Category: making other stuff

Kimono obi fabric caps

Someone sent me a link to a tutorial video on Youtube. And once on Youtube, you know that you’ve got to click all those related videos that look interesting on the side bar. Two hours later I came across a tutorial video on Proper Fit Clothing co. channel for making caps. The tutorial was very good! It was very interesting to see all kinds of machines used to sew a single cap. The person said that the cap can also be sewed on regular sewing machine though so I got curious about it. The cap  pattern is available for USD1.5 on a […]

Dog bed

As Monte has destroyed the big pillow that he used as his bed, I thought that I would make a proper dog bed for Duff. Yes I could have bought it, but where’s the fun of it? After searching for some DIY dog bed on the internet, I found one via Pinterest that I quite like. Unfortunately the Pinterest link only pointed to the image with no explanation of the original creator. The watermark shows a username on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging service. If you are the owner of the image, or you know who owns the image, please tell […]

Needle felting newbie

If you’re following me on Instagram or twitter, you might know that recently I have found a new hobby. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon some very cheap wool rovings in a local market and bought them in a whim. I played with them for a couple of days, making balls and simple shapes. My husband and Sidra even got interested to join along. And in turn, Sidra’s friends got interested to try as well. For several days, my living room looks like a needle-felting after school workshop with kids sitting around the table poking with needles. They seem […]

A guest post and A Best Top!

It is raining outside and the sky is a bit dark, but there are sunshine in my house because I have two wonderful news today! By now, you must have been following the Free Pattern Month over at Grosgrain blog. If you haven’t, you should check it out! It is a whole month devoted for wonderful free pattern and tutorial by several guests from around the blogosphere, one pattern each day! Kathleen is always so full of ideas! I’m so honored to be one of her guest too! Please check out my guest post today where I’m sharing a pattern and […]

Cockroach plush tutorial

A cockroach plushie? Who needs cute bear or cat plushies? I’m sure every boy would love a huggable cockroach! This is Sidra’s favorite toy at the moment, he calls it Gokiburi-kun (gokiburi means… well, cockroach). The cockroach is basically just an oval shape pillow with legs. The wings and head are made with leftover dupioni silk that I dyed brown. The original color of the silk was silver, and the shimmers would make a perfect cockroach. The body is made with cotton/linen fabric with interesting texture, leftover from my husband’s shirt. Fancy your own giant cockroach? Carry on! Disclaimer: For […]

Christmas platypuses

Since moving to Tokyo, Sidra has been exposed to Christmas things and activities from friends and school, so it’s only natural that he wants to have Christmas too at home. Last year, I bought him a (very) small Christmas tree that he can decorate at home with those blinking lights and all. He was very happy about it. This year, my husband and I are planning to give him Christmas presents too because he has been asking for them. Actually we don’ usually celebrate Christmas or any other days. The things celebrated in our home are only birthdays and anniversaries. […]

Little things

I joined a small cooking class in the neighborhood and they had a Christmas potluck party yesterday. I always got nervous whenever I have to meet people, and this time I had to make something edible for them! The fact that my skill in the kitchen is not something to be proud of didn’t help either. So I spent the whole week getting nervous about it. I ended up making sweet Indonesian (Javanese) dessert called ‘Jenang Grendul’, it is one of my favorite food when I was a kid. This dessert is some kind of sweet porridge with little balls made […]

Bye bye Baon-chan

Have you ever heard of a wonderful project called Softies for Mirabel? The Mirabel Foundation is based in Melbourne, providing help to children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to their parents drug addiction. Once a year, they collect handmade softies for the children so they can have a friend to snuggle down with. Before they were donated, the softies will be displayed for a week in the window of Meet me at Mike’s store. You can click the link above to read more about this wonderful project. I have told Sidra several times that I was going to make something for […]

2010 2010 = 40!

Today is my husband’s 40th birthday! Sidra and I had been thinking about a present for Papa, and he (sneakily) suggested that I should make a plush doll for Papa. Actually my husband likes plushies and other cute stuff, but he never bought one for himself because… , well, because he’s a grown man, I guess? So I think it’s time he has his own plush toy. I let Sidra choose a plushie pattern from Funky Friends Factory, but this time I went directly to the website to buy the PDF pattern. Sidra chose this Platypus pattern for Papa, it’s a […]

Chiko-kun, the baby dino

I woke up with terrible sore throat and headache today. I guess I caught the virus from Sidra, who has been having colds for a couple of days. Despite the cough and runny nose, he’s still very active and happy though, unlike me who who’d rather stay in bed and feel sorry for myself. >_< We both stayed at home and had some rest today. But then Sidra asked about his dino plush toy that I’ve promised him to finish, so I headed to my sewing room. I began to stuff the dino with some stuffing when I accidentally rip the […]