Sanae Ishida's Blog, page 2

Autumnal Check-In and Classes!

Aaaaah, it’s autumn! My favorite. I’ve enjoyed my summer break from blogging and social media-ing, but I’ve missed aspects of them too. How are you?

This weekend, my little family will fly out to Chicago to drop off K — now 18-years-old — and we are all full of big, big feelings.

I am excited for her. I think back to my own first days at UCLA, how I started my journaling habit almost 35 years ago in a little coffee shop tucked into the corner of a weathered campus building. 18-year-old Sanae had no idea what she was in for. Neither of my parents had attended college, though even if they’d gone, it would have been in Japan. Possibly not very relatable. At any rate, I was the first in my immigrant family to enter higher education, and I had zero expectations and knowledge.

It’s so different with K. M and I have regaled her with tales of our American college shenanigans, she’s watched dorm move-in YouTube videos, and the amount of information provided by the university itself is mind-blowing (webinars, regular emails with detailed preparation reminders, local meet-ups with alumni, apps for finding roommates, etc., etc.). As a freshman, I showed up to my cramped dorm room with a Monet-inspired bedding set and a duffel bag filled with the bare minimum of clothes. Not so with K. Let’s just say that we’re going to be paying a pretty penny for check-in luggage.

Despite the most meticulous of planning, I suppose there’s no way to be fully prepared for any kind of future. We’re all just doing our best here.

Anyway. I’m rather overwhelmed about this whole dropping-kid-off-at-college thing, so I’m keeping this September check- in brief. Despite the adage of the best laid plans yada, yada, yada, I’ve done my own preparations for empty nesting: I’ve got projects galore to keep me occupied for the autumn season and beyond, I’m ramping up on sewing clothes for myself again, I intend to experiment more with healthy cooking, and I’m full of ideas to fill my days with creativity and staying connected to loved ones. I imagine I’ll be updating here more often too.

Here’s a little sketch I made of my plans for Fall sewing:

I have yet to sew the hoodie of my dreams and I want to add more jeans, oversized turtlenecks, long-sleeve tees (preferably in striped fabric). I typically shy away from cooler-weather sewing (so bulky!), but I’m going for it this year, my friends. I didn’t sketch it, but  I have some quilted fabric that’s begging to be turned into winter appropriate coats and jackets. Since I’ll be visiting Chicago regularly and the first family weekend event is in November, I best get stitching!

Some knitting aspirations are in the works too!

And if you’re interested in some classes…

For Seattle folks, I’ll be teaching a Boro/Sashiko coasters class at The Works on October 2nd at 6:30pm. Register here!

If online classes are more your speed, I’ll be part of Tatter’s World Embroidery Series with some wonderful instructors on October 3rd. I’m teaching a particular Sashiko embroidery style called Hitomezashi. Details and registration info here.

And recently, my newest Creativebug class launched — check it out here.

Fun, fun, fun!

Happy September, everyone. I’m so ready to dive into all the coziness of the season!

Tatter Class: Sashiko Summer Slip Ons

Hello, my friends! My brain is extremely full right now, what with K’s prom and graduation and big trips (visiting my parents in Japan! Moving K to Chicago!) and other big life upheavals careening towards me. I’m keeping this month’s update super mini, and just wanted to let you know about an exciting new class I’ll be teaching for the incredible Tatter. The virtual class will be on July 18th and 25th, featuring hand stitched Sashiko slip ons (aka slippers or house shoes). Click here to find out more details and to register. It’s going to be so fun and meditative!!

The stitching on the white pair of slip ons is a little hard to see in the photo, but it’s a more abstract pattern with Sashiko stitching:

Alright! There are graduation events to plan, itineraries to confirm, travel outfits to sew, and overwrought sentimentality (mine) to manage…I hope that May was a good month for you all, and my aim is to be back next month with juicy updates, but with all the craziness going on right now, I may end up skipping a month or two.

P.S. The lovely Annette Leonard interviewed me for her Chronic Wellness show here. I prattle on about my health “journey” as it were and how I’ve been having a déjà vu health crisis reversal experience. As per usual, I never listen back to any of these types of things that I do, and I hope it’s interesting or at least a little helpful for folks.

 

Free Floral Printable Cards + Envelope

Hello! ‘Tis the end of the month, and  it occurred to me that Mother’s Day is less than two weeks away. As per usual, I like to offer up a free printable whenever my schedule is flexible enough. You can download the file by clicking here or on the image:

I painted the florals using Procreate and making this little stationery set is actually quite easy. My Creativebug Digital Painting Daily Practice launches tomorrow (May 1st!!) and I show you exactly how. We start with the very basics of digital painting in Procreate and work our way through various techniques. 

What’s nice about the printable included in this post is that the cards are all-purpose and all-occasion. I recommend using thinner cardstock to print these out — I used a textured inkjet watercolor paper and it was a bit too stiff for the envelope, though I love how it looks. Simply fold all four sides of the envelope, slip the card(s) inside, then secure with a sticker or tape. You could also attach the side flaps to the bottom flap with glue.

Enjoy! And if you’ve been curious about digital painting or would like to sample the digital brushes I created specifically for the class and see my particular digital painting methods, click here for more info.

Summer is approaching much too rapidly — where are the days going?

Sashiko’s Stitches Pub Day and Giveaway!! {CLOSED}

Today is the day! My new book, Sashiko’s Stitches (published by WorthyKids / HBG), is out in the wild!!

What can I say that I haven’t already about making books? It continues to be magical, continues to be a joy. With each book, I try to challenge myself in new ways, and with this one I wanted to see if I could create a traditional watercolor vibe with digital painting. I used Procreate (and even created my own brushes), and it was fun.

My kids’ books tend to be on the silly side, but this one has emotional oomph, I’d like to think. “A quiet book,” my editor said. I wanted it to feel beautiful, you know? There’s subtle silliness if you look closely, though.

Some tidbits that might be of interest…

The impetus of the book theme, in no small part, came from the pandemic and how it affected the kids around me. I don’t refer to the pandemic in the book, but I focused on the big feelings that kids and kids-at-heart (all of us, basically) experience and how to make them into a source of beauty

This book features Sashiko embroidery, told through a girl named Sashiko. We added informative factoids about the craft in the back matter, which I always love adding:

A book evolves throughout each phase. When we pitched the book, my initial sketch was pretty un-dynamic:

I loved that my editor encouraged me to add more movement and the final spread ended up looking like this:

I think this book — more than any of the others that I’ve worked on — changed the most from the initial pitch to the final version. My excellent agent, Adria, guided and encouraged me throughout that whole trajectory. I’m so, so lucky.

Ahhhh. How amazing. Another book! I hope you love it. You can find Sashiko’s Stitches anywhere books are sold, but if it’s not readily available, it can be ordered from any bookseller.

To celebrate, I am doing a book giveaway as per usual! I’ll also include a little Sashiko mystery gift as part of the giveaway. All you need to do to enter is comment below. If you’d like an idea for commenting, perhaps you can share your favorite childhood activity?

The giveaway will be open until Tuesday, April 16th. International entries are always welcome! Good luck! 

P.S. Maybe you’d like a signed copy? If so, Queen Anne Book Company will have some autographed copies! If you’re not local, no problemo, they take online orders. 

 

 

Empty Nest Prepper

Image taken at Luna Liquida Hotel, Puerto Vallarta

I am married to a doomsday prepper. Our basement is filled with vats of powdered emergency food stuffs, oxygen bags, industrial outdoor gear, large plastic containers of water, hazmat suits, and more. There’s even an ice pick hanging on the wall, which he used for mountaineering with a friend, but I’m pretty sure that it’s part of his apocalypse arsenal. He’s researched generators and studied blueprints for bunkers. At one point he ordered numerous books on urban farming and off-the-grid how-to manuals in case the internet ceased to exist. This survivalist mentality started decades before the pandemic was even a sniffle in our collective nostrils.

It’s hard to explain, but this quality is both disturbing and endearing to me. I don’t subscribe to the intense fear that drives prepper-ism, but I’m a planner by nature so I get it.

In fact, I’ve been doing my own doomsday prepping these days. My particular doomsday is tied to K’s imminent transition from high school to college. In the fall, she’ll be flying from the Pacific Northwest coop and going to the Midwest — Chicago to be exact — which feels so far from Seattle. My identity is unapologetically ensconced in motherhood, and since she is my one and only child, things are about to get funky for me.

My new identity will be as an empty nester. It’s interesting: K reported that according to her psychology teacher, empty nesters are the happiest people. I’m willing to consider that as a possibility, but I’ll have to go through a stage of deep grief first. For the last almost eighteen years, I have been perpetually tracking and managing her schedule, strategizing what to feed her, analyzing her needs and wants. There will be a giant hole in my brain and heart when the tracking and strategizing and analyzing become unavailable and obsolete.

How am I prepping? For one, I’ve been doing a lot of contemplating about who I am and who I want to be without mothering at the forefront. Sure, I’m a wife and daughter and sister and friend and creator of books and sewing projects and such, and these will continue to be important roles. And it’s not as if I won’t have any maternal duties once K is off to college. I don’t have definitive answers yet, of course, but I’ve been dreading/enjoying the contemplation. I also often wonder whether I’ve equipped my daughter with sufficient life skills. And I worry that I’ve saddled her with my neuroses. Only time will tell.

I’ve been continuing to purge as well. As I’ve mentioned M and I may or may not move when she leaves, but I’m preparing nonetheless. K and I went through the bins with her childhood toys and stuffed animals and clothes. Oh, the clothes! Remember the hundreds and hundreds of garments I sewed? We’ve kept only a handful. I am ridding the collection of cookie cutters from the days when I used to make cute pancake shapes (insane, now that I think about it). We have dozens of volleyballs from all the camps and teams she participated in. Do we keep any? A deluge of emotions…and at the same time, liberating.

How could she have been so little! And oh, she was clearly meant to be a musician…

I’m in the thick of prepping, and I may have more to say later but for now I’m going to make a list of all the other items to tackle: K’s schoolwork from kindergarten to high school; her music paraphernalia (what should we do with her piano?); her room! Will I finally stop sewing in my bedroom and use her room as a studio? Or maybe it would be a moot point if M and I move. He hasn’t quite let go of the mobile home idea, but is keenly interested in boat-living now. I’m not on board, pun intended. Not the least of which because I get seasick.

Anyway. Empty nest prepping. It’s happening. If you’ve gone through it, I welcome any words of wisdom and anecdotes of the experience! 

Empty nests and flying the coop reminded me: have you ever seen a peacock take flight? It’s startling and not as graceful as I expected. Quite shocking in its blustery-ness, to be honest. I guess all those feathers are somewhat cumbersome…

In other news:

There are a bunch of new Creativebug classes that I taught available on the site.Sashiko’s. Stitches releases on April 2nd!! Pre-orders are available wherever books are sold. I’ll share some behind the scenes next time.I’m starting on a new book, so I will be in focus mode for the next few months. I may not be on social media much, not that I’m too active regularly.I’m still de-stashing my ample fabric hoard and am sewing, sewing, sewing (okay, mostly planning on sewing, but some sewing is definitely going on). I’ll try to share as much as I can in the next month or two.

That’s it for now! Hope you’re having a lovely, lovely end of February (a leap year, which makes it feel extra special)!! It’s almost spring here, can you believe it?