Making Hina Ornaments

After posting about these Hanging Hina Ornaments, some readers have asked about patterns and instructions.

I have found a good website for instructions for various ornaments. The text is all in Japanese, but the pictures are good and easy to understand. Just click on the picture of the ornament you want to make. Go to Nunoasobi and enjoy!

Personally, for most of my ornaments, I have used an old book:

where there are instructions for the Hanging Hina Dolls (Tsurushiskazari) of Inatori Hot Spa Town in Shizuoka, and the Sagarimono of Yanagawa Town in Fukuoka.

 I also have a print for Kasa Fuku of Sakai Town in Yamagata with some unusual ornaments.

Pamela, you might find a similar book in Japanese in a bookshop in Hokkaido, but the Nunoasobi website is OK, too. Good luck!

HINA - 2016

Starting one month before March 3rd I have a tradition; I display my Hanging Hina Dolls for the Girls' Festival.
Each year I make a few new ornaments and for 2016 I made these three:

a butterfly
a leaping rabbit
a sumo referee's fan, called a gunbai. Click on the link to read more.

The two latter are made of chirimen and kimono silk stretched over a cardboard base.
The butterfly's chirimen body has a drawstring so the yellow part can be used as a small pouch (maybe for fragrant powder (お香), but I stuffed it with wadding.

There are now 70 ornaments dangling merrily, and I will have to think hard about what to make for next year!

WIPW - Pockets of Time

Many of my daily chores keep me away from the computer so blogging has been very limited. Luckily I have been able to find pockets of time for needlework and have added the following stitches to my

Pile 'em On

 Left column from the top:                                                        Right column from the top:
Woven Cross Stitch                                                                  Broad Cross Stitch
Tweed Stitch                                                                             Gate Stitch
Goblin Stitch                                                                             Eastern Stitch

I pulled these Eastern stitches too much, but they were fun to make. Eastern Stitch was included in the TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) project and this is what I wrote about it two years ago.

In the middle are the stitches in white that my mother made many years ago. When I found this UFO of hers, I tried to complete it, but my tension is totally different from hers. Instead I started working my Canvas stitch sampler around her work.

I have already started on some new Canvas stitches so next week's WIPW report will contain a number of new ones.

I have also started work on the Hanging Hina Dolls for this year. Watch this space as they are coming up soon!