WIP/UFO Update

I last posted about my WIP/UFO's here.  This is my latest update. I've taken out the finished projects and added the new ones. Bold titles show the ones I have worked on in 2021. In case you are wondering, I did finish a few things - and they can be seen here.

Mola

Year 2 of the Temperature Quilt 

Year 3 of the Temperature Quilt 

Year 4 of the Temperature Quilt 

Year 5 of the Temperature Quilt

The House Quilt

The Midnight Mystery Quilt 

Floral Bouquet Wall Hanging

Hexagon Block Wall Quilt

The Hexie Tree Wall Quilt 

Ribbon Album Wall Quilt

Mary Queen of Scots  

Bess of Hardwick 

Paisley Purse

RSN Knot Garden 

RSN Rice Fields

Miniature Carpet 

Miniature Chair Cushion 

Silk Gauze Cat 

EGA Drawn Thread GCC

Blue Hardanger 

White Hardanger - Linda Driscoll

Kogin

Dogwood Afghan 

Sneek Sampler

New Cross Stitch Project

Cross Stitch Ornament

Sashiko Table Runner

Temari

Fashionable Ladies 

Scarf

Little Dragonfly Stumpwork Project

Sardinian Filet

I think visiting this list from time to time is helpful.  It reminds me what I have that is still unfinished (and also how many things are still unfinished).

P.S.  There is a good UFO article here - Inspirations All Stitched Up.

Friday Finish - Pink Needlebook

I made this little cross stitch bit into a needlebook, using a piece of pink kimono fabric and some felt.

Square Watermelons

 

Internet photo

Have you ever seen square watermelons? This photo is from Zentsuji, Kagawa Prefecture in Japan. These watermelons are grown in transparent plastic containers, resulting in these 18 cm cubic watermelon that sell for arount 10,000 yen each. They weigh about 6 kg each. They are not edible and are used mainly as display pieces in department stores and fruit shops. Maybe this is only in Japan.

Work In Progress Wednesday

The Miniature Carpet - yes, I continue working on this.

The Floral Bouquet - I added a thistle flower, a daisy, and a fern.

A new Cross Stitch project - just an idea I have.

The Scarf - I've worked more on the left side, filling in shapes and starting another line of feather stitches.

I also added a couple of Woven Long Tailed Lazy Daisy stitches, a new to me stitch.  You can see how to make it on Queenie's Needlework's Sunday Stitch School.

Cross Stitch Ornament - I need something small to work on so I started a new ornament.

The Lonely Shrine

When I was out for a walk, I came across this well-kept shrine near the river. I didn't see any signs or name that I could read for it. When I got home, I looked up the location on google maps and there was no name.  I guess it is the lonely shrine.

Monday Morning Star Count - Week 8

Year five of the temperature quilt 

Week 8 

June 20 -26 

82, 81, 82, 73, 77, 81, 81

I am reporting the high temperature each day.  My Year Five temperature/color scheme remains the same as previous years: 

100+ Brown 

90-99 Red 

80-89 Orange 

70-79 Yellow 

60-69 Green 

50-59 Blue 

40-49 Purple 

30-39 Pink 

20-29 White 

You can see my finished Year One Quilt here.

Mt. Fuji is Open for Business (I Mean Climbing)

photo taken by me Feb 2020 in Fujinomiya

 

Due to the pandemic, Mt. Fuji was closed to climbers last summer.  I was surprised to hear it will be open this climbing season. 

(I don't think the pandemic is over yet. Aren't the reasons it was closed last summer still reasons this year?)

It opened on July first for the route on the Yamanashi Prefecture side and will open on the tenth for the three routes on the Shizuoka Prefecture side. The season will end on the tenth of September for all routes. 

I love seeing seeing Mt. Fuji, especially in winter when it is covered in snow. I didn't think it was so pretty up close when I climbed it in August 2019.  It's a lot of sharp black rocks.

I'm really glad I was able to climb it when I did. I will always be in awe of this mountain. 

The People's Choice - Houses

 

Every month, on the first Saturday, Jo at Serendipidous Stitching hosts a Stitch A Long, with the topics chosen by her readers. This month's topic is Houses.

This ornament was a free chart from the Drawn Thread.

This wool door hanger was a kit, but I can't remember the designer.

The name of this chart was Dream House, but I've given away the chart so I don't have any other details.

The 12th Pear (free chart from Samplers and Santas)

Winter Alphabet Bag, designed by Judy Gibbs of Hollie Designs. 

Hokkaido has Four Seasons

The Apron

In the "yet to be finished" category is my house quilt.

Finally, the birdhouses.

Friday Finish - Winter Banner

I finished the stitching on this piece quite a while ago, and finally did the finishing. The stitching is done with silk thread and I made the twisted cording with DMC floss.

The chart for this design is called Seasons by Kathy Schmitz and comes with banner charts for all four seasons. 

NOTE: I've attempted to change my email subscription system from Feedburner (which has been discontinued) to Mailchimp. I hope it works.  Can someone let me know if you receive my posts by email and the change over worked?  Thanks!

English Words with Japanese Meanings

Japanese has three sets of characters - Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Katakana is the "alphabet" used for borrowed words from other languages. Some Japanese words mean the same thing as in the original language, but others leave us wondering what is this? 

Fight 

In English, fight means an argument or physical assault (negative meaning). In Japanese, fight (pronounced faito) is used the same as ganbare, Do Your Best. It is used to cheer someone on to complete a difficult project or when competing in an athletic event.

Mansion 

When I hear mansion in English, I think of a large beautiful house. In Japanese, mansion (pronounced manshon) means a large apartment building, probably with an elevator. Apartment (aparto in Japanese) is also used, but describes two or three or four story buildings. I live in an aparto, not a mansion.

Revenge 

In English, revenge means hurting someone who has done some wrong to you. In Japanese, revenge (pronounced ribenji) is when you try a second time to do better than the first time. It's more of a personal challenge.

Tension 

In English, tension has a negative meaning, stress or emotional strain.  In Japanese, tension (pronounces tenshon) means high energy. High tension or good tension means someone is happy and feeling good. I've also heard it used refering to children who are more energic than the parent. 

Viking 

In English, Viking refers to Scandinavian seafaring pirates in the 8th - 11th centuries. In Japanese, Viking (pronounced baikingu) means an all you can eat buffet meal. I've read that the origins of this word in Japanese comes from a Japanese hotel manager who travelled to Sweden in the 1950's and was introduced to a smorgasbord type meal. He brought the meal idea back to Japan, but thought smorgasbord was too difficult to pronounce. He used the word Viking, which he heard from a film title. I don't know if that is true or not. 

Vinyl 

In English, I think of the black plastic phonograph records when I hear vinyl. In Japanese, vinyl (pronounced biniiru) means the plastic shopping bags you get at convenience stores or grocery stores. 

Do you know of any borrowed words that mean something different in your language than the language they were borrowed from? I'm always interested in language and vocabulary.

Work In Progress Wednesday

The Miniature Carpet - This has been my main project this week and I have been working on it as much as I can.

I added leaves, stems, and one daisy to the Floral Bouquet.

The Mola Fish is almost finished.

Yesterday I felt a very small earthquake and checked the jma website. The jma confirmed it was very small and the epicenter was very close.

The Name's the Same

 

As you may or may not know, in Japan married couples must share the same family name. Everyone must register with the local govenment, according to the family register law in the Japanese Civil Code. Article 750 of the Civil Code states "a husband and a wife shall adopt the surname of the husband or wife in accordance with that which is decided at the time of marriage." This provision applies only to Japanese couples.  Foreigners married in Japan are able to keep their own family names. According to govenment data, 96 percent of married couples choose to use the husband's name.  I have one student who chose to use his wife's name.  His wife has no brothers, so in order to keep her family name going, they chose her name.

In 2018, three couples filed to keep their separate family names after local governments refused to accept their marriage registrations.  Last week, the Japanese Supreme Court again ruled that the legal provisions forcing married couples to use the same surname are constitutional, upholding the previous Supreme Court decision from 2015. This decision was handed down by Presiding Justice Naoto Otani. 

The 2015 Supreme Court ruling said the practice of using the same surname was "well-established in society" and there is no gender inequality in the system. At that time, five of the fifteen justices disagreed, citing the disadvantages involved in name changing. The 2015 ruling also stated the same surname issue should be taken up in parliament, rather than seeking a judicial ruling. 

Many companies in Japan now allow female employees to use their own family names at work. A Kyodo News survey conducted in March and April of this year showed that 60 percent of respondents thought married couples should be able to have different surnames, while 38 percent were against different names for married couples.  

What do you think? Should married couples be forced to choose the same name?  What is the rule or law where you live?

Monday Morning Star Count - Week 7

Year five of the temperature quilt 

Week 7 

June 13 - 19 

81, 79, 82, 75, 77, 79, 72

I am reporting the high temperature each day.  My Year Five temperature/color scheme remains the same as previous years: 

100+ Brown 

90-99 Red 

80-89 Orange 

70-79 Yellow 

60-69 Green 

50-59 Blue 

40-49 Purple 

30-39 Pink 

20-29 White 

You can see my finished Year One Quilt here.

Japanese Words for the Rainy Season

It's that time of year again - tsuyu 梅雨 (つゆ) or in English, rainy season. It seems like there are a lot of weather words in English, but I think there are many more words in Japanese. There must be hundreds for the rainy season alone, but that is more than I know. Many of these Japanese words are onomatopoeia, the words that sound like what they describe. You can just imagine what it is by the sound the word makes. Here are a few words for the rainy season.

ame  雨 (あめ) - rain 

bisho bisho - drenched to the skin

byoo - byoo - strong howling wind 

doshaburi - downpour

goro - goro - the rumble of thunder 

jakuu  - weak rain

kasa 傘 (かさ) - umbrella 

kirisame - drizzle

konukaame - fine rain

kumori 曇り (くもり) - cloudy 

niwaka ame - sudden shower 

oo-ame 大 (おお)   雨 (あめ). - torrential rain

pika - pika - the sparkle of the lightning

potsu-potsu - raindrops hitting dry ground 

shito-shito - drizzle 

tsuyuake 梅雨明け (つゆあけ)  - the end of the rainy season

tsuyubare 梅雨晴 (つゆばれ) - sunny spell during the rainy season

zah-zah - pouring rain 

雨がすごく降っています
Ame ga sugoku futte imasu

It's raining cats and dogs.