Hello

Hi, here I finally created my blog in English which I've wanted to start for a long time. I've kept this Japanese blog, Ayumi's soap, updated since February 2005. In this blog, I mainly write about my life with all sorts of handmade experiences including soapmaking and sewing. I decided to start a new blog here, because there are many friends of mine who don't read Japanese but who are curious about what I was writing about, and I've wanted to expand potential readers by opening up a new blog in English and be a part of the community of crafting people all over the world. One of the two reasons it took me a while to do this was I was not sure if handling two blogs(this blog and my Japanese one) could be tough. And the other is that I was not sure if my English skills are sufficient to perfectly express whatever I have to say. But after all those concerns, I came to the conclusion that the only way to find out the answer is just to do it, start it, anyway. Well, I guess I shall introduce a little about myself, since this is my first posting. My name is Ayumi. I was born in Japan and grew up there but moved to America about 5 years ago. I met my perfectly sweet boyfriend in Seattle and we moved to California last year, because his job was here. We currently live in San Jose, California, where we get the perfect sunshine almost every day. I am a full-time student majoring in Accounting, always trying to find time to get crafty while most of the time is spent on studying. Well.. Too much blah, blah, blah. Let me move on to my most recent sewing project that I just finished yesterday. I made this plastic bag dispenser as a custom-order in my etsy shop. The pattern for this dispenser is in this book. I just love making this because it allows me to be totally creative in working on patchwork. I made eight of them total. The first one is here at my kitchen, brightening the atmosphere and always making me want to be there. Others including this eighth one are having fun at other kitchens: some in Japan and some in America. Whenever I make one of these, I use some of the vintage fabric that my totally sweet American mom (my boyfriend's mom), Kim, gave to me. She found an old curtain sample book at a yard sale in Spokane, Washington for $2 or some unbelievably low price. She took all the curtain samples from the book, washed them, and kept in a box for 5 years without discovering ways to use them. Each piece of the fabric is very small, but all of them are absolutely rare, beautiful, and vintage. She was super nice to share some with me. Every time I cut the precious vintage fabric, I feel like breaking my heart, but when I create something nice with it, I am totally satisfied. Those beautiful vintage fabric should not stay in my shelf, not being seen enough. It should be out there and be loved! This red rose fabric you see on the dispenser is one of them. I am in love with vintage fabric. Soon, I will post a tutorial on how to make a super simple camera case. Thanks so much for all of you who stopped by this blog!! I am really excited!! I promise it will be prettier!