Flower garden Granny squares

I am playing with cotton summer yarns lately when I have a little spare time. Like when I watch TV or wait for my daughter's after school activities get over. I got eight different colored yarns and I am crocheting these granny squares with it.

The flower petals are three dimensional. I used white for all petals, green for all leaves, and different pastel colors for backgrounds. That made the project very colorful and it looks like a spring flower garden when I spread them out on the table.

I got these seven colors and white.

The yarns I am using are these. Sugar'n Cream from Lily.

This project is still in progress. I need to make some more squares to finish this. I will tell you what it is going to be when it's done. WITH the crocheted pattern for the granny squares! Have a great week!

A Parade of Wedding Ring Pillows

I found lots of wedding ring pillows which I made for work many years ago in Japan. They were carefully stored in a container which I almost have forgotten. It will be a bridal season coming up. I thought that I should bring them out and make good use of them for blessed brides in this area! I decided to sell them away and Char of Junk Evolution willingly consented to have all of them in their shop. These gorgeous wedding ring pillows are all handmade (mostly hand stitched!) using quality materials by me. I guarantee it will make a fantastic gift for your precious daughter's, sister's or best friend's wedding. You can see them at Junk Evolution. Please stop by if you were close to South Bend!

Some of them were made for this book which was issued in 2005 in Japan. This book is all about how to make wedding ring pillows by yourself and I was one of the contributors. It is absolutely a beautiful book.

My works in the book.

This one is made of felt. I applied some paper quilling techniques to felt. Funny thing I remember is that I finished this pillow when I was on vacation in Hawaii. Felt doesn't seem a good material to work with in tropical island at all. But that is always how it works in the world of book publishing with tight schedule.

This one I used a needle felting technique. This one is made in Hawaii, too!

April was very cold in Michiana. We had some frosty mornings last week. I planted many flowers and herbs in my new little flower bed a couple days ago. I hope it will be warming up next week. Thank you for reading, and you all have a happy weekend!

A Birthday present / Beads embroidered pouch

 One of my good friends had a big birthday on Sunday. I made a frame pouch for her. The fabric for the exterior is upholstery Jacquard. I love the color and the flower pattern but it felt a little too plain. So I added some beads and sequins to give some more glow on it.

The liner is my favorite floral print cotton canvas. There is a relatively large pocket inside to keep small items organized in the pouch.

I handed this pouch to her yesterday. And she said it was the most beautiful birthday present she ever has given. I think she has gotten something a bit more (^=^) beautiful before, but that was the best compliment for me. She just turned sixty, but she looks like she is only in early fifties. She is such a wonderful person showing me the way to enjoy living as a matured woman. Happy Birthday Linda!

Sewing Kid's Clothing / Leggings

I sewed Nina's leggings yesterday. The material is a knit. So this project was a very good practice for me to use my new serger I purchased in Junuary
.

Nina is taking Ice Skating lessons and she likes to wear very flexible bottoms when she is on ice. These are going to be perfect for skating, and also good for climbing trees!

The finish of the hems looks very professional. It needed a little practice and once I got it, it was so easy and fast.

I am sewing another pair in different color right now. I want to make many of knit clothing for my family this Summer. I don't have much knit fabric in my stash. Collecting good knit fabric will be my new hobby! Do you have any suggestions for shopping cute knit fabrics online? I would love to hear from you!

Happy knit sewing!

Challenge! / Making Rubber Stamps

Making rubber stamps in original designs was One of the crafts I have never tried and wanted to do for many years. Lately I was thinking to get a new logo for my shop and blog. I thought of making a logo with handmade rubber stamp would be perfect. I made one, and a couple more in different designs for practice.

The cuts of finished stamps don't look so great. But when I stamped them on a paper, I thought it looks pretty good for the first time! I don't have any special tools for curving so I used my design knife. I know some fabulous stamp carving artists use only a design knife. But I think it would be much easier for me if I used a chisel for carving. (I might purchase one soon.)

Traced design on rubber pieces.

The designs are based on Nina's drawing.

A Happy dog. []^.^[]

Nina's flower girl dress! (She designed her own dress for her uncle's wedding last year.)

It would simplify my work if I just could stamp the logo on my products instead of making cloth tapes and sewing them on.

It was quite fun to make those stamps by myself. I think I will be into it from now on. It would be fun to carve bigger ones and print a original pattern on a fabric. That makes total original products of mine!

First Fridays / Chinoiserie & Asian inspirations

I had a great evening of First Friday at Junk Evolution last Friday! I brought in my creations and lots of Furoshiki (Japanese traditional wrapping clothes). I enjoyed talking with customers and shop around the store (I purchased a pretty stool and a Japanese plate) as well. This is the table of my items. Junk Evolution always offers me a beautiful setting for my products. Thank you Char, Linda and Bernie!

I made some Japanese sweets for entertaining customers. I was glad to see people liked to explore unfamiliar foods and I got many complements from them.

My Japanese friends showed themselves in their beautiful Silk Kimono (Japanese traditional outfit). It made a highlight of the event. Thank you Akiko-san and Mrs.Otani-san for your generousness!

There are some more pictures of the fabulous decorations in the shop. There are also more pictures on Junk Evolution Blog.

My items are still there and I will bring in more occasionally. If you missed the First Fridays, it is not late to come and find something pleasant! They always have lots of fun and new things you will enjoy. Thank you for reading and I hope all of you had a great Easter weekend!

Harujion is featured on Be@home

My blog is featured as a Best of the Web on Be@Home blog. http://pocketchange.become.com/2012/04/best-of-the-web-be-home-62.html

They have a good collection of fabulous blogs. Thank you so much Be@Home for featuring Harujion Design and hope many of your readers will come to see me!

5 minutes sewing / Happy Easter Bunny Brooch

We went to the Easter dinner at a friend's house. Right before we left home to the dinner, suddenly, Nina thought of having a Easter bunny on her clothes. Then I grabbed a piece of pink felt and whipped up this bunny brooch in five minutes!

The design is based on this drawing by Nina.

Happy Easter!

Spring clothes sewing

I sewed some clothes for Nina and myself lately. A skirt for Nina, and a top for me. The last week of March Nina's school had a spring music concert. There was a dress cord for the performers. They could only wear green, black and white on stage. A week before the concert, I made up my mind to make a skirt for her in green. This year, I am trying to consume my materials I already have in my workroom instead of making the heap of my stash bigger. So I dug up a piece of pretty flower print and a matching solid. And whipped up this pretty fresh green skirt in one day. There is no pattern and it is a super easy project. If you have a little girl you would want more than seven (or ten, maybe?) of those skirts for Summer :p I would make more in other colors soon. Probably with some simple pockets. I am thinking to share a tutorial of making this skirt here.

They played some Irish songs for the St.Patrick's day. Nina's class played Amazing Grace with hand bells. And Nina was a conductor for that! It must be easy for you to imagine how proud we are to see her in front of the kids.

I am going to be featured as a designer of the month at Junk Evolution in April. I will be there for the monthly event First Fridays on April 6th. And their theme of April is Asia. So I want to wear something representing Japan culture. So I made a top with a beautiful cotton print of  the reproduction of Kimono design.

My bags and accessories themed Japan will be sold though April and we are also planning to have a class for making Origami mobile.

We are having a beautiful Spring day here in Northern Indiana. I hope you all have a great week!