Friends, Fish, and the Waterbus

At the end of the year (2023), two of my friends came to my town and I met them at the train station. First we checked out a new shopping area. From the top level, there is a nice view of the port area and Mt. Fuji.

We had lunch at a fresh fish place that had about eight counter seats and one employee. I had fresh tuna marinated in soy sauce over rice. It came with miso soup and green tea and was 1080 yen.

After lunch, we took the water bus to the fresh fish market.  This was the first time I had ridden the waterbus and it was fun.

My friends bought some fish to eat for the new year holiday, and then it was time for them to return by train to their homes. I'm glad we had the chance to spend some time together over the holidays.

People's Choice SAL - My Designer of the Year - Jonalene T. Gutwein

 

 

Every month for the last several years, on the first  Saturday, Jo at Serendipidous Stitching has hosted a Stitch A Long, with the topics chosen by her readers. This is the last month of the Stitch a Long, and I want to say a big THANK YOU to Jo for giving me this space to show some of my stitching, as well as enjoy the stitching of the other participants. 

This last month's topic is "my designer of the year". While there are some designers that I like, I'm not a big follower of any one designer, so I've decided to try to finish one big project that I began in 1997.  The designer is Jonalene T. Gutwein and the project is an Embroiderers' Guild of America, Inc. Group Correspondence Course called Drawn Thread Sampler #1. 

At the time I started this project, I was a member of the Indianapolis EGA chapter. I was able to complete the first section, which was the cross stitch design.  My plan was to complete the sampler with the rest of the group in 1997, so I went ahead and stitched the year on my sampler.  Shortly after that, I moved to Carbondale, Illinois, where there was no EGA chapter. The fabric, thread, and thick instructions binder was packed away and carried with me on every move after that. 

I've decided that 2024 is the year to get back to work on it, which is why I am choosing Jonalene T. Gutwein as my designer of the year. The course consisted of a drawn thread notebook for practicing the stitches, as well as the sampler itself. I basted the large piece of linen for the practice and even started on the first part, but that is as far as I stitched on the practice piece. I have now tacked the sampler to stretcher bars and I'm ready to read the directions again. I really want to finish this sampler in 2024!

Practice piece for notebook below.

Friday Finish - Drawstring Bag

I finished this little Lizzie Kate freebie into a small drawstring bag. The chart for this is available online here.

 

Tahara Castle

I took a day trip on the train to visit three castles in Aichi Prefecture with connections to Tokugawa Ieyasu.  The first was Tahara Castle. 

This is the history of Tahara Castle listed on the  Jcastle website.

A castle was first built at this site in 1480 by the Toda Clan. Surrounded at that time by inlets of the sea facing the bay, it was strategically located and easy to defend. When Matsudaira Kiyoyasu advanced into Mikawa Province Toda Munemitsu became his vassal, but following his death in 1535 he switched allegiances to the ascendant Imagawa Clan in Suruga and Tōtômi Provinces. In 1547 Matsudaira Hirotada lost Anjōjō to Oda Nobuhide and asked the Imagawa for help. He sent his son, Ieyasu, as collateral to the Imagawa. The Imagawa charged Toda Akimitsu with collecting Ieyasu and delivering him, but instead he delivered him straight to Oda Nobuhide after accepting a bribe. The Imagawa punitively attacked Taharajō in response and occupied the castle. After the Battle of Okehazama the Tokugawa Clan conquered Taharajō and it was used as a satellite castle of Yoshidajō from thereon. In 1590 with the country under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu was transferred to Kantō and Ikeda Terumasa took over Yoshidajō and so Taharajō. After the Toda once again acted as castellans from 1601 to 1664; the Miyake Clan ruled during the most of the Edo period, controlling a fiefdom which at its height was valued at 12,000 koku and extended throughout all of the Irago Peninsula and parts of the Chita Peninsula. The reconstructions of the ôtemon and yagura date to 1990.

This is the gate from the road outside the castle grounds.

The moat

There were two shrine areas. This one is on the right as you enter the gate.

The reconstructed castle area

This doesn't seem to be a big tourist place, and as expected, the signage was all in Japanese.

This is the second of the shrine areas.  It was early and the only person I saw at this sight was one man who seemed to be cleaning up leaves.

If you are interested in Japanese Castles, take a look at my Castle page on this blog to find out about the ones I have visited.

Work In Progress Wednesday

I have had this week free and thought I'd get more stitching done that I did. It's okay because every bit of time spent with the projects is good.

International Panda progress

Dogwood afghan progress - This is the fourth square.

Sneek Sampler progress

Hatsuhinode 2024

Hatsuhinode is the Japanese tradition of watching the first sunrise on New Year's Day.  I walked to Miho no Matsubara to witness the sunrise yesterday. Slowly, the sky became brighter and the beach became more crowded. It was amazing to behold the daybreak.

(The last time I saw the sunrise at this place was in 2021.)

Then, yesterday afternoon, there was an earthquake. This is a screenshot from jma.go.jp.  I live in a dark blue area.

Monday Morning Star Count, 168 and Eight Rows

It's coming along - 168 flowers made (six new ones this week) and eight rows of twelve connected. This is slow but still a good pace for this project.

Happy New Year 2024!