Summer Crafting Leftovers

I promised I would share my odds and ends of summer crafting, and I'm finally getting around to it. It's nothing spectacular, I warn you.
My "let's get back into knitting" project I previewed ages ago. It's a simple bow headband you can make with only the skills of casting on, knit stitch, and finishing off. It's called the It's a Cinch Head Wrap and Collar and the pattern is free and easily done in a day (even for slow beginners like me).

Here I am modeling it in my then newly made Archer shirt. With the heat, it's a goofy combination. For some reason, I think I look flapper-esque wearing it.

Over the summer I discovered a yarn shop in Fukuyama that dyes and winds custom yarns for you. They're a bit pricey, but worth it if you want something unique. I bought this pre-made skein because I loved the colors. I haven't picked a project for it yet. I had one in mind, but I'm fickle. 

Towards the end of summer, I attended a community class done by the vice principal at one of my schools. He showed us ladies how to do some basic woodworking to create necklaces and brooches. I really struggled with designing mine, because all my ideas were too elaborate and required too much work for a 4 hour class. My VP told me to go natural and organic in shape, so I tried to aim for a leaf-like shape, but it looks more like a tooth, doesn't it?

I never knew woodworking was so tough. All the time went to sanding and polishing. Some ladies chose wood blocks that looked like shiny gemstones when they were finished, but mine turned out pretty plain. Adding the small gemstones added a little pizazz. I'm not in love with it, but it was a fun experience and it's neat to say "I made my necklace."

With the transition from summer to fall being a long one this year, I've been struggling to plan out what I want to sew. Right now, I'm working on a navy twill Beignet skirt from Colette Patterns, and I have a Grainline Scout Tee I want to make up before it gets cold. I'm moving so ridiculously slow that I should change my blog name to Slow Sewist.

What are you all working on and keeping busy with as it turns chilly? 

So You Think You Can Sew

Hi guys and gals, how was your weekend?
Sorry it's been quiet from me!
I've been madly trying to work on my Bombshell swimsuit, but it seems I'm cursed. I don't think I'll ever complete a sew-along on time... I work at my own pace and sometimes struggle too much to be on a schedule. For the Bombshell, I hit the snag of the fact my sewing machine refused to sew stretchy material correctly.

 I ended up having to order a walking foot online (which works like a dream, might I add) and it dashed my hopes of staying on the sew-along schedule. Not wanting to give up on participating in a sew-along, I resigned myself to give up on getting the Bombshell done on time and looked forward to the Hawthorn Sewalong being done by Colette. I have a golden rule not to start a project without finishing the one I'm working on though, so it looks like I'm out on Hawthorn also.
I shouldn't be so hard on myself, but I'm such a slow sewist! Plus, I have other interests that greatly distract me (I bought a 3DS last week, for one). My sewing queue is growing, which is probably a good thing with my upcoming summer vacation. The sewing blogging community is both a good and bad influence. I find so much inspiration from it, yet other times it can be like the friend you take shopping and tells you to buy everything that piques your interest, even if you don't know if it will work for you and you're on the fence. This is why my list of things to sew is growing! I'm looking forward to having things to do during my summer break at least.
How about you? What do you have planned for summer?

Jammies, Plants, and a Phone Cover

Well kids, the school year's over here and next week starts a new one. I've been feeling a bit crafty with the change of seasons and the sudden free time I've gotten.
First, I finished a sewing project I started in the fall, but thanks to honeymoon/school/life, put off for a long time. I'm a firm believer in only having 1 project at a time when it comes to sewing clothes, otherwise with my fickle attitude, I'd never finish anything. Since I'm still a beginner, sometimes I have to put something down and return to it with a fresh state of mind when I don't quite understand the directions. Lo and behold, I finished a set of manly yet cozy flannel pajamas, just in time for warmer sleeping weather. I can't wait to shed the poofy fleece marshmellow jammies I currently wear for the sake of warmth and wear these.

See what I mean about them not being at all girly?

Next I bought some new plants to freshen up my tiny, yardless apartment. Last year I grew basil and chives, two really easy edible plants. This year I stepped up and bought a strawberry plant and parsley, which are currently taking shelter from the chilly air in my makeshift greenhouse of a window, next to my Ikea cacti. 

No, that's not my car outside the window.

Last, I just finished a project I stumbled upon online. I've been in the market for a new iphone case, but am turned off by the designs and prices of what's available. I found an iphone case you can cross stitch, and even though my embroidery knowledge is pretty much non-existant, it looked simple enough because it came with a book. The book had directions and some simple pattern designs (here's the book and case set, sorry it's in Japanese). I didn't really like any in the book, so I laid out some graph paper and made my own design. It turned out pretty kitschy and cheezy, but I like it. The great part about it is, when I get sick of it, I can take out the stitches and make a new design. Maybe my next design will be a tribute to 8-bit gaming like Mario. 

The girliest phone cover, brought to you by the girl in the manliest pajamas.

I've got a little more time left in my spring break, so I'm off to go find my next crafty project. Will report in again soon!

Holiday Challenge #1: Christmas

When you live abroad, you miss a lot of things from home during the holidays, but you recreate, reminisce, and make new traditions. It's a chance to evaluate what traditions are important to you, and which ones you want and can do now that you're in a different place. If you're lucky like me, you'll have family who will be there for you, even when they can't do it physically. While I can't gather with them and have a feast, I am always excited to see the package from my mom and set up my Christmas tree with the presents from America.
Christmas is largely commercial here in Japan with its own new takes on traditions. Japanese people go on dates and eat cake and fried chicken on Christmas. They decorate small trees and sometimes give presents, but usually only to their children or sweethearts. Decorated houses can be seen here and there, if you happen to have ambitious neighbors willing to pay high electric bills.

This week I was working on putting up my own illumination: my Christmas tree. My cheap white tree had gotten discolored, so I was a bit excited to go buy a new and bigger one with my husband, thus laying the groundwork for our own holiday traditions. At the nearby home store, they had trees of various sizes, lights, and sets of colorful ornaments. We made our purchases and set up the tree in our living room with carols playing in the background. It looked marvellous and cheerful, the lights having just about any sort of twinkle setting you could imagine. But something was missing.

My family's tree at home wasn't a fashionable, store-bought tree. It was a collection of memories gathered over the years in the form of mismatching ornaments. I remember these little wooden blue birds I loved to put on the tree as a kid, and the personalized apple I received from my first grade teacher. There were candles I made at school, and fragile blown glass ornaments received as gifts. Even the last ornament I bought in America, a goofy pineapple in reference to the TV show Psych, had a special place in my heart.
Looking at my Japan tree, I felt it was a sad shell of a tradition I had unknowingly loved dearly. Here it was my first Christmas married, year 1 of making my own family rituals, and all I did was buy some generic decor. I decided to make a commemoration ornament of our first Christmas together, and since I lacked the ability to easily buy such a thing, I set out to make it. I decided to make it simple, so I sketched something out and turned to my sewing table. I didn't unleash my Martha Stewart elegant craft skills as much as I DIYed something out of existing materials. The result was this:

While it doesn't look like much now, maybe someday the hubby and I can look on this ornament and smile.

She Bangs

Summer vacation's drawing to a close, and I'm sadly looking at my summer goal list:

• Spend a weekend at the beach swimming and barbecuing. I tried to make plans to do this, but they fell through. There's always next summer!

• Work on my sewing skills by making some small projects and work up to the level of making clothes  I made the dress!

Excuse the awful picture. I still had food poisoning.

• Write and receive more mail. If you'd like to exchange letters/cards... I'm looking to go old school and find some good snail mail pen pals to write to. I started vigorously with around 5 pen pals, but now letters are starting to slow down and it's getting easier to keep up and catch up with my pen friends.

• Get back in the habit of Japanese study, whether it be in the form of a textbook or reading/watching fun things in Japanese. Maybe I can find a good drama to become engrossed in. Well, I never got into a good habit of studying every day but got into this 15 minute slice of life episodic drama called Umechan Sensei, which is about a girl growing up in post-war Japan who becomes a doctor.

• Find myself a good sport (i.e. mode of exercise) to enjoy through the heat and humidity. I really failed at this one. I've been trying to get back into yoga as of this week. 

• Use the internet less. Less mindless surfing and more hobby time. Maybe I shouldn't cross this one off...

• Try salt on watermelon (upon my student's recommend)  I tried it, and I don't see what all the fuss is about. Sweet watermelon needs nothing to be eaten.

• Go on a mini road trip and use my car's ETC for the first time (ETC is the automatic electronic toll collection system for the highways). What can I say, I always made my husband drive, or I drove his car. Oops.

• Find myself the essential summer romance book and have a day at the park or beach reading. If you've ever lived in Japan, you know it's so ridiculously hot and humid here that I would fear roasting myself or melting my Kindle if I read outside. I read some interesting books, but all in the safety of my house.

• Make a travel scrapbook It's not very fancy, but it's made:

On another note, I did something a bit crazy for myself that I've never done before, and it's related to the awful Ricky Martin post title... I got bangs!

(Bangs were stolen from Zooey Dechanel to make this hairstyle possible)

Back to school I go! I hope it cools down here soon. Taka and I are already planning our next trip. Now that we've conquered western Japan, we're going to be heading east in a few weeks to finish the Kansai region of Japan by visiting Wakayama and Mie prefectures. Stay cool, everyone!

Motives

Time for the first update on my summer goals:

• Spend a weekend at the beach swimming and barbecuing.
• Work on my sewing skills by making some small projects and work up to the level of making clothes

I've made a skirt, and now I'm aiming to do a dress:

• Write and receive more mail. If you'd like to exchange letters/cards... I'm looking to go old school and find some good snail mail pen pals to write to.

I've got a few pen pals I've been writing to... and it's a lot of fun! We talk about our homes, ramble, exchange recipes...

• Get back in the habit of Japanese study, whether it be in the form of a textbook or reading/watching fun things in Japanese. Maybe I can find a good drama to become engrossed in.

I'm doing a Japanese verb workbook sporadically so I don't think I can cross this one off yet.

• Find myself a good sport (i.e. mode of exercise) to enjoy through the heat and humidity
• Use the internet less. Less mindless surfing and more hobby time.
• Try salt on watermelon (upon my student's recommend)

I tried Salty Watermelon Pepsi, but that doesn't count (by the way, I think it's tasty).

• Go on a mini road trip and use my car's ETC for the first time (ETC is the automatic electronic toll collection system for the highways).
• Find myself the essential summer romance book and have a day at the park or beach reading.

I'm adding one more goal (aren't I feeling overzealous?):

• Make a travel scrapbook

This one stems from the fact that I go on all these trips and have accumulated a ton of ticket stubs and pamphlets. I want to put them into something nicer than the manila envelope they currently reside in.

On the topic of goals, this weekend is the Obon holiday in Japan, so Taka and I are gonna cross off another prefecture on our list. See that red prefecture all the way to the bottom left? That's Miyazaki.

It's a bit of a challenge to get to (there's no shinkansen bullet train line to there) and it'll be a long road trip, but I'm looking forward to eating one of these:

Mango is the local fruit and eating one of these parfaits is a requirement! I'd like to be wearing the above-mentioned dress while eating it, but we'll see how that goes.

Half an update

Just wanted to show off my not-so-impressive finished sewing projects. It was also an excuse to use my frame and label photo app.