Sunday, November 28, 2010

November...

was an awful one this year. Two days after returning from Japan, a close family member passed away. So November has pretty much been a write off.

We did have a couple of birthdays to celebrate though. My beautiful Ollie turned 5 on October 27th (when I was in Japan - that was a hard day for me, but he had a great day!), so we celebrated with a yummy chocolate cake. He's very excited to be a big 5 year old. One of the highlights so far has been Prep orientation. He's had 3 one hour sessions at his new school, and was so excited and proud to be standing amongst all his new class mates.


My birthday passed fairly quietly (and not without a few tears). I was just happy to have family around me. I did splurge on my gift to myself this year (with some help from mum) - a Horn sewing cabinet, purchased on ebay, and in near mint condition. Previously, my sewing machine was set up on a very messy little table in the corner of my lounge room. I'm so excited to be able to put it out of sight when I'm not using it, knowing that it's so easy to bring out again.

I've been completely lacking in creative motivation since I returned from Japan, so I was hoping that this would be just the thing to get me sewing again. As you can see in the bottom right corner, today I've been working on the French General Flying Geese (FGFG!) quilt from Fat Quarterly eZine, Issue 1. Slowly getting there...

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Japan - It's all in the details.

One of the many things I loved about Japan was the attention to detail. These were just a few of the gorgeous manhole covers we saw on our travels throughout Japan:
Miyajima

Tokyo

Hakone (technically not a manhole cover, but still beautiful)

Takayama

Arashiyama

Takayama
More to come!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Images of Japan

I'm back! Here are a few images selected from the many hundreds I took :)
Jo-san

Bamboo Grove, Arashiyama

Bamboo Grove, Arashiyama

Takayama

Shinjuku

Imperial Palace Tokyo

I really enjoyed Japan. The people are absolutely lovely, so sweet and helpful; the public transport system is easy to use and oh-so efficient; and all the places we visited to were so clean and tidy. Stay tuned for more detail.