Japanese Chickadee and Pink Rose Ornament

We grew sunflowers in our garden this summer and Ted put the seed heads on our balcony to dry.  A little chickadee or maybe several have been flying in and taking one seed at a time.  I sat inside and with my new camera’s zoom lens took these pictures.

 

This was a little thing that I had started a long time ago on the extra fabric of the pink hardanger doily (that I recently finished).

I picked it up yesterday and finished the last few white stitches, added a spider web rose with silk ribbon and finished it into this little ornament (about 2.5 inches on each side). I backed the ornament with a pink bali print fabric.

More Winter Preparations

There are many parks within a short distance (walking) of where we live. One park has children’s play equipment and two big train engines. 

Yesterday, a rainy 45 degree F day, the trains were getting covered for the winter. The men built a wood framework over the trains, then covered them with blue tarp material to protect them from the snow that will cover them over. Yes, we get a lot of snow here.

 

There were no little children on the playground equipment, but there was one ookii kodomo.

I finished the twelve pins.  They look rather dull with my photography, but they really did turn out cute.

Party Favors

I found out yesterday that the luncheon ladies can come to my home for lunch on Sunday. The five from last week plus one more will be coming.  I think I’m going to make and serve some American salad foods, like potato salad and macaroni salad and maybe chicken salad and deviled eggs. I have a couple of days to think about it.

I decided I needed some little favor that they could take home.  When I belonged to the Shawnee Quilt Guild we had pot luck luncheons twice a year and there would always be a favor to take home.  I remember a little fabric snowman pin and a chicken pin cushion and a quilted mini-stocking ornament. The value wasn't the item; the value was the memory of a fun luncheon with people I liked.  So, what could I make?  It had to be something small and not too time consuming.  I decided to make twelve little yoyo pins with buttons and beads. I couldn’t just make six because someone else might come at the last minute.  Plus they aren’t all the same, so I need to have a few extra so that even the last person will have a choice.  So, twelve it is.  The button and beads make it look kind of flower-like, and I stitched a little pin backing on each. I made six yesterday and hope to complete the rest today. 

 

Tomorrow I can think about food, seating, and parking.  The little presents will be ready.

Walk on a Fall Day

When I was out walking yesterday, it looked and felt like fall. We haven’t had many sunny days lately. The daytime temperatures are in the mid-50’s, getting down to about 40 F at night.

There are a few roses left, but when I stopped to smell them, there was no scent.

I often see this woman on her motor bike delivering yogurt when I am near downtown in the morning.  I noticed she was wearing a jacket yesterday.

I saw this sign for the first time.  I don’t know if it is new or if I just never paid attention to it before. I don’t know why the two P’s aren’t in line with the rest of the letters.

The tree trimmers have been hard at work for several weeks now. After all the small branches are cut off, the snow only collects at the ends of the big branches in big balls, leaving the trees looking like something from Dr. Seuss.

People are already bracing and tying up their trees and bushes to protect them from the weight of the snow.

I haven’t spent much time stitching the last few days.  I’ve worked on this sashiko panel a bit in the evenings.  According to Japanese Country Quilting, Sashiko Patterns and Projects for Beginners by Karen Kim Matsunaga, this pattern is called the hemp leaf (asa no ha) and is often used to decorate babies’ kimonos in hopes that the infants will develop the vigor and strength of the hemp plant.

The Ladies Luncheon

Last week at the mushroom party, I talked with a woman who has a garden space where we do.  She asked me to meet her and her friends for lunch sometime and we exchanged email addresses.  After emailing back and forth several times, she in Japanese and I in English, I thought she invited me to lunch for yesterday, but wasn’t totally sure. I didn’t know any details of the lunch, which is par for the course in everything I do here.  Directions would be difficult, so she said she would pick me up at the entrance to the university. She drove us to the “cabin” of one of her friends, which was an artist studio several blocks from her friend’s first home.

 

Besides me, there were five women who regularly get together, four from Japan and one from China, who lives here now.

It turned out to be a very interesting afternoon.  They each had prepared an introduction in English for me and I gave them my brief introduction spiel in Japanese. With the help of three electronic dictionaries, they talked with me in English throughout the lunch.  They frequently lapsed into Japanese, with everyone talking at once, but someone would always remind them to speak in English.

 

There was a lot of delicious food and it was one woman’s birthday.  With three candles on a cheese cake, she joked that she was only 3 years old. After she blew out her candles, another woman held a spoon like a microphone and the birthday girl gave a little speech, concluding that she was wishing for a horse.

 

 

 

 

 It was a very entertaining luncheon and I laughed a lot even though I didn’t always know what was going on.  They were amazed I could eat with chopsticks, something I hear frequently.  I was amazed by all the interesting things they do. In addition to studying English, they are also learning Chinese.  Individually they are a gourmet cook, a piano student, a hula dancer; they do gardening, cross stitch, shibori, stained glass, and oil painting.  I look forward to hosting them in my home soon.