a new year and a move

the lovely eco-friendly moving announcement is from spotted sparrow.

happy new year! i hope you are excited to start 2011. i know i am. and...i'm moving! actually, i'm just moving my blog, over to feltcafejapan.com where it will be here: http://www.feltcafejapan.com/blog/. i will keep blogging over there, as well as hopefully make some progress on my other other little plans and dreams for that site. i'll leave this blog here as an archive.

but i feel a little sad to be moving on from blogger. it's like that final step in the moving process where your friends have alreay helped you carry all your boxes, and you are left in an echo-y empty apartment with just a broom to clean up the last dust bunnies.

thank you so much for reading what i've written here, and your comments. and i really do hope that you will come join me over in my new blogging home, stop by anytime!

japanese cross stitch embroidery kits

i am super excited to let you know about these cross stitch zakka kits from clover that are in the shop!
they are beautiful kits with high quality and perfectly selected materials.
flickr set here

japanese cooking at uzuki

i finally wrote about the great cooking lesson i had last month at uzuki over on felt cafe japan.
you can read the full version and see more photos here: http://www.feltcafejapan.com/japanese-cooking/

november tenjin market

tenjin-san market for short, on the 25th of every month there is a flea market on the grounds of kitano tenmangu shrine in kyoto.

more info about kyoto markets here:
http://www.feltcafejapan.com/kyoto-handmade-markets/

muji wooden blocks, the new felt cafe japan design shop, and 30 days of daily posting!

i am so excited to tell you that i redesigned the felt cafe japan shop, and it's now right there on the felt cafe japan website. also, it's full of these wonderful wooden block sets from muji! the supply of these wooden cities (and countries, and modes of transportation) in a bag is severely limited.
kyoto, including daimonji mountains.
tokyo, with the tokyo tower, and the temple with the big lantern in asakusa.
new york, love the guggenheim.
london, including the gerkin.
barcelona has the barcelona pavillion by mies! love it.
italy, including fiats and gondolas.
railroad station
and safari animals, in the cleverest little habitat box ever.

it was fun to do a little web design, and i have to give a shout out to squarespace. even though i am an abject beginner, eventually i could figure out what was and was not possible, and how to make what i wanted, and in the end feel like i learned something. woot.

and, today is my last day of daily posting for november! i did it! any other nablopomo folks out there? i really have enjoyed getting into the habit of daily posting, maybe i will try to keep it going for december. i feel like i have 30 more posts in the back of my head already!

last weekend's markets

last weekend i went to 2 markets on sunday. kyoto has a lot of cultural treasures, and in my opinion, market culture is one of them!

by the way, have you seen that banner with the red acorns over there on the right side of this post, for felt cafe japan?------>

it's my new project, which i'm very excited about; gathering and sharing resources about japanese crafts, crafting in japan, and crafty shopping in japan. if you have any ideas about this new site, or would like to contribute, please let me know!

one of the sections on felt cafe japan is all about the different markets in kyoto, here:
http://www.feltcafejapan.com/kyoto-handmade-markets

there are antique markets that have some handmade items, and handmade markets with more younger craftspeople. last sunday i went to one of each.

the photo at the top of this post is from the tenjin market, the anique/flea market at kitano tenmanu on the 25th of each month. the photo is of one of the side areas, where they were selling plants. the little structure with the white tables is selling coffee.

this is the same market, near the entrance where all the food vendors were. there was a mix of traditional local pickle makers, and festival food. toward the end and on a different street, i had the biggest buta-man (steamed pork bun) i've ever seen. super delicious. in this photo, the dark blue banner says 'kyoto pickles' and i bought some! i'm still learning the names for pickles, so i don't know what they are called, but they are purple, include ginger and cucumbers and i love them.

at the antique/flea markets, there are usually some crafts too, often more of the traditional kinds. for example these little chirimen bunnies.

i made a flickr set with more pictures from this market.


then i went to the handmade market at kamigamo shrine, which is held on the 4th sunday of every month. it was my first time to this market, and i definitely plan to go back as often as i can. there was a nice selection of crafts, even though i didn't get there until later in the day. and the setting-peaceful woods and a nearby stream-was lovely.

this woman was selling felt off of her bike.

wonderful felt slippers.

great little felt animals!
you can see more photos in this set.

sewing some felt vegetables

this weekend i had a little time to work on an ongoing project, making some of the projects from this book that i blogged about before. if you want more info about the book, i have a flickr set here, and it's available in my etsy shop.
yesterday i made the tomato, and today i finished the garlic.
to join the shiitake mushroom, carrot, and green onion i'd finished earlier.

they are really fun projects, and pretty easy to figure out even though i can't read japanese. the patterns are very precise, and create some very realistic and cute veggies.
here's the daikon radish in process. eat your veggies!

cute felt play fruit and veggies book

this book is seriously one of the cutest ever, and it's all about play food sewn from felt! i pretty much want to make every single thing in it. more details in the shop, and more photos in this flickr set.