Hexagon Baby Quilt

My sister-in-law just had a baby girl; I wanted to make a special something to welcome the baby... So I made a quilt.

I don't have a half hex ruler, so I used a 60 degree ruler to cut fabrics for this quilt (don't ask me why I didn't write a tutorial for this... I wasn't thinking... I started the project in the middle of the night... who knows why). When I made a hexagon quilt in the past, it was with the traditional paper piecing method, but this is a quick and easy way to create a hexagon quilt.

After I was all done, I washed the quilt, and used the dryer to dry it. I love how shrinking the fabric helps to hide the imperfections of my machine quiling skill. :)

With the leftovers, I made a mini quilt, so the baby's big sister can have the same quilt to take care of her baby dolls.

I like the picture I took inside, but it wasn't showing the true color of the quilt.

I took some pictures outside; this is the real color of the quilt. I have so much to learn in many areas, but photography is one of the thing thats I want to get better at. Isn't it so tricky sometimes?

I am planning to send them soon. I hope the real mommy and the mini-mommy will love and enjoy the quilts.

Tutorial~ Kitchen Towel Bag

I picked up a kitchen towel at Target a while ago. I loved the look, but I also had the intention of making something out of it.

My youngest sister who lives in Japan graduated from high school last year and moved out of my parents’ house. Now she is working at a pretty big construction company in the area and working/studying construction management.

She is about a couple hours away from my parents, every now and then, my mom and my other sister will go check up on her to see if she is ok. Sounds like she is doing well and since she is only 10 min away from where she works, she will go back to her apartment for lunch to save money, and quickly clean her room, then she will do some preparation for dinner. According to my other sister, she will even buy meat in bulk and separate it into one person portion sizes and freeze them. Wow, I didn't know my baby sister is that resourceful at age 19, good for her!

I want to send her a small package soon. So, I decided to make a grocery bag out of the kitchen towel. This is a rather small grocery bag, but it's perfect for someone like her. You can keep a bag like this in the car for unexpected needs; it happens to me sometimes. :)

Here is what I did:

1. Cut the kitchen towel and lining.


From the kitchen towel: 2 - 13 1/2" X 13 3/4" (main part of the bag), 2 - 1 1/2" x 22"(handle).

From lining: 2 - 13 1/2" x 13 3/4" (main part of the bag), 2 - 1 1/2" x 22 (handle), 1 - 8" x 6 1/2" (pocket).
2. Lay the main fabric right sides together. Sew both the sides and the bottom. Pinch the bottom corners and sew to make a boxed bottom. Cut the excess, press seams with the iron.


3. Make a pocket for lining.

a. Sew the three sides of the pocket fabric with zigzag stitches (sides and bottom).


b. Fold bottom corners then fold sides and bottom by 1/4" seam. You will have miter corners.


c. Fold the top twice and sew with straight stitches.


4. Sew the pocket onto one of the lining fabric. I just drew a line randomly on the pocket and sewed to make two separate spaces.


5. Sew lining. Just repeat step 2.

6. Make handles. Combine one main fabric, one lining right sides together and sew. Turn the fabric inside out than press with the iron.


7. Put the main bag and lining together with right sides together. Make sure that both sides of the seams match up and pin them to secure. Before you will pin all around the top, slide in the handles then pin the whole top. Leaving a 4" opening, sew all around it.


8. Turn the bag inside out. Press the top with the iron. Top stitch closed.


Now it is ready to ship to my sister!


Perhaps, she can use both sides too...


I hope she will like it. :)

Fun of Cooking

As soon as I started to get better from the last procedure, I had the urge to cook. While I was in bed, I went through recipe books, magazines and watched some cooking shows... Mm... There are so many mouth-watering foods out there.

I have been cooking more than sewing lately, I guess that is one of the ways I say "I love you" to my family.

I made this lunch for my hubby the other day:

Sticky rice (with sesame)
Meat ball with spicy teriyaki flavor
Tamago-yaki (an egg dish)
Satsuma-imo no lemon-ni (Simmered Japanese yam in with lemon flavor)
Sausage with cheese

Then I realized I needed some green, so I added parsley. It is not really added as a dish, but parsley cleans blood, so it is good for you. :)

I just went through my fridge and threw things together with whatever I could find, but he was so happy that I was well enough to cook. The funny thing is that when I announced that I will start cooking, the whole family had a long list of requests. I am happy to say that I am near the completion of the list before my next procedure on the 17th!

I remember how fun it is to cook for the people I love and see their happy faces.

A Christmas Package from Japan

Just before Christmas, I received a package from my mom in Japan. Among many goodies for the whole family, there were two wrapped gifts just for me... do you want to guess what they were?

Ta-da!(followed by a scream of joy)



If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I have a thing for fabrics from Liberty of London. There is a fabric store in the area I used to live and they sell fabrics by "Liberty Japan". There are original designs from Liberty of London, but printed in Japan. Oh how I LOVED going to that store... While my friends spent their money on clothing or for clubbing, I spend mine on sewing books and fabrics after payday. I was one of their loyal customers. :)

Here are some of my favorites...



Most of them are 50 cm long. Right now I am just in the looking and touching stage and haven't decided what I am going to do with them. They are such precious pieces of fabrics, I have to be sure before I cut them. I had this greedy thought that I wish I had more yardage for the ones that I absolutely LOVE, so I could make some dresses or tops for this summer. (bad Sachiko, bad)

I am going to have another procedure on the 29th, so while I am recovering I will have plenty of time to think of what to do with those fabrics. When I called my mom to thank her for the package, she started crying and apologizing for not being here to help me after the procedures. I have to say it was totally her fault that I started crying too, I guess it is contagious even over the phone...

I am so grateful that she is my mother, and it is such a nice feeling to know that I have someone that loves me and cares about me even though we are thousands of miles apart from each other.

Thanks mom for the Christmas packages and so much more.

One of Summer's Memories

As you all know I have been taking it easy lately. On my down time, I was going through my pictures from over the summer and found some pictures that I meant to share with you and had totally forgotten.

One day our family went to a park and we had such a fun time. While Mr. TRH was busy playing with other two, my oldest and I were having a blast taking his action shots with my new camera. He would do some stunts, and come back to take a look at the pictures and we both laughed our heads off.

Check them out...

He is gonna do it...


Combined with one of his martial arts kicks, awesome jump!


Beautiful landing!


Boys are so funny. When I found out I was having a boy, I was in mini-panic mode. I didn't know a thing about boys. I didn't know what to do with them. I was planning to play house, quietly read books, and sew together with a girl. After having two boys in a row, I feel like they really helped me to find a part of me that I didn't know existed. I also found out that boys are actually fitting to my personality. Funny thing is, my sister was a tomboy growing up, she always played with the boys, she loved catching bugs, reptiles (ugh!!), was good at any sport, she hated girly stuff... and guess what she is a mother of two girly girls. :)

Sometimes my sister and I talk on the phone and say how we wish we lived next door to each other, so we can trade the kids sometimes and do all sorts of activities with them. We can help cover the areas that we are not good at.

Looking at these pictures reminds me of one of my favorite quotes;

"We don't remember days, we remember moments"

The moment we played and laughed at the park was definitely a moment he and I will remember for years to come.

Ouch!

Scars and bruises not inflicted by spousal abuse
I was going to post the tutorial for a towel dress yesterday, but something happened and my blogging time went out the window...

A couple days ago, Mr. TRH got in a bike accident. I was just about to step out to take my kids to swim lessons, and then the phone rang...

"Hello?", I said.

Mr. TRH: "Hey, hon, can you come to the Instacare?"

Me: "Sure, but what happen?"(I thought he got sick or something).

Mr. TRH: "I got in a bike accident..."

After I got to the Instacare, he told me the details of what happened.

Before he started work, he decided to get his biking done. He went on the bike trail. He rode some, and was ready to head back to work. Long story short, someone wasn't staying in their own lane and drove Mr. TRH off the trail. He went over the handle bars, landed on his shoulder and skidded off the path down a gravel embankment. The other biker? He kept on going (I think he didn't notice what he had caused, at least that's how I want to think). When he was trying to climb back up to the trail, two bikers noticed him and helped. Mr. TRH rode 4 miles after that to work, and someone took him to Instacare.

I am so grateful for people like that.

Although there were no broken bones, he did pop his shoulder out of joint and back in during the crash. He was injured pretty badly and had road rash on his hands, knees, and right arm. When I first saw him, he was in a wheel chair (he had to go get X-rays on his shoulder), and looked so pale.

Half of his face was swollen up, from his forehead across his right eye and cheek and there was a deep cut under his lips. The first thing the kids said was: "WOW...." (from a distance).

5 to 10 minutes after we got there he started to get his color back. We were talking, making some comments and joking around about the ordeal.

The nurse came in to scrub his wounds to clear out all the dirt and pebbles. Mr. TRH winced and said, "Oh, this is the part I wasn't looking forward to..." Then, I sang a song for him:

Do you really wanna hurt me...
Do you really wanna make me cry...
(this is an 80's song just in case you don't know). Mr. TRH started to shake, he was laughing and in pain at the same time.

Also, he started to sing "I got a dream" off the movie "Tangled". That has been our family's favorite song lately, and the part of the lyrics was perfect for what he looked like. It goes;

I've got scars and lumps and bruises
Plus something here that oozes
And let's not even mention my complexion
As he was singing, he was pointing at all the injuries on his body. The kids started to laugh and they were singing it together.

The doctor and the nurse might have thought that we are an odd family, but that's how we roll most of the times. :)

We were talking that the accident could have been much worse. We were so grateful that even though he is still in pain, it is not life threatening.

There is never a dull moment in our household. I just keep sending signals out there so that good and exciting things will come to our way.

Well, I am off to spend time and take care of my husband. I will see you at the next post!

Note: I am guest posting at Create Often today. Headover to say hi to Jennifer!

Hop Hop Bunny ~Super Easy Easter Decoration~

I am a girl with many faces. Mom, wife, friend, cook, seamstress, chauffeur, teacher, clown, and so on...since last night, I have been a nurse.

My husband and Michael got sick. Michael got hit especially HARD (I will not go into details, but just imagine pretty much all the flu symptoms times 10). I slept a little, and had to take the kids to school in the morning, I bet I looked like a used rug.

Several hours earlier, I had no idea what was coming my way. I was happily making this, and it only took me 5 minutes... do you wanna know how I did it? :) (this is not smile, it is a grin)


I found this at the dollar section at Target.


I just simply peel them away, threaded them and I had a pretty Easter banner.


I am thinking that maybe I could make a poster...


Or make simple cards to accompany Easter treats to give away.


80 notes in each pad, there are a whole lot of possibilities for a dollar, don't you think?

I must have been tired...

Perhaps, I might need more sugar... I will tell you why I think that way in a minute.

Hi all! How was your three day weekend (I guess that's US only)? I had a pretty laid back nice time with my family. Except that I had a few things that are due in a couple weeks, so I took some time to work on them. OH, you would be so proud of me... I was working my tail off to make progress on them.

Usually I am such a short sleeper (and deep sleeper too), and sleep about 5 to 6 hours and I am fine. I can totally function during the day. Last night, I was watching TV with Rachel, and KIND of fell asleep. The next thing I heard was my husband talking to kids and putting them to bed.

Then, he came to me to see if I was ok and he started to tuck me in and I remember saying to him, "I am just pretending to sleep, so the kid will go to bed too. I will get up soon, let’s watch a movie."

Then, when I woke up, it was 9:00 in the morning....

I asked my husband what happened and here is his story.

“After I tucked you in, I went to see the kids off and do last minute conversations. When I came back 10 minutes later, you were snoring. So, I just let you sleep.”

Ugh! I feel like I wasted a night. I can't believe I slept close to 12 hours! That will only happen once or twice a year.

All I can say is; I must have been tired...

Sugar, Sugar

Today was Valentine's Day. I knew the kids were exchanging candies at school, and that is way too much sugar than they need, but I just could not resist making cupcakes...

When I asked them what kind of cupcakes they wanted, Rachel was the first one to exclaim "PINK CUP CAKES!!!" The boys complained a little, but I made Pinkaliciouse cupcakes.

Christopher made this "Candy Monster" for school (he got the "most shiny" award by the way), and had lots of candy in the monster. Hmmm... I bet, lots of kids looked like this today.


We celebrated Valentine's Day as a family tonight, and it was fun.


Honestly, being a mom is not easy some days, (oh, don't tell me I am the only one thinking this!) Mommyhood never ends. But watching their faces light up for something as simple as a cupcake that I made, made me so happy. I almost wanna say, "What? What about the hard days? I have never had one of those." with a smile.

I guess moments like these, keep me going. My family is my sweetest treat.
I was having a heart felt moment while I was guzzling down two cupcakes in a few minutes. I will avoid the scale for a couple weeks... Oh, sugar sugar!

Pajama Party

I cut out fabrics for these PJ bottoms and night gown several weeks ago... I wanted to finish them before Christmas, well, that was wishful thinking on my part.


I finally finished it last week, and now we are enjoying them. The flannel is perfect for the cold nights...very cozy and warm.


When Rachel and I did our "Girl's day out and night in" while the boys were out skiing, we had a bubble bath, tried on new lotions we got from Bath & Body works (they were on sale for $3 a bottle!), did our nails while we watched a Barbie movie... with our new PJs on!

It was a great opportunity to spend quality time with her.
I am so looking forward to spending more mother & daughter time like this.

Bento 101

Food in the picture; right side above on the plate onigiri (rice ball), in the bento box: sautéed salmon, steamed asparagus, boiled egg, and rice with Furikake (flavor flakes).

Every now and then, people would ask questions like;

"What is Bento?" or "What is Bento Box?"

So, I decided to do a post about "bento" today. Basically, bento is a packed lunch in the box. When I hear "bento" the first thing come to my mind is the bento my mom packed for me. Kind of like the one in below;


Sticky rice with dried and flavored plum leaf flakes, kara-age (Japanese deep fried chicken), tamago-yaki/Japanese style omelet, sautéed broccoli, celery with small shrimp.

You can find bento everywhere in Japan. At airports, train stations, food courts, convenient stores, bento specialty stores... you can buy bento pretty much anywhere you go. There are many different kinds of bento. When you go to different cities, you can find bento that are made with famous items from that city. If you want to know more about the bento, you can go here to find out.

I started cooking with my mom from a very early age, and started packing my bento when I started going to high school. I pack bento for my family sometimes, but it takes a lot more preparation, and time.


So it happens only occasionally (hooray for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!). When we go to a family picnic, I try to pack bento, I want them to remember the look and the taste of the Japanese bento.

There are some things that I can share with you to make bento.

1. I always try to put a variety of things in the bento that are nutritious and pleasing to the eyes. For example: white rice for carbs, green veggies for vitamins and such, yellow egg dish for protein, and of course this will change with other ingredients too.

2. Pack the bento box tight. If it is loosely packed things will move around, and when you open, it may not be pretty.

3. For bento, it is best to make things that are tasty even without reheating.

4. The easiest way to prepare for the next morning’s bento making is, save some portions of dinner’s ingredients. That way, washing and cutting the vegetable part is already done, and it saves some time in the morning.

That's it. I really love bento. I feel like it is such a healthy way to eat a balanced meal during the day, rather than going through the drive-thru (don't get me wrong, I do that all the time, but I prefer bento when I have time to make it).

Oh, one more thing... about the bento box, I guess it is best to have it, because most of them are air tight and have a divider inside, so the food doesn't get mixed up. Although, I think you can use pretty much anything. The picture below is a bento I packed for the boys. I used sandwich cases I found at Target’s dollar section. I can't put anything liquidy, but for the things I made that day, it worked just fine.


I am pretty sure there are things I can put in from American style cooking too. Although, a bento is a meal packed in a box, to have fun and make it reply able to any cuisine, we just need to think outside the box. :)

Thankful...

First of all, I want to thank all of you who participated in the Thanksgiving giveaway! I read all the "Blessings" in your lives, and they are amazing. Many people are grateful for their spouses, children and friends. Also, there are quite a few people who were able to find something to be thankful for in difficult circumstances. Thank you so much for sharing your stories, and for being an inspiration.


I have so much to be thankful for. Sure, life gets crazy sometimes; I have locked myself in the bathroom for about 5 minute or so to get a moment of Zen in the past (it happens less frequently now). There are ups and downs and meltdowns too.

But I know I have FAR MORE blessings than I can count and far more than those difficult times. Let me share some of the blessings I recognized this year...

I am thankful for "cause" and "effect". Along the way, I always learn something...



I am thankful for ENTHUSIASM. It reminds me that I should be excited about the little things and enjoy the moment...


Although, I am thankful for stillness too. When I take time to do so, I can see the sweet and wonderful things in my life more clearly...


I am thankful for INDIVIDUALITY that makes us unique and makes the world an interesting place to live in.


I am thankful for LOVE and LAUGHTHER; they truly strengthen and enrich my life.


I am thankful for HOPES & POSSIBILITIES. They keep me going through the tough times. I will look ahead and wonder about the possibilities, and hope for the best.


Above all, I am thankful for the Gospel and our Lord Jesus Christ. They glue us together as a family and show us how to live in these uncertain times.

I hope everyone will have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Note: These wonderful pictures were taken by my friend, Michelle. She is an awesome photographer. Please go check out her blog.

A Birthday Party & Giant Cookie Cake

We had a birthday party for our oldest child today... I can't believe he is already 10 years old, two digits! It is a big deal, and I was all for baking a special cake for him.

Then, he said, "I want a giant chocolate chip cookie for my birthday instead of a cake".

OK then.

There is something you don't know... in our household, Mr. Tea Rose Home bakes the best chocolate chip cookies EVER. He usually doesn't cook, but there are a couple of things he can make well and one of them is chocolate chip cookies.

And, he did it. He baked a yummy, gigantic chocolate chip cookie last night and it was a big hit!


There were nine kids running around our house (there was only one girl, yup, you guessed it, it was Rachel...) during the party. We all had a great time!

I hope someday he will look back on this day and say, "Oh, I remember the big cookie dad made for me...". Working hard all day and then came home to bake a cookie takes effort, our kids are so blessed to have a daddy who cares and loves them. A day like today makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.