Seriously Sunny at Ikegami Baien

Ikegami Baien is a garden in the south of Tokyo with 370 plum trees covering 30 different varieties. This isn't one of those gardens that was created for the naughty whims of the Ronin to be fulfilled in - it belonged to an artist and then a restaurant owner before being bequeathed to the city. It isn't huge but it is plenty big enough and very beautiful.

Plum blossoms are different to the cherry ones in that they are sparser so you don't get the massing of colour - it's more like polka dots. And I do like polka dots.

The blossoms are amazing close up.

There are the pure white, pale pinks and the amazing cerise pinks. There is also a lovely, very subtle, scent in the air. You can see all my photos here.

As you can see from the photos the weather was perfect and Noriko and I had a wonderful time wondering around taking lots of photos. After half an hour Noriko turned to me and said "I know what you are thinking Alex - you are thinking about how you could make this into a quilt!" So true. I was thinking of this one I saw a while back in a library book.

Now that is cherry and this was plum, but still...kinda wonderful! Cherry bl ossom will be out in a few weeks time. You can be sure I'll be out seeing plenty of that too!

In February...

My January post seems like a lot more than a month ago. There has been lots happening on the personal side as well as what has been going on in my role as a craft buddha. Here is the mosaic of finishes for this month.

Quite a variety - washi box, jewellery, patchwork and more. And there are all those other projects on the go - the one block wonder patches waiting to be assembled into something. The blue/grey hexagons in traditional woven cottons waiting to be a bag, the jumper I'm knitting and then not to mention the projects I have planned. Quilts for two people, egyptian socks, various traditional japanese things including what I think are called Hinakazari decorations although I'm not sure of that. They look like this.

Bit blurry I know but these are photos I took at the Quilt Festival last month. They come in an infinite variety of designs and combinations.

I've had some library books about them and have taken careful note so hope to have a few flowers and animals produced soon. Perhaps for March's mosaic!?