Amigurumi: Cute Chick

Today was such a lazy Sunday so I decided to do crafts once again. I took out one of my favorite Japanese crochet craft magazines. I bought this at a local bookstore for a really great price. 

The magazine contained pictures of different crochet projects. A lot were about Amigurumi (the Japanese art of creating crocheted stuffed toys). There were also projects about how to make really useful objects like containers, wallets, hair accesories, and even kitchen related items like pot holders and such. 

I decided to make another Amigurumi chick. I already made three before but I gave them away to some friends of mine. I believe that Amigurumi should be shared or gifted away. I like making people smile using my crafts. 

The process started by crocheting the body. I used the pattern included in the magazine. Japanese patterns are quite easy to understand once you get the gist of it. Even if I had limited knowledge in Japanese, I was still able to create the base.

I filled the base body with fiber/cotton and then I crocheted the wings and the cute top next.  The parts are to be sewn together to create the completed chick. It took me an hour and a half to finish everything. 

I added a triangular orange felt cloth for the beak and sewn two beads for eyes. The end product looked really cute. Although I think my chick was a little bit too obese compared to the ones featured in the magazine.

After I finished everything I took it outside for a little photo shoot. I've named it 'chickidee'. That name is quite dear to me since my mom used to call me that when I was kid.   

The long vacation is ending soon. I'm quite sad that the Holy Week has come to a close. I still have one day of vacation left. Even if I dread coming back to the office I am still happy. This long weekend was my most productive yet. I was able to relax, do a lot of crafts and also was able to clean my room. I guess I'm improving bit by bit. 

Sewing Adventures: Creating a Cute Pouch

I inherited a sewing machine from my grandmother a year or so ago, It happened just a few months before she passed away. The machine runs on electricity and is about fifteen or so years old. It is a SINGER sewing machine. One of the most trusted brands when it comes to sewing tools. 

Today was such a lazy day but I wanted to something creative and productive at the same time. My digital camera needed a new pouch and I wasn't in the mood to drop by the mall and buy a ready made one. Instead, I opted to make my own.

I inherited a lot of cloths, laces, ribbons, and threads when I acquired the sewing machine. I chose a pink cloth for the pouch and the a light yellow cloth for the lining. I also chose a cute lace little ribbon to create some added details.

I love the colors that I had chosen. And I think my dog loves it too. Mellow suddenly sat on my materials as soon as he saw them on the floor. I guess he wanted to help me sew my little pouch.

Or maybe he just wanted to sleep on it. Lol! I had to carry him away so I could retrieve my materials. Thankfully none of the cloths were soiled and the laces got away without a scratch. 

Sewing the two cloths together was quite an uneasy process. I'm not used to this sewing machine yet. I had only used it twice since the time it arrived in my home. It wasn't a surprise that I could barely sew a straight line. But I did manage to create something beautiful despite the crooked thread lines.

I finished sewing the pouch in an hour or so. I think this is the smallest item I had ever sewn. I attached the lace into the upper edge of the pouch and attached a lavender colored ribbon to heighten the kawaii feel.

Isn't it cute? And it fits my digital camera just right!

I'm a bit happy with the result. Although I think I can do better. I need to practice sewing more. As they say, practice makes it perfect. But I'm glad I was able to create something. Today was a great start!

DIY Chocolate

Mai gave me this really cute DIY Chocolate kit a day before we journeyed to Singapore. Since I love making crafts, I was really excited to make this once I had the time to do so. The packaging is quite cute and colorful. Although I find it funny that it claims that its contents are made out of 99% cacao when its clearly a lie. 

 

The pack contained four sheets of felt cloth, different colored threads, a needle, and a container for the finished 'chocolates'. It also included an instruction booklet that was written in both English and Japanese. A paper guide helped me create the shapes that I needed to cut out of the felt sheets.

The cut outs are then sewn together by hand. It took me quite some time before I finished the shapes needed to create the fake chocolates. These are then filled with organic cotton stuffing and decorated with thread or or different colored felt cut outs. 

There were six chocolate shapes all in all. My favorite would be the one with almond/pistachio 'nuts' sewed on top. Making the fake nuts was quite a challenge since it was so small and I had to also fill it with stuffing so that it wouldn't be flat.

 

It took me about three hours to finish everything.I'm quite happy with the result and the 'chocolates' are now proudly displayed in my room. 

Thanks Mai for giving this to me! I really appreciate it.