Japanese Felt Mascot book

I made piles of these cute felt robots. They were a big hit and I swapped most of them. I knew that I was going to be making a lot, so I figured out how to use my sewing machine on them. My machine is a very good one that has a steady blanket stitch. Of course, the details are hand embroidered. I had to sew on his antennae by hand too.

I know.. he looks a bit like a robot snowman. These are done in the flat, mascot style which is lots easier, especially when you are cutting out the parts.

Here are his rockets. I did promise my daughter that I'd make her a rocket "bow" for her hair.. I still have to get to that... (That's a knit cap underneath, knit for my daughter by her Nana.)

Those fun robots are from this Japanese mascot book. I have several felt mascot books and the fact that they are instruction books written in Japanese isn't nearly as scary as you might imagine. I've crafted several things from this one ISBN483472378X .

This mousie was also from that book. When I finished her, my husband said that it was the cutest thing I ever made. I'm not sure about that, but the embroidery on her ears and body do add something extra...She has a little gray companion and I sent them both out to my friend novastarlet in a swap.
I order Japanese books from YesAsia. I browse all over, particularly on ebay where the sellers post pictures of the pages. You have to be a bit of a detective, but once you know an ISBN of a particular book, you can do a search for it on YesAsia. In the USA, Yes Asia offers free shipping of orders over $25 and the prices are excellent. Some smaller books are under $6 and are still packed with ideas. Expect your order to take a month or more to arrive.

Possibly you live in a city with a Japanese market. Here in Chicagoland, we have Mitsuwa. It's a bit of a haul for me, but I did check it out once not long ago and got a crochet book.