Claudia, this is for you.
In the beginning of January I blogged about this wall hanging of the the first sun rise of the year.
It is a actually a two sided quilt with the harvest moon on the back.
We enjoyed the beautiful full moon the other night.
Anyway, I took out my two sided 'kakemono' moon quilt and displayed it in our 'alcove'.
I also displayed some tsukimi dango. Mine are just ornamental and made of fabric, but the real things are Japanese sweets made from steamed and pounded rice, shaped into balls and piled neatly onto a wooden stand, called san pou.
19 comments:
Queenie your moon is lovely, so good to see a close up picture of all the lace etc that has gone in to its creation.Also interesting reading about the Japanese traditions.
We had a harvest moon a few nights ago, it was just stunning. I like your hanging.
I just love the use of the lace ,it gives a great texture .
Thank you. I think the two layers of lace give a great structure, the sequins add shine and sparkle.
I wonder what it is that makes this September moon so beautiful. Later in the year, when the air in Japan is dry and icy cold, the moon gets a harder silvery sheen. In summer when the sky is moist and hazy the moon looks a bit dimmed. Is it the same in Australia?
There was very little work involved in making this; just two disks of lace, needle turned and not one single quilting stitch.
I love the moon wall hanging. It's so simple but fabulous. The lace does as great job of mimicking the shadows on the surface of the moon.
The two layers of lace do look like the moon. Very pretty! The reverse side is also nice. It's very convenient to have one hanging serve two purposes.
As always your blog is educational. I didn't know those sweets were called tsukimi dango.
Beautiful lace moon quilt! The texture of the lace is very pretty and the sequin adds beauty.Was it easy to appliqué this textured lace?
I've had those japanese sweets a couple of years back but I was served a flower shaped one with green tea not like the ones you've shown.The pounded rice was pressed into a flower mould ( a long wooden piece with 12 small 5 petal flower moulds in it,don't remember the Japanese name for it) and then transferred onto a serving plate directly.
Thank you so much, dear Queenie! We had wonderful full moon two days ago over the bay and the sea looked like silver.Was so amazing like your quilt. The close up photo shows your use of laces - a great inspiration! Your ideas and use of fabrics and a rather simple design make a gorgeous quilt again! Always interesting to see and read about Japanese traditions.
It is so wonderful to hear that people in other parts of the world have seen the same beautiful full moon - it does unite us all, don't you think?
Those two pieces of lace put together made such a great 'moony' pattern it was easy to see how to use them.
The Japanese have always been good at celebrating things, and then turning them into traditions. Last night the baseball team that won this season's tournament celebrated their victory with a beer spraying event, and from today department stores associated with the owners of the team will have a victory sale. It's a yearly tradition and a win-win situation for all, players, supporters, breweries, department stores and shoppers.
Where there isn't a tradition, create one!
You are so right. When I saw the two scraps of lace in the pile they made such a beautiful pattern and I instantly thought of the moon. Isn't it great when you get inspiration like that, AND can recycle at the same time?
As you know, in Japan most people live in small, cramped living quarters, so having a two sided quilt is great!!!
You go to a lot of festivals and must have seen 'dango' at many of them, they come with soy sauce or miso, azuki red bean paste or powdered dry soy beans... The tsukimi (moon viewing) dango are only found in September at the time of autumn equinox.
I, too, am pleased with the way the two layers of lace make a 'moony' look. The sequins add a lot of sheen.
I think I did like this for the appliqué: basted the two layers together, then gathered them over a cardboard disc, sprayed starch onto the back, when dry and stiff removed the cardboard carefully, placed the starched side down, pinned carefully and appliquéd. The actual sewing was easy.
Glad to hear you have tasted Japanese sweets. There are so many versions. These are rather sticky and usually served with 'ordinary' green tea. For the tea ceremony, when you drink frothy thick green 'macha' tea, the sweets are usually much more beautiful, like the ones you were served, shaped into flowers. Five petals, you say, were they cherry flowers, a much loved shape. I hope you also liked eating them!
I always enjoy watching full moon, it's so peaceful. Love your lace moon!
Thank you. Did you see the full moon, too? In Sweden we say the moon looks like a cheese. Do you have such a saying in Holland, too?
Unfortunately it was very clouded, but I watched the moon the day before full moon. We have no sayings about the moon in Holland.
The way you have created the moon out of the lace material is lovely, such a good use of fabric!
The lady who gave me the scraps, is a wedding and party dress dressmaker. She used to throw out all her 'waste' and I was happy to make better use of these piece of fabric.
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