oi oi oi

I've been on a wee holiday in Sydney where I visited one of my favourite bookshops, Kinokuniya in George Street. Kinokuniya first opened in Japan in 1927 and has over 80 stores worldwide. The Sydney store opened in 1996. I'm going to 'like' it on FaceBook - because I do! It's a wonderful bookstore with a huge selection, a great atmosphere and helpful, knowledgeable, friendly staff. But, even better, there is a large Japanese section with the biggest range of Japanese craft books you will ever see. I limited myself to just one purchase - an embroidery book called Heart warming life series #375. It's also available here from Stitchbird and online from Kinokuniya.

The photos are from the book and I especially like the first two designed by Mika Hirasa. It's like she's taken her needle and thread and simply drawn on the cloth. But everything in the book is cute and, even though it's written in Japanese, it's well illustrated so it's fairly easy to follow along and work out.