the essentials

I'm all but finished with my "optional, extra" quilting of the Wandering Way, or Winding Ways.

Grandma Mary Lou loved it:



My Mom loved it and so do I.  It is the one quilt I brought in my luggage and I'm so glad I did.   It has felt like an ESSENTIAL these past three months.

Not perfect.  Soft and functional.  Pure comfort and will only age into more beauty.  So, I count it as wabi sabi.

This shows its true color:

I love my simple needle book from the V&A:

And my little pouch from Gotemba, Japan.  There is something so nice, paring down to really just these few essential tools for hand quilting.

Hazy Tokyo days -

And rainy season has begun -

Fun times recently with dear friends in town for just a couple days ... friendship = essential!

The Shrine in our old neighborhood, Azabu-Juban:

The requisite sushi, and I even liked it:

Who can't use a little gelato at the end of a long Tokyo day?

And one last essential - a HOME.  We have found a permanent apartment, in this building not far from our temporary place, and we will move in first week in July.  Hurray!  So ready to be out of suitcases!

x
Cynthia

Back in Japan, for real

It's hard to know how (or whether) to jump back into this blog.  (I admit to loving the ease and immediacy of Instagram... or maybe the simplicity of *no* social media?).

And as for quilting, I haven't had anything to show.  I am working on hand quilting this eternal project:

Wandering Ways (Winding Ways)  which my grandma rescued so many years ago - she finished piecing it, attempted to machine quilt it, that didn't work out, and I hand quilted it for her, just in the white patches.  Now I'm going back into the blue.

But when not quilting on it, I use it, and it's the only quilt I have around (with both our air and sea shipments in limbo!).   It's a huge comfort, and I've just been treasuring it this past month!

After selling our New Hampshire house in March, we were on the road to visit each of our three kids and our parents, during which time my father passed away and we held his services.   Then we moved to Tokyo with our combined six suitcases.  It's unclear how long David's company will have us in this temporary furnished place...  trying to make the best of it!  We thought we'd be in an apartment by the end of April, but now it looks like end of June.

Here's my temporary kitchen!  I have two burners, a rice cooker, an electric kettle, very good sized fridge/freezer (for Japan) and a combo microwave/toaster oven that I haven't fully mastered yet.

Two ramen bowls, two rice bowls, two forks, etc etc.  A very good sharp chef's knife which I appreciate.

A typical lunch  for me these days:

Japanese strawberries are in a league of their own, so very good:

Our combo washer/dryer....

wasn't kind to David's jeans...

But I've figured out that our bathroom area has space to hang wet clothes, and there's a built in fan with several settings, including one specifically for drying clothes - effectively turning the whole shower area into one big dryer - which is amazing - so now I don't use the machine to dry much.

Every day is a learning curve, even though I've lived here before!

xo
Cynthia