Tag: Katogi Mari (page 1 of 1)

Down the Rabbit Hole

It is late, it is very late, after 1am to be exact. I seem to be having another bout of insomnia, coupled with the lovely cold I seem to be getting! It is quiet this time of morning and very very cold so, I have wrapped myself up in one of my quilts. This one is an 1800’s quilt from the American Mid-West with a log cabin pattern.

I always stare at it when it is on me, looking at the fabric, wondering who made this, how long it took them to sew it, how long it took them to save the flour sacks or old dresses to have enough material to make this quilt? Was it the work of a young girl, practicing her hand at quilt making or that of a young woman for her wedding bed? A mother for her child? If only it could speak or was handed down to me from someone who knew its story…

Since, I am up I thought I would share with you a few more pieces of the wonderful Japanese illustrator Katogi Mari’s work. I used one of her illustrations in my Friday Post.

We saw Alice in Wonderland yesterday, it is all still sinking in. It was a kaleidoscope of color, fantastical, imaginative and it is amazing what a computer can create today with the help of many human hands and hours behind it.

I love the colorful yet simple designs, the clean yet detailed and whimsical nature of Katogi Mari’s work. This series sums up the fanciful side of Alice for me. And, I love the 1960’s Japanese-esque of it all.

I feel as if I have fallen down the rabbit hole myself with all the bunnies I am stitching for RosaBlue and my sinuses are making me feel as if I am in a topsy turvy world, I am waiting for cakes with eat me piped onto them and pianos and books and chairs and teapots to come floating by my head.  I am now going back to stitch on more marshmallowy bunny tails, so they will have more hopping power to jump into their box when they are all sewn up!

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

I feel like Max this morning from “Where the Wild things Are” and I am ready for the wild rumpus of a weekend to start. There are still bears and bunnies to finish, Mother’s Day gifts to buy (they celebrate Mother’s Day early here) and my sweetie pie wants to see the new “Alice in Wonderland” film.

I loved reading the book as a child, what I loved most was that when I finished the first book, I had to turn it upside down to read the 2nd, “Alice Through the Looking Glass”. I am going into this film with my 3D glasses on and an open mind, I am not so sure about, it looks almost too out there, which my cute ginger argues with me is the point, so we shall see.

There is also a menu to be plan. My friends laugh at me, but I plan my menus for two weeks, we don’t have a large grocery store in our town, so it is a ride down the rails for groceries with my hessian bags and red granny cart in hand.  I buy a few things to get us through locally as we need them, milk, bread, salad…

I am far from frugal, we eat very well and for the most part very healthy in our house, I don’t cook junk; I just don’t understand how they can randomly walk into a store and just see what they happen to find. One of my friends goes grocery shopping every morning and spends about £30-40 each time, that is insane!! I plan some meals for one nights, some will be leftovers some will have something entirely new made with their leftovers.

There will be a menu discussion in the house tonight, so far Aioli is on the menu one of my favorite pasta dishes and so simple, with oil and garlic and parsley; a mexican night with homemade bean burritoes, queso sauce and homemade guacamole; it is still very cold here so probably a stew maybe with dumplings and mashed potatoes on the side or just a hearty bowl with some buttermilk biscuits. Since we have had our first taste of spring, I really feel like either some homemade banana pudding or Nigella Lawson’s “Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake”.  This cake is a favorite in our house, it has been made for many a birthday. Although I do make a few changes, I half the required dark chocolate for the icing and mix it with milk or use all milk chocolate, since I found the dark at times became too bitter. (click on the photo to get the recipe)

But in all this sewing, movie watching, grocery shopping crazy filled weekend we will have, I want to make sure that we carve out a little bit of time to just be. I know sometimes I am guilty of trying to do too much in the space of 48 hours, I just need to remember to sit back and breathe!

What are you doing for your weekend?

(Alice in Wonderland image by: Katogi Mari)