Blossom in Yoyogi Park

I am 90% sure this is plum blossom still - the cherry isn't due to start for another week yet - but I've not seen any with the green leaves like this. 

It was a beautiful day yesterday and a national holiday called Spring Day. Wikipedia says it is a time to commemorate ancestors by leaving spring flowers at graves and also a time to reconnect with living family, start a new hobby or spring clean. From our point of view it meant Pooch got the day off so we took a walk in Yoyogi Park. It is the same park I visited at New Year when I went to the Meiji Shrine (which looking back I realise I never blogged about) but it's the first time I had been into the park proper. My eye was caught by a dog area - specifically for dogs to socialise in. 

The signs are for under 12kg on the right and over 10kg on the left. The yapping from the smaller dogs was ghastly. However, in accordance with the norm in Tokyo, all small dogs were suitably dressed in at least a t-shirt and some in a full outfit. 

Very odd. 

It's been a quiet week since my back went ping again on Monday so I've just been quietly working on a few EPP sewing projects and thinking about the next jumper I am due to knit.

Meanwhile back in the UK it is SkipNorth this weekend! Can't believe I'm missing it but Nickerjac is keeping me up to date with frequent tweeting. I hope they are all having great fun!

Confirming Receipt

It has been a good few months for swaps. I ended up with two partners in the first swap of my English Paper Patchwork Group on Flickr. I scored these two beautiful pouches.

So different but both so brilliant. Look at the extra detail on the red one...

Completely non-functional but adding a really polished finishing touch. And with the clamshell, look how she handled where the two sides join underneath...

That represents a level of planning I rarely seem to achieve with my projects. I adore them both!

I also received my parcel for the sewing room swap, also on Flickr. The most brilliant bag!

My inspiration mosaic contained several cat pictures and I'd said that my preference was for jewel colours.

Inside there is an excellently deep pocket and the lining is another cat print fabric. Such thoughtfulness! This was my 'big' item and you also sent a small one too. My 'small' was not exactly insubstantial.

A lovely sewing roll! I can honestly say I have used the bag every day since it arrived on Saturday, starting with a visit to a food market when Pooch snapped these.

I really do love it!

The next round for the EPP Group is currently open for sign ups so click here to read more about it. There is no need to have a blog - just a flickr account is fine.