Bloom Where You're Planted

Yesterday I put together a mini-quilt as an example for my two patchwork friends who are coming on Friday.

Both ladies are making Love Me, Love Me Not quilts and they have their quilts at flimsy stage and are ready to start machine quilting.  They both have a Bible quilt that they want to hand quilt so by default the Love Me Quilts will be done on the machine.  And these are the two ladies who bought their sewing machines last summer and specifically ordered a free-motion quilting foot.  So you can see that they are williing.

But neither lady has done machine quilting and so I fixed up a small sandwich with the same Love Me, Love Me Not motif.  I figure they can get their practicing on the little one first and it won't matter if they mess up and maybe they can gain some confidence.

For my own example I really quilted this densely though I don't expect them to.  I tried Pebbles (a first for me) and also following the pattern in the border.  The words I printed out and then traced backwards onto fusible paper and then transferred and fused to black fabric.

Well, off to do my blooming today!
 

Graduations

I was off at the kindergarten graduation ceremony this morning.  Actually I was also supposed to be at the elementary school graduation ceremony but since both ceremonies were being held at the same time I chose the kindergarten's.  I've been the kindergarten students' English teacher for the whole three years that the kids are in kindergarten.  I only see the 6th graders for a few seconds every morning when they go across the crosswalk on their way to school.  But in the afternoon I was pleasantly surprised to have one of my English 6th graders come with his parents to say thank you for teaching him for 6 years. 

As a part time teacher at the kindergarten I had little to do at the ceremony but observe and bow politely to the teary eyed parents as they left the sanctuary (Christian kindergarten).  Nearly all the children's fathers attended the ceremonies too which is a change from when my children were little.  25 years ago it was the MOTHERS' job to do education duties and a father would nary show his face at the kindergarten  (I think Tetsu participated more because he had this foreign wife that insisted a father's role was important.)

Today I counted 8 mothers dressed in kimono for the important day, as was the homeroom kindergarten teacher.  From my viewpoint I could only get a quick photo of the back of one of the mothers.  Pretty obi on that kimono!

I must say that the parents, fathers especially, seem so young these days.  Spikey hair, earrings...  And they must look at me and think

"My, Tanya-sensei sure is going gray."

Busy-ness

I was offered a teaching job this weekend... but I turned it down.  I'm not really sure why.  I have taught English ever since I came to Japan, over 35 years.  I have a fun time doing it but I am always surprised how much I look forward to vacation times when no children are coming and I don't have to go to the pre-school and kindergarten.

Recently I had a conference with the kindergarten principal and let her know that she might think about finding a new English teacher within the next couple of years.  Retiring at age 60 seems about right to me but the principal flattered me and went on to talking about next term's English curriculum.  She didn't really take me seriously saying that since she is already 64, I can't talk about retiring yet...

In all my years of living in Japan I have never gone looking for work.  It just comes to me (by the grace of God) and it has always been enough to get me back to the States yearly or to keep the kids in school.  When a job DOES come I really do think it is just another path God has set out and all I need to do is take the first step.  So when I declined the job offer yesterday I almost felt that I was turning my back on a God given challenge.  And hey, we are not so well off that I can afford to turn down work!

But a new job wasn't really what I wanted to do.  The past year I've been trying to downsize my working schedule and a major job just wasn't in my plan.  I don't want to do a job grudgingly, I want to do it joyfully.

What do I want to do? 

Spend my days sewing...  Keep the house a bit tidier...  Cook other than slapdash meals...  Keep my body in motion with dog-walking and swimming...  Visit with friends...  Read inspiring books...  Pray for my church...  Take pictures...  Blog regularly... Teach a few classes joyfully...

My Bible reading this week was Matthew 22:5

"But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business."

Am I just going about my own business?  Busy-ness?

And my prayer for that day (before the job offer) was:

"Lord, help me to not let busy-ness interfere with my relationship with You."

I'm not sure if I'm following my own schedule or God's.

After dinner tea time

Once a week or so, instead of an after dinner wine, Tetsu and I will enjoy an after dinner drink of tea with sweet bean paste sweets.  (Of course bought at the corner sweet shop where I do crosswalk duty).  This week we had Sakura mochi and Monaka with Sakura tea.

The Sakura mochi I showed being made the other day.  They were still minus their salty sakura leaves at that point.  Yes, the leaves are marinated in brine and then wrapped around the pink mochi balls.  Most people eat the leaf as is, though I have run into people who prefer to enjoy the slight salty taste left after unwrapping the leaf.

Monaka is a soft, somewhat crispy wafer made of mochi with sweet bean paste inside.  Depending on the shop or area made, they can be round or flower shaped etc. This one is shaped as a traditional thatched roofed farm house.

And the Sakura tea was a gift from Tetsu.  Though we usually drink loose leaf tea made in a tea pot, this box was filled with tea bags.  Some of the nicer tea companies will make their tea bags of organza.  The tea and sweets were delicious!

Which brings me back to the first picture of the little flower at the top of my post.  This was made by Mrs. Furui.  I think she's trying to make a corsage or something...  And what did she make it out of?  The organza from left-over tea bags.  Already pre-dyed by the tea!  Ha!  Talk about not being wasteful!

Well, I'm not planning to make any corsages and I'm not planning to pass on my left over tea-bags to Mrs. Furui.  She can drink her own quantities of tea.  (I'm usually a coffee drinker anyway.)

A fox family

Yesterday I had a big chunk of time to do some serious quilting.  On what?  Ah... that is the question.  I don't feel confident enough to put my McKenna Ryan's Christmas quilt under the needle.  I needed a practice piece.

You may remember last Saturday I showed a close-up of the cute little fox in the McKenna quilt kit.  Hmmm.  I have the patterns...  I DID make that little fox, but McKenna's kits are all pre-cut.  (Thank goodness!)  All those tiny little pieces are laser cut and just a snip is needed to remove the piece from the bit of fabric.  And McKenna's pre-cut pieces all have fused backing, another life-saver.

But there I sat, looking at the McKenna pattern...

"Now... If I just trace the tiny pattern onto fusible paper... (remembering to flip the pattern over... whoops forgot that the first time and had some backwards pieces).  And if I fuse the patterns to different scraps of fabric...  And if I use tiny embroidery scissors to cut out the pieces...  I SHOULD be able to put together another fox.  Yeah!  I did it!"

I tried another fox.

 "Oh good!  I can make foxes now if I have McKenna's patterns."

I continued on with the tree pattern.  Though wiggly they weren't too hard and by the end I was cutting trees without even using a pattern.  (Just wiggle the scissors a bit...)

Great.  Two foxes and some trees on a couple "hills".  Can I do more?

Umm... I'm no McKenna but I designed two more baby foxes.  That is what they are trying to be.  Maybe they look like wolves.  I could have taken more time for fabric choice.  Oh well...  I am trying to make a practice piece for QUILTING. 

I fused my fox family down and was ready to put the whole thing under the needle.  Instead of basting I used spray bond, just great for a small piece like this.

I used Madeira Monofiliment 60# thread for the top.  (I could only get it in one color.)  Mrs. Furui and I tried to buy some recommended Sulky Monofiliment thread but having it sent from wherever was $24 shipping.  I don't think so.  We are experimenting with the Madeira thread instead.  It seems to work fine.

It took a bit of tension adjustment to keep the white bobbin thread from pulling to the top so a couple of my dark trees have white dots along the sewing line.  I think I've got that problem figured out.

I was pretty cautious as I started quilting the fox so I barely moved along at all.  As I gained confidence my stitches became a bit more even.  The eyes that I had worried about weren't that hard after all.  That monofiliment thread just takes you anywhere so I just stitched up the noses.

My sky could have been a bit more artistic but I'm ready to start quilting the REAL McKenna kit now!  Wish me luck!

Hand-spun yarn

My blog friend, June, sent me some of her HAND-SPUN yarn!  It is so beautiful!!!  I knew that June did spinning (as well as long-arm quilting) but I didn't expect to reap the fruits of her talent.

Look at the beautiful colors.  The photo is a pretty good representation.  The strands go from dark teal to turquoise to a light lavender to a soft pink and twisted within the yarn are gold threads.  Just sitting on the table the two skeins look like they tumbled out of a jewel box!

June suggested I knit a scarf with these.  Hmm... Maybe... Or a dressy shawl?  I'm also thinking that the yarn could knit into an intricate Fair Isle type sweater.  Or... I've always like the round yoke type sweaters (called Ropi style?  From Iceland?) and this might be nice in a two colored sweater.

I have a feeling that I'm not going to get started knitting for myself until later this year.  Such a shame to put these skeins away for months... I could leave them in a pretty bowl and let them decorate my table!  (But then they'll get dusty...)

Thank you June, my brain is twirling with ideas for your beautiful yarn!

Scrappy Trip Around The World Finish

 I have finished the overall quilting on my Scrappy Trip Around the World.  And I even got the binding on last night!  The quilting sure was a long haul!  But it is the first time I've quilted a full size quilt in the overall random style and it took quite a lot of time and a lot of concentration.   I'm wondering if it wouldn't have been faster to just hand quilt a few lines on this and have been done with it but this was my practice piece and is going to the Ronald McDonald House where I doubt anyone will be judging the quilting.

The good thing is that the quilt's scrappiness makes it very difficult to see the blurps and mistakes.  The bad thing is that for all the time put into this quilt the quilting can hardly seen at all.

The backing is cute isn't it.  I didn't really have enough so I pieced a backing and in parts it is green.  I had found this backing fabric a couple years ago at Ikea of all places, when I was in the States.  100% cotton, cute, and on sale.  The back of this quilt may be nicer than the front!  And the quilting shows up.

Ah well, I did learn how to space a random quilting pattern and get from one point to another.  And I used up quite a lot of my leaders/enders and other scraps.  Why is it I still can't close my fabric drawers?

Bibinba

I guess I'll do a dinner post again...  I do cook practically daily...

Japan is very close to Korea and Korean culture can be found on the TV (love story dramas) and in the food.  Basically Japanese food is very bland (a delicate palate) while Korean food is spicy (sweat while you eat).  Salty pickles are popular in Japan but in Korea a main staple is Kimchee, vegetables pickled in red pepper.

Tetsu and I have go for any kind of food and Kimchee is a favorite.

(An aside....  I remember my Caucasian father HATED Kimchee and could tell from the other end of the house when my mother even opened the jar that she'd bought.

"Get that stinky stuff out of the house!!"

Kimchee does have a high aroma...)

Anyway, this week I made the Korean dish Bibinba.  I have no idea how authentic this is but it is easy to cook (I cheat a lot again) and tasty.

 

The ingredients from top right are:  Kimchee.  Namueru vegetables...  We can buy these prepared in the supermarket...  Let's see, there are spicy daikon, simmered mushrooms, simmered spinach and spicy beansprouts in there.  (The vegetables can be made by simmering them in salt and mixing them with sesame seed oil.)  There is a jar of Korean Kochijan sauce; a spicy bean-paste sauce, grated garlic, sliced pork, grated sesame seeds (look at the size of that bag!  I use them in my granola regularly), and sesame seed oil.

I first mix up 1 Tablespoon sesame seed oil, 1 Tablespoon grated sesame seeds, 1 Tablespoon soy sauce, 2 Tablespoons Kochijan (or use regular miso with a bit of sugar), 1 teaspoon grated garlic.  I add the pork to this and cook it over high heat.

Japanese meats are sold mostly in paper thin slices and we really don't eat much meat in one meal.  I sort of think of meat as "flavoring". 

In the same fry pan I put in enough rice for two people.  In real Korean restaurants a burning hot stone  pot will be used instead of a fry pan.

On top of the rice I add all the vegetables, the Kimchee and the meat.  A raw egg is added and then the whole thing is cooked with a lid on top until the rice burns a little in the pan and is crispy on the bottom.  This is all mixed up and served as is in the fry pan. (The egg sort of sets as it gets mixed on the hot fry pan.)  Tetsu and I spoon out our own servings a little at a time.  Makes for pretty easy clean-up too!
 

Allergies

I live within walking distance of the world's longest cedar grove, Nikko Suginamiki. 

Yesterday was a windy day.

We are heading into the middle of March.

What does all this mean?

It means that the people who suffer from cedar pollen allergies, 30% of the Japanese population, are suffering!

From last week or so masks and goggles are seen in abundance around my part of Japan.  The children come to school bundled up with their faces covered and special glasses that fit around their eyes.  Nearly everyone wears a mask.  Yesterday I saw one man in the convenience store with both nostrils plugged up with  tissue.  If his eyes hadn't been red and puffy he would have looked very scary.  Poor man!

Yesterday's wind sent even non-allergy sufferers like me scurrying inside.  The air was YELLOW!  The cars were coated in a greenish-yellow film.  I was amazed that church members from the next city over would brave coming into our neighborhood for services.  That is called dedication to worship!

As Tetsu and I were driving to somewhere my eyes itched just seeing the CLOUDS puffing out from the cedar trees.  Oh my!   I did make Tetsu stop the car as I snapped a few pictures, but hurried back into the car brushing my clothes off before I got back in (as if that would do any good.)

Although it was a warm sunny day yesterday, nobody had their clothes on the line nor their futon airing from the windows.  Everyone was locked up tight!

Misc. cats

I guess I haven't had a cat post for quite awhile.   It is hard to catch some of them doing anything other than sleeping or eating.

Here is Vel on a rare foray around our front yard.  I take him out with me when I see Tetsu off in the mornings and this day I let him roam a bit.

Chip is our prettiest kitty but she really wishes she were an only cat.  She dislikes sharing the world with any other felines.

Cleo had an upset stomach last week and I really worried about him for a few days.  I took this picture on his first day taking an interest in the scenery around him.  I was so happy he was back to his curious old self.

Here is Toi sitting on the roof.  He wants to be outside and will jump from the window to the entryway roof and then to the veranda .  So far he hasn't figured out how to climb down that tree.

Patora, the least sociable of our kitties.  "Leave me alone.  I'm going back in my box!"  She is always noisy, never happy with wherever she is.  "Let me out of this room!"  "I don't like this other cat looking at me!"

And Mi, the darling of the group.  Mi gets along with everybody, wants hugs and kisses and stays out of trouble.

Staying out of trouble reminds me of Chip's antics this week.  She walked into the English room where I had three boys, jumped up on the cat tree and then peed at the wall!!!  Y-kun was very perceptive and grabbed the other boy's bag and jacket that was just under the cat tree.  Y-kun thought this was very funny (the other boy didn't at all) and reminded us of Chip's only other peeing incident in public.  She walked into the English room sat down on the same boy's book bag and peed on it while we all watched horrified.

"That cat sure doesn't like you!  Remember when she peed on your book bag a couple of years ago?!  Boy, that sure was funny!  I remember your face!  You've got the thank me for saving your bag this time!"  blah, blah, blah.

"Give it a rest Y-kun."

He does have a point.  I wonder why Chip as a chip on her shoulder about the one boy...

By the Light of the Moon kit

What fun I had yesterday!

Another "advanced class" with Mrs. Furui and Mrs. Ochiai.  We worked on our third McKenna Ryan kit.  And this one is going to be MINE!!!

When trying to decide if we were really going to take the plunge and order some kits I knew that if we were going to do it I wanted to do the panel with all the animals in it.  (They all had animals but this one had the most.)  And yesterday the three of us started building the appliques...

All the teeny, tiny pieces!!!  But what cute animals they turn out to be!

A cardinal

A raccoon

A fox

A whole menagerie!  We spent the morning putting together the parts.

And then we spent the afternoon putting together the collage and plotting our quilting strategy. 

I am so excited to see this all fused on but completely stressed out about how this is going to get quilted.  Blog friends have sent me pictures of their completed McKenna quilts and have directed me to the website but honestly... How am I going to quilt those eyes on the foxes without ruining the adorable expressions?

My homework for this week (today) is to put the borders on this and then I will have to find a completely free day to settle down to some quilting...  Can I do this?

I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...

Eighty

80 times.  That's how many times I went to the pool this past year.  I'm not sure if that is good or bad. 

Last March I paid my yearly fees which allowed me to use the pool and sauna and jacuzzi and bathing facilities as much as I liked.  (But I don't use the sauna and jacuzzi.)  Every time I went past the reception desk the girls would hand me a receipt (I have no idea why) when I showed them my card.  I stuffed the receipts in my pool bag pocket and there they have accumulated, becoming damp and soggy.

Yesterday was the last day of my year long membership.  And I have just pulled out all the damp receipts and counted them.  80 little slips of paper.  80 half hour sessions swimming back and forth in the pool.  That averages out to about 1.5 times a week, maybe a bit more because I spent one month in the States and took time off each time I came down with a cold.

Is it worth the membership fee to join again?  I could pay $5 a time just to use the pool without becoming a full-fledged member.  But knowing myself well, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't go if I have to fork out money each time.  I can make all sorts of excuses not to do exercise.  I don't really like swimming very much.  I don't feel healthier and I'm definitely not skinnier after my 80 lap sessions.  But I suppose at my age just DOING it is keeping my body from declining at any faster rate...  I think I need a pep talk.

Sigh...  I guess the next time I'm in the pool neighborhood I'll plunk down another year's membership fee and spend another year swimming laps...

Back and forth...
Back and forth...
Back and forth.....