Camera Block

This is my terribly awfully late take on Amy's theme "All things related to cameras" forthe Ringo Pie bee. It's my very last block for the first round of the Ringo Pie bee, the first quilting bee I've ever joined! No need to be sad about though, because we kicked off the second round this month! I just really love the concept of this bee and the very friendly, encouraging and inspiring bunch of friends in the bee. Making one block takes a lot of time and energy, but I like the way this challenge stimulates my creative mind and helps me go beyond my comfort zone.

For some reasons I was really intimidated to make this block. My ideas for my block for her kept changing, but I ended up with this camera block which is modeled after Diana F+ clone camera. Its retro look reminded me of Amy's style a lot ;)Obviously, the tape is not sewn. I just found the ribbon in my stash and had totake a picture with it because it looks like a camera strap!


This humongous flash light could have used more contrasting fabrics maybe. My instinct was calling for yellow fabrics for it, but there is a reason I had to resist. When Amy and I hung out in Tokyo, (Yes! I've met her in person! How cool is that?), she told me she really liked these posters she saw at JR train stations.


Photo Credit: n_wakaThese are the ads to encourage people to take a trip to the northeastern part of Japan, the area that was affected by the tragedy last year. Amy and I both thought the colors on these posters are "so Amy". If you know me well, you know it was the moment I knew my block for her will be in this colorway, hehe.

The reason for 12 04? It's the date I hung out with her, December fourth last year.

My fingers are crossed Amy will like it.

Have a great weekend ;)

Zakka Style Sew-Along

I bet you've heard about this Sew-Along in the blogsphere by now! Yup, it is hosted by the fabulous Lindsey of LR Stitched and Amy of Skie, and it will start Monday April 2nd with the first project in the book, Zakka Style by Rashida Coleman-Hale, and will continue through Monday September 10th with a new project  introduced each Monday. Each blogger will sew a different project and will be sharing their finished project and inspiration with you.

I love this book! It is one of those books that make me feel I want to make everything in it! When Lindsey asked me to pick five favorite projects in it, I had a hard time choosing as there are a lot more than five that I would love to make! I'm really excited about making a zakka pincushion designed by Sonia of Cozy Home Making because you know, I am a pin cushion addict!

• April 2nd :: Zig Zag Tote with Sew Fantastic
• April 9th :: The House Pouch with During Quiet Time
• April 16th :: Zakka Pincushion with Pink Penguin
• April 23rd :: Sewing Kit with Monkey Do
• April 30th :: Patchwork Pencil Case with VeryKerryBerry
• May 7th :: Itty Bitty Quilt Block Magnets with Little Bluebell

• May 14th :: Raincloud Mug Rug with Quilt Dad
• May 21st :: Zakka Block Quilt with I like Orange
• May 28th :: Stem Messenger Bag with Sew Sweetness
• June 4th :: Zip Organizer with Spotted Stone
• June 11th :: Orchard Path Tweed Pouch with Don’t Call Me Betsy
• June 18th :: Happy Couple Handwarmers with A Cuppa and a Catchup

• June 25th :: Patchwork Potholder with Sew Take a Hike
• July 2nd :: Water Bottle Holder with One Shabby Chick
• July 9th :: Elephant Bookmark with Cut to Pieces
• July 16th :: Patchwork Ribbon with {House} of A la Mode
• July 23rd :: Delightful Linen Bag with Sukie
• July 30th :: Bread Basket with Patchwork Notes

• August 6th :: Sweet Sugar Cookie Sack with BettyCrockerAss
• August 13th :: Little Pocket Pillowcase with Freshly Pieced
• August 2oth :: Sweet Memories Photo Frame with Noodlehead
• August 27th :: Pleated Coin Purse with Shape Moth
• September 3rd :: Happy Garland Message Board with Maureen Cracknell Handmade
• September 10th :: Nesting Boxes with From the Blue Chair

I am super lucky to not only be part of this sew-along but also to have contributed a project to the book! I can blog about it now that I have a perfect picture of Joe's niece Sarah for it.





It is a patchwork photo frame titled "Sweet Memories Photo Frame." I made this a year and a half ago, but I like it just as much as I did when I made it. I think it is great for a little girl or boy's picture, but obviously you can make it more grown-ups picture friendly by choosing different kinds of fabrics. I knew I would put Sarah's picture in it as soon as I get this back. This is my favorite picture of her. Doesn't she look so adorable?




This is the picture I took right after it was finished. (I miss the nice weather in the bay area!)




Several folks have asked me if this girl in the frame in the book is me. Oh how I wish I had been this lovely! I don't know who she is, but I am really glad that the publisher picked her picture for it. I think this particular frame was meant to be for a cute girl like her or Sarah ;)

Thank you for taking the time stop by! I'll be back very soon with a paper-pieced camera block ;)

Charise in a Basket

 Thank you for your lovely words about the juice and sprout blocks!
Both Penny's sprout block tutorial and my juice glass block tutorial have
been posted at Sew, Mama, Sew!. 
Here is a block I made last night for Charise for her theme, 'baskets' in Patchwork 318: The Bee. There is this really cute mermaid patternin the book that I've always thought looks like Charise andI knew I'd somehow want to include the mermaid in the block for her.So when she asked for baskets, I immediately had this picture of themermaid (= Charise) in a basket lol! I wasn't sure if that kind of crazy stuff was right up her alley, but my stubborn mind was insisting on the original idea.
It took me a while to find the right solid for the skin.This one I used for the block was found in the section of"UV coated solids" at the store, so it basically means the mermaidCharise doesn't need any sun screen! That's cool!!
I don't know if she is dancing or just stretching or possibly trying to stay away from the fish,but she looks pretty happy in the basket ;)
Thank you for stopping by!

Sprout and Juice Blocks

Remember how I slightly hinted at a little project I was working on with

my lovely friend Penny of sew take a hike? Well, here is a reveal! The kind folks
at Sew, Mama, Sew contacted us a few weeks ago to ask if we'd be
up for an interview about our Ringo Pie bee and for sharing paper-piecing
tutorials on their blog! The interview is posted there today and our tutorials
will be up on their blog tomorrow and Tuesday!


It was so fun working with Penny (as always!) We had this idea ofcoming up with one pattern each and we both make a mini flimsy using both our patterns. Penny made this adorable sprout pattern and I made the juice pattern.We both decided to go with making several pairsof sprout and juice blocks and use stamps to label them, but we wouldn'tshare each other's work until Sunday evening when our flimsy is complete.This way, we were able to put our own spins on the blocks.As usual, I was way too slow making progress. Penny was done with hersway before I even started mine and look what she ended up with!SOOOOO AMAZING!!!!  I so wish I was one-tenth as talented as that lady.I'm a bit embaraased to show mine after seeing Penny's, butI still want to share with you how far I got anyway.

Nine pairs with Kona snow sashing.I really don't know what I should do with this now. Anyone has any ideas?


Oh before I head to bed, I want to give this pair a little attention.It's funny how I don't care for purple, but I quite often like stuff I makeusing purple fabrics. I went back and forth about whether or not toinclude a purple pair, but I'm really glad I did include it because it turnedout to be one of my faves among the nine. Is this only me that thinksthe sprout looks like a pair of sweet eyes and those eyes could use the sunglasses in the juice? Maybe I am crazy.
Off to bed now. Thank you for stopping by!Hope your week started off nicely!

Handmade Gifts from Friends (Warning: The longest blogpost ever!)

I'm guest blogging at Charlotte's lovely blog at Lawson and Lotti today
as a part of Sundays Sewing Space she has been hosting. It's been really nice to peak through my virtual friends' sewing space every Sundayon her blog and am so honored that Charlotte has kindly asked me to sharemy space on her blog.  My space isn't anything like you see on Pinterest, butI like my space because it is filled with lovely handmade gifts from friends. On Charlotte's blog I talked about my sewing space mainly (and you'llhear Joe's perspective on the way how we share one room.) 

Here I'd like to introduce handmade gifts as well as other pretty things in my sewing space that I have been meaning to share with you forever! 


I bet you have seen this on Kerry's blog already. Yup, it was  made by her for my birthday/house-warming gift! You don't even have tohear me to know how much I love it, do you? It's SO ME!I found this super cute vintage bathroom cleanser on Flickr last year and had toshare it with Kerry because she and I often find the same things cute.I just love the combination of deep pink and green so much!Can you believe she made this pillow using the same color palette???You can read more about this pillow on her blog here, but all thesenine blocks are categorized as friendship blocks. Lots of fabrics she used for it are fabrics we have talked about, bought together, or fabrics I sent her.This is the first and only handmade pillow I have ever received in my lifeand I care about it too much to use it as a pillow. Here it is rested on my chairjust for a picture purpose, but usually it is in our bedroom for decoration.I look at it every morning and think how lucky I am to own it.When you are over Kerry's, don't forget to check out her friendship pillow tutorial!

This is the pinnie I am so happy to have on my work station now.When I first saw this crabby pinnie whipped up by Heidi of craft:nosis,I instantly fell in love so bad. The next second I found myself begging her to make one for me. Call me selfish, I even asked her to make mine pink!Although I wanted to have this in my sewing space in the US, it attracted thisboy I used to babysit at my place a little too much I had to store it wherehe can't reach to prevent him from needle-related injury. Now my space doesn'thave to be kids-friendly, so it is on this cutting mat feeling quite safe and proud.So adorable, right?! Heidi has written a tute on this pinnie here!

I've gushed about things made by my super talented friend Mary quite a fewtimes on this blog. I don't know anybody who can sew and stitch so perfectly like Mary!I have so much to learn from this lady. She is not only so talented, but isalso such a kind, generous person! She has given me so many lovelythings in the past few years and I treasure each and every single thing she made for me.
 This completely adorable pink penguin object was made by Mary's neighbor girl who "lives to craft." So so so cute it's almost edible!


Yes, my friends know how much I love animals! I've already shared this lovely Oto quilt made by Sonja ofArtisania who makes the most unique and adorable paper-piecingpatterns! Since I talked about this, many people have sent meemail asking when Sonja would have this for sale. Well, guess what?She has it available in her shop now! She even included a pattern with Oto's ears being pointy (like normal cats) so if you like catsears that way, you have no problem with this pattern!
Let me show you some funny pictures of Oto that I took whenwe were at our parents' house for the New Year.

 Joe: "Hey, Oto, look behind you!" Oto: "No thank you I've got stuff to take care."


- Oto leaving -

Shiro: "Oh wait, Oto! You got to see this! I see some edamame!"

 Oto: "What? Edamame!? What??? Me also???"

Oto "What did I see just now......?"Joe "That was you pieced by Sonja, Oto!" Oto"........"


This super cute framed purse, (which is called gamaguchi here) was a part of a surprise gift Tara of Tinkerfrog sent me along with giftsfrom Penny of sew take a hike. I just love these ladies! They were sonice to plan this surprise gift since October last year. I got a bigpackage from them just about several weeks ago when I neededreal encouragement. You have no idea how gooooooood I felt about the package and how awesome it smelled! Tara makes handmade soap,facial lotion, and chap sticks which she was so generous to include!

I used to make soap like mad before I dipped my toe into sewing,which I've told you about too many times already maybe. I have notmade soap for years, but that does not mean I have forgottenabout how nice handmade soap feels. I have been feeling guiltyabout using a store-bought soap which isn't so friendly to the skin.I have yet to have the guts to start using Tara's soap, but I alreadystarted using the lotion and the chap stick daily! I love love love them!

Here is what Penny sent me : a cute, cute market bag and a scrubbie!This is my very first market bag anyone has made for me! I so enjoy thinking about coming back from a grocery store with this bag filled with groceries in the basket of my bike.When I told Penny I would never use it, she kindly said she'd behappier if I actually used it, so I bring it to the grocery store now, but I have yet to have the guts to use it especially when the weather is so unpredictable. (Joe and I went on a little hot springs trip thispast few days not knowing it would be rainy and snowy all day!)The scrubbie has been decorated in my teeny kitchen!You can purchase the scrubbie pattern in her shop here!It feels so nicely soft and scrubby - comforting to touch!Speaking of Penny, we may have something in the works together -I'll reveal it for you in a week or so ;)

 This adorable purse was waiting for me when I came backfrom my parents' in January. It was a surprise Christmas gift fromKerry!! It is so small it fits perfectly on my palm! The little milkobject is also from Kerry but was sent to me for Christmas in 2010.I love them decorated together like this!!

This cutie, I associate with so many nice memories with Tamiko.Tamiko is one of my very few real life carfty friends, although we live far apart now.We met on Flickr last year and found that she worked in the building right acrosswhere I used to live. Since I had been admiring her works for ages,I asked her if we could maybe meet up for some fabric shopping one day.She said yes and we hung out to go to some fabric stores in San Francisco.
We totally hit it off! I just had such a blast hanging out with this super lovely,funny, and crafty girl! At the end of the day when she was about to drop me off,  I begged her to come to my place, which by the way isn't like me. My apartment was in a huge mess, and I didn't tell Joe that I would bring someone I just met (and it didn't help that Joe had suspected Tamiko might be a serial killer),but I just really wanted to spend more time with her.  We then at my place, flipped throughKumiko Fujita's ABC book and talked about making this particular potholder in the book together. Although we hung out enough times to be able tofinish the potholders, I started slacking off on this, which eventually gave herthis idea to make one for me! Last time we hung out before my move, she gave methis along with Kona cotton solids card which I still don't know where she found.(I had been hunting on it with no luck forever!)
If you ever meet anyone virtually who shares the same hobby as you and she happensto be your neighbor, I strongly suggest you meet up with her especially if mostcrafty friends you have are virtual friends. You have no idea how FUN it isto actually talk about fabric and sewing in person! Joe thought it was strangeI would ever talk about missing someone I had known for only a few months, but I consider her as one of my truly awesome friends I made in the bay area.

This is a lovely needle book Nancy has made for me based ona pattern by Bari J. Nancy is just super nice! She has been so supportive of my little etsy shop and one day she sent me this lovely Christmas gift tothank me for listing fun Japanese fabrics. How generous is she?Her works are sometimes found in Canadian sewing magazines.This needle book is so cute I just love looking at it.

Jennifer of Ellison Lane surprised me with this pretty little mug rug which she included in a little package along with an add-an-inch rulershe kindly shared with me! You know how much I love pink and whiteand anything with a kitchen-theme! This mug rug is so special because the littlefloral print is the same fabric Jennifer's mom made a dress out of for Jennifer'slittle girl! I saw the picture of her in the dress and made me treasure this mug rug more! I will never place a cup on it.It looks nice hanging in my craft space!(The little strawberry peaking at the right top corner is a lavender sachet from Charise- so cute!)
Ok, let me now move onto the other side of the room.


I am not done setting up this side of the room, but this is whatI've got so far ;) 

This is one of my most recent handmade gifts from friends.It is made by Amy of During Quiet Time. I hear you wowing at this!After emailing back and forth, I succeeded in sweet-talking Amy intomaking a mini quilt for me! I told her how I covet this miniquilt she made as a part of the swap she was in and look what she did!She made a quilt just like that for me! It's just more pink (yay!)and has the lovely curtain and the bird (yay yaaay!).

I don't know where to begin. You know this is one of thosethings I just love everything about, literally everything! Amy and I sharethe love for miniatures and this quilt very much reminds me of the time I used to make miniature food. There is something about the miniature worldI just love so much. It was my hobby of a decade ago, but I still loveminiatures and subscribe to several miniature/doll house related blogs only tolook at them and go wow wow wow! Ever since I hung this quilt in my room,I have been wanting my friends to come over to my place.I'd love them to notice that the closet's door and open to find this surprise inside!

Lovely things hanging from the linen covered cork board. Those two crochet flowers were from Amy of Chick Chick Sewing.(You know how much I love pink and grey!)Felt owls below were from Kim, my mother-in-law who gave methis book that has this cute owl pattern. (Speaking of her, can you believe how excited Joe and I areabut his parents coming over to Japan this October?!)The A keychain is from Tara! There is a penguin on the back ;) So adorable!


Isa of crafting with love seriously makes the most endearingduckling applique in the world! Hands down!I found this in the mail on the way to go out about a few weeks before Christmas. I remember feeling so warm and fuzzy inside to discover this littlestocking she made, which I had been adoring ever since I saw it in her blog! I had no idea it was for me until I opened the package! How lucky am I?

She is so good at surprising me! This too was another ducking projects of hers which I fell in love at first sight. I don't think I ever hinted at her that I wanted it,but this came all the way from Germany to the US and then to Japan! All my friends go nuts about this when I show them this cutie.


When Penny and I became friends, we decided to do a little swap,and I asked her to make a mini quilt for me with pink fabrics. (so now you know I have thisbad habit of asking friends to make minis for me when I am so inspired by them!)I remember the moment I received this quilt and going crazy about it. I couldn't help myself but bring it to my friends' for a little show off!"See? Making friends online is awesome!"

This cat shaped lavender sachet was whipped up by the lovely Katarina!Lots of nice goodies were sent along with this kitty all the wayfrom Slovakia. She was so nice to include a guide book ofSlovakia which has made Joe and I seriously talk about taking a trip there ;)
OK, what a loooong blogpost it has become! lol!I doubt there is anybody who read everything in this post,but I am happy that I finally got to share these lovelies anyway.
For your patience to deal with my lengthy post, here is a 10% off code for my etsy shop (available now through 3/15):
March
Thank you for stopping by and letting me share my treasures ;)