Work In Progress Wednesday

The Tale of Genji progress

 The Knot Garden progress

You Never Know Who You Will Meet

I met an adorable woman on a crowded train. We were both standing, and I was very disappointed that no one offered her their seat. Finally, some people got off the train, and we were able to sit together. We talked, and asked each other things like where do you live, can you see Mt. Fuji where you live, do you like sweets, etc. Just simple things. She told me she is 92 years old! Our time together was short, and then we went our separate ways. She made my day!

Monday Morning Star Count

I made more individual hexagons, then two more hexagons flowers. Now I have 45 finished flowers and quite a few individual hexagons.

Climbers Rescued from Mt. Fuji

 

Last Monday, two people fell while climbing Mt. Fuji, which is still closed to the public, and had to be rescued by Shizuoka Prefectural Police Mountain Rescue Team. Police were called by a friend of one of the climbers around 3 pm and were rescued about 10:40 pm, according to TV Asahi. Police said the climbers were three foreigners, two of whom fell. The injuries of the two who fell are unknown. 

The mountain is open to climbers from July 10th to September 10th. This is March! There are reasons why the mountain is closed in March. Why do people break the rules and risk their lives and the lives of the rescuers like this?

JR East Fare Increases

On Thursday, I read on the Japan Today website that JR East would be increasing its fares across its entire service area by an average of 7.1% on Friday, the next day. This was the first I had heard of this increase, just one day before the increase was implemented, and I was quite surprised. I often travel by train, and even though I live in the JR Central area, JR East area begins in Atami, which is not far from me.

Regular fares increased 7.8%, commuter passes 12.0%, and student passes by 4.9%. The largest increases will be in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. JR claims the increase is needed to cover rising costs of maintenance inspections and railway improvements.

The costs of so many things seem to be rising. Do you feel that way too?

Friday Finish - Wild Garden Box Top

This piece was started as a stitch group project and has been hanging around, unfinished, for too long. I finally filled in some of the empty spaces and finished it as a box top.  These simple boxes are available in different sizes at Daiso for 100 yen each.

Seiganji

When I’m out walking, I often come across shrines and temples. This one is on a hill. I’m sure I was here before, but I don’t remember exactly when.

There was no one else around, which is pretty normal when I visit shrines and temples. It was calm and quiet. If I find myself in this area, I could visit again.

Work In Progress Wednesday

The Tale of Genji progress - I still have cross stitch in the middle, and a lot of back stitching left to do, but it is coming along nicely.

Knot Garden progress

Zipper Pouch progress - five rows

Stitch Group Sunday

We met on Sunday and it was a great get together, working on our gardens.

One of our members was given all of this embroidery floss. She shared with the rest of us.

We talked and worked on our gardens. There were so many good ideas.

Tea Time

I look forward to seeing everyone’s garden progress when we meet next time.

Monday Morning Star Count

Lately I have been organizing and trying to find uses for things I’ve been saving. I want to finish projects and use up the things I’ve been saving. Heaven forbid if I should get too old to stitch and someone else has to clean out my stash! 

Anyway, I prepared more fabric to make 26 mm hexagons. I cut fabric into 2 1/2 inch squares, then paper clipped the fabric squares to the paper hexagon template.

There are different ways to make hexagons and bigger pieces. This is how I do it.

I fold over the corners and do a tacking stitch, removing the paper clips as I go along.

I need a center and six petals to make the flower shape.

 

Without cutting the thread, I attach one side of the center to one side of each petal. When all six petals are attached, I use the point of the scissors to pop out the center template. That template gets reused over and over.  I leave the template in until it is supported on all six sides by other hexagons.

With the center template out, I can fold the center to easily join the side of the petals together.

So, one more hexagon flower finished, for a total of 43.