Eek eek.

Let's see...  I don't want to complain here... but I have an annoyance to relate.

Tetsu and I have been talking about getting an iPad since.... Oh, I don't know... last summer?  Maybe even before that when my friend Lorraine was visiting and showing me how hers worked.  And I know I gave it great thought before I went to the States in July just because I didn't want to lug my computer with me to the States.  And while I was in California I admired the way my brother whipped his out and played with it.  And I remember Leiya suggesting we just go buy one and worry about whether or not I would be able to use it later. And Takumi was annoyed with me at the end of the summer when I still hadn't bought an iPad.

"If you had bought it here then I could have set it up for you and shown you how to use it."

But I am a wishy-washy person and went back and forth about why I should or should not own an iPad.  It is just a toy.  I have enough blessings in my life...  a workable computer, a new camera, a workable sewing machine, a Kindle.  I don't NEED an iPad.  I wondered if I was just getting caught up in Keeping up with the Joneses.

"Everyone else seems to have them, why not me too?"

I don't even know what I want to do with an iPad.  I don't even know what they CAN do.

Tetsu does not have a computer and he insists he can't use mine because it is from the States (the keyboard doesn't have Japanese characters on it though of course it can type Japanese).  Tetsu 'sorta' wanted an iPad just so he could play a few games on it...  He definitely doesn't want to bring home work and sit at a computer some more.  He doesn't want to write things or use programs etc.

We admired Marlene's iPad in December when she was visiting.

Let's do it!!

Tetsu visited a store and got information on it (AGAIN.... We did this once with a clerk last June.)

He suggested we go look together at the end of December and we talked together with a clerk AGAIN.  The clerk was even carrying things to the register when Tetsu suggested we WAIT until the beginning of the year.  I'm not sure why...  He thought there might be a sale?  We have done this so many times that I'm feeling like a monkey who is being teased by treats held through the bars and then snatched away before it can reach them!

Yesterday...

"Today is the day, Tanya!  Let's go buy us an iPad!"

But it was still... should we try this store?  No, let's go to that store first.  Wait... maybe THAT store would be better.  Finally we stepped into an iPad store.

"I'm so sorry.  iPads are all sold out.  We had lots of them at the end of the year but now we have a waiting list.  I don't know when they will be available again.  Do you want to leave your name?"

No.  Tetsu didn't want to leave his name...  Hmm.  What a let down...  Maybe it just isn't meant to be.

Red!

Yesterday my neighbor invited me over for strawberry birthday cake.  Her father celebrated his 95 birthday and they had leftover cake. 

While there, the husband in the family decided he wanted to make udon noodles...  Last year he took a class in noodle making and then got inspired to buy all the necessary implements and has started making his own homemade noodles.  Udon actually takes two days to make so I only was able to watch the preliminary mixing and kneading process. 

Isn't this a great bowl?!  It is a wooden lacquer bowl and costs a pretty penny but it is indispensable for Japanese noodle making.

A couple bags of flour...

Some salt water...

While my neighbor and I chatted, her husband spent nearly 30 minutes mixing in (completely by hand) the salt water and then kneaded his dough for another 15 minutes.  He did this on the floor of his kitchen (no counter space in Japanese kitchens.)

When I left the dough was being wrapped and would be kept in a cool place overnight.  Sometime today he will roll it all out and cut it by hand.  Unfortunately I'm not going to be around today to watch that part of the process... Maybe he'll bring over some noodles tonight?  (I can hope!)

A couple of days ago, Choco and I walked past these little stone statues by the rice fields.  They looked a little naked...  Where are their hats? 

Yesterday Choco and I made another jaunt around the the rice fields and the statues were all decked out in new bright red bibs.  Someone (probably a farmer's wife) spends a bit of sewing time each December and makes sure the statues have a bright new set of bibs for the new year.  I'm not sure if the hats were remade or just given a good wash.

Red is a good celebration color!

New Year's Day 2013

I've just spent an hour chatting with Leiya about where life leads us and how we know which way to turn.  A good way to start the New Year.

"Behold, I will do something new"

Isaiah 43:19

This Bible verse was brush painted by my pastor for yesterday's New Year's Day service.  A new day, a new year to start things... to remember that God is with us showing us the way.

Oh dear...  Here I am mixing beliefs.  Well, think of this as a custom rather than a belief.  This was in Tetsu's mother's apartment entryway.  Her one acknowledgement of the holidays.  (It is too much bother to try to follow the customs at her age.)  She probably had one of the care workers who comes, buy this at the supermarket...  A cardboard and plastic New Year decoration that is trying to look like a gold tray with pounded rice balls on top.  The plastic "mochi balls" actually have pounded rice slabs hidden away inside for convenient eating.  Isn't that tied crane pretty on there?  (The crane symbolizes long life.)  I don't know what the other symbolism is but many people will have these decorations with an orange stuck on top adorning their doorways or even the bumpers of their cars.

Are you getting tired of seeing Obaachan?  She's getting tired of posing for pictures with me.

"Come on, Obaachan!  Show us a peace sign pose for the camera."

"Leave me alone!!  I can't believe you can be so silly."

I think we cheered her up on New Year's Day.
 

Omedetou gozaimasu!

Oshougatsu omedetougozaimasu! Happy New Year from Japan... the land of the rising sun!

This year was the first time in four years that our family was together in one place (for a week) so we took the opportunity to take a family picture.  Not very wintery...  With all the animals to be featured the humans play second fiddle.

This morning Tetsu and I went out on our morning walk.  A beautiful clear morning!  That's our local Mt. Nantai in the distance... not Mt. Fuji.

The moon was clear in the sky...

And our first glimpse of the January 1st sunrise in 2013.

 

The frost was still hanging on the bushes...

 Wishing you the best in 2013, from Taniwa!

2012 handwork

It is already December 31st here in Japan.  I had a quiet weekend because Tetsu had to go in to the convalescent home in the middle of the night once and ended up staying over night last night.  Families are busy or traveling.  They don't have the capabilities to bring their elderly home and so with less staff on the holidays there is actually more care to be given.  Though Tetsu doesn't get involved in hands on care these days, he can at least take night duty in the office.  During the New Year holidays he will be at the convalescent home quite a bit too.  With no children in the home, we don't really have to stick to a strict holiday schedule and can play around as we like.

So... time to evaluate the quilting year.  Not my most prolific I'm afraid.  A couple of days ago I went through this year's pictures to see what I had made.  Aaugh!  Not that much!!!

Some small things for presents and bazaars...

A couple wall hangings; a small Girls Day quilt, the snowman wall hanging, and the photo quilt for Marcy this summer.

I did some repair work on an old Bible quilt and put that back together earlier in the year.

Two "helps" were the donation quilt for a hospital and the bazaar quilt.  I can't claim those as my own though...  I did the quilting on the flower basket quilt for the hospital and joined my friends in making the forest and village bazaar quilt.

So that leaves... A zigzag baby quilt, the Crazy Goose Chase donated to the Ronald McDonald House, the Alabama Beauty quilt, the Promises and Borders quilt and the Star Within a Star quilt.  Is that a good amount of handwork for 2012?

And I didn't count the knitting I did... a vest for Tetsu, a vest for Obaachan and a woman's vest.  Oh.. You hadn't heard about that one?  That's because I started it a couple of days ago and finished last night.  It was another one of those "Can I make this?" projects that used up yarn in the closet.  Sort of an interesting pattern.

For 2013 my first job is to finish machine quilting the Fiery Star quilt I've been working on since September...  And somewhere in the sewing room I have a Work In Progress Leaders/Enders quilt.

Happy sewing to all of you in the new year!

Getting things done

Cleaning.  Knitting  (WHAT!!!  Knitting AGAIN?!).  Writing New Year's cards.

Between chores Tetsu and I went out for lunch and shopping.  We definitely eat too much on holidays but it is a great excuse not to cook.

The cats are not helping with the chores.  Mostly sleeping.

For Christmas Tetsu bought the cats a scratch board hoping that they would take the hint and stop scratching the sofa.  (They haven't taken the hint.)  He sprinkled powdered catnip on the board and the kitties take turns claiming it for their own.

"My favorite spot."

Promises BOM

We're counting down the hours till the New Year and today Tetsu and I have some last minute shopping and cleaning to do.　I'm slowly getting things crossed off my To-do list.

And the biggest finish is the Promises and Borders quilt!!! 

The layout and the colors are not so striking from a distance but I think my Promises quilt looks very nice up close.  The embroidery patterns are beautiful!  I used all of Jenny's embroidery designs but chose some of my own favorite promise verses.

I got a little fancy on the "A promise is a promise" block and double embroidered the lettering hoping to make it look a bit more like calligraphy.

The quilting is pure stitch-in-the ditch.  I'm never quite sure how to quilt an embroidered or applique quilt in the white spaces and I didn't want to take away from the quilt's "message".  The lattice and border fabric was busy enough that I chose not do any patterned quilting...  so this is very plain.   Hopefully the embroidery makes up for that

I am happy to have this quilt in my entrance right in time for the New Year holidays.  A great way to start the New Year with God' promises before us daily!

Thank you Jenny for the wonderful Block of the Month!