PRIVATE CROCHET LESSON- FLOWER MOTIF CHAIR MAT VOL. 2

After about a week, I had a second lesson on a flower mat making with one of my students 🙂

She’s studying at a college for her master’s degree in the early morning as well as in the evening, so I was wondering if she could finish making the rest of the flowers in time… but here you go. She’s great!!! She managed making everything! 😀

So today, it was all about joining those motifs… This part is not much fun for me and I guess for a lot others neither.

She looked a little struggled, but… voila. She’s done up to the 2nd row in today’s lesson 🙂 Very well done!!!!!

The rest of joining works and edging will be her homework, but I can’t wait to see her finished work ♡ Hope she’ll send me a photo when she’s done with it! In the very end of our lesson, she gave me a lovely handmade card, decorated with quilling. You can see some of her works on her blog here 🙂 Thank you for your lovely message again!!

*****

A sneak peak of my recent work… I’m making a bigger mat for my coming baby boy ♡ I’m so excited about my big life-changing event 🙂

Private crochet lesson- Flower motif chair mat vol. 1

One of my students at Michaels contacted me and we had a private crochet lesson today 🙂

Since we shared the basic information via email, she got all the materials we needed for the class. In her email, she said she had purchased “pink, orange and white yarn” but when she showed up today, she was carrying a huge travel bag!!!

In the bag, there were lots and lots of yarn balls!! She said she couldn’t pick up “the one”… so … voila. These are the all she had brought to the class today!! 😀 So funny but sweet ♡♡♡

After hearing her most favorite color choice and examining the yarns, we decided the color combinations for her first flower mat project.

We worked hard, but at the same time, we talked a lot and shared cultural backgrounds… It’s a lot different from her country, India, to my country, Japan, and where we are now, the US. It was so much fun to work with her today!!!

I’m looking forward to seeing lots of beautiful flower motifs in our next lesson! 🙂

Till then, I hope she’ll do well at her graduate school as well!! Hearing the story of her attending classes at 7-9am and 7-9pm was quite inspiring and motivating for me! I now feel I should use my time more effectively to use my brain as well!! ♡

CROCHET CLASS – FLOWER MOTIFS CHAIR MAT 2 –

3 weeks after our 1st crochet class of the chair mat lessons, we got together and had a 2nd class. I was excited to see that everyone had beautifully made the flower motifs by then!!

 

Each looks really different just by how they put colors together 🙂

 

The blue, black and gray version is made after her (Lady A) son’s soccer club team colors. We thought it would look more boy-like, but actually, they came out really cute. They even reminded us of “marimekko”. I hope she’ll make another one with red as well 😀 I’d love to see it ♡

The dark green, light green and white version is made to match her (Lady B) couch colors. To my surprise, she almost finished making 3 color variations in these 3 weeks! I can’t wait to see her finished work 🙂

The light blue, white and purple version is made for herself (Lady C). She loves light blue and I think the colors remind me of “FROZEN”!!! I’m sure girls will love it ♡

 

As always, it was super fun to crochet at a bright space with a cup of tea and some sweets when the sun is there 🙂

In the lesson, our goal was to joint 7 flower petals together. And now, to joint all the petals and hopefully finish up the edge is their homework by the end of March!!

I’m very much looking forward to receiving their finished items’ photos ♡

Thank you for joining the class 😀 Happy crocheting ♡

Mommy crocheting with her baby – flower garland with kid’s names :D

I had one of my friends coming over to my place for a private crochet lesson 🙂

She made a flower garland with her son’s name on it about 2 years ago, and this time, she wanted to make one with her second child’s name on. She said she didn’t crochet for a long time, but after a few trials, her speed got much faster. Yay!!

She always crochet in her unique style. What I like about her style is that she holds the yarn ball so that her baby can’t play around and make a mess with it. I think when I have my own baby, I’ll do the same style with her 🙂

After working for several hours, she’s completed making new pink garland!! Together with her son’s, they look really cute!! I think I’m going to make one for mine when I know his name 🙂

After we said goodbye, she sent me a photo how she decided to decorate them at home ♡♡♡

I can’t say anything but “they look soooooo cute!!!!” ♡

Feeling very happy to share a peaceful handmade time with a good friend ♡

Crochet class – Flower motifs chair mat 1 –

After maybe 6 months of absence, I had some mamas coming over and held a crochet class at home. The theme was “flower chair mat”. I love this pattern and many of those who saw the actual mat, they gave me some compliments 🙂

I usually prepare yarns that we use in a lesson, but this time, I’ve asked them to bring their favorite colors. Just as color references, I picked up photos online and showed these samplings to them. It’s interesting how the atmosphere completely changes just by colors!!

What they brought were completely different than those reference picture above, but I can’t wait to see how they will look like in the end 😀 The next lesson will be in 3 weeks and I hope everyone will finish making the flower motifs in time ♡

What I love in teaching Crochet…

I’ve been teaching crochet at home and at a craft store for quite a while now.

What I love in teaching crochet is that my students can be anyone and I get to know so many different people! My youngest students are 7 years-old, and the oldest is 84 years-old!! I have both male and female students, and they came from varieties places on the earth!! It’s so fun to get to know new people 🙂

She’s started trying a new hobby in her mid-80’s. So energetic!

Many of them, who come to my place are those who never crocheted before but always wanted to give it a try. So, I teach from the very basic, starting from how to hold tools, make basic stitches, read patterns and symbols (sometimes both in English and Japanese)…

 

The very first stitch we’ll have to master is “chain stitch” and kids really have fun making a long chain!!

Girls in 3rd-4th grades can make their own hair accessories with this crafting. We’ve made scrunchy and hair bows. I love it 🙂

 

One new grand-mom has recently finished making her first crochet work for her new-born grand-son!! I was so happy to spend pleasant time with her 🙂

 

The most popular projects so far is this flower mat.

 

Now, 3 of my students are working one the same flower mat project, (and there are so many who want to try later) and I can’t wait to see the finished work! 😀

 

Maybe it’s your turn to try crocheting? If you want to join us, please let me know 🙂

Summer is almost over and the yarn season is coming…!! 😀

Collaborating with art gallery

I met an art gallery owner and he suggested me to collaborate and hold a craft & art meet-up there. As our first attempt, I held a wrap bracelet making workshop there.

This is how it looks like in the studio and our work space 🙂

This is how we worked 🙂

Then, This is what we get in the end 🙂

Beige brown cord x blue beads. She had blue necklace and it matched well 🙂

 

Brack cord x pink and white beads. Her theme was “elegant” 🙂

 

Dark brown cord x wood and pearl beads. The choice of the button was also good 🙂

 

We had fun, getting together and sharing the passion for the craft 🙂

Thank you for those who participated the event! I’ll be looking forward to having another crafting event with you ♡

Shrink plate workshop

I held a new workshop today!! It’s about shrink plates.
Do you know what shrink plate are like? A shrink plate is just a thin plastic plate and you draw or paint on it and heat it in an oven for about a minute. Then, it will shrink down to almost 1/3 or 1/4 of the original size.

When I was little, it was very popular among kids. Today, shrink plates are so big in the Japanese handmade world. If you browse Japanese online handmade markets, I’m sure you will easily find some.

I have been so into this craft for a few month, and of course, I made this character 🙂 I always carry them on my bag.

Here are some photos from the workshop.

I’ve asked them to bring their kids’ favorite characters or kids’ drawings.
So, she was drawing lots of trains for her son.

She brought her son’s very first drawing! It’s a fish! How exciting!!

I forgot to take all of the works, but here are the trains! They are so tiny and cute 🙂 I can’t tell which one is which, but I’m sure the great little boy can! 😀

Here are another boy’s very first drawing, a fish, in a fish bowl as a key holder and a pair of earrings!! She’s going to give the key holder as a gift to her husband and send the jewelry to her friend. How sweet ♡

She made name pins with her name and her kid’s name 🙂

When I become someone’s mom, I’d love to do the same as what my friends did today!!

Hmmm, crafting helps to make our life a little bit happier ♡

More, more and more!

I feel like I’ve been writing about this workshop… but, some of the attendees really liked making wrapped bracelets so that they came here again 🙂 I’m super glad to hear that they’ve enjoyed making one!!!

This time, it was their second time to work on the bracelets, so that they worked much faster than the last time… let me show you their beautiful works 😀 ♡

One of them tried to make a longer one! It’ll be wrapped three times around the wrist. The left one is what she’s made in the second workshop.

It goes well with her peacock nails 🙂

One of them worked really hard for her two daughters living in Japan ♡

I think I’ll be happy if I get one from my mom!! I think it’ll be the other way around in my family though… I’ve been giving many things to her!! But still, I’m happy when she likes some of my works 😀
I’m sure her daughters will be really happy with them!!

One of them has made an anklet. I had never thought of making anklets with this!! Yes, it will look absolutely good in summer!!

One of them has made 2 long bracelets for herself and 2 short one for her little daughter and son. She made all of them within 5 hours!! This is her first one for the day. It’s simple but I really like it!

She was super fast!!

This is the all she’s got that day. Maybe she can be a professional bracelet maker?! 😀

Thanks to you, I had another good day! I think I love teaching crafting ♡

Crochet Garland Making Workshop

2 weeks before, I held a crochet workshop for my friends.
They worked really well, but they couldn’t finish making a garland/coaster since for some of them it was the first time to crochet something round. There were so many things to learn including how to make a double magic loop, chain stitch, single crochet, half double crochet and slip stitch.

Then, we got together again in the following week to finish the works.
This time, they were much faster to make knots, so they’d happily finished making their own works!

This is a coaster for my friend and for her son. How sweet! It’ll be a good idea to put them on a bag or things like that 🙂

This will be hanged on a door of my friend’s kids room 🙂 Cute 😀

This one will also be hanged on a door of my another friend’s kids room 🙂
The color usages between her works and the works introduced in the above picture are almost the same, but this one uses colors for the letters. That gives us a quite different impression! I like them 😀

Then, this is a garland made by another friend of mine. This apparently will be hanged on the front door of her bathroom!! I love it 😀

I really like to decorate my house by handmade things.
Seems like all of them had a good time, focusing on crocheting!! We talked a lot while working on crocheting, but sometimes they needed to focus without chatting…

So, we got together on Mother’s Day night for a dinner!! How fun it was!! I hope we will have more chances to get together and enjoy the time together 😀

Wrap Bracelet Wokshop -vol.3-

Today, I held a wrap bracelet workshop 🙂 I had four ladies today 🙂

I didn’t take much photos but we spent a good time today!! Three of them were first time for me to see, but they were really nice and fun ladies 😀 “Birds of a feather flock together”!!

Unfortunately one lady had to leave earlier before finishing her work, but I hope she’ll finish it sometime soon at home and I will have a chance to see her work when it’s done!!
Now, let me show you beautiful works of the other three women ♡

This is one of the ladies’ work! Black leather with clear black/ silver/ transparent and pearl beads. It already matches with her outfits 😀
I feel like making a black based bracelet for me as well since I don’t have any. It’s cute!!

Two ladies made similar kinds of bracelets. One is beige leather with transparent/silver and turquoise beads. The other is beige leather with transparent/ clear brown and turquoise beads. Just a bit of difference -silver or clear brown- makes a difference in impression! 😀

Backside of them… Did you notice that she put a beautiful nail art on her nails? 😀 They are peacock!!
I like to put nail arts but since I do lots of crafting works, recently I just keep my nails short and plain…

Summer is coming, so I could also put some nail arts on my nails ? 😉
I hope they will have lots of opportunities to wear those beautiful handmade bracelets!!!

Workshop – flower shaped something

I’ve held a workshop again on the same topic with the last time – a wall hanging garland. But this time, nobody made a garland… One of them made a flower coaster and the others made an appliqué. They came out really cute 🙂

What a peaceful time we had!! 🙂 (I always think that mom is a really tough job…!! But this photo makes me really happy ♡)

Everybody worked so hard and they made more than 5 peaces per each 🙂 GOOD JOB!!

This little one had been a very good boy!! Seems like my little people liked him a lot 😀 ♡

Thanks for coming, ladies!! Practice makes perfect!! I hope you will enjoy crocheting more and more 🙂 Happy crocheting♡

Workshop – wall decor :)

I hosted a workshop today and its theme was to make their own wall decor. I’m actually really really happy with what other attendees have made today!! I think I would prefer their works to my original ones. You will see what I mean… lol

Here, these are my original work of wall hanging letters.

Then after my brief explanation, they picked up their favorite colors of yarns and started making lots and lots of knots with the yarn. There were just three of us (plus a little gentleman) today, so I could help them a little more than usual.

Well, we worked quite a lot of hours, but this little man had really been a good boy for the whole time. He even tried to help her mom with crocheting 😀 GREAT JOB!!!

TADAAAAA!! One of my friends has made it today with her little angel’s name on it. It’s really cute!! I thought it would be nice to sew them on a bag or put them on the door.

She told me that her son just got a tent recently, and she could put them on his tent!! Well. sounds nice!

Then after she went back home, she sent me this picture. How adorable!!!!! The color combination is super ♡

Here, this is an impressive work done by the other friend. She really put a lot of effort in it and I think it worth it!! I would like to hung this on my bathroom door instead of my “bath” signs… :p It’s really cute and those colorful colors brightens up the room!!

Over all, it was really a good day with a lot of happy talking, good lunch, good works done with happy people!! Thank you for coming today ♡

Ladies' party! Bracelet making

Today, I held a bracelet making workshop 😀 There were 7 ladies and 3 babies, so I had to arrange the dining/living room a little bit but it was really nice 🙂 Actually, I like how we set the table, so I’m keeping it for now 😀

All of them are wives of their husband and mothers of their children (except for me), and they are good at cooking! So, during the workshop at lunch time, we had delicious lunch which everybody brought one dish. It was so good.

Now, let me introduce my friends’ works 😀
Black thin leather x blue & yellow beads. She was also making one with black leather and pink beads for her daughter. It seems to be so nice to have a daughter since you can make the same accessories for your little ones ♡

Brown leather x wood & turquoise blue & brown beads. This is really warm 🙂 I like it especially with her red cardigan ♡

Beige thin cord x pearl & turquoise blue & wood beads. This is elegant especially because she chose the thinner cord 🙂 I like those colors she chose ♡

Brown leather x black & blue beads. She actually put some orange gold and other colors as well. Her style was very original and unique!! I like her color orders 😀

Brown leather x brown & turquoise blue beads. (The upper one in the picture below.) It was her second time to make this bracelet, and she did better than the last time!! I like her new works as well 😀 Actually, those two go really well together ♡

Brown leather x pearl & wood & orange gold beads. I’m super surprised that this goes really well with her own bracelet which she had bought in Hawaii. She really knows her tastes, which is nice 🙂 ♡

Beige leather x turquoise blue & orange gold & pearl beads. This is feminine ♡ She told me that her two-year-old boy told her that “it’s cute”… so adorable 😀 ♡
I forgot to take hers on my camera, so I asked her to send a picture to me 🙂

After everybody made their own bracelets, we had tea break with tasty sweets.

Everybody together! 🙂 …although we missed 2 of us…

My friend successfully made a ring as well! How nice 🙂

It’s always fun to create things with people you love ♡ I hope everybody had a nice time today. Well, I had a very good time ♡♡♡

Add colors around your wrists :D

Today, I’ve hosted my first workshop in 2015 😀

Our theme was to make wrapped bracelets!! What we had to do was really simple, just to wrap beads around a cord, but it wasn’t so easy to choose a leather cord, strings and beads. How you put them together makes a big difference!!

We had fun working on those tiny beads.

Today’s tea-time was a cup of tea (“BOSTON” from HARNEY&SONS) with “green-tea rolled cake” and “black sesame pudding”, which I made!! I’m so happy when my friends like my sweets 🙂 Those are our family’s favorites for now 😀

After 4 hours of concentration, my 3 students had finished making their own bracelets!
Brown leather x brown & gold beads. This is gorgeous!! I think the choice of brown has added a feminine atmosphere.

Black leather x black & brown beads. It goes well with her style. It’s simple but somehow deep because of the combination of two colors, I think.

Beige leather x white pearl & turquoise blue & wood color beads. This is absolutely cute!! I’d love to wear it especially at around the beach 😀

Here, everybody together!! It’s interesting to see how things becomes different just by the choice of colors!! One of the best things about “hand-made” is that we can choose the color, I think.

I hope my lovely friends have enjoyed making them 😀 ♡

Crochet Coaster Workshop with babies!!

I’ve had another workshop on making coasters and I’ve got many cuties today!!
They look really cute, but I guess the little babies’ world isn’t so easy either…!! Ouch, the smallest one is crying…!!

 

Mommies had so many tasks to do at the same time… learning crochet skills, taking care of their babies and enjoying talking!! What multi-talented ladies they are!!!

 

Creating things by yourself is really fun 🙂 Slowly but surely, you are making something just by making knots one by one.

 

Sometimes, there is the moment when nobody talks and everyone is just concentrating on their works…!! I love the chatting but I love the completely quiet moment as well!!!

 

Hemp is a difficult material to work on, so we needed to take a break 🙂

 

Then, finally we’ve made them !!!

 

Aren’t they beautiful?? As Audrey Hepburn once said “I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls” ♡

 

Creating something by hand with your love can bring you a lot of happiness!!! If you have some spare time, why don’t you try to be happier with what you do? 😀 I hope tomorrow will be another happy day♡

Coaster Workshop – Mastering basic crochet skills :)

I held a crochet workshop and we made coasters with jute. Jute is a kind of difficult materials to work with, but I love the outcome!!

 

Everyone worked so well!! I’m glad that everyone mastered how to work on a circle. Can you see that she is calculating stitches and making her own patterns?

 

Filled with laughter, we enjoyed crocheting, chatting and drinking cups of tea 🙂

 

We worked for almost 4 or 5 hours!

 

Then, we’ve got them!!!

 

Well done, ladies ♡♡♡

Tassel workshop!!

Upon my friend’s request, I hosted a tassel making workshop today 🙂

You can make many things with tassels. You can make accessories, charms and napkin rings!

 

The first step is to chose colors. The color combination is really important! I prepared many options for them 🙂

 

My ladies worked really well!! I introduced a little bit of crochet techniques, chain stitches.

 

Here are one lady’s works. Quite simple but elegant 🙂

 

Another lady’s works. Colorful!! I like how she used beads as well 🙂

 

The other’s. Gorgeous!!

 

Then, I also tried some new materials… How do you think? 😀 I used a yarn from Italy!!!
My friend said it came out cute, but my husband didn’t like this one… 😦

 

I enjoyed seeing how people use colors and combine parts!! I really had a good time 🙂

Now summer is almost gone and a cooler season is coming… I guess making tassels can be a good way of spending your free time 😀

Crochet Cafe♡ Hair Bow – part 2- :)

On Friday, I held a crochet workshop for a different group of ladies 🙂

Our theme was the same with the last crochet cafe, “hair bows”. This time, it’s all started with one facebook message which I’ve got from a lady. She wrote to me that she wanted to make a hair bow for her 1-year-old daughter! How nice ♡ I liked the idea ♡

Everyone chose their favorite color of yarns, and we started working on it.

 

After working for a while, we took a break. It’s been very hot these days, but we had a hot tea 🙂 Hot drinks work well both physically and mentally. We chose “SOHO” by Harney and Sons this time. I really like the flavor ♡ The sweet flavor always makes me relax 🙂

 

I had prepared healthy treats the day before the workshop. Can you notice the bow shape on the cakes??

 

We enjoyed the relaxing break time ♡

 

After the tea break, we knew more about each other. I could see that everyone looked so relaxed and enjoyed working on crochet as well as chatting ♡

 

Three out of five ladies were moms. So, there were cute little ones!! How cute!! They looked enjoying exploring around the room! 😀

 

Doesn’t she look like Virgin Mary…?? ♡

 

After working, we got bows!! From the back 🙂

 

TA-DA—!!! From the side!! I like this posing ♡

 

One lady made two bows while some others were still working on their first one !! Super fast!! One is a hair band, and the other one is a barrette 🙂 I like them both ♡

 

Her color coordinate was excellent!!!

 

“Say cheese ♡”

 

I like this picture 🙂 Maybe they are talking like this… 🙂

*Girl: “Yeahhhhh ♡ I’ve got my own hair bow which my mom made with lots of love in!!”
*Boy: “Mommy, where’s mine??”

We came up with the idea of making a bow tie for baby boys, so I hope he will get his bow sometime soon 🙂 ♪♪

 

I’m now super happy that my friend had sent me a message on facebook!! Without that, I was probably doing something different that day and I might have never met her…!! We had so much fun together and I hope to know more about each other 🙂 ♡

 

I’ve learnt that when you think of something, it’s really important to take an action no matter how small it is. The small action makes the big difference in the end. Do you know that you will actually get bigger feeling of regret when you didn’t do “the thing” compared to the feeling you get after you did it. It’s easy not to take any actions and just to see how it goes, but if you are thinking about something, I think you should do it.

With the one step, you will be one step closer to your dream 🙂 ♡ Grab your chance and be happy ♡♡♡

Crochet cafe♡ Hair Bow :)

Today, I held a crochet workshop at home 🙂

I called it “crochet cafe” because I wanted all the participants to feel relaxed with some cups of tea and sweets and have fun while working on crochet 🙂

Our theme for today was hair bows. The first task for everyone was to chose yarn. This is one of the fun parts 🙂

We chatted a lot but sometimes we were completely quiet… making lots of knots 🙂

 

After working for 2 hours, we had some sweets with a glass of tea 🙂 A carrot jelly with fresh mint leaves which I picked from my mint pot!!

 

After a break, ladies finished their works!!! TADA!!!

HOW DO THEY LOOK ? 🙂  ♡

 

These two elegant hair bows were made by one lady 🙂

 

Another lady even made 3 bows in a day although it was her first time to crochet!! Great jobs 🙂

 

This gray & pink bow is unique but cute!!!

 

I like the red bow as well 🙂 This back shot reminds me of Kiki from “Kiki’s Delivery Service”… 😀

 

Even a baby boy wears a bow!!! 🙂

 

Here is another photo of this baby boy with a “Doraemon” beanie 🙂 I’m super happy that he wears it so cute!!

 

After the workshop, we had a nice healthy lunch which other ladies prepared and brought to my house 🙂

 

Yummy!!!

 

It was really a nice day 🙂

I hope all the ladies enjoyed crocheting and got addicted to it ♡

 

I know that you can’t stop smiling in such a good day!! SMILE A LOT ♡♡♡