Balls and Books

Wow, so much has been going on this past week. I really should try to post more often - maybe that will be a New Year's resolution. There's been some decorating going on in the house.

I love my antique glass balls. They're really fragile and I'm so afraid to pick them up since I can almost feel them shattering in my hand.

In other news, I went to check out the Japan Foundation library. From what I can tell, the Japan Foundation promotes Japanese culture to the masses. There was an art exhibit by non-Japanese artists who are influenced by Japanese art. Among those were some great pieces using shibori (a tye-dying process) and sashiko (similar to quilting which is quite popular). I don't think I've mentioned this but the mister is Japanese, so I'm familiar with both these methods (although I haven't done them).

Now, I've heard about the greatness of Japanese craft books in blogland, but I've never experienced them for myself. I have to tell you, all the pictures that you see don't do them justice. There were a few books at the library, so I signed out one not to be greedy. It was about embroidery and here are a few of my favourite pictures.


Cute crickets!
I love how they show you different techniques with the same design.

In the future: some more about shibori, and a tutorial for a stich on my last heart I made.