Cats and Magazines

Friday was a pretty good day for me. It all started with my first ever visit to a cat cafe.

I arrived about 10 minutes after opening and it was still breakfast time.

When I go again (when, not if) I will make it a little later as anyone who knows cats knows that they do not want to be stroked while eating and that after eating they just want to have a wash. The one little guy I'd spotted online and particularly wanted to look at was this one.

He hasn't got his ears down in anger - he's one of those cornish type cats who have folded down ears which I've never seen in real life before. So cute! But he was clearly not in the best of moods and took himself up to the highest possible perch and this is all I saw of him after that.

The place was very clean but with lots of toys and sleeping places for the cats. This is where folded-ears was - right at the top.

I positioned myself on the heated carpet (like an electric blanket but a carpet which are apparently quite coming in homes where carpeting is really unusual) and these two settled near me.

I mainly stroked the brown one who got more and more elongated as she got more and more relaxed.

Her buddy wasn't terribly friendly until the owner (who all the cats adored and who clearly adored all of them) came over to brush her. She rolled on her back and...

...then she just stayed like that! So adorable! She was quite happy for any of us to come and stroke her incredibly soft tummy and as for her pinkest nose and paws...squee!

Initially being there was quite bizarre and freaky but as my hour came to an end (I could have stayed longer but thought that was enough for a first trip) I felt much more comfortable.

After such excitement I thought I'd spend the afternoon curled up with a craft magazine and found a place nearby called Libro. Ladies with a penchant for japanese craft books and magazines may want to sit down.
Knitting and Crochet:

Sewing and Patchwork:

"Japanese Crafts":

That wasn't the whole selection either. There were so many more on every topic you can imagine. I went home with just one which I thought was amazingly strong willed of me.

Black Tie Boogie - More of a Wiggle

Hello! Thank you for visiting today as part of the hop or welcome back for regular visitors. Today is the last day of the Black Tie Boogie so thanks to XX for organising everything. You can see the full schedule here.

For those not familiar with my back story, suffice to say I move to Japan 10 days ago for my husband's work and am currently a first time housewife living in a tiny temporary flat near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. I've yet to visit the fabric district here but have been to a couple of craft shops and am looking forward to developing a more in depth knowledge of others in the near future!

My offering for the hop is only part complete. I am currently without a sewing machine so while I've used fusible webbing to layout my appliqué on some linen, apologies that I haven't yet had a chance to add the machine embroidered embellishment I plan on.

Cluck! I used these free templates as a basis and added two cats.

These are going to be coasters in our new home so I need to make sure they are finished by the 14th which is (fingers crossed) when we move in.

As I've only just arrived here I can't really offer a giveaway but I hope you'll visit the others taking part today:

November 29
Sew Incredibly Crazy

The Quilted Cat

Sew We Quilt

Crochet for a New Home

Our first choice flat has fallen through but we have an alternative that is looking good so far. This is the outside.

There is a fairly busy road one block away but as often happens in Tokyo, once you get even that short distance from the road the noise is barely audible. I have taken measurements for curtains and intend to get started on those as soon as I have a sewing machine handy. I'll be heading to the fabric district for all that.

I had a very pleasant few hours in Okadaya - an amazing craft shop over 4 floors - and came home with some yarn for my replacement babette type blanket.

Ten different colours of this lovely 100% wool which I think must be Japanese although the brand is "spectre modem" - I've yet to check it on Ravelry. It's a light aran and machine washable. I've sketched out a plan and combinations of colours.

I've done a series of small squares and started this bigger one.

I'm using the babette pattern for the squares as far as I can remember it.

I am heading for an outing this afternoon but have yet to decide where to go. Pooch is not keen on museums but does like gardens so I think it'll be one of the former. I had a visit to the most amazing pound shop you've ever seen the other day which had quite a few other goggle eyed westerners in it. (Actually a 100 Yen shop although with tax everything is Y105. £1 is about Y150 so it's really less than a pound.) I will be going back once the move in date is confirmed as it had lovely kitchen things which will do us very nicely. I must take some photos on my next visit and share them with you!

Tokyo Update

When I first said I was coming here a lot of people talked about how odd some Japanese ways of life seem to us. I have always been clear that I don't want to point and laugh because there's probably a good reason for a lot of them, but then I saw these 'traffic cones'.

I really can't see why they are pink rabbits, but then the Japanese do definitely seem to love to turn everything into a character. As I said in my last post, all the shops have their own creature/sprite type thing and lots of everyday items have bears or pandas or cats on them - not that I'm complaining about the latter. Even Father Christmas is caricatured.

This one saw him as a kind of professor while there were others of him in different guises.

Today being Monday Pooch's official first week started this morning and over the weekend we came across this window display of his game.

Pro Evolution Soccer is called 'Winning Eleven' in Japan. Meanwhile our boxes that were shipped by air arrived yesterday - on a Sunday in a 2-hour timed slot which is amazingly efficient - and so I have the few craft supplies I packed which has meant I've been able to get on with the bloghop I'm in on Friday at last. Talk about leaving it to the last minute! I thought about pulling out several times but was determined to fulfil the requirements. The theme is chickens and we need some coasters so...I'll reveal what I've made on Friday! Meanwhile you can see what others have made using this timetable:

November 19

Selina Quilts

Sew Peace To Peace

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
The Quilting Queen Online
Marla's Crafts

November 20

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Seams To Be Sew

Robins Fabric Nest

Scrapbook-ChickADoodle

November 21

                                          Pigtales and Quilts ~ Happy Birthday Thearica !

Just Let Me quilt

Quiltscapes

Life on the Farmlet

November 22

Vroomans Quilts

Meadowbrook

Janes Quilting

November 25

Stitchin by the Lake

Georgia-Girl Quilter
In the Boon Docks
More Stars in Comanche

November 26

Sew Mollie Sue, Quilt Much?

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Bumbleberry Stitches
Words & Stitches
Quilting, paper piecing and crafts

November 27

How Art you?

Living with Purpose

Sew many yarns

Grandmama's Stories

November 28

Celtic Thistle Stitches

Crafting 365 Days

Hill Valley Quilter

Thimblemouse & Spouse

November 29
Sew Incredibly Crazy

Lixie Makes It

The Quilted Cat

Sew We Quilt

 

Welcome to Tokyo!

To my amazement and shock, we are actually living in Tokyo.

I was working until the Friday and we left on Tuesday so there was really no time to think about what it was going to be like or plan what i was going to do when I arrived. Pooch of course started work the morning after we arrived - poor thing - but that left me as a sudden housewife with everything that gave my day structure taken away in the blink of a 12 hour plane journey. Bit Freaky. However, we have a lovely lady helping us with the transition who dropped Pooch off at work (after taking us to register as Aliens) and then showed me around the area before taking me to the supermarket to pick up some basics. I was very grateful for this since buying things like vegetable oil when the labels are all in Japanese would have been a bit of a gamble without her. I have since been shopping a couple of times by myself and have got to know the neighbourhood around our temporary flat quite well. This is our road.

It is all, naturally, a little bit different to what I'm used to but I'm getting used to it. Characters play a large part in most shop windows and some have physical representations of their icons or of something more traditional like the lucky cat - my favourite! This one is outside a photography shop on the corner.

There is less cross over between shops so you get shops just selling cigarettes for example and others just selling alcohol. I have no idea what the World Liquor System is.

And space is at a premium. Everywhere. The solutions to this vary from supermarket aisles so narrow you have to go down them sideways to things like this - a petrol station.

You may have noticed you can't see any pumps on the ground and that is because there aren't any. Look up though and you'll see them dangling down by the smaller Eneos sign. They are lowered to you once you have parked. Parking itself is at a premium so a lot of places have multi-story parking by which I mean you park on the ground floor and a mechanism then stacks your car on top of another one with just an inch or two between them. You get a ticket and when you scan the paid ticket later the mechanism trundles your car back to you. This was a huge skyscraper so large it had a ring road inside it which had a version of this parking.

You park your car in the perspex bay and it trundles into the wall cavity on rails. It gets whisked below the building somewhere and I mean b.e.l.o.w. Most of these large buildings have 4 basement levels so I can only guess how far down the cars are kept. All to minimise the space they take up.

This temporary flat was provided by the company so is a little small - like a studio flat - but has the benefit of being very central. We are about 6 minutes walk from the Imperial Palace Gardens. I tootled up there yesterday and visited the Craft Gallery which was wonderful but I'll save that for another time. The walk there showed the pressures of space with wooded walks surrounded by major roads.

The rest of Tokyo is nowhere near as leafy as this but there are small parks spread around and you are usually protected from the noise of the traffic, even if it is still visible.

We went house hunting yesterday and struck gold on our second viewing - just as well since our first had polished concrete walls and was like someone's garage - and about the same size. So we may well be living in an area called Hiroo (pronounced h'i-roh) after this first month. Today we are going shopping for mobile phones and possibly a bank account for me. I get to choose my debit card colour from 32 different options. Next week I plan to make my first craft foray although the craft gods have been smiling on me - there is button shop about 2 minutes walk away. I have yet to visit but have stood outside and oogled several times. A love of buttons goes beyond language barriers.

The Rainbow Sphere

Finally finished this EPP beauty. The pattern is from Geta's Quilting Studio.

You can see the mess of packing around it. I've almost finished attaching it to where it was being finished for. I might have a pic of that before I go. Meanwhile a close up.

It could definitely do with an iron but the iron's gone. Ah well.

The rest of my free time is spent packing or saying goodbye to people. But I do find a few moments for aimless patchwork. Results so far...

No idea what I'll do with them. Pretty though.

The flights are now booked for the 19th so I'm on a countdown. Bit odd but will be good to get there and start setting up a new craft lair!

Mending

All this getting ready to leave the country means I can no longer avoid my mending pile. It either gets mended or its out! After a recent session I was struck at the different approaches I'd taken. The first was on a dress I only wear for work.

I managed to catch my shoulder on a coat rack of all things and ripped two neat holes in the jersey fabric. I would have ironed some mending fabric to the back had the lining not been left intact. Hence my slightly bunched up but kind of not noticeable mend.

The second one was on the front of a t-shirt I onky wear "off duty". The hole is to the left of my belly button and of course I could have gone for a subtle fix but then there is all this aimless patchwork i've been doing lately.

I darned the hole first, naturally, before appliqueing the hexagon over the top.



Meanwhile it looks like we will be flying on the 19th. Im working until the 15th and everything we're transporting gets collected that day so that leaves me just evenings and next Saturday so finish my packing and clearing. God. In the meantime the aimless patchwork continues...

Knitting, Sewing, Shoes On Ebay

These are the kind of bargains you hope you'll find when you look for something you really want.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/littlelixie/m.html

Quilting patterns, screen printing kit, knitting machine, swift, ball winder, pattern books, bag handles and more, all starting at 99p.

Aimless Patchwork

In between working full-time, applying for visas-certificates-godknowswhatelse, clearing the flat of everything I'm not taking, ebaying or donating that lot, packing up what I am taking, eating and sleeping, I have been doing pointless patchwork.

I don't know what I'm making. All I know is that those hexagons are 1/3". It is the only thing I do at the moment that doesn't require decisions.

I may be a bit behind with communicating with people. Sorry about that but it's been a tough few weeks and it won't be over til we get to Tokyo, and then it'll be a different kind of busy!

One thing - I'm giving away back copies of Interweave Knits on Ravelry.

First Knitting Lesson and Stockings

While helping my sister move I took some time out to introduce Jasmine to her future. 

She isn't quite coordinated enough for the process but give it a few months and I'm sure she'll be churning out dishcloths like a natural. 

This weekend saw lots more preparation for the move to Tokyo plus these finally got finished. 

Not their best angle - better like this:

There we have the first 3 for my sister, her husband and Jasmine, the next two for Deb and Sean, the next two for Mum and Rob and the last two for Pooch and I. Plus I already have the presents to fill all of them! (I hope.) I thought I had better get it done before I moved. 

I'm really happy with them! 

Pigtail Hat

I was ogling various version of hats that make babies look like they have elaborate hairstyles. They all seemed to cost a lot though so I decided I could do it myself. I used a free 6-12 months crochet beanie pattern and added pigtails.

That is Jasmine with my Mum, Nana, looking very cheerful. I spent a lot of the weekend entertaining her which was pretty good. My sister was moving house and with my back I'm not much good at lifting so I tended to focus on her and the dog. Once grandad had finished the lifting he had a go.

They both seemed similarly focussed on why Sir Prancealot's feet were crackling although Rob bravely held back from chewing on them.

My main reason for being there, other than dog and baby duties, was to add blackout lining to the curtains. Needless to say within a minute of starting to sew the needle broke and it being my mum's machine I didn't have a spare.

Me: When did you last change the needle?
Mum: They need changing?

Mind you, I didn't know that til I was about 25.

Work today saw a new addition to my Harassment Log. The boys consider it a sign of great achievement to get a mention in it now.

When I mention the harassment log most people assume I'm making it up but this stuff actually does happen in the office. The boys have asked for a copy of it to remind them of me after I go.

The Clearout Continues

There are now 23 lots of fabric and craft related goods on ebay. All start at 99p so grab yourself a bargain.

In between wading through fabric like J-Lo waded through Anaconda country I have finally managed to secure these little suckers.

I was going to go with little pearl ones but then these, which were on a vintage Woolworths card, seemed to call to me.

I am rather pleased with this, even though those buttonholes were a little unevenly spaced ahem, and the demure nature of it. Of course that all goes out the window with the Minx Mini.

Red and purple sequin stripes are hardly subtle so I thought I might as well make the buttons interesting.

I would have to say I am rather enjoying actually using my stash instead of saving it for some mystical 'special' project.

Of course with the wool it probably helps that I've hardly got any anymore. I was torn when designing a little christmas cardigan for Jasmine. Should I use what I had - not the most christmassy colours - or actually buy some? I decided to use what I had. I also think that if I use green buttons with one red one it will be reminiscent of a christmas pudding!

A Little Challenge

Since life is fairly full at the moment I have resisted signing up for any new swaps or a-longs. Or I had until yesterday when I saw Marci Girl talking about the one-block-wonder quilt along.

It is being run by Quilter in the Closet and is a very low key one. I have wanted to try this technique since I saw this one at the Festival of Quilts.

I think it was my favourite one overall.

So now I 'just' need to choose my fabric and start cutting. I want to avoid buying any new fabric so I might end up making a very small quilt top if I can only find a fat quarter in something suitable!

Read My Cake

Yes, it is true. I got married yesterday morning! The boys at work think it is truly rock and roll to take a few hours off work to get married and then go back to work afterwards. I did make sure I had a good wedding cake though. Not that Pooch had any. Within about 2 minutes of cutting the first slice this was all that was left.

That goo you can see oozing out there is dulche de leche. Uhuh. You know how good that bad boy tasted. Beas of Bloomsbury did me truly proud. Plus huge thanks to Rachel who came along as one of our witnesses (and therefore one of our two guests) who took the official wedding photo.

Those are my bridal jeans right there. Pooch's were purple.

So now the visa process can begin properly and we might at some point have a proper moving date. Meanwhile I have another batch of craft bits to put on ebay. It won't be as large as when I sold all my yarn but it should still be worth an online rummage. I'll post here when I get it all listed.