jet lag, sunshine, sashiko

I'm in the U.S. for a couple of weeks, visiting all kinds of family in Colorado, North Carolina, Texas.  Jet lag - the struggle is real.

The night before my flight, David and I saw The King and I (touring company) in Tokyo. 

It was outstanding!  Gotta love Ken Watanabe, and Kelli O'Hara was amazing.  The children, the sets and costumes, the whole show was delightful.  The Japanese subtitles, projected on either side of the stage, were beautiful and must have been spot on in their timing, judging by audience reactions.

Lots of ladies lined up for "red carpet" photos before the show:

Spectacular city views from the theatre:

And then just a day later... this was my view - big open sky, and pure sunshine - love it.  After our recent stretch of 18 days with no sunshine in Tokyo, this is such a pleasure.  Colorado gets sunshine about 300 days a year (!). 

Meanwhile, it's World Embroidery Day!  I still just love the straightforward lines of sashiko.  This is a little bag I made some time ago.  The pattern in an elongated asanoha (hemp leaf) pattern.  This is from one of Susan Briscoe's books. 

In it, I brought the simplest of projects along - starting with straight lines on indigo... to be used for a specific quilty purpose soon;).


xo
Cynthia

NHK Friendship block for 2020

Off and on through the years, I've submitted a block to the NHK Friendship Quilt project, which is part of the Tokyo International Quilt Festival each year.

Volunteers piece the blocks into quilts, which are raffled off, with the proceeds going to charity. 

Each year there's a specific theme.  This year was "Favorite Animal".  For me, it's a toss up between cats and dogs.


I chose to make a simple cat, with sashiko details, and then appliqued onto gray background, and framed with tsumugi (traditional woven stripes).  Sort of a squishy sleepy kitty.   Thank you Queenie for providing the details each year!!  You can see all the many beautiful and detailed blocks she has made here.

Felt like a triumph finding the nearest post office, about a ten minute walk from our apartment.

Meantime... we figured out our little (I mean, really little!) dishwasher.  You just sprinkle the detergent in "among the dishes" and let it rip.

And drying clothes in the bathtub area, which has a ceiling fan with a special "clothes drying" setting:

Rainy season has supposedly ended.... and it's getting so hot and humid.

These ladies so cool and stylish in kimono:

xo
Cynthia

Natsukashii, and new things too

One of my favorite Japanese words is natsukashii (懐かしい)  - you know the feeling of nostalgia when you hear an old song you love, or taste something from your childhood, or return to a beloved place.  That's how I felt, walking into a sashiko class at Blue and White and seeing that Yoshiura-sensei is indeed still teaching there.

I started a little sampler for old time's sake, and in September when classes resume I will start a new project.  

This little fella came in with his Mom.  Look at this marvelous sashiko on his little kimono - 

And for something totally new, on Saturday my buddy Corrie and I enjoyed a small group class in "cartonnage" - originally a French craft, adapted by the Japanese - at "Ayahime" atelier.   We made these beautiful fabric covered purses, really from scratch.  

After constructing our bags, we covered them first with indigo, and then this beautiful blue and white yukata fabric:

A very nice group of ladies, in a peaceful artistic atmosphere - 

Secure, letting the glue set:

Our sensei Atsuko Hasegawa prepared a beautiful lunch.  Cheesy toast, soup, salad, and fruit.  Delicious and so beautifully presented.  The only difficulty for me was kneeling on the tatami for lunch.  I just can't do that.  I folded myself awkwardly and did my best, ha ha. 

Meanwhile, settling in to our apartment continues.  Here is our washer/dryer combination.  Google translate was only marginally helpful.

In the end, David worked so hard to make this key for me:

Another natuskashii thing this week was helping out with the onigiri (rice balls) for the homeless at the Franciscan Chapel Center.   Each morning, volunteers prepare these rice balls, and others deliver them in the wee hours of the following morning.  Folks from our LDS congregation have been making the rice balls each Monday for as long as anyone can remember.  Sadly, apparently the government is pushing the homeless out of the central areas, in advance of the Olympics.  That's what I hear anyway - might not be accurate.  They may still be there, just going hungrier.  But years ago when I helped every Monday, we prepared three or four (or five?) huge pots of rice, and now they are down to one pot.  

David had the day off yesterday.  We got some things done, enjoyed some good food, and stumbled upon this marvelous electronic rock garden/art installation not far from our apartment, at "Midtown".  It was mesmerizing.  I just loved it!  It was like a zen light show, with mood music and mist.  Something totally new.  

In quilting news, I'm working on my next Stepping Stones quilt (for a graduate of a Japanese orphanage) in shades of "emerald green" by request.  Oh, it feels great to be behind the machine again.  I've made so many of these same quilts that piecing these blocks feels meditative at this point... and ya a little natsukashii... remembering how the project started back when I lived here and my kids were with me;).   This is a pic I love from 2013.  Piecing a Stepping Stones quilt next to my ninth grader doing his homework.  Sweet memories. 

 

xo

Cynthia 

Settling in, in Tokyo

As we begin our first full week in our Tokyo apartment, I am so grateful to have my sewing machine set up - off to the side in our living room!   It's been since we left NH... in March!

We've been in a flurry of setting up household.  So many decisions.  In Japan, you have to buy or lease everything - fridge, washer, curtains, light fixtures. 

Furniture, rice cooker, bed, the list goes on.  Decision fatigue.  Learning curves, errands, exhaustion.  I mean, it's sort of fun, too, in a way, to set up an entire household in one fell swoop.  Now just waiting on delivery of a few more things including proper curtains and a bed frame.

It was nice to get our air and sea shipments, to get the rest of our clothes, and to fill our tiny kitchen with some of the things that feel like "home" -

We had about 25 boxes to unpack.  It went fast and the moving company came back after two days to collect the boxes.

The kitchen came with three gas burners, and a fish grill.  It performs beautifully to broil fish (and toast bread!).

Standard Japanese entry way with lots of good storage for shoes and umbrellas:

Kitchen table commandeered for cutting, pressing:

I thought about buying a standing ironing board, but at my height, I think this would be an ergonomic nightmare: 

Can you even imagine kneeling to iron?

Anyway, it just feels sooooo good to be set up for quilting again!  Tomorrow we are having a washer/dryer combo unit delivered, and I plan to be a homebody while I wait, and quilt away the time.

xo
Cynthia