Housewarming Gift

No sewing for a week. I had to take my sewing machine in for servicing. I accidentally sewed through my cutting mat. Now I have a pinhole in my mat. Oh well, my sewing machine was due for servicing anyway. It hasn't been in for over two years, I think. I'm glad it will only take a week. Maybe I can get my scraps under control. They're a mess.

I also have a picture of the quilt I sent to my brother and his wife for their house warming gift. It is the Japanese Buzzsaw Quilt I started over a year ago. Barbara  did a beautiful job of quilting it, as always. This is my second quilt.

Here is a picture of the front and the back. I had to piece the back because I didn't have enough fabric for the back. Luckily, I had enough leftover fabric from the front of the quilt. I love how it turned out. I wanted to keep it, but knowing that I loved it, I knew they would love it too. I did tell them that if they didn't like it, they could send it back to me, (heh, heh) but no such luck luckily, they loved it. That makes me happy. Now to start on another one...hopefully, this next one will be for me. 

Sakura-Ningyo

These dolls were at my MIL's house. I couldn't see just dumping them no matter how much I didn't like them. We don't have room at our house. The dolls are about two feet tall, have real hair, are made from cloth and are in excellent condition.


I called around, but no one could tell me if they were worth anything. I finally emailed a doll expert on Antiques Roadshow and sent him these pictures. He emailed his friend, Alan Pate, who said that these dolls are sakura-ningyo made from a kit popular in the 1920s. 


We'll be looking to donate them somewhere. I guess they're not worth much, if anything...learned something in the process, though.

Chinese New Year at Ala Moana Center

We were at Ala Moana Shopping Center the week after Chinese New Year to buy shoes for my daughter's prom dress and we saw all these different clubs performing all over the center. There were at least two clubs per floor. We saw this one while shopping at the Apple store for a hard drive. It turned out to be my daughter's classmate's club.
The sales person at the Apple store told us that the club will only go to the store if they have the red envelope out in front of the store.

Note where the red envelope is. It took them a while to get it. Can you see it?

Later, we saw another club at Robins. The red envelop was right below the B. They had to have the head jump on the tail's shoulders to get the envelope. I took a video of it, but I have to figure out how to post it.

Betty Crocker Mixes

Times Supermarket had the Betty Crocker gluten free mixes on sale, so I thought get them to try them. There are four of them. The first one I tried was the cookie mix. We had a meeting to go to and had to bring some dessert. I thought I'd take the cookies for dessert, but they were a disappointment. They turned out flat and crumbled when you tried to pick them up to eat them. I ended up buying oatmeal raisin cookies from Safeway for the meeting. I took some of my crumbly cookies to eat, but not to share. : (

Next, I tried the yellow cake mix and made cupcakes for a lunch. These were delicious. I left them unfrosted because I wasn't sure if the frosting was gluten free. I took them to the lunch, but hardly anyone ate them. Was it because they were unfrosted? Oh well, more for me. YUM! They're gone now, but they were so good I'd buy this mix again.

Wattle Seed Muffins

I finally tried this gluten free muffin mix my brother sent me from Oz made with wattle seeds. I used applesauce instead of macadamia nut oil or butter. It was very moist because of the applesauce. As soon as I opened the bag, I felt sick from the smell. I did taste a little of it, but I couldn't handle eating it. My husband said it tasted like coffee. Oh well, my voice teacher loved it because of this. Thanks anyway, bro, sorry I couldn't handle eating it.

Water Bottle Carrier #2 and Seam Rippers

This is a picture of the first water bottle carrier I made for my husband. I made the mistake of using nylon for the outside and the inside. The nylon on the outside wasn't very sturdy and started ripping.

This is a picture of the new carrier I made for him. It has denim on the outside, nylon on the inside, and is much sturdier than the last one. Again, I used Carol's pattern. This time I did not embroider anything on the outside. It's just plain. My husband really likes it.

Recently, while I was reading The Quilter's Message Board, there was a thread about seam rippers. The question was asked if seam rippers can become dull. It appears that they can and it is difficult to find a way to sharpen them.

I've had my seam ripper for 20+ years...I never knew that they could become dull. They talked about using an emery board and the Samurai Shark to sharpen them. I'll try the emery board first. In the meantime, I bought myself a new one. The white one is my old one. The brown one is my new one. I'll let you know how the emery board works. If you try it first please let me know if it works.

Carolina Christmas Part 3

My machine kept jamming when I sewed these two pieces together to make step 3 of Carolina Chirstmas. After quite a few of these, I figured out that I needed to change my needle. Then things went much better and I am finally finished with step 3.

Here is a picture of my finished pieces for step 3 of Carolina Christmas. I'm not sure when I will get to step 4 because I'm working a my Japanese Buzzsaw quilt, which I blogged about here. I am finally finishing up the binding. After that I need to make a label...I need to find some white on white or beige fabric to make the label on. I'll post more about it later when I'm done with it. I'd tell you more now, but it's going to be a gift. I really don't want to say anymore until the people I give it to receive it. I want it to be a surprise. : )