Fall amigurumi rolling out

Well, I finally had a chance to finish some of my Fall amigurumi, and I think they came out really cute! I'm experimenting with some of the paper's I've gotten for different colored backgrounds; I hope they're not too distracting (though I think they might be). It may be hard to see some of the finer details, and some colors actually look weird against certain types of backgrounds. No hurt in experimenting though, eh?

This little gobbler I made using my mommy and baby chicken pattern, and I just cut out felt to match the features of a turkey. I especially like his little naries (nose thingie).

For the pumpkin, I had a really hard time deciding how to make his face! I chose to crochet the leaves instead of making them out of felt, and I think it turned out sweet :D. I actually had tried to cut out little triangles and a snaggle-tooth mouth, but when I showed people they said "I don't get it." Perhaps my scissors skills are not too garens, but a little more experimentation and voila! Tres jolie :).

I still have to finish a little ghost and attempt a bat before Halloween; I'll also try for a blackie cat! Then, it will be the first time I've had holiday appropriate things in my shop BEFORE the holiday, yay!

bead show

This weekend was the awesomest bead show! I bet it's nothing like bead shows on the mainland, but still; pearls, glass, gemstones and everything in between! It's usually held at Ward Center (Oahu, near Ala Moana Shopping Center), and it's held twice annually, once in September and once in March. I was so disappointed in March because I got my dates mixed up and I totally missed it! This time, though, I got it right and my sister and I spent like three hours just looking at all the beads. It was really crowded, but in a good way; like you and a bunch of other women are bending over the same table of beads and you help each other finding nice strands and stuff.... ahhh the comradery!

I mostly got glass beads this time, but they were sooo affordable! Unfortunately, because the dollar is doing so poorly internationally, the prices were pretty high for the gems (which is probably better for the people in the countries where the gems are from); there were some really nice faceted briolites, but they were out of my price range (so I mostly just looked at them and felt them). But, they were so pretty!

So I ended up getting glass bicones in pretty citris colors for earrings, flat coin pearls for pendants and some dyed quartz. I also got some glass strawberry beads, which are too cute! I had ordered some little white flowers from Fire Mountain Gems a while back and they would go perfectly with the strawberries; I really want to make some cell phone straps with them!

rainy days are like sunshine in my mind

I love rainy days! I love gray skies, storm clouds and the smell of wet asphalt and rain. They make me really happy and..... calm. I could probably live for a little while in someplace like Ireland, where I hear it is pretty rainy (I also love the juxtaposition of verdant green fields/mountains and a cloudy grey sky). Is this weird coming from someone who lives in Hawai`i? I dunno, but I really do love our winters here, because they are more like rainy seasons. The temperature has cooled off a lot in recent weeks; global warming had been making it uncharacteristically hot and muggy. Lately though, it's been pretty rainy here, which isn't conducive to waking up and going to school, but it is conducive to letting your creative thoughts wander... I've been trying to think of new amigurumi designs in between my work and I think I've come up with some. Probably you'll see one of them soon in my shop; a little amigurumi ghost for Halloween is but one example.

Todai!

Have you guys ever been to Todai's? Maybe there isn't one in your city. We have one in Honolulu though, in Waikiki. My family and I went there today to have an early celebration of my sister's birthday! SOoooooO yummy... they have a huge sushi bar, with a place that they can custom make handrolls, as well as a hot-line buffet, tempura and yakiniku stations, huge dessert selections and a crepe station! Aww man, I ate soooo much! My favorite was the sukiyaki, which is like boiled beef, won-bok cabbage and tofu in a tasty broth. Here are some of the sushi I ate, including inari (seasoned rice in bean curd wrapping)hoso and tekka maki (the little ones with radish and cucumber) a tempura fried salmon roll, futo maki (egg roll) and ebi special roll (shrimp). The soybeans are called edamame in Japanese, very healthy and very tasty!

The desserts were amazing too; the crepes are phenomenal! I get banana with whip cream and chocolate sauce. These little cakes were good too; a chocolate cheesecake, a strawberry delight, almond cookies, tiramisu and pineapple yogurt.
Haha, I was so full right after I ate all this, but now that I am writing it (like 7 hours later with only a tuna sandwich in my tummy) I kinda feel hungry again! That's the Hawaiian in me.

Anyway, the lunch was a nice break from hectic school, I am now teaching the Ramayana. I also snuck in a couple of hours to make some amigurumi, show you guys later!

fabrics are my friends

So, as you know, I have a huge fabric obsesson. I literally have to slap my hand that clicks away from the mouse with my other hand. One day my old guy neighbor who lives across the hall said to me as I was getting a fabric package, "What, Christmas already?" If he only knew.

In case any of you haven't seen, superbuzzy is having a super sale with a lot of the fabrics that I have been wanting but held off on because they were so expensive for me. The great thing about superbuzzy is they let you buy half yards instead of the entire yard. So I got some terrycloth hedgehog, gingerbread bear, etc. The sad thing is after I placed my order they got in new fabrics (duh holly, that's why they have the sale) they got in some of my all time favorite fabric, featuring more hedgehogs and mushrooms; so I naturally had to buy more. I tell you, shipping to Hawai`i is a bummer indeed, and shipping prices times two in one weekend is a bigger bummer.

I also found this cute decole fabric on etsy, from milcotigerfabric's shop and it was waaaay expensive, but it is after all, decole. I liked the blue one better on the internet, but once I saw it in real life, I liked the pink. I got a small piece of cute decole paper with my order, so I made some buttons; I don't know if can part with them, though.... so cute!

goodies for me

Yay, my mommy bought me some yummy Japanese candy: they're called aporo (apollo) from the Meiji brand but I like to call them rocket chocolate. They are basically strawberry flavored chocolate candies and they taste soooo good! You can get them many places here (like Shirokiya in Ala Moana shopping center, Don Quijote, etc; lucky I live Hawai`i) but they are kinda pricey, as with many Japanese things. Anyway, thought you might like to see them before I devour them :)

My mom also got me a huge pile of cardstock, (she is sweet indeed) which I am going to use for some new and improved backgrounds... so many people on etsy and whatnot have beautiful backgrounds (check out bellas arts; her little sets have furniture and windows with curtains). I've been using a hamburger patty box that smelled frozen even after there were no more hamburgers in it for a while covered with teal tissue paper, and alternately draped with wrapping paper or canvas. These papers are going to rock; now my shop will be even more technicolor!

I finally finished Harry Potter #7 (said I was going to finish weeks ago!) and all I can say is "all is well" (was that a corny ending or what?) I must say, #3 and #1 remain my all time favorites in the series.

Right now, I am making my lecture for tomorrow; it is going to be on Mesopotamia and the Epic of Gilgamesh (fun fun fun). Hopefully the kids will have read this time; its hard to have a discussion lab when you are only asking questions to yourself :)

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG! Bells are ringing, fireworks are exploding, birds are chirping, kids are laughing...

I have finally finished Chapter 14 of the manuscript, now it is just the final edits, intro and epilogue and then I'm done! Now I will have more time for my sadly neglected amigurumi. Words cannot adequately describe my happiness, but I will try: Huzzah!

I actually have been working on amigurumi and I'm hoping to have a few Fall themed ones before Fall is actually over. Here is a chibi kappa that I made by using green yarn instead of yellow for my duckie pattern. Also, I'm trying to put a little variety into my store (hence all the sewn bags) for Christmas, so I also made this piggy keychain.... So cute! I got the glow in the dark bead in Chinatown a long time ago, but I only just manufactured a bunch of keychains this past weekend. I was a little bummed because even though I carefully selected each bead (checking for chips or flaws) one of the eyeballs on this little guy fell of somewhere between the store and my box. Oh well, he'll be on discount!

berrysprite earrings

Here are some earrings that I made using vintage plastic beads! I have been loving the turquoise and coral color combination lately, so I was really happy when I found these beads :) I have tons of beads, I even forgot I had these, but sometimes I have a hard time envisioning a design for any of them. So, I usually get all of my beads and jewelry making supplies out from under my bed (no small task, they are in three fishing tackle boxes!) and I try putting them next to one another, play with the sizes, shapes, colors etc. Sometimes I can't come up with anything at all, so I end up putting all of them away again! This time, though, I came up with these earrings as well as two others which will be in my shop eventually (I like this pair the best)!