David's last week in Tokyo, and May already!

David is finally with me in North Carolina and it is wonderful to have him home-home.  He snapped this photo from our nearly empty apartment on his last day "camping out" there.  I admit it makes me wistful! 

Sayonara to this apartment which will always hold memories of almost two years of Covid times.   Before those quiet two years, a wonderful year filled with many visits from family and friends. 

Neighbors took almost all our furniture and leftover household goods, which was a big help to David because rehoming things and discarding things is a challenge in Japan.  

Then the movers made quick and quiet work of packing up our things.  We are bringing back the TV, David's favorite chair, and lots of dishes and books that we accumulated over three years.  Plus, all my sewing stuff of course and probably a lifetime supply of indigo.   

We have four large boxes coming by air, to arrive in a few weeks.  And 50+ more boxes (what?!) will be shipped by sea, to arrive who knows when, could be months?  

David's last Saturday in Japan was spent fly fishing with a friend and his young son, near Mt. Fuji. 

Colorful carp streamers in the park, to anticipate Children's Day on May 5th: 

He had a great last week but he was ready to leave.  His job is shifting somewhat as he transitions back to the American arm of his company.  What a blessing that he can work from home.  This is what allows us to live near family.   He is all set up in his home office on the first floor of our rental, and I'm in nine-patch mode upstairs in the sewing room on the third floor.  We meet in the middle (second floor kitchen and living room) for meals, lol.   

I finished Baby A's top yesterday: 

Working on Baby B's top.  I like assembling a quilt in chunks, not rows.   (Baby A and Baby B refer to Kaela's twins, due in August;).  

Having David home means we are sort of back to our routine of watching some TV after dinner.  We are really enjoying the show Julia on HBOMax.  Delightful, highly recommend it.   Also my favorite show, This is Us, which is in its final season.  

TV time in the evening means I'm back to appliqué.  Slowly making progress on this free BOM from Sentimental Stitches.  The quilt is called Poppy's Polka Dot Garden .  I had kept up with it in Japan but with the move, I fell way behind.  

Today I need to pack for our trip to Colorado and Utah.  A quick trip to see family including my step mother, David's folks, and our son Tommy!  Much as I dread travel, it will be wonderful to see folks we haven't seen in so long. 

xo

Cynthia 

Breezy Day mini

For this month's mini quilt, I did another little collage quilt, using just these scraps from my Hands All Around tenugui quilt, which is just awaiting sashing and borders.

It's a very specific palette, just blue and white tenugui, with a bit of red here and there.   I don't usually work with such a limited palette but I took Rogue Quilter Janet's "baggie of scraps" challenge and had fun with it.   Thanks Wendy the Constant Quilter for hosting us month after month;).  

I had a breezy day on the water in mind: 

Added some sashiko to the little boat and machine quilted it with random diagonal lines: 

It's about 13x13 inches.  I bound it in the darkest of indigo kasuri: 

Meanwhile, the weather has been outstanding.  On Tuesday it was a national holiday so David had the day off, and we walked from our apartment to this spot famous for its beautiful ginkgo trees.  It seemed like everyone else had the same idea!  It's almost back to pre-Covid crowds, and that's with no tourists allowed into the country. 

This is a "Yaki-imo" truck - selling sweet potatoes.  Oh, the heavenly smell and such a sign of autumn.

Meanwhile we put up our little tree and this year decided to move my sewing table over,  in order to put the tree in the window.  We had noticed walking home the other day that the folks living right above us on floor 6,  put a tree in their window so we thought it would be fun to put ours in the window right below theirs.  

I guess the benefits of living in such a small place is that the tree is right there all the time to enjoy.... while preparing little appliqué circles for example ;).

xo

Cynthia 

log cabin improv potholders, and a garden outing

Using a jar of random tiny scraps....  

I ended up making some potholders, log cabin style.  

I added some sashiko here and there for fun.  

 It was a good way to use up random extra batting too - four layers of thin cotton batting:

I used leftover tenugui for the backs - 

Very simple quilting and I made sure that I had a quilting line at or near the center, for pliability (think of the way you fold a potholder when you are using it).

 I'm keeping two sets, and giving one set to my son. 

This was inspired by Janet's "baggie challenge" which you can read about here... although I've started something different, with different scraps, for  Janet's challenge.  

Meanwhile the weather has been so gorgeous here and I've enjoyed some outings both solo and with small groups.  The parks are beautiful.  

This straw wrapping around the trunk of the pine tree is purely ornamental and signals autumn.  Historically it was done to capture (and then burn) caterpillars, but they eventually learned that other beneficial insects were also being captured.  So they discontinued the practice, but the wrapping is used each fall for aesthetic purposes. 

The park was not too far from the river:  

This is such a beautiful time of year in Tokyo.  If it was like this all year, I'd never want to leave! 

A few days later, the same river from a different perspective (Skytree):

Tokyo looks like this in every direction.  

It is overwhelming.  Population almost 14 million.  I prefer to think of *my* Tokyo as a series of a few small neighborhoods where I feel more or less at home... and I'm not a huge fan of views like this.  I always just feel anxious and think "if there's a major earthquake, I will never get out of here"...

After any outing, or quick trip across the street to the convenience store, here's my "view" getting back home (these are little things I will want to remember) -  the entrance to our building: 

We use our key or a code to open the lobby doors.  

Announcement board - mostly about safety, and garbage rules 

Check the mail (handy garbage can for the usual junk mail, usually ads for other apartments, and food, and things I completely do not understand): 

Elevator  (here I'm in the elevator looking back out to the lobby): 

This is what I see when the elevator doors open at the fifth floor.  The building is built around a central atrium.  

Turn right: 

Our front door (no decoration allowed) - 

Home sweet home;). 

On a completely different topic, this movie, Red Notice, was just pure fun, on Netflix: 

We also recently watched the new Marvel movie, Shang-Chi.  It was really good too!  We saw Dune a couple weeks ago in the theater and it was amazing to be back in a movie theater, with popcorn, an  audience, etc. again.  

That's about all for today!  I probably won't blog again before American Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving to those of you celebrating!  David and I will probably go out for a Japanese dinner;).  I'm of course thankful for so much.  Family mostly.  There's also a lot to love about living in Tokyo.  Thankful for quilting always!  Thank YOU for visiting this space. 

xo

Cynthia 

Stepping Stones finish 2019, typhoon, baking

My first finish in Japan.  Another Stepping Stones quilt - to be given to a "graduate" of an orphanage here in Tokyo.  This is a "Helping Hands" project now organized by Japanese members of our church across greater Tokyo. Some of us Westerners help out year by year as we are able.  We started this back in 2012 or 2013 when I lived here the first time.  We team with the Franciscans, who provide a futon and a rice cooker to each graduate.  A Stepping Stones quilt is a nice touch and a warm hug as a young person begins to take "stepping stones" into independence and adulthood.

I started it in the US before we moved, so all of the fabric is from stash and Quilted Threads.

I like to include a butterfly print of some kind, since the butterfly is a subtle but powerful symbol of Christianity in Japan.

The pattern is Bonnie Hunter's free "Sticks and Stones" quilt and can be found here.

Very simple grid quilting.  Monofilament thread in the needle, walking foot.  Loving my Bernina 475QE - a small, solid machine, perfect for my space here, permanently set up in the living room.

For binding, this time I simply trimmed the backing to 1 inch, folded and brought it around to the front, stitched it down.  Fast and practical.

I pretty much take over our whole living space when I make a quilt;).

The green you see outside my window is Hinokicho-koen (koen = park).  We love the park for so many reasons.  It's David's twice daily dose of zen, as he walks to and from the bus stop.

I personally take a lot of comfort seeing the several giant old trees in the park.  Reminds me of home in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  Here's one of my favorites:

And imagine our dismay when we saw that it fell, during Typhoon Faxai Sunday night.

How sad, but what a good long life that tree had. 

On a completely different (and happier) note, you guys.... I figured out my mysterious Japanese combination microwave/oven! 

Banana streusel muffins, from King Arthur Flour, via NYT Cooking:

To give you an idea of the small space I'm working with, here is my drying rack! 

xo
Cynthia