Friday Finish - Felt Pins

I made some little embroidery and felt pins to give away to friends living in care homes. They are fun little projects with no rules. I use flat safety pins so they can be mailed in a regular envelope.

 

Yamanaka Castle Ruins

Saturday I took the train to Mishima, then caught the bus to the Yamanaka bus stop (¥810). This bus also goes to the Mishima Skywalk and some other tourist sites, so it was full of people. Maybe it is less crowded on a week day.  

This information is from the JCastle website:

This castle was founded by Hojo Ujiyasu to protect the main Hojo stronghold at Odawara. It was part of a string of fortifications that inlcuded Nirayama Castle and Ashigara Castle. As relations between Hojo and Toyotomi Hideyoshi worsened, Hojo Ujimasa began to strengthen the fortifications of Yamanaka Castle around 1587. At this time, the Daisaki Demaru Bailey was constructed to overlook the road leading to Odawara. In 1590 before Hojo had completed the new fortifications, Hideyoshi launched the full force of nearly 70,000 troops against the meager 4,000 defenders of Yamanaka Castle. It is said that the castle fell in less than a half day and in only 2 hours by some accounts. This was the first assault by Hideyoshi on Odawara in his campaign to overthrew the Hojo.

Saturday was a beautiful day!  Perfect for walking back in time.

The castle grounds are on both sides of the road, so these signs with the red mark to show location are very helpful.

Former site of the Imperial horse racing grounds

The views are gorgeous.

The middle says Yamanaka.  I don't know what the rest says.

This sign points to the rest area.

Remains of the Suribachi enclosure

Mt. Fuji again.

Remains of the Warrior Camp

This was a great place to visit!

Work in Progress Wednesday

Rapunzel blackwork - this is an old Marion Scoular design that has been packed away for a very long time. I pulled it out to check the thread and decided to work on it a bit.

Kogin Four Seasons progress - I worked more on the summer section.

Last week, Lyn commented that she thought the 1 chi thread might be like floche. I don't stitch with floche often enough to know, but I did have a project using floche, so I pulled it out to compare. The floche is a thinner smoother thread.  The 1 chi is thicker and rather rough.

Summertime Mt. Fuji progress 

This project is very fun for me. Mt. Fuji's 25 connected/related sites were recognized in 2013 by UNESCO as a cultural World Heritage site. I am depicting the mountain and a few of the other sites in this piece.

Sengen Taisha Shrine, Fujinomia

Miho no Matsubara

Shiraito Falls

And of course the summertime mountain, without snow, just clouds. (View from my apartment yesterday.)

Let’s Keep Others in Mind

The woman in the white hoodie is the person I hate to be sitting next to. I do not want any one’s head on me. I don’t like sitting by drunk people either.