what's buzzin cousin
Ok, the librarian in me is sated! Thanks everyone for playing the share ISBN game with me and for all the cool new tips. I think there is enough info in that last post and then all the comments and links from comments to find just about any japanese craft book out there! All the cute japanese stuff can be so overwhelming. I often think about starting up another weblog... zakka.typepad.com and tracking just cool japanese stuff...books, shops, weblogs. But that's way too ambitious for me. Someone out there get cracking on that okay ;)
For now, I'm done looking. It's time to start doing. I have all sorts of exciting (to me) new projects I want to work on. I really want to spend some time just thinking and sketching and trying to nail down a style all my own. I've always been in awe of artists like Rosa or Claire, or most recently Maminka (via Myra) whose style is so evident in all their work. And I feel like the barrier between me and that kind of cohesiveness is my lack of art skills. So I really want to just focus and see what I can come up with. And I'm enlisting Tim's help so I'm very optimistic! Speaking of Tim's help... he sent me an email today saying "i really like the way this site looks: maybe it's just me, but it's laid out so well and so clean looking. it's almost punk rock somehow." So get your fill of the flowery background now while you can!
So what I'm working on is a new doll, hopefully it'll turn into a series of dolls. What inspired me was some fun mail I got from Melissa last week. She sent me some crafty bits and bobs including this cuuute book... The Lucky Sew-it-yourself Book. I just love this little girl!
And in the spirit of doing instead of just looking I've been working on this house pincushion this week. I sewed it all by hand. I cut it out freehand too - just eyeballing it. It was very relaxing to sit on the couch working on a little something. (oh! I just noticed Kitty's has that house pattern book up. so here are the pictures I promised. I'm a cheat!)
But man, my handiwork is crap! I can covet Japanese craft all I want but with stitching like this I wouldn't last a day in Japan! Right Jen :)
