Fabric Shelf Block

This is my block for Amber's theme, "Sewing", for the Ringo Pie bee. Well, Amber's month was...ahem.... April.., meaning I was four months late! There are no very many good excuses for the delay except that this block was actually quite time-consuming. Can you tell? Although I enjoyed making it, I was doubting my own sanity throughout the process. 'Seriously? Am I really going to tackle this beast?'


It was extremely pleasing to have it finished though! While I was sewing those uncountable fabric pieces, I really wasn't sure if it was going to look like I had planned. The finished result is, I say, quite close to what I wanted it to look like, so I had a big Yay session!


I love fabric shopping and I know you do too ;) There is something about walking into the fabric store and seeing lovely fabric on the bolt on the shelf. It fires me up to go look for some fun fabrics!



I love the vibe and I know I will always appreciate any opportunity to go fabric shopping as long as I live because it is so therapeutic and exciting.



This quilt block for me was to create the kind of a fabric shelf that would hopefully remind Amber of the awesome feel at the fabric store ;) I don't know if she would like any of these fabrics in this fabric shelf, so I added some drawers that she could imagine there are maybe some cool fat quarters in them!


At first this shelf had these legs like above. After mulling it over for a few days, I realized they are unnecessary, so I went ahead and ripped the seams and removed the legs.


The reason I wanted to add legs were because I was SO inspired by Kylie's easel block which she did such an incredibly amazing job creating perspectives for. I really wanted to do something similar. Although I was pleased with the 3D effect (not as amazing as Kylie's of course), I had come to terms that these legs don't make a lot of sense. They would have to be so super tall to the point some children could easily sneak underneath the shelf! Not so safe! Reconstruction had to happen!

I have been enjoying paper-piecing so much lately and am really excited to get caught up in this bee! Next up is a traditional house for Kerry!

Thank you for stopping by ;) I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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 ;)

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!

Afternoon Tea Blocks

Yay it's March! I couldn't wait for March to come because I'll be playing catch-ups with a bunch of things this month. I'm most definitelygoing to catch up with my two bees I fell behind terribly andI'm planning on some serious make-over for my craft room and for my blog design. (I can't wait to show you my room filled with lovely lovely handmade gifts from friends!) Hanging out with friends and Joe and a lot ofgifts-making are happening too, not to mention I'll get to experience the springin Japan first time in 9 years. Woohoo! I made two blocks for Kerry for her Afternoon Tea theme for Patchwork 318 bee. I'm pretty happy with how this kettle turned out except for..


this unacceptably small seam allowance! This happens to me quite often. As the block I am working on is about to finish, I start slacking off and just eye-ball to make sure if pieces are large enough and I don't realize the lack of seamallowance until the very end. (Am I the only one who has this problem?)Knowing Kerry's amazing piecing skill, I know she wouldn't have too much troublepiecing it, but I wanted to give her another option in case this doesn't work out for her.I made this in the hope to make up for it, but I am so not happyabout this result. The addition of the black fabric was a bit too much and the tea cup turned out quite wonky. Hopefully,she doesn't mind these as much as I do. 
Thank you for stopping by ;) Just to warn you... I will be blogging a ton in March!

ABC House Block

Hi all! So sorry for the longest absence ever on this blog! I have been sewing a lot recently, but I don't have very many projectsI can talk about at this moment! It's the time of the year with a lot ofsecret projects, right? Anyways, I am so glad to be back today withthis block I made last night for Leila for Patchwork 318 bee. Leila chose"Home Sweet Home" as her theme in November. In this bee, we useKumiko Fujita's Patchwork Pattern 318 book and our own stash to create blocks. This block is sort of a combination of 4 blockpatterns in the book - a house pattern and three alphabet (ABC) patterns.I saw Kumiko Fujita's work just like this in a quilt magazine at thelibrary and was so inspired to make one just like hers.



Here is how it looks like with seam allowances.I remembered Leila mentioned she finds quilt inspiration in song lyrics here, so when I spotted the musical note symbol fabric in my stash, I knew immediately it must be used for her block ;)
Speaking of Kumiko Fujita, I had such a great opportunity to  meet her in person at the International Quilt Week held last month
in Yokohama, Japan. Here is us in front of her quilt she made for her grandson - so so so cute!! (You can have a little virtual tour and see her and her students' works exhibited at the festival in this video.)


She was an absolutely amazing person - so kind, humble, and funny!She had no idea that her books (unfortunately out of print) and fabrics have inspiredso many of our sewing/quilting styles overseas. I told her that her Patchwork Pattern 318 book is especially popular that it is sold really expensively due to its rarity value.She said she feels terribly sorry for all of you who had to pay a lot to snatch a copy of the book and also for those of you who have yet to spot a copy.According to her, the popularity of patchwork in general has declined dramatically in the past three decades in Japan so that there are less and lesspatchwork/quilt books available here. Would you say the situation is completelyother way around in the US? I feel that there are more and more patchworkbooks introduced nowadays in the US. Maybe some of you need tomove to Tokyo for me so that we can start a modern quilt guild here, ya?
I have a lot of things I want to talk about on my blog, but it'stime for me to go now! Thank you so much for coming back to my blog aftersuch a long break ;) I hope you are having a great holiday.

Scissors Block

Hope you are having a great weekend! It's a Sunday morning in Japan.
I thought I would post this before we go on a long bike ride today.It's a scissors block for Amisha in the patchwork 318 bee.In this bee, we use block patterns in Kumiko Fujita'sPatchwork 318 book (which is unfortunately completelyout of print) and use our own fabric. I love this concept of this bee.Just the right amount of challenges ;) Not too hard but not too easy either.
I know Amisha is a big fan of Kumiko Fujita and Suzuko Koseki,so I used a lot of fabrics designed by these two Japanesetextile designers! The "Quilt Work America" fabric ismy lucky find from auction. It's a very old Kumiko Fujita print. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to snatch it for my block for Amisha!
Would you say it turned out too busy...?Keeping my fingers crossed Amisha will like it!

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of the weekend ;)

Kerry's Winter Woolies Pattern - Giveaway!

Thank you so much for everyone who left comments on my organizer baskets tutorial! It's been so fun and rewarding to see your baskets popping up in the Pink Penguin flickr pool.I also enjoyed hearing about your plans for your baskets' usein the comments. I'll make a list of your ideas for the basketsand add it at the end of the tutorial post sometime soon.
I wanted to share with you a few projects I whipped up in this past few weeks. The mittens above were made usingKerry's first paper pieced pattern for sale! Isn't it the most adorable thing?! Have you seen Amy's take on it?Such loveliness! I especially love those mittens, so I am making a tea cozy with these blocks for my new small tea pot. (I enlarged the pattern quite a bit.)The pink mitten is mine and the other one is Joe's. When I saw the creature fabric, I had to snatch it right away because it was the Joe-est fabric I have ever seen! Joe doesn'tlike the fabric, but hopefully he'll change his mind after seeing a tea cozy, hehe.
Here is one of several tissue box covers I made for friends.I had quite a few failure attempts in making this pattern,but I ended up coming up with a pattern that is just a perfect fitfor a Japanese standard tissue box (it's so short!).I'll have to make one for myself!

And this is a block for Angela in Stash Trad bee.This is her original pattern called Cracker Scraps, and you can findher super easy to follow tutorial here! With her clear tutorial, I was able to make this without making a single mistake. It felt so good!!
Ok now to a giveaway! Kerry has allowed me to giveaway her Winter Woolies pattern to one lucky Pink Penguin reader!For your chance to win the pattern, leave one commentin this post by the midnight of October 26th. Good luck :)
Thank you for stopping by! Hope you are staying warm!

Christmas Blocks

Are you guys in some Christmas mode by any chance?
Well I am because my small craft space's got
Christmas fabrics everywhere now that I just finished
two Christmas blocks! They are for Amber in the Ringo Pie
bee. Her theme is all things Christmasy, so I pulled out
all my Christmas-related printed fabrics and had so much
fun sewing with them while singing some Christmas songs ;)
The block above features 6 Christmas gift tags - two for
parents (Amber and her hubby) and four for her four beautiful
children. She has two girls and two boys, so I tried to
have two tags boy-friendly and the other two girl-friendly.

It was so much fun sewing this for Amber. I love reading
Amber's blog partly because she has such a lovely, lovely family.
If you have not read her love story with her husband,
you are missing out! Reading her posts about her husband
is such a great reminder to myself that I need to
treat Joe nicely. Joe loves it when I read a blog like
hers and I am all of a sudden super nice lol.

Amber has given me permission to embroider everyone's
name on this block, but I figured she knows much better
which tag her children will like the best, so I left
four tags without embroidery.




I made two blocks for her because she made two
blocks for me! It made me really happy
so I hope these two will make her happy too.

This block design was based on a house pattern
from a patchwork book from the library.
I modified the window's size (so that the most
adorable Santa designed by Monica would fit in perfectly)
and the chimney's size (so that the super cute cherry
designed by Lori would fit perfectly.)
Here Santa Clause is contemplating happy presents
for Amber's family. 'Hmm.. what would they want this year..?'




Yup Christmas is still three months away.
But we know it will come before we know it!

Oh speaking of Christmas, I will post a tutorial on
the utensil trays in a few weeks, because many people
asked for it! They would make great Christmas giftsfor friends who are setting up a new place, etc :)



Thank you for reading this! Have a great rest of the week :)

Birds + A Quilt Block

August was Corey's month in the Ringo Pie patchwork bee,
and her theme was "Quilts on a line." I must admit that
I struggled for a while. It is such a great theme, but
I have never hung my quilt on a line once before, so it was
a bit hard for me to be inspired by the theme. Totally my bad!
So instead of hanging quilts from a line tied to trees, I
decided to let birdies hold a quilt. Corey makes such
lovely things with bird appliques/embroidery, so I figuredshe wouldn't mind welcoming a few more birds to her house ;)
(have you seen this pillow she made? Unbelievably adorable!)



Making these houses was the funnest part!!
Each block is paper-pieced and is so teeny tiny (a 1 5/8" square).
It was so much fun going through my stash to look for
fabrics with teeny prints, and of course I squealed
when I found the cute penguin of the perfect size!




So these houses are supposed to be birdhouses.
Those birdies are getting sick of their worn-out
birdhouses, so they are presenting a catalog of new, pretty
birdhouses for Corey in case she would consider
building new ones for them :)



Hmmm...




Corey may come to a conclusion that the blue bird
doesn't need a new birdhouse, because he's got an
antique sewing machine in his current birdhouse!
No new birdhouse can be better than that, right!!


Thank you for stopping by! I will be back in a few
days with more birds-related projects :D




P.S. I have listed some more Japanese fabrics in my shop!
As usual, let me know when you come from this blog -
I will include extra fabric for you!










Have a lovely day~!