sorry for the mess!

Hello,
the holiday season is here, you guys are probably busy busy and enjoying the winter.
i've been busy doing PataPri things, getting orders together, prepare for the craft fair im doing and etc...
the exciting thing for me was my stuff from chicago finally arrived!!
i was waiting for this for long time!
since i didnt pack my self, every things from furniture to old instant miso soups were in those 65 boxes...
it was really fun to open each box, reminds me of life in chicago and good times. :)

my house is finally getting feel like my home!
i will put pics when i finish cleaning up.
oh , i slept in my bed for the first time in 15 months and it was wonderful!
no more couching!

have a happy merry Christmas & new year!!!

thank you!

thank you so much all for coming!

i had a great time at the show. :)
i met many great artists and people who loves art!

special thanks to mr.kurazume who organized this event (giantmango) and old friend yasu who helped me to set up the display and took down. :D

展示会に来てくれた方、ありがとうございます！
タオル、ブランケットを買って下さった方あまり会場にいなくて会えなくて残念でしたが、 タオル使って下さってると思うととてもうれしいです。

いろんな他の作家の方々に会えてとても楽しい時間でした．

*more baby blankets are available at my shop. :)

colors展

hello,
first of all I would like to thank you so much, for visiting my etsy shop. since I've reopened my shop as of last week.
I was a little nervous since I closed for a while.
The status of the yen currency thing and new imabari towel. I had to raise my price a little sorry.

I also would like to thank you all for the sweet words about my work, it means so much to me!

Today I was at Daikanyama, Tokyo setting up my wall for the show I'm doing, what do you think?
i think it turned out nice. :)
i was able to check some of other artists work, and i loved them.
cant wait to check all out!

i'll be there over the weekend, so if you see me say hi!

PataPri is back!

hello,
thank you so much for waiting.
my shop on etsy is finally re-open.

free shipping until end of november, so please shop! :)
im very excited to use imabari towels for my gauze towels.
they are more thicker and fluffier than the one i used before. these new towels are perfect to use in the kitchen and bathroom.

baby blankets and bedding will be available soon.

colors

hello,
while im working hard to getting ready for re-open my shop, im also preparing for the show im doing second week of november!
my new towels are available to buy and other artists art work.

if you are in tokyo area, please stop by!!
hope to see you!
i'll be there on first day and weekend.

when 11/9 - 11/14
place daikanyama hillside terrace
map

誰もが自由に、身近に楽しめる、ちょっとスペシャルな来場者参加型アートイベント。価格や 評判に左右されることなく、自分の感性のみを頼りに、驚き、刺激を受け、好きな 作家や作品を発見できる機会。ジャンルにこだわらず、才能溢れるアーティストたちの作品を一堂に集め、子供から大人まで、誰もが純粋に楽しむことのできる 展覧会です。是非あなた自身の「色」をみつけにきてください。

[会期] 2010年11月9日(火) - 11月14日(日)
10：00 - 20：00（入場は閉場30分前まで、土日は17：00閉場）
※入場無料

[会場] 代官山ヒルサイドテラスF棟「ヒルサイドフォーラム」
www.hillsideterrace.com/access

[主催] ジャイアントマンゴー
[協力] 株式会社アートオブセッション / ヒルサイドテラス

[出展アーティスト]（42組）

IP / AKI / acco / あづさ / 阿部和貴 / AmADomA-アマドマ / MK Lab(来本曜世・増田茂) /
大平暁 / 大野慎也 / 修武 / 神山祥子 / 川上カオリ / 木村哲雄 / 熊兄弟 / くり / 栗山たくや /
黒猫菊地 / サトウテン / 修平 / SHOOEI / たしかゆい / 塚本衣絵 / 土田瞬 / 戸賀崎珠穂 /
戸塚くるみ / 鳥居葉子 / 長野由美 / 夏苅羚 / 西澤克実 / のぐちみか /
PataPri by yuko uemura / 日比谷泰一郎 / 古澤杜宇子 / Macro / 麻真梨 / まろまろ /
Mr. QUEEN / moha / 柳沢新 / 山本麻璃絵 / you / LUMMY

working hard here.

oh nooooo!
It's already October.
My plan was to re-open my shop at the end of September.....

The heat slowed me down... but now that the weather is better, I'm working hard!

My shop will be ready for a grand re-opening in 2 weeks. :)

My new towels are just so wonderful; they're fluffier, and thicker.
They're thick enough that you can use them in the kitchen or the bathroom.
I can't wait for you to try them.

updates!

entrance

living room before( my grandma style )

new living room

apron front

apron back

toby

hello!
it's almost mid september and its still hot as hell in japan.
sorry i complain about weather too much, but i just hate hot and humid weather. :p

anyway, my summer project of my new home is almost done.
i couldn't do big projects because of the budget, but my living room had a little face lift.
i change the ceiling color and light fixtures. it looks so much brighter in the room and i love how lights looks at night.
take a look at before and after pic!
little changes makes a big difference, isnt it?

i started to print towels a couple of weeks ago, and im enjoying working again in my new studio.
hopefully i can re-open my etsy shop by end of september.

my cousin and her daughter visited me today to pick up the apron i made for her.
she loved it and im happy! :)
she ( she is 10 years old )and i had a printing session together, and she enjoyed screen printing! i love screen printing, so see her enjoy doing it made me happy too.

i also had a fun visit few weeks ago, hitomi of kalla design and her friend came to my studio. it was great to see her in person, she was what i imagined from her work.
she said i wasnt what she expected... haha
we talked about screen printing, she shared resource of screen printing materials in japan and process of how we print, and whats her plan with her business, and mine etc...
i had a wonderful time with them, she gave me motivation! since i was slacking because of the heat!

so thats what i've been doing last few weeks besides feeding to my bird toby.

before & after pt.2 new studio!

hello,
hows your summer going?
it has been hot and muggy summer here in japan...
i dont do well with hot and humidity so i stay inside ac on working hard.

my new studio is almost done!
take a look at my new studio :) and before pics.
sorry about the mess on before , i took it right before i started to renovate so its messy!
i painted the wall and ceiling, and made this room clean and bright!
i like how it turned out.
the living room next to studio is heavy on wood and kind of dark, so i want my studio to be bright.
i chose white furniture for my new studio.
now im waiting for my new imac. :)

i changed the ink station little bit.
got 2 of white shelves from ikea, $19 a each, love ikea...

and my new curtains looks really nice with the beautiful view!

now im onto my bedroom,
im still waiting for my furniture, my clothes and all my personal items from chicago...
i cant wait to get my stuff back!
you know ever since i came back here, ive been sleeping on couch!!!!!!!
coz im little scare to sleep another rooms where no tv and empty.
im used to sleep on couch by now, but im big fun of bedding, love to sleep on bed with nice bedding soon!

before & after pt.1

hello,
my shop is closed for summer!
for first project of update my house is change the curtains.
i was printing all day yesterday, i bought a beautiful white linen 100% fabrics.

i printed with rain drop design with light colors.
i put 90% extender in the inks, so it looks really transparent.
i think i will use this one for my new bedroom, since colors are not screaming, it goes well with my new wallpaper and bedding.


i also upholstered 3 stools.
these are for my 2 nephews blue one and niece pink one when they visit here. :)
there are 6 dining chairs that i wanted to upholster, but they have fabrics on back side that there is no way i could do that. so i send them off to pro.
its coming tomorrow and cant wait to see it.

i wish you have a wonderful summer!

elephant magazine!

im so happy that my work was featured in english magazine elephant with other talented designers like hitomi of kalla and heather of skinny laminx and many other. what an honor! im so thrilled.

thank you so much ana at elephant mag!

*in the article, it says im a male! but just in case you dont know im a woman!! :)

PataPri is taking a summer off.

hello, its july, hot and humid! ugh.
it has been 8 months since i came back to japan, longer than i thought.
but, i decided not to go back to chicago.

it was a hard and big decision for me to make since chicago is my second home town and spent most of my life after high school.
just a year ago, i never imagined that i live here, but now i am and loving it.
as much as i miss chicago, maybe this is meant to be.

living here alone surrounded by nature with lots of time in my hand gave me time to think about my life and business, not too serious but i did thought about it.
im happy with my decision.

so now that i really decided to live in japan, i want to make my house to reflect who i am.
and i want PataPri to have a fresh start with new towels.
so im closing my etsy shop for the summer and come back with new towels, new website, and just fresh start from japan!

here is my plan for summer.
+ update my website
+ print towels with my new imabari towel
+ prepare for wholesale business (finally!)
+ paint my studio and change things to make it way i like!
+ renovate bedroom and living room
( all my furniture except ikea furniture and my stuff are shipping from chicago, which cost me more than cost of furniture! but i like my furniture and there is no room & board (my favorite furniture store )here.....

i will update how things go during the summer time, and post before and after of my rooms, it will be diy style, hopefully i wont mess up!

so PataPri will be closed from july 14th to end of august.
shop now with free shipping!!

a visitor at my home.

the other day, a kite bird was chillin at my balcony.
a pretty big bird. so i gave him a raw meat, to see if he eats it or not.
i heard that a kite bird is very cautiousness、and dont come close to human, but he did.
now he comes every afternoon waiting for me.
he is smart, one time i gave him a bread, but he ignore it, looking at me like no thanks!
and as soon as i had a meat in my hand, he flew towards me. he has a very good eye site!

more blankets are available at my etsy.

mt masking tape!

i love these mt masking tapes!
i use them when i wrap my towels and more.
i even custom ordered tape dispensers for them.

i have been wanting to make my original masking tapes, so i checked.
when i searched last year they are offering for custom masking tapes but minimum batch was 1000 rolls or more which cost around $4000!!!
so i gave up.
but now they are offering for less with variety of tape width.
so now i can make it around 1G. that's a considerable price, dont you think?
still lots of money, but i love masking tapes and it will be so much fun making my original design tapes.....

hmmm thinking time....
maybe for next year's PataPri anniversary, i need a big excuse to spend 1g! :p
can i wait for that long....

new baby blanket.

i made baby blankets with a gauze fabric.
the material is so soft, and perfect for baby.

they are available for $58 at my etsy shop.

my front yard looks happy now.

just wanted to share beautiful flowers in my front yard. :)

june...

hello,
its june already!
how are you guys doing?

ive been getting lots of good feedbacks of my new bedding.
im so happy that people enjoy what i make.
i printed a couple more queen size duvet cover and pillow cases sets.

today, my fam visited me from tokyo and my mom cleaned up my grandma room a little
since i havnt touch anything and just left everything as it was except my studio room.
she found some of my grandmas handmade bags.
i thought the crochet beads bag is so beautiful!
and those pattern books are from 50's.
it's sad that i never had a chance to learn crochet from her.

i moved to this house 9 months ago, wow already?
and it was supposed to be for a few months, but i love here so much that i dont want to leave!
weather i will be here for a few more months or year, i think its time to change around the house a little for my taste.
first thing im thinking about doing is change the bedroom wallpaper.
those 2 are my top 2 choices.
from here.
what do you think?

i will be at hayama environment festa tomorrow.
if you are in the neighborhood, please stop by!
there will be locally grown veggies and fish.