Happy birthday to me!!

Thanks to all my friends and family who have filled my mailbox with lovely emails! I am so lucky!
And thank you Gisele for you nice blog greeting!

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday and I am happily celebrating it at my sister's home in NM. That is probably the best present I got this year!!! But I also got some other interesting things that I would like to share today. My parents in law just got back from Kenya. They went there on a Safari and loved it. They got to see a lot of wild animals and beautiful plants, and it seems like they also got to do some nice shopping. They sent me these wonderful pieces of fabric with African motives. They are small pieces that I can use in a quilt one day, I really love them! They are batiks, and look very stiff but the colors are amazing. I see the origin of the batiks is Asian, so maybe this is called differently, I am not sure, but the technique seems very similar anyways.
Here are the fabrics:

They remind me to a larger batik that my husband got me when he went to Mali. I really like these two women pounding the grain while carrying a vase and the other one a child in her back. this is very common over there.

And it also reminds me to this other one that I got from my friend from China of these two women that belong to a tribe in the southwest part of China.

What a wonderful day!

Baby cubes

My friend started reading blogs some time ago and then she told me about it. That's how I got started in this world. Now we both have a blog and have fun sharing projects and talking about crafts.
She made recently a toy for my son. It's a cube and you can read more about it here. She has made and will make many babies happy because I am sure like my son, they will all love it. Here is the proof:

Western

My friend called me yesterday and said "Congratulate me!!!!!" and I sayed "oh yes congratulations! but why???" and many different things went through my mind at that moment. She answered "I got my first Western!" and if you don't know about molecular biology terminology, you would think we are talking about a movie with this little guy:



But in fact, we were talking about research, and this are the kinds of things that makes us happy, specially when we have been looking for this darn western to show up for soooo long. Congratulations Gaby, that makes you one step closer to the end!!!

Usagi-san

I lived for 3 years in Japan. I was a student in the horticulture department at Chiba University. I first had to learn Japanese. I took and intensive course for 4 months and not only I was taught about the languaje but also about the culture, traditions, and curiosities about Japan. I learned about origami, about how to wrap things with fabric, about the tea ceremony, about wearing kimonos and yukatas and I also had the opportunity to stay with some Japanese families so I could get the real deal about Japanese life. That was the first time I ever wore a kimono. I never though it could take so much time to put it on. In fact the job of the mom of the family where I was staying was to put kimonos to people. How amusing. I remember there was a layer on top of the other and one more and tie this here and a board in the back to make it stiff and tie that there and then a cord, the obi, the shoes...all an experience. The second time I ever wore a kimono wasn't so much fun. It was with another host family, but this time I wasn't just staying one night, it was for 3 days and the woman was crazy. I guess I was at a cracking point in Japan, after 4 months of not understanding anything, studying very hard and not being able to communicate and then this woman trying to convert me to her religion. But this experience didn't make me hate kimonos, I still love them. And for that reason I have made a Wee Bunny wearing a kimono.
Enjoy it!

Tie one on

I love easy projects that allow me to see the results right away, even with interruptions (my son is in the crying while sleeping mood these days). So I didn't want to let this month's Angry chiken's tie one one pass by without adding my little apron. This month's theme was making an apron for a doll or a stuffed animal. I happened to have Rita just finished and I thuohg she would look cute with an apron. Here is how she looks:



Side view:


I made a pleaded apron with an orange flower fabric which was machine sown and finished by hand.
Now Rita is cleaning my whole house with her broom, what a nice helper!!!

Flower Wee Bunny

Following the Wee Wonderfuls tradition, I have made the next stuffed animal, ready for Easter time. My bunny has a flower in her belly, and a round tale unlike the original Wee Bunny pattern from Hillary Lang.





This bunny is easy! and fun to make :) Now I have to make one to my three nieces, one because I am seing her soon, the other one because it's her birthday soon and the third one because she is the president of the fan club of my son. I am also going to have a new niece, I am very excited about that! and I am glad I had a boy so that it could balance a little bit the boys to girls ratio between the cousins. The girls still win.
About the background quilt, I made that for my son to play in the carpet that usually is dirty with leaves from the live oak right in front of my appartment.
He is too little to maintain his body sitting still but soon he will be able to get a better use of this quilt.
Today we moved him to his own room for the first time, for which we had to rearrange absolutely the whole house. I wish I had a bigger place, but this way we are more creative. So far he is doing fine, he doesn't really realize he is in a different room because he has his same lamp and pictures around and he can't see any further yet. He is only 4.5 months old. Let's see how he does tonight...

The worm-holder pacifier device

My son has a worm-rattle toy that he got when he was born and he uses every single day to hold his pacifier in his mouth because he hasn't figured out yet how to do it otherwise. It's fun to see how slowly he is gaigning control over the worm, his loyal friend that appears in all his pictures.
One of my friends in having a baby in a couple of months and what a better present than a worm of this kind for that baby in case there are problems with the paci. I decided to copy this worm, with different fabrics and try to make something similar. And this is the result:







The head has a rattle inside, well two jingle bells but it was hard figuring out how to make them sound more even when there is filling inside. I went all over looking for plastic Easter eggs, but they were way too big, and finally I had a solution at home. Cheaper and it works! I used the plastic from a light bulb case, problem solved.

Re-construction

I was making a bag from one that I had and didn't look too good. I decided to cover it with some fabrics and adding some aplique and even a new liner. The result is much nicer than the original I think. I hope my friend likes it. Here is what I started with:



And here are the results, outside look:



Inside look:



I had to learn how to make the embroidery stitch that looks like a "U" and that I used around the flower petals. The embroidery floss makes things much nicer than just regular thread. I think I will use it to make the face features of my imaginary stuffed animals.

Mr Turtle

I am all about making stuffed animals since I saw some wonderful ones in different blogs. They are fun to make, easy and cute. I got several books from the library and I even bought a Japanese book. Japanese dolls are the cutest, always with disproportionate features, very nice.
Yesterday we got a package in the mail from my in laws. They are always sending cute stuff to my son. They sent this little turtle that seemed like it was handmade. Apparently this toy was my husbands' when he was a baby. Some friend of the family had made it for him and his sister. I love it. And it gives me ideas about what to do next...



My friend and I are thinking about having a stuffed animal workshop for residents where we live, it would be fun, and that way I can practice making some more animals, fun fun fun.

And the Block Again

So many projects going on...my quilting block for the Wal Mart Challenge looks like this:



I haven't heard back from them so I guess it will be donated to some charitable place to make a big quilt, I just wish I could see all the other blocks. The lady at Wal Mart got so excited when I brought her this that I almost wished I had made more than one.
I made this block with my sewing machine, even though I don't like the machine at all. I guess I am not good at using it and I mess everything up frequently. I prefer hand sewing even though it takes way longer. I like how the patterns of the new-mexican style fabrics are all oriented in the same direction, it makes it less messy I guess. It was hard to do something with fabrics that already have a lot going on. Actually I am making a quilt with some of these fabrics, but I don't want it to be too busy, but at the same time I like distinguishing the patterns in the fabrics. My husband didn't like the New Mexican fabrics, so after a while sewing I moved on to a new project. I have to get back to it because after several months I took it out of the bag I had "hidden" it, and I actually like it even better now, I guess I was saturated by it for a while, because it takes a long time and also because it's supposed to be a pretty large quilt. Maybe one day I will post a picture...

Rolo de coco

Last Saturday we went to a pot luck party and I dared to make a dessert I had never tried to make before but I had tasted once and it was just great. It's a portuguese recipe that my friend passed along to me. It's called rolo de coco, or coconut roll...mmm...and it's pretty easy to make. Here is a picture:



This weekend I also worked on my bag...that one of these days I promise to finish...it's getting there, I'm just discovering new stiches and new techniques that I have never tried before...and I also got together with my friends on our Sunday meetings to knit, quilt and chit chat. I am working on a flower quilt but it's also going pretty slow because I bring my son with me and I end up doing almost nothing in 2 h. Oh well, I will finish it someday...I like it too :)

Ten Thousand Villages

This is the coolest table hot pad I have ever seen. It's made out of newspaper rolled and glued and then tied up with cords. I think it is made in the Philippines or somewhere around there. I got this from my in laws, who always bring us really cool things from this store called Ten Thousand Villages. I found the hot mat online here. This shop buys crafts from around the world and sells the products at a fair price that will be received by the artisans. It's not expensive and they really have many interesting things.

Apple pie

Yesterday I started a new project. I'm transforming an old bag into a new one with a little quilting touch. I am still working on that and I will post the photo later on, whenever I finish it.
Today all the "crafts" I've done have been in the kitchen. I tried to bake a new apple pie. I checked a recipe off the web and this is how it looks:



I just ate some and it's pretty good. It has cream inside..mmm...but there is another recipe that is even better. I have asked my mom to give it to me.

Quilting and Knitting on Sundays

I started quilting a couple of years ago in a class that was offered in a local place. It was so much fun being able to make a quilt in just a few weeks and getting to know other people interested in quilting that I continued doing it all along. The class was about hand quilting. I love hand quilting, much better than with the machine. It takes more hours to make the templates, draw them in the fabric, then cut them with scissors and then piece everything together, but it's well worth it. The satisfaction you get once you're finished is huge...and also like my quilting teacher likes to say, hand quilting is very forgiving...if you make a mistake, and the corners don't quite match, probably after ironing you won't be able to tell and even so, when you see the whole thing you can't tell at all. But most importantly, it is the personal touch that says I made it and I did it all by hand. The quilting part is tricky, and it took me a while to get used to different batting materials, my favorite is just plain cotton, it makes it look flat and thin, but it is still nice and warm. Here is a picture of the quilt I made in that class, for my niece who was born back then.

Valentines kitty

Valentines kitty
Originally uploaded by dozodozo.

This is belated Valentines kitty

Quilting block contest

I became addicted to quilting in 2004, when I attended a class of hand quilting. Since then I haven't stopped doing it, not that I have finished too many projects, but I have started plenty. The thing about hand quilting is that although it takes forever to finish anything, it's also relaxing to do. I usually sit on my chair while watching tv and put pieces of fabric together.
There is a quilting block competition at Wal Mart. You can get the info at any Wal Mart, and it's quite easy. The blocks should be 12.5" x 12.5 " and it should be submitted by March 1st. The thing I like about this competition is that the blocks that are not picked up by their owners will be pieces together to form a big quilt that will be given to charity. I wish I could see the final quilt. Also, the winners will make another quilt. I am going to submit a block, and I wish I could see it someday in a quilt somewhere.

These are some of the fabrics I want to use...it's a Southwest style block

Quilting, mochi and more

Hello!
This is my first post in my first Blog ever. Inspired by many other women who on the side to whatever they do, they find time to talk about various exciting craft projects or cool findings around the net, I decided to start my own blog. Hopefully, I will be more diligent in finishing all these projects that I have around my house so I can show the world this productive side of me.

I have been reading Wee Wondefuls, a website by Hillary Lang that that is just so amazing! So many fun projects and so much Japanese inspiration that is contagious...



Here is the result of reading some of her blogs, gatita made out of the pointy kitty original pattern