Friday 24 January 2014

And Now For The News

Pooch and I both like to listen to news on the radio in the mornings. When we get up on weekdays it is "The World Tonight" on BBC R4 which is clearly an international program so quite diverse. However, if we listen in the evenings we'll get one of the regular UK news programs. What is very noticeable is how a theme gets a lot of coverage while other things that don't fit the theme get left out. Plus once the news machine gets a grip on a particular issue they then go on and on and on about it.
Bored
This isn't a new thing and it's also not something I've only become aware of since moving to Japan. But being out here and wanting a general overview means you have to really spend time digging around the lower levels of the bbc news site.

The topic of 'news from home' came up at the Stitch n Bitch group on Tuesday when I happened to be at a table with an australian, a new zealander, an american and a german. The american was talking about how there was a politician in her state misbehaving and how she just didn't want to know and couldn't see why so much airtime was given to it. We compared what the big themes were for our countries and my contribution was "Weather - there have been loads of floods, immigration...oh, and of course the pedophiles". Lengthy pause. "Pedophiles?" someone says. "Oh yeah I heard that the Pope had been dealing with the bad priests." "Oh no" I said, "I mean the famous ones."
It's Famous Because It's Good
So the good thing about this conversation is that it reveals that the UK is not yet famous for having lots of pedophiles. Yay!

The revelations about the mass abuse carried out by an admittedly limited number of celebrities from the seventies and eighties is something I find particularly disturbing since it is the celebrities of my own youth who are involved. Jimmy Saville was always a real oddball and I never felt comfortable with the juxtpositions of his lifestyle. Not that I ever suspected he had abused hundreds if not thousands of children - but that didn't stop me wanting to be on Jim-ll-fix-it. And as for Rolf Harris...a big part of me is still thinking that it can't be true. But then that suggests the multiple women accusing him must all be either fantasists or psychotically mercantile.
Rolf Harris on SUNRISE
But I loved Rolf Harris as a child and I loved him as an adult. When the accusations came out I wanted to hug him and tell him I still believed in him and Pooch and I had several heated conversations about whether it could be true. However, I am a strong believer in the justice of the UK legal system so the case will wind its way towards a conclusion and in the meantime I will maintain a strong hope that he is innocent.

Thursday 23 January 2014

Sewing Fail, Sewing Fun

Fail first. I spent fricking ages putting this zip in.
Polka Dot Zip
I mean...I basted! I haven't basted since the after school sewing teacher made me do it before using the machine. How does it look?
Wretched zip
LUMPY! It looks really lumpy like a pre-schooler did her first zip. Going to have to unpick and rethink. So annoying.

Sewing fun - my first ever spool block.
Spool Block
I am not usually a fussy sewer so a 5" block that uses 11 different pieces was not something I exactly jumped into. But I think it has worked out rather nicely! It is for the She Who Sews Hop which starts next week.
She Who Sews Thoughts
I finally got some inspiration this morning.
She Who Sews Sketch
I will probably still play with the layout but I am pleased enough with it to make 8 more spools. I'm using this tutorial which stays away from triangles so it's a Modern Spool rather than a usual one. I've been going mental on the triangles recently.
Sewing Swap big item in progress
This is becoming a bag for the Sewing Room Swap. I was thinking about how much effort I go to to make these things for swaps and thinking about the effort I put into things for myself. I think sometimes I forget that I am much more valuable to myself than other people - think of putting the oxygen mask on yourself first on an airplane before you help others. I should take this much trouble with things for myself too.

Monday 20 January 2014

Crafty Finishes

Pooch's birthday jumper is done.
The Killing Jumper on Pooch
He's gone all shy in his 37th year but still has the bum of a 35 year old, n'est pas? He's very happy with it. I used the free chart from here (Rav link). I also finally sewed the buttons I made onto Jasmine's dress.
Jasmine Dress Medley
When I make another one (I just need to be sure this one fits) I won't use such bulky buttons as having them on both sides means the dress will stand away from her little collar bones. I think next time a couple of those iron on patches will serve to disguise where I've sewn on the poppers instead. But apart from that I am very happy with this. My sister is very lovely and an excellent mother but useless at measuring her child so I just did it based on the average for her age, hence my concern about the fit!

I now need a new knitting project, which I think will be a jumper for my ickle brother (who is bigger than Pooch), while I have no need to think hard about my next sewing efforts.
Triangle EPP
The english paper pieced pouch swap has started and having never done triangles before I thought I'd give them a go. I do love a nice tessellation.

Sunday 19 January 2014

Scoring at the Salvation Army Bazaar

I believe I have previously mentioned the lack of charity shops in Tokyo. This post is about the one I've found. It's only open on Saturdays so this last weekend I pootled over there, taking care to leave Pooch at home. This kind of place is his idea of hell. It was the best part of an hour each way - was it worth it? Oh yeah.
Salvation Army Bazaar Medley
This is not your average UK style charity shop - but much more like the american thrift stores. It was huge. Epic. Vast. There were leaflets in english at the door telling you how it all works but essentially about 10% of the stuff was priced, the rest was a guess. And then whatever it said on the label, they'd knock up to half off when you came to pay. You see the bottom right photo in the medley? That was the haberdashery and vintage kimono section. Mmmm.
My creation
850g of the green yarn for 500Yen (about £3.50), oodles upon oodles of buttons, drawers of fabric remnants (left) and handkerchiefs or wrapping cloths (right) - these are just what I brought home which barely dented the surface of what was there. There were much larger lengths of fabric too.
My creation
Unused vintage placemats with this lovely maple leaf design, random hair clips, 'thank you' cat and a juice flask and glasses still in their original box. My favourite item though is this lovely vintage kimono jacket.
Kimono Back
This is a present for Mater. I think the body is silk and looks quite old while the sleeves have been carefully added later and are in a temari ball print. That was just under £10. Amazing. And as ever in Tokyo, the volunteers staffing the place were endlessly polite and kept thanking people for buying things. If I had known about this place when I was shopping for our house I would have bought all of our kitchen things, pots, crockery, glasses, from here and furniture too. Lovely solid wood 5' tall chests of drawers for £30? I would happily have had all the furniture I saw in my home.

For anyone who happens to be in the vicinity these are the directions. If you get lost and resort to google maps I suggest searching for "Salvation Army Suginami" which is the Corps building just next door. From there follow the people marching steadfastly towards it. It is only open 9-1 on Saturday mornings and, as with most of Tokyo, is cash only. I am definitely going to be going back!

Thursday 16 January 2014

Neighbourhood Patrol

I had a good march around the neighbourhood this week. It is all becoming quite normal to me but so many things are completely different to the way London's residential areas are I thought you might be interested. Let's start with our flat which is within this building, forming the back half of the second floor.
our new home
Unlike London, as soon as you move off the main thoroughfare, you are on single lane streets.
Narrow road
Pavements exist occasionally, but usually you just walk along the side of the street. Bicycles are very common but they tend to ride on the pavements or sides of streets like this rather than among the cars. It's a little olde worlde in that people don't bother with bicycle locks - you see them outside lots of houses just on their stands.
Decorated doorstep
Often they'll be alongside pot plants which decorate a large number of doorsteps. With land at such a premium people tend not to have gardens, so decorated doorsteps is very common. For anyone who has lived in London this seems really odd. I was astonished - no one steals the plants, or the bikes. No one even knocks them over. No one sprays graffiti on them. It's really quite weird for someone so used to London ways. As well as plants you get knicknacks. Pottery frogs for example.
Decorated doorstep 3
These are often themed - either seasonal or all disney, for example. Recently these have been new year themed.
Decorated doorstep 2
And sometimes you want to decorate the doorstep because of what is just next door. The one above had one of the ubiquitous vending machines next to it.
Vending Machine 2
These are endemic. You get them absolutely everywhere including inside temples, on underground platforms and at the entrances to the poshest shopping centres. They give out the usual bottled soft drinks for about 75p a time but also hot drinks such as tea and coffee. Some have beer or whiskey in them. You also get others for cigarettes and sometimes for ice creams and snacks. Veering off the tour for a moment I was surprised to find a 2.7 litre plastic bottle of whiskey in a supermarket the other day.
2l plastic bottle of whiskey
About £11. Bargain. Anyway, back to the tour. Because space is scarce, any empty lots become these mini carparks.
CAR pARK
Some may only have two spaces in them and they are all automated, which is odd considering how overstaffed other activities are. For instance, any construction work is accompanied by a man making sure no one is struck down by vehicles connected to the works which might come racing up at 10 mph every 3 hours or so.
Building Guard
I always say thank you to these men even when the road is empty, as it usually is. I feel so sorry for them. Must be almost as boring as this police duty.
Embassy Guard
Whenever there is an embassy nearby, and there are several near here (Argentinian and Swiss - nothing threatening), you get a policeman ready to block the roads with his expandable blockade in the event of a crisis. He has an orange baton too. Poor things. They just stand there, hour after hour, scowling at the traffic, in case someone starts storming the Swiss Embassy by car from 300 yards away. As soon as you get away from doorsteps and security risks you can tell when you are getting to the main shopping streets as they are decorated. These are our local ones.
P1140005
Azabu-juban, which is a richer area and more touristy than ours, has slightly snazzier ones with flags as well.
Road Decorations 2
As well as shops and doorsteps, we also have a large number of temples and shrines near us. You can tell the two apart because a shrine will always have a gate like this at the entrance.
Shrine Gate
There are at least four within 10 minutes walk of here. This is one of the temples.
Temple Entrance
This houses a lot of grave monuments.
Graveyard
They also often have their own gardens of various sizes. Aren't the branches of this tree amazing?
Temple Garden
This one is alongside our main thoroughfare - which was bustling at midday on a weekday.
Pedestrian Crossing
You might remember me mentioning a pet hate about waiting endlessly for the green man to appear on empty roads. You can see that happening here. Alongside it runs the odd looking Furukawa River.
P1140008
Until I looked it up I assumed it was more of a spillway than an actual river but - London residents may again not believe this - there are no shopping trolleys in it. Or bikes. Or pushchairs. Or anything much except rocks, water and perhaps even a fish. As a final stop on this tour, and just down the road from here, is a Nursery. When passing I was delighted to finally see an example of what I had heard stories about - children in carts.
Tokyo Nursery Carts
Older children are taken out for walks to local playgrounds (there are two little ones nearby) but the younger ones get put in carts and wheeled round to them. So cute! The youngest get put into 4-baby carts with seats (there's one in the background here) while the others stand in this type of one. Almost next door is a dog grooming parlour. These are much more common than nurseries since the birthrate is quite amazingly low in Tokyo especially, where dog ownership seems much more popular. You see the poor things dressed up in jackets and trousers, trotting along the pavements with their hair permed or whatever it is they do in dog parlours.

So there we are. That is my local neighbourhood, and off I go now into it to do the daily food shopping!

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Sewing Conundrums

I have two, no, three sewing issues at the moment. These buttons are not one of them.
Fabric Covered Buttons
I made them for Jasmine's dress to cover up where the poppers are. I used a little button covering kit I came across in a 100 Yen shop. Love those places.

My first conundrum is what to do with this.
Patchwork Star in Progress
It's a 12" block which I made for a 20" cushion cover - so I always knew it would need a border. So I made one but it's not long enough.
Patchwork Layout
So do I make it longer, or do I make some little corner inserty patchwork thing? I'm starting to regret making it to be honest. The linen means it is always going to look crumpled. Bleh. Anyway, onward. Second conundrum is what to make with this:
P1140029
Two different fabrics which have just arrived for the bloghop "She Who Sews". The print is much bigger than I'm used to so small patchwork designs aren't going to work. Something simple maybe? I dunno. It's just not talking to me. My third conundrum is what to make for the Sewing Room Swap. My partner has such wildly different tastes to me that I don't seem to have any fabric that suits her style. Do I simply use what I have or do I buy something especially? Tough, tough.

Simpler is something like this.
Basil Shoots
These are the first Basil seedlings from a grow-your-own kit I got Pooch for Christmas. So exciting! Almost as lovely to look at as the birthday tea container I gave Pooch yesterday.
Silver Birch Tea Case
It caught my eye amongst many others because it seems to be made from Silver Birch wood. I don't think I've ever seen anything made from that wood before and I used to love the trees when I was little. On my recent "exploring the neighbourhood" patrol (post to come tomorrow) I found a wonderful shop full of traditional tea and decorative things. I'll definitely be taking anyone who comes to visit there. As well as other things there were wrapping cloths in cat designs.
Cat Screen print
I was powerless to resist - and this is probably why my discontent with the cushion cover has come to a head - and think they would look beautiful incorporated into different things. This one says (approximately, according to Pooch, reading from top to bottom and right to left) "Everyday, happiness increases." Certainly, every day I visit a cat cafe, my happiness does increase!

Monday 13 January 2014

Kyushibarikyu Gardens, Take Two

epp_swap_badge

Back in June Pooch and I visited these gardens as part of our whirlwind tour of the city. We went back again today to see how they looked in a different season. In a word? Beautiful.
P1130032
On our first visit it was about 30 degrees, humidity of 99.9% and raining on and off from grey skies. Today was about 5 degrees, normal humidity and bright sunshine from blue skies.
P1130003
Back then there were perhaps 3 birds in the whole place. This time it looked like flocks of two different types of duck were either pausing in their migration or had bedded down for the season.
P1130022
They had also tied up some of the trees in these kind of nets - not sure why. It was clearer what the nature of the protection was with these.
Pink and Purple Peony
I *think* these are Peonies although I could be wrong. They certainly seem rather reminiscent of the fabric you see a lot of here.
Peony Floral Print Fabric (#2)
Amazing colours.
Red and White Peony

Pooch and I went for traditional Ramen at a place opposite the station afterwards. Wonderful old dark brown wooden benches and tables.
Traditional Ramen Place bench
There was an impressive amount of slurping coming from the tables around us which Pooch was more than happy to join in with. I remained more demure and tackled mine more like spaghetti. No mean feat.

Before you go I encourage you to revisit my previous post about shop windows. Wendy left a comment which answered most of the logistics questions I posed in among the pictures and it is all pure knowledge gold. Thank you so much Wendy! I've often wondered about all of that and now I know!