Japan Trip 2014 - Temple Tramping

One of my favourite places to visit while I'm in Japan are the temples, both big and small.  I love their serenity, their sense of history and their beauty.  

One thousand origami cranes

Kaminarimon, Sensoji, Asakusa

Incense, Sensoji, Asakusa.  The worshippers direct the smoke onto the parts of their body they want to heal or strengthen.

Ema Tablets, Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto.  

Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Fox spirits at Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Fox spirits at Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Flickr Faves on a Friday

Origami cranes. How I love them, can't get enough of them, have folded literally thousands of them in my life and have a new project planned to start soon to fold many more...

1. Origami Crane --Chinese Rice Paper and Hand Carved Stamps, 2. 15-06-10 Lets Go I Want To Go All The Way To The Horizon ~ Explored Front Page :), 3. Window Display, 4. tattoo, 5. origami shot with a matchbox pinhole, 6. My Little Gift, For You!, 7. Sembazuru (291/365), 8. dreams of flying (18/52), 9. moonlight kite

The Baby Quilt

I can't quilt but hope to learn one day. I'm lucky enough however to have a mother that is a skilled quilter and will be making a quilt for our little one. Through a very friendly Etsy customer, I discovered The Peace Quilt by Margaret Rolfe.

I knew straight away that this is the design I wanted for the baby quilt. I'm so in love with origami cranes and what they symbolise; peace, happiness, longevity and joy. At a young age, I was read the story of Sadako Sasaki, I was so moved by it and remember it being my first memory of this mysterious land of called "Japan". Many years later, I visited her memorial in the Hiroshima Peace Park and was amazed by all the hand folded cranes that had been sent their from all parts of the world.

I've used origami cranes a lot in my crafts and design; in my wedding, I've made cranes not only in paper but also in fabric and silver and also used in digital design work.

We still don't know if our little one is a boy or a girl. If it's a girl, I've asked mum if the colour theme can be red and pink with a touch of orange. For a boy, the Japan indigo blue and whites. I have of course collected large amounts of gorgeous Japanese cottons for it and have said that I'd like to try to make a few blocks for the quilt myself.

I'll leave you with a hiaku that appears in one version in the Tale of Sadako, thoughts of peace on Anzac Day;

"I shall write peace upon your wings, and you
shall fly around the world so that children will no longer have to die this
way."

Some New Designs

To be totally honest, there are so many things I should be doing right now, but thought I'd pop in a do a quick post regardless.

Let's see.... I should be; making a bag for a friend whose birthday it is today (I'm not seeing her until Saturday), making some more bags to sell, photographing some more stock for eBay, photoshopping images from Vietnam, Cambodia and recent ones taken in Japan, adding my lost links into this blog, working on the look for my other blog, uploading some images to Flickr, photographing my new swing tags, invoicing card clients, making lunch, cleaning the kitchen... just to name a few.

Instead of doing any of those, this morning I've been playing with some new designs for my Café Press Store. I have to confess, I've been really neglectful of my Cafe Press store of late, it really needed some new life to it. These two images are from my new Origami range. What do you think?