Motivation Monday - A Good Day

I had meant for my next post to be a BUNCH of pictures of the beautiful horses that I saw this past Saturday.  However, we were having technical difficulties here with our network/computers/Internet and so I'll be working on formatting and sharing those pictures for (hopefully) my next post.  I think Jeff is done tinkering with the problem and it should be fixed now.    

For now, I hope everyone has a great week!

Today = Horses!

A quick post before BED, since I'm so excited I can't want to share, but...  I'm exhausted.


Today we went to a place, about two hours north, where there are wild horses!

Well, actually... this is about how "wild" they are.

Also, I thought sure I had read somewhere that they were wild ponies.  I was thinking along the lines of the ones found on Assateague Island or the Corolla horses...  Clearly, these are a bit bigger!

There were two small herds that we found, including a few foals, and I took a bajillion pictures - as usual.  I am planning to share more about them in my next post!

Recycling Fabric - Kimono

I encountered a dilemma while on the "shopping adventure" this past weekend.  Our next to last stop was at a couple of used kimono shops next to each other.  I saw several beautiful kimonos in each of them and they were priced VERY reasonably, but I had decided I was done buying things for the day.

However, I did come across a couple of them, one in particular, that I wanted... for the fabric.

I've had my eye out a lot lately for fabric that I can use for Arabian costumes, particularly Native Arabian costumes.  This is especially true now that I have my study materials to try and make a full costume.

Well, one of these cheap, used kimonos looked like it would be perfect to make costumes out of -- a LOT of costumes.  The entire robe was this pattern:

I hemmed and hawed and carried it around the store with me almost the entire time we were all in there.  I'm all for recycling things and I certainly couldn't ever beat the price (about $4.00 - for what is equal to probably a few yards of fabric)  I finally decided to put it back, because... I wasn't sure about cutting up a kimono.  Is that an acceptable thing to do?  I just didn't know.

I ended up doing a bit of research the day after the shopping trip and discovered that, yes, recycling kimono fabric into other things is not only done, there are sites - in Japan - that sell the fabric from kimonos "by the pound" for use in other things.  I found websites and Pinterest boards full of recycled kimono items.  Immediately I regretted not buying that kimono.

I mentioned all of this to one of my new friends who had been on the trip and she said, "Ha!  I knew it!  We can go back tomorrow."  She had encouraged me to buy it in the first place and even threatened to buy it for me, but I had hidden it back on the rack so she couldn't.

We did go back to the store and not only did I buy the original kimono I had seen,

but I found another one that I think would work equally well and I bought it too.

I think they could be used as is, and I may make a costume or two that way.  However, my real plan is to use the pattern of the fabric as an aid for adding hand embroidery to make them "pop".  Also, to add in different colors, so that I don't end up with a ton of costumes that are identical.

I'm really excited about finding these, because I'm seeing several ways that I could cut each of them, thanks to the geometric nature of both patterns.  There are several squares and rectangles that I could cut out, getting a slightly different pattern on each piece.  Also, I can cut different sized pieces for different scales: Traditional, Classic, etc.  The fabric has a rough, "tapestry" type of feel to it and I'm thinking it will work out wonderfully for what I've got in mind.


Also...  I bought a kimono for me to wear AND two obi - the waistband part - for my new kimonos.  So now I have two; the fall colors one from the original shopping trip and my new impromptu purchase.

Almost Wordless Wednesday - Sannai-Maruyama

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Sannai Maruyama site in Aomori City, Aomori Japan.   There were a lot of neat, crafty things to see, but I wanted to share more pictures of the site - particularly the reconstructed buildings, pit dwellings, and a (small) sample of the amazing artifacts that are in the museum.

Shopping Adventure

Apologies for most of the pictures here.  I didn't take my camera, I thought I wouldn't need it.  (when will I ever learn!)  Thankfully I had my phone, but it doesn't take the best pictures... 


The event was put together on Facebook as a "Thrift Store Adventure" and that's what it was.

I had my alarm set for 6am, a friend picked me up just after 7, and the convoy of vehicles rolled out around 8.  Our first destination was about two hours away and appeared to be an antique store.  I was dismayed by the prices, not knowing what to expect.  I saw this ceramic horse statue and thought it was neat, but it was priced at about half of my budget for the whole day, so I passed.

Plus, even though I thought it was neat, nothing about it said "Japan" and that's the kind of thing I was hoping to find.

There were also other horses, which I was happy to see.

Also, Greyhounds!

I left the first store empty-handing and thinking I might not find anything in my budget for the day.  Ah well, I was still hopeful.

Across the street was a sake brewery, inside of a beautiful building.  The entire area we were in was mostly made up of gorgeous old wooden buildings.

The sake brewery was the one on the left

Inside the brewery, they gave out samples of sake and I tried a couple of them.  I was browsing around when I found they had sake cups for sale and I thought some of them were very pretty.  So I bought a few, just to have.  We don't have any sake and I don't think I'd ever even tried it before, but I thought the cups were neat.  The American equivalent would probably be a shot glass.

(sorry, I don't want to show a picture of them right now, because they might be gifts...)  ;)

The sake brewery had an absolutely stunning courtyard type of area that we were able to look at, after taking off our shoes to walk up to it.  They said we could take pictures and this was when I really started kicking myself for not bringing my camera...  Still, I'm glad I was able to, sort of, capture the beautiful view.

There was also a model inside, showing the whole brewery and (unfinished?) courtyard.  I guess it's because I'm into crafty stuff and miniatures, but I notice these types of things!  I pointed this out to a few people on the shopping trip and their reaction was sort of an, "uh-huh" - while I thought it was really, really neat.  lol

Our next stop was an outdoor market and there my shopping luck turned around in a big way.

There was a lot of interesting stuff at the market, but the first thing I spotted that I was really interested in was another ceramic horse.  I found out he was only 300 yen!  (about $2.50)

So, of course, I bought him.

He is an awesome little due.  He looks like a mighty warhorse, but at the same time, cute.

This vase caught my eye, I love the color blue.

I also bought this plate - again, blue.

Next, I bought this wall hanging.  It was the most expensive thing that I bought that day, still only about $8.00  I'm not even sure what it's made out of; it is heavy and has a sort of leathery feel to it on the front.

Last up, for purchases at the outdoor market, was this set of bowls.  Yep, blue.  I may be in trouble here.  This blue is my favorite shade of my favorite color and it seems to be very common color on...  everything over here.

At the market there was also a grocery store and we all bought something to eat there.

After the market, we went to another couple of antique stores - more high prices - then onto a couple of used kimono shops.

Finally, we stopped in at a "recycle store", basically sort of a thrift store as I understand it.  I had decided I was done buying stuff for the day, but then I found a clearance bin of kimonos.  Thanks to the clearance price AND the fact that everything in the store was an additional 30% off (including clearance!), I bought this kimono for about $1.50 - it was the score of the day I think.

I love the pattern of the fabric and the colors.

An even closer closeup:

This is my first actual kimono and I need several other pieces before I can wear it properly, but it is neat to have one.

It was a looooong day and I certainly needed time to recharge afterwards, but I had fun and am glad I was able to find some neat things for not much money in the end!