major arms!

Felting sure does give the arms a good workout. I busted out two felted pieces today and  think I finally have the knack of it, or at least the basics. I have been doing test squares in different layering and texture techniques and had some very good outcomes today :) Exciting!

Thanksgiving

Me being sick during the holidays seems to have become the norm. One year I had a stomach sickness on Thanksgiving and the flu on Christmas, and some terrible stomach virus on Valentines day ( my moms birthday). I don't know what it is but I wish if I am going to get sick that it would be during the normal weeks rather then holidays. This year I was sick on Thanksgiving with some weird flue like sickness...blah!. I am better now though thankfully. 

I did however get to make a spiced poundcake before I really started getting bad off. It turned out very tasty but is not very visually appealing to say the least. Since so much was going on in the kitchen and the oven was being used for multiple dishes my pound cake deflated. Oh well..lesson learned. Keep dat door shut!

maples

I love me some maple trees. This year my area has been filled with neon oranges, golden yellows, and killer reds. This tree in particular is my favorite, since I am home for the holiday I thought I would snag a picture of the lovely Japanese Maple outside my parents house. This tree is intense! I would love to be able to recreate the color with dye but reds are tough. Experimentaion shall certainly follow. We saw pictures of Japan during the fall while we were there for 2 months  during the spring and summer.Hopefully when we go back we can go in the fall.

kimono update..

SO...it seems that I have gone the completely backwards route when it comes to purchasing kimono and obi. I started out with the most formal furisode that my lovey was nice enough to purchase for me while we were in Japan ( I am still thanking him..though I am sure it is getting annoying). Next came a kurotomosode I found on etsy..then a full shibori houmongi. Now finally I have a "normal" kimono on the way. It is this piece below, a nice synthetic yabane pattern with little teal and white circles. I am excited.
Firstly because it is synthetic, secondly because it is not lined so I can alter it to fit my somewhat crazy lanky and tall self.  I have been very wary when it comes to altering the ones that I have as they are all rather old and I am sure if I undo the seams that I will find mismatched fabric that has not been hit with sun and age damage peeking through.  So..with out further babble there she blows! Hooray for Yamatoku's 9.99 sale!

Also on ze way..

A weeee little sleeping cat netsuke. Netsuke used to be for men's traditional japanese attire, but the vintage ones that are more " cute" have dropped into modern women's kimono ensembles, so this will double as an obidome for moi.

spaghetti sauce

Today I attempted to make yet another spaghetti sauce from scratch. The word is that it was fantastic ( at least the people who ate it said so). I had to do the whole recipe practically on the fly as suddenly it started calling for 1/4 cup pepper and 1/4 cup salt O_o for a small batch recipe??? The recipe was clipped from a local magazine so I am hoping that it was just  a big editing error rather then an actual recipe. That much salt and pepper would make most people heave.
I learned from this:
Merlot wine makes practically anything that has tomatoes, garlic, and onions in it taste amazing!
Don't focus on recipes like you are walking a fine line between doom and redemption. Sometimes just going with the flow helps..a lot.

A start of something

Well, here I am on the blogosphere. I am a crafter, a fixer, and love working with my hands. My passion lies in textiles and illustration but also extends to a joy in learning traditional Japanese textile arts and cooking, gardening...chickens.wafuku kitsuke and my lovely cat Marie ( you will see a lot of her) mixed in with a  whole mess of other things that spark my imagination.

So..here we go!