Photowall wallpaper review

 A Sweden based wallpaper company, Photowall, has kindly approached me and asked if I'd be up for trying out one of their products. I am quite picky when it comes to anything that goes on the wall so my immediate thought was probably nope, but I changed my mind when I started looking at their stunning collection of designs! There are SO many amazing and unique designs that I would dream to have in any of the rooms in my house. I couldn't stop finding designs to add to my favorites and ended up looking through every one of their over 20,000 designs! Here are some of my favorites including some designs by the famous Stockholm based designer Ingela P Arrhenius who I have admired for YEARS!

Space - Green by Ingela Arrhenius

Circle IV by the Artcircle

The Board and the Balloon by Marika Maijala

Fruits and Vegetables by The Artcircle 

Photowall lets you choose from wallpapers/murals, canvas prints, and art posters of your choice of design. What makes them a very cool place to order these is that you don't have to do the complicated math before hands. Typically a wallpaper is sold as a roll. Depending on the scale of the design, you may need more rolls to make sure designs match up as you apply it on the wall. It can be quite time consuming to do the math and also waste of resource - wallpaper itself and cost that associated with it.

With Photowall, all you need to know is a measurement of the wall you plan to apply a wallpaper on. Then they will do the math and customize the wallpaper at the exact length and the exact number of strips to hung your wall perfectly. Each strip is labeled with a number, so you know exactly which one to start off with and which one comes next to and so on.

This is truly a life saver! (Here you can find their very easy-to-follow tutorial on their website.) This room I hang up the wallpaper has a quite high ceiling. It would have been a killer if I'd had to measure up every single strip and do the tricky math to line up designs perfectly. 

The same rule goes for other products like canvas and art posters. There are a lot of websites that you can choose from multiple sizes, but Photowall allows you to make your art at the exact measurement you want. How cool is that!? I had never seen any other companies that offer this amazing feature. When you place an order, you get to see a preview of how your wallpaper will be printed, given the measurement of your wall, which gives you a very good idea of the scale of the design which you can even modify! There is so much room to customize.

Included in the box with wallpapers was glue mix, which was nice, but I first wanted to see how the wallpaper would look like, so I made it removable this time by using painter's tapes and double sided tapes (Thanks to a great tutorial like this!) I will eventually use the glue to make it permanent though now that my whole family is loving it ;)

I ordered mine to be premium quality. It certainly has a very quality plastic, yet smooth feel. I love that it is wipeable so I won't have to fret when my kiddos eat or do some painting projects in the room. It is also nicely sturdy and has good thickness to it so I never had to worry about it being ripped or having permanent creases during the process of cutting it and putting it up on the wall. I felt it wanted to cooperate with me and it did! 

I had a lot of fun seeing the transformation of this room as I put up this wallpaper (Happy Forest - Grey by Sne design). This room was one boring, neglected, and pretty dark room that I have always wanted to do something about because it is actually where we spend a lot of time in. Now this room is bright, cheerful, and even taller! I picked this design for this room not just because it was perfectly Nordic (that I have always been keen to), but also because I wanted this room to provide a calm, peaceful mind. Kids work on a lot of mindful projects daily in here like reading, doing homework, drawing, and playing the piano. I feel like I am in a sunny spot in some beautiful forest when I am in there now. It makes me feel relaxed and productive at the same time. This is exactly what I wanted this room to do for us! It is quite stunning how a simple thing like just putting up a wallpaper can do to change the whole atmosphere of the room and our mind. My girl claims it her room now that it is pretty, but my husband wants to be everyone's room!

I am so thankful of this opportunity to try out Photowall's high quality and beautiful wallpapers. I think I will order more from them in the future because I have some other room that needs more love. If you are like me and have a room or two that could get help of inspiring wallpapers to spiffy up, go ahead and check out their great, unique designs. There is a 25% off discount code on any products for you that is valid for a month from today : ayu2021mills

Thank you for reading! 

Printable holiday messages

Thank you so much to those of you who have purchased the Dresden Photo Frame pattern from my shop. I really hope you will find it as fun and addictive as I feel about this little project. Even if you are a beginner of hand-applique, I still recommend giving it a try. I am quite far from calling hand applique my comfortable method, but this one is easy for me. It's much easier than English paper piecing hexagons in my opinion. I have a lot of photos to walk you through the steps in the instruction.

A couple of friends told me they are making these frames for Christmas gifts. When I gift these frames, I always want to have something already framed. It helps recipients to know that it is a picture frame and she can either keep what's in it or replace it with a picture of her choice. 

Yesterday, I made some printable simple holiday messages. Each one measures a 3.25" perfect square to fit your Dresden photo frames. They are all very simple to let your pretty dresden shine.  If you would like to print these for your frames or whatever holiday gift purposes, I'd be tickled pink! If you purchase a kit from my shop by December 20th, 2019, I will include a printed sheet of holiday messages for you.

Download Holiday Messages here :)

Have a lovely Thanksgiving!!

Dresden Photo Frame Pattern

So I finally finished up my pattern for Dresden photo frame. Yes, it took me only 5 years. That's it! lol. For those of you who have kindly reached out to me and asked if I would make this into a pattern back then, thank you SO very much and I am very sorry it took me all these years. The pattern will be always available for you in my shop now.  

This is probably one of my favorite things I made for the Japanese magazine (Patchwork Tsushin, that has unfortunately ended its publication.) I recall having a lot of fun choosing my very favorite picture of my daughter from the birth to 1 month period, 1 month to 2 month period, and so on. I still hang up these pictures on the wall and I get good comments on them often from guests. It sure is a cheerful way of framing some precious pictures. Depending on the type of fabric you use, this can be pretty versatile pattern. It can be a personalized Christmas ornaments for example. :)

Because I wanted to make sure that even a beginner can tackle this project, I included 40 step-by-step photos for a tutorial, a lot like my tutorials in this blog.

This project requires you to print petal patterns on cardstock (or matte photo paper) which I know isn't necessarily at everyone's house, so I made several kits available for my shop also. A kit of this pattern includes a printed PDF, petal patterns printed on cardstock like paper, and stabilizer piece that has patterns already drawn on for you, so you can start making your frame right away with your fabric.

Both PDF download and Kit will be on sale - 15% off - til November 22nd.

Thank you so much for reading! 

Have a lovely weekend!

Tissue boxes to shine!

I got to gift these to my friends yesterday so I can finally post. Yay! The 'Shine' pattern is from Sew Ichigo shop, owned by uber talented Kerry and Penny, where you can find the cutest paper-piecing patterns possible! The actual pattern is 6" square finished, but I had to distort just a tiny bit to get it to the right size for one side of a Kleenex tissue box. 

I love this pattern so much. It had been such a long time since I got to work on very intricate paper-piecing patterns and forgot the joy of working with teeny tiny pieces and seeing how they can SHINE :)

How I made it is basically the same way I made this tutorial (Goodness it is over 10 years old! LOL!), but I made the hole on the top a round shape, and also used two thin (like 1/4") elastics to two opposite sides rather than having one thick elastic in the middle.(Well, I made it that way first and it turned out it doesn't work for this smaller Kleenex box) So there were a lot of trial and error as I worked on it and I can still think of a few things I could have done differently, but I guess that is what I can say about all my projects, haha. 

Sewing gifts for friends who can sew anything can be tricky. You know they probably have plenty pouches, potholders, pincushions... so I had to think of something they are likely to not have yet and also could use an extra even if they already have it.

I'll have to make one for my living room for sure. This Shine pattern makes me very happy.

This is one of Dresden photo frames I made for a Japanese magazine more than 5 years ago. (Blogged about here.) I have had many kind requests to make it into a pattern and I am finally, finally, putting it together and is almost done! Once it is ready, I will have it available in my shop and will come back to blog about it!

Thank you for reading this! Have a lovely weekend!

Mini Liberty Tote

Thank you so much for all of you for welcoming me back so warmly. To be honest, it was extremely nerve wrecking to post something on the blog and instagram. It is just so wonderful to have time to enjoy sewing without feeling any guilt now.

As you can see I am still addicted to Dresden plate applique. At least this time I made a little difference by having two petals away, like "He loves me not" daisy. Most fabric I used for the Dresden plate is Liberty of London that I had bought in Japan. As much as I love Liberty of London, I can't afford a whole lot, so most Liberty of London I have is only a fat eighth or even smaller.

It felt great to be able to play with small scraps of Liberty. Goodness they are so pretty together. I've listed this mini tote in the shop.

Have a great rest of the week!

It's been so long!

It has been way too long! How have you all been? I am so sorry for being away for so long. I didn't mean to abandon this blog but that's what it seemed like. I really don't know if anyone is still reading blogs but I thought to come back here to share some of patchwork items I've whipped up recently. I didn't take a long break from just blogging/instagram but also from sewing patchwork items. The past few years were probably the busiest time ever in my life. With two little ones two years apart, we've moved several times, even across overseas. Prioritizing what's the most important part of life, I have found myself needing all these years to devote my energy to things other than blogging and playing with cute fabrics. I feel guilty for my withdrawal and have missed the sewing community that is so kind, encouraging. and inspiring. Now my little one is in preschool so I have some time for playful sewing and I am loving it.

It's pretty crazy that I have brought with me SO much fabric every time I moved. I have given away a lot of it to friends in Japan to make the move to the US easy (Yes, I am back in the US now!), but I still had quite ridiculous amount. Finding the place to store them has always been an issue everywhere I lived. This is pretty embarrassing especially since I once considered myself a minimalist after being hugely inspired by Marie Kondo's books. I guess after all my fabrics are those things she calls 'things that spark joy" to me. I just love them! When I see them and hold them in my hands, I feel joy as much as I did the first time I got them many years ago. 

I did make some garments for kids and myself during my break but that wasn't the same as sewing patchwork items. Sewing garments were fun and gave me instant gratification but it didn't bring this much joy. Making these oven mitts, I got to play with my very favorite fabrics. It was like justifying my hoarding and giving them a reason they had to follow me everywhere.

Thank you for friends who have purchased my oven mitts from my shop.                                                                                                                                      

This oven mitt is listed in the shop now.

And as you can see, I am quite addicted to hand-applique. Something about curvy finished edges is so cute. I used a brand new clock making kit to make this clock but I don't know if the clock will function ok, but making it was so fun I think I will get more kits to make more. This clock too is listed in my shop if you have a room that needs a wall clock.

I hope to be back soon! I hope you are all enjoying sewing whenever you can! 

Thank you for remembering me and taking the time to read this post!

Block #80 Patricia ~ Farmer's Wife ~

Welcome to this stop for The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt QAL hosted by the lovely Kerry of verykerryberry. Here is my block #80 Patricia. I made it using paper piecing patterns in the CD that comes with this book. I didn't look at the beautifully finished block in the book until I was done with mine only because I enjoy a surprise :) We all know the same quilt blocks can look completely different depending on your fabric combinations and how you put them together. So I didn't know that this block, Patricia, was actually one of the blocks on the book cover until I looked inside the book!

 It looks pretty different, don't you think?! This is why patchwork is so much fun - endless possibilities!

I love biking everywhere, with two little ones, one in front and the other in the baby carrier attached to me. (It probably sounds weird to some of you, but it is typical around here in Tokyo, where most people don't own a car.)

I had so much fun making this and can't thank my sweet friend Kerry to have me be a part of this journey. This gives me such a great opportunity to make something beautiful and to bring me back the joy patchwork can give me. What positive, uplifting energy!

I have been terrible at keeping you updated. I am so sorry about that! Things are much less hectic here in this household. Honoka is almost three. When she was going through terrible twos, she was like a little crazy monster but now she is a sweet little girl.

 Hayato is 9 months old. He is much less colicky and is quite adventurous and mischievous!

I am finally starting to feel more in control and to learn tricks to squeeze in some sewing time here and there. Like many of you kind friends have kindly let me know, it is only a matter of time until I will have more time, energy, and confidence to sew.

I can't wait to connect with the sewing world again, but until then,

I will be enjoying this time when my kids are little, adorable, and crazy as much as I can :) Seeing them grow daily is just beyond thrilling.

If you are reading this because you are subscribed to it, thank you so much for not forgetting about me! I really hope to come back to blogging more often.

Hope you are enjoying the beginning of summer (or winter if you are in Australia/New Zealand) :)

xoxo!

#33 Farmer's Wife

I am so glad to be back here! It has been way too long, hasn't it?! Before I explain why I have been so quiet here, I want to show you some blocks I've made from The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird so far. If you are here, you are probably sewing along with the lovely Kerry of very kerry berry and a bunch of talented gals!

I am so thankful Kerry has introduced me to this amazing book! All the 99 block designs in the book are just so lovely! Today I am posting this block, #33 Farmer's Wife. Laurie managed to express this design with just one solid and one printed fabric beautifully. I thought I would be adventurous and try out something different just for exploration, but  I am not sure if I like how it turned out. Because the diagram is a little complex, this block may be prettier if you execute it with a fewer fabric choices.

I love this book partly because not only it comes with a CD that includes templates for all 99 blocks, does it offer paper piecing patterns for every one of them! Since I like to paper-piece whenever possible, of course I am using paper-piecing patterns. One thing I noticed while paper-piecing sections of this block was that the last four sections, the most outer border part, had to be sewn with a printed side of paper down because those four pieces weren't mirror image. Maybe that is how all paper-piecing patterns work for this book..? I just haven't had a chance to look at other blocks' patterns closely. Most blocks seem to be symmetrical anyway, so mirror image or not doesn't matter :) Just wanted to mention in case you are using paper-piecing patterns.

Another block I've made is #1 Addie. I like this one a lot :) I have a few blocks from Laurie's first Farmer's Wife book, so I am hoping to use all the blocks to make one quilt. I have so many blocks I want to make in the book too. I am just too slow!

Well, one excuse I have for my low productivity in the sewing department is that I have a new baby now! He was born on September 8th last year and his name is Hayato. He looks a lot like his sister but his personality is completely different. Unlike Honoka who was a pretty happy easy-going baby, Hayato has been one poor baby who is always uncomfortable and crying all the time. We love so very much and are desperate for a day when he will be much happier.

Honoka is a busy two and half year old. She is going through the max phase of terrible twos. We don't have close by family and available childcare isn't affordable for us. It has been quite chaotic around here as you can imagine, haha.

I sure don't have as much time and energy as compared to before that I can devote to what love to do which is sewing and being connected to friends online, but I am aware this is just temporary and family is my priority. I don't want to miss this precious time when kids are still little, adorable, and silly!

There are SO many things I want to make. The list is sooo long, but I know time will come back!!!

Now I spend most of the day outside because Honoka has a lot of energy to burn and Hayato calms down when we are out. 

It isn't too bad to take a long break. Yes, but it took me such a long to come to realize that. Now I can say from my heart I am doing the best I can and I am one happy mama and wife!