Photo Grid Japan 2014

Just wanted to upload these photo grid I did when I was in December 2014, you know, in case my laptop crash or something. Anyway, these are unique cause there are like my first few photo grid I've ever done. And they are special cause they are all from Japan! Let me try my best to recall where I took them.

 

First grid is of two cups of coffee from my friend Ms Loo who needs a top-up every morning before she can function as a normal human being. It was Christmas time and the cup from the left is from a French Bakery Shop in one of the train station which I can't remember, and the other is from a convenient store in Yokohama on our way to the Ramen Museum. Both were like only 100Yen each, but the detail of the cup is so pretty!

  

Above two pix are the unique drawing sometimes found outside or inside Japanese shops. Top one if from a maid cafe at Odaiba, I think it was in Diversity. We didn't dine there though, opting instead to go to a Hello Kitty Cafe at the same place. The one at the bottom is of a bookstore in Ueno Station. I think I bough 2 books from there! One on how to sew (A Cottontime magazine publication), and the other on simple drawing with colored pens.

  

Lastly, a momento from the place we stayed in. On top is a drawing of the feeder bus that pass outside our ryokan and brought us to Ueno or Asakusa. Each trip is only 100Yen! And the bus really does look like that, super cute! And below is a drawing of a ryokan we stayed in. 

Ah Japan, it is those little little touches that makes it all worth visiting. As it is, I'm into year 2 of my Japanese language course now, and am listening to One OK Rock while I blog this. Maybe one day, I'll be able to blog in Japanese! Gambatte Ai-Chan!

Ref:
Yokohama Ramen Museum
Odaiba
Diversity
Maid Cafe
Cottontimes
One OK Rock

Card Holder Cover (Blue)

Also managed to did this beautiful card holder cover in blue. It was meant as a gift for a guy, hence the blue colour and the robot in front. I'm making this one for my brother and it took me about 2 hours to make. Most of the time was spend designing more than sewing. The sewing part is really quite straight forward.

This is the youtube clip I used as reference as the original one I use for the red card holder cover was no longer available.

 

The above is the in progress picture. As you can see, lots of patterned cloth are used to make the design, and each square is sewed individually in. The light blue square cloth are actually given to me by my mother-in-law. She got it from someone via a fabric sample collection. I have them in dark blue, light blue and pink. The above material is of the dark blue series, and they are shiny, which gives it an expensive look to it which is kinda cool. The label I pick was also male oriented. I guess this is the first male oriented sewing piece I've ever done. 

The end result is as per above. I personally think it looks kinda stylist. Like a cool fashionable guy might carry around. I like the end result, but I'm not sure if my brother would like it or not. Still, a gift is a gift, you gotta give it away  no matter. But it's nice that I have a picture of it to keep as a memento. Might even make a few for sale one of these days :)

My First Proper Zip Bag

By following the above youtube clip, I managed to complete my first proper zip bag today, starting from 11:10pm, and completing it the next day at 12:20am or so. It was kinda late to be sewing, but I just couldn't go to sleep without making it as it was kinda on my to-do list. But I'm really glad I did, cause I really love the result!

Here's a work in progress photo. Interestingly, the sewing project for the past few days have not been using any of the cloth I got from Japan recently. Instead, I'm using all existing materials that have been sitting around in my home. The cloth from Japan just provides the necessary inspiration to get me going.

 

And above is the end result. Love the green color and the rich green interior with floral design. Planning to make more of these things in future as I find them extremely useful as a bag organizer. And they look so cheerful too!

Christmas Day Coaster

Just came back from Japan and bought like SGD50+ worth of cloth. I wanted to make coaster for my new kitchen, not to mention that the cat coasters that I made last time seems to be missing here and there and I was running out of coasters to use. So Christmas Day was a good break for me to catch up on my sewing.

From around 11am till 2pm, I made 4 coasters.

Two was middle size, big enough to hold larger plates or so. The above is a picture of the coaster-making in progress. The cloth was actually bought in Singapore, but it's made in Japan. I love the colour and the pictures in it as it was very homely. The colour also suits my kitchen table theme which is minty green and white. I love adding those "homemade" label in everything I do lately, and adding those cheap fork and spoon to indicate the usage of the coaster always cheers me up as I have lots and lots of those cute things that I keep buying but seems to have lack of time to create craft with.

 

Anyway, the above is the end product. The wonderful thing about homemade thing is, they are always unique. And although not perfect (I used the wrong stitch to close up the coaster which kinda show when you zoom in on the photos), it is the acceptance of imperfection that makes one at peace with one self.

 

I also made these two adorable yet simple owl coasters to place mugs and cups with. These cloth are bought in Japan recently at Nippori Fabric Town. Using the correct stitch to close it up, they look much more elegant than the previous two coaster. And the best things about these coasters are, they are 100% cotton, so they feel wonderful to the touch. And whenever they get dirty, you just throw them in the washing machine and give them a wash and they come out brand new. And when you make your own things, you tend to treasure them more and they stay with you almost forever.

I realise that buying things and consuming things don't really make me happy. Maybe that's why I don't really like shopping. However, I love craft material shopping, and making things recharges my life. I think being about to create thing is a very important for one's well being. We shouldn't just be consuming things. We should also create and give back to the world.

Here's to more craft making for the year 2015! Merry Christmas!

Ref:

Nippori Fabric Town

Riomaggiore Town

5-Nov-2013, Riomaggiore

It is probably one of the bigger town of the 5 in Cinque Terra, and that left it with lots of space to be charming. This post is dedicated to how charming it can be. Let's start with the train station. It's quite some distance from the town and it has it's own center. Near the station is actually a path where you can walk out to the coast. But due to bad weather, the path was closed while we're there.

This is roughly what the path looks like. It's call the Lover's Path. And it was suppose to be beautiful in terms of view. Sad, but still.... there was enough good things there to be sad over one little misfortune :)

Anyway, back to the charming town. While walking around, I just love the small narrow alley found at every crook and corner.

The shops have their own character as well.

 Even the post-office is cute. Yes this is their post office, but it was close while we were there (or maybe it was too early).

And so I leave you with the above picture as we end our post on the 5 charming town of Cinque Terre.

Next destination - Venice. Stay tune!