September 28, 2014

home again jiggety jig


As in the nursery rhyme, we're "home again, jiggety jig". We had 25 amazing days visiting Japan, fun times with family, making new friends, being immersed in such a different culture, finding our way around the huge city of Yokohama and feeling like little children where we could neither understand the language nor even read most of the signs! We have hundreds of photos and many beautiful memories to remind us of a wonderful holiday.

And now we're home, sweet home. We were greeted with lettuce, tomatoes and silverbeet ready for picking in the vege garden, a pile of mail, projects returned from editors and a phone message asking do I have some more!

The suitcases were a bit heavier on the way home as there were some lovely things in the shops that I couldn't resist. I am picturing some lovely silk ribbon roses on a purse to go in this frame:


How cute are these little hat buttons? I haven't worked out the significance of the rainbow button but I'm sure it will come in handy somewhere!:


I took heaps of stitcheries with me to work on in the evenings, but of course hardly did any. Daughter produced 20 skirts and pants that she wanted remade as she had lost weight. They were far too good a quality to throw out, so mother of course obliged!

We went shopping for some fabric to brighten up the kitchen window in her new apartment:


... just enough to pretty it up, without losing all that wonderful natural light - a rarity in many parts of Japan's high-density living: 


 The obi, Kimono sash, is a perfect width to make into place mats. This beautiful pure silk obi was bought for a song at a second-hand store and a week later it was transformed into seven elegant place mats, ready for dinner guests:


A lovely new friend presented me with my own obi to do the same.

There were a few magazines waiting for me when I arrived home. Patchwork & Stitching Vol 15 No 10 has my bag on the cover:


 It's called Annie's favourite because it uses one of the simple blocks I rather enjoy making, Annie's Choice:


 I like the yellow and black combination and love the touch that the lace and antique button give it:


 One would expect that I would come home after such a wonderful experience with heaps of inspiration ... but I haven't! There's not even one project floating around in my head at the moment! I had three projects in various stages of completion before I left, so I will get back into designing slowly by tackling them one at a time. Edison reckoned that Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration, so we'll start at that end! 

Happy stitching!
Val


5 comments:

Rosa said...

Wow,such a great surprise.Cover girl,that`s faabulous and more to come!!

StitchinByTheLake said...

Val those curtains are simply perfect for her kitchen, and I am so jealous of the placemats made from an obi! I love, love, love those. I enjoy making small purses using similar frames to yours so I'll be watching to see how you make this one up. Twenty outfits? Oh my....blessings, marlene

Christine M said...

That time went quickly, Val. Sounds like you had a wonderful time.

Maria said...

Your latest published project is gorgeous, Val! Loved looking at the photos of some of the goodies that you bought in Japan. The placemats made from the Obi are stunning; such beautiful fabric :-)

KatieQ said...

You're certainly a valuable house guest. It's wonderful that you were able to tailor clothing, make a valance, and placemats and still fit in some tourist time. The purse frame is lovely. Can't wait to see what you do with your obi.