blatant random silliness

dylan's new train bag

Dylan holding his new train bag.

Yesterday, I finished a bag I've been working on to hold all of Dylan's trains. I used Shinkansen fabric from my Japanese fabric stash. He liked it when I first showed it to him and had fun putting the trains in and out of the pockets.

But, at bedtime last night, he was not so happy about putting the trains into the new bag. He wanted them in the old bag. The old bag is what inspired the new bag. You see, all the trains bang together in the old bag, and the paint chips (bath time makes that worse) and they look worse for wear. So, I thought making a bag with a pocket for each train would be just the ticket. Only time will tell whether the new bag will win Dylan's favor. Here's hoping.

Dylan takes a train out of his bag.

Dylan's Photo Wall

Denny got these fun wall frames for me for Christmas. I thought they'd go great in the playroom and printed out photos to stick up. The frames are restickable and reuseable which is great since we'll move again one day.

Dylan really likes the pictures. His favorite is Elmo. He says "hi" to Elmo and introduces his trains to him. IT's so cute how he tells you what he sees in a picture. He says "this about Elmo" and "this about Thomas". Cutie boy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We made these puppets on Tuesday. Unfortunately, Dylan got sick today so we couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving the way we had planned. We were going over to Tina's house to eat. Instead, Denny took our part of dinner over, and brought back plates for us to eat at home. Our poor little guy is sleeping soundly. Here's hoping for a good night's sleep and a well boy tomorrow.

Y!

The other night I was inspired to make a stuffed version of Dylan's current favorite letter (and the first letter he started recognizing).  One side is a patterned fabric from Ikea, and the other side is felt.  I added a little yarn "hair" on top, and after these photos were taken, I needle felted on eyes and a mouth (I'll have to photograph again).  I think I'm going to keep going and make each letter in his name, then add fasteners so they can be hooked together.  Now I just need a trip to the fabric store...*grin*.

dylan's stocking

I finally got on the ball yesterday and started making a stocking for Dylan.  And just in the nick of time, seeing as how today is Christmas Eve.  I cut out the stocking shape from red felt.  Then, I cut out my snowman shapes from light blue felt.  I then needle felted the white of the snowman, then the eyes and nose and hat.  I added the arms and the scarf.  And then decided the hat needed some holly.  I finished the snowman yesterday, and sewed the stocking together.  My task this morning was to finish the top of the stocking and add Dylan's name.  I cut the top out of green felt, and needle felted Dylan's name.  Then I sewed that to the stocking, flipped it over, and voila... a completed stocking.  I am very pleased with the way it all came out.  I really enjoy needle felting..it's like sculpting with fibers...and is a forgiving art.  And did I mention that it doesn't take forever to do?  Perfect for a girl like me who is short on free time and impatient some days.  Now, I just have to make stockings for Denny and I.  Maybe I'll start a little earlier next year.  :)

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christmas party

A couple of weeks ago, Denny, Bethany and I hosted the band's annual Christmas Party.  In the past, there have been two parties, one for the kids and one for the adults.  This year, because the band has shrunk considerably, we decided to do one family party.  Our main goal was to make it feel like home...we wanted a cozy atmosphere to set the mood for the party.  Denny's idea was to make a faux fireplace.  So, he found some boxes and we made the bricks using a sponge dipped in paint. I made the flames out of cardboard that I painted.  I cut slits in the base box and put the flames in to give a 3-D affect.  And we strung some christmas lights in between the flames to make them glow. 

The party was a big success, and we had a lot of fun putting it all together.  Bethany had crafts for the kids, there was lots of delicious food ( I cooked a big ham), and we had silly door prizes from the 100 yen store.  To make it even more personal, every person had their own stocking with a fun little gift inside.  It was a great way to kick off the Christmas season. 

I think I'm caught up with my posting now.  Yay! 

feeling crafty

We recently took a trip to Joyful Honda, where they have an amazing craft store.  I always want to buy lots of different things when I go.  This time, I was taken with the felting supplies.  I had seen some beautiful felting at the recent Arts and Crafts festival on base, and decided I wanted to try it (click here to see).  So, I bought some wool fibers in different colors and a little kit to make little felt balls with.  I also found a book on felting for 280yen.  When I got home, I happened to see a article on making your own felt needles in Craft Magazine with a link to a needle felting tutorial online.  Needless to say I decided to dive right in and make this little guy.  Isn't he cute? Here's how the wool looks before it's felted:

The process is really quite simple.  To make the balls, you pull off some wool and wad it up.  The system I bought is two plastic baskets with handles.  You put the wad of wool inside, then dunk it in a mixture of water with a little bit of soap added and swirl it around.  Then you shake it, and dunk it and shake it until a ball is formed.  Then you let it dry.  The fun part is the needle felting.  It's like you are sculpting with fibers.  The eyes and buttons really only take a very small about of fiber....enough that it could be fuzz from your sweater.  You form them into little balls and then use a needle to push them into the base.  The hat is all needle felted, you shape your wad of wool using needles that are pushed in as you turn the wool on a foam base.  I stabbed myself a couple of times...luckily there was no blood.  Making this little guy didn't take too much time either.  I made the balls one night in about 10 minutes.  Then, two nights later, I did the rest in about an hour (while I was waiting for the new Mac OS to install).  Yay for fun, quick crafts!

I should note that the snowman is held together by felting, not by glue or thread.  You push the needle through the felt you want to join and it magically holds together really well.  Amazing!

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sew fun

I cleaned off my worktable last week, and was inspired to just make something, anything.  I recently received my moo cards in the mail (like little business cards) and thought I'd make a case for them.  And so during nap time, I made a case.  The case is also a good size for my cellphone.  This burst of creativity inspired me to do more. 

My little card carrying case.

That night, while we were playing Scrabble, I decided we needed a drawstring bag to keep all of the tiles in (we play on my grandparents old scrabble board from 1948..and incidentally, it was a really bad night for vowels).  The next day, I whipped up a little bag.  And then, I made another one, just a little bit improved.  I also found some great little embellishments that my friend Jen sent for Christmas (along with a LOT Of beads....should do something with those soon).

Not a vowel in site.  Side note:  Denny and I really like to play scrabble, and we always joke around about "redneck scrabble" and come up with silly misspelled words and made up words and justify them by using them in a sentence.  Always good for quite a few giggles.

My second drawstring bag.

Denny then asked me to make a pick pouch for his guitar picks....and his was the best one yet.  I've had such fun creating things....I'm not using patterns...just making it up as I go along.  I think that's part of my motivation.....just creating for the sake of creating.  Not waiting until I find the right thing to make or the right fabric to use.  Just using what I have and going for it.  This also makes the projects go a bit quicker as well.

Denny's magic pick pouch (he asked me to put some magic in it...so I did *grin*).

My next undertaking was a tote bag.  I bought some really cool fabric last October the week before Dylan was born.  We took Denny's mom to my quilt teacher's fabric store in Hanno.  Such wonderful fabric!  I had to buy some and I did.  I pulled it out, and did a little sketch for my tote bag.  And I put it together in two days, during naps and after Dylan's bedtime.  I added some pockets on the outside and inside, and lined it as well. 

My tote bag.

I have lots of fabric remnants , so I'll probably start putting them together into more little bags.  Maybe I'll tackle a purse project next.  Who knows.  When I figure it out, I'll be sure to post more photos.  We did visit Joyful Honda (a large department store/mall) today and I got a couple of craft/sewing books....maybe I can find some inspiration there.

our friend Shan

Our friend Shantell Martin has recently been making a name for herself on the Tokyo art scene.  We met Shantell a couple of years ago when she was living in Fussa and working at the local Junior High School teaching English.  Since then, she moved closer to the center of Tokyo and started working on her illustrations.  And at the beginning of the year, she vowed to do something with them.  And do something she did.  She's been "live-drawing" along to music in clubs.  She draws as the music plays and her work is projected on a screen behind the band so you can watch her art unfold.  It's really quite amazing.  You can check it out on YouTube. This clip shows Shan drawing along with a circuit-bending group.  I personally had to watch with my computer muted just because I don't quite "get" the whole circuit-bending thing.....not for me personally. The photo above is from a pingmag article about a collaboration between Shantell and a fashion designer.  The results are stunning.  So, congrats to Shantell.  Keep up the good work! 

Here's her new website: www.shantellmartin.com

dragonfly quilt

Sue (Denny's mom) made a beautiful dragonfly quilt for baby Dylan. She finished off the binding yesterday, and today we photographed it. It really ties into the nursery perfectly....even though she started it in April...way before we got the room together. The really cool part is that the wings are 3D (see the photos below), so Dylan can tug on them. Too cute! Here are some more photos:

Sue finishing the binding (the edge on the outside of the quilt) by hand.

A close up so you can see the wings of the dragonflys.

Can't wait to take a photo of the baby on the quilt!

We are in week 39, and just waiting around. My due date is Thursday. So, could be anytime now for the baby to pop out. My feet and ankles are swollen most of the time now. And my hands are starting to get achy and a little swollen too. Oh, and my belly button is flat and almost an outie. And that's the baby update. (tic....toc....tic....toc....tic.....toc)