Mail Day!!

Over the last weekends, we were at my mom's place away from the Metropolitan area. We all had a very relaxing time. :D

Since last Friday, I'm receiving packages every day! So great to find something in our mail box.
Here's the package from Joyce, USA. A beautiful stitching kit from Chronicle Books. All you need to start stitching is included inside the box, I mean a needle, floss, hoop, book to follow, and tea towels to actually stitch!! This is a great "Wow!!", isn't it?
And another package from Meihui, Singapore had arrived yesterday. Some cute fabric, handmade crochet hair accessory, a book called Girl Force (from Down Under) and another handmade tissue paper holder! Great works, Meihui!!

Also I got a big box of fabrics that I ordered from the wholesaler in Osaka for my online shops. So heavy to carry up to my atelier, so it still stands on the hallway of our house...

I love mails with goodies. It's so much fun!

wow, I'm one of top-seller at etsy.com!

A friend of mine just told me that my etsy shop is one of the top 100 seller at etsy.com.
I didn't know etsy does something like that so I was like "Oh, really???".
But I did check it and she was right!!
Yap, I was the top 34 seller at the site! Hurrah!!

what I've made for the month - no.4

This bag is very small.
I made this with felt (very warm and soft touching) , a snap button and leather tape to store my cell phone. It's so practical that you can attach to your main bag with the snap button. It used to take a long time to search my own cell phone in the bag, but now I can answer before my husband slammed the phone to hang up.

what I've made for the month - no.3

Now I'm commuting with this new bag I made. I applied Lithuanian pure linen and romantic flower print. This required lots of work and took a long time to finish, but I really like this bag!

With the same method, I think I can make a skirt for my child!

what I've made for the month - no.2

The next one is a tote for kids.
When we went to a nice zakka shop here in Tokyo,
my daughter really liked a certain bag.
That one was too big for her as she's only 2 yrs old.
So I changed the measurement to be fit for smaller kids.
Now she takes this bag with her to anywhere she goes!

But you know what?
I also use the bag!!
I put my cell phone, my small wallet and my car key in it to go out.
Very practical, eh?

what I've made for the month - no.1

These two bags are for three-year-old birthday present
to my friend's son, Ocean.
The bigger bag is for his library books.
I got the fabric from the big island of Hawaii.
Very bright and beautiful fabric and it's one of my favorite!

on walking

The other day, we spent time together at my mom's house on weekends. There's a big city park on the back side of her house, so it's our walking spot in the morning with two doggies.

This time, we found small "autumn" stuffs to take home.
I stored small pine cones in a glass jar in our bathroom,
and Jade uses acorns for her playing house.

Goodies from the nature!!

our breakfast

I start baking for our breakfast again.
During the summer, I stopped it as it was so hard to control fermentation due to the high temperature and humidity.
Now it's autumn and my husband and daughter were pushing me to start again.

We had a three-day-weekends as Monday was a national holiday,
and here's the photo from Monday's breakfast.



We all love rolls with wheat germ.
I cooked red apples with butter, sugar and cinnamon to go with rolls. And I served fresh grapes, too.

I bake with my gas-oven and Kitchen Aid.
Both are good partners to enjoy baking!
Without them, I have to manage lots of works...

cute things from Japan

The other day, one of my co-workers brought this sweets to our office.
They were so cute!

She and her boyfriend bought these "omanjyu" in Tochigi Pref.
There's a special training school for motorcycle policemen there,
and that's why a motorcycle policeman was drawn on omanjyu.

Here's another one.Expo 2005 in Aichi has ended the other day.
This was the trademark of it, Morizo & Kikkoro.

But a friend of mine showed me the other one.

Can you see the difference?
We all laughed so hard!So cute and funny!!

another stitch work

I stitched my initial 'K' onto a pure linen napkin.
Doesn't it looks so nice with beautiful designed letter?
I got this pattern from a friend of mine who loves cross stitching.
Just love it!

framed cross-stitching work

This was a request from a friend of mine as a baby shower gift.
The left one is her order, and the right one is for myself.
Both are 'K', but looks totally different!

my Japanese pottery work

After working 2 years in Europe,
I returned to Japan in April 1999.
Right after that, I got hooked in pottery making.
Those Japanese traditional pottery is so beautiful.
Very simple design but lots of beauty inside.
And I wanted to try to make them by myself.

I joined 3-day pottery-making camping
in the famous pottery town of Mashiko, Tochigi.
There each person created his/her own work
using pottery's wheel.

All of my works are designed to use for our everyday life.
Not just for special occasions.
So I made it very simple way.
We eat rice, miso-soup, salad, curry-rice and so on
with my bowls and plates at home.
The touching feeling is really nice,
you feel 'earth' with it.

I'd love to join another camping lesson
one day with my child...
Kids can create better than we adults do
as their ideas are so fresh and flexible, I guess.