MOONSTITCHES

a close look

Did I say talk to you soon?!
The beginning of a new school term got in the way and I had a bit to prepare my classes. I am now teaching three classes, girls and boys from age six to thirteen and feeling quite happy being given this great opportunity.
Now that those classes are underway, I can think of all the rest, even quilts.

I started going through the photos I took at this year's quilt show and chose to share some detail shots with you first. I assumes you have seen most of the quilts by now somewhere else, fortunately you don't have to rely on me, but maybe you can discover a few new things here and there.

This year was my 7th year at the show and I must say, I wish I was a child again, quilt-show-wise. Once more feeling that overwhelming excitement when entering the hall. Feeling stunned by amazing craftsmanship, smiling at quilts because they make me happy...
I went twice and of course, I did see many fantastic quilts. Even a lot of quilts I would have liked to take home with me. Quilts that inspired me. But overall I had a feeling of being saturated and wished for less embroidery, glitter, less sequins and beads and less ambition. Why not make more simple quilts?
Maybe seven years ago those overladen quilts seemed flamboyant to me, while today they often simply looked cluttered. Can't I appreciate a gorgeous quilt anymore because all the talks about decluttering your life?!

Here are my first pictures from the show, I will add more over the next days and weeks.

I liked this photo - I am curious what you see.

Bye!

Winner

Love that mobile! I like the rain. I like it even more if I actually remember my yellow umbrella!

... was Laura's comment, just one of many, many that made me smile a lot or even laugh.
I loved reading about your rain and umbrellas, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and stories.
I'm a bit sorry that the chances for winning the book weren't that high in the end, I really didn't expect so many to participate... Right after I published the posting I started answering your comments but soon it became clear I never can get back to all of you...
So, today, let me thank you for all the kind words about the quilt, the coasters, the mobile and my blog in general!

Hope you'll be having a great day!

PS: You can see details of the Blattwerk quilt on Flickr, and there is also a photo of the sketched design of the quilt.

One for you, one for me

It's here. After more than 1 1/2 years of living abroad here and there, it made it back to Japan.

Actually it found a home on the wall in my craft room.

About a month ago gosh, it's been almost two already... time keeps flying... so, about two months ago I wrote I was waiting for the book to get to me, and the quilt also still was traveling between continents...

Shortly after that both reached within a week or so, but you know me, I am a bit slow and it is taking me some time to sit down and write a new posting...

"The leaf block can easily be transformed into various other projects, such as coasters, pillow covers, curtains, and an embellishment on a front pocket of an apron.

[...]

The size of this project is flexible - make more blocks or increase the size of the blocks for larger items such as blankets or coverlets."

Various other projects...so true. And since I am not really a quilter anyway, I recently used my leaf pattern for making those coasters for a friend.

Same construction as for the leafy appliques, simply using wool felt for the back side. 

Before those coasters I made quite a few smaller felt backed leaves with some kind of branch/ leaves installation in mind... yet, while making them it rained a lot and this leafy raindrop hanging was born.

It's in front of my window and I love how it almost never hangs completely still... always in motion.

The rainy season is around the corner and I am very much looking forward to it. Everything is growing like crazy, the hydrangea are about to bloom.

It is the time of drinking Calpis, Ume Sour or fresh green tea... eating watermelon. Japan...* sigh*

I love walking in the rain, especially when it is rather warm, but don't you think that more or less inhospitable weather simply enhances the joy you can have staying at home? Looking outside?!

And speaking of home... I have a new, old bookshelf in my craft room and right now it is looking like this:

An additional copy just arrived from Chronicle Books. In case you'd like to put it onto your very own shelf, why not telling me whether you like rain or not and what colour your umbrella is?!

I'll be picking a winner on Sunday.

Your chances might be relatively high since I like to hide occasions like this under lots of photos and text because for one thing I am not one who likes to shout g i v e a w a y!,  and for another thing I love to reward those who actually read my blog ;) It's your precious time, after all!

Hope you'll excuse today's audacity to focus on my contribution to the book only - blogwise  I feel like being a bit on the geriatric side and sense the need to take it slowly to get things done.
One step at a time :)

I hope you are  all well.
In case you commented on one of my last postings you might be hearing from me soon, I have just begun to write replies. I said I was slow... but you know that already.

Take care!

 Update: Laura in Toronto won!

turning the page and a lot of leaves

So much to tell about... where to start?!

I forgot to turn the page on my calendar, just noticed... .
Must have been distracted a lot since the trees in front of my window looked like that:

One thing that seemed to be more important than turning that page or blogging was my sweet girl's seventh birthday and her first party. I was a bit nervous, naturally, first time and of course you want everybody to have fun, which isn't really plannable (not sure if this word is really existing)... but it turned out, my decision to entertain the children as little as possible and let them do most things on their own worked well and we all had a great time.

Still, I am happy that it's over.

Of course some preparations were necessary. For the hand written invitation（using tea stained, soldering bolt burned cardboard), the decorations (black flag and a bunting, sails for the cakes, skull shaped template for decorating the cake with icing sugar) and for the goody bags that seem to be common these days (skull stenciled totes, personalized notebooks)... Yes, we had a Pirate Party, with an extensive treasure hunt through the woods,to be sure.

Maybe next year I will try an
old-fashioned-no-motto-just-having-some-cake-and-lemonade-and-play-old-
fashioned-party-games-party to keep things simpler. Definitely worth thinking about. Things have become too complex. Perfect invitations for well planned events. Should all be less perfect.

I was glad when all preparation was finished and did, of course, not bother to take pictures of any of the things I had been making... it was a month of more important things to do. :)

Meanwhile the trees had turned into this:

Isn't it amazing how green it is now?

I LOVE my view.

The important things to do?

For example sewing five night gowns for Dagny because I knew she would be more than happy unwrapping a little suitcase packed with all kinds of cute nighties.

Or finishing my very own Seamless Yoke pullover for having something to wear when getting together with this girl to see Kings Of Convenience and those boys (so cute), too... what a wonderful evening it has been!!!

Pictures of the sweater will be taken soon, promised. It's pretty much a copy of Dagny's third seamless yoke, this here. Now we can have the sweetest outings ever...

Something I must mention in this posting certainly  is this.

See the leaves on the cover? Mine :)

A little proud and very happy to have been given the opportunity to take part in this lovely book by Kathreen Ricketson.

I am impatiently awaiting the book to take a look and tell you more about it. Until then just head over to whip up and read what Kathreen has been writing about the contributors during this month.

I wish you a happy week!

A month of hina arare...

Hello again!
It's Hina Matsuri (Girls' Day) today. And of course we have set up our hina dolls and pray for the happiness and health of our daughter.
We don't hope she'll be marrying too quickly, so we let the dolls a little longer on display and hope that there some truth to the superstition, that girls whose families are slow on putting the dolls back into their boxes will be having trouble getting married :)

The final bag of hina arare (puffed, sugar coated rice and beans) will be eaten during this week. It has been a month of puffed rice, and I look forward to see the supermarkets redecorating the shelves, putting away all the pink stuff that seems to be overly appealing to my girl...

Detail of a group quilt at this year's quilt show:

They come out for Hina Matsuri every year, too. This year gathering on the floor of our washitsu - japanese room.

In our living room, on the floor: I am watching the falling petals with diligence as there are quite some caterpillars mixed into, mysteriously only visible when having fallen off the branches...

Another mystery going on here is my new found love for cute and colour.

After about a year of preferring simple and natural looking things and staring at my stash of fabrics in a rather reserved, even stunned manner, I started making a really bright and happy quilt for Dagny.
Using many of my old favourites, a lot of pink and red, cute japanese patterns, treasured tenugui as well as fabrics that I used for making clothes for Dagny when I started sewing for her about six years ago.

The main part of the quilt is constructed with a single block, which makes it a One Patch Quilt as Jennifer of moving hands explained to me (yes, I indeed do not know much about quilts!) when we met at the quilt show in January.
And while the quilt's design had been on my mind for some time, the motivation to actually make it came from the Wa-Quilts (Japanese Design) on the show - always the ones that capture and inspire me most!

The block I use is looking like waves or scales and the quilting will most likely simply follow that shape. But we'll see about that when it is time.
Hopefully soon.
I mean it.

I am sewing by hand, which takes some time, but the seams are soft and it's easy and I am enjoying it a lot. I feel like slowly getting back to be a patchworking person again.
Stitch by stitch.
I will take more photos of the quilt from now on and tell you about my progress here on the blog.
Hope this will be the one full sized quilt I finally manage to start and finish...!!!

Tomorrow I'll be joining a Ikebana class and am curious how that will be.
And after that there will be the knitting class again. That took of well, by the way, but I must talk about it another time.
Now I am off to bed.

Take care!