chirimen food and book

here are some chirimen crafts from the arashiyama chirimen museum in kyoto..
including sushi,
and even a christmas themed display!

the short explanation of chirimen is that it is a traditional woven fabric, fine silk that because of the weaving technique used is created with little wrinkles in the fabric, that give it a distinctive texture. and now, it has become popular to use scraps of this fabric (originally designed for kimono) to make little craft creations.

i've just added this great chirimen craft book to the shop, and made a flickr set here for all the photos.
it's a great book, with some amazing and detailed projects,
and some whimsy, like this grandpa cat grilling fish.
and a great collection of zodiac animals (2o10 the year of the tiger or tora 寅 (とら) is right around the corner!

more awesome holiday felt inspiration

an amazing felt wreath, by pickles, via whip up.

more beautiful work by littleloveblue, whose felt garland project is featured on the storque this week.
and a lovely collection of scandinavian holiday crafts (some including felt) found by themayberrysparrow.

actually, the danish hearts by pingvina of copenhagen are a craft project that we always did in my family when i was a kid, and one of the projects that i will be sharing with my english students this week!

stencil book from muji

here's a new product from muji, my favorite shop, with 100 shapes of cut into cardboard to use as stencils. in the shop, and more photos in this set.

purl calendar givaway at inchmark

the 2010 calendar from purl soho looks like it will be fabulous, of course! you have a change to win one if you visit inchmark.

more tiny elephants

i've very excited to tell you that i've found the new tiny elephant cotton print in new colors! like this yellow,
dark navy,
and green on white. they are all in the shop, which i will be upgrading with even more new items throughout this weekend (i can't seem to keep up with all the new things i want to share with you!).

muji kyoto and tokyo/edo maps

i've added these fabric maps to the felt cafe japan design shop. this one is old edo, former tokyo, but there also is a current modern tokyo map version. actually, there are both old and new map versions for london and new york as well, which i didn't add to the shop yet, but please contact me directly if you are interested in them.
the kyoto map only comes in the modern form, which might be quite useful around town! there are also a few kyoto wooden block sets back in stock too.

year of the tiger

following chinese (and japanese) astrology, 2010 will be the year of the tiger. japanese new years is very culturally important, and there are crafts that go along with it! mainly card making, since you are supposed to send new years cards to everyone you know (although recently, email is becoming more popular). these paper stickers include one of my favorite new years lucky symbols, the daruma~!

and pretty sticker tape. all these goodies are in my shop!

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/

holiday fabric find: hoshii saaaa saa

i found this wonderful fabric at a little fabric store near my house. it's from the nani iro 2008 collection, called hoshii saaaa saa, and long sold out at most larger fabric shops or the nani iro website.

there's a bit in the shop, and there are also a few meters with the same gold star pattern on a cream background with brown. let me know if you would like some!

i'm going to be saving some of this one for myself, although i am not sure yet what i want to use it for...double gauze would be perfect for kids pjs or a baby hat...i love the pattern for a tree skirt, or a soft sewn ornament...or maybe some holiday potholders with some sashiko stitching like this...or a tea cozy? what do you think? it's just so soft and cozy and festive all at once!

stamps shop update

these are the newest addition to the rubber stamp section in my shop, they come in a little tin,
and several different sets,
although all 3 have a delicate french feeling.
also there are christmas stamps!
and snowflakes,
and doves, which are duet stamps, which means that they are a set with one stamp making the outline, and another stamp to fill in the color within the outline.

i also love these little cooking theme stamps,

and ok, the baby animals are maybe the cutest!
these set of lace patterns are the ones i've been using to print on the cards i send out with my orders, i've been printing them with white ink on brown kraft paper.
there's also a lace stamp in the anique set of the matchbox set series.
and these hobby stamps are back in stock,
along with the popular park set,
and the downtown victorian houses! they are all in the shop for now.

a little holiday sashiko work in progress

a few designs i've been working on, i'm loving the dark navy linen background for sashiko thread.so far i think i like these trees, that are made up of lines rather than outlines,

and this snowflake turned out ok, maybe next time i'll do it less free form and draw out the the design first.

i have plans to turn these designs into ornaments, i'll show you how they turn out.

salt dough ornaments

i'm so impressed with these salt dough ornaments, from katy elliot via whip up.

pine branches ornament

Pine Branches Ornament, originally uploaded by jennybubbletime.

this wonderful ornament was embroidered by jennybubbletime, spotted on flickr.

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/

december and advent calendars

very clever match box advent calendar from sweet paul, via whip up
from crafty nest

whip up also has a collection of the top 30 advent calendars

and there's a craft crowy round up too.