A day of craftiness and how to take a bath

I actually managed to get quite a lot done yesterday, mainly because Ebi-kun was happy to do ice-cooking for and hour and a half, just had to replenish his ice supply every now and then then in the afternoon he spent nearly 2 hours painting rocks. No, we didn't have loads of rocks, he just kept painting the same ones over and over again, complete layers of green, white, blue, yellow etc. I'm sure if you cut through the rock it would be a lovely rainbow cross-section

So, first up were the guest towels, we have got quite a few visitors coming over the next few weeks and our towels were looking a little shabby so I bought some new ones. I think I need to explain the bath system in Japan...our water is heated at night, when the electricity is the cheapest it is kept hot using some eco gadget. In the evening we run the bath, another gadget keeps the water at a set temperature and the water level a whatever you set it as. When the first person goes for a bath they first sit on a little stool - you can't see it in the photo but just to the right inside the bathroom is a stool, bowl, tap and shower, mirror and shelf for shampoo etc.

So, sit on the stool and have a good wash with soap and your own long thin towel, clean all those nooks and crannies and have the joy of sitting in front of the mirror whilst you do it so see how much your wobbly bits wobbly (or is that just me?). Wash your hair etc. then rinse off, once you are super clean you get in the tub, the tub is for relaxing in, not washing. When you are done, you get out of the bath and put the lid on it, which saves energy on keeping the water the right temperature, then the next person goes in. In theory the bath water stays clean so everyone can use it, we then use ours at the end of the night for the washing machine, the first two cycles but not the final rinse. We have a special hose that plugs into the washing machine and pumps the hot water out. We set the machine on the timer so that it washes at night -again  cheap electricity and the washing is ready to hang out first thing.

Anyway, getting back to crafting, I wanted to have individual towels since each towel gets hung to dry after the bath, ready for the next night and because they are all white there is no way of knowing whose is whose. So, I picked out some scraps from my stash and sewed a different one to each towel, they look pretty cute, even if I do say so myself! No doubt hubby will complain that he can't clean his armpits properly because of the fabric I have sewn on - he is like that you know.

Then I saw these nifty little matchbook notepads on Mr Monkeysuit and just had to give it a go. I had some metalic contact paper and used that, I managed to get 3 and a small one out of the sheet.

I also cut out and sewed a bag idea that I have had bouncing around for a while, it needs some hand stitching on it, so I think that will be a project to take with me to the in-laws next week. I have also run out of felt but will go and get a supply tomorrow for my next fix. 

Ebi-kun's portfolio book arrived yesterday but I haven't taken any photos of it yet, I was very impressed with it though, a post about it will follow shortly.

And to finish off today, Ebi-kun's self portrait just before he went to bed...