Peony park

We went to a peony park this weekend and spent a long time wandering through the peony bushes.

We even considered buying a peony plant but the older man selling them was too intent on telling us how difficult it was for him to get his plants to this size without them dying off in the winter which seemed like a bad sales pitch for customers considering planting a peony.

We bypassed purchasing and just enjoyed the park.

 The azaleas were at their peak too.

Some park!

The blooms were so big.

 These are peony buds...  Just orbs settled on top of leaves.

Interesting if not beautiful.

I liked this odd plant too.  Not a peony for sure!

Trying to get artistic.

This one looked like it was from a painting.

And Tetsu liked the white.

Tetsu spends a lot of time stalking me while I hardly ever take a photograph of him...

 The park was up on the top of a small mountain and we could look out for miles around.

Peonies are so "oriental" in feel.  Maybe I have that impression because I never saw any until I came to Japan.

Small projects

I have a couple minor finishes to report.

The scarf that I was knitting got finished some time ago.  Just in time to get put it away for the season...  The pattern was a beautiful one with beading but I couldn't find yarn fine enough to add beads nor could I find beads large enough to have yarn fed through them.  I have a feeling the yarn and beads need to be ordered from wherever the pattern originated.

Ah well...  Just to see if it could be done I persevered without the beads making it a nice scarf but not outstanding.

Another project I just had to try was this Star Stitch Tote.  Free pattern found here.  This was crocheted with twine which was interesting to work with.  The star stitch took a few trials and errors but I think I got it down pat.  I went ahead and lined this and put in a stiff base as I didn't like the sloppy look of the first final results.  The sewing of the lining gave me more trouble than the crochet did!

Like the scarf, the only reason I made this was to see if it could be done... not because I need another bag!  That was fun!

And today is April 30th so it is time for me to send another fabric postcard off to my mother.  Birds on a line or branch or something.

Small projects but it feels good to get them done.

A man and his dog

Tetsu and I went out for a long walk this morning, taking photos of the countryside. 

The cherry blossoms are about done in our part of Japan.  Look at this carpet of fallen blossoms!

A few were still trying to hang on.  These are a full petaled variety and stronger in color than the blossoms earlier this month.

 I was trying to catch the color that had fallen into the rice field and along the border of another field.

I just love wheat fields.  Green.  Gold.  In the morning light, in the evening.  It doesn't matter, the ramrod straight stalks speak to me.

 Some rape flowers there mixed in with the wheat...

I had a sit down on the bank trying to take wheat field pictures.  And actually I was waiting for something...

This man and his dog were off in the distance coming closer to the wheat fields.  The dog noticed me.

Tetsu and I spied on this man and his dog a long time as they didn't make much progress on their walk.  They'd saunter a few steps and then the man would squat down and pet his dog and talk to it for awhile and then they'd move on a bit more and then stop again.  The dog was basking in all the attention.

 They finally turned around and headed back the way they'd come.  Tetsu and I sort of sighed at the same time.

"This is such a nice area for a dog.  But it would be hard to have another one... and we've got all those cats..."

I guess we just wait until we know if we're needed to be dog owners again...  We are not yearning.  But seeing this man and his dog made us a bit lonesome.

At the elementary school

I was asked to come in to the elementary school this week for a traffic safety class.  All I did was stand around with a policeman and look official while a team of instructors taught safety basics and had the children go through traffic safety with a mock intersection and crosswalk marked out on the playground.  Before class began I took the opportunity to take a few photos of the school again.

There is an older woman in my neighborhood who is an Ikebana teacher and she has faithfully donated flowers to the school each and every week of the school year.  She stops in at the school early Monday morning and arranges the flowers and leaves them at the entryway.  They are certainly a beautiful bright spot in the school and I wouldn't be surprised if her very quiet contribution influences the children in some positive way.

Near the front door to the playground there are racks and racks of these unicycles and it seems to be a favorite pastime for the kids to grab a unicycle on their way out and spend recess careening around the playground.

 These vertical monkey bars are a good place to practice.

 This little girl demonstrated her ability for me.

 And one of the boys brought over a dragonfly for me to admire.

The kids at this school are very into nature.  This morning on the way to school a couple of the boys got waylaid picking dandelions. 

They had a dandelion fight and seeded the whole crosswalk area!

While I was directing one group of children across the crosswalk, suddenly I hear English voices and a lot of laughter...  coming from my pocket!

"It's Auntie Tani.  She's butt-dialed us!"

How that happened (I was standing at the crosswalk, right?) I don't know but I took the opportunity before signing off to let Marcy and Kiana say hello to the group of children.  Marcy and Kiana got a big kick out of all the kids in their yellow hats (and also my crosswalk guard uniform) and the kids got a big kick out of talking directly to America.

"Hallo!  Hallo!  My name is Miku!

"My name is Yusuke!"

English class at the crosswalk via a butt-dial...

Chickens galore!

I am happy to announce another finish!  The McKenna chicken quilt!

Yesterday turned out to be a lovely warm day and while out walking I scouted my walking terrain for possible quilt hanging tree branches.  My former tree is now covered in weeds and brush and as it is on someone else's property, though I feel as if I can trespass for a few minutes to hang up a quilt I don't know if the farmer would appreciate me whacking through brush to expose his tree again.  I needed a new tree...

Ooh and I found one!  A perfect tree!  I don't have to forge my way to it and the branch is low enough and horizontal enough to easily hang a quilt!  And the background scenery is lovely to boot!  (You don't know how hard it is to find a quilt hanging tree!)  This will be my new quilt hanging tree and maybe it will inspire me to complete more quilts!

The border got put on a couple of weeks ago and the quilt all came together.  As I've said many times before, I LOVE the batiks that McKenna uses and it is a joy to work with the fabrics even though the work is rather "color by number".

 I did extensive machine quilting around the fabric designs.  Lots of sunflowers in the border.

The chickens and chicks got worked the same way.  It is the first time for me to quilt the background with so much coordinating detail but I like the result.

 The quilting was all done in mono-filament thread.

I have a nifty new tool for quilting the lattice squares.  I'll try to get a picture of it in action next time.  Think laser!

 The background fabric is the same as the border just a different hue.

And I love the chicken wire fabrics that were used in this quilt but where else is one going to use chicken wire fabric in their quilts except with chickens?

 Joyful chick.

 More chicken wire in a different color.

I think this block was my own creation from my own fabrics as I never did find the last pattern packet.  I don't think it stands out too much, do you?

 And still more chicken wire.  You have to like chickens to like this quilt.

I did put a sleeve on the back of the quilt for hanging but obviously it wasn't going to help with tree branch hanging.

If Leiya gives her approval, I think this quilt is going to go to her friends who like chickens.

 That was a fun project!