its 2nd blogversary and a small giveaway

(2013/July/01 This post had been taken down by me with some insignificant reason for some time. I sincerely apologize for your disappointment if you are one of those who came to check the rotary measure and found no post before. It is now here again, even if it is too late...)


I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a lovely holiday!

I too had a great time while I was away. Lots of traveling and many lovely meetings. Because virtually I was on the journey all through December, I wasn't at home much. Therefore I have nothing to report on sewing particularly. I think you can see in the pictures that I was SO busy, because they prove that I never had a single chance to change my clothes during this period, apparently.

***
In front of The Radcliffe Camera, Oxford.

I visited London for attending a symposium which was held for celebrating my former boss' brilliant career and his recent retirement. I also visited Oxford, for the first time, to see one of my friends too.

In London, I met Helene, aka CarotteSauvage the great hobby seamstress, and we had a great time. We chatted chatted chatted chatted chatted and chatted (you have to read it as "Helene talked interesting stories all the way and Yoshimi chuckled forever with making strange noises." She's so funny, clever, and quick-witted. I know that she doesn't read blogs, but we agreed that this picture should be put in my blog sacrificing its face-less principal.

I went shopping to a gigantic outlet shopping mall (in Japan) with my family too. Hooray, I didn't buy anything for me! (I bought two pieces of clothes for my daughter and that's all.) I have decided not to buy my clothes entire this year.

We visited my parents who live very far from our city too. My mother is my most favorite person in the world and the kindest mum in the universe. She told me that she had just finished making her jacket which she is wearing in the picture. She also said that she embroidered the whole fabric and hand sewed this lined jacket by herself. I suspect she dyed the fabric in indigo blue before embroidering it too. Gosh, she is improving forever. I wouldn't be surprised even if I see flax in her garden next time...

By the way, in case you don't know much about me, I describe myself that I'm just a 40 and a half decade years old very ordinary typical female mad molecular biologist who wore an white hand-knitted hat and an white coat all through December. I happen to be a hobby seamstress too.


****
I started this blog about two years ago. This was one very personal murmuring from the beginning and it still is. Most of the time I have no spectacular blasting or shining originality in my sewing, I have nothing to promote or to sell either, but I hope you can feel through this blog that there is me living somewhere on your same planet and sewing happily and singing (badly) to make her days a bit brighter in her way. I hope the fact that you are not a lonely sewist but you have me as your company makes your hobby merrier.

Thanks all for your visits, I have a small giveaway for celebrating my second blogversary. If you are interested in it, please leave your comment with a link/address with which I can contact you later. The kind seamstresses who don't care about the giveaway but would like to leave comments will have to acquit me of your enforced submissions to the giveaway, please. The giveaway raffle will be closed at 23:00JST on 14/January/2011. You can submit for it as long as the shipping address is on our planet. I'm planning to use the random number generator for choosing one winner but I will change my mind if I find a better way for random drawing. I'll announce the winner soon after the drawing and also send a personal message to her/him. Any questions?

The giveaway prize is "Ma-rusashi" (KAWAGUCHI Co.,Ltd) which is a plastic rotary measure (ruler/curvimeter). It is very handy for measuring curved seams on paper patterns! It has got inch and centimeter notations on each side. The tool is widely available in Japan, but I couldn't find similar tools when I was checking the term for it in English. I guessed that this plastic sewing tool might not be very common in many countries and decided to let you know how much I liked it. Yes, I definitely prefer it to any other measuring tool, especially when I check the length of seams in armholes. Do you already have a similar tool in your tool box? If not, be a lucky one and let me send it to you.

A Happy New Year and Happy Sewing to all of you!



yoshimi