Fabric Bomb Revealed

You may remember that I was the lucky recipient of this fabric bomb from Elizabeth recently.  Using the items I received, adding only sewing machine thread and the yellow cotton lining fabric, I completed a tote.  I cut up the fabric and sewed it together and cut it up again and sewed it back together. I used the red variegated thread to stitch a feather stitch line, then added detached chain stitches in green floss.  I made three yo-yos and tied the ribbon into bows before I stitched them down with the green heart buttons. I stitched a line of blanket stitches along one seam, then added the beads and more detached chain stitches.  I put the lace trim around the top edge of the bag.  The bag is about 16 inches tall and 14 inches across.  How did I do?

 

 

 

Remember, you can enter Margaret’s fabric bomb drawing through 2 August!  Leave a comment here for your chance.

 

2014 Smalls Stitch a Long - Crazy Quilt Pinkeep

I made this little pin keep, using tiny scraps of fabric leftover from the hexagon quilt. It worked up in only a day.

 

 

Check out Stitching Lotus to see more small finishes.

Work in Progress Wednesday - Hussif Finish!

I know it’s Tuesday, but tomorrow I will be posting about my July Smalls SAL project and after finishing my hussif, I just can’t wait until Thursday! This is one of my all-time favorite finishes, alongside the yo-yo shawl, the slipper bag, and Japan Has Four Seasons.  The hussif has a lot of details, so there are a lot of pictures.

Here it is closed, with the ribbon tied. 

The handle, with my name and thread spools stitched on it, is made of one inch wide 14 count "Ribband" backed with gross grain ribbon. The ribbon tie is tacked to the top seam. The top corners each have a snap to hold it all closed.

Here it is closed, with the ribbon untied.

Now, open – back and front, with the side pockets in and out.

The large pocket at the bottom folds up when closed. I don’t have anything in it yet.

There are two side pockets that fold in when the hussif is closed.  One holds two stencils.

The other side pocket holds a needlebook, a pin keep, and a little tool with a magnifying circle and a thread cutting edge.

The center top has seven plastic rings for thread and a felt strip for holding pins and needles.

Below the felt strip is an envelope pocket, made from a vintage handkerchief. This pocket holds my ort eating cat.

If you regularly read my Monday posts, you know how much I like hexagons and epp.  Below the envelope pocket is a little thimble pocket, made from a hexagon.

Below the thimble pocket, is a place for scissors. The scissors handles are held in place with a ribbon.

To the right of the thimble and scissors are slots to hold a small ruler and a disappearing pen.

This is my initial idea for what goes where.  As I put it to use, I may rearrange or add or take out things. Over all, I am extremely happy with how this turned out. The hussif is a work in progress Wednesday challenge at Pintangle – check out the progress other stitchers are making on their big projects.

Tomorrow (30 July)  is International Embroidery Day - you can read more about it here.  What will you be working on?

Monday Morning Star Count -30 more hexagons for the edges

I’ve made and attached 30 hexagons for the inner lining edges of the bag.

 

I’m liking this little hexagon bag.  Linking up with Life Under Quilts.

Cake Made in the Rice Cooker

I recently read this on RocketNews24 about how to make a green tea cake in the rice cooker, using hotcake mix.  Ted isn’t so crazy about macha but he loves chocolate, so I decided to try to make a cake with hotcake mix and chocolate. I really don’t like to cook, but this looked pretty simple.

 

Following the directions in the article, I put a 300g package of hotcake mix, along with a cup of milk and two eggs in the rice cooker. I did not add the green tea powder. After mixing it up, I put some chocolate chips in, then stirred it all up. 

After running the rice cooker one cycle, it looked like this – not done.  The article said to run it twice.  I had to run it four times!

 

 



This is how it looked when I dumped it out of the cooker.  Ted likes it and has been eating it for days now.

 

Chinese Spoken Here

I take Japanese language classes in Sapporo.  The students in these classes are constantly changing as people move in or out of the area, or regular students have to miss classes because they are on vacation or have part time jobs or other reasons. Who comes to class also determines who stitches after class.  As it turned out this week, everyone who stitched could speak Chinese, except me.  I’m so fortunate to be exposed to so many cultures and languages here, even if I don’t always know what is going on.

Here are a few pictures form this week’s stitching group.  If you’d like to make your own point card holder, check out this post, where I explained the process.