Awashima Shrine and 13 Years of Blogging

I was walking on a little street behind the train station, and when I came around a bend in the road, I saw this cute little shrine. When I looked at Google maps, I found out the name is Awashima Shrine.

I moved to Japan on December 5, 2011, and started this blog on December 11, 2011.  Every single day since then, I have posted about my stitching, my travels, and about everything I find interesting in Japan. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to come to Japan, and to be able to stay here.

Hairball Removal

I learn many things from my fellow bloggers.  The newest thing is called hairball removal. I learned about this on the blog called 

私がめがねをかけるとき, that is written by Toki.  I didn't know about removing the little balls that form on my socks and other garments!  Not only was Toki helpful in writing the post about it, she sent me the special tool to do it! It is a Clover product, made in Japan.

I have a drawer full of socks that are waiting to have their hairballs removed.  Thank you Toki for educating me about this process and for sending me the special tool!

(Please notice the beautiful blue hand knit socks and gloves next to the red and white heart socks.  They were made and given to me by Leonore, who blogs at Needle, Pen and Sword.)

Over a Million

I was surprised to notice that my blog had surpassed one million views. A big THANK YOU to everyone who reads and comments.

One Lovely Blog Award

Thank you very much to my amazing friend Karen, of Walk Talk, for giving me the “One Lovely Blog Award”. I love reading her inspirational, informational blog and hope you will take a look at it too.

Here are the rules for accepting the award:

* Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post.
* Share 7 things about yourself.
* Nominate bloggers you admire.
* Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know.

About myself:

I’ve been stitching since I was five, I like reading mysteries, I studied Spanish and French in college and was inducted into Alpha Mu Gamma foreign language honor society,  I graduated from law school and passed bar exams in two states, I like cats more than dogs,  my favorite cake is carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and I want to be an artist and a ballerina when I grow up.

The bloggers I admire and nominate (in alphabetical order) for the One Lovely Blog Award are:

Blue Moth

Grit’s Life

Manuelas Flowergarden

Margaret’s Blog

Queenie’s Needlework

Stitch Bitch

Two Years of Blogging

Two years and 740 posts!  It’s hard to believe I’ve been in Japan two years already.  Time really does fly when you are having fun.

Winter is here and with it, comes the snow.

Blogs I Read

If you read my blog from a mobile device, you may not see the right side bar.  From the computer version, you can see one section showing a list of blogs, which is in order as the blogs in the list are updated (most recently updated at the top).  Some of the blogs are written by my friends, some are written by stitchers I like, some are written by stitch bloggers who have become my friends, some are about Japan, and one is my husband Ted’s photography blog.  I have removed some blogs because they weren’t updated, but I won’t be removing Ted’s even though he doesn’t update often. He is my husband, and I have faith that he will have time to post more at some point.

I want to recommend a relatively new blog called walktalk, written by my longtime good friend, Karen. She writes on a lot of informative walk topics, with a personal perspective. She gives great information, without being dry or boring. Not only is she a caring and compassionate person and a fitness expert, she practices what she preaches.  Check out walktalk For Walkers.

I recommend checking out all of the blogs on my list.  Some you may be familiar with because I’ve linked to them in the past. Isn’t it amazing how I can be in Japan and stay connected to people all over the world by blog?

Blackwork, Italian Style, with a Japanese Connection

One of the blogs I read is Italian Needlework.  I met the author, Jeanine in Canada, when we were both taking a four day Italian needlework class in San Francisco several years ago, and I have been reading her blog ever since.  She recently posted about Valentina Sardu of Ajisai Press, whose blackwork designs reflect a Japanese influence.  You can read the entire post and see pictures of her designs here. Her blackwork designs are amazing!

After reading about this, I pulled out a blackwork pattern book and before I knew it, I had started working on this little blackwork border pattern on a kitchen towel!

 

The Liebster Award

I've been awarded the Liebster Blog award from Mary aka Colorado Stitcher http://acoloradostitcher.blogspot/  Thank you, Mary!

Liebster is a German word, meaning "favorite, dearest or beloved," and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help them gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

 1.         Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs (with less than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.

2.         Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

3.         Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.

4.         Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

 The Blogs:

Dragon’s Tooth Photography  http://dragonstoothphotographyblog.blogspot.jp/ 

Bewitching Dreams.  http://www.bewitchingdreams.com/

Voices from a Japanese Old Boy http://japankazu.blogspot.jp/

Zawa Events http://zawa-events.blogspot.jp/

Gravel and Rust http://gravelandrust.blogspot.jp/ 

Five random facts about me that people don’t know:

I took roller skating lessons when I was in grade school, I was student council president my senior year of high school, my first job after graduating from college was working at dude ranch in Arizona, I rode a camel in Morocco, and my first marathon was the Grandfather Mountain Marathon in 1984.

Thanks Mary aka Colorado Stitcher!

Thank you, Colorado Stitcher

Thank you, Mary (http://acoloradostitcher.blogspot.com/) for giving me some blog settings advice.  I had no idea I could change such things!  If you've tried to post a comment and found it too difficult, please try again. The settings have been changed so that you can post without an ID or verification.