています。リバーシブル利用も可能です。マチもあって大きめサイズなので、買い物に、マザーズバッグに、ジム通いに、などいろいろな用途に使えます。

 

 

 The matching mini drawstring pouch is made from the cut-out remnants of the inner straps when making the eco bag. I like how this small drawstring pouch shapes into a "dew drop" when the drawstrings are pulled.

 

お揃いのミニ巾着は、エコバッグを作る際に出る持ち手部分のハギレを使っています。巾着紐を絞ると、こんなふうにしずくの形になります。

 

There are no batting or interfacing used to make this eco bag, so it folds nicely when not in use.

 

キルト芯や接着芯を使っていないので、使わないときは小さくたためます。

 

 

 

... and stored inside the matching drawstring bag. I love the bird fabric!

 

くるくるっと丸めてミニ巾着に収まる仕組です。　エチノの鳥柄の生地でエコバッグセットのできあがりです。

 

 * * * * *

 

 

 

 

Speaking of birds... recently, we've been spotting these wild peacocks visiting our neighborhood.  You may recall that few years back, the peahens (female peacocks) even laid eggs in our backyard! (These birds fly into our neighborhood every spring from the neighboring city).

鳥といえば、最近、近所で野生の孔雀を見かけます。　この辺り一帯では、春先には隣町から野生の孔雀が飛んでくるのです。数年前には雌の孔雀が我が家の庭先に卵を生んだこともあったんですよ。当時の様子はこちらに記してあります。→☆

 

 

 

Yes these long tailed birds are pretty...

 

But their droppings are not! I've been cleaning our front yard every morning lately to clean up their mess and it's a dirty business!　Oh, and they cry very loud from very early in the morning, too...

 孔雀は間近で見ると迫力もあり、とてもきれいな鳥なのですが、玄関先で〇〇チをされるのには閉口しています！ここのところ私の毎朝の日課は玄関先の孔雀の〇〇チを処理すること。　しかも、孔雀は早朝からものすごい大きな鳴き声で鳴くのでそれもかなりウルサイのです・・・。　

 

 

 

 



Reversible baby shoes and a peacock visit

Here's something I made some time ago - a pair of baby shoes.  The size is approximately 4 inches (10 cm) long, which should fit babies up to six to nine months old.

最近作ったもの。ベビーシューズです。　サイズは約１０センチ。　

生後６ヶ月から９ヶ月までの赤ちゃんに合うサイズです。

These shoes are fully reversible. Linen is used for the reversible side.  I think they turned out cute, but next time, I will use cotton prints on both sides of the shoes, as linen may be too hard on baby's feet... Also, I should of used cotton batting instead of fusible fleece, to add more softness.

このベビーシューズはリバーシブルで使えます。　裏側はリネンで仕上げました。

ただ、次回はリネンは用いずに両面コットンで仕上げたほうが赤ちゃんの足に優しいかな？　ほかにも、キルト芯はやはりコットン１００％を使ったほうがいいですね。（今回は、こちらでは一般的なフリース地のキルト芯を使用）。

And these are quick projects - kitchen scrubbies made of 100% acrylic yarns. I use these scrubbies to wash non-greasy dishes and glasses without using soap. It's eco-friendly and soft on my hands :)

I like to work on these quick and simple projects at our dining table while I watch our girls do their homework in our kitchen.

こちらはアクリル毛糸で編んだエコたわしです。　子供たちが日本語学校の宿題をするのを見ながら、キッチンのダイニングテーブルで編み編みしました。

Aside from crafting, look who's been visiting our backyard lately... yes, a peacock!

 さて、これは手芸ネタではありませんが・・・我が家の庭に最近よくやって来る

お客さん(？)の写真を紹介したいと思います。　そうです、孔雀です！

Do you remember when the female peacock laid eggs in our backyard a few years ago? I posted about it here and here and here.

数年前には、やはり孔雀が我が家の裏庭で巣を作り、赤ちゃん孔雀がうちの裏庭で誕生したことがありました。　その様子はこちらとこちらとこちらに記してあります。

Well this year, no eggs are laid in our backyard, but we still have regular visits from these green flying birds.  Yes, they are wild peacocks, and no, we don't live in a zoo! 

They cry pretty loud, too, often from very early morning to late at night.  　

今年は我が家には巣はありませんが、孔雀はしょっちゅうやってきます。　ちなみに私たち一家は動物園に住んでいるわけではなく（笑）、この孔雀たちは野生です。

春先から夏にかけて飛んできます。結構大きな声で早朝から深夜（！）まで鳴くときがあるのです。　

Thank you for visiting my blog and I'll come back soon :)

今日も遊びに来てくださりありがとうございます！

Repurposed kitchen mat finished

 I managed to finish this repurposed/recycled kitchen mat made out of old sheets and used kids' clothings.

I brought this to work, carried it in my car, and I even worked on this in my bed over the past few days. (And of course, my hubby wasn't surprised at all to see his wife making a big kitchen mat in the bed, because he knows how weird I am by now... ha ha!)

Yes, it's a bit wonky, and there are some questionable stitches here and there, but I guess I can still live with it, because after all, it's just another kitchen mat made of old sheets :P

Close up of crochet stitches

Excuse me with my bare feet... I just wanted to give you an idea of the size of the mat.

I still have a mountain of old sheets in our house, so I guess I shall keep making one of these for every room in our house!

By the way, do you remember those peacock babies born in our back yard about a month ago?

We hadn't seen the entire clan for quite a while (they moved out soon after they hatched), but yesterday, we saw the mommy bird walking on our backyard fence and making the usual peacock noises!

However, to our mystery, she was alone, without her babies...

Our kids and I are wondering how her chicks are doing.

Wherever they are right now, we just hope that the baby birds are alive and doing well...!!!

Oops, I gotta go now.  Hope you all have a good remaining week :)

New pillows for our girls and the peacock babies (hatched!)

Over the weekend, I whipped up these pink pillows for our girls.  I simply sewed together two layers of rectangular fabrics, with right sides together, and filled them with pillow fillings lightly (as our girls prefer "lower" pillows and dislike the "taller" ones).  It was a quick sewing job that it took me less than an hour to make these pillows.   When these need to be laundered, I will just toss them into our washing machine and dryer. 

Here is the close up of the fabric that our girls selected.  It's a fabric with a touch of  Paris, with prints of Eiffel tower,  scooters, and suit cases...  Isn't it lovely? 

By the way, I wanted to show you the pictures of the baby peacocks who just hatched in our backyard!!   There are three of them...   And they're only one day old...

It's so  fun to watch these baby birds follow their mommy wherever they go...

Hope you can see them from these images...

For those of you who are new to this blog, wild peacock laid eggs in our backyard several weeks ago, and we'd been anxiously waiting for the eggs to hatch...

And she is the proud mommy : )

There were four eggs in the nest, and our girls spotted one more egg remaining (unhatched) in the nest today.   We're crossing our fingers that this one will safely hatch soon...

And by the way, if you haven't left your comments on my giveaway post yet, do it now because it is open until this Thursday, May 20th midnight (U.S. Pacific Time).  Thanks to those of you who have already left comments!!

Patchwork door mat and the backyard peacock update...

I made a patchwork door mat for my mother as part of her Mother's day gift this year.  Each squares of this mat measures 5 in x 5 in (12.7 cm x 12.7 cm).    My mom asked me if I can make her a kitchen mat also, so I better hurry up and finish it up so that I can send them to Japan over this weekend, or at the latest, by next Monday.  Otherwise, they won't be able to arrive by the Mother's day next weekend...!!

Another view here.  I really like the crisp blue/white color combination of this mat.

The close up of the patchwork.  I used acryl batting for this mat, instead of cotton batting, so that the mat dries faster even in the wet rainy season in Japan (in early summer).

The door mat is reversible, and the other side looks like this (navy bandana print from my stash).

I attached a handmade tag made of handcarved eraser stamps, to the back side of the door mat to add that personal touch.  I love adding these small details to my handmade projects!

By the way, let me give you an update of our peacock eggs in our backyard that we discovered about a week ago.   Today, we had two more peacock visitors, besides the mommy peacock (peacock no. 1) who literally lives in our backyard...

We're not sure how these peacocks no.2 and no. 3 are related to the mommy peacock, but they all seemed to be friendly to each other (although I'm not sure how peacocks express affection and friendship to each other...)  They just wandered around the mommy peacock and left quietly.   And they seem to come back several times during the day...

And the mommy peacock continues to warm her eggs in our backyard....  She's totally covered in the ivy bush, but can you see her in the picture below?  

 In our area, the weather is much colder than normal this year, with more rain with gusty winds, which is very unusual for April. With a harsh weather like this, we are all concerned about the well being of the peacock mom and her eggs... 

Few days ago, when it started raining in the middle of the night, I found my husband standing in our backyard, next to the peacock nest, with his umbrella in his hand, trying to cover the nest from the rain...!  I almost laughed when I first saw him standing outside in the rain in the middle of the night! Yes, protecting the peacock nest and the eggs is a major family concern in our household right now...  

Mommy peacock sitting on her eggs all day long...

Today, I was lucky enough to take a picture of her eggs.  Normally the mommy bird  literally sits on her eggs all day long, rain or shine, so it's almost impossible for us to see (and count) the number of eggs in her nest.  

As you can see here, it seems like we already lost one egg in just one week...: (  as there were five eggs originally).

 

We are continuing to cross our fingers for the safety of these eggs... so stay tuned!

Patchwork & linen tote bag and the peacock eggs...

I sewed up this tote in a storm last night.  It's a large size patchwork and linen tote bag.  Each patchwork squares are 5 x 5 inches (12.7 cm x 12.7 cm) in size.   The handles are made of cotton webbing.

This is how the other side of the patchwork squares arrangement looks like.  

Can you see the handmade tag on the side (red ribbon eraser-carved stamp)?   I love to add these small details to my handmade items!

The tote is reversible with a large linen pocket...  

By the way, do you remember my earlier post about the (wild) peacock visiting our backyard lately?  She's still here, making loud noises everyday...

And instead of just wandering around our backyard like she used to do, we noticed that she's been sitting in the bushy ivy area for the past few days like this...

And look what our girls found in the ivy bush!!  Five peacock eggs... Oh my!  She laid her eggs in our backyard!!  My jaws almost dropped when I first saw the eggs \*0*/

We're all excited about this news (especially our girls), however, we're also very worried about the safety of these eggs.  Because there are many natural enemies of peacock eggs out there, who visit our backyard regularly, such as cats, squirrels, racoons, skunks, possums, crows, and all sorts of birds...

We're just crossing our fingers that all of these precious eggs are protected from the enemies, and that eventually they are able to hatch out to be healthy peacock babies...