Sakura Quilt

This week I suddenly decided I needed to get a cherry blossom quilt made.  Everything else in the sewing room got pushed aside so that I could work on a Sakura wallhanging.

Back in December I found a pretty card at a stationary shop when I was browsing.  Cherry blossoms already in December!  I fell in love with the card and bought it thinking that it would make a nice quilt if I could ever get my mind and hands in motion.  The card has sat on my bookshelf since then and every so often I'd think that I really ought to make that quilt...  but there was still time before the cherry blossoms bloomed this year.

Well, the season is upon us!  In the more southern parts of Japan they are already blooming and if I didn't get around to it soon then I would have to put off making a seasonal quilt until next year again!

Of course I didn't really have any starting point...  What size, what fabrics etc.  I tried making a copy of the card in zoom mode on my printer but I could only get a copy the size of note book paper.  I didn't think I'd be able to do all the cutout work on such a small scale so I opted for sketching my own picture on the back of a calendar sheet...

 Hmm...  I may have a few more petals in there than in the card...

And then I traced the pattern onto Heat n Bond paper.  I made sure to color in all the lines that I wanted to leave from the cut out...  And then I bonded it all to a piece of mottled pink fabric.

Maybe I should have gone for solid pink but I found the pretty variegated pink at the fabric store and bought just a pre-cut piece.  I has a bit more peach color than I expected.  Ahh..  Yes, and using Heat n Bond means that the pattern got reversed which I did expect.  I'm not much of sketcher and I didn't think I could sketch the same pattern in reverse.  This placement makes it more my own I suppose...

The card's cut out pieces are three dimensional which makes it all the more lovely and I decided to Heat n Bond the few cherry blossoms making them sturdier and also backed in the same fabric.

They are not sewn together though so this quilt may not hold up in a wash... but I'm not planning to wash it much...  I only tacked the flowers in the center and left them floating.

My cherry blossom quilt is up on the wall for the rest of the season.

From this perspective the card and the quilt look the same size but they aren't...  The quilt is 11 inches by 16 inches.

I'll keep my hand drawn pattern in my sewing room in case I ever want to make this (in quieter colors) again.

Pandora visit

Yesterday I went into the city to buy a present for Mrs. N who has been under the weather and who just had a birthday.  Mrs. N is my cat mentor and she has been coming for years to do patchwork.  I knew exactly what I wanted to get or at least where I wanted to get what I wanted.  The department store's Pandora counter!

It was actually Mrs. N who introduced me to Pandora...  I'd never heard of it before she gave me a bracelet and bead last year for my birthday.  Though I'm not a big jewelry wearer, I really liked the simplicity and the idea of every so often adding a bead. Tetsu and I went to the store a week or so later to buy me a safety chain as I did not want to lose my bead when taking the bracelet on and off.  The girl at the counter smiled at me and said she knew exactly who had bought me the bracelet and bead the week before.  There's only one Pandora counter in the prefecture!

A week after buying the safety chain I was sent a very nice handwritten card from the girl at the Pandora counter.  (I'd chosen to register my name and address for future sales information).  It was sort of touching to get a card saying that she hoped I would enjoy my new bracelet and chain and that it looked very becoming on me.  Well, what else can she say?  I know this must be Pandora policy and there isn't any great connection between me and this sales girl, but still it is a nice policy...  Do Pandora clerks do this in other countries or is it just Japan... or is it just this prefecture?  There must not be that many customers coming to buy Pandora beads so the clerks aren't overwhelmed with work I assume...

One time when I was wearing my Pandora bracelet, Marlene noticed and said that SHE had a Pandora bracelet too though she didn't get around to wearing it that much.  Later she showed me the charms that she had received from friends over the years and that she herself had bought.  I got to thinking that she needed a charm from ME too.

In October of last year, I reached the anniversary of my 40th year in Japan and I wanted to do something to commemorate it even though it wasn't an important date to anyone else.  In the Pandora catalog I found a silver origami crane charm that seemed perfect for honoring my years in Japan and while I was at it, I decided to buy one for Marlene too as she would soon be celebrating HER 40th year.  I called the store to make sure they had had charms in stock and later that day Marlene and I went to the Pandora counter where I paid for my purchases and chatted with the salesclerk and told her why I was buying the origami cranes.

"It's for my 40th anniversary in Japan and Mrs.Yamada will be celebrating her anniversary soon also."

Later that week I got another handwritten card from the salesclerk saying how she liked hearing the story of Marlene and my friendship and hoped we would both enjoy our Pandora charms and have a happy life in Japan.  How nice.

So yesterday I was back at the Pandora counter and told the salesclerk that I was buying a birthday present for a friend.

"And how is Mrs. Yamada?"

I was amazed that the girl remembered Marlene's name though I suppose there aren't too many foreigners coming in to buy Pandora beads.  I had a very good time picking out a blue bead for Mrs. N (the color of her birthstone) and enjoyed chatting with the girl again and looking at all the sparkly things.

As the salesclerk handed me Mrs. N's elegant pink ribboned bag she said,

"And thank you so much for coming in today Mrs. Watanabe."

The girl has a good memory!

I delivered my Pandora bead to Mrs. N on my way home hoping she'll be feeling better soon and telling her not to work too hard on her patchwork WIP...  She is such a go-getter and is always pushing herself to accomplish more!

This morning I got a message and photo from Mrs. N with her new bead (the one with blue hearts) on her bracelet.

I'll probably be getting a card in the mail from the Pandora salesgirl again this week.  Makes me want to visit the counter again!

Apps and Books

This weekend Tetsu and I visited with the Yamadas and spent an enjoyable night playing Canasta and Labyrinth.  It is so nice to discover that the Yamadas like games and we try to make it a regular activity these days (once a month or so?_  It reminds me of the days when our kids were all young and weekly the husbands and children would all go off to judo practice while Marlene and I cooked dinner together.  After judo we all ate together and chatted while the kids played games or read comic books.  Now it is just the seniors having a leisurely dinner and playing cards late into the night.  It reminds me of a similar custom my parents had with family friends...

After dinner and cards and over coffee and dessert the four of us chatted and tried figuring out our various Smart Phone and iPad devices.  This is a modern activity that takes quite a bit of brain power from all of us.  The blind leading the blind...  One of the apps that Tetsu and I have been enjoying has been the Bitmoji App that makes an avatar.  I think Leiya showed it to me last year or so and I've enjoyed playing around with it.  I forced Tetsu to make one, he who claimed he wasn't interested in cutsie things on his iPhone, and which, by the way, he LOVES now.  He sends me stickers of himself in all his messages.  It looks just like him!

 Ha ha ha!

 Makes me smile!

I was telling Marlene that she needs to download the OverDrive App for borrowing books from American libraries...  and then of course she's going to need a county library card...  The OverDrive App is one I use daily as it means I can download audiobooks from the library for two weeks free use.  Since February I've "read"...

The Girls...  so-so.

The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity...  This book was recommended to us by the Yamadas a few weeks back and was eye-opening.  I've recommended it to Leiya and it is a must read for any of the younger generations...  somewhat depressing for my generation as the choices open for us are already rather limited...  Still, an important book.

A Man Called Ove...  I enjoyed this easy reading book.

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer...  This by the same author as the above book...  A bit difficult to keep track of the story line.

Come Rain or Come Shine...  The latest Jan Karon book in her Mitford series which I've always liked.  Again, and easy read.

Saints for All Occasions...  Pretty good fiction about a family with secrets.

The Other Einstein...  Hmmm...  I wonder how close this is to the true story?

Goodbye Vitamin...  So-so.

The Light Between Oceans...  Excellent.  I just finished this yesterday and loved how the author pulled me into his world of sea and islands and hard questions to be answered. 

The audiobooks get me out walking!
 

Miscellaneous

I guess this is another miscellaneous post day.  That alone proves that I'm not doing much with my time...

Often along the streets of Japan we will see roadwork going on with temporary barriers to keep people out of places or to mark off the road.  I'm guessing that every city or prefecture has their own barrier characters because I've seen so many "cute" barriers on our road trips.  I took pictures of the few just in my neighborhood when I was out walking (the road workers must have thought I was nuts).  This is Tochimaru-kun (for Tochigi prefecture). 

He is rather famous around here as the prefecture mascot.  (photo from the Internet)

And here we have monkeys...  I'm assuming that they must be a Nikko thing because Nikko is famous for its See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil monkeys.

And I don't know what the significance of these are but they are trying to be lions I think...  I'll keep my eyes open for any more I come across...

Keeping my eyes open, head up and camera handy enabled me to take this shot of the local kindergarten bus coming down the road to deliver children to their homes in the afternoon.

This is Doraemon, one of the more famous cartoon characters in Japan. (photo from the Internet)

Most kindergartens supply a daily bus service, picking children up and taking them home, and though many of the buses are regular small buses not too fancily decorated, occasionally one will see a locomotive shaped kindergarten bus, or a dog shaped bus.  Sorry, they usually go by so quickly that I can't get my camera out.  I'll keep my head up for those too in the future.

This photo wasn't taken on the street, but strawberries are another specialty of Tochigi prefecture and the last time I was at Mrs. Furui's for patchwork, one of the ladies brought in strawberries to sample.  She has a part time job at a strawberry hothouse and she proudly brought us Sky-Berry strawberries.  The one on the right is a regular Tochigi prefecture specialty...  I think it is called Tochiotome.  The one on the left is the Sky-Berry, named after Tokyo's Sky Tree the world's tallest tower at 634 meters.  I haven't been to Sky Tree yet though it is hard to miss if one is in Tokyo.  ANYWAY, the strawberry is named after the tower because it is so big...  and by the way it was absolutely sweet and delicious.  According to my friend there are only a few farmers who can grow Sky-Berries.

Let's see...  I went again to the cafe near the station that offers 3D caffe lattes. My friend was visiting from another prefecture and we enjoyed lattes while waiting for her train.  She had the barista make her a Shiba dog latte.

I asked him to make me a Welcoming Cat (Maneki Neko) latte. 

We were enjoying our lattes at the cafe while we waited for my friend's train when she said,

"On my gosh!  I was supposed to catch the 3:05 train!  Is that clock right?!"

"No, it couldn't be....  My watch says it's still 2:20..."

"Hmmm.  Should we tell the barista that his clock is broken?"

".....   "

Look again.  That clock isn't broken.  It DOES say 2:20!  The clock face is backwards and the clock hands move in the opposite direction!

It seems like a confusing sort of clock to have in a cafe next to a train station...  Sort of heart stopping...
 

Animal pictures

The days are rather slow and still cold so I find it harder to get out and go for a walk...  A bit lonely too.

SO...  For inspiration I had a a large print made up of a photo that Tetsu had taken on New Year's morning.  The air was so clear and cold and fresh, but the colors were warm and I love the silhouettes of Choco and me walking near the rice fields with the steaming pig farm in the background.  I've put the large photo up on our living room wall to remind me to get out and about and keep Choco in my heart when I go walking.

Three of my cats provided silhouettes for me yesterday when they were relaxing on the back of the sofa in the sun.  Our sofa cushions are forever squishy and misshapen because this is the place the cats like best.  As always, Mi is the mediator between Chip and Cleo.  The other two can't get along but if Mi stays in the center then there is peace on the sofa.

Toi catches the sun outside when he can.  He and Patora still live upstairs in Takumi's old room but Toi will sit on the veranda when I leave the door open.  He has learned that though he can jump down to the rooftop over our front door, he is too heavy to jump back up, so now he stays on the ledge...

And I've gone upstairs especially to take a picture of Patora for this post.  Patora is the complainiest cat we have and I guess she has good reason because she is stuck forever with Toi who is a bully and selfish (though he is sweet with Patora).  Patora doesn't want to be held nor petted but she is not happy in any place we put her.  She ate books when she was kept in the sewing room, she shreds the wall where she is now and she will make a lot of noise when she gets moved back to the cat house in spring.  Cleo and Patora are siblings... (get that..? Cleopatra) but they don't like each other either...

My menagerie.
 

Friends' projects

Hmm.  I'm waiting for something but no update is forthcoming....  Maybe later this week?

Anyway...  Friday my friends who come for patchwork came for a few hours and finished up projects and started new ones.  I think they've decided that it is too difficult to work on a similar schedule with similar projects always trying to keep up with the other person.  They've opted for separate projects from now on with patchwork at my house a time to show they're progress...

Mrs. N arrived with her House and Tree quilt finished.  She has been working diligently on this and hand quilted the piece.  Though you can't see them, she also add a couple of cats in the windows of the houses.  Mrs. N always has a cat somewhere in her quilts.

R-san spent the time at my house putting together a cushion for her grand-daughter.  Months ago both ladies started a Hawaiian quilt block and Mrs. N is continuing to make more while R-san decided to stop with one. 

She did a fantastic job quilting the turtles in her pattern!

And I guess I'm the one making the least sewing progress.  I'm still sewing colored inserts into my hand sewn Cathedral Window piece.  This is why machine sewing is so tempting!  I spend 4 times as much on one piece doing the sewing by hand!

​

Mrs. T's quilt block

Yesterday afternoon I got to Mrs. Furui's with my partially finished turtle block.  I didn't have any stabilized for the embroidery part so I went to get that and also to plan the finished quilt a bit more.

The blocks that everyone is making are based on a set of poems that Mrs. T set to music.  And the instructions were to make a block and put a couple of musical notes in it so that we could honor Mrs. T's compositions.  But it seemed to me that our blocks were doing more to laud the poetry than the music and Mrs. Furui and I set to thinking about that situation...

And came up with this idea.

 WHAT ARE THESE?

No idea?  This is a good clue...  Yes, Mrs. Furui and I decided that the first first couple stanzas (I'm so unmusical I don't know what they are called) of Mrs. T's music could be added to the bottom of each block, making the blocks rectangle instead of square.  Mrs. Furui got on the sewing machine and after figuring out the line width and the note size she made up 9 strips of music score...

I traced around a button onto those various colored felt scraps and then we set about figuring out how to get notes on the score.

This morning I put it all together!

The poem says,

"The sea turtle moves across the ocean.  Slowly, slowly"

Very cute!  Don't you love how Mrs. Furui and I consult no one else on this project.  I don't know if our friends are going to be pleased that they have another step involved to finish their blocks, but mine is done!