winter tea towel by claudia pearson

i'm a huge fan of the work of claudia pearson--maybe in part because it all looks so darn good on tea towels, which i also happen to love.

this one is in honor of winter and its vegetables.

lately i've been too busy to cook properly as much as i'd like, but i am scheming about how to cook more veggies for bento lunches i'd like to make for myself. we'll see.

ginko

this is the project ginko leaf card, from architette on etsy.
just yesterday i was saying how it's not really that cold yet, although it's december. suddenly that has changed, and it feels like winter has arrived. i spent a bit of today under the heated kotatsu table, and that helped. for the last few weeks, the yellow ginko leaves have been blowing off the trees, and piling up on the sidewalks here and there. i love the shape and color of them so much.

strawberry seersucker

i love this fabric--it has such a vintage feeling, and a wonderful texture, of big seersucker puckers for cool cotton summer clothes. i think it would make a perfect sundress for a little girl. or maybe a cute top for a grown-up. like me, perhaps. i love both the lime green and the bright blues. after eying it for months, it's finally been added to the shop.

happy swiss independance day

august 1st is swiss independence day. this photo is from flickr user syko and i love it because we had these same wooden cows growing up. we have wonderful swiss family friends, and i am very sure that visiting their house as a child inspired my love of architecture and design. in honor of swiss independence day, here are a few swiss-themed goodies from etsy.


photo from dewberry777


map and zurich airport code inspired art from apfelstrudel


switzerland earrings from love4rocks


keyrings from joosweetie


swiss stamp earrings from ergane


swiss postage stamp necklace by juanitas

much love, illy giveaway

just look at those flowers--felt, orange, poppies--3 of my favorites combined in one! this is one of the items made by much love, illy who is sponsoring a shopping spree givaway via paper n stitch: more info here.

cute stamps, animals and letters

i was inspired by the stamps my friends got excited about (see the earlier post) to finally add alphabet and number stamps to my shop! can't believe it took me so long.
i love love love these cursive stamps.
and new baby animals

and new totoros!

a new kogin embroidery book

i just added a new lovely kogin embroidery book to the shop. i've posted about kogin before, and i am still interested in exploring this craft more.
i like this book because the projects are simple and useful, and showcase the beautiful kogin patterns.
a full set is of photos of this book is on flickr.

abundance by mizu designs

i've been a fan of mizu designs for a while, and i am loving her new mixed media work with sumi ink drawings and japanese washi paper.
here's a detail of the same piece, entitled abundance. the theme definitely resonates with how i've been feeling recently, like my life is so very full there's no time for even blogging!

but mainly i love the materials. i've been playing with some washi paper i bought last week, designing some light fixtures. and also i've been learning a little tiny bit of japanese calligraphy, using sumi ink.
you can get a peek into kylie's studio on her blog. and her mixed media work as well as other prints are for sale at http://mizudesigns.etsy.com.

lego and paper sets are back

after a few months, the wonderful lego and paper sets from muji are back in my shop. shown here: the lego punch; the fairy tale set (little red riding hood); the original set (dragon); and the bright colors set. i've posted before about the bright colors set; the lego paper punch; and the orginal and christmas sets.

and for lego enthusiasts, i've also stocked this fun lego theme fabric.

far far away

i've added this wonderful fabric to the shop. it's from the far far away line designed by heather ross for kokka. the fabric is a cotton double gauze, which is super soft, and the images are so lovely. (i have a thing for fairy tales). thankfully, athough i may not always get quite as much sleep as i would like, unlike this princess, there is nothing under my futon that keeps me awake.
there are unicorns too! who doesn't like unicorns?
and frog(princes). cotton double gauze is great for summer, and i've also been thinking about using a little bit of this fabric for baby bib...maybe the frogs?

gardens and caterpillers

i have plants on my balcony! parsly and oregano,

lettuce,
and rosemary! this weekend was warm and sunny, and the perfect time to start my balcony garden, which i've been day dreaming about for the last week or so.
i found this adorable mini-sunflower growing kit at a 100 yen shop last week,
and i love the look of these veggie growing containers from muji, just burlap covered plastic.

and here are the caterpillers! the very hungry caterpiller, that is. available on blue, in my shop.if you want to start your own plants from seed, there was feature by ashley on design sponge last week. having grown up in the country, with a whole room in our house that was full of seed starting trays for several months every spring, i've never been that careful with calculating or planning. and once i moved away to college, and started several new gardens at several new houses, i also learned to appreciate the easiness of working from starts. but now that i am starting a new container gargen in kyoto, i realize that i don't know the growning season here, or the microclimate on my south facing balcony. my strategy is pretty basic: 1) i'm going to quiz everyone i know who gardens, and 2) i'm going to just buy plants when the starts are sold, which is a pretty good indication that it's the right time to set them out. there is also a lot of container gardening here, and i'm excited to try out some local varieties and see what happens!

new washi masking tape patterns

new washi paper masking patterns, just added to my shop.
i don't know which one is my favorite...although i am leaning towards the argyle.

weekend crafting: kogin

this weekend i finally got around to a project i've been planning to do for months: kogin embroidery! i used some cotton towels with a loose weave, and some sashiko thread i had on hand. technically kogin thread is a bit coarser. basically kogin is a type of counted thread embroidery.
i was inspired by this book, which is in the shop, and here is a complete flickr set.
i used one of the most simple designs, but there are so many more i would love to try.kogin is kind of traditional embroidery from the northern part of japan. originally used as a form of darning or reinforcing work clothes, the patterns became and beautiful and intricate decoration. like the related embroidery sashiko, kogin is most commonly done with white thread on a indigo blue background.
but i love this book also and especially because of the way it shows how to use the kogin techique on contemporary objects. another example of the perfect blending of traditional and modern in japanese craft.

yellowgoat

i'm catching up on my sleep after a red-eye flight brought me back to japan on sunday morning. i'll be honest, there have been a few naps, snacks, and catching up on bad tv.
i feel like i have a lot to catch up on, but at the same time i feel ready to focus on a few projects. like this little boat, i'm working on charting my course. i hope to get back to daily blogging as part of a time-balanced life.
all the photos in this post are works by yellowgoat; i love this ring that holds a photo, and can even be a tiny pictureframe on your desk.
and here's something sweet for your valentine.

goal: healthy eating

these lovely cards are made by drenculture on etsy.

part of my healthy eating goals for 2010 are more vegetables (obviously!) especially now that i know how to make spinach with sesame dressing (yum). and japanese pumpkin is also easy to cook and delicious. along with eating more veggies is my goal of packing a lunch for work, which so far is going great.

in japan, there is a lot of importance placed on the first (of almost anything) of the new year, including the first dream of the new year. in order, it's lucky if you dream about the following: #1 mount fuji; #2 an eagle; #3 eggplant! i don't think i've ever had a dream about any of those things, but maybe one year i will have a lucky eggplant dream on jan 1. hee. hee.

this wonderful eggplant family with hats is by yara on flickr

and one more cutie: a handmade upcycled eggplant from nataliemae.