Bobo-box!

Today I made two fabric boxes with sarubobo plush.

When I make new items, I usually make two or three ones because to reduce the cost. It takes less time than making only one item.


But this time, I made a mistake. (* - *)

I wanted to put this purple flower printed fabric on the purple gingham check!

I wanted to put this red flower printed fabric on the red gingham!!!!


I realized it when I finished one box.
I had no energy to unstitch my one hour work...

Then I put a sarubobo plush on each top. I didn't put the little sarubobo on the red.

It's my boyfriend's advice. The red one seemed to want something in it's hands.
But now, I feel the purple one lonely.
I'll make other baby for it too.


Ciao !!!!!

My friend "Bo-chan"

Bo-chan is always sitting in front of his house.
Mostly he is sleeping in cool breeze.

I first met him 3-4 years ago.
I first touched him only several months ago when I walked with my boyfriend.

I wanted to touch him every time I saw him, but I was afraid if he didn't want to be touched by so many people. Most of people who walk the street go to him and touch him.

But gradually, I realized he seemed pleased staying with people.
So I went to him, and touched him. He had never moved till when I touched him, but then he raised his head.
After that day, he began to raise his head when he noticed us.
We began to go to him two or three times a week and talk to him.

I like his smile.

I've never seen his bad face even if he has many trouble in his body. I heard from his owner that he suffered from urinary problems because of the weakness. He is twelve years old and is not in good health.

But he always seems happy.
He is always very calm and peaceful.
So we like to go to see him.

I wish he could stay there and meet many people as far as possible.

Thank you very much Bo-chan! You are one of our best friends!

How to make a Fairy hat pot holder

My boyfriend named this pot holder from the shape.
It's of very simple and easy pattern, so I explain the way to make it.

You need,
the outer fabric, the inner fabric, batting, lace or string(to hang it), and tape or bias tape(for the edge).

The pattern is a half circle of 11.5 cm (or 4.5 inches) diameter.
Cut the fabrics and batting with 5mm allowance for each. I put double layer of batting because it is thin.

Put them together and baste it.


Quilt it. I used Sashiko cotton embroidery thread and I embroidered also some flower motifs.


Fold it in half and put the lace on the top like the picture below.

Be careful to put the inner fabric(red gingham) outside.


Sew it well. If you sew it roughly, you can see the thread from the outside because of its thickness. So I sew it two times and also sew it with whipstitch to avoid fraying.


Turn it out.



Cut the cotton tape as the line of the edge and put it at the edge and sew it. At the end, Fold the edge and pile it on the beginning.

Then turn it out and fold the tape in half and sew it with blind stitch.

You did it!

Use it like the picture.


I made two pot holders with different stitches.

In the rainy Sunday night, I made these in three hours.
I was happy in the sound of the rain, sewing my favorite stitches.
(* v *)!!!!

Sarubobo mobiles

I made two style of Sarubobo mobiles.


The one is my favorite style, flying sarubobo.
I used my favorite frog print cotton for them. But it seems too green, so I added my favorite buttons on the cotton tape.



Today, I made more twelve sarubobo plushes with black and pink cotton fabrics.
I thought how to hang them, and decided to put a coin in their hands.


I hand stitched with Sashiko cotton embroidery thread on the coins, and tie them with linen code.

After I made them, I noticed that they coud stand also (* v *).



I made four mobiles with coins, so now I have four sarubobo plushes left.
Now they are watching me and saying to me, "What do you put in our hands?".

Sarubobo patchwork cloth and coasters

I made some sarubobo in this weekend.

I put four of them on the patchwork cloth what I made in the same way as my patchwork furoshiki.
They holds four corners so you can use it to cover something. So I made the cloth smaller than my usual furoshiki.


And I put other four sarubobo on my patchworks coasters.

I put elastic on their hands to keep the coasters. They can stand with coasters (* v *).



I wanted to put something in their hands.
(* v *)!

And today, I sold my 300th item on ETSY.
I feel happy so I made a petit gift for her and put it in the package.
I knew she got some Japanese fabrics from other shops (from her feedbacks), so I put some Japanese fabrics. And I put my sarubobo in it (* v *).
I hope she likes them.


And this is my favorite sarubobo made with Nordic flower printed cotton.
They have a button flower (* v *).

I'm thinking the name of this pouch...

It's difficult to name my items every time.


Last night, I made two dog pouches who brings a flower for you.
At first, I thought, "A dog brought you a flower pouch".
And my boyfriend said, "Flower dog pouch", or "A dog presents you a flower pouch".


Umm,,,

It's difficult to put a good name.
Of course, I enjoy naming every time. But always I think if I were a native English speaker, or, if I could name them in Japanese.


I love this flower print fabric very much! I got it in an sale (* v *)!!!!!

See you!

Sarubobo pincushion and D.I.Y. kit for it

My friend, EmiShimosato(http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=13887) gave me an idea to make a pincushion with Sarubobo.

So I made them!


It's very small and simple pattern. I could make one in less than one hour.
So I decided to make a D.I.Y. kit for the pincushion.

I wrote a step-by-step tutorial with illustrations. My advantage should be hand stitching so I wanted to write it by my hand (* v *)!

And the pattern is also handwritten and hand cut by me!

I'm really enjoying to make this kit. It's fun to think the matching of the fabrics, thread and the button.


Thank you very much for EmiShimosato and everyone who gave me a comment for my sarubobo!

Our lunch today

Our usual lunch is this.

Rice, gohan.


For the main, I grilled tuna. I put some pieces of tuna in soy sauce, garlic and ginger for a coupe of days. And I sauted some vegetables, leek, cabbage and carrot.

Yesterday I made Japanese pickles. I put some cucumber in a bottle with a salt, suger and mustard.
The tomato is as is.

The last one is very Japanese. Plum flavored seaweed paste. It's very good with Japanese rice, gohan.

My kitchen is really small, maybe you cannot call it as a kitchen. So it's hard to cook there. But I love cooking and eating a lot, I enjoy cooking every day.
I want to tell you someday how small room I live in with my boyfriend.

See you!