One Day Ornament - Candy Cane Snow Man

I found some squares of Zweigart fabric samples that I thought were just the right size for ornaments that could be stitched and finished quickly.  I’m not sure where they came from, maybe a seminar goody bag or door prize.

This one is cream colored 20 count Pearl Linen.  The design is by Joan Moore of Poppy Kreations and stitched with cotton floss. The red and white backing fabric is from my stash.

 

I cut ovals using my scrapbooking oval shape and covered the ovals with very thin batting and the fabric.  Using off-white quilting thread, I put the two ovals together.

 

I made cording with two colors of #8 perle cotton, with my hook on the wall method.

 

After pinning the cording to the ovals, I attached it with invisible thread.

 

Finished in a day – front and back.

Update on Fox Rental Management, Clayton North Carolina

I told you here about the problems we have had with Fox Rental Management and the complaint we filed with the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.

We just received a Case Status Report in the mail, that says in part:

“ The North Carolina Real Estate Commission at its meeting on March 6, 2013, considered the above-referenced matter and:

X   Authorized the Commission’s Regulatory Affairs Division to commence disciplinary proceedings against Respondent Fox and Fox Rental Management upon finding that probable cause exists to believe that Respondents violated the provisions of G.S. 93A and/or the Rules of the Real Estate Commission. (NOTE: Probable cause is determined by the Real Estate Commission only after a thorough review of the matter, any written response furnished by the Respondent(s), and the results of any investigation by the Commission’s auditors or investigators.) …”

 It’s been almost a year since we filed our complaint with the NC Real Estate Commission, but I am pleased with their thoroughness.  I don’t know what the disciplinary proceedings will consist of, but hopefully no one else will have to go through what we have.

Is It Spring Yet?

The calendar says spring, but spring really hasn’t come to Hokkaido yet. Yesterday was our day to shovel. It snowed over night and was still snowing when we woke up.


view from our kitchen window

We drank some coffee and waited until it got light and warmed up a bit before we headed out the door to get our shovels.

 

I poked the 12 inch ruler down in several places and here is the range of the least and most deep places.

 

Maybe this will be our last day to shovel this winter.  We can hope.

 

In other spring time news, we are already planning for our vegetable garden.  Ted went to city hall and paid for a double plot for this summer.  We want to grow watermelon and need to plant twice as many sun flowers so we can feed twice as many birds next winter!

University Graduation 2013

 

 

 

An Idea for a New Project
I have an idea for a little stitched bag.  I haven’t drawn anything out or made any notes on paper; it’s just an idea.  I have a 15 x 18 inch piece of blue 28 count even weave fabric and these colors of #8 perle cotton, along with three stitches in mind, to begin. I’ll probably be adding more threads and stitches, but this is a beginning.  I'll see where it takes me.

Pretty as a (Finished) Peacock

I really like this piece.  It was fun to work on and pretty to look at.

I just had a few more patterns to finish it. Here’s the branch.

 

It’s small, but this vine with leaves was the most difficult part of the whole thing. The leaves have only a few full stitches, and a lot of compensating.  The vine is made up of random crosses.  Random is harder than it looks!

All that was left was the beak and eye.

Here’s the finished peacock, and the peacock next to the pheasants. These are Tanja Berlin designs and the kits are available on her web site, if you are interested.

 

Omiyage for Me

Omiyage is a wonderful tradition in Japan.  One expects gifts on birthday and certain holidays, but omiyage gifts are surprises.  They are unexpected and undeserved.  Someone else goes on a trip and you get a gift when they return.

My neighbor went to a wedding party in Kyoto and brought me back these beautiful post cards and Japanese papers.

Peacock Progress

Yes, I’m still working on this one and I am making progress. I’ve worked on the feet,

 

The crown,

 

And the face.

 

P.S. Ted revived his photography blog with a post yesterday. Check it out here.



Saturday or Funday?

 

We had a fun day in snowy Sapporo yesterday. It’s mid-March and there are cherry blossoms in other parts of Japan, but it is still winter in Hokkaido.

Sapporo is the largest city in Hokkaido and the fourth largest in Japan.
It’s kind of exciting to be able to find our way around the big city on public transportation, being illiterate and all.  Some things are in English, but addresses and directions are totally different than what we are used to in the US.  That’s a post for another day.

We traveled to Sapporo by bus, getting off near Odori Park, two blocks from the subway.  Since it was Saturday, we bought the all day subway ticket, which is available on weekends and holidays.

Our first destination was the art museum.  I had already seen the Ainu Arts and Crafts exhibit, but wanted to see it again and Ted wanted to see it too. Photographs were not allowed, unfortunately.

Next we went to Maruyama Koen and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. We ordered the “lunch for two” and had to make lots of choices.

 

We ordered squid with celery and chicken with ginger sauce and cashews from the first category.

 

Shrimp wontons from the second. We both ordered shrimp in chili sauce for the main course.

Fried rice was next.

 

Chinese tea and mango custard finished the meal.

It was a bit more than we usually spend on lunch, but it was a lot of lunch and very delicious.  When you eat out in Japan, the price you see on the menu is the price you pay at the end.  You don’t have taxes and tip added on.

(2900 yen was the food, 680 was a beer)

After lunch we went to the zoo. We wanted to see the animals that were outside in the snow. The animal enclosures here are much smaller than we are used to in the US, but as a result, you get very close to the animals.

The snow owls probably think this weather is just for them.

The wolf pack consisted of four wolves.  The wind was blowing their fur and they seemed to like being outside in the snow.

The Hokkaido Bear was my favorite animal of the day. When we were at the zoo in the warm weather, he was hiding. When the bear saw Ted's camera bag next to the plexiglass, he ran up to it, like he thought it was a picnic basket of food. I’ve never been so close to such a monster of a bear.

 

 

 

 

We’ve seen polar bears other places, but this was probably the first time we ever saw a polar bear in real snow.

The penguins were so cute.  Several of them were at the edge of the water, like they were trying to decide whether they would go for a swim. Finally one dove in, but the others didn’t follow.

Splash!

It was dark when we made it to the bus station.

It was still snowing and blowing and the temperature had dropped, so the roads had gotten bad. It took a very long time to get back home, but we did make it home last night.  It was both Saturday and a fun day in Sapporo. Today will be funday Sunday and I'm going to stay home and stitch.