I am filled to the brim! I spent the last four days studying Japanese embroidery. Look at the great teaching aids we had--detailed photo presentations that could be scrolled through over and over.
Here is our teacher, Karyn L. Plater, getting ready to give the Morning Talk. We had this lovely sunny apartment for our classroom. Each day began with a "Morning Talk" about a topic of interest. Since the new project was a design featuring Koi, one morning she talked about the history and meanings of these special fish. Other topics have related to things Japanese, embroidery or the spiritual development of the embroiderer. Generally they were accompanied by beautiful pictures displayed on that huge screen.
This is the new Koi design,
designed by our teacher, Karyn L. Plater. I'm not stitching this one but it was interesting to watch the others who are doing it work on it. All of the Japanese embroidery classes I've been in have had students at different levels doing different pieces. As the new students are taught, the older students hear the review, even if they are working on their own projects. I love (and need) this constant reinforcement.
Here the teacher is conferring with Ruth, who is instrumental in getting our Chicago classes going and organizing our "First Thursday" Japanese embroidery stitching sessions at the Hyde Park Art Center. Ruth is working on Phases III and IV. (Japanese embroidery is taught with ten "phase" pieces. I'm doing Phase I.)
Below is my piece showing each day's progress. You can tell the weather by the varying light (the pictures were all taken with the natural light from the east--the apartment overlooked Lake Michigan). Monday was rainy, Wednesday sunny, etc.
So, the above is my starting point. On Monday I stitched the long leaf in the middle.
On Tuesday I worked on the "pink" or carnation--the orange flower in the center. I did two petals. I also worked on the orange striped cord near the bottom. I had stitched some of this years ago in my first class and ripped it out because I didn't like it at all. I'm much happier with my stitching this time.
Below is my final picture. I added more stitching on the blue flower.
On Thursday morning, I practiced making twisted threads properly for the blue flower--the threads I had made on my own a couple of months ago were not tightly enough twisted. I learned to compensate for that in stitching on the blue flower, but I wanted to try twisting the threads again and make sure I had a properly twisted thread for comparison purposes for the next few months. I also made a twisted thread to make knots and I worked on making consistent Japanese knots, on the side edge of my piece, since I don't have anything needing knots at the moment. Again, it was a chance to practice with supervision.
After that, I began on a "new" piece, Three Happiness. Ms Plater had taught it last summer (it's designed by Mr. Tamura of the
Japanese Embroidery Center in Atlanta (apologies for not giving proper credit initially)) and I bought it then but was wary of beginning it on my own. The fabric is metallic gold so it's hard to photograph--that's why it looks so dark. I did some pine branches (in the center), some pine needles and a couple of plum-blossom petals. The pine needles and branches were new to me. The other techniques I have learned in my Phase I piece. This little piece is a pre-phase piece for beginners.
All in all a very satisfying week. Now back to reality.
A couple of weeks ago we visited friends with young children. As we got into our car we noticed a gift--a daisy had been placed on our seat by K. It was hot and the flower wilted quickly so I popped it into my water bottle. It's lived there ever since--doing well and reminding us of the thoughtfulness of a young boy.
The garden this year is going strong. The irises in particular. We've never had so many. That's my shadow--I didn't realized it was there.
The peonies are also booming and blooming.
A friend here at work gave me a book last week. It was by a Canadian woman and was called "Tottering in My Garden: A Gardener's Memoir" by Midge Ellis Keeble. It was the tale of the gardens she made at her homes as they moved around the Toronto area and included tips for novice gardeners. I'm not a gardener, hubby does most of that, but I do enjoy reading. I was so tired this weekend that I just sat and read this book on Friday night and Saturday and didn't do much else (except nap and a shove piles of laundry into the machine so I'd have clean undies!) I've packed it up for a friend who just bought her own first house--I think she will enjoy it, too. While I was reading, I did note down the author's suggestions for peonies. I'd love them to bloom like this next year, too.
Since I took these last Sunday the week's been quite hot. All of the roses that were barely buds last week are blooming and have bloomed and are fading already. The irises and peonies have enough successive blooms that they're still going along.
Here's another portrait of our daisy. I think this one is perfect for a needlework design.
The gold and brown are wool felt needlebook covers. All of the white squares on the lower right are wool felt needlebook pages. Above on the left are Hardanger fabric cut into 3" squares for stitched designs we provide to the 
