December flying by with family happenings

I am starting to do hand work in the evenings again.  Time is flying by.  I am spending a lot of time helping with the babies and Charlotte, but the babies are sleeping through the night, and I am also making better boundaries for myself.  It's all been a big learning curve. 

I love seeing my quilts used and loved!  At Kaela's, here's Eleanor napping on her nine patch... and the Christmas tree quilt in the background on the couch.  

I finished up Christmas stockings for the twins with simple embroidery - I had made a stash of these stockings while we lived in Tokyo. 

And a similar one for Camille to put next to Tommy's hanging from the mantle.   Starting next year they will be married and can fill each other's stockings;).  

I used a whipped straight stitch which looks more complex than it is.  I see how the fabric puckered but I'm calling good enough good enough. 

Kaela's twins were "blessed" at church last week - it's a special prayer where a baby is blessed and prayed over.  Their names are announced in the prayer, wherein a special blessing is also given.  It is more or less comparable to a baby christening.  Often this blessing is given by the baby's father, and no two blessings are exactly the same.  Joe did a great job (twice!) and there was such a spirit of love in the meeting.  Lots of family came into town for the occasion and we held a big luncheon at Kaela's place afterwards.

The babies are growing by leaps and bounds and we love being their grandparents! 

Meanwhile with a little more free time I'm getting our place in order... 

And David and I decorated for Christmas - this is our first year (in the U.S. anyway) with an artificial tree. Charlotte just loves it.  "What's this?" repeated 100 times, looking at each ornament.  

I've switched around my upstairs.  There are two rooms up there - a guest room and a bonus room (plus a hallway bathroom).  I've decided to combine the guest room and sewing room into one.  

Here's my the guest/sewing room with just about ALL my "stuff" moved into the closet, to make the room ready for company: 

We put three (!) twin beds in the bonus room and we are calling it "the dorm".  I put denim duvet covers on the beds.  They will be durable, and more or less "go" with any quilts I put at the foot of the beds!

My little nephews were so excited to be the first "dorm" occupants.  Here they are at Kaela's, decorating gingerbread cookies: 

Meanwhile, Noelle, my oldest, turned 30 - my how time flies.  I loved making her a cake - like old times - and bringing it over to her place.  We ate sukiyaki, YUM.   

David and I went to see a performance of Handel's Messiah one Sunday in Cary. 

And a Black Nativity performance in Durham last Sunday: 

Both performances absolutely knocked our socks off and got us into the Christmas spirit for sure. 

I'm starting to bake Christmas cookies, which I love to do.   Each year I try at least one new recipe for Christmas time.  Sometimes a new cookie, sometimes a new cake, or even baked donuts one year.  

The other day I tried this Hot Cocoa Mix, from a New York Times Cooking recipe that I simplified slightly (in terms of the proportions of chocolate to powdered sugar - I just used two bars of chocolate and didn't worry about exact measurements) and I really like it a lot!  I'm going to experiment with different chocolate bars.  Next up: raspberry dark chocolate combined with Cadbury milk chocolate.

Hot Cocoa Mix: 

1 C (105 grams)  powdered sugar

scant 3/4 C (90 grams) cocoa powder 

1/4 C (120 grams) dark chocolate (I used a 3.5 ounce (100 grams) Lindt 70% dark chocolate bar)  - chopped 

1/4 C (120 grams)  milk chocolate (I used a 4.4 ounce (125 grams) Lindt milk chocolate bar)- chopped 

3 tsp vanilla bean PASTE 

3 pinches fine sea salt 

Mix all together thoroughly in a blender.    Store in a large mason jar.  

Stir into piping hot milk-  2-3 T or to taste, per cup.  This mix will make about 12 cups of cocoa. 

YUM. 

I hope to post again before the end of the month but if not... 

  xo Merry Christmas to all my quilty blogger friends!  

Cynthia 

baby quilt progress and misc art

Time for a little catch-up.   

Baby Charlotte turned two - can we call her baby Charlotte anymore?  I don't think so!  Little twin sisters "Baby A" and "Baby B" will be arriving sometime in August or early September;).  

Our big news is that Kaela and Joe found a beautiful "forever" home in the area.  They will move there in August.  Yes the same month the babies are due!  And then David and I are buying a townhome less than ten minutes from their home!  We will move there in September.  Much more on that later!   It is quite small and a "bit of a fixer upper" but nothing we can't handle over time.   In this insane sellers' market, we had to get real! 

Meanwhile,  I have a driver's license and a library card, so I'm all set and can call North Carolina home now, right? 

It is a pleasure to be going to a library again after three years in Tokyo without one.   

Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors.  I also love checking out cookbooks each time.  

David and I went to a Van Gogh "immersive experience" the other day - I believe it has toured the country, or maybe there are multiple iterations of it happening simultaneously.    It was educational and interactive, which was nice.... but 

...we found it to be overpriced and disappointing, sort of a strip mall version of a real museum experience, with cheap blurry replicas of real art.  Save your pennies and visit a real museum and see some original art, take an audio tour or better yet, a docent tour and experience art that way.  And there is so much excellent free content online, from real museums featuring excellent images and videos. 

Speaking of art... my feelings about tattoos have certainly evolved over the years. 

When Noelle got her first tattoo  (a Khalil Gibran quote about death - on her rib cage - her freshman year of art school), she FaceTimed us in Japan to show us, and I excused myself almost immediately to go have a good cry.   LOLOLOL.  

Ten years later..... I celebrate with her when she gets the tattoo she's been planning for so long, from a respected tattoo artist who accepted her proposal of concept and designed the tattoo.  Each element holds meaning for Noelle.  This was part one and took six hours: 

Part two a week later also took six hours.  That is our family crest, the Paulownia.  

Ya, part of me says "I don't get it" and the same part of me also says "I feel old" - but the better part of me can just be happy for my daughter. 

Meanwhile I'm in nine patch heaven over here, working on the simple baby quilts.  I finished quilting Baby B's quilt, will work on quilting Baby A's next.   

Does anyone else use your actual quilt as a machine cover, when you are in the middle of the machine quilting process. :).   I just flip it over the machine at the end of a session, leaving the needle in the quilt.  This backing is Flower Shop by Jim Ishikawa for Clothworks. 

xo

Cynthia 

Full circle and wows

A horse at the farm where my niece Alyssa is living - she took this photo when it snowed the other day - gorgeous! 

Thank you everyone who left such kind and encouraging comments on my last post!  I mostly haven't regretted my decision!   David is already starting to clean out/give away items in the Tokyo apartment with my remote help and he has moved his home office from a basically windowless room, out in to where I used to quilt - a major upgrade for him.   We FaceTime at least once a day, usually twice. 

The great news is that I have found a townhouse to rent here in NC.  There's a perfect spot for David's home office... and a tiny bedroom perfect for a little sewing room, yes!  I get the keys next week.  I'm working on all the details that moving requires.   I will breathe easier once our household goods are moved out of storage in NH and arrive down here in NC. 

In the meantime, I am staying with Noelle and Keenan and trying to keep a low profile, lol.  I am staying in their spare room and have my own bathroom and a beautiful view out of my window - well it might not be a beautiful time of year, but for me, coming from such city views, this is beautiful (it even snowed the other day). 

A little baking on a Sunday morning - these are such good cinnamon rolls from King Arthur Flour  and the recipe utilizes the Japanese milk bread method.  And I'm back in the U.S. which means no more tiny oven.  Eight big rolls, big cookie sheet, big oven. 

Noelle and Keenan's work from home vibe: 

It is amazing how you can't really predict life events.  Ten years ago we had been in Japan (the first time) for six months. Noelle was in art school in Boston.  I had made this quilt for her. 

Now ten years later, full circle, I'm the one sleeping under it, crashing at her place while I wait to get into my own.  During a worldwide pandemic.  While she and her husband work their tech jobs from home.  Wow.

I feel like I've made 100 of these square on square quilts.   This one qualifies as wabi sabi at this point, after 10 years of use and many washings.  

It needs some repairs, which will be a pleasure to do at some point! 

Faded label but the love never fades for my beautiful sensitive artistic first born child. 

People rarely think about how it is when expats return to their home countries, not just to visit, but to live at home again.  We have done it before so I knew what to expect but yes I am having the usual reverse culture shock.  Things seem big, loud, messy, friendly, easy.   I'm learning how to drive around comfortably again.  It's a pure pleasure to listen to music and NPR in the car.  I had to mail something overnight at FedEx, which I have never done before, and it was easy... finding the place, no language barrier, no 1000 step process for the simplest thing.  Did I mention EASY? 

I went to Target the other day and walked down nearly every aisle completely overwhelmed, not in a bad way, but in a "wow" way.  I just sort of thought "all of this feels relevant to me and I'd like one of everything, thank you" - ha ha.  I looked at bath towels.  Colorful, big, wow.  I bought myself a pillow and pillowcases, some Pepperidge Farm cookies, and the smallest water bottle I could find that wasn't a child's water bottle, and it's still at least twice as big as my Japanese water bottle.  I could read and understand everything.... and understand what anyone around me was saying.  Self checkout, wow.  Easy 15 minute drive from Noelle's.  Just, wow.  

I haven't been doing any hand work.   I want to get back in the groove.  I need to break the ice with my  appliqué again!  

One thing I still do everyday (easy, on my phone) is the NYT crossword which I love.  

The Monday puzzle from a couple days ago had an old-fashioned quilting reference that made me smile.

Speaking of word games, I'm also having fun doing Wordle once a day - I know many of us are!  I guess it's become a whole worldwide phenomenon!  It is not an app (beware imitations!).  

My goal is that before I post again, I will be back in the groove working on the two appliqué projects I brought with me. 

Hurray for January being almost over... 

xo

Cynthia 

Relief and regret - not returning to Tokyo

With equal parts relief and regret - I'm not returning to Japan - (!) - I'm staying in the U.S. while David finishes up his contract in Tokyo. 

In April, we are essentially attempting to move from both Tokyo and New Hampshire, to North Carolina, with no home or car to our name.  It just makes sense for me to stay back here and handle some of these things, even though this is way out of my comfort zone.  Once we decided, I felt an overwhelming flood of relief and even excitement, so I know it was a good decision.   

Still, bittersweet. 

The *sweet* of this is that I don't have to endure the hotel quarantine (jail) followed by home quarantine (house arrest).   Not to mention the grueling flight and airport gauntlet.  Not to mention the stress involved if one of us was to test positive for COVID.  Mind you, I am not saying that I necessarily disagree with Japan's strict  measures.  Only that I couldn't face doing that again.  

The *bitter* is that I didn't realize I was leaving Japan for real, when we left for Christmas.  I didn't say sayonara to any of my friends, and I didn't do things "one last time" like shop at the fabric district, go to this or that restaurant, etc.  There is a list a mile long of what I will miss about Japan.  

So, on to present reality.  I have traveled from Texas to North Carolina, from one daughter to my other daughter.  

I will miss Charlotte in Texas!!  We had so much fun together!  But I'm not that far away anymore which makes me so happy!!  

Here at Noelle and Keenan's in Raleigh, their sweet old cat Isak: 

Another sweet kittie, Dandelion.  There is a third cat, Stuart, but let's just call him scaredy cat because I haven't gotten a photo yet. 

Some reverse culture shock - WHOA.... American pizza... American BIG: 

Reality at the grocery store - but look, the sign is in English and I can read it! 

 

Rye bread, good lunch meat, Cape Cod chips, etc.  Simple pleasures that I have missed. 

Well.... of course there is also a list a MILE long of what I will miss about Japan.   I think I said that already!  I'm sure I will keep saying it! 

xo

Cynthia 

Boston and Maine... and Indigo Sofa Throw finish

During my month in the U.S. we went to Massachusetts for a few days and reconnected with several good old friends (I wish I'd taken some selfies with each of them!).  

I do love Boston and it was so great to be back home-home for a few days. 

Then Tommy arrived and we headed to New Hampshire to our storage unit.... he found a few things he wanted to take back to college, and I sifted through some old photos for fun. 

The Christmas my brother and I got new bicycles, 1975: 

We rented a little house in Ogunquit, Maine for a week.  It was so cozy and homey.  I loved the trees and it was walking distance to cute shops and restaurants as well as the little beach.   We watched the Olympics each night.  I did a tiny bit of handwork.  I brought so much, but just worked on ONE block, lol. 

Beautiful gardens to admire in the neighborhood - 

Kaela, Joe and Charlotte were with us all week - 

Playing with Grandad on the beach: 

Soaking up Charlotte time: 

Noelle and Keenan joined us from North Carolina for a few days: 

My three children - my heart: 

Sweet Noelle:

Kaela did some haircuts on the porch: 

 

Beach baby: 

In our happy place: 

We celebrated Tommy's birthday and I gave him the indigo sofa throw.  How I forgot to take photos, I don't know.  But later he sent me some: 

It measures about 45"x65" - I used a mix of new and vintage indigo.  No batting.  Soft thick indigo backing.  

Susan Briscoe gives excellent instructions in her book The Book of Boro.  Highly recommended. 

When the throw was "finished" I added little patches here and there - with needle turn appliqué - to create the balance I wanted. 

Without batting, it is very compact but substantive with the heavy backing.  

I added our family's Pawlonia kamon to the lower left hand corner.   

David flew back to Tokyo from Boston and I flew back to Texas for an extra week with Charlotte.  You know the rest of the story from my whiny previous post, lol.   I am now back home in Tokyo with ten more days of quarantine - but we are allowed to take walks close to home, so it doesn't feel too restrictive at all. 

xo

Cynthia