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A few days off and some exhibitions
One of my friends from Wrexham Quilting Circle, Maureen Poole, visited for a long weekend, so I had a few days off while we did crafty and touristy things. On Friday, we went to Letham Crafts (an...
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1718 in ceramics
 Ceramic artist Cathy Daniel makes ceramics with quilt block designs and she's made a special range using blocks from the 1718 coverlet, to coincide with the exhibition at The Quilt Museum and, of...
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Old and new websites
I've been wanting to add a shopping cart for fabrics and books to my website for a while now. My site has been hosted by 1&1 for over eighteen months, but when I tried to upgrade to a site with a...
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Costumes for sale on eBay
I have listed two more costumes on eBay - it seems to take so long to get the photos just right! Above is the black and white cotton and silk dress that won second in Llandrindod Wells Victorian...
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Summerhouse - the roof is on
We finished getting the 'porch' roof sections on last night. The roof overhangs by about 18in (45cm) at the front so the total length of each roof section is 10ft (3.05m). Unfortunately, when I...
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The Denman Kannon - the original pattern
I'm sure I once wrote a blog post that included the working drawing for the Denman Kannon but I can't find it in the label cloud on the right - if I can't find it, blog readers probably can't either!...
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My virtual taupe quilt design made real!
When I write my little square block books, I include virtual quilt ideas. These are quilts that don't actually exist, but are made by repeating, turning and shuffling digital images of individual...
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Summerhouse - rafter detail and windows
The outer joists supporting the eaves were designed to be screwed to the top of the side walls, so we couldn't add them until the rest of the roof was complete. Glyn notched them out at a 15-degree...
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Glyn in Denbigh with my fabrics on September 13th....
I'm off to Japan for two weeks tomorrow, so Glyn will be taking my fabrics to Denbigh for the event below -Cwiltwyr Dyffryn Clwyd Quilters are staging atwo-day exhibition on September 13 and 14 at...
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On our way to Japan!
Boarding our flight in a few minutes! We will be arriving in Tokyo at 12 noon on Wednesday 4th September, 3 a.m. UK time.
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Ready for our first day in Hirosaki
On our first day in Hirosaki, we are going to have a koginzashi (kogin sashiko) lesson with Yoko Sato, a local kogin expert. So far, my limited experience of Kogin has been the Nanbu hishizashi sample...
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In search of Koginzashi in Hirosaki
This morning we visited Yoko Satoh, an expert Kogin stitcher, collector and teacher in Hirosaki. Her house was the most amazing treasure trove of Kogin - a little bit museum, a little bit teaching...
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Other things in Hirosaki...
The soba restaurant where we had lunch. Old kura storehouses near the restaurant.Hirosaki castle. Mount Iwaki. Sembei (rice cracker) shop. Neputa Matsuri (festival) centre. More Kogin at the Neputa...
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Shrines and temples - Mt Iwaki and Yamadera
Before leaving Hirosaki on Friday and travelling to Yamagata city, we visited Iwakiyamajinja, the shrine at Mount Iwaki, with our friends Yutaka and Ryo Satoh.We all got o-mikuji fortunes - I got...
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Yuza Sashiko Guild's exhibition opened in Sakata
Yuza Sashiko Guild's exhibition has opened at the Sanno Club, Sakata, this weekend. We saw Reiko Domon being interviewed there on NHK TV news tonight! Unfortunately we weren't quick enough with a...
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Our first two days in Shonai - part 1
Yesterday, we left our friends in Yamagata city and headed for Shonai, first to Sakata and then Yuza. The first part of our trip was by the Tsubasa Shinkansen.Emily and Hiroko at Yamagata station.We...
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First two days in Shonai - part two
After climbing Mount Haguro, we visited Sachi and Mitsufumi Motomura's gallery and kiln nearby on Haguro. They make Oribe (above left) and Shino (above right) ceramics. I already knew each style a...
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Wednesday at the Sanno Club
We spent Wednesday morning at the exhibition at the Sanno Club. The 'display boards" are actually folding tables with only one side up.There were a lot of visitors. Some had come quite a long way -...
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Wednesday around Yuza
After visiting the exhibition at the Sanno Club in the morning, we explored various places around Yuza with my friend from Yuza Board of Education, Hideo Abe (he's now the teaching supervisor for the...
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Meeting old friends around Yuza
One of the really nice things about coming back to Yuza is meeting friends when we've got out of touch. Before the internet, keeping in touch with many Japanese friends was difficult for me, because I...
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