Sapporo Factory

Happy Boys Day! Today I got to spend Boys Day with two of my favorite little boys, Priamos & Dimitris, who live next door. Their dad came over to watch Panathinaikos vs. Larissa (regretfully we lost) with Costas, and I hopped in their car with Angeliki and the boys and we went shopping. When Angeliki suggested shopping, my gut reaction was no no no! but I realized I needed practice getting back in the habit of not buying things, plus she and I hadn't gone out in ages. It was fun.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, Sapporo, day 2...
Keiko is a beautician. When I lived there, she was still in beauty school and when I'd come over, she'd cut and style my hair, do my make-up, and dress me in kimono, all to practice for school. Now she works at Morio Salon, in "Factory" which actually used to be the Sapporo Beer factory, but a while back was converted into a shopping mall of sorts. While Mrs. K. got her hair done, I browsed the shops..
In the middle of the building is this fabulous indoor garden. We had lunch at one of the restaurants with "outdoor seating" and it really feels like you're outside. Reminded me of Greece. After Factory, we headed to Daimaru (a big department store) and I did a bit more shopping, mostly craft books. I got one on crochet lace, another on keshigomu hanko (eraser stamps), and one on traditional Ainu applique and embroidery. I still haven't had time to read them yet, but I'm happy to have them in my collection.
And to keep this a quilting blog, not just a travel journal, here's another of Mrs. Ito's quilts. I absolutly love this landscape scene. All appliqued and quilted by hand.