The japanese-english dictionary online says that suwappu = swap so I thought it was the perfect title. Jen in Tokyo and I did another fabric swap. I sent her FunQuilts fabrics and she sent me some fabrics I picked out from Cotton Bow-wow. (eek – Jen, I just clicked over there and saw that the new Nani Iro stuff is out! So pretty!)

Here are the fabrics from Cotton Bowwow…quarter meters of these…

A half meter of this neat roadway fabric. I’m thinking Oscar’s room is going to soon need a "big boy" redesign and this would look so cool hanging on the wall.

And a half meter of Lisa and Gaspard fabric!! We’re so excited about this. We have all the Lisa and Gaspard books. We just love them!

Jen also threw in this book for me because she thought I’d like it. "Palm Sized Softies" Of course I LOVE it! I’ll have to make one of these up for Emily. Although bigger than palm sized because that’s more like "snack size" to a baby.

Then she was sneaky and sent off a second package with more goodies! Sashiko thread, wood buttons, a couple of the good zippers, cute little orange butterfly appliques and two awesome tenugui (right jen?) pieces. Good thing I’ve already got your second package started…. speaking of which I have to get back to those bunnies!

Thanks for the suwappu Jen!!

I had what my Mom would call an “outing with the ladies” this past Friday. Brandy & Cinnamon came out to Oak Park to play with me. We got to check out some places that amazingly I hadn’t yet made it to, the Buzz Cafe for lunch, a fun bead shop Bead in Hand, and the new Brown Elephant thrift store. I got some lovely beads and buttons at the bead shop and found some great trim & vintage greeting cards at the Brown Elephant. Oh and some pretty lustreware cups and saucers. Then we checked out OP’s cool new gift shop Flybird and then back to my place for some hanging out in the craft room. It was so much fun to spend the day with a couple of crafty gals. They both know all about having a small business, fabric, sewing, etc. I learned so much! Cinnamon even pointed out to me that I was using the wrong foot for zippers! Now that I have the actual zipper foot installed look out!

 

Here’s my new favorite book – patchwork and purses! Another excellent Japanese craft book to play with. The instructions on this one seem very complicated. Or very simple depending on how you look at it. They basically (I think) say, sew quilt, make bag. Got it! Many thanks to sweet Valentina for offering pick me up something from Kinokuniya (Japanese bookstore in NY). Poor girl didn’t know what she was getting herself into!

I want to make almost every single thing in this book. Here are a few of my favorites…

and it even includes helpful lifestyle tips like how apples should be eaten with spoons!