Hot outside

 I've spent a lot of this week hiding inside from the heat wave, which has gone up to 31C at some points. Stupid climate change.  It's been too hot to go up to my longarm attic room much, although I have made a start on stitching the pantograph design for my New Zealand quilt.  When we did one night of camping yesterday, close to our storage yard, just to check everything is working on the caravan and that we haven't forgotten anything, it went up to about 30C at the campsite. But luckily it was partially overcast and there was a good breeze, so we were able to huddle in the scrap of shade in front of the caravan in reasonable comfort.

This week I finished binding the Lori Holt My Favourite Things quilt and it's hanging in the hallway.  Her designs are so cheerful and vintage, and  I like all the embellishments and details.  I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. I used all my own fabrics and the free pattern she publishes on her blog, and guesstimated/eyeballed the shapes as I didn't buy her templates which are very expensive here in the UK.  I used three vintage crochet doilies in place of her fabric doiley shapes.  I custom quilted this on my longarm frame with my Handiquilter Simply Sixteen.

Temu was advertising some cute snap-clasp purses on Facebook. I don't buy from Temu but I had some snap-clasp purse frames in my stash.  So I tinkered with some scrap fabric until I got the shape right, then made up a purse using some of my recently purchased Japanese fabric.  Fun.

I also had a go at winging a lined totebag with my Korean fabric.  The pics are fresh off the machine so not pressed or threads trimmed yet.  It's come out a bit taller than I was envisaging, I will have to tinker with the dimensions a bit to achieve more pleasing proportions.  The front and back are cut from a panel of printed historical scenes, and the bottom is a fabric featuring Korean script.  The lining shows traditional Korean 'hanok' houses.

I also finally finished the CrossStitcher magazine free cover kit (over two issues) for a harbourside scene, which came with blue spotted fabric to make a simple bag.  I decided to make a lined zip pouch instead, with fleece lining to give it some body. I used a seashell fabric for the lining. The cross stitch took me absolutely ages and I did not do a great job - I need to buy a magnifier that will let me also watch TV because I just can't see well enough to make neat stitches any more.

Hope you are staying cool where you live.

Recycling an obi

 I bought an obi in lovely silvered silk brocade in a secondhand kimono shop in Tokyo for only about £6 - which seemed cheap at the time but I saw many more later in my trip for as cheap as £2.50.  I had seen quite a few bags and pouches made from recycled obi fabric, which is quite stiff so a bit like sewing with canvas.  My obi had brocade ends, then a middle section of plainly woven silk dyed pink grading into cream, with a lining of plain coarser silk. I decided to start with a zip pouch.  I used the Monstera Zipper Pouch pattern by myhandmadespace.com, which I acquired when it was a free pattern (it is now available for purchase and has been upgraded to include a zipper tab).  I cut my exterior fabric from the silvered brocade, and my lining from the plainer pink/cream gradient, and used a bit of the obi lining for my inner pocket backing.  The silk was a learning curve to work with: as soon as I cut into it, it started fraying, particularly the brocade section which has long silk floats on the reverse so I stabilised those with some iron-on woven interfacing.  The internal seams I stabilised with zigzag stitch. I added one of the 'handmade' metal tags I found in Seoul.  The result is quite a classy looking pouch which could almost be an evening clutch.

I also finished my yukata this week - I used machine stitch for the longer seams but handstitched down all the internal seam allowances to finish them, which was a big job.  It's turned out fairly well I think. I had additionally bought a cheap polyester secondhand kimono to convert into a nagajuban or traditional kimono undergarment.  So I've shortened that, added a belt tie, and stiffened the collar with a homemade erishin or plastic insert.  So in theory, I now have the components to attempt to dress in an authentic Japanese yukata - I'm waiting for a day when I am feeling more energetic.

My Lori Holt My Favourite Things quilt had come off the frame before I left on my trip, so I have trimmed up the borders on that and added a hanging sleeve, and am currently finishing off the quilt binding.  Then there are some more embellishments that I need to add to the quilt.  Meanwhile I have loaded the New Zealand Turning Twenty Around the Block quilt onto the frame and chosen a pantograph design to quilt it with. But I will need to practice the panto for a while with the machine turned off, because obviously I haven't done any quilting for two months now.

The garden has had a first pass on the weeding now, and a few days ago we pulled out the pressure washer and washed down the garden patios and concrete paths.  I just bought the pressure washer last autumn, it's not particularly powerful but the concrete paths literally changed colour from dark grey back to concrete colour.  It's also great for getting all the weeds out from between the cracks of the pavers but now we need to brush in some more sand into the cracks.

I've started downsizing again, listing some handbags online and selling one of them.  We also took a couple of loads to the charity shop this week.

Today, after visiting the caravan, DH drove me to Oxford so I could go to the Pitt Rivers Museum to see an exhibition on Hawaiian quilting entitled Hawai'i Ma uka to Ma kai: Quilting the Hawaiian Landscape, which is on until 30th June.  I knew it was on, but recently listened to a Haptic & Hue podcast interview with the commissioning curator which was quite interesting so I wanted to see the exhibition.  The exhibition is in one room with an adjoining corridor, and the 15 quilts are wallhanging size, but so different from each other and several are not your typical Hawaiian quilt designs that you think of.  There is also a ton of written information explaining the meaning of the various motifs and their significance in the complex Hawaiian culture, and also about the members of the Honolulu-based Poakalani Quilters who created the artworks based on the designs of  one of their founders, John Serrao.  It was quite interesting but also made me feel guilty about the bed-sized Hawaiian quilt I started after DH and I visited Hawaii in 2009.  It's probably my oldest UFO at this point and I don't think I can even finish it because the smaller fabric motifs that haven't been sewn yet have all started to fray badly due to the passage of time - so can no longer be appliqued to a symetrical design.  In retrospect, I should have started with a cushion and not jumped right into a bed sized quilt.  I need to re-assess it and perhaps recycle the fabric into something else.

Back to reality

 I am gradually readjusting to 'real life' after two months away.  I have grudgingly taken up some cooking chores again, and done some housecleaning.  I am still pulling out literal armfuls of giant weeds from the garden - DH took a full carload to the dump today and I've still got another third of the garden to go.  I've been experiencing some aches and pains because instead of standing and walking almost all day, I am now sitting most of the day apart from a daily walk. I paid for some plants with my card today and realised that the till clerk was waiting for me to touch my card, whereas I was automatically waiting for her to rattle off the standard Japanese polite phrases about sorry for keeping you and use your card now etc. before I touched the card.  I had some friends over for a few hours and was absolutely exhausted by the end of it, after two months of largely solo travel I am just not used to speaking to other people for that long.  I have totalled up the number of photos I took over two months and it is 6,031 - even I don't feel like going through that many photos but I have started to weed out duplicates.  I've crossed a lot of boring priority stuff off my To Do list like checking insurance renewals.  I've bought a new phone (mine reached 'end of life' while I was travelling, I am sad because I really like it but without security updates it will become vulnerable) and survived the process of transferring my data over.  It took almost two hours, 90 minutes of which was repeatedly transferring the sim card back and forth between the old and new phone as I tried to convince Whatsapp to back up my chat messages on the old phone then restore them on the new. Got there in the end.

So in other words, lots of tedious real life stuff and very little 'fun' holiday stuff apart from we did have a nice dinner out.  A touch of post holiday blues I think.

I have reacquainted myself with my sewing room, although I haven't found places to put away all the new acquisitions yet.  I needed a warm up project so I made an unlined version of this free Tilda Toiletry Bag to hold some small things in my suitcase.

That was fun so I used some of my new Japanese fabric to make two more with quilted exteriors.

I blocked the little shawl that I knit while I was travelling, using the hand dyed fingering weight I bought in Iceland.  It reminds me of a grand piano with the shape.

I've also been working on a summer kimono (yukata) in quilting cotton fabric that I bought in Tokyo's Nippori fabric town, relying heavily on a video by kimono expert Billy Matsunaga.  There is a lot of hand sewing to catch down all the seam allowances neatly inside.  I also bought  a book in English and Japanese on how to wear yukata which has a step by step guide to getting dressed in one, so I will make an attempt once mine is finished.  If it doesn't work out, I can always re-purpose the fabric as quilt backing :)

I'm back - haul photos

 I got back four days ago, after 24 hours awake. So still waking up at odd early hours although I'm slowly adjusting.  It's great to be back, although having to deal with two months' worth of post, email, paperwork, garden jungle growth etc. is killing my holiday afterglow.  I've unpacked and done all my laundry and  put together a 2.5 page typed To Do list which I am gradually working through.

After unwrapping all the goodies I bought over the two months of the trip, I have now taken haul photos for your edification.  I don't know how I got all of this into two medium size suitcases to be honest.  And it is definitely S.A.B.L.E  (stash acquisition beyond life expectancy)!

A mini tote and zip pouch, a handtowel, a furoshiki wrapping cloth

Random Japan stuff that caught my eye

A beautifully carved transom from a flea market

handsculpted decorative pin heads

Needlework treasures: pincushions, thread winders, a pawlonia wood needlebox, used silk shuttles from an obi handweaving workshop

various kits for beading, sashiko etc. plus a zip pouch and mini-tote

Sumo!!!

Dollshouse miniatues

miscellaneous haberdashery 

including a pile of 'handmade' tags in fabric, leather and metal, and charms to hang on zip pulls

Korean acquisitions including a handmade embroidered thimble

and embroidered thread winder.

Sashiko kits

More hand towels that I will use as wallhangings

Shibori technique (tie dye) fabrics

Pieces of vintage kimono and a full obi

quilting fabrics from South Korea

quilting fabrics from Japan

Stationery (left side)

Staionery (right side)

Airport again, for return to UK

 Yes, airport again, this time awaiting my flight back to the UK.  I'm ready to go home yet at the same time it's been a bit sad the last few days to say goodbye to Japan. 

 I've covered some ground since arriving back from South Korea. I spent a morning hiking the easy bit of the historic Nakasendo trail from Magome to Tsugome, which was wonderful, and visited Matsumoto and its historic castle before returning to Tokyo.  In Tokyo, I had a day at the May sumo tournament, and I took a workshop to make gluten-free ramen from scratch which was delicious. I met up with a friend to visit some clothing shops in the Harajuku area, and I enjoyed a fun evening at the big festival around the Asakusa Shrine.  I moved to Nagoya and did day trips to see the castle towns of Gujo-Hachiman and Inuyama, then had a luxurious one-night stay at a traditional Japanese ryokan in Kinosaki Onsen Town.  I had a few days in Kyoto where I managed to avoid most of the crowds: I did a shibori experience at the Shibori museum, visited the Orinasu handweaving museum, and watched a short geiko (geisha) dance performance at the new Gion Kagai Art Museum which also displayed many beautiful kimono.  I enjoyed visits to big antique flea markets in Kyoto and Kawagoe, and a high quality handicraft market also in Kyoto.  Everywhere I saw secondhand kimono and obi on sale cheaply or items such as bags sewn from kimono and obi fabric, I fear that future textile historians will lament the wholesale selling off and discarding of so much Japanese clothing history.

So my suitcases are bulging as are my memories, I tried to journal every day so I wouldnt forget what I'd done. Unfortunately my waistline is also bulging, its much easier to find gluten free desserts than meals and I have a sweet tooth.  When I get unpacked and sorted out, then I'll post some haul pictures.  I finished knitting my lace shawl, and have just started the heel on my second sock so will work on that on the plane (I use Clover bamboo dpns which seem to go through Security fine).  I've only completed one of the three embroidery panels I brought with me, and didnt touch the cross stitch kit at all.  I did scrapbook most days with my collected paper ephemera but I am undecided if it was worthwhile or not - the resulting book is fairly heavy but it was satisfying to have an end use for all the ticket stubs and pamphlets you accumulate and not just throwing them out.

A visit to South Korea

 Hello, I'm back in the airport again, this time at Seoul's Gimpo airport, awaiting my flight back to Japan.  I've had two weeks in South Korea, and it's been good.  Sorry but I can't post any photos with this post until I get home, because I moved them off my phone onto an SD card for backup (I also back up to Amazon Prime). This was my first visit to Korea, I can see some similarities to Japan but also a lot of differences.  I had three days in Seoul then joined an 8 night tour that went to the DMZ (border with North Korea), then up to Sukcho in the north east, then to the historic hanok village near Andong, then down to the second largest city Busan in the south, then back to Seoul.  On my own, I had one night down in the historic hanok village at Jeonju. So just a taster tour, it had a good mix of the modern and new, the traditional, the coast, mountains etc.  I've enjoyed getting to know a new country a little - apart from the food which I've really struggled with.  There is a fairly low awareness of allergens here, and a lot of Korean cooking uses some basic spice mixtures or soy sauce, all of which have gluten in them.  I tried various local dishes in the early days of the tour with the group, but ended up having to eat a lot of meals on my own so I could choose salads or international foods like sushi or curry to avoid stomach upsets.  The tour leader was helpful but neither he nor I knew what the ingredients were of various dishes.  I only pulled out my allergen card once, which predictably freaked out the restaurant manager and staff and I ended up with plain bean sprouts, plain rice, and plain grilled pork belly.  It was just easier to find somewhere like a Subway and order a salad.  Luckily I'm not a foodie, nor a coeliac.  But apart from that, it's been good.

On the craft side, there are a lot of traditional Korean handicrafts on sale everywhere such as ceramics, textiles, traditional hanbok costume, knotted work, embroidery etc.  I bought some little embroidered charms and also an embroidered pin cushion and a traditional embroidered thread holder.  I made it to the Insta-famous Banol knit cafe, a very designer space selling knit and crochet yarns from Korea and elsewhere. The emphasis seemed to be on getting beginners started and there were various knitted samples that you could then buy the pattern and yarn for. Also a lot of small crocheted handbags and totes, crocheted in sturdy plasticky rope yarns which must be murder to work with but produce very functional bags.  Here I found some metal sew-on 'handmade' tags to use on bags, and some cute zip pulls. I knit on my shawl for a while in the cafe upstairs and tried out one of the button-shaped rice cakes with honey.  Another day I went to the enormous Dongdaemon market building that has floor after floor across multiple buildings of fabric stalls, haberdashery of all kinds, trims, ribbons, hanok tailors and hanok fabric, everything you could possibly want.  Most of the fabric sellers are aimed at wholesalers and have tables of samples to order from rather than bolts, but on the 5th floor are several smaller retailers with bolts including Happy Quilt.  Here I was able to buy some Korean themed fabric and a panel printed with traditional Korean scenes - they had samples of the panel used in handbags which were cute.  It was amazing to wander the literally hundreds of stalls, and of course most things are quite reasonably priced because the won is weak to the British pound - the fabric was £3.50-£7 a yard at Happy Quilt I think.  It would be a great place to come if you had specific bag projects in mind, say, and wanted to get all the hardware etc. (and had room in your case)

One thing I haven't seen much of is the famous Korean bojagi or wrapping cloths, so popular in the quilting world. Maybe they aren't used in daily life so much now? (in contrast to Japan where furoshiki are widely available and still commonly used as gift wrap, cover ups etc).  Many souvenir shops have cheap bags or pouches with a small panel of pieced striped work, and I've seen a few wall hangings with panels of striped work in the (probably synthetic) silk organza used for the traditional hanbok clothing.  But no actual cloths.  At the Seoul Museum of Craft Art, there was a wonderful exhibition of vintage bojagi in solid, embroidered, and pieced varieties.  The pieced cloths were displayed so the light could shine through them, highlighting the seams like stained glass.  I've ordered a book on how to sew bojagi which will be waiting when I get home.  The actual silk organza feels like it would be stiff to work with, it's very crisp and a bit plasticky, but lets the light through beautifully.  I also saw some bojagi in other museums such as the National museum, mostly being displayed with the item that was wrapped up in them, for example a royal book or tablet.  

I also haven't seen much patchwork or quilting although I haven't actively looked for it.  There are quilted bags in some bag stores, and in Jeonju I saw two artisan shops with examples of Japanese-style Sunbonnet Sue wall quilts and small bags etc.  

I've really loved all the traditional hanok buildings with their elegantly curved clay tile roofs, and vividly painted ceilings.  There are enclaves of these traditional buildings in Seoul, and a whole village of them near Andong where we got to stay overnight in one of them which was fun.

And now I'm heading back to Japan for three more weeks then back to the UK.  I'm really hoping it doesn't get too hot in Japan, Korea has for the most part been lovely sitting around 20C or below which suits me very well.  Sorry this update is a bit garbled, it's hard to remember what I've been doing at this point, lol.  I am missing my sewing room and look forward to getting back to work on my various projectts.  I have knit a little shawl with my hand dyed yarn I bought in Iceland which I just finished a few days ago, so I am going to swap that out for the sock project I bought in Tokyo when I get into my other suitcase (currently in storage).  I've hardly done any embroidery, I probably didn't need to bring it at all.