moving hands

(antique sampler)
Here we are, back in Tokyo again. Kids were awake at 2:30 a.m. for “peanut butter and crackers for breakfast, please!”, which was an improvement over the 12:30 a.m. wake-up call yesterday morning (night). When I say wake-up, I mean we are woken up until I can get them to finally rest again around lunchtime. Jet lag is no fun.

Now that I have made the journey (as the only adult) to the midwest U.S.A. and back to Japan with two children, at varying stages of infancy and toddlerhood, five times, it is safe to call myself a veteran.  I shrugged when even the flight attendants were ones of many who called me “brave” on Tuesday.  I talked to one flight attendant who, having children ages 2, 4, and 6 herself, understood me well.  I told her that it must take a lot of juggling to be an international flight attendant with three small children at home, to which she quickly replied, “Yes, but I get to have a hotel room!”  Sounds like some blissful peace and quiet to me, too!

Last week, Quilt Otaku kindly gave me an award for being a “creative blogger with originality”. Thank you so much!

I am not usually a memey person, but I have seen some good ones around lately, so I decided to make up my own meme! Is that allowed? I always thought there had to be 284 degrees of separation between me and an original meme-maker. I’ll call it “Ten Years About Me”. Here goes:

Ten years ago, I worked in a village in southern Japan, and helped neighbors with their onion and lotus root harvests in my spare time.

Nine years ago, I trained to race walk a full marathon in Omaha, Nebraska.

Eight years ago, I rode my bicycle along the lakefront path to work in downtown Chicago.

Seven years ago, I started law school. Then I decided that it would be okay if there was one fewer lawyer in the world, and went back to the master’s degree program in library and information science that I had already started.

Sixyears ago, I had a blog called Moving Hands on Blogger. Then it moved to Typepad for their free trial month thing. That ran out (due to my ambivalence; some people thought that when the blog disappeared, it meant that I had called off the wedding!), and I eventually moved to WordPress. Yes, I am a blogging dinosaur who remembers such things as tag boards instead of comments (tag boards!!), being part of the knitblog ring when it had 25 or so members, and some of the original knitting/crafting bloggers, most of whom have (no surprise) quit blogging. Remember Spinning Ginn, Dangerous Chunky, Domestic Sphere, and Glitter Kitty? I do.

Five years ago, I moved to Tokyo.

Four years ago, I got married with Tokyo Bay as the backdrop.

Threeyears ago, I had my first daughter. We took her home from the hospital on the Coming of Age Day national holiday, and I remember seeing the 20-year-olds dressed in kimono and suits for celebrations, thinking that my baby would never get that big. Time will prove me wrong.

(one year ago)

Two years ago, I had my second daughter. Her super-special Fourth of July birthday was celebrated with red, white and blue cupcakes this year. Can’t wait until she is old enough to watch fireworks.

(a snack smock made from vintage fabric)

One year ago, we moved into this house. The area continues to surprise and enchant me.

And right now? I am on my third cup of coffee at 4 a.m., and thinking about picnics, making about a dozen of these, house cushions and soft vegetables.

My daughter is learning how to play tag. But when we tag her, instead of chasing us, she runs away gleefully. That’s my girl. I hereby tag all of you. Now run away, write ten years about you, and come back to share your link in the comments.

I finished border number two in the Medallion Quiltalong, a project that is literally the most fun I have ever had doing patchwork. I decided to make it like the border in the antique quilt, not the way that Anita so kindly drafted with these instructions. When I first saw the original quilt, part of the charm and brilliance came from how some of the borders are angled (this one, a few more like it, and a gorgeous flying geese border), which create so much around-the-quilt movement for the eyes. I just love those little bricks!

I knew that it could be pieced easily, especially if I decided to go with the way the border was made on the antique one: lop off edges to fit, and end up with the right overall measurement in the end.

If you want to know how I made this border with strip piecing, extremely simple measurements, almost no need to match seams while piecing, and no triangle cutting, read on!

Keep reading →

I have thought for a long time that Google was making me stupid. After reading Is Google Making Us Stupid? this month, I definitely know the answer.

Do you remember when high-speed Internet started to replace dial-up? Everything felt so much faster and efficient, pages started to look better, video and photos loaded with lightning speed, and all seemed right with the world. Awesome!

Not so fast. I realized that being able to load/read a page or two or twenty online in a fourth of the time it took before did not making me use the Internet 75% less. I did not finish reading 10 pages in 15 minutes instead of an hour, and call it quits. I started reading 40 pages in that same hour. I felt my attention span plummet. I can’t be the only one, can I? Reading turned to skimming, which turned to completely skipping a blog or site that took longer than 2 seconds to load.

So when I came to a place this summer with dial-up Internet (old people alert!!), a funny thing happened. I started reading again. I am talking about real books. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, French Women Don’t Get Fat, Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit, and more.

In addition to extra reading, I have been doing extra sewing.  I will have some show and tell coming up next.

For now, the computer is switching off, and staying that way until I command it to do otherwise.

turkey watching,

washing,

and pie safe guarding.
 

Chirari (chee-rah-ree): (to catch) a glimpse, a glance.

Sure enough, as soon as I wrote about not having much time for blogging or sewing, I decided that I had to use my serger one more time before I said a temporary good-bye. The linen for the dress came from my Swany stash. I purchased it last spring, thinking that I would make something for myself out of it, but never did. The linen is the most gorgeous I have ever felt in my hands. Sturdy yet delicate, extremely finely woven yet practically translucent. It is a lot like the linen in this photograph. The floral fabric is a feedsack reproduction, from Windham Fabrics, I think.

The pattern came from Sewing Pochee vol. 5, which is currently sold out on Amazon Japan. Pochee is a quarterly magazine, and I have collected all five so far. Like the eggplant, I can’t resist a pattern that is called a variation on “Smock-style Easy Tunic One-Piece”, also known as “If Your Husband is Kind, He Will Warn You in Advance that if You Wear that Outside, You May Be Asked When You Are Due.”

So I skipped past the women’s styles in that issue, and decided to make this dress with underskirt for my daughter. I loved the back, with the peek at the underskirt (say it with me now, “Chirari!”). I made the top belt for the underskirt in the same fabric as the dress, and it is a pretty skirt to wear on its own, too. I plan to make a couple more underskirts to go with the dress, maybe in Liberty?

In the United States, the big houses like to say, “Hi, I’m Big.  Look at me.  Love me, love my foyer.”  In Japan, many houses like to say, “Come on, you know you want to come in.  Dream on.”  In certain parts of Tokyo, relatively small lots can cost millions of dollars, which makes for mighty expensive dirt, with perhaps enough money left over after purchase to create a charming vegetable plot or to pitch a tent.  Even on larger lots, with the luxury of having some growing green things on the property, there is a definite sense of understatedness, of intrigue, of quiet.  My theory, and I have many theories on the ways and whys of homes in Japan, is that the day-to-day life in such a crowded city makes people crave privacy and personal space even in a relatively crowded neighborhood. All the more reason here to make as much of a barrier between you and the outside world as possible, at home. Think about having streets that are so narrow that sidewalks are nonexistent, and rear view mirrors on cars need to be flipped shut so as not to scrape another car or wall.

I was so inspired recently by Alex’s series of photographs of windows, that I started thinking a lot about the walls that go up around the majority of homes that have the kind of outer space to make that practical. Our home literally has no exterior space, as we are dumped onto the sidewalk the second we step out the door. Yet there is a wall around our house. Americans love the charm of the picket fence, and the Japanese love the charm of…walls. Yes, walls. I admit they have grown on me. Some walls have holes, and give glimpses into what I call “secret gardens” inside. Other homes have the requisite wall, with a gate to get a car in and out, plus what I have come to call the Hobbit door.

Literally, it is a door that is not human sized. I have seen a regular height door right next to one of these hobbit doors, too. Which makes me wonder if certain people are allowed to use the big door, and lesser mortals (hobbits?) must use the hobbit door. Personally, my goal is to visit a home with a hobbit door some day, and most definitely use the hobbit door. Please don’t laugh at me, but the attraction is intense.

It all comes back to the subtleties of home and what I see as a heightened awareness of surroundings, situations, and seasons in Japan. More ideas for another day.

I will leave you with two new-to-me blogs that flew past me this week on a light spring breeze. Grosgrain makes the clothes that I wish I had made, or could make. The colors and details are classic and so notice-me pretty. Portabellopixie is Sandi Henderson’s creation, filled with pretty pictures, pretty fabric, and shirring and ruffle pillow tutorials. Did someone say shirring and ruffles? Come on, sun!

As soon as Anita wrote that the center of the medallion quilt would be twelve inches, I started to look through some of my books for ideas. I think the miniature blocks in the center of the original quilt are cute, and I intend to follow the pattern as Anita drafts it from here on, but for the center, something unique for me was in order.  I wanted something less formal than a feathered star, along the lines of a mariner’s compass, but without too many spiky points, and something a little different from regular star patterns I have seen many times.  I found the perfect pattern called “Atlantic Jewel” in Quiltmaking by Hand, my all-time favorite resource for hand piecing. But there was only a line drawing, which meant I would need to draft it for a twelve inch block.

Enter Jinny Beyer’s website and treasure trove of free patterns, most formatted for 6, 10, and 12 inch sizes with .pdf format templates. Voila! “Atlantic Jewel” was there, and available in 12″ format.

The next step involved choosing colors, and while I knew that the center would have an impact on the look and feel of the whole quilt, I did not overthink the choices. I want to make this quilt in reproduction fabrics, but I think I should say that I want to work with those fabrics along with reproduction-looking fabrics in the colors I like. Thanks to Anita’s amazing enlargement of the details of the quilt, I quickly saw that this is a quilt that invites play. And a lot of it. Let the games begin!

(Detail to show the fabrics in the block.  Jinny Beyer uses a lot of border prints for kaleidoscope-like effects, and jewel tone colors, so her samples reflect that style.  When the blocks are made in different fabrics, they have a completely different feel!)

I cannot finish this post without a huge congratulations to Cathi, who just finished her beautiful Dear Jane quilt. Well done!

We will travel a lot this summer, so I will not be able to post with much regularity here. I hope to update with quilt-along progress and other sewing from time to time. Until then, thanks for reading, and know that we are well and are enjoying some summer sun. Take care!

Join Anita of Bloomin’ Workshop for a unique quilt-along: make a Medallion Quilt based on a photograph of an antique quilt. Anita will draft a border at a time, going from the center out, and share the instructions. What I love about this project is that fabrics and colors can be auditioned as each new border is added, you don’t have to go out and buy yards of fabric to get started, and no matter where you decide you are finished, you will have a medallion quilt in the end! Anita says hers will be about 88 inches square.

Take a look at some of these “design as you go” medallion quilt top works in progress, and be inspired! I know I am.
Patty’s medallion after the latest checkerboard round.
Kathie’s medallion
Patti’s finished medallion quilt top!
The history behind medallion quilts

A medallion quilt can be as simple or as complex as the creator desires, but there is usually a more complex block in the center, with different pieced blocks radiating out in the borders. This is a very simple one, made circa 1860, maker unknown:

Hello!  After a couple of leisurely days last week sailing to the Arabian Coast via the Lost River Delta, followed by some slow, rainy days at home and a killer head cold, I think we are back on track.

Before our little trip, I sewed this dress for little sister.

Koharu no Fuku, view a, yet again.  This time, I added two tiny, gathered pockets.  Same reversible gingham, in a different color. I can’t get enough of the cotton double gauze.

I could tell you that my inspiration for my latest gingham fixation came from this linen coat I saw at Lourmarin in Mark City Shibuya the other day. But whom am I kidding?  It is all about the Bunny Cakes.

(alternate title:  “Fabric:  Not Just for Hoarding Anymore”)

Pattern is vintage McCall’s, 2434.  Fabric is naniIRO, 2008. “Choki choki” is the sound that scissors make in Japanese.  My children love saying “choki choki” as they watch me cut.  I admit I love the cutting part of the preparation to sew, and one of my favorite sounds (not kidding) is the sound of scissors cutting through fabric at those big fabric store cutting tables. Am I the only one?

One meter of this fabric (”miyabimari”), purchased at Marunan for about $13, made this sweet little dress (size four). Because I am slightly obsessed with the “waste not” philosophy of quiltmakers of the past, the leftover fabric turned into something that I will be able to show later on.