I`ve not much to show for this week.  The good is getting a new computer and a new high speed line.  Just today, we had the construction for the ”hikari” line and the new computer set-up.  Couldn`t be happier.  The bad is I am in the middle of a root canal.  Yikes.  It is as bad as I remember from a few years ago.  I did a little sewing this week, about two hours, but not enough time to make anything of note or to get my creative juices flowing.  I was able to do a little cleaning and organizing which will make it much easier when I finally get out to my “dacha” in the middle of the week.  Since I stayed in the house all day “helping” my husband clean and re-arrange to make space for our new high-tech toys, I made  an upside-down cake for him to take to the office tomorrow, one for us that is already half gone and a loaf of bread in my bread machine.  Where would we be without all these machines to do stuff for us?  I am missing my sewing machines and itching to get back to them.  Work and the dentist will take up my time for the first two days of the week but after that I plan on spending some quality time with my favorite machines. 

School (work) is slowly winding down and soon I will have about a month off. I am excited about having so much free time but not so excited about not having a lot of money to spend. I really love working in my sewing studio daily during the spring and summer vacations. At this point in time, though, I have too many ideas and not enough concrete plans. I have loads of patterns, loads of fabric (so really no need to spend much money) and find it hard to decide which project to start. This leads me to start numerous projects even with the knowlege that most of them won`t be finished by the end of the vacation. I should probably describe my sewing studio. It is a nice pre-fab “house” that is stuffed to the ceiling with fabrics, patterns, 3 sewing machines (my inanimate sweeties), a long table and winter clothes in the summer and summer clothes in winter. My wonderful husband Yutaka bought this studio for my birthday a number of years ago. It is my own private space right out in the garden – I can work on projects and when I have other things to do, like making dinner, etc. all I have to do is cover everything and it will be there, exactly as I left it, upon my return. There are quite a few unfinished projects under those covers. I am thinking that most of those should be tackled first. I recently purchased an Issey Miyake pattern on e-bay – perfect condition from the late 80s. I also have fabric. That is what I will start after cleaning up some of the unfinished projects. Having something wonderful for the beginning of a new school year in April would be wonderful. Now I have some concrete plans. The picture today is part of a quilt from the Tokyo Quilt Show. I loved the colors, the stitching and the fact that it is a circle.

Years ago, more than I want to count, living in New York I had a professional sewing career. My very first job in New York City was at the Julliard School making costumes. That led to a job at Brooks Van Horn Costume Company sewing costumes for Broadway shows, movies and the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus. I worked under a wonderful yet exacting tailor. Around that time, I thought about becoming a fashion designer. I attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) night school lasting only about a year. Working full time at the costume company and part-time in a Lebanese restaurant left little time and desire to do the necessary homework. It was, and still is, a wonderful school with loads of talented instructors and alumni. Fast foward a number of years to Japan, and again the desire to design struck again. I wanted to attend fashion school. There is one right here in Maebashi, Gunma that offered a “free” class a few days a week. Free meant that we could design and make anything we wanted, there was tuition but no curriculum. I took a 3 and a half hour class on Tuesday mornings. I learned how to use an old fashioned treadle machine, to draft patterns (this involves a lot of math which I HATE) and to take my time marking and basting, all the things that make a garment look wonderful. The class had anywhere from 2 to 4 students and one instructor. After attending for about 3 or 4 years, I began to get more and more work as a university instructor and had to give up fashion school. Here is an example of one of the garments I made. I not only made this jacket for my friend, Deborah, but one for my mom, one for my mother-in-law and one for myself. They are all a little different as the collar and cuffs are a patchwork of antique kimono and kasuri (ikat). I really enjoyed making this and many other things for my friends, my family and myself. I am getting that old feeling again, of wanting to go back to fashion school. Maybe soon my schedule will again allow it. That fashion school is right where I left it.

Here are my room socks. I call them room socks to drive my friend, Deborah, crazy. I actually learned to make these slippers at my Grandma Nemmie`s knee when I was just a small child. She was a county fair award winning knitter who could keep track of intricate patterns while chatting, watching TV or at church meetings. She taught all her grandchildren to knit, even the boys. One of my cousins even made up a new word for a mess in the knitting – a “gawgloo.” It is sad that none of us ever kept up with it. A few years ago I wanted to start again and begged my mom to send a beginner`s knitting book or bought it on one of my trips back to the States to visit my family. When I opened the book there was the very same pattern I was taught by my Grandma Nemmie. My mom said “Don`t you dare make those for me!” And the dutiful daughter that I am, sent the very first pair to her. She stuck them in a drawer and heaven only knows what happened to them after they moved. Since then, I have made a pair for myself – in the picture, for my husband, Yutaka – we just tore the house apart looking for his?!?!?! – and our son, Junichiro. Putting his big toe right through the front, Junichiro has outgrown his and I am making a new pair. I have never made it past the beginner slipper stage but the clicking of the needles and the repetition seem to have a calming effect on me. I do hope, someday, to take on something a little more challenging, but for now, room socks it is.