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Sanae Ishida

A crafty little atelier in a grey city

Happy Friday + Randomness

June 19, 2015

lots-o-watermelons

Ah, summer vacation…it’s finally here. We’ve flitted from one end-of-the-school-year party to another these past few days, and we have consumed frightening amounts of ice cream and watermelon, sometimes together. I’m in full anticipation mode for the upcoming aimless, schedule-less moments until the camps kick in. I was pretty on the ball this year and have K signed up for a number of half-day camps, and I’m particularly excited about coding (yes, computer programming) camp that she specifically requested. How are your summers looking so far?

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I have much sewing and photo-taking to do, and am keeping it short for today. Have a wonderful weekend, all!

An outing with friends
Tea parties and starfish*:
a winning combo

*K and I went to one of the prettiest parks in Seattle called Carkeek with friends yesterday. It’s a vast recreational area with open fields, a play area (which includes a salmon-shaped slide) and a beach. The plan was to have a tea party for our girls and to then let them roam around and splash about on the beach; I was not expecting my friend to be so prepared — she brought a small table and an impressive array of afternoon tea paraphernalia. We plunked the table down in the middle of the field and had a proper tea party rivaling the one from Alice in Wonderland. The kids then zoomed off and found dozens of starfish in the tide pools. It feels like summer.

Filed in: gouache, illustration • by sanae • 6 Comments

Comments

  1. gretaclark

    June 19, 2015 at 6:11 am

    Sounds so great! I am laying on my bedroom floor under a fan doing yoga. Then I thought I would email you to see if I could have your permission to use the watermelon paintings for fabric. Please do not feel bad about saying no, I know that it is just another decision that you have to make sometime. But the watermelon is pink–my favorite color. Maybe on a soft sky blue lawn?

    Reply
    • sanae

      June 21, 2015 at 6:18 pm

      Hello Greta! I’ll email you separately :-). Yoga under a fan sounds absolutely lovely!

      Reply
  2. Karen F

    June 19, 2015 at 6:40 am

    That sounds like so much fun! The tea party must have been the envy of the park!! I always wished I could pull off something like that and admire those who can. It will be one of those memories for K that she will hold close to her heart.

    Reply
    • sanae

      June 21, 2015 at 6:20 pm

      I hope so Karen! It was a fun tea party for everyone, adults included!

      Reply
  3. Annelieke

    June 19, 2015 at 8:57 am

    Just to say keep blogging, keep blogging…:) I love reading what you write, watching the conclusions you come to and going back in your blog to previous entries from before I located you. Especially genius brother entry.I learned from my nursing career and the patients of my husband, how valiant, spectacular, and extraordinary are the very people who never come to the attention of the larger world. They will never be the subject of a documentary, they may never, ever come to the notice of anyone not in their sphere of neighbors, family and friends and they will not bring world peace or save our planet… but in the world where they live, kindness, ingenuity, great parenting, imagination, and love live, just like in the people we notice more and hear about. And when you think about it, that includes most of us. Only a few people, relatively speaking, come to the notice of the bigger world.
    I want to be great. At 65, I still think that would be fabulous. But now I want more than that to be real, to be present, and to be able to say that I am.
    I am watching another friend who recently published her book about a shelter dog, work to bring her book out, and along. It is a lot of work but it’s paying off, and her book is gathering steam. Since you wrote it, you have every right and maybe even responsibility, to bring your book to the notice of other people. I’m doing what I can on the East coast:) Talking it up. Great fun.

    Reply
    • sanae

      June 21, 2015 at 6:26 pm

      Thank you so much for this amazing comment, Annelieke (how is your name pronounced, by the way?)! Not only do I appreciate your staunch support with promoting Little K, but your words of encouragement are much needed right now. I’ve been observing the slow decline of blogs in general, and even though I don’t believe they will ever truly go away for many years to come, and even though it doesn’t mean I feel the need to stop, it does make me a touch melancholy to see the medium turning into something else. I remember feeling catalyzed by the discovery of all these people simply sharing their various and unique interests online. Now blogs often seem to blur into a similar look and feel with monetization as the ultimate goal. I’m afraid I’m sentimental and miss those good ole days. And yes, I think we can all be great, and as one of my dear friends and I like to say to each other, “It’s never too late.” 🙂

      Reply

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The word that incites terror in most newbie sewing The word that incites terror in most newbie sewing enthusiasts: zippers. Now that I have a few years of sewing under my belt I’m less cowed by them, but there’s something about long, separating zippers that still makes me nervous. I powered through, however, and made this versatile twill hooded jacket originating from a @patterncouture_ zip-up hoodie pattern meant for knit fabrics that I modified a lot. I blogged about it! Link in bio if you’d like to see the different versions I created. 

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