elephants never forget

here's some elephant fabric that's over in the shop.
it's available in more colors, and with bright colored elephants on a white background, so just let me know if you are looking for something else.

on the topic of remembering, i'm going to try to post every day starting in june. definitely a habit i want to get back into.

old boar and baby wild boar

old boar, originally uploaded by vriad_lee.

i discovered this spectacular needle felted boar by flickr user vriad lee via craft. more work by this artist can be seen here.

here's another photo of our local boar, and one of the new baby wild boars that's about a week old. it's a little hard to make out, the baby is in the lower left corner.

toji market

last week i visited the market at toji temple in kyoto. it happens on the 21st of every month, and is one of the biggest markets, with everything from antiques to homemade pickles.
usually it is so crowded, but this month there were far fewer people, probably because everyone was nervous about swine flu.these venders do all kinds of natural dyeing, using supplies near their rural studio, which is in a ayabe, outside of kyoto. i talked to her for quite a while, and she was very nice and generous about sharing information. her husband spins the fiber himself, and they also grow their own rice, etc. i bought some of her tea, the first picking of an organic green tea. i had some tonight, and it was yummy. ayabe sounds nice, perhaps there it is a kind of artist village, maybe i will try to visit it sometime.

another dye artist, with an amazying hat and matching mask. this color is made from persimmon fruit, which is distilled into a stronger liquid, and often used to dye cotton canvas or study work clothes. in this case nice canvas bags.


a little bit of this and that, and some kimonos.

in case you couldn't guess, the internet is back up, and to be honest, it's a bit overwhelming! so much to catch up on...and then last week i was knocked out by a sudden cold (not swine flu, since i never had a fever!) but now that i have recovered, regular blogging can resume.

sashiko sampler - finished pattern

sashiko sampler - finished pattern, originally uploaded by feltcafe.

these photos are my first jab at sashiko embroidery, using a preprinted sampler. i loooove it! and have plans to make all kinds of sashiko projects for my new apartment...
on the internet front, it should be back on line any day now, and believe me, i am excited about that, most likely more excited than even my most patient readers. not that i don't love posting here with iphone + flickr + iphone, indeed i love both flickr and my iphone and especially how i can use flickr on my iphone.

sashiko sampler- in process

sashiko sampler- in process, originally uploaded by feltcafe.

Sashiko sampler-supplies

Sashiko sampler-supplies, originally uploaded by feltcafe.

pudding at muji

pudding at muji, originally uploaded by feltcafe.

Koinobori, happy children's day!

Koinobori, originally uploaded by merwing✿little dear.

may 5th was childrens day in japan. koi nobori, or carp flags, are flown for the occasion. they come in all sizes, and can be quite large, these are a small craft version from merwing little dear on flickr, who also sells the pattern in her etsy shop if you want to make your own.

lantern

lantern, originally uploaded by feltcafe.

the shrine near where i am staying hung up these big lanterns for the several-day festival in the neighborhood. i love paper lanterns like these, especially at night, of course!

ikea!

the new ikea in kobe (on port island) is very very nice. this is the fabric area, which is much larger than the seattle counter part.