Painting techniques

Painting is a popular past time in this house, I only wish we had somewhere that we could set up as a dedicated painting space, sadly we don't so it is a big cloth on the living room floor or sitting at the counter to paint. Ebi-kun wanted to paint the other day but then couldn't decide what so I suggested trying different techniques so he started off painting with yarn but he wasn't very impressed with that.

Then we dropped big blobs of paint onto the paper and her blue them with a straw, it looks pretty cool on the blue paper (big pack of paper from Costco, I bought it before Christmas and we have about a third left and we get through lots of paper)

Then an oldie but a goodie, marble painting, dip your marble in paint then roll it around the paper. We dug out some different sized balls to see what the difference would be, I love the finished product on marble paintings. If you plan to try any of these I highly recommend putting your paper in a cardboard box.

It has been interesting watching his painting interests as he grows, first it was all about the texture of the paint and then it was very much about the process and the mixing of colours now he has started to think about which process will get the end result that he wants and so the end result has become as important as the process.

Nashi jam - recipe

Sorry, I didn't get round to blogging at the weekend, Saturday I was up and out early and spent the day fabric shopping in Nippori, it was 35degs and lugging all the lovely fabrics back nearly killed me, I got home and crashed. Then yesterday we did the usual grocery shopping mission and then Daddy-ebi took Ebi-kun to the pool so I spent some time with my new best friend (the sewing machine!).

This morning we finally got round to making nashi (Asian pear) jam, there are lots of nashi orchards around here so they are quite cheap, especially the ones that don't look perfect enough for the supermarket.

What you need: (makes 2-3 jars)
1kg peeled and chopped nashi
2 lemons zested and juiced
500g sugar
200ml water
sterilized jars
small child to do all the hard work

Give the lemons to the small child to wash and zest, I juiced them because I don't own a juicer so I use the old fork wiggling method. He looks like he is concentrating so hard in the pictures but let me tell you he witters like an old woman!

When the small child has finished with the lemons, peel and core the nashi then give the small child the rest to chop into small pieces. I just realised that this picture looks like he is about to cut his fingers off but he had in fact just finished the cut and was moving the nashi out of the way.

Put the nashi, lemon and water in a heavy based pan and simmer until the fruit is soft (you may dismiss small child now or get them to do the washing up) then add the sugar and boil hard for 10 -15 minutes. I used 300ml of water and I think it was too much so I suggest less. Let it stand for 10 minutes then spoon into sterilised jars. Eat on freshly made bread - guess what we are having tomorrow morning?

There are more nashi recipes here!

Introducing Parsley and Trent

This is Parsley, he is an artist, a free spirit and really isn't into the idea of a formal education he prefers to learn from life not from a stuffy old teacher with bad breath and a wrinkled jacket. He likes to think that he has Parisian roots but sadly he doesn't, his favourite meal is a plate of good cheeses, a French baguette and a glass of fine red wine. Parsley is also a vegetarian which is a good job since his best friend is a zebra.

 Meet Trent, Trent is the bad ass of the two, he has more attitude than a bus load of teenagers, he is also anti-education, anti-anything involving someone telling him what to do, just ask his mom. Despite dying his head red and constantly wearing a sneer, Trent is mostly misunderstood, he loves nature, is an eco-warrior and his favourite meal is a good quality tofu burger with a nice crisp salad.

 They are an odd couple, but then, the best of friends often are, they are also incredibly easy to make, suitable for beginners too, want to know how? Pop over here...

A question for fabric lovers...

Usually when I buy fabric for the shop I get a couple of metres of each one and a wide range of designs but I am wondering if that is what you, the customer prefers. Most of my customers buy half or 1m at a time, is the fact that I only have a couple of metres putting you of buying more of the same or not?

What is it that you are looking for?

can I improve my shop itinerary to suit your needs, please tell me, and I will see what I can do :o)

thanks!

The Lionheart project - crochetdermy

My best mate Di and I had a chat the other day and she was telling me about her friend who won an award to crochet 3 lions for the Olympics, cushie number I thought, until I saw exactly how big these lions are, amazing.

Learn more about the Lionheart project here

image © Shauna Richardson

 and have a look at more of Shauna's work here

image © Shauna Richardson

You son is gin machine!

I wish! 

Tuesday we went to the park to meet up with a friend and her niece and her little boy, perfect excuse for a paddle and a gossip. When we were there I noticed a big red patch on Ebi-kun's neck, figured it was a bite, it wasn't itchy so I didn't think much more of it. Later, back at home I noticed he had more of the patches, it was getting late so I thought we would bathe him and see what it was like in the morning, if it was any worse I would take him to the doc. Get up yesterday, virtually all of them gone, phew. Just as well since there would be hell to pay if he missed his first day back at yochien. He has 3 half days this week then he is off until the 1st when he has a couple of more half days and starts back proper on the 3rd.

Well, he came back from yochien covered in blotches again, he was tired so I let him have a nap, when he woke up he was even worse, covered all over, so it was off to the doctors we went. 

I pretty much ruled out any kind of allergic reaction to food since he hadn't eaten anything that we don't normally eat, the doc had a quick (and I mean quick, a slight glance was all he managed) and diagnosed it as ジンマシン I had no idea what that was so the doc told me 'your son is gin machine' now the doc has one of those gadgets that you put to your throat to help you speak and he talks somewhat like Darth Vada, so I left the clinic with Darth Vada telling me my son was a gin machine. Confused! I was was. I get out my translator and put in the Japanese and yes, it told me that ジンマシンis gin machine. Aghhh. I call hubby who explains that it is hives and nothing to do with alcohol making gadgets! 

So, Ebi-kun got some meds and he is off to yochien this morning, fairly rash free, and me, I am gin free, which is probably a god thing since it is only 8.30 in the morning.

new bags...

Whilst I was sewing machine-less I had to find something to do, I tried a bit of needle felting but to be honest I don't have the patience and it is a painful past time (kept stabbing myself with the needle). I got my hand carving box out, I really enjoy making the stamps but then after attacking a few T-shirts and the such like I am at a lost on what to stamp next, that was until I had a go stamping these bags. What fun!

Well, since I have more bags than I care to count and the fact that my husband will probably kick me out if he discovers more in cupboard, I have put the latest batch in the shop.

At the moment there are 3 designs but I have more jotted down in my sketch pad, the bunting comes in colourful or...

or red, white and blue

 Then there is the little coin purse design, which is Ebi-kuns favourite!

 and crayons, they also come in two sizes A4 and A5.

And if you are looking for a certain colour theme/size or a bulk amount for party favour bags just let me know, I am happy to work with you.

pizza mat

We have home made pizza most weekends, it is quick (I do the dough in the bread maker) and easy. When the pizza comes out of the oven the only thing I have the right size is my cutting board and then to protect the table I end up putting 4 mats underneath it, not any more. Now I have a lovely pizza sized mat and it matches the other table mats I made.
This was actually a project so that I could try out some of the functions on my new machine, I love, love, love the blanket stitches and will certainly be using them on a regular basis. I also tried my hand at free motion quilting, this is my first attempt, I really enjoyed it, it was a bit tricky in parts and I think if I do a quilt like this I would have to get myself a pair of FMQ gloves. I did cock up the binding a bit, oh well!

Matsuri shenanigans ...

It was the town matsuri (festival) on Saturday, we don't live in a very big town so we can't expect much really. It is a big social event though, especially for the one 'uns, the girls all looking pretty in their yukatas, the lads all looking cool with their hair done just so... blimey, I feel old. I did notice this year that there were far more girls wearing girlie jimbei (shorts and kimono style top that boys usually wear - see Ebi-kun below) which is a bit sad because they look much prettier in their yukata, there again, if I were that age, I would probably go for the jimbei too.

It was a really hot day and I refused to leave the house until it had cooled down a bit, so we got to the park around 5.30pm and enjoyed a dinner of yaki soba, big steamed potatoes with lashings of butter and miso paste and toffee apples. As a kid we always had toffee apples on bonfire night.

Ebi-kun got into a right sulk because I refused to fork out ¥1500 for a flashing sword, we had already seen one kid in tears over his broken sword so they obviously weren't up to much and then we thought we had found a good spot but then when the fireworks started they must have been setting them off in a different spot to last year because our view was blocked by a big tree - aghhhh. Just as we were moving daddy called to say he had made it back early so we managed to meet up with him and watch the fireworks together, Ebi-kun was impressed (and temporarily forgot about the sword)

The fireworks were pretty but just a short show compared to the ones in Kumagaya where they put on a fantastic show. Then, just to finishes the evening off, as a rode home on my bike with moaning-I-want-a sword-child on the back I got a puncture so had to push the bike all the way back!

When we got back, daddy got out a bag from work which contained, 6 pieces of baked cheese cake, a bag of scones, a bag of croissants, a couple of melon pan and a loaf of bread -yum. He designs industrial cake mixing machines and they had had an exhibition on a work which of course involved making lots of delicious cakes and bread - perks of the job!

Making Moon Craters

This idea I got from Playing By The Book and was an easy one to set up. We used a baking tray (I bought this for my oven then discovered it wouldn't fit so now it is used for no end of things) and we put a layer of flour in it then sifted cocoa powder over the top. I then send Astronaut Ebi-kun off to find some suitable objects to use as meteors. He stood on the step and dropped the objects one at a time then we looked to see what kind of crater it had made. The cocoa is good as a contrast, you can really see well how the craters are formed. After a couple he started to predict what kind of crater would be made.

 It was surprising that even the marshmallow made a significant crater. Once he had finished experimenting he started playing with moonscape and I left him to it so I could take some photos of some shop items.

 I changed this to grey scale, looks kind of cool.

Are you on FB?

 If so, team Ryland still needs your help,  If you've not voted, (if Di hasn't already bugged you into voting :o) ) you just need to 'Like' his photo at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6728124&id=147979925379 (you'll need to 'Like' the Baba Me profile page first) - he's got 272 votes but struggling to stay in the top ten. It ends on Sunday and he could win £500 worth of shiny new washable nappies!

Planets and Space - more books

I am a book lover, and I don't mind spending money on books especially if I think they will be read for years to come and with the previous planet books that I reviewed here I think these too will also be well loved for quite some time. With the interest in planets being so strong at the moment I didn't want Ebi-kun to miss out on the other things out there mainly the stars and the moon. We love The Planet Gods book so much that I decided to get another in the series, Zoo In The Sky. Just as The Planet Gods, the illustrations are captivatingly beautiful, there is enough information without getting bogged down and it is presented in a way that is easy to remember. 

The page with Leo on it is Ebi-kuns favourite as it his star sign.

This next book is one that everyone should have in their home library, Moonshot by Brian Floca the illustrations are detailed but not over-crowded and the way it is written is brilliant. It reads like a story, rather poetic but it is factual and all about the Space mission of Apollo 11, I think it will suit a range of ages too, younger ones happy to listen to the story and look at the pictures whereas older ones can read it themselves and  learn more from the info pages, it gets a big thumbs up from everyone in this household.

As soon as Ebi-kun looked through this became an astronaut and he is forever quizzing me on space facts and figures  - I must admit, I don't fair too well, better get reading it myself!

And since we are on a space theme....

Have you seen these adorable pictures on Mila's daydream?

© Adele Enersen

I can't decide which  is my favourite, I love the washing line and the bookworm and well, all of them, Adele should really turn these into a book - preferably before Christmas because that would be my mom's Christmas present sorted lol.

Space Dinner - Tutorial

This might be the post that pushes someone to call the men with the straight jackets to collect me.

Ebi-kun asked for a space dinner and I now have to address him as astronaut Ebi-kun, I was going to do a muffin tin dinner but then an insane genius idea popped into my head.

Yep, I made a space meal like the astronauts eats and Ebi-kun was so mightily impressed that he asked to call my mom early so that he could show her. (video chat)

What you need:
a ziplock bag
wide straw
foil
sticker with the meal info written on it
sellotape
food processor
food

We had some stir-fry chicken and veg leftover from the night before so I warmed it up with some rice and stuck it in the food processor, add a little warm water until the consistence is thin enough to be sucked through the straw - I tested it before constructing the bag.
When you have got it right, spoon it into the ziplock bag, place the straw in and close the bag squeezing out as much air as possible.
Use sellotape to hold the straw in place.
Take a long piece of foil and lie the food bag on it, fold the foil over the bag and then seal all the seams by rolling up the edges, add a bit of sellotape to hold it in place.
Pop the sticker with the food info on the front.
Give it to your budding astronaut.

The meal was still warm when Ebi-kun got to eat it, he doesn't like his food hot so that was just as well. I imagine puddings or fruit snacks would be fun served up like this. It took Ebi-kun quite a long time to finish his meal but he couldn't wait to tell daddy about his space dinner in the morning :o)

Not a happy bunny....

so...I had made a start on the custom order I was working on, over-locking a seam, I had the correct foot and stitch and suddenly the machine makes and awful noise. Naturally I stop and open the plate to see if there is anything jammed, certainly was, a piece on the needle late was bent. No idea why or how it happen but I was not a happy chappie. Oompa Lumpa man is coming today to fix it.

Did you know?......

Etsy has updated it's shop pages, they look much more modern and sleek now, don't take my word for it, have a look for yourself...

AND...this is a biggie, you can now select which currency you would like to see the prices in, no more trying convert prices in your head! How do you do this? EASY! Log into Etsy, on the left hand side there is a list under 'your account' Click on 'account' you will then get a new screen. There are four tabs at the top choose preferences and scroll down, select the currency you want and then the 'update preferences' button. Done.

The Planets - part 3, layers of the earth

I saw this idea on The Learning Ark a while ago and have been itching to do it, Ebi-kun's recent interest in the planets gave me the perfect excuse. To start with I printed out these cards and had Ebi-kun working with them whilst I got to work making playdoh. I halved the quantity for each batch and made blue, green, brown (looked more like elephant dung) orange, red and yellow. I didn't manage to take pictures whilst we made the globe since it was a two person job. Ebi-kun rolled out each colour then I wrapped it round and made it into a ball. The finished earth was pretty impressive.

 I admit that the continents were not very accurate and I might have wiped out a complete nation or two!

 Before we cut it open we reviewed the layers of the earth, I squashed it a bit when I cut it, oh well, you get the idea! We kept it in a ziplock bag so daddy to could see it when he got home, actually, it is still on the side board!

First project on the Janome

I haven't come up with a name for my new machine yet, any suggestions? I did manage to have a bit of a play on it before we left for Wakayama. I wanted to try out some of the stitches and applique so I made this little pouch as a thank you present for my neighbour Tammy, who helped me out with the translation when the dealer came to show me how to use the machine. I realised too late that I had a needle which was too big so the cotton is a bit pulled. The English manual arrived when we were away so now I can get down to really learning the ins and outs of it.

Obon

Did you miss me? I had scheduled a few posts because I knew we would be down at the in-laws for a few days for Obon. Fortunately we don't have to go through a whole load of rituals or anything, just eat and drink as much as possible - well that is what it feels like! When we were there is was jii-chans 71st birthday of course we ate a BIG special meal and drank too much :o)

 One of the days we headed over to meet up with Jacqui of Mee a Bee, last year we hung out at the beach and all got sun burnt so this year Jacqui suggested a spot in the mountains, it was wonderfully cool and shaded and the boys spent most of the time playing in the river whilst Jacqui and I chatted. The only down side was that a killer horsefly was determined to get me, I got bitten several times, even through my clothes. We then headed back to Jacqui's house, which is beautiful  I got to see how she has her work room set up  and we chatted some more, later my husband wanted to know what on earth we could spend all day talking about LOL.

It was a great day out and Ebi-kun enjoyed having other kids to play with, hopefully we will meet up again next year, thanks Jacqui, see you then!

A swap from afar

A while back I made some gifts for a little girl in French Guiana, well after sending a few emails back and forth her mom and I decided to do a culture swap, we got the package the other day with some lovely things to add to our South American box. It included a pretty necklace, colouring book, beautiful picture book of native animals, a card game with the native animals on the cards, a CD of French kids songs and a recipe which sounds delicious but it uses papaya which I can't get hold of, any ideas on what I could substitute instead of papaya? the dish is a kind of gratin.

Thank you Vanessa for a great package and I hope mine has arrived by the time this is posted (I have scheduled this one!)

Finger print fun

I have been relying on our library of books for quite a lot of holiday boredom busters, this is from an Ed Emberley book and it shows you how to turn your fingerprints into all sorts of things. I had been cutting out business cards so I stuck the left over bit onto coloured paper and gave it to Ebi-kun to work with. I love the little pictures he came up with, the two that are in love are in a church  and the scary looking bottom left one is a Samurai in armour

 of course, I couldn't let him have all the fun...

Honest Pretzels

We have had the book Pretend Soup for quite a while and enjoyed making lots of the recipes from it such as zucchini moons, and green spaghetti so I got him the book Honest Pretzels for his birthday and the Honest Pretzels are the first thing we have made from it.

 The book is the next step up from Pretend Soup and the recipes are a bit more complicated. The book explains to the child when they need to ask an adult for help, at just five Ebi-kun won't be doing any unsupervised cooking for a while yet but he is able to follow the instructions and tell me what we need to do next.

 He really enjoyed making the pretzels, the recipe calls for 1/2 the dough recipe mix so we put the other half in the freezer - a great 'I'm bored' stand-by.

 and the verdict? the pretzels were lovely, especially straight out of the oven, hmmm soooo good! I think I needed the oven a bit hotter though, I will know for next time. My gripes with the book is that it is all American measurements, I would like to see grams instead of sticks of butter and the such like or like the majority of the books I have they have both measurements next to the recipe, same goes with the oven temperature. There is a conversion table at the front of the book but it is only half cocked and not that useful, apart from that it is great and we have already book marked a few more recipes to try.

I have found that during the holidays a cooking project around 4.30pm works well so Ebi-kun has been helping a lot in the kitchen recently.

The family Tree

I showed you a sneak peek of this a while back when I was still working on it. It was my nana's 90th birthday, and what does someone get a 90 year old for their birthday? Well, I decided to make a family tree, the apples are my grandparents names and the leaves are all the offspring, I was a bit worried that I might miss someone, there is one leaf missing because I have a new baby cousin and although she arrived early, my uncle and aunt spent almost 2 weeks trying to decide on a name so I didn't have time to add her. No worries, I have made an extra leaf and my mom is going to sew it on.

I sent the tree to my mom who found some metal rods to run through the top and bottom to hang it, once the new baby is added I will ask her to take a picture of it hanging properly. I stamped the names onto the leaves then hand sewed them to the linen back. The trunk detail I hand sewed and sewed the family name into the trunk, not easy to see on the photo.

Babies...

Are popping out everywhere, this is my new baby cousin, isn't she gorgeous! She had a few setbacks at first but she is home now and doing well, she had her first family bash at the weekend too! It took me a while to click that she was actually my cousin it is such a long time I had a new one. There is only 4 years between me and my uncle and it has taken him a while to get round to the baby producing thing!

 This set I made for my new cousin, I pit some crinkly wrapper in the taggy so it makes a noise when you squash it and this woodland print is favourite, not much of that left of it though...looks like I have to go fabric shopping soon. The bib pattern is from Bend The Rules Sewing, still one of my favourite sewing books, such great projects in there. I don't remember where the shoe pattern came from, the pattern pieces have been in my folder forever but there are loads of free bootie patterns out on the net.

The bibs are backed with rubberised towelling which is brilliant as it stops anything soaking through the bib but it feels like fabric. I used a couple of change mats made from it when Ebi-kun was little and then last time I was in Nippori I round a big roll of it, perfect for baby gifts.

And these ones I made this bib and bootie set for my husbands co-worker, I love this duckling fabric, I think it is Shinji Katoh and this was the very last little bit I had.

Shop Notice

Due to the Obon holidays I won't be able to mail anything purchased in the shop until August 17th, the shop is staying open, so if you see something you can still grab it, there will be an added extra bit of something for any purchases made over the Obon holiday.

The Janone Horizone 7700

It is beautiful and arrived yesterday afternoon, the guy delivering it stayed for 3 hours showing me how to use it, my neighbour Tammy came to help with the translation so I think she got a free sewing lesson thrown it too :o). The guy did look like a Japanese Oompa Loompa and was very patient with us.
First impressions: it sews like a dream, I have read complaints about the position of the buttons and the draw not sliding out well but I have no problem with either. I haven't tried any kind of quilting on it yet, I thought I should try and get to grips with the basics first. I did manage to jam the stitches into the plate but it was most definately user error. They have ordered me a DVD and manual in English which will help, my head hurt after he left yesterday as I was trying to memorise everything! I am hoping to get back on it again today for a wee while but the Obon holiday starts tomorrow and we have plans so I doubt it will be seeing much action for a few days.

Introducing our new pet...

yep, it is a bloody big beetle, 

I knew this time would come and I can't say I was looking forward to it! 

The Montessori Farm - the first trial day

When I first discovered about the Montessori farm I mentioned to a couple of our playgroup friends and we went to look around then when we told the rest of the group a lot of families were interested in going too so we decided to set up a couple of trial days so that the kids could experience a 'lesson' and the parents could see what goes on and learn more about the philosophy. So Saturday was the first trial day, Ebi-kun was there along with M-chan (1.5yrs) her brother N-kun (7.5yrs) and A-chan (2.8yrs). For those that don't know, Montessori classrooms are set up with mixed ages but are usually 0-3, 3-6, 6-9 etc. so we had no idea what would happen having such a mixed range of kids in the class but they all worked well, the older ones helped the little ones, the little ones mimicked the older ones.

We started off in the farm area, the boys discovered some beetles and spent quite some time catching them and looking for more and then everyone got together to pick blueberries, the farm is all organic so there was no worrying when the kids had to try some.

 Then we moved to the house where the classroom is set up. All the kids found work suitable for them to work with, N-kun spent a good 30 minutes working on the map of Europe, he almost gave a up a couple of times but Ebi-kun helped him out a bit and he refocused and finished by himself. He also worked with the knobbled cylinders as I watched him, I realised that he was challenging himself, he had taken all the pieces out and he was trying to guess which hole each piece went in without trying in in the hole - just by looking, he would get 3 or 4 right then make a mistake so then he would take all the pieces out and start over, he continued like this until he had finished.

 M-chan had what I can only explain as waves of concentration, which I think all the children have but was more obvious with her, probably due to her age. She worked with these cylinders for quite some time, putting them in and out and lining them up and doing it all again, she also loved pouring dried beans and playing with the water in the sink, pouring from one cup to another. In between work she would check out what the others were doing and wandered in and out of the class.

 A-chan also worked well until she spotted mommy or daddy so they took to peeking round the corner so it wouldn't disturb her, she worked on the puzzles, metal insets, knobbled cylinders and with Ebi-kun with the colour tablets and she often went to check that little M-chan was OK. At first it took her a while to concentrate, she was too interested in what everyone else was doing, perfectly natural by the end she was focussing for a much longer length of time. M-chan has the metal insets here, I think she just wanted them out because she had seen the other kids with them, she also took to walking around with one of the number rods :o)

 All the kids took it turns helping Yasuyo in the kitchen, they prepared the salad and made pizza and then they all helped to set the table, we all ate together in the study room. One of the points of this class is for it to be an all English environment, we had to remind the kids (and the dads) a few times to begin with to only use English but by lunch English was the predominant language, I think once the kids get used to coming they will associate the place with English.

 The kids ate their lunch quickly and all disappeared off, I could hear some noises from the classroom so I went to see what they were up to, they had all got work off the shelves and were sat at the table working except for N-kun who was inspecting his beetles. Ebi-kun told me that they were all ok and I could go! This is one of the points that makes be believe in the Montessori materials, they are beautifully made and the children are drawn to them. Ebi-kun was familiar with a lot of the equipment, I was wondering how he would take to being in a classroom, he was great. I had explained that I would probably have to spend more time with the other children because they didn't know how to use the equipment and so he just got on with it, working well. He helped the other children and showed A-chan how to use a couple of things and Yasuyo had some equipment out that we don't have so he tried them out.

Due to it being so hot we didn't go back out to the farm after lunch which is what would happen normally, instead we did some colour mixing and singing. Everyone enjoyed the day, M-chan was a bit grumpy by the end but 5 hours is a long time for a little one and I think maybe a change of scenery would have helped for the last half hour, at least the weather will have cooled down a bit by next time. 

When we got home, Ebi-kun said he wished that we could go there everyday, I wish we could too!