Hi there - I hope you all had a nice weekend.

Josh and I went to our new favorite sushi place for dinner on Saturday and then drove downtown and saw Paula Poundstone at the Moore - she was very funny.

Yesterday we stayed in. There was an America’s Next Top Model marathon on,

so I camped out infront of the tv and finished embroidering a flurry of these little guys:

I recently got my November issue of Cotton Time magazine.

Here, I’ll give you a peek inside!

Tiny ornaments - I may have to make these for next year.

An interactive felt book for kids - fun!

I think we should all take a day off and make fuzzy hedgehogs - who’s in?!?

Have a fabulous day!

Jenn : )

I recently received my September 2008 issue of Cotton Time magazine.

Cotton Time is my favorite Japanese craft magazine.

This latest issue is filled with pages and pages of patchwork projects!

Here, you can take a peek!

Even the cover is cute!

Sorry for the shadows (afternoon sun).

There are pages of pretty quilt blocks.

A patchwork purse.

Teeny, tiny yo yos.

This last photo is from My Patchwork Time Vol. 3.

I may try to make this little basket… or a hundred of them!

: D

Cheers!

Jenn : )

Cheers!

Jenn

Jenn : )

Have a great day!
Best wishes, Christina - I hope you’re feeling better soon!

Jenn : )

Hello -

Josh and I have had a fun Saturday so far. We slept in (ummmmm) and then took a trip to Uwajimaya this morning. Uwajimaya is an Asian market located in downtown Seattle in the international district.

As we drove into the parking lot we noticed that the market validates parking for up to two hours. “Ha!” I laughed, “We won’t be here anywhere near two hours.”

As we left - the parking attendant was kind enough to overlook the fact that we had been there for 2 hours and 3 minutes…

I can’t help it - when I go there I just want to look at every single thing in the store. And before you know it - 2 hours have flown by. The front of the market is a grocery store - filled with beautiful produce and meats and seafoods, etc. Then there are shelves of non-perishables, a bakery, a bookstore, a Hello Kitty section and more. Then there is the sushi counter and the food court. We had a tasty lunch of chicken and rice and a little salad.

I wish I had taken my camera with me. I don’t have any photos of the market itself - but I can show you some of the goodies that I brought home:

I bought three new sewing/embroidery books and these two little pads of cute paper.

This book is filled with plush animal projects and is titled “The Cute Book“. Now, how could I pass that up?!? (This book is the only one that I bought that is in English - the other two are in Japanese.)

These are some of the foods that we brought home - some Pocky, bread and papaya cakes. I also found these little plastic containers that I’ll use in my studio. I can always use containers for buttons and little bits and doodads.

And this is a gift for my brother. Each April (when we remember to do it) we send each other something that we think will make the other person laugh. This package is filled with dried little fish and shrimp - heads, eyes and all, and it says “Let’s Party” on the package. It will go nicely with the belly-dancing instruction tape I got him a couple years ago.

Have a great weekend everyone!

: ) Jenn

So… Say you bought a canvas curtain from Ikea to hang infront of your washer and dryer so that when company comes over they aren’t looking at your laundry space. And say that canvas was about two feet too long. You would cut down the curtain and hem it…. and save the canvas. But what to do with it?

Well - last night I had an “a-ha” moment and came up with a quick project to put to use that perfectly good material.

I was in my studio and happened to glance over at my Cotton Time calendar (I know, anyone who has read more than a couple posts on this blog is like “shut up about the Cotton Time already!”) But I can’t help it. I practically did a happy dance when I was reading the latest issue and discovered that it came with a 2007 calendar and each month has instructions for a different craft project - yippee!!!!!

So anyway - inspired by February’s project I hunted around for that canvas and made up this little… what to call it… ah, “little basket” ( ? ). It’s about 4 1/2 inches tall.

Now, if you look closely you might notice that there are some problems with it. I posted before that mistakes happen and I am not too proud to admit to making them. A couple goofs were from never having made one of these before… and a couple others happened because I was watching Futurama while I was sewing this.

I’m going to use it anyway in my studio to hold little doo-dads. I have quite a bit of the canvas left still - I was thinking of maybe making a couple more with different dimensions and colors, maybe adding some pockets on the outside and posting them in my Etsy shop. Do you think anyone would want one?

Have a great weekend -

Jenn : )

Hello All!

Not too much to report this Monday. The biggest news I have is that I walked over to our local book store today and pre-ordered the next Harry Potter book….I’m a big fan and I’m hoping that this one will be great (the last one was a bit of a tough read for me… *sniff*).

For those of you who’ve read previous posts here - you know how much I love the Japanese craft magazine Cotton Time. I don’t read Japanese but the photos are enough for me - I can sit and look through that magazine for ages!

I’ve decided to take a little break from making my sewing books and pincushions, and work on some small projects inspired by Cotton Time (and also work on my “plushie in a bag” project, too).

Last night I did some sketches for an idea I have - basically what I want to make is a piece of quilted fabric that will have small pockets on it to hold little things. And it will have a loop of ribbon so that it can be hung from a push pin or a nail.

I was thinking that the pockets will be fabric and have a little embroidered felt decoration. So, last night I started embroidering these little birds onto a light brown wool.

I’ve got to tinker around with the pocket sizes - I realized this morning that in my original sketches the pocket sizes are tiny. I’d like them to be small - but still functional.

I just thought it would be a cute accessory for my studio - and if I like how it comes out - maybe I’ll make a couple more to offer in my Etsy shop.

Now I’m off to the sewing machine!

Cheers!

Jenn : )