My first bee blocks

I am participating the Flckr group [3x6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee. This was my first time to attend a bee, and I needed to be in Japan in the middle of the term of that. So I was a kind of nervous if I could make it in time. But I finally managed it. I finished all blocks even earlier than I expected.

These are the six blocks I made. The members in each beehives (there are 7 people in a hive) can request their favorite colors and everyone make 6 blocks in the same pattern for others according to their requests.

I used the simple version of Bento Box Quilt pattern. Because I love that pattern and making a Bent Box Quilt is the next thing on my list of the quilts I wanna make. I thought this Bee experience would give me some ideas to me. And also "Bento" is a Japanese word which means lunch, especially packed lunch for taking out with you. We call a lunch box "弁当箱 Bento-bako" in Japanese.

It was very fun to make these colorful blocks. Some of these color combination are that I usually don't pick for myself. But I found they work very nice and I love them.

This cheerful block is made for Jessica. She requested orange, white and yellow.

For Amanda. Gray, pink and white.

For Molly. Green, Make it rainbow.

For Dawn. Gray, yellow and white.

For Adrienne. Red, white and aqua.

 

For Monika. White, make it rainbow.

I am going to send out all of them this afternoon! I already received two blocks. They are so pretty and surprising. I can't wait receiving all blocks and putting them together. I enjoyed this Bee activity so much. I will do this again sometime next year for sure!

The very first day of school

Yesterday it was the very first day for Nina to go to Kindergarten. She has been so excited about going to be a kindergartner since she graduated her preschool in May. Eventually the day has come! She went to bed so early the night before that day, and she got up so quickly when I turned on the light in her bedroom in the morning. Here is the picture of Nina the kindergartner in her brand-new school uniform.

We went outside like ten minutes earlier than the time bus was supposed to come. But, you know, it was the very first day. Some kids would deny to ride on the bus and fuss around or many parents would have a few questions to ask the bus driver. That made the bus went slow. We probably waited for the bus for a half hour.

It was a fun time for us to wait the for the bus talking about Nina's new school life and how many friends she is going to make from now on.  I am so glad she really seems enjoying riding school bus.

In Japan, on the first day, schools have a ceremony for celebrating new students' entrance to school. Parents and students attend to the ceremony wearing formal clothes. School years start in April in Japan. At that time of the year it is the high season of cherry blossoms in most regions in Japan. That makes the ceremony more memorable and it could be a kind of emotional moment for many parents. That feeling must be similar to the one I and other parents had when we saw off the bus which our kids riding on to school on the first day.

This is the moment Nina came home from school in the afternoon. It was a big day for us and I am so glad we got over it. The first word she said when she saw us was " I made a friend! ". How cute it was! It was a happy happy day for us.

Thank you Nina's school bus and see you tomorrow morning! Bye bye!

Summer in Japan 3

I visited my sister's house. And eventually (really waited for long time!) I gave her the quilt I finished in May.
I could have send that via airmail, but after we decided to go to Japan this Summer I thought it would be nice to hand it to her from myself. She and her family members loved the quilt and they hung it on the wall in their daughter Momo's room. The wall is peachy pink and the quilt has some peachy colors in it. They picked out a perfect place for it. The quilt looks so pretty in Momo's room.

By the way, my sister has a part time job. The first day we stayed at her house she had to go to work. And she asked me to sew something for her living room while she went out to work. That sounded interesting to do that using someone else's sewing machine and fabric stash. So I consented to do that.

This is her "brother" machine. It was purchased recently. It was very compact, light and smart. Worked very well, but I felt it was a little too light for me.

These are cotton prints I picked out from her stash. I made kleenex box covers.

This is what I made. I liked my choice of fabrics. It fits very well in the interior of their home.

I had more time to sew. So I made another one with this fabric.

This project was really easy. I might make some more for my home. It could be done in 20 minutes to make one. And looks good doesn't it?

One more photo of the quilt in the peachy princess room.

Summer in Japan 2

Hello everyone! We came back from Japan on this Wednesday. I am so sorry of my absence from blogging. My trip schedule was so tight and it was pretty hard to find the time to face to my PC over there. I'm still suffering from this bad jet lag (There is 13hours time difference between here and Japan!), but I think I should start writing about my trip a.s.a.p before my memories get weathered.

Then, where should I start? There are so many things I wanna tell. Well, I guess many of you are expecting something about Japanese craft and sewing. So I think I wanna start with the crafty side of my trip in Japan.

One day I went to Tokyo to see my dear friends I had been missing. And another thing I was really looking forward was shopping fabrics and other crafty stuff in Tokyo. The picture above is the view of Shinjuku. I went to Yuzawaya in Shinjuku for finding treasures.

Yuzawaya is one of huge crafting department stores in Japan. They have more than twenty branches in Japan and they sell all kinds of craft supplies on a large scale.

These are the fabrics I purchased at Yuzawaya. There were so many more I want. But I had to consider about how much luggage we could carry back to US and how light my wallet was, after getting air tickets to Japan for three of us!

It was busy time of the day so I had to wait in this long line to get my fabrics cut. I was almost late for rendezvous with my friend. (We had delicious Indian cuisine after this hurried shopping.)

I am very happy about what I got. Here is the list of my acquisitions.

Linen cotton polka dot and flower print. These are processed to produce washed feel and touch.

Linen cotton botanical print from LECIEN.

Cotton double gauze mermaid print from Kokka.

Cotton "Little twin stars Kiki & Lala" print from Sanrio. This one is for my daughter. These Sanrio characters were so popular when I was a little girl. That's amazing. I remember my sister had a pencil case of Kiki & Lala.

Japanese themed cotton prints. Wonderful thing is that they are all made in Japan!

I am going to write more about  fabrics, shops, and books of Japanese craft next. Stay tuned!

Piling up my stash

During this month, before leaving US to Japan, I purchased pretty many fabrics. Almost all the fabrics were on sale and good bargain.  So I didn't need to feel guilty about this purchase so much. Only one thing I am worried about is that my work room would get to be filled with unused fabrics and scraps soon. I really have to keep spending stuff I couldn't resist to buy. Just like many of you! :)

 Good Folks by Anna Maria Horner

  Del Hi by Valori Wells

 Castle Peeps by Lizzy House

 And some other pretty prints. All fabrics in four pictures above are purchased on line.

 One day my favorite local fabric store had a sidewalk sale in their parking lot. Of course, I stopped by and bought these lovely prints.

Right before leaving US, we went to Chicago to meet some friends and shop at IKEA. These fun fabrics are what I got from IKEA this time. I just love them so much!

This one is perfect for the project I have been thinking of. Black back ground and houses are really ideal for this project. You will see it maybe in a couple of month I guess.

I love the color and modern taste of this fabric. Doors and numbers. Bold!

I can make quite a number of bags quilts and so on with these fabrics. I already have some ideas in my mind. I am going to draw many designs while I am in Japan and make them after coming home. I am looking forward to shopping crafty stuff in Tokyo. It seems I won't be able to stop my stash toppling over pretty soon!

Happy shopping!

Summer in Japan

We have arrived in Japan on Thursday. It's been super hot here. The temperature goes up to about 97°F everyday. We are staying at my Father's house and we got an air conditioner broken in the kitchen and living room. A new one is coming on Saturday. But fortunately we have individual air conditioning system each room. It is very common in Japan. The family members are gathering in my dad's bedroom or our bedroom. That is not very convenient but sort of fun. I think it is going to be a good memory for everyone. The top picture is taken at Chicago O'hare airport. There is a tunnel connecting two concourses which has colorful illuminations. Nina loves going through this tunnel. She calls it "the rainbow trail".

At Grandpa's home, playing in a little pool with the cousin Momo.

We love Japanese white peaches! They are big, so sweet and juicy.

The girls wearing "Yukata". Yukata is a kind of Kimono for Summer time which is made of cotton. People hold "Bon Odori (Dance)" events everywhere. Please read this article about Obon. Sorry, but it is just too much for me to explain it in Japanese.

This is the park we had Bon dance festival. It is decorated with a lot of lanterns and there is a stage where kids play Taiko (Big drums) for dance.

People dance around the stage.

We went to the little amusement park yesterday. I hate riding roller coasters but this little dolphin water coaster was just barely endurable.

The girls ate Japanese kids meals for lunch at a family restaurant. Nina got an American flag on her rice.

How was your weekend? I hope you all have a good week!

Handmade gifts are ready.

I finished making five little porches for my best friends in Japan. We are leaving on Wednesday, so I made it just in time!

I even tried to make labels. I used Iron-on transfer papers for ink jet printers. It looks OK, but I don't like it is not able to be ironed directly. You need to cover the transfer with a piece of baking parchment paper when ironing is necessary.  

These are made of leftover fabrics of this quilt and that quilt.

This one is made out of scraps of Japanese cottons. For one of my best girlfriends who loves traveling islands. I love the Japanese traditional pattern of blue waves. It is called "Sei-gai-ha" ( Blue ocean waves).

This one is for the friend who owns a cosmetic store in Tokyo. I like the black and white floral pattern. Very modern and sophisticated.

This one in front, I used the old Kimono fabric which has a woven hexagon pattern on very light gray background. I appliqued circles of flying cranes. Cranes are symbol of happiness and fortune. This one will go to the Mom of my best friend. She has been like my second mother since my mother past away in my twenties.

I did satin stitching to attach the circles.

On the other side, I put a smaller circle of a flying crane.

I cannot wait to see people who I love and looking forward to shopping around in Tokyo. Tools, fabrics, books and more! I will try to update about my trip and what is going on in Japanese craft world as much as I can!