Some sources of inspiration

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. I have a new obsession that has been taking a lot of my focus away from my blogs.

I have become addicted to bag making, making bags from vintage obis that is. On this blog, I showed off my first two, since then I've made a couple of smaller, more casual totes and finally on the weekend - I made my first satchel. My husband is now the owner of a Kimono Reincarnate original obi satchel featuring a Japanese dragon. He's rather proud of it, I'm happy to say. I've designed and made some funky swing tags for them and am now looking at getting some woven tags made up.

To help with all of this, I have a new sewing machine. It's so nice, especially compared to my last machine. When I bought my first machine here, I didn't know how long I'd be staying in Japan, so I just bought a little cheap number. Boy was I shocked when I got it out of the box to discover that there was no foot pedal! There was only a button on the machine to stop it and start it. Another button further over changed the speed. The choices were either slow or fast. The slow was painfully slow, the fast, way too fast unless you were doing something long and straight. I had to have one hand operating buttons and the other guiding the fabric. On top of that it clunked. It clunked so badly that it shook everything in the room. Once I started making bags, I knew it was time for a serious upgrade.

Through all this process, I have become rather addicted to a couple of blogs that I thought I would share, because I'm sure they would interest, inspire and help others out there. The writers of both blogs are "Mompreneurs" - entrepreneurial mums.

The first one is Hello My name is Heather.

She's a fabric designer and basically a very creative spirit. It was reading her blog that got me out of my creative slump and inspired to make again. I am in complete awe of her studio and just love checking her blog for its lusciousness. She has some great free patterns and tutorials.

Heather's to-die-for studio

The other blog is U Handbag. Lisa, the writer of U Handbag is a bag designer and has a fabulous on-line store selling handbag making supplies and patterns. She also has some great, easy to follow free tutorials. I can't wait to try out her Silk Pleated and Darted Purse.

If anyone out there has some other suggestions of creative sites or blogs that they love, we'd love you to share! Just drop us a note in the comments.