A tale of 4 bags

I started sewing (& selling!) bags recently. Yesterday was a memorable day as 4 bags went out to new owners. I received a very encouraging email from M.Kate, who lives in Malaysia & blogs fabulously about mixed cultures. We both have a lot in common - being Chinese, being a busy mom, loving bags & cherry blossoms!
Bag 1 : The MK Bag "Sakura Pink with Rice Bowls in Blue" was mailed off just this past Monday & she received it on Friday, 5 days from Japan to Malaysia - I am so impressed with the Japan Postal Service!

This was my first official sales order for my bag & I'm truly grateful. MK waited ever so patiently. She trusted me even though she knows I have never sold nor sown any bags before this, never had bag-making lessons & make bags without patterns.

While transferring her belongings into her new bag, she wrote me a very positive email with kind comments & wonderful feedback that made me quite emotional.

The MK Bag : Spacious, with key loops & darted pockets for everything you want to bring along.

Bag #2 : "Blossoms overs Colourful Grass" was mailed off to Sydney . It's really on the way, Amy!

Bag #3 : "Blossoms overs Colourful Grass" was also ordered by Ally for her good friend, Andrea, who will be moving to Germany. Andrea had seen this bag when I was making it for Amy. She liked it very much & even offered to buy it then.

Now, she has it as a farewell present from Ally & she got quite emotional too! Andrea had a new baby not long ago & she also has a 4 year old. This bag has enough pockets in various sizes to fit all the stuff when she takes the kids out.

Thank you too Andrea, for your advice & for listening to me go on & on excitedly about sewing projects. You were there right from the first time I started on sewing all these. It's as shame that I only got to know you for such a short time. I too, will not forget you. I will miss you.

Bag #4 : "Red Dragonflies over Lotus" is almost like my own bag. When Andrea saw me sewing a Button & Loop on my bag, she ordered the same design as a Christmas present for her mother.

How wonderfully funny, that both Andrea & her mother now have "Bags by Xue" as presents!

Thank you all for giving me my first breaks. I hope you will enjoy using your new bags.

Bazaar, Friends & a special bag

This is what happens when you have a mother who sews & need someone to model the bags!

A Mini Christmas Bazaar : The good thing about sewing is that you can bring projects anywhere to do hand-stitching ! So one day, while I was waiting for my kids in school & just happen to be sewing...Linda (a fellow Mama waiting for kids) came over.

Twice a year, Linda organises mini bazaar featuring only Japanese handicraft. She likes my bags & thought they are suitable as I used Japanese fabrics with Japanese motifs. So tomorrow on 4th Nov, I will be selling (something hopefully!) at Linda's home , just walking distance from our school !

There will be wooden Kokeshi dolls, Japanese fabric collage "paintings", washi wrapped boxes & Kokeshi musical boxes - really kawaii! There's even a Kokeshi "bank-doll" with a cut-out slit right under its fringe for coins - can you imagine that! And I'll be there with my bags!!! I'm very happy & feel honoured that Linda has included me in this! Want to come?

These are Christmas tote bags - pretty ones with denim, Christmas fabrics & sewn-on designs (similiar to the Autumn bag which is in my shop). So far, only one bag on Etsy as I'm still working on the pricing for the rest - the worst part of this whole fun thing!

I went to the Post Office to check on postage with boxes & almost fainted! Maybe bags should go out in bubble-packed envelopes after all they are fabric & can't get dented. I hate to have to pay so much in shipping so I'm trying to cut down shipping cost in general. What do you think?

Special, Special People : Blogging means you get to know truly nice people - some who even think my bags are wonderful. I have been keeping Hey Harriet & M.Kate up to date, on my sewing adventures & they have always been there with their encouraging comments & wonderful emails. Thank you both, for always taking time to write amidst your own full agenda!

M.Kate once said "put them up for sale - I promise to buy one!" - she's just being kind, I thought. My previous post was about my own customised bag (Dragonflies over Lotus), which drew compliments from her & guess what - I'm now working on the MK bag, with "lots of pockets like yours". She ordered when I haven't even priced it!

The MK Bag, Sakura Pink with Rice Bowls in Blue. She loves cherry blossoms even more than the lotus. The Rice Bowls makes me think of a typical quaint Chinese greeting which is "chi pau le ma?" ("have you eaten?".), a familiar phrase to M. Kate & I. I'm almost done with her bag now but before it goes to Malaysia, where MK lives, I will show it at Linda's bazaar, with a tag on the bag stating proudly, "SOLD".

With these load of sewing to do, my poor little sewing machine was beginning to feel overworked! I had bought this simple model from Sears in Phoenix, Arizona just this past summer. It states "for 8 years & older" so it's perfect for my 8 yr old Annika & I. Well, it was...now I think my little Kenmore machine cries each time I sew over layers of fabric!

Sewing more means you get to come across Mamas in school who also sew. And amazingly, Alison (an Australian Mama) & Andrea (a Polish Mama) came to my rescue - they loan me their Brother sewing machine, a more advanced model, to cope with more sewing!

Big hugs & big THANK YOUs to wonderful supportive friends like Linda, Alison, Andrea, M.Kate & Tracy!

A little red bird for a kind teacher.

Recently, Annika stayed home from school, for a week because she was sick. So what do you do when you can't leave the house...you sew, of course!

She learned how to make her first pocket design , filled with these pretty rainbow-coloured buttons, "musical" buttons & a cut-out bird. She positioned them with fabric glue - a very sticky situation!

Then the sewing begins, with many "ouches" in between. After she finished her pocket design, we made this bag with matching "music sheets" fabric for the bottom part. Annika then made a card with a coffee-filter & yellow ribbons.

This bag is for Hamase Sinseh (Teacher Hamase), who teaches piano lessons to the neighbourhood children, who speak Japanese. Mrs Hamase speaks little English & Annika knows little Japanese. She put together a little book with instructions in English & Japanese that she now points to, when she needs to tell Annika something.

Because of her kindness & patience, my little girl is happily learning to play the piano. Domo Arigato Gozaimasu Sinseh!

Spring...in a treasury!!!

Yippee!!! Star of the East has kindly

put my Spring Earrings in her treasury !

Thank you, Estella !

And the AWARDS goes to !

My week is more special, because of a Blog Award (on left) from Jennifer at jcnstudios. How kind of her! I feel honoured to be a recipient with the others, especially when there's so many, many blogs out there. This Chinese character (on right) is "Xie", which means 'thank you". I do appreciate it when someone takes time to visit & then stay to comment. I like to visit other blogs & I do thank you for visiting mine.

It's not easy to pick who, to pass these awards to, among the super-duper ones that I like. So now, the "Arte y Pico" BLOG AWARDS go to.....
Alasmydear, Hey Harriet, High Desert Diva, Tatsuko, & The Senakams:Corgi+2. They make me smile, pause & ponder. And I can even see pictures, in their descriptions! I do like them & I hope they like their Blog Awards.

Xie Xie! Thank you!

Yesterday, in the midst of chaotic cleaning & packing, I received an appreciative email from Julie King.
This talented, self-taught artist mentioned me in her blog & she made my day!
Julie does incredible torn-paper collage work that looks like mosiac art & we love mosiac art !