What is it?

I have a BIG bug in the house and I have no idea if it is dangerous, there is a picture here, any clues anyone?

it was a giant asian hornet like this..

thankfully it has left the building! Phew!!!

Pictures are worth a thousand words...

Yesterday I had a day off (from being a mommy) and headed into Shimokitazawa with a friend and much giggling was done.....

the latest fashion trend?

need to be worn with cow shoes

and if you need to get your hair done, there are loads of places to pick from...

which one would you go to?

of course there are plenty of doggy clothes shops and cat cafes, even doggy opticians!

what?

everyone is catered for here, even the poor street kids

but what created the biggest giggle were this couple out walking their dogs, in matching strollers, but what was even funnier was that....

they were double decker doggy strollers and there were more dogs underneath

I love Japan. 

I have nothing else to add!

What I have been working on...

This is one of those ideas that has been bouncing around in my head for a while. I did have an earlier attempt but I tried printing onto linen and the ink didn't sit well, I need to find an ink that suits linen better. The little girl is one of my hand carved stamps printed onto cotton, it actually took me nearly 3 hours to make this - being indecisive doesn't help much! At least Ebi-kun was a sweetie and sat making sushi with his playdoh!

The inside is a pretty floral cotton. I am quite happy with how it turned out, it needs a couple of tweaks and I think the next one will be a tad bigger, I am thinking of making some for the shop, what do you think?

It's done!

and it didn't fall apart in the wash :o)

I had some self inflicted 'rules' for making this, I wasn't allowed to buy anything, in fact I did really well on this, the only thing I did buy were proper quilting needles. All the squares were cut from my scrap bag or stash, it didn't start off as a boyish quilt but as we looked through the pile of squares it was mostly blues and boys prints, so I took out the flowery ones and added a few more trucks and the such like. The blue border was fabric destined as a Christmas project but I never got round to it, the binding was the first lot of bias binding I made with my binding maker, I got a bit over excited and made about 600m of the stuff! The backing fabric, wading and quilting cotton were all given to me by Kym when she left Japan.

I totally copied Katy and did circles for my quilting, I did smaller circles all around the border, I really like how they came out.

and a certain little boy loves it - he has been warned that he is NOT allowed to have a nose bleed on it LOL.

So, a BIG THANK YOU to Cousin Kirsty for allowing herself into being bullied into cutting out the squares, she did a great job, Kym for donating much of the bits needed and a special thank you to Katy for holding my hand through the whole process and answering my squillion and one questions.

Will I make another quilt? Not until Kirsty comes to visit to do the cutting for me! I must admit, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I did set myself a schedule because I wanted it finished before Golden Week, I think without that, it would be sat, half done, on the back of the sofa collecting dust. I would like to make something on the lines of this, I think it would look lovely on our bed!

Muffin Tin Dinner

This weeks theme was under the sea and well...I got a bit carried away LOL.

Top L-R

kamaboko (fishcake) fish

carrot starfish

seaweed sandwich

sausage crabs

Middle

orange pepper coral

fish crackers

cucumber fish

jelly jellyfish

Bottom

sausage crabs

sweetcorn fish eggs

boiled egg fish

seaweed sandwich

and here is a close up...

If you are interested in the picks/egg mould, there is info about them here.

A parcel arrived

for me on Saturday, it was all beautifully packaged (the photo is not good, bad lighting I am afraid)
Inside were these super cute bookmarks and a super cute pen, they were the prize at Christy's blog give away over at Sweet Tidings, which is also super cute!

Thank you! 

Ebi-kun nicked off with the blue mouse to use in his encyclopedia, apparently he needs to have the internal body organs page book marked for easy access!

photo borrowed from Sweet Tidings

I finally finished the quilt last night and it is now in the washing machine, fingers crossed that it comes out in one piece! I will have photos tomorrow.

Not much else to report, except a congratulations to Lesley and Paul, baby Iris made her appearance early hours Sunday, everyone is doing well, another baby to visit when we get to the UK, yeah!

Legal Again

It has been a hectic week, Tuesday I had to go back to immigration to pick up my visa and hand in the paperwork to apply for permanent residency, which should mean less trips to the immigration office once I get it! I have a friend who lives next to the immigration office so she invited Ebi-kun and myself round for lunch and a play date, which was lovely. We had left the house at 8.00am and didn't get back until 5pm so needless to say I didn't get much else done. Then yesterday I had to go to the town hall to pick up my new alien card, the town hall is quite a trek away and I had planned to take the bus, that was before I realised that there are only 5 buses a day so we would end up stranded there so we went by bicycle instead. Normally not a problem but my knee is giving me hell at the moment and half way there I discovered that I had a slow puncture. We made it to the town hall then I promised Ebi-kun we would stop off at the play centre on the way back, which we did but they had a craft event on that you had to have applied for by phone, so all the kids were doing that and we were left on our own in the play room. :o(

Well, at least all my official papers are back in order!

I have made myself a new bag, I made a test version of this using some old curtains and a pillowcase, using this tutorial. The first version was a bit of a hodge-podge and the strap was way too short, I ended up adding a bit to the strap, the bag is super comfy though and because of the way it sits it would be difficult to pick-pocket from it (important to think about when travelling). The tutorial  only had one small pocket, which  is not enough for me, so I added two handy emergency nose bleed tissue pockets to the outside, plus a big deep pocket, two small pockets and a loop to attach my keys to on the inside. It actually took me long to pick the fabric and cut it that in did sew it LOL. I used this lovely hedgehog linen/cotton blend, probably the best seller in my shop, it is lovely and soft and great to sew with plus the hedgehogs are sooo cute!
On another note, Ebi-kun has started working with the Montessori blue cards, we are working on magic e at the moment, we are using a combo of the Montessori materials, Starfall printables (he loves doing these) and some bits and bobs from my teaching days.
I also have some big news, I was contacted by Mindy from FaveCrafts.com asking if I would like to contribute to their Mother's Day Craft E-book, of course I said yes and there are some great crafty bloggers contributing too, check it out here.

I have finished all the circles on the quilt so onward and forward to the binding... it is also raining today so that is a good excuse to stay in, clean the house and do some crafty stuff or maybe I should do the crafty stuff and then clean the house hmmmm

Healthy Sorbet - recipe #2

This postcard snack recipe came from the Great Smoky Mountains in the USA, sent by the clan from The Forest Room, thank you!

Healthy Sorbet

You will need:

1 cup of fresh fruit (we used kiwi and banana)

1/4 cup juice (we used cashew juice - goes with the Brazil theme)

1 tsp honey

1. Chop up and measure the fruit. Ebi-kun scooped the kiwi out with a spoon then chopped it.
2. One kiwi wasn't enough fruit so we added a small banana too. Tip the fruit into a jug (or blender)
3. Measure the juice and add to the jug/blender and then add the honey.
4. Use a blender to mix it all together.
5. The recipe says to pour into 3 small bowls but my freezer space is very limited so we poured into a tupperwear box instead. Pop into the freezer for 30 minutes - if you are using the 3 small bowls, if you put it into a larger container then it needs longer. 
6. While it is freezing, clean up. When it is ready, remove from the freezer and give it a good stir.
7. Eat!

Testers comments: hmmmm yummy but brrrrrr cold. I want to try with melon and strawberries next time.

Assistants notes : we both loves this, I recommend having an activity lined up ready to distract the little chef, Ebi-kun was getting impatient waiting for it to freeze. I only helped with the honey, he did everything else.

Sarah is also sharing her recipe ideas, this is her version of the sorbet, here.

and the winner is....

drum roll please......

Julie from Having Fun Yet! Congratulations!!!

Thank you to everyone who entered and for all the lovely comments, many of you I already know but it great to see some lurkers pop out and say hello too.

Giveaway Post Is Now Closed

I will be printing out the comments and booting up my random generator (AKA Ebi-kun) first thing tomorrow, so stay tuned....

A new activity and new passport case

A couple of weeks ago we went to a home centre called Joyful Honda which also has a great crafts section. They have bins of wooden bits, one was cut out shapes another was filled with wood beads and the third were off cuts. You get to fill a bag with one type for ¥300. I hadn't decided what I would be doing with this bits but I was sure they would come in useful! I am sure I am not the only person in the world who does this :o). Anyway, a few days ago I got the bag of shapes out and paired up about 16 sets of shapes and put the in a basket. Ebi-kun sorted the shapes into pairs then I asked him to put one of each pair into the mystery bag. 

He then had to choose on of the shapes off the mat and use his hand to find the matching shape, not as easy as it sounds!
When he had finished with the activity he asked to use the left of pieces, he got out his felt board and use the wooden pieces to make a picture....
I also managed to get a bit of sewing in, as soon as I saw this fabric I knew some of it was destined to become my passport case. When we travel Ebi-kun has to take both his passports and I have mine plus my alien card, I like to be super organised when I am travelling, no scrabbling around the bottom of my bag looking for stuff, so this time I decided to make a case to hold all of them.

I love these kids on the front, size wise it didn't work to use the Dutch kids fabric as the main pieces so I made them into appliques instead.
The inside is big enough to hold 4 passports (in case hubby ever gets the chance to travel with us! and a snug pocket for my alien card. Can't wait to go on my hols now...
Now - to answer some questions....

I really want to make Little-N a Bumbag but I have no idea how to, any ideas?

I have never tried to make one but there is a tutorial here which looks quite easy.

Can you recommend a bento book and other sources of inspiration for bento and muffin tin dinner style meals for children?

I have a book which I love by the people from this site - there are loads of cute bento's be warned... e-obento. The muffin tin dinners have a Flickr group, find it here and the MTD hostess can be found here. If you put a search for bento in flickr you get loads of cute groups, no end of inspiration. 

where can i get some of the fork thingies and moulds?

From me! Read this post for more info. If you just want picks or want more egg mould etc. let me know, I can make up a custom order for you.

Could you do a tutorial on how to make the ends of the flet sausage and the strawberry tops, I just can't do it! 

The food is so cute. Is it easy to make?

Yes, it is simple, I will try and do one in the next week or so.

You should do a tutorial on stamp carving

I did, you must have missed it! Find it here :o)

Right, I think that is it, if I have missed your question, let me know!

I will close the giveaway at 5pm today (Japan time) so if you haven't entered you had better hurry up!

We have a busy week this week so I am spreading our theme over two weeks - we are studying Brazil this time, if anyone has any good Brazil links to share, that would be lovely xxx

Fun Food and Fabric

Saturday we went to a new (to us) park, it wasn't very big but had some great equipment, including a zip-line which he loved. When we got home it was still very warm so I made Ebi-kun a MTD and he ate it outside in his new chair (the beer is NOT his!) 

You can just about see the SFG in the background, the broccoli is all finished now but the beets are looking promising and the peas we planted a couple of weeks ago are going great guns, I have started some flowers off in small pots too, once they get going we will get some bigger pots and baskets to put them in. I will have to do a proper garden post...

Here is his dinner, starting with the blue fork and going clockwise, we have pasta, Japanese omlette, carrot sticks, strawberries, cucumber, omlette, cucumber and more pasta in the middle, he polished it all off with a yoghurt.
A while ago Kristel contacted me asking if I was interested in doing a regular swap with her. This is what I received this time, cute, cute, cute Dutch fabric. I already have a project planned for some of it...watch this space :o)
As kids, we were told you should play with your food, well I poo-poo that, how boring would this crab croquet and veg be otherwise? Hurrah for playing with your food!
Did I tell you were are going to England in June, yes, the whole of June! Sadly Daddy-ebi will be home-alone, you don't want to get me started on the ridiculous lack of holidays in Japan - oh you do get the but you HAVE to take them when everyone else in Japan takes them, right I will stop there or this will turn into an angry rant post! So it will be just me and Ebi-kun, I have started to put things together for his travel bag, I want to make a new bag for him too, I have an idea bouncing around in my head, I need to get it down on paper to see if it will work. I cut out the pieces for my new bag and they are waiting to be sewn, talking of sewing, I have 24 circles left to quilt, getting there...

I am hoping when we go to the UK we can pick up some cheap flights to Barcelona, my brother lives there and I have never been, it would be good to go for a few days, it will feel like I am on holiday then rather than feeling like we are just going home.

Thank you for all the lovely comments, I hope you can all leave comments now :o)

OpenID

Hi, I have had a couple of people say that they are not able to use OpenID for the comments, I had changed the settings a while back because of spam, to registered users and according to blogger that includes openID. So, I have changed it back, if you were having problems please try agaian and let meknow how it went.

cheers

Jo

Volcanoes

We have been looking at volcanoes this week, I got this book a few weeks ago and so Ebi-kun has got interested in volcanoes. I decided to make volcanoes the topic for the week. We used the 3 part cards - no photo sorry. There was a lot of new vocab for him to come to grips with so we focused on a few of the main words. I drew this volcano then he coloured it in and labelled it, he is trying really hard to write on the line now, I noticed this morning he had even drawn a line on his drawing board before writing on it :o)

Of course we had to do the volcano experiment, I have been wanting to do this since I took the Montessori course when he was a baby. We put a small glass in the middle of the tray and then used clay to build the volcano. Inside we put a couple of spoons of baking soda and some red food colour. He then poured in the vinegar for the eruption, he loved it and we had to do it again and again and again...
Yesterday was a rainy day, so we continued the volcano theme and painted a volcano. First, to get in the mood, we watched some eruptions on the computer - hurrah for google! Then fund some photos, we kept on on the screen to use as reference. Usually when Ebi-kun paints I basically leave him to it unless he asks for help but this time we discussed the best way to do the painting. I suggested that he draws the basic shape of the mountain and then paint the sky first, which he did, he then painted the volcano itself. He then went to study the picture on screen before painting the lava. He did a bit but because the paint on the volcano was still wet it was turning brown, I suggested we had a break and let it dry a bit then finish it off after lunch. He didn't want to do this but I managed to distract him. When he finished it off, adding more lava he commented on how the yellow was staying yellow now the brown was dry.

and here is the final volcano, mid eruption!

If you haven't done so yet, there is still time to sign up for the giveaway.

Making

It is that time of year when we have loads of birthdays, April and May are birthday months for so many of may friends and family, needless to say I have been busy making. I can't show you everything yet just in case the birthday girl or boy drops by. 

At the picnic the other day I started some felt food, I got a bit carried away and ended up with...

Pita pocket filled with lettuce, cheese, ham and egg

a doughnut and strawberries

and sausage, bacon and egg. YUM.

Apart from birthday pressies I have been working on the quilt. Katy has been a big help. Here is is all pieced and pinned together, I have drawn the quilting lines on it but they didn't show up, in fact, I discovered that the yellow didn't show up very well at all and had to go over it again in blue. I am quilting circles on it, there are 65 in all, I calculated that I need to quilt 7 a day so that I have enough time to bind it and wash it before we go camping. I recounted last night, I have 45  more to do...

Guess what?

Yep, this is post 500! Quite a milestone I think. When I first started this blog it was for friends and family to see what we were up to, the progress with the house (we were building at the time) and Ebi-kun's adventures. I never imagined the direction it would take me, the friends I have made, all over the world, the things I have learned and the confidence you gave me to go ahead and open the Etsy shop. In some respects it has been a life changer, I thought that the only way I would ever be able to make an income in Japan would be by teaching E.S.L. and as much as I enjoyed it at the time, it isn't really my idea of a career choice. Discovering the blogging world introduced me to some fabulous people and I realised that with a bit of hard work and the power of the internet, I did have more than one career choice.

Over the last couple of years I have gratefully received some awards and I must thank MiniMondas, rhymesandmore and Clemencia for giving me this award.

I get stressed trying to decide who to pass these things on to, I am not the best decision maker at the best of times so instead of passing on the award (is all my hair going to fall out and I will grow hairy warts for not keeping it going?) I am asking every one who reads thins to promise to post a comment on the next blog post you read and enjoy, just a quick hello and tell the blogger how much you enjoyed the post, that includes those who lurk! I know you are out there :o). If you are feeling really inspired you can always take the pledge.

Well, 500 posts is definitely worth a cake and a giveaway. I actually haven't organised anything yet because I only realised it was post 500 yesterday, so I will carve a rubber stamp for the winner, something special and include some other goodies - it will be like a birthday surprise, you will have no idea what you are getting. I will wait until I know who the winner is so that I can fit the prize to the winner.

So, to get your hands on the loot, pop over to my little shop and tell me what your favourite item is, either fabric or something I have made and come back and tell me in the comments section.

For extra entries you can tweet about it, then leave another comment to say you tweeted.

And/Or blog about it again leave another comment and a link to the post.

I will close the entries the evening of the 22nd and pick a random winner the next morning (Japan time)

Right, I am off to eat cake, sadly not as cute as this one...

image belongs to cakejournal via Flickr