Growing list

In my last post, I listed the things I am doing and the things I am going to do in the next week or two. Some people told me that I am very ambitious. Well, if you have been reading my blog for while(thanks!) it is pretty obvious that I LOVE FABRICS!! According to my mother I started to sew at age two. Considering how long I have been sewing, my skills are not that advanced, but I just love fabrics and sewing.

Growing up I was in the hospital a lot, my mother always bought me kit to make something, so I would have something to do. Who knew that that would give me the opportunity to discover a life long love of sewing. I consider myself lucky in that regard.

So, if I have the time (it started becoming a luxury around here and can sew stuff, I am one happy person. I have been working on my list, slowly but surely.

The other day, I was at a local gift shop and found these beautiful ribbons, I think some of them were imported from Europe. Aren't they so pretty?



Maybe after the open house I will start making new hair bows with these.
Oh...I just added a new thing on my todo list, didn't I.

Spring is in my house

One of my thoughtful and creative friends gave me a piece of Spring. The cute card read "Happy Spring". I love suprises like this, makes my day happy and cheerful.



I have been working on many projects lately (as usual), they are;

Cutting fabrics for the next quilt project

Design and stitch a new stitchery pattern-- it will be in a few local quilt stores soon.

Planning to make a skirt for myself.

Making house warming gift for my sister and her husband who just bought their first house!

More designing.

And between all the projects I am working on, you can slip in all the mommy duties you can think of.

Also, I am going to have an open house for Tea Rose Company next week. All the hair bows from last year will be 40% off, and I am going to display other items such as purses, bibs, little girls bluoomers etc... It will be fun! My friend Marnie who makes nursing covers will be there too.



I am going to make flyers, clean the house and maybe, whip up more stuff before the open house.(hmmm... more sleepless nights?)

Wish me luck!

Love it!

I have been wanting to change my header and background for a while. I thought that the colors didn't match and once I started thinking this way, there was no turning back; I had to change it. Yes, I am little OCD...

I designed the header and stitched it, found the scrapbook paper for the background, and my awesome husband made the background for me! Also, my old profile picture was taken by my oldest son when he was 7. I didn't have a nice picture of me, because usually I am the one taking everyone's picture.

Now I have a new picture that I LOVE, which was taking by my wonderful friend and photographer Michelle!

I love my new site. I love it all (at least for now. I don't even know when I am going change my mind...)

I am looking forward to posting more ideas and fun things. The new look has got me more excited than ever.

Another small project

Remember this quilt? I posted a while back. Well, I have a hard time throwing away left over fabrics. Sometimes even 1" x 1" scraps. Usually I keep them in a basket, "just in case" I need them or come up with something just to use them. As usual, I kept the left overs from this quilt and forgot about it.

I have been in a spring cleaning mood lately, and rediscoverd the left overs I have fogotten. Forget about the spring cleaning, an idea came just popped in to my mind about what to do with these orphan fabrics. I made this!



When I use basket style bags during the summer, knik knaks get lost in the bag and it is very hard to find them. Perhaps, this will solve the problem. Maybe like this.



Oh, this morning I heard on the news that today is "Earth day". It stuck in my mind all day. Then, at a quilt shop I picked up these......Yeah! Go Green! That's how I roll, baby!

Table cloth for picnic

A couple years ago, while strolling in wal-mart, I decided to check out the fabric section. Some of you may think, "What?!Fabric from Wal-mart?". Well, if I can smell fabrics, I have to see what they got in order to satisfiy my curiosity and besides, you never know what you will find.

I looked around but didn't see anything, then at the doller section, cute fabric caught my eyes! It looked like something Cath Kidston would design. Better yet, it was only one doller a yard! I bought the whole bolt which came to five dollers and went home happy.

Since it wasn't 100% cotton, I didn't want to combine it in to a quilt. Today a whim, I decided to make a table cloth. Maybe, it was such a nice day today, it reminded me of picnics we are going to have this spring and summer.



Once I have decided what to do, it took me about 30 minutes from start to finish. I am pretty happy about the results. I have more of this fabrics left over, does anyone have any good ideas of what I should do with it?

New Spring Clothes

I found fabric in the clearance section at a local quilt shop. It was such a pretty white fabric with tiny blue flowers. No wonder I liked it... it was designed by one of my favorite designer, Anna Griffin. Usually, her fabric line is around $9.00 a yard, if I remember correctly, but this one was $3.99 a yard!!(I know it's really $4.00+tax but it sounds cheaper). I couldn't help it! I bought some and went home.

Like it always does, it took me some time to decide what to do. When I finally made up my mind, I made this for my daugther.



I made it about two sized too big for her. Hopefully she will grow into it during the warmer part of the year.

There were still enough to make something else, so I made myself a blouse too! I haven't sewed clothes for myself for a while; it was a lot fun.
I can't wait for the weather to warm up; I want to do a mother and daughter day out. It will be fun.



For my top, I used a pattern from a Japanese sewing book. They are one of my favorite things. Nice designs and beautiful pictures. Most of the times I just look at the pictures over and over again, this time, I actually made something. I am very happy about that.

I am busy in a good way

My children have been on spring break since last Friday. My husband is really busy at work right now, we couldn't plan a trip or anything. I thought it was going to be a chaotic week for me with three very energetic children. To my surprise, it has been very nice! We are just enjoying being together and doing little fun stuff here and there.

Since I don't have to drive around so much I have been using my time to clean and reorganize my house. I am in the process of reorganize my closet in our room and I'm almost done. I took everything out, vacuumed, and wiped the walls. After that I went through my clothes piece by piece to consider if I needed it or not. I take good care of my clothes and I don't buy over the top "in style" items, so I can wear them for a while. Some of the clothes I wear go back to when I was in high school!!(Let's not go into how long ago it was and stuff, leave out those details please).
It feels sooo good to see clean and organized space. I am loving my closet again! The next area I am going to work on is in our office.

I mentioned that some of my clothes are from my high school years. Well, I was reorganizing the kitchen cabinet and found this.



Here is one of my quirks. I keep tiny pencils. Some of you may be thinking "Why?", well, when I design, I use pencils and colored pencils. Those are my favorite things to use. When they are so small that I can't sharpen them anymore, I can't just toss them away. I feel like they worked so hard for me. Besides, I think they are so pretty in the jar. Wouldn't you agree?

I know every one has at least one quirk. It would be fun to read some of yours'. Would like to share?

Also, I have been working on my daughter's dress and my clothes. I will post about them next time. See you then!

Lemonade Award

A few days ago I recived the "Lemonade Award" for my blog. I was so excited!! (I am not making this up). The person who gave me the award is Twins' Garden Style blog her blog has beautiful pictures everytime I visit. No wonder she is a designer!

I would love to show some appriciation and pass this on to a few people.
The blogs I choose to give this award to are...

1. {natalie}
2. The M&M Kemp Family
3. My Happy Little Life



Here are the rules for the award:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post
2. Nominate blogs that show great Gratitude and/or Attitude and link to your post.
3. Let them know they have received this award by leaving a comment on their blog.

What's cooking?

Last night my brother-in-law came to visit and spent the night; kind of like a boys night out. When they get to have a boys night, I cook something whatever they request. Last night was pizza night.



I also made one of my favorite cakes. It's super easy to make but taste good. Lot of the people have asked for the recipe... For this cake I use Betty Crocker's Butter Pecan cake mix.



Follow the instructions and make the batter.

Add 2 to 3 smashed bananas to the batter, and mix with a spatula. If you have shaved chocolate, add that too.

Bake the cake at the temperature on the box. Since bananas have been added, the baking time might be different. You need to know your oven and use a toothpick to know if the cake is done or not.

Once the cake as cooled slice the cake into two layers. Whip some heavy cream. (No Cool Whip; it makes a big differece to the taste of the cake)

Decorate the cake. I like shredded chocolate and sometimes rosted pecan on top. Refridgurate for at least a couple of hours. The cake will absorb the moisture from the cream.

Slice and enjoy!

People who have had this cake thought that I made it from scrach. Now the secret is revealed. It is nice to have some recipes that are so easy to make but taste good. We are all so busy that we need all the help and short cuts that we can get!!

While the boys were rocking on rock band, I went out for a dessert with my friends for a couple hours. Before I went out I had a small slice of the cake (who's sitting there and making oinking sounds?).



And what did I have for the breakfast? Another slice of cake. Well, it has flour, and eggs which is not much different than pancakes right?

Cat Scout Night

Several months ago, it seemed like a lot of good things happend to my oldest son all at once. He got a new suit for church, he passed the test to going into the advanced class at martial arts, we bought him some sparring gear. On top of that, he started going to the Cub Scouts!

Watching his older brother getting so much good fortune all at once, and finding out about him starting scouts, made Michael so mad and sad that shouted out, "It' not fear!" and broke down and cried.

Eventhough, as parents we try to treat them equally, somethings are beyoned our control. The oldest child will experience somethings earlier than the yonger siblings.

I felt so sorry for him, then my creative mind took over and I found myself saying, "uh, Michael, why don't we start cat scout!" (oops! It's too late, his eyes were already sparkling and had widend.)
"What is cat scout?", he said curiously.
"Well, I thought that maybe you and I can do something fun, while Christopher is in scouts." (Shut up Sachiko! you are creating more work for yourself!)
" Yeah!! I love that Mommy! You are the BESTEST mom on the whole wide world!", he exclaimed as his eyes were drying up. Then he started running around the house meowing. He carried on like this until he went to bed.

I thought that he might forget about the cat scouts idea, but one week later he was so excited to do something with me. So, ever since then, every week we have cat scout meeting, nothing big, I have tought him how to microwave the popcorn and we watch a movie, make cupcakes together etc..... and tonight, he wanted to do craft night, he even prepared the table for me and his little sister. He brought out papers, crayons, scissors, and glue.

He wanted to make Easter decorations, so I went with the flow. I made a paper doll bunny and clothes to go with it. Rachel immediately claimed that as her's.



When I was a little girl, I made paper dolls all the time. Doing this activity together, brought back old memories. One hour quickly passed by; we had so much fun. Thank you my little artist.

One Fine Day

Today was a bit of a slow day for me. My oldest had a really bad cough so he stayed home from school. I took him to the doctor in the morning, I only had to go to school once to pick up my middle son after the doctor. After that we picked up the medicine and came home and stayed home the rest of the day.

After they finished their homework, they played quietly (well, for me it was quieter than nomal eventhough I heard them jump from their bed to the floor several times.)

You know what? That was nice! I actually had some time DURING THE DAY to sew. Usually I am always on the go; it is hard to find the time to sew during the day. I finished making my mom's secnd apron and another handbag!





After dinner we watched a movie as a family and had a blast. We talked, laughed and enjoyed each others company.

There was no big event or anything.

Eventhough my oldest was sick, it was just a very nice and calm pleasent day.

I loved it.

What am I up to now

A couple days ago, I went to Pine Needles in Gardner Village to drop some of my patterns off and desided to look around the store. Since the boys were in school it was so hard not to; and I found this:



I knew about jelly rolls and charm packs but this is new! It was in a brown paper bag and looked like some goodies were inside. Inside the bag there were 40 color coordinated strips of fabric from Moda and it was only $9.99 +tax. I was so excited that I couldn't resist picking one up for myself. There were a few packages each with a different selection and I picked this one up.



On the way home I kept thinking about how I am going to use this unexpected treasure. I have several differnt ideas, but also I have many projects waiting at home. How should I prioritize... Oh, forget about it; this is so exciting! I will let you all know what I end up doing with it in a future post. Hopefully soon.

---

Lately I have been in a bag-making mood. I created several in the last few days, and this is one of my favorites.



I used oil cloth by Michael Miller, and this one is slightly smaller then what I usually make but it will be perfect for holding a wallet, cell phone, etc. It will be available on my etsy store soon. Please check it out!

Well, I am off to do mommmy duty. I am going to get the kids in bed. Have a nice weekend everybody!

Apron Request

My mother, who lives in Japan, and I talk on the phone all the time. Once or twice a year, she ask me to make an apron for her. As far back as I can remember, she was always wearing an apron. I mean ALL THE TIME. That is part of her uniform. She cleans, cooks, and even goes grocery shopping in her apron, if the store is in the neighborhood. I made her first apron when I was in junior high as a gift and she loved it. Since than I became her personal apron maker.

I got married and moved away; so far away, but that doesn't change the fact that I am still her apron maker. Traditionally, as the oldest daugher of three girls, I was supposed to get married to someone who would take my last name and take care of my parents. My parents are not traditional people and I don't even know that many of the Japanese people are anymore. I felt a little guilty after I got married to an American and moved so so far away. Every now and than I still do. I swear, Japanese stores sell tons and tons of aprons. My sister even suggested to my mom that she should just buy one, so it doesn't take up my time.

Maybe, that is why I love making the aprons for her, so I can relieve some of the guilt by doing something for my mom. Maybe, that is her way of keeping a piece of me close to her everyday.

A couple weeks ago, in our usual conversation, she said, "Hey Sachiko, I need new apron, can you make me one soon?"
I said, "Sure, do you have preferance in style and colors? Do you want solid or patterned? (My mom is very simple when it comes to fashion. She likes jeans and T-shirt and always wears black, navy or gray.)
"Ah, you can try something new. I don't mind some patterns."
(Wow! I was a bit surprised)
"Do you want me to make two? So you can wear one while the other is in wash?"
She replied, "No, I know you are busy, just one is will do."

That was our conversation. So, I made one and called her a couple days ago to let her know that I am sending the apron along with my sister's birthday present. Then she said, "So how many did you make?"
I replied, "Ah...one." (?! she said one is enough)
She came back, "What? I need another one while the other is in wash!"

Then I remembered that my mom is famous (between my sisters and I) for having a short term memory about stuff like this. Oh, mom...

I said, "I asked you that before."
"Did you? I don't remember. Hey I have a guest, so I need to go but I am looking forward to seeing the aprons. Bye!"
Click.

I think some things are sentimental and beautiful because they are so far away. I miss her and I so much want to do something to make her happy. Would I feel the same way if I lived next door to her? I am in the process of making the second one as she requested hoping that these will make her day. As long as she asks I will always make an apron for her, that is one of the ways I say "Thank you and I love you mom."