WIPW - A Short Report

A short report for this week's Work In Progress Wednesday.

Pile 'em On
A flame of Four Sided Stitch, and odd threads added to the circle.

 Swedish Wool Embroidery - Needle cases

 Two more parts completed on the needle case 'conveyor belt'.

TASTy Beads Galore
I made only the base stem of a new plant, using TAST # 137 Beaded Knotted Buttonhole Band.

Don't ask me, ask Blogger, why the photo is upside down!

New (but reported a couple of days ago) HINA ornaments
I made three new ornaments for the Doll Festival, 2015. Read more here.

I'm afraid, that's all for this week.

HINA - new ornaments for 2015

For a month leading up to March 3rd we celebrate Hina Festival. Japanese homes with daughters will display dolls. My ornaments are made from scraps of kimono or chirimen.

This year I made:
A plum blossom.
The bud symbolises faithfulness, and the flower innocence.

A Hime Daruma
Daruma is a kind of doll that when fallen down stands up again. These are often made from papier mache, have a weight inside, and are thought of as bringing luck.
As a Hina ornament is symbolises endurance and the 'never give up' spirit that is so important in Japan.

Chili pepper
In olden days the Hina dolls, when not used, were stored in boxes with dried chili peppers. It served as a insect repellent (mothball).
Made for the Hina display, it is a wish that the girls of the family should not fall victim to evil 'insects' (bad luck or bad men!).

You can read much more about Hina at my page HINA, at the top of my blog.
Added later 1:
If you want to see lots of other Hina dolls, head over to Tanya's excellent report from her friend's house. Lots of pictures, don't miss it!

Added later 2:
KippySoMature mentiones in the comments below about the Hinamatsuri song. Here is a videoclip.

Harvest Moon

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.

 (The three smaller 'moons' underneath are the headlights of aeroplanes flying in to land at Haneda Airport. Pity about the electric power lines cutting the cloud in two.)

Anyway, I took out my two sided 'kakemono' moon quilt and displayed it in our 'alcove'.

The moon is made of two layers of machine lace and sits on a piece of dark navy velvet.

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.

Mesh Craft

In this landscape

(TAST# 68 Slipped Detached Stitch/Tulip Stitch) I used a bit of blue 'nylon mesh' scrap for the sky. I mentioned it is a material used for Mesh Craft, and have been asked what Mesh Craft is.

To my knowledge this is something 'very Japanese', books are published, hobby classes are held and the experts create fantastic items.

You need:

• Nylon mesh, the same material used for ordinary tights, it is sold in all shades and also with added metallic thread
• Wire
• Thread
• Pipes
• Scissors
• Beads
• Glue

 First you wind a piece of wire round a pipe to make a circle.

Cut a piece of mesh.

Stretch the mesh over the circle. Fasten with thread.

Shape the wire into the form you require.

Join with other shapes into flowers, butterflies or dolls. Decorate with beads and make into brooches.

May 5th - Let's celebrate our children

May 5th is a national holiday in Japan, Kodomo-no-Hi, Children's Day. I wrote about it here.

In that blog entry I forgot to add the flying carp streamers I stitched last year for the TAST stitch #16, Wheat Ear.

They were featured in my old blog, the iWeb based blog I had before I started using Blogger. iWeb is no longer and my old blog has disappeared into cyber space... Sigh! The price we pay for not being good at computers!

As I wanted to make a new decoration for this year I dug out some fabric origami. This type of weaving is called Iyo kasuri and is from the island of Shikoku. Each piece is appr 10 cm square with a stabiliser on the back.

I followed this pattern and folded and ironed a small Samurai helmet.