May 2008 Archives

Look familiar? This is one of the many photos I took of Kumi on the day we went to the park and made a daisy crown. Her hair is getting so long and curly!

So my little girl is 22 months old now. Aside from her explosive vocabulary, Kumi surprised us with her love of singing. At any given time, you can hear her little voice belting out "Twinkle Twinkle liddle star, how I wudder you ARE!! Next time won't you come and sing with me?" It is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. She even tries to sing Japanese ditties, much to our delight.

Ah, but just as she is charming us with her off-key karaoke, she'll suddenly morph into a raging, bellowing, bawling mass of unhappiness ("Chucky," MF calls her at these times). These tantrums always shock me because they emerge out of seemingly nowhere. It must be so hard being a toddler; I realize that I spend more time telling her "no" than "yes" and try as I might, she seems to find ways to alarm and prompt more "no"s. Every outlet must be explored, and lately she's figured out she can reach for things like that awfully enticing seam ripper if she drags her little stool to my work area. Clever, clever child.

We've had a lot of illnesses this month. This meant that we frequently missed her favorite pastimes: music class, swimming class, play dates. No wonder she's had so many tantrums -- she's probably been bored out of her mind hanging out at home with the sniffles or, in one harrowing case, projectile vomit.

Even in the worst of moods, she seems to immediately lighten up as she removes her clothes. I desperately tried to keep her dress on when the plumber was here yesterday, but she slipped away from me to go greet him in all her naked glory. Here she is trying to take off her swimming suit:

And another cheerer-upper is the park. We've been spending more and more time at the numerous parks in our neighborhood at her insistence...

Kumi has definite opinions and dramatic displays of emotions. A staunch creature of habit, the first thing she says to me every morning is, "Diaper change" followed by, "Food. Toast and mango" (Funnily enough, she doesn't actually eat toast and mango very much, but she seems to think that's what breakfast is called). Sometimes she gets so happy and excited, the only way she knows how to express her intense joy is by biting. Owie, as we say around here.

But how can you not melt when she says sorry, then a second later forgets your agonizing pain and teethmarks and looks like this:

Today, Kumi turned 22 months old. I wanted to take lots of photos of her today and post it for the monthly update, but my battery died and then the plumber was here and then there were some crazy toddler meltdowns...so instead you can feast your eyes on this lovely summer fruit salad of yellow watermelon and blueberries. It's starting to feel like summer around here.

The plumber was unable to fix the kitchen sink leak and we are without hot water at the moment. But only in the kitchen, so that's not too bad. I'm contemplating doing the dishes in the bathtub -- too gross?

Anyway, I will have more photos tomorrow. Good night!!

I'm playing again this week, participating in Loobylu's fun Friday Archives.

I've given up trying to find anything older than a couple of years old at this point as I apparently went through a purging phase back in 2006. This little owl pillow was my first foray into sewing crafting as an adult and I had such a good time making it, I got hooked on crafting. I made it almost exactly a year ago; how quickly time goes. It was a gift for one of Kumi's best friend. He is turning two tomorrow and I'm shooting for a handmade gift again. I'm about half-way done so am scrambling to get it done for his party on Sunday...

I made up the pattern for this critter and it was surprisingly easy (as in cut-sew-embroider in a couple of hours-easy). The back, which I didn't photograph for some reason, was a fabric I've used many, many times (and will be using again in his gift this year). If you click on the link, you'll see a photo with another owl with the same back -- I loved the owl pattern so much, I made another one for myself. The nose and "b.j." are hand-embroidered and I seem to recall sweating a lot while sewing that part for some reason. You can see how it bunches up around the sides because I didn't know anything about clipping or notching at the time...still, it was a satisfying and happy project.

I was listening to the always inspirational Amy Karol's podcast the other night. Amy talked about how her daughter drew on fabric and she used the fabric as part of a dress. What a great idea!! I noticed that the pattern she used is from the same book I've been using (such a wonderful book).

So I got out some white linen I had washed and wasn't sure what to do with and let Kumi go to town:

Isn't that amazing? That's the work of a 21-month-old. I didn't help her or direct her in any way!

And because I had so much fun making those pouches, I went ahead and made these into cute little pouches too. I was able to make three total.

Here's one with the lining:

And then all three from the front view:

And the other side:

Sorry for the photos -- the natural lighting has been pretty bad today. The pouches in the last photo are looking particularly scrunched because Kumi kept poking her fingers into them while I tried to get a decent shot. You get the idea though. I love these!!

Because my first book cover didn't turn out the way I'd hoped, I redid it. Don't look if you're reading this, A!

Ah, much better. It's still simple and understated, but looks much more balanced to me. I even added a little tag:

It's wrapped, packed and ready to be shipped:

Now I need to figure out how to make a gift for a soon-to-be two-year-old boy...

We had such a great, relaxing day. I hung out with my two favorite people at the park (the dog's not ours):

We had a semi-picnic lunch (if eating blueberries and honey graham pretzels and ham sandwiches on a bench counts as a picnic) and took a nap at home in the afternoon.

Kumi was blissed out about having both her parents with her all day -- something that rarely happens. Here she is checking out her shoes in front of a kids' climbing wall. I love her blue and gray striped pants against the terracotta color:

Happy Memorial Day, or what's left of it.

You know when you have an idea and it looks shiny and wonderful in your mind's eye? And then you actually make it and it looks nothing like the shiny and wonderful image?

It's been that kind of weekend. I was thinking about pin cushions and I had this ditty stuck in my head:

Down in the river where it's deep and blue
Swam three little fishies and a mama fishie too
"Swim," said that mama fishie, "Swim if you can"
So they swam, swam, swam all over the dam

So I made three little fishies:

I speared them with pins and was a bit bummed by the results. I didn't bother with the mama fishie. Here's another shot in an attempt to make them look cuter somehow (a white backdrop always enhances objects, doesn't it?):

Another failed attempt was a gift idea I had. I love Moleskine notebooks and love to give them as gifts. And then the image floated into my mind: a book cover!! Hand-sewn!

I gathered some understated, manly linen fabric...

I used Leslie's fabric printing tutorial again and drew these vintage movie cameras (my friend is a director/producer)...

I made little flaps and sewed the whole thing together:

And though it fit perfectly...

Hmmmm. Not so interesting and a little too crooked, right? It's definitely missing something. I must continue working on this. I will post updates.

Usually I submit to Illustration Friday at the very last minute or mid-week at the earliest. This week I was feeling a little more motivated. The little girl has found herself suddenly fishing underwater and is a wee bit worried...

It's already Friday again, and here is my contribution to Loobylu's Friday Archives. Inspired by Claire's softies from last week, I remembered that one of my very first knitting projects was this little bear:

Here she is looking jaunty in her fur-trimmed pink coat:

And here's a close-up:

That's the fabulous view from our bedroom window, Space Needle and all. Doesn't she look very French? I named her "Amelia" after Amelie in that wonderful movie, but Kumi calls her "White Bear-Bear".

I haven't had a chance to sew in about a week and wanted to make something quick and easy. I used Amy Karol's most excellent Bend the Rules Sewing book to make these pouches. So fun!!

You might recognize the burgundy one with the blue chestnut branches from the dress I made...it's always so satisfying to use up scraps.

For the beige pouch with the button and faint print, I used fabric paint and a leaf I found outside. The fabric paint was a lot thinner than I expected, so the effect wasn't quite as stunning as I'd imagined, but it'll do. Now I must tend to my little girl who is having the tantrum of the century...

The illness has spread and the entire family is under the weather here...With a pounding headache and sore throat, I craved some serious comfort food with a bit of sweetness and lots of fatty goodness. So I dragged my aching body and forced myself to make two things: the gingerbread cake that I adore and corn chowder.

Both are from The Splendid Table book and at this point I think you can assume that every recipe I make is from this book.

There are bacon bits and tons of corn (fresh and frozen) in the soup and with big hunks of Pugliese bread, it really hit the spot. To offset the caloric overload of the soup, I also tossed together a colorful salad with radishes, red bell peppers, nectarines and greenleaf lettuce. No dressing. It was a refreshing accompaniment to the creamy soup. The salad, surprisingly, is my own creation. The combination worked wonders for me, though Kumi and MF are still a little woozy.

It has been a startling day. As I was coming back from a successful walk that got Kumi to nap, a delivery truck roared by and the driver called out "Hi Sanae!" The sweet-looking young man waving at me looked vaguely familiar, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out who he was. It took five blocks and heavy thinking for me to realize he was one of my favorite produce guys from Pike Place Market back in my downtown living days. When you see someone out of context, it's always a little disorienting.

It's also been startling because there is a strange animal on the roof. I hear scrapes like bird claws, but then they are replaced by heavy thumps as though it is rolling around and around. Do birds roll? At one point, there was a loud "bang!!!" and both Kumi and I stared up at the ceiling with trepidation. It sounded metallic and dangerous. We live on the top floor of a small brick building and I'm not accustomed to hearing noises above us. It has been five or six hours, and I still hear the occasional scrape and thump above...what could it be??

I have wide feet. Actually, I used to have extra wide feet and it was always a problem because none of the super cute shoes would fit me. Wider shoes are usually labeled with "B" (as in "7B") or with the blatant "W". Let me tell you, it was slim pickings and I often ended up with orthopedic looking loafers.

Then I had a child and I went from size 8.5 to 7, and my feet narrowed down. A very unusual phenomenon indeed. Ironic really, since I only wear one pair of shoes now -- shoes that can chase after a toddler all day long.

And just like that, it's suddenly sweater weather again here in Seattle. Kumi is still feeling sick and we've been spending a lot of time indoors anyway, and as I entertained my ailing child by rolling bobbins on table tops, they started to look like wheels to me. As soon as she went to bed, I made these:

My bobbin cars. The one on the left looks like an insect-mobile, and the other one is definitely a hippie jalopy from the mid-60s.

Here's another angle:

They are both done entirely by hand while watching "The Tudors". Such amazing costumes and steamy scenes! MF was slumbering away and I didn't want to wake him so I resisted the urge to use the sewing machine. Sewing by hand takes a long time...but it's really enjoyable, especially when elaborately dressed British royalty are behaving scandalously.

I have yet to figure out how to make it so that the wheels will turn, but I'm pleased that they stay upright. The important thing is that Kumi likes them (don't worry, the radiator doesn't work so there's no danger in her playing near it).

So I've discovered that crocheting is really hard. Maybe it's easier when you're not using crochet thread and size 4 needles...the book is ADORABLE and there are so many things I'd like to try making, but my attempts so far look nothing like the designs in the book. I was trying to make little flowers here if you can't tell.

Undaunted, I made flower rings instead. They were really easy and fun to make. I just grabbed a few small pieces of wool felt, some hair bands, and a needle and thread. I like how imperfect and simple they look.

The astroturf looking thing is actually a stuffed animal -- I believe it's a frog. I thought it looked a bit like grass. Kumi is sporting a kid-friendly nail polish by Zoya. It's called "Manhattan Mixer" (not so kid-friendly name) and is a sparkly lemon lime color.

We went to the park today and I couldn't resist all the little daisies. I tied them together into a cute crown:

We had an unfortunate incident with a dog at the park and had to leave quickly, but we preserved the flower crown for a few minutes at home. Enough time for me to snap a photo at least.

My poor analog journal has been neglected lately. The last entry (above) is from nearly two weeks ago...Kumi is very enthusiastic about pulling my underwear out of the freshly washed laundry and parading around with it on while squealing, "Mommy's unnerwear!!" At least she's not putting them on her head anymore.

My current favorite little Kumi-ism is "Chihuahuahua". It makes me laugh each time.

These are some ideas for more sewing projects that I sketched a couple of weeks ago. I've already completed the ruffled top and I'm happy that it came out the way I originally sketched it. I also made the pants though I ended up putting the pockets on the back. I have an idea for a top that I didn't draw here that I might try next. My to-do list keeps getting longer and longer.

Yesterday's post about the coffee table reminded me that I had grand designs for the little broken blue chair. I did follow-through and glued the broken area together, but the husband leaned back one leisurely day and snapped it in two AGAIN. He is currently banned from sitting on the chair.

So I glued it back together again and painted it a ghostly white, though I couldn't completely cover the blue underneath even after two coats (I didn't bother sanding it down, novice that I am) -- which is just as well, since I like the faux distressed look I ended up with.

It wasn't until I downloaded the image from my camera that I noticed the pale yellow tidbit in the corner. I realized it was the edge of Kumi's dress as she ran by. She really likes the chair, as you can see:

The patchwork blanket is from my mama (I mentioned it a little while ago) and it's covering the less than stellar gluing job I did, though you can't tell from this photo:

I love how the yellow dress looks against all the white and patchwork blanket:

Kumi enjoyed wearing her matching hat for all of five minutes and refused to wear it outside where the sun beat down mercilessly. It must have been close to 100 degrees today and we were red as currants when we got back from our walk. This lovely dress ensemble is from her grandparent's neighbor in Indiana and was the perfect outfit for the sweltering weather, like a cool sip of freshly squeezed lemonade.

At the garage sale I almost bought out single-handedly, I scored this coffee table for $4. The table top is pretty ravaged -- lots of wax drippings from red and white candles, scratches, embedded glitter...

But it's a solid wood, vintage piece with some nice detailing. It has so much potential. My plan is to sand down the top and stain it a nice dark wood shade (the water-based stain I got is "American Walnut).

The weather is GORGEOUS right now. I think it's close to 90 degrees and I have several windows open. If this spectacular sunshine lasts through the weekend, I won't be going near the coffee table, but if typical Seattle weather rears its gray head, I'll be sanding and staining away.

I thought of windmill electricity when I saw the IF theme and remembered the wind farms I used to see in California. This came out looking a little more ominous than I intended...but Kumi had a rough night with some indigestion issues and I did this super fast... I always thought the windmills that I saw from the freeway as I drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles looked like alabaster sculptures -- here I've depicted them looking almost like crosses with Van Gogh-esque electric currents and wind.

I'm also participating in Loobylu's Friday Archives again though I'm seriously hurting for material. An old high school friend sent me a DVD of a movie I was in and I thought I would toss it in there for kicks.

...doesn't it look like it's that kind of movie? Fear not, there isn't even an iota of nudity and I'm wearing this heinously large t-shirt with what looks like shoulder pads throughout the entire film. This was back in, oh, 1990-ish and I was a college freshman. When you live in L.A., chances are you'll get asked to be in a movie at least once. My friend was an aspiring film director at UCLA and he gathered a bunch of his unsuspecting buddies to spend six days in his sister's room with a camcorder. That's me scowling in the lower left corner. Here's a close-up:

I was only able to watch 15 minutes of the film as it pooped out on me and got stuck in the middle of one of my many monotonously delivered dialogues. The hysterical part is that I was the starring role. Me!! It still mystifies me since I have no acting skills whatsoever. Anyway, I would include a clip of my embarrassing attempt at re-creating Henry Fonda's role but I unfortunately don't know how. Ah youth. The crazy things we do.

**I forgot to include that the film is called "12 Angry People" and is a remake of "12 Angry Men".

Leslie of OneGirlDesignWrks has a great tutorial for inkjet printing on fabric. I am so excited!! I have a slew of ideas now that I know this is possible.

I used the same linen/cotton blend as the pants and I really like the texture of the fabric with the printed images...both the elephant and naked girl illustrations were done digitally using photoshop. It's hard to see, but the naked girl is watching a dress-plant and waiting for the dress to grow large enough for her to wear. Here's a larger version of the original for better viewing:

The little woman with the pink halo-ish thing behind her head is from my website homepage and it's a hand-drawn illustration that I spiffed up with some digital painting and collage. I really love that illustration even though I'm not a particularly pink person.

I am working away at said ideas and will post them as I complete them. I also signed up for Etsy, so I may actually have some stuff to sell soon!

I found a fairly easy apple pie recipe in Ina's cookbook and gave it a go last night. However, the recipe called for shortening, which I don't like. So I found Spectrum, which is a less scary option for the same deliciously flaky consistency. The crust came out superb -- in fact, the entire pie is pretty yummy. The patchwork under the pie with the sky blue theme is by my ever so talented mama.

The photo doesn't do it justice since I took it at night with a not-so-good flash. Here is another less than beautiful shot of a slice -- don't judge a pie by its misshapen crust...

We had a good day. A couple of my friends came over with their kids and while the toddlers squealed and ran around, the adults ate tons of food, took a nice long walk (while the kiddies napped), had a coffee shop break and did a little crafting. Such fun.

I was working on a different project and had a lot of this sandy, beige-y linen/cotten fabric left over and thought, hey why not try sewing a pair of pants? I cut out a pattern based on Kumi's best fitting cords and though the pockets are looking a little crooked (I didn't measure anything), I think they're quite darling.

I added a touch of pizzazz to the pockets using one of my favorite polka-dotted material:

They're a bit low-rise for her diapered butt; with a longish lacy top (or dress, depending on how you look at it), you can't tell. The dress is by my mama and it's one of the 100 dresses. I'm working on something exciting with those dresses so stay tuned.

Kumi decked out in white and beige again:

I'm not a big thrifter though I love me a good bargain. This weekend as I was hauling Kumi up to swimming class, I chanced upon a garage sale and I saw all these large picture frames. I immediately went over and started salivating over the great stuff. The couple holding the sale were the sweetest people and were obviously artists and very into cooking (or at least bake ware). I got a bunch of barely used bread and pie pans, a brand new cheese grater (the kind with a handle that you turn), a couple of HUGE frames, a flower pot, a coffee table and the little storage chest up there. All for about 30 bucks. I especially liked the storage chest -- a mere $3 -- because it looked well-loved and had little bits of paint all over it. The woman who owned it told me she used to keep all her art supplies in it.

I also liked the old knob on the chest:

It's quite compact at 24 inches tall, 20 inches wide and 14 inches deep. Right now it's holding all of my pregnancy books which I will eventually toss. I think I'll fill it with my sewing supplies once I free up the space.

I am going to work on giving the coffee table a makeover and I'll show you the before and after!

Here is yet another recipe from the book. For the first time ever, the results weren't perfect. I used parchment paper as instructed but the luscious, crispy, golden parts of the macaroons totally stuck to the cookie sheet and paper. I tried with all my might, but I couldn't preserve their shapes...instead I scooped out the part that wasn't stuck and was left with very coconutty confections. I am sad to report that I was the only one who liked them. Even Kumi wouldn't touch them. On Saturday night, I ate the entire tin by myself. I am waiting for the massive weight gain to hit because there's no way my gluttony will go unpunished.

Update: maybe the no-nap thing was a phase?? She's slumbering away right now and I am LOVING this downtime.

We are entering the no-nap zone lately and I'm overwhelmed. In the last four days, Kumi has napped only once. And I've developed a nasty habit of staying up really, really late so I'm getting very little shut-eye...plus MF is out of town this weekend so that makes everything much harder. This kind of exhaustion makes me even more appreciative and respectful of all mothers out there, especially my own. My mom had two kids back to back, and I have no idea how she did it.

Still, I couldn't stop myself from making this little stamp last night (it's not looking so little up there though, is it?). I made it for the mother's day cards I sent out. The color above is slightly different from what I ended up stamping onto the cards, and I must fess up to using a little Photoshop magic for the color change. You may recall that I made a wee apple stamp a while ago and this is stamp #2. I'm still learning obviously. This was meant to look entirely different but I'm not hating the lotus flower-y end result.

Thank you so much for all the nice comments!! I'm so thrilled each time a new comment pops up. Speaking of which, Kirsten of Tollipop mentioned this fabulous book: The Hundred Dresses and I MUST get it. My mother is finishing up the 100 dresses and not only do I like the numeric connection, I love that the book's message is about kindness and compassion.

I put Kumi down to sleep at 6:45pm tonight so now it's time for this mama to have a relaxing evening. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

OK, so technically this is not an old image for my Friday Archives submission. I painted it about a year ago and found it while rummaging around looking for truly old work. The pattern on the dress is what I used to doodle on every page of every notebook during college. I would get bored in class and start drawing little shapes with even amounts of space in between. It was kind of like a puzzle and it passed the time. So at least part of the image is at least 17 years old in theory.

I also finished this floaty, flittery number ("Flittery Float Float" comes from a great children's book entitled Gallop! that uses scanimation to create moving images). I made the pattern myself and was inspired by a similar top I saw in Nordstrom's display window. I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out.

It's a sunny day and we're pretending it's summer with this flirty tank and shorts. I'll have to put Kumi in a sweater and pants in a couple of minutes.

Continuing with the pear theme, here you get a glimpse of the sewing cozy I made the other day. I made the cozy because I was tired of lugging the sewing machine in and out of the hall closet. I've set up a corner in the living room as my "studio" and so far it's working out nicely though there's still a lot of clean-up involved.

What do you think of the desaturated photo? I'm kind of digging the look...

You can also see my current sewing project in its beginning stages. I'll show you the finished product tomorrow!

I just discovered Bloesem Kids and am gaga over the many clothing designers. Like these:

Cloth Pony
Eliza Gran
Ses Petites Mains
Mette

Gorgeous!! And so inspiring.

Here's my contribution to Illustration Friday this week. Seeds of a summery fruit, an autumnal fruit and a veggie fruit.

This would be so much more effective if I had a before shot to show you. I swear this looks better in person. What you see is an IKEA shelf on casters that holds our printer, scanner and wireless router. I looked on the IKEA website but I think this shelf has been discontinued. It used to be that "birch" faux finish, and a cluttered corner in our kitchen. Due to the perennial lack of space issue, I do all my work at the kitchen table.

Prior to this little makeover, a piece of cloth covered the shelf and the unkempt appearance always bugged me. On a whim, I decided to paint the shelf white and to create a little fabric cover to hide all the gadgets. The fabric design is by Yumeji Takehisa and I have three versions. I have a thing for pears. Remember my monitor cozy? I was on such a roll with the shelf cover that I whipped up a sewing machine cozy too (using the pear fabric, of course). I'll show you the sewing machine cozy later.

Total time to paint shelf + sew cover = 30 minutes, not counting drying time. Easy peasy!

**Those are regular old thumbtacks on the upper corners. One day I plan on getting something cuter...

There's something about gingerbread cake that is so comforting. Add a dollop of whipped cream and brew up some tea, ah, now I can sit and relax.

I noticed that the way the whipped cream dripped on the cake looked like a thought bubble, prompting a bit of Photoshop fun.

I got the recipe from The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper (so superb!) and it's really, really easy. I used fresh ginger instead of dried, and I think it turned out perfect.

I better get going. Yesterday I accidentally snipped at my finger while peeling a mango, and typing is quite painful. I'll leave you with another shot of my yummy cake. "Matane" means "See you later," in Japanese.

I mentioned that my mom made 100 dresses for Kumi the other day and about half of them arrived in the mail. The dresses are so beautiful and well, there are just so many. Kumi has been dashing around trying on one after another and discarding them in a trail behind her. I'm not sure when my mama is going to send the rest, but I best clear out some serious closet space!

Oh and have you noticed? I am finally getting the hang of Movable Type and just now figured out how to customize my sidebar. I have a few other changes I need to make, but I'm getting there.

I'm addicted. I can't stop sewing. It's like a really intense crush. I think about sewing projects non-stop and get fluttery at the thought of setting up my work area to rev up the cheapo Singer I bought at Target (we live in a small place and space is an issue so I have to put away everything each night). Kumi is starting to run away from me when I approach her with an outfit in one hand and the camera in the other...

Here she is blowing bubbles at me.

And then she was in a better mood after I gave her the new Ugly Doll from obachan (Grandma). The front and back waist bands are totally off on this dress, which is a bummer. Kumi will just have to make sure no one looks at her from the sides.

This dress and the shirt from the other day are from this book:

This one is harder to figure out due to less illustrations and more written instructions. I guess the book is part of "Vogue Japan" and has really amazing clothes. There's an adorable skirt that I want to try next. Buttons and zippers and seam allowances, oh my!

I'm embarrassed to submit this to the wonderful Loobylu's Friday Archives since everyone's past work is so good!!! But here is a little sketch from one of my many many journals. According to the date, this was drawn on December 13, 1999. I was describing my semi-new job as a Production Manager at a small San Francisco company that produced handmade little glass lucky charms. Each glass "stone" was about the size of a half-dollar and had words like "Peace," "Love," and "Happiness" inscribed upon them.

Part of my job required that I don a helmet and full body suit to sandblast the little stones. Every day, I shuffled into the sandblasting room looking like an astronaut and blasted stones for hours. It was quite soothing actually. I remember talking to myself a lot.

In retrospect, I've had a lot of odd jobs like this. My favorite job to date was a winter holiday stint at Nordstroms when I was in high school. I was the official puffy paint personalizer. Do you remember puffy paint? Did you know you can make your own puffy paint? Anyway, I puffy painted hundreds of names and cute illustrations onto various articles of expensive clothing (mostly baby stuff) and my "work" was so well-received that people were sneaking in items from JC Penney's and other stores in the mall for me to personalize. True story!!

The key point of this blouse is the flare of the two-tiered sleeves. Very challenging. But cute, huh? I got the fabric from my mom, who is a tremendous streamstress and I love it when I can make something for free. The olive green part is actually another shirt from Old Navy underneath because the v-neck is quite deep.

I got the pattern from another Japanese book that I can't find on amazon.jp. I'll take photos and post it later! The buttons were added to hide the botch-up job I did with the v-neck section...the result is a preppy-ish blouse with girly sleeves.

I tell ya, I'm lovin' this sewing thing. This desire to create comes from my Mama, I'm sure. She just made a hundred dresses for Kumi. Yes, a hundred. I'll make sure to feature them too!