Sunday, July 17, 2016

Student sashiko... and "indexing"

Last night I had about a dozen young people to the house for an introduction to the beloved Japanese art of sashiko.  They did fabulously!



The ladies wanted something connected with the temple  and so I made a small pattern of this floral motif from the steeple of the Boston Temple.  The design theme in and around the Boston temple is "tree of life."  There is so much symbolism within the temple, and sashiko motifs are usually symbolic, so the two make a good match.



The girls chose out their fabrics (the accent strips allowing for rectangular frames which are less expensive than square frames).



We used the traditional tracing method using chaco-paper overlayed with a piece of plastic.



Choice of sashiko thread - traditional off white (which read quite brightly white against the indigo) or hand dyed indigo thread:



Stitching a personal and subtle reminder of the temple:






These young ladies are part of a congregation in Lowell of young adults - David is currently the lay bishop and I am the official listener and dispenser of hugs;).  We sure love these young folks!



Some of the gals are going to use their pieces to make pockets for tote bags - a brilliant idea!




Inexpensive IKEA frames:


In our temples (which aren't for our regular Sunday worship), we feel close to God and Jesus Christ, and feel a kinship and closeness to our ancestors as well.


FAMILY SEARCH INDEXING:

No matter your religion, if you are at all interested in history or geneology, consider volunteering to "index" - indexing is "the process of entering information from historical records into an online, searchable database."

If you've ever used Ancestry.com, you know what I mean.  I have been indexing on and off for several years and it is so fun and rewarding, a few minutes at a time.  I mean fun to the point of being addictive!!  Currently I'm indexing a batch of marriage records from 1879 in New Bedford Massachusetts.  The handwriting, the names, the occupations listed - it is all fascinating.  And a few minutes at a time and with no pressure, I feel I am contributing to the vast pool of geneological information out there on the internet!

Click here for a list of FAQs.  If you end up giving it a go, let me know!



5 comments:

  1. What a wonderful teaching experience. Looks like the students really worked hard and achieved good results!
    What a nice ministry.

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  2. This is so great! We may need to ask you to come teach our YW!

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  3. This is wonderful Cynthia, a heartwarming post :D

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  4. I LOVE indexing. I got started about 7 years ago, though it was a rocky start with getting the software to work with my old computer and is so much easier now! It's my Sunday evening activity every week, and sometimes other times, like last weekend. I love what you were doing with the young women. That would make a good station for a church craft day, too. We do one before Christmas every year.

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  5. Everyone has done so well, and the design works perfectly with sashiko. You're a great teacher!

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