More Projects!

The past week or so I have been working on a couple little projects. The first one was a shoulder bag ordered by my friend Jackie down in Florida. She's about to have a baby and said that she's in need of a purse that requires to hands to hold it! I ended up really liking it and had a lot of fun making it and playing with pockets. Making it bags out of discarded flight suits is fun because they come with pockets galore, so it was a fun challenge to create my own pockets for the bag. Here are some pictures of it:

Bag outside (there is also the same type of pocket on the reverse side)

Bag inside (brown zipped pocket and two green fabric pockets, one sized specifically for her iPhone) It also has a little metal ring to clip her keys or anything else she wants to it.

My second project was for me. I made this one entirely on my own (no tutorials here!). I keep ruining my sunglasses by throwing them in my purse, then they end up getting scratched across the lenses. So I wanted to make a case to put them in to protect them from scratches. I could also put a soft cloth inside to clean them as well instead of having to use the edge of my t-shirt all the time! So using some fabric I had lying around here is the final product:

Tomorrow I have a "sewing day" schedule with my friend Brook. She bought a bunch of old Kimonos and wants to make a few bags out of them, and since I love making bags, we're a good pair to do this project. I also want to start to making some stock for the fall craft fair that I hope to have a table at. I'm going to make a few of each: aprons (various styles), string backpacks, totebags, shoulderbags, and table runners and see what sells the best. Then maybe just focus on those for the next craft fair in the future. At least that's the plan for now! I also hope to get to some great 2nd hand stores to find some old Kimono to make stuff out of as well. I personally want a Kimono bag and I'm sure a few of my friends and family would find that fun too! I'll have a lot of time in August while the Japanese school is out for their summer vacation, so my work hours will be cut down a bit. I'm excited to start more sewing! I just wish I had a room where I didn't have to put everything away........ sewing in the dining room is not so fun :-( Oh well!

Lock, Rock, Sing, Thing, Heart, Hurt...

Yes, can you hear the difference in these words? Well the Japanese have a hard not not only saying them, but hearing the difference. I know this because for all the 7th grade classes at Hamura City Jr. High where I have been working, I got to say these type of words over and over again, then they were quizzed on if I said bag or bug, hat or hut, fly or fry, etc. It was remarkable- some of the teachers even got them wrong! I never realized how difficult English was until I started seeing people learn it. Explain to me why Heard and Heart have a different vowel sound? The past tense of Read is Read... yup, you just said them correctly and just now realized they are spelled the same, but one sounds like rEd. So dumb! In Japanese, if a word is spelled out it always sounds like what it looks like. Its beautifully phonetic (once you realize what sounds each vowel makes, "i" sounds like "eeee", etc). So in the word Konnichiwa, both "i"s make the "eee" sound. Kon-eee-cheee-wa. Simple. These poor students...

I have been trying to learn more Japanese. Between a few workbooks of mine, a computer program, and my handy iPhone applications, I'm getting better. I just need to practice it more! It always seems that when I know what to say in Japanese the person knows English. Then the off-base places I work I'm expected to speak English, since I'm the English Teacher! But one of the teachers at the Jr. High said that they non-english speaking teachers would be happy to practice with me. They think its good that I"m trying to learn, and that not enough people try. I have a little notebook that I've been practicing my Katakana letters (The Japanese have 3 alphabets!) so maybe I can sound out a few words at resteraunts and stuff.... but of course, I'd be sounding them out in Japanese, and THEN have to translate from Japanese to English still. Ugh, frustrating!- but Fun. Its a good challenge.

Dereck gets back from Thailand this weekend, and my "busy" work week ends, then it's back to just once or twice a week for a little bit. I like being busy though, especially when Dereck is gone. Helps the time go faster!

Sayonara!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love Ya! Tomorrow...

...You're always a Day-A-WAY!!!!!

This past weekend there were two excellent performances of Annie at the Yokota High School. Kids ranged from 6th-11th graders and did a great job of singing, acting, and dancing. It was a fun show and you could tell everybody had a fun time performing it. Oh, and did I mention I was the director?

That's right- I directed my first show. Those who know me, know that I have been involved in performing all my life. Be it in an ice skating Show (my first was at 2.5 yrs old), Dance recitals, choir, church plays, school plays, community theater, ballet, improv comedy... you name it and I've probably been involved in it! So when I learned there was a children's community theater on base I jumped at the opportunity to be involved. Unfortunately, their major show was put on the week after we moved here so I wasn't involved until all the "fun" was over! But I was told there would be plenty for us to do in the next year and I was more than eager to sign up to be on the board of the private organization, Vivace.

So in my first few weeks as Vivace Vice President, we were approached by the high school administration. Apparently the high school drama teacher canceled the show and they were desperate to have something for these kids to be involved in. They asked us if we would be willing to put on their show. So the 5 board members (which range from spouses, active duty, and DOD teachers) got together and decided that we would be willing to put on the show, and I got put in place as the director. I had plenty of help- let me make that sure! My assistant director is the 2nd year running president of Vivace and knew a lot of the kids and had much more experience working with them- and there is no way I could have done the show without all her help. In fact- 3 days before the show a main character dropped out and she stepped in to sing and dance along with the students!




It was a struggle at times- frustrating that the kids didn't seem as dedicated to the play as they were to soccer, softball, cheerleading, etc... but for the most part it was a great time. The show was very well received by the community and it gave us on the board of Vivace even more confidence that we can produce more shows in the future without the help of contracting in "professional" help and making it a true community theater.

The director hat was a new one for me to wear but I think I'd do it again in the future... especially if I have enough time to research the show I want to do and plan it out- instead of having 6 weeks to put on a show that was already available to perform (which was the case with Annie!).

.....now what am I going to do with my afternoons???

New Projects! Flight Suit Bags

So lately I've had a little bit of time (not much... but a little!) to drag out my sewing supplies into the dining room (grrrrrrr.... thats for not having a large enough home for a craft room!) and got to making some things. Dereck had a flight suit that he ripped up at survival training so I had something to play with! First I made a string backpack out of the top part of the flightsuit. I really liked it, but found after I used it for the first time, that the fabric was too worn out and started to fray. I plan to take it apart, reinforce the seams, and resew it together. Its really cute tho, and I plan to make this design for the Yokota craft fair later this fall.

Then with the entire lower section of the flight suit (and arms as well...) still available, I decided to dig up a tutorial I've been wanting to try on making a slouchy shoulder bag. here is the tutorial I used. It was a good place to start, though some of the dimensioning is strange so I made it fit my personal preference.  I am so thrilled with the outcome. The flight suit material also held up MUCH better this time after I double stitched to reinforce all the edges of the fabric before sewing the seems. I've been lugging it around all week without any issues with it. Also, this is a very fun bag to personalize in other ways, using button closure and ribbon details on the strap, etc. I plan to use this (in both flight suit as well as non-military fabric) at the craft fair as well.

Next week I'll have much more free time so I hope to get a few more bags done to test out a few changes and ideas I had while making these. I'm excited to really get going on my inventory! Then, hopefully soon, a trip to the Tokyo Fabric District in Nippori will be in store. Yay!

Anniversary Trip to Tama Hills

As I mentioned in my last post, this Sunday May 23rd was Dereck and my 1st anniversary. We tried to book a room in the military hotel in downtown Tokyo for the weekend but it was full, so I was okay not having anything planned. Just a nice dinner with the two of us at home was what I was expecting.
I rode my bike home from play practice Friday afternoon and saw that the car was parked so Dereck was already home. When I opened the door to our house I saw a long stemmed rose and my wonderful husband. I asked what the rose was for, and he said "for you, of course!". Then he told me to get showered and pack because we were leaving for the weekend. Where to? Well Tama Hills! Its an area that is owned by the USAF and is a nature/wilderness area. They have a small hotel, cabins, campground, horseback-riding, and a few other fun things. After having our friends stay with us for about a week, having a weekend alone together (even though its only about 16 miles away) sounded great. Chelsea and George quickly said "Don't worry, we'll watch the dogs for you!", (they were in on it the whole time) so in about an hour we were packed up and on the road.

Tama Hills is 16 mile from base but takes about an hour to get there. Its 16 miles of constant traffic, stoplights, and city. Its surreal. It was fun to navigate our way through the city though, and we never even got lost. As we pulled up to the gate at Tama Hills, Dereck reaches for his ID card and couldn't find it. That's right, he left his ID card on base somewhere (uh oh!). After pulling out 3 picture IDs the gate guard allowed us through and the search for the ID card began. Turns out a friend found it where Dereck left it and would meet us the next day to pick it up... that means another hour drive back to base, but oh well. It was actually quite funny because last summer we did a short weekend trip to Hot Springs, which was about 1.5 hours away from Little Rock. Once we got there we realized Dereck forgot his wallet and we had to drive back. I decided from now on I will make sure to double-ask him if he has EVERYTHING before we go on a trip!!!

So we checked into our room and were pleased with it. It was simple and outdated, but big, clean, and we loved that it was all ours for the weekend. Not even any dogs to wake us up (and they've been naughty lately, so I was excited to have a break from them too!). We ate dinner that night at the hotel then watched some TV and went to sleep. We slept for about 12 hours!!! It was fantastic. Dereck and I felt so good sleeping in until 10am. We had an amazing breakfast at the hotel and went to go get Dereck's ID. Later that afternoon we decided to go to Tama Zoological Park. We both did not know what to expect, but since I hadn't heard much about it, I wasn't expecting too much. However, it turned out to be a very big and pretty zoo. Some of the animal cages were old, but they seemed to be well kept and the animals looked healthy. Also, the zoo itself was very pretty, but SO MANY HILLS! We were exhausted after walking around it all day. I was excited to see Koala's though. I think I saw them once but they were all sleeping in a dark exhibit so I didn't really see anything. This time one was eating and walking around so we actually got to see it! There were also the standard giraffes, elephants, tigers, lions, bears, etc. Another neat thing was the insectarium and butterfly garden. Even though the insect building was so icky... it was also very cool so see so many different bugs safely behind a big thick pane of glass.

 The Lion Bus! haha they put meat on it to make the lions lick the windows!

Our Japanese lunch: what zoo have you been to where you've seen Spaghetti and takunaki? 

After the zoo we drove back We drove back to Tama and spent about 45 minutes driving around the complex. It used to be an old ammunition compound used by the imperial Japanese Army during WW2. There are a bunch of old bunkers and storage building still around (and very creepy looking!). It was a cool drive through the woods to say the least!

Then we went to our hotel room to shower and change for dinner. Dereck went down into the lobby to ask about a nice restaurant for us to go to. The Japanese man at the counter took out a map and highlighted the route. The route ended at "Dennys". Dereck said, thank-you, but do you know where a nice restaurant is? The man responded, yes, Dennys is very nice restaurant. Dereck realized he didn't understand what we meant so he just asked for a sushi place. We got another highlighted map and headed out. However, this sushi place was like "fast food sushi". There is a conveyor belt that winds around while diners sit at the counter and pick off sushi plates to eat. Each plate was 100 Yen and they total up all your plates at the end to pay. It was not "nice" or fancy in any way, but it was fun! We had a good time together.

Later at the hotel we opened up our bottles of wine and toasted to our 1 year anniversary! Dereck managed to find the same dessert wine that we had at our dinner the day after our wedding (we treated ourselves that day to $30 glass of wine) so it was fun to relive that memory! Ice Wine is delicious!

They next day we checked out (again, after a delicious breakfast!) and headed back home. It was a great surprise and a fun weekend together.