good-ness

a japan quilt for anika's wall. made out of trimmings from umbrella prints. and part of their competition.
i chose to make this because it's a great tribute to my daughter, who is half japanese, and my husband, who is japanese. it's also a tribute to japan.and what is going on over there. and how they are working together to overcome their hardship.

i love the quote from the japanese poet, ryunosuke satoro - "individually, we are one drop. together, we are an ocean." (thanks, ali, for introducing that quote to me!)

the embroidery really pused me out of my element. it's my own handwriting. and the letters all different sizes. it's quirky. and i wish it wasn't. now i just need to get the quilt hung up.

i was making bias binding for a quilt on the weekend. i think that's what it's called. and i made way too much. i have an extra 2 1/2 metres of it. it is 7cm wide when it is opend up. would you like it? if so, leave me a comment and tell me how much you weigh. i'm kidding. tell me why you love spring. and i will randomly choose one of you in a few days.

i have been slowly working on another japan quilt wall hanging. i sold the first one to raise money for japan. i am hoping to enter this one in the umbrella prints trimming contest. but the deadline is fast approaching. i need at least an extra hour every day this week.

i made my very first pot holder on the weekend. it's the perfect quick gift project. for my aunt. who hosted easter dinner. after opening it she told me she has recently started collecting bird things. yay. and those rounded corners with binding. that was a first for me. and i am pleased with how they turned out. double yay.

** genevieve is the lucky one who gets the bias binding tape. yay!**

my good friend, ali from the dotted line, put together an online pop up shop.called one thousand wishes. the goal is to raise one thousand dollars, which will be donated to the canadian red cross japanese earthquake and tsunami fund. i donated a couple of things. and i am super excited to see all the other goodness that other gals have donated. the shop is now open. yay.

my japanese wall quilt.that i originally made for anika's room.

and a patchwork heart made out of some of my favorite japanese fabric.

i am carving out. bits of time. here and there. to sew. i have my own dedicated sewing corner now. where i don't need to clean up projects. i am trying to sew for twenty mintues a day. small, attainable goals are AWESOME.

first up on never ending sewing list was a new spring bag for myself. well, this is not it.

i never follow a pattern when i make bags. i just make things up as i go. this time i followed a pattern. and hated how the outside of it turned out. so i chucked it. but kept the pink lining that was already sewn. turned it into the outside of a new bag. and i lined it with some blue fabric that says "twinkle twinkle little star". a perfect gift for a special mama who doesn't know if she is having a baby boy or girl.

now i have to put a new spring bag for me back on the list of things to sew. along with a crib sheet. drool bibs. a quilted wall hanging. a quilt for her crib. some grab toys. a playmat. regular bibs. some buckets. some blocks. a couple of hats. a sewing machine cover. and a few more gifts.

 

i am trying to do a post about non-baby things. but that is hard to do right now. i had plans of sewing a bunch of stuff in the few weeks in december. after i stopped work at the end of november. and before our baby was born. well. she was born three weeks early. and my list got tossed out the window. well. not really. as i sit and feed her i look at the pile of fabric in the corner. washed and ready to be cut. to be sewn. to be crossed off the list.

i realized something. after looking at karyn's blog post about pinterest. and how she keeps a bunch of photos for colour ideas for future projects. brilliant, karyn. brilliant. so i joined and am now doing the same. my free time by myself is super limited these days. but i do spend quite a few hours on the couch. feeding anika. and flipping through magazines. and looking at blogs. (i haven't mastered the quick one hand typing yet though. so the email reply list is getting huge.) i thought i would start looking to magazines and photos online for colour combination inspiration. i usually just wing it. i look at my piles of fabric and choose ones i like. then start sewing.

one thing on the list of things to sew before the baby came was a new over-the-shoulder bag. the typical bag i sew. over and over again. but this time with pockets. for baby stuff. i never sew pockets in my bags. silly.

here is what i found. and was inspired by. and decided on. in the colour department.

bag number one:

fuschia and grey. i think that's fuschia. i am loving that colour recently. just got a pair of leather gloves in that colour. love the comination with the grey. the image is from a canadian magazine called chatelaine. which usually has a nifty diy project every month. and a couple of good recipes.

fuschia and grey. and navy. now i like this. it's hard to tell in this photo but the boots are navy, the tights are grey and there is fuschia in the skirt. the magazine is a home decorating magainze from my beautiful friend in denmark. (hi ruut!)

and this is what i ended up with. fabrics pulled from my stash. a grey corduroy with dots brought from japan. a heavy pink cotton from ikea. and an awesome linen/cotton blend from here. i'm excited to see how it turns out. hopefully i will have it finished by end of february. (we are moving at the end of this month so i am trying to be realistic. most of my snippets of free time off will be spent packing. and unpacking.)

bag number two:

blue and white. and green. i have also been in love with bright green lately. anika's car seat cover is this lovely bright lime green. pure goodness. the above image is from the january issue of martha stewart. which has an article on the log cabin quilt. all modernized. love it. (and there are some awesome hot cereal recipes too.)

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this is what i chose from my stash. the green circles are from here. along with the plain white cotton. the other fabric is a blend of some sort. from japan. it's a bit on the heavier side. i love it. i am thinking there might be some piping involved in this bag. this bag will be great for spring and summer. so luckily i won't have to start it until spring. (which is like june around here. that is what happens when you live in canada beside the mountains.)

this little inspirational experiment was fun. and i think i might just continue on down this path. we will see.

that list. of 33 things to do. i have been checking things off it slowly. okay. only four things have been done. and two others are booked.

 

i sewed some wallets. well, zippered pouches really. i've been taking this finance course. the total money makeover. and i've learned there are so many benefits to using only cash. seriously. these are my cash wallets. which ideally make budgeting so much easier. five pouches for five things. groceries. socializing. gas. clothing. and other stuff.

   

the little tags on the outside. are the same fabric as the linings. which i was hoping would help me remember which pouch was for which budget category. but i think i need to do a bit of embroidery. or stamping. instead.

yes. i sewed another bag. it's what i do best. my typical design. the bucket bag.

 

i need a bit of a bigger and deeper. and sturdier bag. for my upcoming trip to japan. one that can hold my camera. snacks. and new purchases. while wandering around.

 

i wish i didn't mind taking pictures of my back side. because i want to show you how the strap length is perfect. and how i can put it over my head and across my chest. and have it hang behind me. and how it doesn't hang too low but not too high. i love it.

the red fabric is a heavy canvas. the striped fabric is from ikea. and that great wall is from my mom's condo's stairway.

i love sewing for a purpose. for others. it motivates me. and it makes me happy.

 

my little friend turned two this week. and she loves potato heads. so i got her a new one and thought she could use a little bag to put the little pieces in. so i made one this morning before her party. fast. simple.

 and the mermaids add to the cuteness. in my opinion. 
 

as soon as i saw that she was selling patterns for her amazing poppy doll. i had to jump on board. and give it a go. i had never made a doll before. luckily our friends in japan had a baby girl. sumire. and that was all the motivation i needed.

 

or so i thought. fiona did such a great job of writing instructions. and drawing diagrams. and pattern pieces. but she forgot to mention that she is the queen of patience. it took me quite a few weeks to finish the doll.

but i'm happy i did. and next time i think i will blow up the pattern pieces. and make her twice as big. which seems much easier than me trying to gain more patience.

go and buy the pattern now .and make your own. i dare you.
 
 

quilt 07.

the third baby quilt has been finished for awhile. but was just waiting to be photographed. i really like the fabrics i chose. and the colours. and i like that the blocks all lines up nicely. but i am not too happy with the quilting part. some of those lines are not so curvy. or are a little wonky. but i had to let it go. otherwise i would be unpicking stitches forever. oh, well. next time i will try to figure something else out. 

  

i like the back of the quilt. mostly that pink fabric with little cars all over it. and i love the binding. i just used up the leftover fabric from the front. and i love the white linen and cotton blend. it was perfect for this project. 

this was the second quilt that i didn't hand sew the binding on. and it turned out okay. my first attempt at it was much better. it definitely takes a bit of practice to get it perfect. 

leslie (not me). the gal who helped me out with encouraging me to use the machine to bind the quilt. wrote a bit about using a machine to sew on the binding. check it out here.