A new pair of pants for baby

Remember this baby gift set that I made for our family friend's baby (below image)?

  Using the same elephant fabric, I whipped up a simple pair of pants and a matching small drawstring bag for my baby nephew, who is now six months old.



Does this pants look too big for a six month old baby?   Well, you may be right... But I thought it's better to make a bigger clothing than a smaller one for a growing baby, and it turned out like this...!! (lol)

I serged all seams, so it was very simple to sew.  Hope my baby nephew wears this pants, if not now, hopefully in a few months...

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Today, I have a small notice to my etsy shop customers.  I will be temporarily closing my shop from tomorrow, August 19, thru the end of this month, to spend more time with my girls and my hubby, before the summer slips away!

I plan to reopen my shop in early September, hopefully with more new items, so please check back in a week or two, if you can :)

Thanks for visiting my blog, and I hope you continue to enjoy your remaining days of August with your loved ones ;)

***Love, Amy***



My handmade item was featured in this Japanese craft book (OMG)!

Today, I have a surprising news that I wanted to share with you...

My handmade digital camera pouch that I made a while ago was featured in this Japanese craft book from my favorite author/crafter, "komihinata" or Mioko Sugino!!!

I've been following and reading her inspirational craft blog for a while, and what a honor to be able to be part of her latest craft book...!

Book title: Small Handmade Items by komihinata

Publisher: Shufu-no-tomo-sha

Publish date: May 2011

ISBN-10: 4072766828

ISBN-13: 978-4072766828

Here is the page where my handmade digital camera pouch is featured.   The page is titled "Handmade items made by the author's blog and craft book readers"

I feel so delighted to have my digital camera pouch featured with all of the handmade beauties here (no matter how small the picture of my pouch is on this page...LOL)!



And this is the close up of my handmade pouch... I think I made this item about two years ago, based on the previous book by the same author, but I still use it to this day, because this shape is very cute and practical!



Thanks for reading and hope you continue to have a wonderful weekend :)



Stitching for baby

Last night, while our girls watched T.V., I sat together with them on our sofa and did some hand stitching work.  I made a baby gift set for our family friend's baby boy.  Well, I used sewing machine to make both the bib and the drawstring bag, but the embroidery is hand stitched by me :)

This colorful elephant fabric placed in the center of this patchworked bib is my recent find from our local Joann store.  I think it's perfect for making baby items (both for a baby boy and a girl).

Close up of my hand stitched work...  I used the embroidery pattern of this spoon with a ribbon from this Japanese embroidery book:

"Basics of Embroidery and Applique" by Ayako Otsuka

ISBN-10: 4072589748

ISBN-13: 978-4072589748

The reversible side of the bib is soft cotton flannel...

Here, I embroidered the little boy's name on to the drawstring bag.  BTW this reversible bag was made based on this awesome tutorial from Pink Penguin!

Close up of the baby boy's name... Kaito

Reversible side of the bag: a bunch of colorful elephants :)

As you can probably tell, making handmade gifts is one of my favorite things to do, and I especially enjoy making stuff for babies :)

And the good news is that I will be making two more baby gifts like this one soon for more babies arrived around our family friends.  Yes, it seems like there is a baby boom around here and I'm so happy for them!!



I hope this gift will be used by the baby and his family...

Thanks for reading and I hope you're enjoying your weekend as much as I'm enjoying mine ;)

Kawaii carrying pouches in my shop

I just listed these small carrying pouches with handles in my  etsy shop.  They are all made of kawaii (cute) Japanese cotton fabrics that are imported from Japan.

The exterior of this carrying pouch is "bear with sweet macarons"... So adorable :)

This one is made of Cinnamoroll print (cute dog with large ears character) with baby blue x white polka dots combination.   Our girls just love Cinnamorolls!



Pink My Melody print (bunny with pink ears) with baby blue x white polka dots print.  Very sweet ;)



I attached small wood bead to the zipper pull for all of these pouches.  (Note: not intended for young children under 3 years of age for safety reasons...)



9 inch zipper is used at the opening.  It's a perfect size to carry pencils and pens for young girls, or for grown ups to carry keys, cell phones, and other small belongings as a carrying pouch on the go.

I really enjoyed making these kawaii items...  Our girls gave me lots of inspirations and ideas when I made these girly projects, and I really thank them for their help.



Thank you so much for looking and I'll be back soon for more handmade items... ;)

Handmade apron for my daughter

Last week, my older daughter (11 years) was attending a weekly summer camp that had some cooking activities in the program.   She wanted to bring her own apron to the camp, so I quickly sewed up an apron and a matching drawstring bag for her, using the fabric that she selected from my stash.

As always, she came back from the camp one afternoon and asked me if I can whip up a new apron for her by the next morning...! Talk about rush deliveries around here :p

I didn't follow any specific patterns or instructions to make this one... I simply tried to imitate an apron that we had in our house.  Can you tell that I sewed a little heart ribbon as a "tag" at the front pocket?

To adjust the length of the ties around the neckline, I used this vest buckle that I had in hand.

And here she is... a happy cook with a brand new apron :)



Also, just to let you know that I'm having a sale of selected items in my etsy shop from today, August 1.   Come check it out if you have a chance!

Thanks for visiting, and happy sewing to you all :) 

Recycled crocheted mat... finished!!

This week, I finally finished working on my recycled crocheted mat, which has been sitting underneath my craft table for a long time...

For how long this *unfinished project* was sitting around... I wasn't exactly sure.  But after going through a list of my previous blog posts, I realized that I began this making this item in June of 2010... which means it took me more than a year to complete this simple mat!!  I don't even know why it took me so long to finish this, but I'm so glad that I was finally able to finish it after all these months... :P

This recycled crocheted mat is made of old sheets, our kids' used clothing, and various fabric scraps I had in my hand.   To crochet this mat, first I simply made several of these fabric yarn balls by hand stripping recycled fabrics.  It's really an  eco-friendly way to recycle unused fabrics and clothing around our house (which we happen to have so much!)

Work in progress...

Here's a close up of the crocheted mat.  I tried to make this mat using pinks and blues, but I guess I ended up using some navy, greens, and even yellows...

It's really comfy to put your bare feet on this recycled crocheted mat, especially during the hot summer days.  I decided to use this one as our kitchen mat.

But I need more than one mat in our kitchen, so I shall start making another one like this soon... and

this time, I wish I can finish it sooner... We'll see :D

Ruffled wristlet pouch

I've been itching to make something with ruffles... and I finally did :)

This is a ruffled wristlet pouch made with natural linen and black embroidered cotton lace with scalloped edging.  The size of the wristlet pouch is approximately 9.25 inches x 5.5 inches, not including the handles.

Each row of embroidered ribbon are carefully sewn on to the face of the wristlet pouch.  To avoid fraying, I finished the top seam of the lace ribbon with rolled hem function using my serger.

  

The wristlet pouch is fully lined with fleece batting, and the interior fabric is black x white polka dots cotton.

The back side of the pouch is simple linen only...

Here is the side view. 

I just listed this ruffled wristlet pouch in my online shop. 

I think I really love the ruffles!!  Now, I'm in the "ruffles" mood and feel like making more of these :)

Thank you so much for reading!!  I'll be back soon :)



Linen cutlery (and chopsticks) organizer

Hello all :)  Hope you're enjoying your summer days.

 Well, for our family, it's been five weeks into our kids' summer break, and I'm having a challenging time of the year...  I mean, it's so hard to keep a schedule and do my work, keep kids busy and keep myself sane, all at the same time when kids are free in summer!!  

 Anyways... I haven't really had enough chance to sit in front of my sewing machine lately due to the above reasons, but I managed to make these linen cutlery organizers with handles recently :)

These fabric organizers are fully reversible.  As you can see, I used linen on one side, and home decor fabrics (pink and navy dots) on another.

I lined them with interfacing, and with a combination of home decor fabric, they are sturdy enough to stand on its own.

 Side view.  The approximate height is 2.75 inches (7 cm), not including the handles.

Bottom view.  Depth is approximately 3.25 inches (8.25 cm).

I made these linen organizers to store our cutlerys and chopsticks to place them on our kitchen table...

But it can also be used to store stationery around the desk, or to store sewing supplies at your sewing area.

We've been using these at our kitchen table lately, and these are very convenient to use.

I realy like the combination of polka dots and simple linen :)

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and I hope you're enjoying your crafty moments, no matter how busy your schedule may  be... ;)

***Love, Amy***



Drawstring mini tote bags

Hello!  How have you been?

It's been a while since my last post (three weeks?) but I'm so glad to be back with my latest creations to show you today...

I just added these mini drawstring tote bags in my shop.  





The bag exterior is made of a combination of Japanese imported cotton print and home decor fabrics.  Home decor fabrics are used for the bag handles and the bottom, for added sturdiness.

The bags are fully lined with 100% cotton and fleece batting.  It's perfect to be used as everyday tote, or as a lunch bag (or a "bento bag" as we call it in Japan) or snack bag.

As you can see, the tote has a drawstring opening, but you can easily fold the drawstring part inward to use the bag as ordinary mini tote (without the drawstring).

And BTW... do you remember from my last post how my kitchen looked like during the remodeling, after everything had been removed?  It was totally empty like this...

After few weeks, the remodeling is finally over (phew!), and here is a snap shot of a our kitchen now...

I am so happy (and relieved) that now I'm able to cook and eat in our kitchen.  Living without a kitchen (especially with kids) was tougher than I had imagined...!!

  I literally had to "cook" in our living room with my rice cooker, microwave, refrigerator, and a Japanese portable gas cartridge stove, and I washed those plastic dishes and utensils in our shower!! (Well, I could of disposed them, but I didn't want to throw away everything during our construction, which lasted over several weeks...)

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and happy cooking and crafting to you all :-D