it's not always fun and games

i'm not exactly sure why, but i take great displeasure from altering my clothes, even just a simple hemming job.  maybe because it's so tedious.  which is why it took me three months to hem these jeans.   despite them being "ankle" length, i still had to take them up nearly two inches.  in my next life i'm going to have longer legs.  or be wealthy enough to have my own live in tailor.   

what are your plans for your next life? 

a skirt for summer

the alliums in the boston public garden are starting to bloom.   this past weekend we went to enjoy them, and i went wearing the new skirt i just whipped up.  it was the kind of day that makes you appreciate being alive.

freshly picked has an easy tutorial to follow to make this very skirt.  i didn't follow her tutorial exactly-  the width of my fabric wasn't twice my waist.  i ended up just using what i had left of my marimekko samovaari fabric, which was more like 1.85 times my waist, and was pleased with the amount of gather and flare.  additionally, instead of pulling the elastic taut as i sewed, i did a basting stitch on the edge of the fabric and gathered it (to the same width of the elastic) before sewing it to the elastic.  i found it to be easier than her method, but that's just me.

in case you're wondering, i bought 3-inch wide white elastic and dyed it purple (with liquid rit dye).  the purple didn't come out as rich as i hoped, but still, good enough. 

my hidden pockets in a pale purple. 

boston public garden and commons were swarming with people, including college students with signs saying "free compliments, and hugs upon request".  a tall smiling girl called out to me and said she liked my skirt.     

hooray.   

how do you like to spend a beautiful summer's day?     

kindle case tutorial

"where's my kindle???" i asked, scanning the room.

"...did you just say your kindle?" the husband teased me in mock irritation.  

oops.   busted.  

this past christmas i bought the husband a kindle.  i was a bit nervous about the gift, because i wasn't quite sure how he felt about e-readers, so i was relieved and happy when he received it with great excitement.  

i was pretty excited too.   i had been interested in the kindle for a while myself, but hadn't been ready to take the plunge.  the husband still had some real books that he had lined up to read, so during our new year's trip to tahiti, he kindly let me use the kindle.  

i was totally hooked, as you can see, from the short conversation from above.   once i uttered those words, i knew it was time to get my own.  

memorial day weekend recap

we made a rather last minute decision to make a quick road trip up to maine this past long weekend.   one of the greatest things about new england is that everything is so close.  we didn't venture too far into the state, but saw a few lighthouses, and simply enjoyed the outdoors.  

how do you like to spend your long weekends? are you the type to go on spontaneous trips?

more crafts to come soon- i have a tutorial or two up my sleeve.

je ju island, south korea

it's getting a bit late to blog about this, so i'll make it brief. after our visit to taiwan, we headed straight to south korea to visit family friends.  our lovely hosts had arranged that we leave immediately to je ju island, an island at the very south.   we spent three days there, exploring the island with a private tour guide/photographer. our hosts had arranged our itinerary down to the T, and so all we had to do was follow. it was a mixture of indulgence (had a couple extremely rigorous massages given by tiny ladies and enjoyed some spa time) and sight-seeing. our activities ranged from seeing an elephant show to walks along the coast, eating tasty korean food, and even a surprise wedding shoot for my parents.  i played bridesmaid, while my parents dressed up as the bride and groom. our friend told me that she had arranged the photo shoot so that my parents could feel like newlyweds again.  how cute is she?  it may be one of the top 10 funniest activities of my life.   while i won't share any wedding shoot photos, here are few others from the trip.    

fabric hoarder

i am a fabric hoarder.

over the last few years, i have amassed quite a collection, not so much because i buy an excessive amount of fabric, but more because i have trouble deciding what i want to use it for.   it's not an easy decision, you know.

sometimes i just take out fabric and admire how beautiful it is, raw, clean, and uncut.

do you know what i mean?

however, on a whim, i decided to make something out of my new hippo fabric from taiwan: a passport sleeve.  the back jacket slides into a pocket, and it closes with an elastic band.  this way, the passport is protected but still easy to take in and out at the airport.  in my experience, customs and other airline security generally ask for passports to be removed from their sleeves, so i figured this would be a suitable design.

new fabric

don't ask me what the sign says.  i can recognize two characters in the shop name.  "bird" and "fabric".  i also know that on the far left it says "japanese import fabric".