I've been really busy lately but just about every day, I make a few trees for Kaela's Christmas quilt. I have 24 out of the 38 trees made, and most of the cutting done, which is half the battle.
It's really straightforward piecing for a very straightforward quilt. I love making these while listening to music, a podcast, or a book.
The other day I saw this wonderful episode on NHK (Japanese public television) about furoshiki.
Furoshiki are wrapping cloths, used to carry goods or wrap presents. If used as gift wrapping, the furoshiki stays with the giver to be used over and over again.
Click here for a link to the program.
I collect furoshiki with Christmas wrapping in mind. They are beautiful and eco-friendly. Theoretically if I have enough furoshiki, at some point I won't be buying wrapping paper anymore (except for any gifts I might mail). I also love the idea of the wrapping becoming familiar year after year.
Of course we quilters can also hem pieces of nice Christmas fabric and use that! Do you ever use fabric as wrapping paper??
Anyway, David helped me find the shop featured in the program - Musubi, which was quite tucked away in Harajuku. I really wanted to support a local business while adding to my collection.
Some were beyond beautiful and prohibitively expensive.
Others were in my range and I did purchase a few, to add to my budding collection.
They wrapped my parcel up in a complimentary furoshiki (photo taken with permission) -
"Shippo" (seven treasures):
David really liked this little "confetti" furoshiki:
There is so much to appreciate in Japan in terms of design!
I loved this one featuring trees and animals, and an injunction to "MOTTAINAI" (waste not):
I leave you with this just for fun - the storefront of a small boutique clothing store in the same neighborhood - gotta love Tokyo!
Back to my forest of pieced trees...
xo gratefully
Cynthia
