So, the celebration last night was a blast. And even more so because I picked these winners! I had friends pick the names and took pictures again today because the lighting wasn’t very helpful in the bar last night. Being buzzed on birthday malbec didn’t help either!

So, congratulations to these folks! (I’m going to e-mail you separately as well.)

Prize #1: Sew Easy

Winner: blue rose (commenter #22)

Model: Me!

Prize #2: Hershey’s Recipe Box

Winner: Joy (commenter #56)

Model: Liz (because she came late!)

Prize #3: Bake It Pretty’s Icing Kit

Winner: Amor (commenter #43)

Model: Jacqueline

Prize #4: Namaste Knitube

Winner: Tanya (commenter #76)

Model: Andre, with Eric’s arm (haha)

Prize # 5: My Baby Quilt

Winner: Amber (commenter #8)

Models: S. & B.

Thank you to everyone who left comments, especially to those who are new to my blog. I want to give all of you presents. You all made my birthday extra special. May all your birthday wishes to me return to you many times over!

I’m going on vacation for the next two weeks and won’t get the chance to post much. What a treat it is to be going back home to the Philippines after not having visited for almost two years! I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and the family that nurtured a love for cooking and crafting in me growing up.

I may be away, but you can still get to know me by reading my favorite posts—one on how growing up on a sugar mill led to my love of baking, and another on how my 102-year-old grandma’s quilts inspired me to make my own.

Kalamay: A Story Of Sugar

We Are All Squares

And I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail with more cookin’ and craftin’ posts.

Stay curly, all!

Many many thanks to Amanda at Bake It Pretty for her awesome support of my birthday giveaway.

Hello curly folks! We’re keeping my birthday bonanza simple. Here’s what we’ll do.

1) You’ll read about all my awesometastic (a term borrowed from my friend Alicia!) prizes below.

2) You’ll pick the one you want to win and wish for it while…

3)…you leave me a comment with a birthday wish or two! Or even none at all! Really, just leave a period if that’s all you want. I’m easy!

4) On Friday evening, while I’m celebrating at an early birthday happy hour with friends, I’ll ask some of them to draw the winner’s names. It’s as if you’ll really be part of my birthday! (I’ll be drawing winners and prizes randomly. So cross your fingers on Friday night, Los Angeles time, and maybe your name will match the prize you wished for!)

5) Winners (with pictures!) will be posted Saturday, August 22.  I can’t guarantee the time because I don’t know what time I’m going to get up…it IS the weekend, after all! (And hopefully I won’t be TOO hung over!)

So, enough talking. Now, prizes! I chose these because I’d love them as gifts for myself. As much as I love to craft and cook, I hope these inspire you to do the same when you receive them.

1) Sew Easy: The Essential Guide To Getting Started by Linda Lee

…a must-have kit for anyone learning how to sew! It features a 48-page booklet filled with illustrations and diagrams for the beginner. It also contains 12 fun projects cards that offer sewing ideas for fashion and home.  A charming booklet outlines the basic principles of sewing and the tools you will need. Then, 12 project cards give you a head start on your very first sewing projects. Start off easy, making simple items such as a placemat, and advance to more skilled designs, like a wrap sklrt. Best of all, the booklet and project cards can be stowed in the kit for no-fuss storage!

2) Hershey’s Keepsake Recipe Box

This classic tin recipe box contains 99 sensational recipes from the test kitchens of Hershey’s. Recipes for cookies, brownies, pies and more! With five section dividers, wonderful food photography and vintage images from classic Hershey’s advertisements.

3) Bake It Pretty’s The Best-Ever Cupcake Icing Kit

This new kit has everything you need to ice the prettiest batch of cupcakes and in record time, too!  Custom-assembled through rigorous testing (and tasting), the folks at Bake It Pretty found their four favorite jumbo pastry tips, and put them together with one 14″ professional pastry bag to make a custom icing kit that no baker should be without. Also great for making fake-cupcakes, bath bombs, and other baked treats like meringues, macaroons, and more. Individual pastry tips measure about 2″ long, with a 3/4″ diameter opening. Each set includes : Round Tip, Star Tip, Closed Star Tip, French Tip, one 14″ pastry bag made of lightweight, double-coated polyurethane with a reinforced bottom, stitched border and hanging loop and a glossy 4×6 postcard label with instructions and helpful tips!

4) Namaste Knitting & Crochet Tube

This is my friend Charlie. He bugs me on a daily basis. He has a full arsenal of things that he does as The Daily Thorn In my side: heat up smelly food and have the fumes waft into my office, talk to me in funny voices, stuff like that.  But I forgive him for all of that, because he gave me this Knitube from a radio piece he recently did for NPR on the Stitch ‘N Pitch movement (where crafters get together and knit/crochet at baseball games) with Burbank’s Unwind, a knitting and crochet store. (Thank you, too, to his wife Wendy for not wanting the Knitube!) It’s a yoga-bag-like stow-and-go thing to transport your needle art tools, projects and supplies.  It has a drawstring that allows you to draw the thread through it and work right from the tube. It has many compartments for all the tools of your trade and a hip interior lining. Pretty AND functional!

P.S. Charlie is very talented. HERE is his website for proof. And watch out for  a link to his podcast on Stitch ‘N Pitch when it goes live!

5) My First Coin-Stack Baby Quilt

This project is very special to me. It was from a class I took under Alissa of Handmade By Alissa at the Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica. I don’t just love it for being my very first Coin-Stacked Quilt, not even for the fact that it has all my favorite fabric from my stash. I mostly love it because it isn’t perfect. Because after being told for many years that there are rules to quilting that need to be followed, I was encouraged to make mistakes. And I had fun doing things I was always scared of: not always sewing the straightest lines, not matching my seams, and my blocks don’t even square up! But the whole experience allowed me to grow creatively and to explore beyond tradition (I’ve already signed up for the UCC’s Improvisational Quilt Class in the fall!) I hope whoever receives this is inspired to keep making mistakes, because sometimes, they can inspire you in the most surprising ways.

Alright, ready, set, comment! And good luck, all!

My birthday isn’t until August 27, but by then I’ll be somewhere up in the air for a short vacation to the Philippines. So, I’m celebrating as early as next week! Check back on Monday for my big birthday bonanza—I’ve been gathering these prizes over the past three months and seriously want to keep them to myself (but I love you curly folks, so I won’t, haha!) In the meantime, enjoy your weekend, all!

May your pots be boilin’ and your hands be busy!

(Photo above via The Urban Craft Center. They just released their Fall Schedule and I’ve already signed up for their Improvisational Quilt Class. Can’t. Wait!)

In all my years of hoarding fabric, I’ve never had a chance to own anything by Marimekko. I’ve been fascinated with the design company for years, but its stuff is just too expensive! But this past weekend, there was a lady selling remnant fabric at the Venice High Flea Market—and I snagged about a half yard of this beautiful black-and-white floral piece. For a buck. A BUCK!!! I plan to turn it into a clutch! I also found other beautiful fabric pieces, some printed linen, classic Ralph Lauren cotton (I like how it’s very 1980’s Laura Ashley-esque) and vintage buttons that I couldn’t resist. Total damage from this weekend’s flea market finds? $7. That makes me happy.

And I’m finally catching Julie & Julia tonight! (Squeal!)

On top of my months-long anticipation of the movie, we’re getting the chance to catch it at an indie theater in Westwood Village called The Majestic Crest. It’s a one-screen affair with glamorous epilectic fit-inducing lights outside. It’s been around since the 40’s. I love its art deco charm and vintage wall murals. I can’t wait! (Photos from Yelp.)

The trailer for this movie made me tear up, so I hope I don’t bawl in the theater tonight, haha. And you know what I realized? It’s apt that Julia Child is perhaps my dearest culinary inspiration. You know why? Look—SHE was the original Girl With A Curl!

Hope to catch you tomorrow, blog folks! Au revoir!
—-
The Venice High Flea Market is on the second Saturday of each month. More info HERE.

The Majestic Crest is a must-see when you’re in the West Los Angeles Area. More info HERE.

Like magic, what you see above transforms from a simple fabric-wrapped package…

…into THREE gifts: a handmade apron, a cookbook and a pair of chopsticks as a cute little extra!

I call this little gift bundle The Apronook (apron + book = hee!). I put it together for my friend Connie who likes to cook (and loves sushi!). I initially just wanted sew her something with some sushi fabric that I’ve had in my stash for years now. But the project sort of took on a life of its own and became something else entirely. When you’re deep into crafting and the muse takes hold of your curls, you just have to go where it leads.

Remembering how Connie and I have spent many cooking sessions together, I thought an apron would be a thoughtful, quick gift to make. And quick it was! This thing, pockets and all, took just an hour to make.

I first drew a pattern on some grocery bags from my own apron. (Yes, my apron has pugs on it. It’s odd, but I love it!) Of course, you can free-hand this too and just cut around your existing apron with about ¼ inch all around, but I’m kind of er, anal, about sewing so I had to do a pattern.

I added about ¼ inch to the apron’s outline, knowing I would turn down that much as my hem. Then I just basically sewed a hem around the edges, taking care to tuck in a piece of hemmed fabric tacked to the front as a panel for pockets. I sewed a line down the middle of the flap to bisect it into two pockets on the front.

The project was over so quickly that my mind started to think about how else to stretch it to its crafty potential. Seeing how the apron was sushi-themed, I thought it would be great to wrap a book in it, and decided to test my theory with one of my own books from my cooking libraby.

I figured out how to wrap the book in the apron by positioning it so the waist ties are somewhere around its middle and can serve as a ribbon that ties everything together.

I tucked the top half of the apron over the book, and the bottom half thereafter.

I folded the right side over and pinned it to the folds under to anchor it. If you decide to do this, make sure to slip the pin’s point under the fabric to avoid ouchies!

Then I did the same to the left, and pinned to anchor as well.

After turning the book over, it looked like this, with the two waist ties sticking out from the middle, one on each side.

Then I tied those into a bow.

And thought, maybe, as a final touch and in keeping with the Asian food theme, it would be great to include some cute chopsticks. Isn’t that neat?

Think of all the crafty possibilities with other kinds of food-themed fabric, finished off in true culinary style with a wooden spoon or spatula slipped behind the bow. Or this can be a crafter’s apron too, especially if your friend works with paint, and include a new pair of scissors or a paintbrush for an artistic flair.

I hope this gives you ideas on the next crafty gift you can make for family or friends. A little handmade love goes a long way. Happy Apronookin’!

There are a few things I know my cousin Kara loves: Meiji chocolate, sashimi and anime. See the common thread? I often think she was Japanese in her past life, so when her manga-esque doodles started showing up on her Twitter feed and her Facebook page, I wasn’t suprised. I was bowled over, though, when I asked her to create a manga-ized version of me for my upcoming birthday. When I got the caricature you see above via Twitter this morning, I was seriously amazed. Isn’t it awesome? Some of you who know me personally will see how it’s just like me, only, er, as a Japanese cartoon character. I was so happy and proud I swear I forgot I was getting over the flu. Kara, you are truly talented! (I promise I’ll try to stop teasing you about going to the Other School for college. Hehe.)

To see more of her awesome work, visit her DA page, HERE.

And oh, konnichiwa, everyone! I’m back!