Paper Piecing bitty bowl!

The little tiny bowl was a lot of fun to make, made from English paper pieced hexagons, 1/2inch diameter each. I thought with it being so small it'd stitch up pretty quick, but being so small, it was trickier than I expected. I got the idea from here, and finally found pentagon pieces online from the States here. The nice thing with this is it uses scraps, which I love! This bowl was my test run, and it turned out cute, but i didn't put any interfacing in it, so it's very flopsy.

So, my next try I made the bowl using 2" sized pentagons and I ironed interfacing inside one layer and it turned out much sturdier, able to be used to hold candies or small things. In the future I'll iron interfacing to both sides for a good sturdy bowl.

I finished the bowl off with a buttonhole stitch around the edges for a sort of homemade/country style look.

And finally, when starting Christmas ornaments this year, I wanted to make little snowmen out of hexagon balls, but after making the first 2, I realized it was going to take ages to make one, so had to revamp my plan.

Bits for Boys

Made for some of the littlest boys in my life, Jordan and his friend Yuji. Pencil cases from character fabric that they love. Pokemon for Yuji, Nintendo for Jordan. Now to finish Peanuts for Jay and Little Miss for Julia!

Pokemon front

The insides are lined as well, with a nice check/plaid I found.

Back of Pokemon

Front of Nintendo's Mario Kart...I didn't pay attention though to the image direction, and so Mario's Kart is upside down.

Back of Nintendo, all images are going the right way on the back :)

BABY Bits

Decided to attempt some baby things for some of the new babies in my life...NOT MINE! Don't worry everyone, for friends and family!

Found this adorable caterpillar pattern in a Japanese quilting magazine, and had to make it. Don't know how reliable it is as a toy, I did try to make it strong enough to endure playing, but I think I'd leave it as a mobile or decor.

Yoshi decided to help me model out one of the bibs I put together, easy and fun to make.

The pile of baby boy bibs I made, I have a few leftover, am thinking to list them on Etsy for sale.

Small fabric basket, big enough to hold some cotton, diaper cream and little odds and ends that need organizing.

The bottom of the basket, a Japanese linen-type fabric with hand embroidery embellishing.

Another free pattern I found online for a diaper clutch, throw a few diapers and pocket wipes into it and it's ready to toss in your purse for those quick trips out the door, walks and times when you don't really need a full-on diaper bag.

You can't see it too clearly, but the top has a hand-embroidered feather stitch using scraps of embroidery thread left over from years of cros-stitch projects.

I love playing with colors, that caterpillar is made primarily from scraps with lots of color.

Julia has asked me for a mini-version of this to hang on her school bag, as soon as I have time, I want to attempt it.

Close up of the bib. I did all machine quilting on it, using a multi-color blue thread for the top. But the little hexagon embellishment was hand-sewn.

Bitty Gifts

Made these up for my sister a few weeks ago and have been waiting for her to get the package before I posted the pics! Was fun doing these, the snowman doorhanger pattern can be found here, and the little pouchy thing was from a book I purchased at Amazon.

I told my sister that all in all, if I were to be paid for the hours put into those, that snowman door hanger would cost about $400, damn expensive! LOL! It has some applique in it, of which I'm not that good at, and I had to pull out a few parts to redo. Other than that, it was easy enough. The little pouch is a Japanese lineny sort of fabric, really popular in Japan now, with a babushka (??) Russian doll design on it, I love that fabric and couldn't wait to make something out of it! In terms of time it only took about 20 minutes to put together, really easy, and, very convenient for your purse!

Mee A Bee

Meet my new foreign housewife friend in Japan who makes these adorable little bags out of Japanese fabrics. And lucky for me, she lives close enough for me to drop by on my way home from work sometimes, for a cuppa or comparing sewing projects, or best of all, hashing out the problems involved with raising your children in a foreign culture and school system.

Mee A Bee

you can't scare me!

A plaque contributed to my sewing room by Janina...

BIRTHDAYS!

Many many birthdays surround my life, and inevitably I am often late with presents. I made this cushion cover for Janina's best friend Emma, who turned 17. It was fun to make and completely different from anything I've done so far. I didn't have a pattern, but saw the idea somewhere online, and decided to try making it. I could tweak the pattern a bit, but overall I think it turned out decent enough!