Saturday, September 13, 2008

Reversible Patchwork Drawstring Bag


So glad I finally got to work with my sewing machine,
have this relaxing time to post, and say hi to you guys.
Sorry if I have disappointed any of you by not posting
in so long, but I was having a tough time trying to
get used to my new schedule here.

After going through all the crazy registering thing,
I made a decision to take 7 classes this semester.
The most classes I've taken in a semester in the past
is 4... Yes, I know it will be busy and crazy at times.
I don't know how much time I will be able to allocate
for my crafting and blogging (which I enjoy a ton), but
hopefully I'll get better at time management and
come here to say hi every once a while!
I just LOVE communicating with crafting people here!!!


Reversible Patchwork Bag

Oh so this is what I finished this morning (and now in my shop.)
I kinda wanted to work on something I am used to
and can be done very quickly. I missed making the
patchwork bag that I gave for my sister, so I
decided to make a similar one.

Reversible Patchwork Bag

Piecing square patchworks is a lot of fun!
I used the same 16 kinds of fabric for the back and front
surface, but it gives a little different impression
depending on how they are arranged. Don't you think?
Most of them come from my fabric shopping trip in Japan,
and some of the others are vintage fabric that I adore.

Reversible Patchwork Bag

I realized while working in process...
"Hey, isn't it going to be a reversible bag..?"
and yes it did come out reversible! Woo hoo!
Maybe next tutorial?..hmm...



By the way, thanks so much for joining this flickr group!
I smile looking at cute fabric baskets being next to
each other. If you've made anything based on my three
sewing tutorials, please feel absolutely free to join
and share your creations there!!

I have a lot of links to beautiful fabric baskets again today.


heartFabric Basket by Barbara

heartFabric Basket by Wendy

heartFabric Basket by the demanding doll

heartFabric Basket by Knitter's Haven

heartFabric Basket by Joanna

heartFabric Basket by Happysquirrel

heartFabric Basket by Sherri

heartFabric Basket by Cybele's patch

heartFabric Baskets by Nancy and her friends

heartFabric Basket by Tozz

heartFabric Basket By Amy

heartFabric Basket by Julz

heartFabric Basket by quilting canuck

heartFabric Basket by Karen

heartFabric Basket by Jo

heartFabric Basket by Cinnamon Stitched Primitives

Thanks a lot for making fabulous fabrics and sharing!


Thanks for reading!


Sunday, August 31, 2008

Winners!


Oh my goodness!!
I can't believe how many people participated
in the little giveaway event I threw! Thanks a lot
for total 115 people (wow!) who took their time to
look through all my Japanese fabric pictures
and gave a shot for it.

My school started this last Monday, and I went to
some crazy classes where literally 50 people
were standing in class trying to add the class.
I was one of those 50. A instructor did a lottery
and only 20% of those people actually got to
enroll in the class. Other 80%, sorry, take it
next semester. I was one of those 80%.

I felt really bad to have to say sorry for 98%
of you who are all excited for possible winning
of Japanese fabric which isn't attainable.

One day, if I ever become super rich, I'll spend
an entire month in Japan just for fabric shopping
and do a huge giveaway on this blog. One day...!!


Ok, so here are all the entrees in the bag.
I let Joe shake the bag and pick 3 winners.


The first winner is....




Dawn! Congratulations!




The second winner Joe picked is..

loves2experiment! Congratulations!





The third winner is......??




Joanna! Woo hoo! Congratulations to the 3 winners!
Please e-mail me your mailing address so that I can
mail the Japanese fabric package right away!

Thanks again for all of you who participated again!
And thanks a million for those of you who gave me
sweet comments on my jetlug and homesick issue.
Some of you really almost made me teary.
I sure love who come to visit my blog!!!!!!!
I'm feeling a lot better now that I'm over the jetlug!




Time to look at what others are making?

heartFabric Baskets by Darlene

heartFabric Basket by Jamie

heartFabric Basket by Susan

heartFabric Basket by Lorraine

heartFabric Basket by "T"

heartFabric Basket by Passionate Quilter

heartFabric Basket by Sandra

heartFabric Basket by Mar

heartFabric Basket by Michelle

heartFabric Basket by Deb

heartFabric Basket by Maree

heartFabric Basket by Kristi

heartFabric Basket by Indigo Blue

heartFabric Basket by Molly

heartFabric Basket by Rachel

heartFabric Basket by Erika


Thanks so much for creating beautiful baskets and
sharing them online. So much fun looking what you've made!

So, I created this flickr group:
Made it Based on Pink Penguin's Tutes!
Feel free to join this group, if you have a
flickr account and send your creation to the
pool. This way, it's easy for all of us to
find what others are making using my tutes!


Thanks for reading!


Sunday, August 24, 2008

I'm back!

Things from Japan
Hello, friends! Thanks so much again for lots of
comments and e-mails while I was on vacation.
Joe and I got back from Japan on 8/21.
We're fighting with heavy jet lug we've got.
Waking up at 2 am is not surprising and
going back to sleep at 2 pm isn't surprising neither!
Things from Japan
Today I want to show fabrics I got on the third
trip to Nippori Textile Town in Japan and give
chances for you to get some of it as omiyage
(Souvenirs). Yup, my first ever giveaways! woo hoo!
Things from Japan

Did I just say it was my third time in Nippori?
Why did I go there so many times during the
short trip? Well, I thought Nippori doesn't like me.
The first time I went there, they gave me
only an hour to shop, which was absolutely no time.
Things from Japan

So I went back there again one day, getting ready
to spend a whole day there shopping, but unfortunately
it was holiday! Oh my goodness! Almost all the fabric
stores were closed!!! I knew I didn't want to give up,

Things from Japan

so I made it again a few days before leaving Japan.
I felt like in heaven. Stores all open, plenty of
time until they would close... what a pleasure!
I knew the next time I could visit Japan would
be another 2 or 3 years if it's not longer.

Things from Japan

Knowing that, I surely knew I had to take advantage
of the opportunity to buy beautiful rare fabrics
for inexpensive prices.

Things from Japan

While shopping there, I thought it would be nice
to live in Nippori. Yeah, being able to obtain
fabrics/supplies right away would be a great part,
but also it is somehow not that urban area
considering it's located in Tokyo.

Things from Japan

If I ever have chance to go back to live in
Japan, I would really like living in Tokyo.
People say Tokyo isn't a place for living.
Too busy for that. But I like it. I have many
friends living near Nippori too!

Things from Japan

I made bruise on my right fore arm carrying
too much fabric on the way back to my home
in Gunma, but I was even happy seeing it.
"Proof that I got enough fabrics!!"

Things from Japan
This Japan trip overall was good!
I spent a lot of time seeing friends who
I get to see very infrequently. Some of
them I saw on this trip were like ones
I hadn't seen for 5 years,, no! Some
are like even 10 years!!!

Things from Japan
Time spent with my families was nice too.
They never change, so it was hard to believe
it had been 2 years since the last time I saw
them, but it was sure nice seeing them and
knowing how they had been.

Things from Japan

Joe's Japanese skills increased too on this trip.
He gained more familiarity around my home and
was even able to ride a bike to go to a sushi
restaurant and stop by hot spring by himself!
He could come back from Fukui by himself using a
fast train (shinkansen) too, which took him 6 hours!

Things from Japan

We were literally busy everyday doing something
fun for 25 days in Japan. Now back to America,
time to get realistic. Work, school..ugh..
that's life, isn't it?

Things from Japan

Every time I come back from Japan, I have tough
time in many ways. Jet lug is one of them but mostly
I miss my families, friends, and everything about
Japan so much. I have to ask myself if this is
really what I am supposed to do.

Things from Japan

Lots of questions come to my head and I become
uncertain about my life. I don't like this period.
I feel so emotional, indecisive, nonindependent...

Things from Japan
I should be feeling more positive soon.

Oh! I almost forgot to talk about giveaways!
Oops! That's what you want to hear about the most, right?!

Ok, so here is my idea.
I pick random four kinds of fabric for you and you
choose one. You can look at here, here, and here
besides this entry to see if you like those Japanese
fabrics I've got and you tell me which one is your
favorite so that I can include that fabric as your
fifth kind of fabric. Count on me about the size of
fabrics! There will be 3 winners!

But if the winners happen to choose fabric that I
can't share for some reasons, I would have to choose
other fabric for the fifth for you. And I want this
to be an opportunity for someone who loves Japanese
fabrics but don't have a chance to obtain them.

Is this clear? Leave me a comment on this entry by
the midnight of this Saturday, August 30th, 2008
(Pacific time). One entry for each person, please.
I'll choose random 3 winners...

Good luck!!!

Thanks for reading!