cinammoroll pencil case

cinammoroll pencil case, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

Another pencil case made with Japanese fabric for my daughter's friend. My 7 year old girl was supposed to give this handmade gift to her friend as a birthday gift over the weekend at the party, but she missed the party, because she got sick... fever and cough... and not surprisingly, now my 9 year old girl is sick, too, and so am I... !! But we should get back to normal by Thanksgiving... (hopefully).

Hope all of you are doing well!!

Granny squares made by granny

motif, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

This is a handmade bedspread hand crocheted by my mom. She made this for my younger daughter's seventh birthday earlier this year. I counted the number of granny squares in this project, and there were 322 of them!! OMG!! And more surprisingly, it only took her a week or two to complete this...With that kind of speed work, I guess I can call her the "granny square machine"... ;)

When I was growing up, I never knew that my mom knew how to crochet. She was always working hard with my dad to run the family business (they owned a small factory in Japan) and she was also very busy taking care of her children (myself being the oldest, we had five wild kids in our household).   I had never seen her doing any sort of crafting, including crocheting, back then.

But now that my mom is half retired, she has more time for herself and enjoys making crocheted gifts for her friends and family.  Here are more pics.

Our daughter really likes this handmade gift.  Thanks, granny, for the grannies!

Hand carved eraser stamps

I've always wanted to try stamp carving using erasers.   There are really good instructions out there on crafters' blogs on how to carve eraser stamps, like this one from mairuru  (in English) and this one from matatabi (in Japanese) and there are also many other good craft books in Japanese about making eraser stamps.

So, I gave it a try.   These are the eraser stamps that I carved over the past few days.  I found it especially difficult to carve small areas (like the eyes).  There are many many flaws, and I know that I need to continue practicing to improve my stamp carving skills, but I enjoyed making these.   I used these stamp pads that can be used on fabrics. (I'm trying to make my own "tags" to use for my handmade items).

Happy stamping!

Far Far Away fabric

I got these Heather Ross fabric called Far Far Away sometime ago. It is a beautiful fabric and it is double gauze. This was my first attempt to sew something with double gauze, and I'll tell you it's a major challenge! But, it's also the most comfortable fabric you can imagine.  It is very soft and comfy.

I made a pillow case and a small scarf using these double gauze.  The pillow case is made up of 1/2 yard length of fabric, 1/4 yd for the front, and another 1/4 yd for the back.  Different designs are used for the front and back of the pillow.  Here is how the back side looks like (the front side is shown above).

I also made a scarf with the blue fabric.  It's kind of short (I fully used up the 1/4 yd) but it wraps my neck area nicely.

Apple pouch

apple pouch, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

This pouch is made of apple print corduroy (from Joann's), solid cotton and a velvet ribbon. When I made this pouch, I had my daughter's teacher in mind... She likes apples, and things made of apple stuff, so I thought it would be a good holiday gift for her. A holiday gift? Am I the only one who is already getting ready for the holiday season? I mean, it's not even Thanksgiving yet...!! I know. But I tend to procrastinate every year, so I wanted to get an early start this year. We'll see how it goes for this holiday season... (Although I'm pretty sure that I will end up procrastinating again...)

Pinwheel pincushion

Another quick project for the day... a pinwheel pincushion made from this tutorial.  The back side look like this.

I made this while I watched our kids work on their homework.  Hope you have a good and relaxing weekend!

Mouse pad?

Mouse pad?, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I made this fabric mouse pad for my computer, but our kids didn't like it (they complained that the "mouse" doesn't move swiftly enough with this pad). So, I transformed it into another fabric tray...

I got this cute fabric from this awesome fabric store  when we visited San Francisco earlier this year.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I first spotted this Richard Scarry fabric at the store...!!  His books are the all time favorite of our family, and I'm sure for many of your families, too.

Here is the closeup...

Aren't they adorable?

Cozies for everything

pocket tissue cozy, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

It seems like Japanese people like to put on cozies and covers for everything around the house. When I was growing up in Japan, it was quite common to find fabric cozies and covers (and sometimes knitted/crochet ones) in our households on door knobs, home phones, fax machines, toilet covers, tissue boxes, car keys, trash bins, toilet paper rolls... and yes, sometimes it goes way too far and crazy, putting cozies on everything imaginable!

I think pocket tissue cozies are one of the fairly common and practical "cozies" here in the states, too. (Don't you think so?)  I made this one using some of my scrap fabrics. I like the combination of navy/white polka dots and the "writing" fabric.  I like to make these small projects that I can complete in few hours, or even less, because of my short atttention span...

Patchwork logcabin apron

patchwork logcabin apron, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I'm a messy person so when I cook, I must wear an apron. This is an apron I made sometime ago using my scrap fabrics. I tend to wipe my hands a lot with apron, so for me, apron not only protects my clothing but also acts as a "kitchen towel' when I'm in the kitchen. This one is made of waffle fabric from Japan and it absorbs water very well (good for wiping hands).  I like how cheerful this apron turned out with colorful fabrics.

This is how it looks like when I wear it.  The strap is long enough for me to tie them in the back, too.

Hope you have a good week!

Liberty of London key fob & card case

liberty of london key fob & card case, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I made this card case and a matching key fob using my precious Liberty of London fabrics... I loooove Liberty fabrics, but as you know, they are very pricey so I could only afford to buy a small tiny bit of its fabric... I wanted to make something that I can carry around everyday using my favorite fabric, so I made these items.

This is how it looks like when opened.  (I don't usually carry passport around, but just to show you the size of this fabric case, I took a picture with a passport ;)

Fabric tray

Fabric tray, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I made this fabric tray to store cards.  In our household, we don't own any of the computer games for our girls to play (DS, Wii, and other Nintendo games), so when the girls get bored (which they often are) they often play with... the good old card games together.  They especially enjoy playing card games as a family when their daddy is around.

At least one set of card deck is always sitting on the table of our family room, often falling off on to the carpet floor, and I always wanted a place to store them.  (The original cases are either gone or torn).  And I think this fabric tray will be a good place to store them.  It is made of cotton (inside) and linen (outside).

I guess I need to make at least four or  five more of these because we have so many card decks in our household, at least one for each room (and one in my car, too)!

I'd rather be sewing...

This is what I did over the last weekend.  Covered the IKEA drawer with favorite fabric using my children's Elmer's glue.  

When I look at this drawer closely, I see many, many flaws, but I think it looks better than just the plain "woody" look (I hope).   Through the process of putting this drawer together, I realized how I'm terrible in woodwork and carpentry... I mean, I can't even use the hammer properly!  And my hands got so gluey and messy... I guess I shall stick to the sewing machine and crochet hooks and I should probably stay away from these do-it-yourself IKEA projects for a while...

Crochet + fabric patchwork pouch

I love fabrics and I love to crochet... so for my first attempt, I combined them together into this patchwork pouch.  The yarn is 100% wool and the green fabric in the middle is corduroy from Joann's (it was on sale, of course).  First it was a bit scary to sew the crochet "round" and the corduroy together using my sewing machine (yes, I used my sewing machine), but basically I treated the entire top row of the crochet round as its "seam" and it worked just fine.   

The good part of this pouch is that without any interfacing, the crocheted bottom makes the pouch stand on its own. And I really like the "roundness" of this pouch.

It is a small pouch, but it's big enough to put my cell phone and car keys and some other small stuff inside. For the lining, I used cotton flower print.

Hope you have a good day :)

Linen Scarf

I love to wrap my neck area around with nice scarfs.  I wear them during the cold weather to keep myself warm, and I also wear them on warm sunny days for sun protection purposes.  This scarf is made of light weight linen.  The size is approximately 2 yards (1.82 m) long x 11" (28cm) wide. 

I only had about a yard of this linen fabric, so I cut it up into two pieces, each measuring about 1 yard (91 cm) x 1 foot (30 cm) and connected them together with french seams (so that the edges will not show).    I also added the ivory doily and lace I had in my craft drawer to the scarf at both edges.    I really like the "crinkled" look of the linen scarf. 

Have a happy November!

Happy Halloween!

Our girls are all excited for the upcoming Halloween this weekend.  Tomorrow at school, there will be parties in their classrooms, followed by the costume parade.  I'm glad that this year's Halloween will be on Saturday, instead of on a weekday, so that the kids could stay up a little late after going trick-or-treating.

I made this Halloween garland by felt.  After cutting up the felts  into ghost, pumpkin, and bat shapes, I combined two felt shapes (wrong sides together) and machined sewed all around, leaving a small opening.  Then, I filled it with the fiber fill, and machined sewed the opening.  Their eyes, nose and mouths are glued on to the felt with the fiber glue, so the entire job was pretty quick and easy. 

Recently, when I found this orange trimming with pumpkin faces on at our local Joann's, I knew what I wanted to make with it... a Halloween garland!  This pumpkin garland was 60% off, and with that kind of a deep discount, I just couldn't resist but to buy and make something...!! 

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween! 

Lavender hearts

lavender sachets, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I made these hearts filled with dried lavender. The scent of lavender is soooo soothing and relaxing and I just love them (although my kids dislike the smell... hmmm. I guess it's one of those things in which you need to be old enough to appreciate the beauty of it.)

These were fairly easy to make, except when sewing the inner curves of the hearts... But I guess I shouldn't worry about it so much because the ribbons and buttons attached will hide the messy seam... I plan to hang these in the entrance area of our house. And I plan to make more for my clothing drawers.

I ended up making another pencil case (total of three) this week for... yes, another birthday girl. Altogether, I think I've made more than ten of these in the past few months (all of them for birthday gifts.)

Hope you have a good week!

Applique bag

I received this vibrantly purple cotton shopping bag for free at a local fabric shop.  It's a very nice bag, especially the color of the bag (purple is one of my favorite colors).  But it seemed like something was missing, so I appliqued a flower print onto the bag, with a little help from the iron-on adhesive...

Here it is!  I love the bold roses in the center of the bag.   How do you like my new bag?

Pastel check pencil case

After finishing the pink poodle pencil case early this week for the friend of my 2nd grade daughter, our 4th grade daughter was invited to her friend's birthday party.   Just like me, my 4th grade girl is really picky with fabric choices, and after searching through my fabric stashes, she selected these pastel color check and pink heart fabrics  for her friend's pencil case.   The birthday party will be a sleepover party, and my daughter is really looking forward to the sleepover. 

The pencil case measures approx 5" tall x 7.5" long x 1.25" wide.  We will put some mechanical pencils and an eraser inside as well.   

Hope you have a good day!

Pink poodle pencil case

pink poodle pencil case, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

My seven year old daugher is invited to her friend's birthday party this weekend and I just whipped together a handmade gift for the birthday girl. The birthday girl can use this little bag for any occasion, however, my daughter uses her bag as a pencil case. It's pretty roomy inside; it can hold more than 30 pencils and pens. The handles are fully lined so it's sturdy, too.

I also made these pony tail holders using the matching fabric in covered buttons.  By the way, this pink poodle fabric is a Japanese fabric of linen and cotton.   I hope the girl likes the gift!

terrier

terrier, originally uploaded by chick chick sewing.

I embroidered this cute terrier using an embroidery pattern from this embroidery pattern  in this blog.  In this blog, there are many other lovely and vintage looking embroidery patterns available, and they're even free! I'm thinking, what project shall I make this cute terrier into, with a little bit of fabric... ? A pouch? A drawstring bag? Or a pillow?  We'll see.

Besides this terrier, I also made this deer pillow using another pattern from this blog.  I added cherries around the deer. 

I just love these embroidery patterns!

Both of these embroideries are done on ivory linen, using two strands of DMC floss.   Happy embroidery!

New apple tote

This is a new tote bag for my daughter who carries a lot of stuff to her school... lunch, bottled water, snacks, textbooks, notebooks, pencil case, chapstick, hand sanitizer...and what else?

The apple fabrics (light blue and red) are used on both sides of the tote, front and back, as big pockets for her to stash things in. There are also two small pockets inside. The apple fabrics used for the outside pockets are the Metro Market line from Monaluna, which I purchased from Sew Mama Sew shop some time ago. I also used cotton batting throughout to make the bag sturdy.

Hope you have a good weekend and happy sewing!

New Crafting Blog

Hi all. I am so excited to start my own blog after enjoying all the wonderful crafty inspirational blogs out there.

I just love to make everything handmade, especially by sewing, embroidering, and crocheting. I've been posting my finished projects on my flickr page for a while but starting my crafting blog was on my mind for quite sometime. And I'm so happy to tell you that today is the day of the new beginning!

This is a place for me to showcase my finished projects as well as the work in progress projects and hopefully to inspire myself and others to be more crafty.

This is my latest project. It's a drawstring bag and it will be a gift to my girlfriend who lives in Japan. I embroidered her initial "T" using my sewing machine. Outer fabric is linen, and the lining fabric is flower cotton lawn fabric (although this is a reversible bag). I like the way this bag turned out and I hope my friend likes it, too.