Yuki Desu

 

 

 

 

 

Sashiko Bag and Beads on Paper

I made the sashiko panel I recently finished into a bag. The bag fabric is a much darker blue than the sashiko fabric, but I think the simple blue and white print goes well with the sashiko.  (Plus, I wanted to use fabric I had in my stash.) The blue and white print is a bit heavier than quilt fabric, so it gives the bag some body. The sides and the bottom are one piece of fabric, attatched to the front and back.

 

I didn’t have a bag pattern, so it was just kind of trial and error to fit the size of the sashiko panel.  After I made the handles, I realized they were too wide, so I folded them in and stitched them at the top, where a hand will hold the bag.

 

I did all of the sewing together by hand, so I was able to hide the seams inside, where they can’t be seen.  The bag could be reversible, but the purpose is to show the sashiko, so I wouldn’t want to put it to the inside.

 

I’m happy with how it turned out.

Beads on Paper

Alicia, Mikwako and I are working on some ornaments done with beads on perforated paper.

 Alicia is doing a little bear holding some greenery. Miwako is doing a partridge and a pear.  She asked me what that meant.  The 12 Days of Christmas isn’t well known in Japan, like it is in the US.  She changed the brown of the partridge to shades of blue to make the blue bird of happiness. I completed a snowman head and a cardinal at home and started working on another ornament that says JOY.  The patterns for these pieces came from a booklet of ornaments designed by Sam Hawkins and another design by Mill Hill beads.

Second Hand is Good

When Ted first moved here, someone gave him a small refrigerator. He has been wanting to buy a bigger one, but I was reluctant to spend the money to buy a new one when we had one, even though it was small and ugly.  I don’t know if you can read the contact paper on the front of the old one, but it says “Doll Jamaican I’m Dangerous Don’t You Watch My Size”. Ted found a 2011 model at the second hand store for 19,900 yen.  A new model is twice that.  This new-to-us refrigerator is smaller than one in the US, but everything is smaller in Japan.

 

It is quite a bit bigger inside than the old one. The freezer is the drawer on the bottom. Having the refrigerator part on top will make it much easier to get things out.  One thing I found odd is that there are 12 places in the egg tray, but eggs are sold in packages of 10 here, not by the dozen like in the US.

 

The old refrigerator will be moving to Ted’s office.

Ted also bought this slow cooker at the second hand store.  I think he will be trying it out later this week.

 

We put up our gomi Christmas tree to make sure it would all fit together and it did.  There was one loose branch that Ted fixed with a piece of green wire.  Like the refrigerator, it is small, but perfect for our small apartment.

 

I caught this early morning dusting of snow before it melted, but we might get some real snow this week.  Snow is predicted for Tuesday and Thursday this week in Hokkaido.

There are no Fairies in Japan

Last week in English class we were talking about superstitions in Japan.  I learned that when a top tooth falls out, it is good luck to throw the tooth down and when a bottom tooth falls out it is good luck to throw the tooth up.  One student told me that he threw his bottom teeth on top of the roof.  Now I won’t be able to look at roofs here without wondering if there are teeth up there.

I tried to tell them about the US custom of leaving teeth under the pillow for the tooth fairy.  I couldn’t explain what a fairy is.  Disney is popular here so I thought they might know about Peter Pan and the fairy Tinker Bell, but they never heard of Tinker Bell.  I guess there are no fairies in Japan.

 

                                              Ready and Waiting

You Need Snow Tires in Hokkaido

When we bought this car in the spring, it came with two sets of tires: the tires on the car and a set of snow tires.  Ted put the snow tires in the back of the bike garage and there they stayed all summer.  Being the middle of November, it was time to change the tires.  Ted is quite the handy man and was able to save us about 2500 yen by changing the tires himself rather than have it done at Yellow Hat. I watched from the kitchen window and recorded the event with my new little camera.

 

The car is ready for the snow.  Are we?

Rudolph Finish

This is the fabric Ted chose for the back.

I made cording with ecru and green floss.  I’m pleased with how it turned out.  I think Ted likes it too.

Rudolph

One of my first stitching projects after moving here last December was a cross stitch reindeer ornament for one of Ted’s friends.  Ted liked the ornament, so I wanted to make one for him. I gave Ted’s reindeer a red nose to make a Rudolph.   I started it awhile back and just finished the stitching yesterday.  Ted will choose the backing fabric, then I’ll finish it into an ornament for this year’s tree.

 

Have you ever eaten one of these?

 

It is a kaki or Japanese persimmon.  To me, it tastes like an unripe melon mixed with a mango.  It’s okay but not something I’d choose to eat every day.  They are selling for 99 yen right now, the same as a large apple.  I’d rather eat the apple.

Japanese Phone Cards

Ted lived in Japan in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s before Skype and Face Time and other internet telephone systems.  Back then, to call his family in the United States, he had to buy phone cards to use in the international pay phones.  He saved a small box of about 60 of these cards, with different Japanese pictures and scenes.

To preserve the cards, I put them in a small Creative Memories album, using clear corners so they can be removed.

 

Here are a few of the pages.

Playing with Yo-Yos

Alicia and I met after class for lunch and to play with yo-yos. I pulled out fabric, trim, beads, buttons, ribbon, and a variety of other stuff.  Alicia made some decorative hair clips and a necklace to give as gifts.

 

I made a little ornament.  It still looks kind of plain, so I’ll probably embellish it a bit more.  The strings of beads are loose and I might tack them in a few places. It’s hard to know when to stop.

Sometimes it’s just fun to play with stuff and see what it turns into.

Yukimushi

There have been swarms of yukimushi (snow bugs) the last few days. I had to shake out the fleece jacket I was wearing before coming inside because it was covered with them. Yukimushi are tiny white bugs that look kind of like snow and the story is that they signal snow is coming. I tried to take a picture of them but I couldn’t get a clear close up photo.  Here is a picture of one I got from google images:

It feels too warm for snow, but I guess the temperature can change fast enough.

The leaves are coming down quick.  This is the pretty red tree at the train station that I recently posted a photo of – it’s almost bare now.

 

The steps leading down to the under the road passage are collecting leaves. I imagine the underground filing up with all the leaves and having to wade through waist deep leaves to get to the other side of the road.

Sonoko update
I was conflicted about stitching the eyes.  The pattern shows little one stitch slants.  I was concerned this was a stereotype and maybe derogatory.  Ted pointed out that Japanese anime shows one stroke slant eyes, so I did as the pattern showed. I also did the silver zig zag on the lavender side and the couched silver around the edges of the kimono.