Update

Hello all! Konnitchiwa minna-san!

Greetings from Japan! I had amazing vacation! Very busy, very well organized. Maybe too busy, you might think. And I wonder if that's true. At times I felt like I have to stop. I have to breath in and then breath out. Relax. Live in the moment. But then again, I was too busy for that! Too many places to explore. Too many stores to go to. Too many people to see. Too much everything to have time to stop. And I loved it! Every
second of it.

Tokyo Guide Before

Tokyo Guide After

The controlled chaos. I don't think I'd enjoy chaos in India, or in China, or in any other Asian country. Other than Japan where it's strictly controlled and organized. Japan or should I say Tokyo is like me. There's chaos, there has to be because there's so much of everything, but it's also very controlled. In the case of Tokyo the control comes from outside, in the form of laws and regulations, in my case it comes from the inside. My own laws control me.

Oh, man! That's not what I want to talk about! Sorry!

The trip! That's what I want to talk about! It was all I wanted and a lot more! I was a bit lonely, though. Kind of strange, since I like to travel alone, I'm very used to it. I really needed somebody to slow me down a bit. (I'm talking about my husband, I really wanted him to be there even though I knew he would've hated it. Almost everything about it. My birthday was the worst. I even cried a bit! Lol. Silly me. I wanted to wear "Birthday Girl" pin on my chest but I couldn't find on on time. (the next day I saw one!)

Since I've been there so many times before I could skip all the tourist stuff and focus on the stuff I really wanted to do. I did go to Asakusa, though. To take pictures. And for the first time I saw cherry blossoms in Japan! The season was almost over, actually all the flowers were gone before I left so my timing was really good!

I ate well, in my own room. So strange, but that's the way I chose to do it. I ate out four times. It was a lot of fun and it was a lot of work. To locate the places I knew would be vegan or vegan friendly. Two of these places I've been to many times before, and  one of them was new to me. And that became my favorite. Deva Deva Cafe. I ate Teriyaki "Chicken" burger and a slice of cake. 

Deva Deva Cafe

Brown Rice Cafe 

I did a lot (and I mean a LOT!) of shopping. I bought fabric, dolls, toys, washi tape, stickers, books, kitchen stuff to name some.

Books!

Day 2, Nippori/Textile  Town/Paradise

Birthday presents

Nakano! Another kind of paradise!

I liked it a lot! I went to small art galleries, Studio Ghibli Museum, craft shops, big stores, small stores, stores that sell used items, stores that sell brand new items, I went to shrines, and I got lost every day many times. I walked holes on my socks and I talked Japanese!! So proud of my self about that! Not much and definitely nothing complicated.

I had two full suitcases to bring back home, it was a bit of a nightmare to get all that stuff to the airport, but I managed to do that. I kept dropping a Blythe helmet and people had to help me to pick it up, two or three times but other than that it was pretty okay.

I was really happy to go home, I had done everything I wanted, I was broke and eager to see my family.

On my first morning here we celebrated my birthday, I got a laptop! :) I had asked for garden fork but I guess my hubby thought I needed a new laptop more than a garden tool.

I've been very jet lagged for a week and a half, but finally getting back to normal. Yay! 

Okay, need to go back to work. I've had very little time to sew, I've been sleeping a lot more than I usually do, I've been very tired all time, and I have this two-month course I need to participate,  6 hours a day, every day. :( So I really haven't been sewing that much at all. And last weekend I was at Tampere, scrapbooking. 

Take care!

xoxo, 

Raisa

Advice/opinion needed!!

This is completely theoretical question...or not.

Lets say I have a son who's a teenager. We get along well, but only if I don't mind little annoying things he occationally says, like "Shut up", "Stupid mom" and so on. Nothing major, but bad behavior anyway, and something I wouldn't want my kids to say to me or anybody else. If I let it go, he'd let it go, too and soon he'd be saying things I like to hear, like "Good night, mom" or "I love you, mom". But if I get mad at him for calling me stupid he'd get mad, too and this could go on for days. In this theoretical situation we would both be very (read extremely!) stubborn. And we would end up both saying things that should not be said outloud. 

Life's a lot easier if I let little things just pass unnoticed. But I don't want my son to think it's okay to say Shut your face! to anybody, specially to a grown up. To his mother!

If this was the case in our family, what do you think I should do? Just let it go and wait if it gets any worse, or get stuck in every little word he says that I don't like and start a small war?

(You guessed it right, I'm really talking about me and my son.)

I have been extremely lazy with sewing lately, I've decided to finish at least two sleepsacks and two bags I've never made before, so I better get to work!! But before I go I want to tell you what I did yesterday!!!

A friend of mine had invited me to her work place since they have all these incredible machinery there, like vinyl cutter and 3D printer. With the vinyl cutter you can cut images to be pressed on fabric! I've probably mentioned about how important fabric and everything related to fabric is to me. I really love it! Fabric printing is something I'd love to do, but I really don't know how to achieve a good quality results, fast enough. I'm used to making stencils, but they take forever and the risk of ruining the fabric you are working is too big: the paint leaks under the stencil and ruins your work way too often. And cutting the stencil is a pain in the butt!!

But with the vinyl cutter you let the machine do most of the work!! Wohoo!! You only need to pick off the pieces you don't want to print on your fabric. And the vinyl stuff is so amazing, the colors are great, it feels good, not plastic-y at all, or maybe just a teeny tiny bit, but not bad at all.

So, I was printing some simple images yesterday at Kaupunkiverstas. I had some unfinished pieces of fabric with me (our old table cloths from our wedding :) and a memory stick with couple images. I will post more about this once I get the bags finished, now I'll just show you the result of the printing. I was supposed to be there two hours, but ran out of time so we booked me another two hours :) It was so much fun!! Now I can't wait to go there again, with more ideas to print!

I made two of these Candy vs. Animals, and bunch of Blythe con Europe bags, for customers who buy two or more sleepsacks! 

Of course I had to stop by at fabric store. Look what I found!! Cute! And so weird! I even dreamed about some of the characters (a nightmare).

Bye!! Don't forget to leave your opinion/advice on my problem!!

xoxo,
Raisa

ONE WEEK!

Within a week I'm already in Amsterdam, waiting patiently. Add couple more hours and I'll be on a plain that's about to take me to Tokyo! So exciting! But also so scary. I'm not a huge fan of flying. I can take it pretty easy, thanks to little help from a doctor. But still...I'm afraid I'll start to think about all the things that could go wrong and also the fact that I'm trapped inside that metal box for hours and hours doesn't comfort me at all. Trapped. No way out. Kind of like when you are getting a tattoo, you should not think about the skin cells breaking, and all the actions the cells are taking from preventing more damage. But the needle just does what ever the tattoo artist wants and your cells are screaming for help...One should not think about that when being tattooed...

Okay, I need to go! I have a fabric printing date at the city at 10am!

Pictures!

Take care!

xoxo,
Raisa

Can I change?

Can a person change? For good? For real? I strongly doubt it. Of course you can stop smoking/doing drugs/drinking and/or start exercising and so on. But do we really change? Like maybe you've heard of life changing moments, but is it really that one moment can change the way you are? The way you think?

Oh, well. The more I think about it the more convinced I am that a person can change, and that the change can be "over night". Like images of abused animals can change a person for good!

The reason I'm talking about that is that last night when I was thinking about how happy I am with Mr. C. We've been together for five years and it just gets better  and better. But then again there are times when I absolutely xxx him. When I can't think of anything good about him. Then I wonder what on earth did I see in him in the first place. But last night I some how realized that the strong negative feelings aren't really about him. It's more about me. How I get very strongly annoyed if he doesn't behave/act/think the way I want him to behave/act/think. Do you follow? I'm not sure if I do.

But you know, when I'm all in love with him and everything is just perfect then it's most likely that way because of the way he makes me feel. He makes me feel safe and more balanced, and so on. It's not that I love him bacause he runs fast or is so goddamn handsome. umm...hard to explain. I love the way he looks because I can see it. I wouldn't love it if he was handsome but I were blind. I don't care if he runs fast or not because that's not something for me. Unless I see him in a race. So why would be the negative feelings be about him? I xxx him because of the way he makes me feel. Damn! I'm into something! So next time I feel like chopping him into pieces I should focus on me! Why do I react to his actions this way? What does it tell about me?

Interesting.  So the question about the change was about this. Can this knowledge (about the negative feelings being about me) change me?

It's early, I've been awake for three hours already. I feel like doing some serious sewing today!

I'll soon make a post about the whole organizing project. Kind of like before and after thing.

Bye!

xoxo,
Raisa

My travel journal came yesterday! It's effing great! (pic taken from the website!)

I love riding my bike!!

Boy, I had such a lovely day yesterday! I really haven't been feeling that great lately, but yesterday as I was riding my bike to the city, and stopping to take pictures of my sweet little Astrid I was so happy. The weather was perfect, I wasn't too cold or too hot, I was just perfect, the water I had brought to drink with me was the perfect temperature, my bike was light to pedal, the wind wasn't blowing too hard and even though there were other (annoyingly ignorant of the "walk on the right hand side of the road" -rule) people out there they didn't drive me crazy.

During my trip I got so much done, like picked up a fabric from courier company, bought some other fabric from fabric store, bought ribbon, sold gold chains and a bracelet (lol! I'm sure I got ripped off big time!) got some Japanese yens (again, not very good deal. Usually stuff like that bothers me a lot. And I mean a LOT! But I decided not to care! I got it done and that's all that matters! And don't tell me about withdrawing money on my bank account while there instead of transferring money here. Last time in Japan I couldn't find one single place where my card would've worked, and I had problems with my CC also, luckily I had enough cash! And also last time in the States I followed this advice and ended up borrowing money from my mother-in-law! Since I couldn't get money from my account. I feel safer when I have the money in my hand thank you very much. I'm old and old fashioned.) and also sold my old school books and got money to buy treats for my trip. I went to Ekolo and the first time ever I didn't like th eperson working there! So strange! Usually they are so nice and friendly, but this one was just distant and not "warm" at all. Also didn't like the person at the craft store I got the ribbon from. But I barely ever like the staff there, too young to understand anything about customer service. She was organizing some shelves and there was a line at the counter (me and somebody in front of me). We waited and she didn't show up, so I had to ask her to come to the register and I felt like saying sorry to bother you since she looked upset she had to serve us instead of organizing the shelves. Even that didn't bring me down!

My ride back home was nice, too! Even though I was getting tired and my backbag was so full I kept hitting my gigantic ponytail holder on it :)

I cooked and watched some of The memoirs of a geisha -movie. And went to bed. No sewing. Well, couple seams but thats' it. And I felt good about that, too :)

I really enjoyed the "quality time" with Astrid, I know this sounds silly. But I really enjoy the dolls and I haven't done anything with them for so long and yesterday I got to take pictures of them and even continued Molly's story! I have some great ideas for her!!

Look! Spring veggies!

Holly, the kleptomaniac.

Okay, must go working! But before I go I want to show you my food stash for my trip (that's in two weeks!!!)

 Have a superb Tuesday! I'm sure you deserve it! I do!

xoxo,
 Raisa

Mission accomplished!

My decluttering/organizing/cleaning project is now DONE! Over the weekend I emptied the doll closet and took bunch of crap aside and oraganized everything else and put them back and here are the results:

Before

At one point I couldn't even get the door more open than this!

To get here I had to clear off the floor in front of the closet.

After

I still have too much stuff for that closet, so it's not perfectly organized, but so much better!! I have the same problem with my fabric storage. I simply have too much fabric for my storage space. Sometimes I love my problems! :D

In the dolly closet there's still plenty of items that should be organized better. Like now all food is in one box, and I'd like to have fruits and veggies serated from desserts and so on. So next time I'm super bored instead of coloring my Twin Peaks coloring book I'll sort those.

Once again I've been sewing a lot. (still not that much progress, I'm afraid). Couple days ago I started to wonder if I work too much. That sounds silly. Of course I don't. But still, I'm working all the time. Everything is related to Pinkkis somehow. Online searches, fabric shopping, designing new pouches, sewing, cutting, stamping, packing, emailing, ironing. Seven days a week, hours and hours a day. I love it, but should I force myself to take it easy? To avoid burning out? I thought about that, slowing down. But I can't do it. As a person I can't "pace my self" if you know what I mean. I know there's a better word for it, kind of like portioning, but not quite. I go full speed and then I crash. But this also gives me so much.

Okay, what I wanted to say is that on my To do -list, I wrote Play with dolls! So after I got everything else done (and some extra, too) I had time to play with my precious dolls! I honestly haven't played with them in ages. I just use them as my models for the pouches. Poor things! The dollhouse was a bit of a mess, so I started putting things back on their places. But I was so tired I just kept dropping things and I think I ended up making more mess :( . So I left. And now I need to go back sewing again.

I ordered hand-held luggage scale! And flight socks :D I', really happy about the scale. Even though I have an extra luggage I'm still afraid I have extra weight. This way I don't have to worry about it too much! I can weight my bags every day! Tehee!!

One more thing! My school stuff is all done now! I had my last two major tests last week, that's why I haven't written that much. Not because I've been studying, but because I've been at school working on those tests. I went there totally unprepaired, but I'm sure I'm smart enough to pass. And at this point that's all that matters. I'm so done with studying for now!

Okay, bye!!

xoxo,

Raisa

About eating locally.

Good morning!

Couple days ago I took the train to my home town, where my dad lives (also mom, brother and some friends). I got my now working car back home. It's not really a big thing, since we don't use the car that much. And now even less, because of the spring. Riding our bikes is so much more fun.

Well, on my way home I took a detour, just to get to this organic farm I adore. I needed hey and straw for the bunnies, and from there I could get it organic, cheap and what I like the most - in bales. Instead of buying small amount of it in a bag, I got food and play material for them for six months supply! The bunnies love the bales. I don't break them a part, I just put them in their room and they love hanging on top of them. Bunnies are so cute!

I also bought broad beans, peas, and all sorts of flour. And they were all grown on the fields around the farm. I absolutely love knowing where my food comes from! You can't beat that feeling! Once we were in a restaurant (they got their first Michelin star this year! Congrats Chef & Sommelier!) and they told us everything about where the food came from, how they waste very little, pick wild flowers/herb on their way to work and so on, and I loved it! Food should not be just something that comes from the store, wrapped in plastic! (Only Laura Palmer should come wrapped in plastic. ;)

The whole thing around food is just so weird. Why do we have to get our food as cheap, as easy and as fast as possible? Even if it meant hurting others (nature, people in less developed countries and animals) on the way. All the negative images, the bad stuff people don't want to know, or the producers don't want us to know, since it might affect on our actions which I doubt - we know, we just don't care. We think we can't afford it, we think we "can't" live without cheese/meat/crap, we think it's too difficult, we think it takes too much time, we think blah blah blah. And most people don't really give a shit. But back to the negative images, they are hidden behind what ever the ad people have created. They don't post pictures of bruised kids picking cocoa beans on the chocolate bar, the don't post pictures of polluted rivers and lakes on bags of flour and they definately don't post pictures of pigs that can't even turn in their cages on the pack of oh! so very hip and f**ing cool bacon! Oh, no - that might upset the hipsters.

Lol! Can you tell I got a bit carried away, writing about that is like pouring gasoline on a small fire...This was supposed to be happy, uplifting post! Not a guilty trip! Sorry!

The farm was amazing, even covered in snow. The couple who runs it were away, on a vacation (good for them!!) so there was this young man working and he was so friendly and sweet. He smelled heavily to fish, and that smell got stuck on my hay, too! And for a day the bunny room smelled like fish!! Hahaha!

I have tons to do, so I better start working! I hope you all have Tasty Thursday!

xoxo,
Raisa