shopping trip

as promised, here it goes, a full account of my shopping trip in S. Paulo... I met Glá in the subway station near the hotel and we immediately headed off to the incredibly busy street called "25 de Março". I can't really describe how crowded and busy it was - I don't think I'd ever seen so many people shopping per sq meter, anywhere !

Our first stop was a fabric store called Fernando Maluhy, which sells brazilian and imported fabrics. Their variety is amazing, and they even sell these little packets of coordinated fabric pieces, of which of course I had to get one...


Fernando Maluhy & Cia, Lda
Rua Cav. Basilio Jafet, 38, 8º andar, sala 804

Other fabric stores we visited were:

Aviamentos Metropole Lda
Rua Comendador Abdo Schahin, 62

Niazi Chohfi
Rua 25 de Março, 607

The first one has a nice selection of imported fabrics as well (more expensive, though) and quilting tools, and the second one is huge, full of cheaper and various types of fabrics, including brazilian chita.



We also took a peep into several bead stores (full of so many bead packets to the ceiling that made my head spin) and a really nice trim shop, where I got the ones pictured above.

After that we moved on to our second part of our shopping trip. I had asked Glá to show me where the japanese bookstores were located, so she took me to the oriental "Liberdade" neighborhood where we had that nice lunch I talked about yesterday and hit the bookstores. We browsed through "Livraria Sol" first (located right in front of the subway entrance) and then the more popular Fonomag. It was a really difficult choice but I ended up buying 3 books only - since they are quite expensive - which I'll post about tomorrow (one about sewing, another about embroidery, and the most amazing one about dolls)



Another store I loved was Tenman-Ya, a gift store full of beautiful japanese dishware and other cute things, like the kokeshi dolls above. I went back on Sunday as well, and ended buying japanese paper lamps, loads of chopsticks and of course these cute origami paper kits.

Livraria Fonomag
Rua da Glória, 242
Liberdade

Tenman-Ya
Rua dos Estudantes, 19
Liberdade



And my last stop before heading off to the airport - the grocery store ! I just couldn't resist these colorful japanese sweets...
 

...são paulo it's all about the food

well, great food and some great shopping too :) just came back this morning (terrible flight, and had to go to work this afternoon so I'm still a bit zombie) and I just wanted to say that I had a great time during the weekend, especially thanks to Glá, who besides being even nicer and more beautiful in person, took me for a really unforgettable round of shopping. São Paulo is a crafster's shopping paradise, but you definitely have to know your way around, or else it can be very chaotic. I'll post some photos tomorrow of a few things I got (fabrics, loads of fabrics .. and some japanese books as well) and a list of the shops we went to, in case anyone is interested. Now the food is also something else - being such a multicultural city, you can practically find any kind of restaurant available. Not being a big fan of brazilian cuisine, I am however a huge fan of japanese food, and São Paulo being one of the largest japanese communities abroad I had to try a few of the restaurants.

Glá took me to Sushi Guekko, located in the japanese "Liberdade" neighborhood and later in the day my cousin took me to another one near the Ibirapuera mall where she lives (can't remember the name ..)- both amazing, and I ate so much I nearly exploded ... and yesterday a yummy lunch at "Chi Fu", one of the most popular chinese restaurants, also located in "Liberdade", before my flight back.
what else ? oh yes, the work itself went smoothly, and the project seems to have good possibilities, so it's possible I might have to go back a couple more times before the end of the year, so all in all a very productive trip ;)
 

post from São Paulo

Hello everyone, I've arrived safe and soundly, trip was ok but tiring and I'm just too exhausted to write anything decent right now. I just wanted to let my color-iffic swaporama pal know that I received the nice surprise postcard yesterday and that I can't wait for my package to arrive - thanks so much :)
also, I'm so glad that Italy won tonight, and just hope that Portugal will achieve the same result tomorrow - I probably won't be able to watch the match (although I did bring the scarf with me for luck), but my husband has precise instructions to send me messages with updates on the game ;)
 

#7 #9 the kimono girls

The scarf proved itself lucky after all :) Not a lot of crafting done this weekend, with all the football matches on saturday and DIY work at the new house on Sunday, so I leave you with photos of the last softies made for the exhibit that I hadn't shown yet.



I named them Naoko and Miu (after book characters from one of my favourite authors ... any guesses ? it's too easy anyway ;)

And here's a shot of the whole gang ...



No more new posts until next Monday, I'm flying tomorrow to São Paulo on a work related trip and I'll only be back on Monday morning. Hopefully I'll have time for a little shopping with Eglair and Fabiana :)

 

idées broderie & couture

a few weeks ago I. left me a comment on this post about this magazine Idées Broderie & Couture... Last week while shopping for the magazine swap I found a copy of the latest issue at my regular store, and although not as good as Marie Claire Idées, it's worth taking a look at. I also did a quick google search and found this website from where you can order it, and back issues too, so in a couple of weeks I'll have a few more magazines to inspire me ...