All this week, I’ve had an image in my mind of another Asian/Autumn-themed collage. There’s a lady in a kimono in it with arms outstretched, kimono and hair blowing in the wind, and autmumn leaves swirling above her head. I kept asking myself, “But why is she there - what’s lead to that point?” I couldn.’t come to satifying conclusion in my head.

Then I headed over to Whip Up to check out the latest articles and lo and behold there was the Week 3 Whiplash Competition theme: No Fear. Bingo! The verse from 1 John 4:18 immediately came to mind: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” And so it all fell into place - love’s release from fear. It’s funny how and when inspiration hits!

So here is my newest fabric collage and my entry into Whiplash Week 3, titled “Love’s Release“:

Materials used were cotton, silk, felt, and sequins. I finally got to make use of some stretchy 1970’s fabric (top right corner) that I won off eBay. The lady’s kimono is a very delicate cotton - a panel taken from an actual used-kimono. In the bottom right corner are three red circles (I don’t know why but most of my collages have 3 circles in them somewhere!) and in the middle circle I’ve drawn the Japanese (Kanji) character for love.

I’ve been looking for an opportunity to make a log cabin pillow and the opportunity finally presented itself in the form of a friend’s housewarming party. I have no idea what the colour scheme of her house is as she’s just moved in so I thought I should incorporate lots of colour and go with a floral/polk-a-dot theme (i.e. girly).

I followed Dacia Ray’s tutorial to guide me through the measuring and piecing part of it. It made the actual process a lot quicker, which I was thankful for given that I was working on this late at night. However, half-way through I realised I didn’t have any batting! I think the pillow eventually turned out OK but the batting would have enhanced the ‘maze’ stitching on the front.

Overall I’m happy with the way it turned out as my first attempt at making this type of pillow. It’s also bigger than I expected, measuring 50cm x 50cm. I hope she likes it!

My 2 new Japanese craft books arrived - just in time for the weekend! Yay!

I purchased both from eBay. The Seller is located in Japan and her eBay store is Simply Japanese Bead Books. Of course, she doesn’t just sell Bead books, but a great variety of Japanese Craft books. I highly recommend buying from her if you’re having difficulties locating Japanese craft books in your area (like me). I had no problems with the transaction - friendly emails and quick delivery.

The one on the left (above) is “Nuigurumi Style” - an extremely popular book amongst Japanese-loving crafters. So, so happy to finally have my own copy! The one on the right (above) is “Iro Iro Nuigurumi“, by Aranzi Aronzo. This book has some really cute, simple dolls - most would make great gifts for little ones. I couldn’t help punctuating every turn of the page with an “Oooh! Oooh!“.

I think I have finally settled on what I will be making for Amber for Back Tack III. As you may have noticed, I enjoy playing around with prints and patterns so it’s more likely that I’ll be making a softie with patterned fabrics, rather than solid fabrics. I’m waiting on 2 fabric packages to arrive and then my Back-Tack III softie will officially be a work-in-progress!

I’ve finally managed to finish my last project for April’s Month of Softies theme, “April Showers”. Depending on what hemisphere you’re in, April showers can mark either the blossoming of Spring or the onset of Autumn. I came across some information that in India, they have an Elephant Festival around this time of year (March/April) to welcome in Spring. With this in mind, I thought I would make some elephant pillows using some gorgeous woven cotton, imported from India. So here they are (named in line with the Indian theme):

Anoop:

Anusha:

Ashwini:

Avani:

I used an original pattern. They all measure approximately 31cm x 22cm and have felt ears and button eyes. I have 2 of each and they will be available in my Etsy shop later tonight.

This collage has been brewing in my mind for some time now. I love the look of the oriental junk boats that you find in Asia - they made a special impression upon me when I visited Hong Kong 2 years ago. I wanted to keep this collage simple and uncluttered and let the fabric do the talking, so to speak.

Again, I did more hand and machine stitching with this collage (rather than adhesives) and incorporated some chinese silk, repro vintage cotton, a few sequins, and both metallic and cotton thread. It measures approximately 28cm x 19cm. I’m going to do some further tweaking, then will mat and frame it, and put it up on Etsy at the end of this week.

I’ve recently mentioned some inspirational and brilliant fabric art/collage crafters in previous posts like Croque-Choux, A Bookish Life, and Dacia Ray. Please do check-out their blogs - you will certainly be inspired by their creativity with fabric, form, and stitches!

I just had to share this latest discovery - one I stumbled across while visiting Colorfool Creates. The website is Kino Textile Works and it’s not in English so unfortunately, I can’t provide more information on the artist/s. A sample of their work is below and you’ll find many more in their Gallery. I love their use of simple shapes, lots of colour, cute motifs, and reflection of the everyday life.

Whilst surfing the craft blogs on my lunch breaks, I’ve come across some very generous souls who have posted up “how-to’s” for bags, tissue pouches and log-cabin pillows. I would love to dive right into these as they’d make great gifts, especially for upcoming Mother’s Day. I haven’t yet had the chance to try them out. They’ve been well written, however, with helpful pictures. Hope you find them useful!

• Tissue-Holder (Pouch) Tutorial put together by Jojo from Stardust Shoes

• Tote Bag Tutorial put together by Colorfool Creates

• Log-Cabin Pillow Tutorial put together by Dacia Ray. I’ve also added her blog to my Crafty Inspiration links - she makes adorable softies and wonderful quilted pieces of art.

I’m on the home stretch in terms of Baby #2 - just 9 weeks to go!!! So I’ve been trying to start and finish as many projects as I can on my list during my spare time. There are a few things slowing me down, though, like the fact that I now move at the pace of a snail, I constantly have to get up and go to the toilet, and my increasing “baby brain”. Being hunched over the sewing machine is getting more and more challenging as well. But I am having a blast getting things done and moving things along - I can’t wait until I go on maternity leave in a few weeks time!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been experimenting with making a bird pillow for my daughter, Ava. Here is my second attempt:

He’s made of soft suede twill, a variety of cotton prints, and felt. I like his round shape and I’m happy with the way his little pyjamas have turned out. However, my daughter is absolutely scared of him! You can’t win, can you :-) Anyway, he’ll be sitting in my little studio for a while until Baby #2 arrives and perhaps he or she will take to him.

I’ve finally completed this Chibi - I can only provide a sneak peek as I want to keep her look a surprise for her recipient, the brilliant Leya of Curious Bird. She’s made of repro vintage cotton and felt.

I’ve also been working on another set of pillows/softies guided by Claire’s Month of Softies theme for April, which is “April Showers“. This time, I’ve used some gorgeous Indian woven cotton. Again, here’s a sneak peek and I will post up pictures of the completed project in a few days time.

And finally, I have picked out the fabrics for the next Chibi - this one will be going to a special fellow crafter, who’s blog inspired me to start this crafting journey. More details in a few days time too!

It’s a wonder how I get anything crafty done given the amount of inspiring finds that I am coming across on the Net! I’ve added 4 new blogs to my Crafty Inspiration links:

• Tree Fall Design: Drooling over her fabric collection, enjoying her thrift-finds and her new apple and pear cushions.

• A Bookish Life: Through Tree Fall Design I found this blog - so inspired by her quilted art pieces!

• The Black Apple: She’s amazingly creative, and I love her paintings and softies!

• The Pointy Sister: I found Amber’s blog through Back-Tack III as I will be making a softie for her. Her craft blog is quite new but I’m sure you’ll enjoy her brilliant softies.

Speaking of Back-Tack III, it’s game on and I’m so excited not only to get into making a softie for Amber but also receiving one from the talented Amy. I am expecting some Japanese craft books in the mail anyday now and so will look to those for inspiration when thinking about a softie for Amber - we were given 3 patterns to chose from for Back-Tack III but I think I will take the 4th option and come up with something different (with Amber’s blessing of course!).

Up until yesterday, all my crafting was done on the dining table. My sewing machine was perched on one end of the table, in the middle lay my works-in-progress, and at the other end would be where I would do my cutting and hand-sewing. My box of fabrics sat by the dining room window. Dinner-time meant packing everything up, and having guests come to visit meant moving all of it into a corner somewhere. My inquisitive little daughter would frequently come over and try to get her cute hands into anything that I was working on. It definitely wasn’t an ideal arrangement!

So I thought and thought about where I could set-up my own little studio in our house given that my crafting itch wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. We were in the middle of setting-up a new room for my daughter so that her old room could be used as my soon-to-arrive second child’s room. Then it hit me - we had a small free corner in our upstairs leisure room! All I needed was a compact table for the sewing machine and cheap chest of drawers for the fabric and paper goods I had. In a few hours of solid work, my very own corner of the house was complete:

The desk I bought for the machine is actually a computer desk but it works well as a sewing table. The chest of drawers are from Ikea and the plastic drawers have been covered with some extra upholstery fabric I had lying around. The big white box on the corner table holds all the items I’ve completed and am selling, and then I have two little tables for my works-in-progress and my inspiration notebook. I have a large floor space in the middle for doing all my cutting, which works best for me and my 7-month belly!

It’s a wonderfully bright room during the day and nice and cosy at night. I’m thrilled to have my own little studio where I can craft to my heart’s content and not have to worry about moving everything when guests visit. Without a TV in the room, I think I’ll be a little more productive too!

I’m currently alternating between experimenting with softies and experimenting with fabric collages. I am SO, SO, SO tempted to go out and purchase some additional materials for my stash but at the same time, I’m committed to using what I have this month. To put it into perspective, my whole stash fits into one 50cm x 50cm x 50cm box. It’s a great challenge but can get somewhat frustrating when I have an idea in my head yet can’t make it happen with what I’ve got :-)

I’ve been playing around with making with my own softie patterns - I’m still new to making softies so I’ve tried to keep things really simple like my Chibi softies. I’ve been toying around with simple bird patterns and wanted to make something like a pillow for my little girl to cuddle up to. This is what I came up with:

He’s made of printed courduroy, one of my favourite repro vintage fabrics (which you’ll probably notice has featured quite a lot in my latest creations!), and wool felt. He’s a bit “squarer” than I had envisioned. I’ll try for a rounder shape with the next one and one that is bigger - this one stands at about 30cm and is about 25cm in width. I like the look of the printed courduroy but it isn’t the cuddliest of fabrics so I may try something else with the next one.

Speaking of softies, most of you probably know of Hillary Lang from Wee Wonderfuls. We all know how amazingly creative she is and I just adore the soft toys she makes. I always seem to be too late when some of them go up for sale. If you haven’t done so, you should check out her Flickr Gallery for her softies - they are truly inspirational. My favourites are these:

• Merryweather
• Petunia
• Judy
• Katia