I miss getting such nice letters from students in Japan!
Valentine's from the English Club - 2010
24 October 2011
23 October 2011
Eat, Drink, and be Scary!
Today I went to a Halloween pumpkin carving party at a friends house. While most of the guests at the party used images from a carving book to design their pumpkins, I went a different route. As I carved, people kept asking me 'Is that Mickey Mouse?!' and I'd simply say 'No, it's a bear.' Little did they know, this bear is a huge hit in Japan, and my favorite bear EVER.
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| Rilakkuma (リラックマ) or 'Relax Bear' |
18 October 2011
A Quilter's Paradise
Last Friday, I went to the 2011 Pacific International Quilt Festival at the Santa Clara Convention Center with my aunt.
While waiting for the doors to open at 10a.m., I saw a woman wearing a quilted jacket and other women holding quilted bags or ‘Quilt Festival’ bags they purchased with their admission tickets. They were all ready for the vendors. This was clearly the place to be.
My aunt and I started at one end of the Convention Center and had to be sure not to skip any rows on our way through the show. Six hours and hundreds of quilts later, we ended up on the other side of the building, looking at the last quilts before we’d call it a day.
We even picked up a new project, called ‘needle felting,’ from a vendor. Basically, you take a piece of wool and use a very sharp, thin needle to work the wool into fabric to make your project look more real, or at least a little fluffy. We’re working on Christmas pillows, but the lady who demonstrated the technique to us was working on a beautiful quilt filled with needle felted llamas, foxes, bears, and other animals.
I liked seeing the Japanese quilts in the international section of the show. We also saw quilts from New Zealand, the U.K., and Israel among others.
While I’m not a quilter (yet), I was very impressed by the creativity, time, and patience I know must have gone into creating a lot of the quilts at the show. I don't think you have to be a quilter to appreciate a show like this.
My aunt and I sat down for much needed drinks before leaving the Convention Center around 4:45p.m.
On the way out, we commented on how we hadn’t even seen the light of day because we got there so early and left so late.
And we were fine with that.
While waiting for the doors to open at 10a.m., I saw a woman wearing a quilted jacket and other women holding quilted bags or ‘Quilt Festival’ bags they purchased with their admission tickets. They were all ready for the vendors. This was clearly the place to be.
My aunt and I started at one end of the Convention Center and had to be sure not to skip any rows on our way through the show. Six hours and hundreds of quilts later, we ended up on the other side of the building, looking at the last quilts before we’d call it a day.
We even picked up a new project, called ‘needle felting,’ from a vendor. Basically, you take a piece of wool and use a very sharp, thin needle to work the wool into fabric to make your project look more real, or at least a little fluffy. We’re working on Christmas pillows, but the lady who demonstrated the technique to us was working on a beautiful quilt filled with needle felted llamas, foxes, bears, and other animals.
I liked seeing the Japanese quilts in the international section of the show. We also saw quilts from New Zealand, the U.K., and Israel among others.
While I’m not a quilter (yet), I was very impressed by the creativity, time, and patience I know must have gone into creating a lot of the quilts at the show. I don't think you have to be a quilter to appreciate a show like this.
My aunt and I sat down for much needed drinks before leaving the Convention Center around 4:45p.m.
On the way out, we commented on how we hadn’t even seen the light of day because we got there so early and left so late.
And we were fine with that.
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| Quilt of 1,000 cranes, created after the March 11th disaster in Japan |
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| How one woman decided to preserve her grandmother's wedding dress - SO creative and beautiful |
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| Our favorite quilt - all hand made |
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| 'Hey, I know this place!' |
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| Another quilt made after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. |
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| Helping hands |
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| 'Mighty Departure' - all hand done |
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| A cute kimono quilt |
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| Yes, this is actually quilted believe it or not! |
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