January sketches

Can I show what I've been up to in my drawing classes this month?  

Most of my bullet jouranl pages are just ink scribbles across the pages with Bible verses and habit tracking but I try to add a full page every now and then just to keep me coming back to the journal for something bright to look at.  

This took me so long to design and color!

And though not colorful, this was an idea from Pinterest.

I started a new beginning drawing class with Sandy Allnock and we are learning basics in pencil, so most of my other recent sketches are not very colorful...   This was a sketch of the street in front of my house.

And then we worked on perspective.

I took a break from Sandy Allnock's class to try animals.  A bunny...

And some cats.

Had to add a dog idea from Pinterest!

Back in Sandy's class we are trying our hand on colored paper which makes it look like I know what I'm doing.  I don't.

Another try at shading and light drawing.

And I'll end with this sketch that I tried on two different types of paper.

There you have the results of my artistic practice pieces!  

A new friend in my sewing room

Let's see... A few posts back I wrote about my thoughts about sewing machines...  Remember, I was going to get my old one fixed, I was thinking of a new one.  So many wonderful pieces of advice but in the end, partially because of the bombardment of Tetsu's research data, I threw in the towel and decided to get my old sewing machine repaired.  

BUT...  A week later I picked up my machine and brought it home and a few days later started some free-motion quilting that I'd be waiting to get too.  And dang it all, if the thread didn't just keep breaking as before.  I adjusted tension, I rethreaded and fiddled as much as I could but the thread kept breaking.  I clumped back downstairs and called the repair shop.

"The sewing machine that you just fixed is still having problems and I can't get it to do what I want it to do!"

The repairman offered to come to the house and see what the problem was.

"But I live in the next town over, about 45 minutes away."

"That's okay.  I live in that area too.  I'll head out now."

Well!  That was a surprise.

Sure enough 45 minutes later my repairman was at the door and I invited him in.  And he took a look around my living room at the quilts I have on my walls.  Right now, most of them are McKenna quilts that have been heavily machine quilted.

We headed upstairs and he checked out the quilts that I'd laid out so that I could show him want I wanted to do.  I even had a few practice sandwiches ready so that I could demonstrate how I expected the sewing machine to function.  

The repairman fiddled around and though straight stitching was no problem at any speed, free-motion quilting at high speed caused the thread to snap.  He pointed out some basic problems.

"You have different weights of thread in your spool and in your bobbin.  You should try to keep the weights the same."

"But I exclusively work with white thread (60 wt) in my bobbin and decorative threads (90 wt) in my spool.  I'm not switching to all white thread."

He fiddled with the bobbin tension and I asked him to teach me how to do that.  And we got it working satisfactorily.  Unfortunately, this meant that I would have to change the bobbin tension at each change of thread or when switching from free-motion to straight stitch.

"Mrs. Watanabe.  I'll say it plainly but if I had known what type of sewing you are doing and seen you sew your pieces, I would have advised you that this very old sewing machine is being expected to do too much.  You are semi-pro even if you don't show your pieces or sell them.  You can get by with the repaired machine but you're asking for some stressful times trying to figure out the settings every few minutes."

"So...  we're back to square one.  I should just go ahead and buy the Juki machine in your shop?"

"No.  Because that is a domestic sewing machine.  You could really use an industrial machine if you aren't interested in fancy stitches or any of the embroidery function."

We went downstairs and I pulled out my iPhone and pointed out a few of the sewing machines that some of my blog friends had written about when I first posed the question.  Of course there was the problem of my budget too because I'd already spent enough money fixing the old machine (which can still be used).  Well, my repairman said he'd find me a suitable industrial machine for what I could afford and the deal was done!

Yesterday, two days later, my repairman was at my door at 9:00 (on his way to work from home...  he really does live near me) and he set up my new Juki sewing machine.  

This is going to take some practice as threading is completely different, and bobbin insertion etc.  But I am happy to say that I spent the rest of yesterday free-motion quilting and today put on borders and completed my first small quilt on it.

Here's to many happy years and many more projects with my new Juki machine.  I will HAVE to keep sewing just to get my money's worth!!!

  

Long drawn out blog post

On my last post a number of people asked "What is a heated carpet?"  and I was surprised because I sort of thought that heated carpets can be found anywhere.  

We have two heated carpets in our house.  One that is square shaped and fits under and around our coffee table and the other that is narrow and fits under our dining room table.  The coffee table carpet gets turned on immediately in the early morning and takes some of the chill off the room as we go for our morning walk.  We appreciate it but the animals ADORE it!

The heated carpet is actually a made up of a set.  The bottom layer laid against the wood floor, is an aluminum cushioned sheet that will reflect heat away from the floor.  The second layer is the electric mat which has a controller on one side and can be adjusted to different levels of heat.  It also can heat one side of the carpet or the other.  And the third part of the carpet is the actual carpet itself, which is a rather thin (for a carpet) layer that could possibly be dry cleaned though it costs so much that I end up cutting the carpet up for the animals and buying just the carpet layer if needed.  The heated carpet goes down in about October when the floor starts to get icy and I put it away around April.   

(GOOD GLORY!!!  I'VE GOT TO VACUUM UNDERNEATH THAT CARPET!!!!!)

While I was thinking about writing this post, a blog friend sent me a link to an article titled "45 Wonderful Japanese Creations and Customs the World Should Adopt" and she asked if what was in the article was really true.  I answered her email and asked if I could just copy my ponderings onto a blog post.  It was quite fun to reflect because I hadn't been aware that some of the other creations and customs are uniquely Japanese either.

45 Wonderful Japanese Creations and Customs the World Should Adopt

Dear....   

The article that you sent me made me laugh and also surprised me a bit because some of the things "Japanese" that were pointed out I didn't really realize weren't things all over the world.  (Though a few of the umbrella articles looked pretty far fetched and nothing like I've ever seen!)

Minimalist T-shirts...  Well, I can't really say though I'm not surprised.  The brand that was shown in the picture is a well known one here in Japan and it does cater to non-packaging and a uniform of goods.  Not much color, standard sizes of good quality, nothing very fancy but trying to stay ecologically sound.

Single Filter coffee packs...  Yes!  We use these all the time!!!  They are great for when my husband wants a quick cup of coffee alone or when I have a sudden guest and don't want to go through the hassle of grinding coffee beans etc.  The range of quality is vast though and so we have our favorites.

Smart Phone Toilet paper...  Nope.  I've never heard of this though I wouldn't be surprised if it is available.

And I don't know about the In Flight Monitor either but that may be because I don't do much traveling.

Homes have Family Nameplates...  Yes!  Definitely!  Every family will have a decorative nameplate by the side of their mailbox or by their front door.  Even in hospitals, there will be interchangeable nameplates for each room so that people visiting will know which room to go into.  The house nameplates are extremely necessary because houses DO NOT have numbers on them!  You can never find a house by its number (they do have numbers for the postmen but not for visitors).  And the roads don't have names either.  You just sort of have to have a general idea of where a person lives and then go looking for the name plate.  There can be some real beauties that are custom made and my husband and I have thought about ordering some for our son and wife when they bought their house but I sort of thought that in America maybe people don't want the general public to know who lives in what house...  So we zilched the idea of buying our kids nameplates.

Hotel capsules are something that I've never tried but that people claim are very convenient and inexpensive. All the luxuries of home (a TV, wifi, a light, a desk, sometimes an electric water heater for one of those single filter coffees) all scrunched into a narrow and low area that must be climbed into.  Once you are prone I guess it isn't as cramped as one might think.

Customer service...  I have never seen a bus driver helping people out with an umbrella but customer service IS fantastic!  For example, if you get into a taxi at a hotel, the hotel man will provide the umbrella all the way to the taxi and even place his hand over the car door opening so that the customer won't bump his head.  I have seen car dealers and even hair salons where when the customer is leaving, a staff member will stand outside bowing DEEPLY until the customer's car is out of sight.  People in service almost EVERYWHERE in Japan try to be extremely helpful and courteous and by the way, there is no tipping in Japan.

The Perfect pillow...  I don't know about pillows but I know that if you go to stay at a Japanese inn or spa, there will often be cotton kimonos and belts available in different sizes and colors and patterns.  My husband often has to ask for a larger size because he is taller than most Japanese, and the accommodations always come through.

Pringle flavor noodles I don't know about but again, I'm not surprised.  I know other snacks, such a Kit-Kat chocolate or potato chips, will have unusual flavors and some specific to the area where they are sold.  For example, our town is famous for lemon-milk candies so Kit-Kat has a special lemon-milk flavored chocolate wafer only available in our part of Japan.  We also have great pot-stickers (gyoza) in our town and so the potato chip company makes gyoza flavored potato chips.  It is fun to visit different cities and find specialty snacks of the area even in the convenience stores.

 

Godzilla as a scale...  Yes, I think I have seen this scale somewhere but I can't remember where.  For height, I guess people sort of know how tall Godzilla was...  I am always more amazed that even on the regular news, there will be some reporter talking about a fire or mudslide and it will be described to people as "the size of 50 Tokyo Domes" or "an area equaling 300 Tokyo Domes"  I DO know Tokyo Dome (Where the quilt shows were always held) but it seems an odd way to describe land area...

Free Glasses...  Yes!  These are everywhere!  In the post office, in the bank, at the city hall.  Practically any public place where writing might be required the glasses (usually three strengths of reading glasses) are available.  They aren't particularly attractive so I don't think anyone tries to steal them and it is very handy if I've forgotten my own glasses.

Crustless bread is a staple in the Japanese grocery stores.  Sometimes even crustless sandwiches which are packaged with various fillings.  They are pressed shut around the edges to keep the fillings inside.

Manholes...  I LOVE Japanese manholes!  Again, depending on the city you are visiting there were often be artistic manholes depicting a shrine or a tourist spot that is famous.  My husband gets annoyed that I spend so much time looking down and trying to take a good picture of the manholes I discover.

Strollers for all...  I don't know about this as I never have been out in recent years with a baby, but I do know that most places will have wheel chairs (at least one or two) for customers who need them.  In fact I was quite put out when one year I took my mother in law to an electric store and they no longer provided wheelchairs!  I had been counting on one for her and vowed we wouldn't go back to that store again and instead patronize the electric stores that provided wheelchairs.

Thoughtful gifts for customers...  Yes, occasionally you will find origami pieces for customers to take if they wish...  They might even hold a couple of toothpicks.  I recently ordered some stationary goods online from a Japanese store and they sent me my order along with three cute animal shaped erasers.  They are too cute to use!  Bookstores will often have bookmarks made with magazine clippings pasted on heavy paper and with a ribbon in if for their customers.

Dry ice for cold foods is another staple of the supermarkets.  All stores will have a supply of dry ice or sometimes regular ice with plastic bags ready for spooning the ice into and to set next to food when carrying it home.  And all cake bakeries will provide packages of dry ice in and around their cakes to keep whipped cream fresh and cool.

Bowing is everything in Japan.  I bow to the cars that stop for the children at the crosswalk.  I've taught them to bow also.  When you go into a department store at opening hour, ALL the staff will be standing along the aisles bowing at the first customers.  And I mentioned bowing to customers who drive out of the parking lots even...

Specially designed carts for heavy objects and stairs...  I don't know about heavy objects, but the local elementary school installed a cart that carried the two wheelchair bound children who attended, up and down the stairs of the two story school.

Food from a train station is standard practice and it has been for over 50, 60 years.  The lunch boxes are WONDERFUL and again mirror what the specialty of the town is at whatever station you are going through.  Eating a station lunchbox is a highlight of a trip!

Strawberry lipbalm...  Yes.  Isn't that available in any country these days?  Single usage?  Hmm.  I'll have to check the drugstore the next time I go.

The educational food boxes go along with the station lunchboxes.  Might as well know where you can visit if you happen to get off the train!

Toilets from the future have been Japan's fame for years.  They open by themselves, of course they flush by themselves.  Recently the sterilize themselves, they are heated, they have music to hide body functions, they have bidets and dryers in the toilet bowl.  We are really spoiled by Japanese toilets!

And the toilets for infants (or at least for little boys) are always available even in the ladies room.  

Liquid cleaner at the public toilet is standard practice too these days.

Miniature firetrucks are necessary to get through the narrow streets of Japan.  There are so many one way streets that even those sometimes hinder escape routes when they are fighting fires.

Hi-tech parking is seen everywhere these days too.  You drive your car into a parking tower and a parking attendant will punch in a number and your car disappears into the tower.  What is always a surprise is that when you ask for your car back it comes out facing you and ready to roll.  No backing out!  How do they do that?  (Similar system for bicycles too.)

Respect for nature in the cities...  As I live in the middle of nature I can't really say, but Japan has always respected nature and included it in the architecture.  Old style Japanese homes will have a tiny inner garden so that they eyes can relax on some greenery or a pond.  Even the Olympic Stadium was designed to include nature in the modern style.

Pedometer stairsteps...  Again, in Tokyo, I've seen these stair step numbers, or even step numbers between different boarding gates on the subway and the trains.  Everyone wants to make the best of their steps!

Restaurants from the future are the norm now too.  Almost any restaurant (not elegant ones) will have these tablet menus that I actually find very hard to figure out!  I guess that with the family style restaurants the menu changes with the season and they can't be making new menus every month so the tablets are very convenient (for the restaurant).  Even ordering sushi these days we tap at the tablet and make our choices from there!

Priority seat covers...  I don't really know about (not a train rider.)   I know there are supposed to be special seats in the trains though my elderly friend says they are often ignored.

Kiddy seats in the toilet stalls...  YES!  I think this is a fantastic invention!  There are almost always these kiddy seats that a child CAN'T get out of while mom (or dad) does their business.  They fold up so they are not in the way if you don't have a child that needs to be seated but I use it anyway because I like to set my big heavy purse on it instead of hanging it from the coat hook.

Don't know about rain sensors in the elevators.

Post it notes in the gum containers...  YES!  These are a life saver because we keep a container of gum in the car and there are always these tiny pieces of paper to wrap your used gum in and to dispose of without any stickiness.

I don't know about slow down buttons in taxis.

But yes, public bathrooms, especially in heavily trafficked areas like along the highway (tourist buses will make a stop) have digital maps to let you know which stall is available.

A simpler system for luggage...  I haven't noticed this system but I do know that Japanese are very good about standing behind the yellow line next to the turnstiles when luggage is going around.  There is very little crowding when the luggage comes down the shoot

Steamless bathroom mirrors are pretty much the norm.  Even our cheap cabinet mirror has a steamless coating or element or something inside one panel for easy use.

Umbrella patterns...  Well, of course most umbrellas don't have these patterns that become visible when it rains but they can be bought in most department stores though they are a little pricey.  I've seen the cat pattern before and have been tempted!

Never saw the claw machine for cheesecake!

The umbrella for shoes, the dustpan shoes, the foolproof umbrella, precision lip painting.  I think those are just gag gifts.

The chair for handbags I have seen at some food courts.

The train seats...  Yes, some of the trains have such luxury seats!  And all of the seats turn around so that you never have to be facing backwards if you don't want to, or on the other hand you can turn seats around so that your group of four can have a party together.

Home sauna?  Nope.  I don't know about that but I have seen a contraption that connects to the bath to shoot water over your neck and shoulders in a waterfall effect.  Very relaxing.  I also know people who own individual foot heaters meaning that someone at a desk at work can slip his legs into a wooden box with a heating element and with a blanket over the lap can keep the feet toasty.  It is a take off on the kotatsu tables that are low set and on the floor where a whole family can sit around it with a quilt spread over the table keeping everyone's legs warm.

The indoor beach...  Well yes, I think there are a couple.  They are like amusement parks with hot spas etc.  There is a famous one in icy northern Japan that boasts of being the Hawaii of Japan.  I think there are waves and of course hula dancers too.

It was really interesting to go through all these pictures and think about what I've seen, what I thought was worldwide and what I know to be uniquely Japan.  I think other people would be interested also!

Stay safe!  We are staying home this month which is driving my husband crazy!  I have quilting to enjoy!

Love,  Tanya

Ice and mask protection!

There's nothing too much interesting going on around here but I thought I'd check in.

Japan is cold and though I don't live in the coldest part of Japan, this area is cold enough for me!!!  This morning we opened our curtains in our bedroom to this....!

This is the inside of our bedroom window.  The condensation has frozen INSIDE!  On mornings like this I wonder why we do this to ourselves.  Why do we sleep in an icebox?  Surely there must be a better way to live.

We do have an air-conditioner/heater in our bedroom.  We probably use it three or four times a year in the absolutely hottest and most humid nights of summer.  But we never use it in the winter (even though it does heat).  Japanese houses (except I have heard on the Northern island it is different) don't have central heating.  Some houses will have heated floors which will warm up one room or another pretty well, but most of us just use kerosene space heaters and electric carpets to heat a room.  This means that though the living room can get toasty warm, the other rooms in the house are like ice.  I provide my upstairs cats with an heated mat and blankets covering their "cat cave" but the rest of us stay most of the day in the only warm room in the house.

Recently at night I will zap a water bottle type heating pad in the microwave and tuck it at the foot of my bed but that is all the heat I get there unless I generate it myself or have a cat or two that is willing to cuddle.  I guess we don't like artificial heat while we sleep... or maybe we don't want exorbitant electric bills.  Whatever the reason, our room really does turn into an icebox in dead winter!

I have found another good reason to wear a mask!

On Thursday I was walking to the school for crosswalk duty when...  CRASH!  I tripped (all by myself) and landed face first onto the pavement.  I picked myself up but since I'd hit my chin I turned directly around and went back home and asked Tetsu to drive me to the school.  I figured nothing was broken as I could open my mouth and my hands and legs worked...  Tetsu was worried but he took me to school and waited in the car for 45 minutes to make sure I didn't get dizzy or pass out or something.  I didn't.  When I got home I finally checked myself for injuries.  A scraped knee...  A swollen chin.  But all my cold weather clothing (let's see...  I was wearing fleece pajamas under snow pants and a heavy fleece shirt and a down jacket and a long black uniform coat plus a thick neck warmer, mask, hat, socks and Ugg boots) hindered my movements causing the fall to begin with, but because of all the padding, very little damage was rendered to my body.

As the day wore on, I did get a headache and napped or read a book and felt very decrepit and the next day when I went to the doctor my shoulder and arm muscles were aching (because they caught a lot of my fall).  But the doctor said I didn't have to worry about a concussion.  And by then my chin had bloomed to a beautiful shade of purple BUT thanks to the mask (which had also saved most of my face) I can still go grocery shopping with my purple chin hidden beneath the mask!  I will give masks another positive checkmark!

My aches and pains are going away but I'm resolved to do some exercises to practice picking up my feet a bit more deliberately!

Some sewing

Let's see...  What shall I start with?

I decided to get my old sewing machine repaired and not splurge for a new one...  In some ways I'm rather disappointed in that decision but I got bogged down in the choices available and in the end threw in the towel.  Tetsu and I weren't on the same page about whether to buy from a shop or from Internet and though his intentions were good, he jumped down the rabbit hole looking for the "best" machine for me, whether I wanted to spend that much or not.  He kept reading reviews and finding online deals and reading every little tidbit aloud to me and my mind finally overloaded.  He was making me tired and told him and the repair man I'd prefer to opt for just getting my old machine fixed.  I think I missed a chance because I'm probably not going to need to think about a new machine for another 5 or 10 years and by then...  

So... in the meantime, I'm hand quilting into the long cold evenings and have actually finished a lot of feather work that'd I'd worried about.  I had traced lots of feather wreaths with chalk onto the dark squares of my latest quilt but I was afraid the markings would brush off if I let the quilt sit too long.  I skipped over all the pieced blocks and applique parts and went straight to the feather work and though the markings were barely visible at the end, I was able to finish all the wreaths.  That's the good news.  

The bad news (but not unexpected) is that all that quilt work hardly shows on the dark patterned squares!  Ah well, maybe if you look closely.  I am ready to start some stitch-in-the-ditch quilting.  

M-san has more to show in the patchwork department than I do.  At some point at the end of last year I showed her how to make a simple Around the World quilt buy cutting up strips and piecing them, and she got her quilt made and then set out to do some slow stitching in embroidery thread.  I suggested she just quilt as she liked without much marking to guide her and she came back with a very ethnic feeling quilt...  where the quilting doesn't much show up...

The back really shows off her quilting though maybe we shouldn't have pieced the backing.

So pretty!

For our next project, M-san and I decided that we wanted to make some Happy Villages and so last week we chose fabrics and began cutting and setting them out on a background.  Neither of our projects look much like a village yet.  Unfortunately, Omicron Corona has hit Japan suddenly and quite hard and we've decided that it is no longer safe for us to meet for any length of time for the next month or so.  M-san came over yesterday and picked up her Happy Village and the extra fabric she will need to make roofs and windows etc.  She took home Karen Eckmier's book too and will do what she can on her own this week and maybe we will be able to meet up briefly in person or online for the next step.

This is my Happy Village so far.  

  

Sewing machines

It is freezing in Japan, and even in my house!  I actually don't spend much time up in my sewing room because I have only a small space heater that takes quite awhile to make a difference in the room.  Besides, I've been keeping busy hand quilting downstairs in the evenings while watching TV and don't have a machine project in progress.

Which is good because towards the end of last year my sewing machine began to act up.  At first M-san couldn't get it to do what she wanted it to do when she was putting on binding but under my coaxing hand, we got the binding on.  But while trying to figure out why the stitches were catching etc, I managed to knock out the little light and this meant that seam lines are hard to see.  I couldn't figure out how to even unscrew the lightbulb even if I could buy such a small one.  And then I began having trouble changing the needle...  Am I putting it in backwards?  Why won't the needle set right?  And finally, both M-san and I gave up trying to quilt with mono-filament thread.  No matter how I set the tension or sewed slowly, the thread kept breaking.  

So... it seems my sewing machine needs an overhaul.  

Or...  should I consider a new sewing machine?  

Tetsu has said for years that if I'm going to get a new sewing machine then I should do it soon so that I can spend time enjoying it but as I knew what my old machine could do and it was still working smoothly, I didn't want to think about a change.  But now I am.

I looked at a few websites but with so many choices, I didn't have any idea of what I want.  The last couple of machines that I've owned (and I've had this one at least 15 years), have been Brother machines.  When at a fabric and machine store last week, I gathered a few pamphlets and looked at the few machines on display.  A few things I do know.

I don't want a sewing machine that only runs a couple hundred dollars.  I'm willing to and expect to pay more for a reliable sewing machine.

I'm not interested in a sewing machine that can do computerized embroidery.  That cuts down the upper tier of the most costly sewing machines.

I probably either want to stick with a Brother sewing machine or possibly a Juki sewing machine.  We can't even get Pfaff sewing machines and though I have a friend who has a Bernina, it is very difficult to have the machine serviced or repaired here in Japan.

I want a sewing machine that has a wide throat, an automatic thread cutter and will allow for a foot controller.  I guess I could care less about automatic threaders, knee controllers and lots of decorative stitches.

On one of our jaunts out, Tetsu was willing to go looking for sewing machine stores in the next city over and we found one store (still closed for the holidays) that looked like it was really an electric store that carried sewing machines.  But we also found a sewing machine repair shop that of course carried sewing machines.  I really enjoyed talking to the repairman and I got some inside information from him.

His main advice...  bring the sewing machine in to see if it can be repaired.  The cost for a complete overhaul will be a couple hundred dollars (I'm okay with that though the actual sewing machine wasn't very expensive compared to a comparable sewing machine today.)  

But he also talked about the sewing machines he carried and after hearing about what I want to do and how I use it, he recommended a Juki sewing machine.  Hmmm...  Okay...  

One very disappointing piece of advice from this repairman though was he was absolutely anti monofilament thread.

"Monofilament thread will ruin any sewing machine.  It wears away on the bars and gears of a sewing machine.  You can get the same effect using #90 weight thread."

This is a blow to me because I lean heavily on monofilament thread when doing any of the collage art style quilts such as McKenna's.  (Maybe that's why my sewing machine isn't working so well anymore.)  It is true that monofilament thread is prickly to work with and sometimes my projects get done smoothly but sometimes it is a fight from start to finish.  I have always thought I just didn't know how to adjust the machine's tension right or maybe I was choosing the wrong size needle...  

I came home with more pamphlets but I think I'm getting burned out just trying to make a decision about a new sewing machine.  Throw in the huge price differences on the same machines being sold through websites and I don't know WHO to listen to!

I will try taking my sewing machine back to the repair shop and see if the repairman can fix it up a bit.  IF I need to start thinking about a new machine, are there any recommendations that you have?  And finally, what do you think about monofilament thread?  Is it really a no-no?  McKenna recommends it, and I can't see trying to change threads to match colors on art quilts...

Too much to think about!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from very cold Japan!

This was our New Year's (and Christmas card this year).  The unadorned photo.  Remember, Tetsu and I decorated the ones we sent out with washi tape and stickers.

And just for fun, this was my sketch of the card in my Bullet journal.  It gets the message across!

We had a quiet New Year's day with a lot of pounded rice cakes that our farming friends gave us.  We have mochi coming out our ears!  And most of it we eat sweet with sweetened bean-paste and sweetened beans and chestnut and sweet potato paste and sweetened soy power.  I guess we did get out the seaweed and butter but our New Year's diet was NOT healthy.  It is nice not to have to do much more than toast the mochi.  Not much cooking involved!

I'm leaving the majority of our Christmas decorations up until the end of the week but I did put up one quilt that I consider a New Year's quilt.  This is the attempt I made at Mola quilting a few years ago and as it is the Chinese Zodiac I figure it can be put up for New Years.  

This year is the Year of the Tiger.  (Does this block look more like a cat?)

Word from Takumi is that Julieta is getting better.  They ordered out sushi for their New Year's Eve dinner.  I thought it was interesting how the sushi is delivered in sectioned containers whereas in Japan even delivered sushi would be laid out in a more decorative way.  Still, it looks good!

I also got word that my brother's family is battling Corona too which is concerning as my brother has never been in good health.  He seems to be the one who is taking care of the rest of the family still...  Please think of them also...

Okay.  Let's leave on a happier note.  I chose my One Word for the year.  WAIT.  Every year I keep a word in mind as I read my Bible and strive to do God's will.  WAIT seemed appropriate as we are waiting for family health, for a postponed wedding, for hugs from a grandson, for this pandemic to be over!