INTERACT!

My dream is coming true soon!!!

I don't even remember how I got to know this organization, "INTERACT".
It was my dream to work with them since soon after I moved from Japan.

http://www.interactcenter.com/

This is a place for people with disabilities.

All the people there practice either performing or visual arts in a nice brick historical building in Minneapolis.
Last month, my Taiko (Japanese Drum) friend connected us and Dan and I visited them the other day to talk about the possibility of having a SAORI workshop.

Today, I got an e-mail from a lady who is in charge of visual arts.
She said we were able to hold a workshop one morning in May!

Hooooray!

Shepherd's Harvest

Minnesota's Sheep and Wool Festival will be held on Mother's Day weekend.
This it will be May 8 and 9 at Washington Country Fairground.

We will be there as vendors and instructors.
We are teaching two classes; one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
I have just checked the festival website and both classes are already full.

Thank you!!

For those who were going to sign up but found out that it is already full, please contact us and come to our studio in Chaska.

If you have several more than 5 people and a place for us to bring looms, we are offering off-site classes, too.
Please contact us for details.
We are happy to travel in the Twin Cities area.

Anyway, it makes me happy to see that the classes are both full already.
Now, I need to focus on making items for sale.

I will bring something new this year.
We are there to offer you to try weaving at the booth, too.
Make sure you stop by at our booth and say "Hi".

Shepherd's Harvest Website
http://www.shepherdsharvestfestival.org/index.shtml

These days.....

As you know, I am good at Japanese language since I grew up in Japan.

I tend to update my Japanese blog a lot, but not this one...
I think about this a lot, but I just don't update.
I need to do that more often. I know that.....

Anyway, these days what I am doing is....

1. I am thinking about scheduling the summer camp. I will do that, so please wait for those who are planning to come.

2. "SAORI Minnesota" meeting.
I have several people who come to the studio to weave. I hear "I want to make garments".
Dan and I will organize a meeting for "exchanging dress making ideas, show and tell, SAORI news from Japan and here in Minnesota and of course, getting to know each other!".

It will be after Lake Minnetonka Art Studio Tour in the first weekend of May and Shepherd's Harvest that is the following weekend.
So, it will be middle to the end of May.

I will keep you posted.

I am so fortunate to have SAORI people around me a little by little.

I am in!

It has been a while since I found out that I am going to be a part of the show, "Lake Minnetonka Art Tour" this May 1-2.

www.lakemtkaartstour.org

My friend who is a potter invited me to be her guest artist at her home last year.
It is a juried show and I submitted everything they needed but they turned me down.
My friend told me that one of the reasons why they turned me down was my images I submitted.
I always have "nature" background when I take a picture of my work.
That's not okay for juried shows.

So, this year, she and her husband helped me a lot preparing the images.
They took so much time for my images. Thank you.
AND I AM IN!!

I learned a lot from her submitting a juried show-quality of images.
It is always good to learn something new.
I appreciate so much my friend and husband!

Now, I have been working on the show.

I got so excited when I got an e-mail that I have been selected.
I can't forget that moment.

PARENTS

Our local book festival, "Hooked on Books" was held last Saturday.
Our school district organizes this huge event for children every year.

It is such a good family fun event.

There are many activities in 3 hours.

This year, a famous children story author was there to do her autograph.

It is getting bigger and well organized every year which is very good!

This was our 4th time being there to do a SAORI mini workshop.

It is a good PR opportunity for us. It is very LOCAL!!

My friends we did a show together last month had their own art activity spots, too. (picture)

It is so nice to work with someone we know!

Last year, because of this exposure, a girl decided to have a weaving birthday party.

It is good for both of us since there aren't any places in our area to do a weaving birthday party.

Anyway, there were some repeaters.

Some children came direct to our workshop since their children enjoyed it last year.

It is always the case once a child starts weaving, other children come to see what he/she is doing. Then we will have many children waiting around looms.

It is always interesting to me to see parents.

Some parents stay with their child helping (teaching?) too much saying, "Oh, you missed. Go back!" "Switch your feet now!" etc....

In the other hand, some parents leave then alone and wait away from them.

Then we tell the parents who teache too much their children..."SAORI is....."

I am not a parent, but I wonder which parent type I would be.....

Where is my...

My friend brought her little daughter to weave today.

At the end of the class, she started looking for her bottle.
I know she had it for a little while and looked like she left it somewhere.
"I saw her holding it."
"Where did she leave it?"

I told my friend and people in the class half joking,
"Is it in the yarn shelf with other yarn?"
and looked at the shelf.

Here it is!! Her bottle with white yarn same color as what's in her bottle.

I had to take a picture of it. It was so funny.

SAORI "KIMONO Wrap"

A arranged "Margaret Coat" is now "Kimono Wrap".

Thanks to my friend Marcia who named this. It sounds very exotic!

Her husband also did a good job taking great picture of this.

This piece is sold.

I made this specially for last weekend's local art show "Undercover Artists".

I usually try to make something big for a show.

The second day(the last day) of the show, a lady purchased this.

She said, "Nobody has something like this."
Yes, that's true, because it's SAORI!

Thank you so much!

Undercover Artists Show -1-

Happy New Year!!

This year, I will try to blog at least once a week.

I do well on my Japanese blog, but not this English one.

I think that's because I need to post in English.....

Well, anyway, I really had a good weekend.

Very local artists including me and guest artists had a show called,

"Undercover Artists" in Carver, MN.

I've noticed in surburb, people less care about art compared to people in the cities.

Though there are many artists in our area. We need "ART" here in our county, too.

Four of us (three painters and I) started getting together once a week to exchange information and soon, we decided to do a show.

We had a good mailing list since we belong to "Art Consortium" that our country organized, so many people and our friends stop by for the opening Friday evening.

The venue was in a histrocial building that used to be a bank.
Usually the space is used for children's after school activity ccalled "Funky Minds".

We transformed into a "gallery" as we display our work.

There is still a safe door in the building and old hanging lights that were nice addition to the show.

to be continued...

Watching People

I am now helping out my friend's business at the airport.
Today, I was there waiting for a family from Japan.
I usually wait quite a bit until the people who needs asisstance from us at the airport.
While I wait, I have fun watching people going by.
Sometimes I guess like "Is she Chinese or Japanese?"
"What language are they speaking?" etc....

Today, I saw a lady who had a kind of poncho type of coat on.
She had a belt on it, too.
It has to be easy to make because I am not good at sewing....
It looked easy. So, I decided I wanted to try making one like that.
It is easy to make, but I need to weave quite long. Oh well, better than a lot of sewing.
So, I will do it next especially I have a show next month.

Happy Weaving!

While I was in Japan...

While I was in Japan, I rented one of my looms to a couple of students.

One of them, Y made several scarves for her relatives in two weeks!

Here are some of them.

I like how she put black.

We met last summer in August at the Japanese Festival in St. Paul.

I was having a booth and was demonstrating SAORI.

She started coming to my studio right away and now she brings her friend, too.

She is very different from me in a way, so I can learn a lot from her.

She is more picky in a sense (good way of course)and I am NOT. (If you know me well, I can see you nodding.)

That's why I can learn from her.

It is interesting!!

She now keeps one of my looms at home and keeps weaving at home, too because she has many people she would like to give away her scarves in this holiday season.

I know she is now working on a scarf for her sister in Japan.

I am looking forward to seeing it when she comes this week!

Happy Weaving!

Flower Field Series

This is one of my new "Flower Field" series shawl.

I don't have any series in my SAORI. This is the only one so far.

I don't think I will have any series, but I really like this Flower Field color combination.

I have made 4 shawls like this this year so far.

I finished this one the end of last week for a show in Wisconsin starting this Friday.

My friend Martha took it with my other items today. Thank you for driving all the way to the venue Martha!

I went to Japan!

Wow! It has been a while since I posted my blog last time.

There were a lot of things I had to do before I left for Japan the end of October.

Yes, I went back to Japan to be a part of SAORI 40th year anniversary.

Of course, I also went to see my family there.

It was much warmer than usual in Osaka.

When I came back to Minnesota on Nov. 13, I was ready to be in cold, but it wasn't cold at all.

I was surprised and of course, I was so glad it was not cold.

Anyway, I had such a good time in Japan.

About 1000 people from all over Japan got together to celebrate this big event.

Also 26 people from 11 different countries got together.

It was so nice to see all the SAORI friends!

I kept screaming whenever I saw some faces I've known, but haven't seen them for 6 years!

It was exciting.

It was exciting to share the moment together.

It was exciting to see their SAORI pieces they were wearing.

It was exciting to see Misao Jo the founder of SAORI were there with us.

She is 96 years old!!

Fashion show, A key speaker's speech, another fashion show, forum...

Oh, I was one of the forums on "SAORI's Future" .

There were 4 of us on the stage talked about SAORI's future.

I also helped translating a speech from a delegate from VSA arts head quarters in Washington D.C.

It was such a good experience for me to be on the stage especially the venue was "Osaka Public Hall" the historical building. (picture)

To be continued.....

ideas, ideas.....

These days, I am weaving and needlefelting.

I started making piereced earrings by needlefelting. It is fun!

It is refreshing for me to do this because I don't need to sit on a loom.

A new yarn/fabric shop will open soon in Stillwater, MN and I sent a couple of dozens of earrings and 15 SAORI scarves a few days ago.

I hope people who come to visit the shop will like them!

http://www.darnknitanyway.com/

A day before, I started making needlefelting "snowmen".

I already made some needlefelting "christmas trees".

Yesterday, I got some grapevine wreaths and gluled a snowmen, stars and a christmas trees on a couple of wreaths.

I will get some bells to go with wreaths.

I love them! They are so cute!!

I am going to make many of them!

Would you like one?

Stillwater Debt!!

Stillwater, MN is a beautiful small town people visit all year around especially in the fall, you can see all the trees along St. Croix River are turning into red, yellow, orange etc....
You can take a river cruise, walk around downtown with many antique shops and other artsy type of shops.....
It is easy to get to if you are in Twin Cities area.
Yesterday, when I drove from where I live in the surburg, it took me exactly one hour. It's not too bad though.

A new yarn shop is going to open next month in downtown Stillwater called "Darn Knit Anyway"
www.darnknitanyway.com
I went there to show my SAORI scarves and my new creation "needle felted pierced earrings" to people who are opening the store.
They both liked them and one of them even bought one pair of the earrings at the site!!
I told them about SAORI and I can do classes.....
SO, I will be able to teach SAORI in Stillwater!!
People who took my workshop before and who are living in the area, it's good news for you!
Anyway, I will showcase my work.
The good thing about them is that I can put my contact info. and website.
They said, "We want people to find you directly through us." How Nice!

I am excited! At the same time, I have to weave and make more stuff!! It's okay, it's still FUN.

I will post some images of earrings. I am asking my friend to be a "ear" model. I don't have pierced ears.....I don't have pierced nose either.....

mobius scarf

My first attempt, "Mobius Scarf".

This was introduced in a SAORI monthly report last year in January.
I wanted to try it for such a long time. Yes, it took me a year and eight month to do it.
I have to make the warp a little longer than regular scarf to make this mobius scarf. Instead, I made the width narrower than regular scarves.

Here it is!!
I though I followed the direction, but when I finished and looked at it, I only had fringes one side.
The image shows there are fringes two sides.

Well, it's okay. I like this one side fringes.
I used "fall colors" a lot.
There was a little "tight" part where I put warp as weft in the end, so I made the second one today with organic cotton.
This one, I put some wooded beads in some fringes and I love it!
Shall I keep it as mine? Or shall I keep it to sell since there are many winter gift shows coming up.....

Anyway, I hope you like it!

It has been a while.....

I do facebook and mixi(a kind of Japanese version of facebook) usually.
I don't update my blog. One reason is "That's because I have to write it in English!".
I know facebook is the same, but I can just write several words.
Well, I can do the same here, too.......
Anyway, I am updating now.
Summer is almost gone (or gone?).
I had a good summer.
I have a good friend now in N.C.
It is so nice to meet and connect to people all over.
I also have good friends who started coming to weave at SAORI Studio "FUN".
One of them is originally from Hawaii, so I am learning about Hawaii when we weave together.
She is learning about Japan from me. Her parents are from Japan, but she grew up in Hawaii.

I entered two pieces this year at the MN State Fair.
I purposefully wove something very SAORI.
I was looking forward to reading the judge's comment.
I hope one day the judge wonders "By the way, what is SAORI?".
I entered a shawl and I received the third premium.
Thank you for my friends who went to look for my pieces. I know it's hard because they don't put any information on the work.

At the State Fair, we found a sewing machine.
My Singer sewing machine I brought from Japan is dying.
I bought it used and used it for over 10 years.
Benjamin the rabbit chewed the code. Dan fixed it, but it was not complete(?) it suddenly stopped when I am sewing.
So, since they were having the big State Fair discount, we decided to get one.
I went to pick it up a few days later and here it is!
My new sewing machine!!
Wow! Sewing machines these days have many functioning, but I know I can take advantages of all the functions, I got a simple one. It's okay, because that's what I need.

I am looking forward to sewing something for mine!?

My Belt!

My "Treasure Belt" is in Handwoven Magazine Website!
http://www.handwovenmagazine.com/
click "thrums slideshow"

Thank you my friend Terri in Canada for sharing the information!
By the way, Terri's leftover project piece (postcard) is in the newest Handwoven Magazine! (Page 10)

Welcome!

I am waiting for a lady who is coming to take a SAORI intensive from out of Minnesota starting tomorrow!
She will be with me weaving and staying with us for 4 days! I am so excited!
I hope she is, too.

I will also have a couple of high school girls coming to weave for SAORI summer camp for 3 days.
It is nice for everyone to weave with other people, so we get inspired by other people's work.

I have been weaving and making something small using left over woven pieces.

Anyway, it will be a fun week!

SAORI Magic!

I had a 8-year old boy, his sister 10-year old and their grandma for a weaving class yesterday.
I met this grandma at last month's Jordan Art Festival.
She called me the other day to reserve to weave with her grandchildren.

I was amazed these children's concentration! Usually, when they weave, they show their great concentration.
This boy especially was sticking his tongue out when he was showing his "concentration".
I always love to see the scene.
I used to see this all the time when I was working at a preschool.

The grandma and his sister tried "interlocking" and they loved it, so they kept telling him to do it, but he said, "Yeah, it looks good, but I am not going to do it".
That's fine. He is focusing and having fun weaving! That's the most important thing.
I told them, "If he is ready, he would tell me to show it to him."
However, he didn't and that's okay, too!

After telling his grandma that he was showing the great concentration and she told me at the end of the class,
"I don't know why he is diagnosed ADHD. He can focus."

I was so shocked to know that he had one.
"?????"
He sat for a whole 2 hours! I couldn't believe what she told me.
Sometimes at his school, teachers put a weighted blanket on his laps so he can sit still.
He only stood up when he needed some different yarn and went to see what his sister and grandma were weaving.

This is so called "SAORI Magic".
This is not the first time that happned something like this.
I used to bring my loom to the preschool where I used to work and children who tend to wonder around all the time sat for certain time I gave them to weave. They even told me, "I want to weave more!".
The teachers were surprised that he sat for a long time on a loom.

You don't need to be a magician to do this SAORI Magic.

I am always moved by children't concentration.

Something Very New

Last whole week, I was a tour guide for Japanese people here in Minneapolis.
There was an Lions Club International Convention. Many people from all over the world got together! There were many Japanese people, too.
My friend(and boss) asked me to help her business as a guide.
I learned about being a guide taking a bus when she was guiding people and walking downtown Minneapolis last couple of months.

Duirng the convention week, I got up early every morning, drove to a closest train station during the rush hour and took a train to downtown.
Usually, I like jeans and t-shirt, very casual style, but last week, I was a little bit of "business" look with lipstick on!!

It was a completely different week for me.
One morning, my husband said, "You are enjoying this job, aren't you?"
Yes, I was. I think I like meeting people.

On the way to the airport by bus, I talked about Minnesota and how difficult/expensive to get Japanese groceries. Then they gave me all the food they brought from Japan!! WOW!
Thank you very much! I didn't mean it though....

My group of people had a big happening one day, but in the end, they left for the next destination smiling and healthy, so I am happy.

Thank you for the great opportunity!
It was such a refreshing for me being a way from SAORI for a week even though I love SAORI.
I can weave something reflecting this great experience.....

"Untitled"

I really like this!!

This is my first try for me to use roving this way.

This roving is from MN. I purchased this at Shepherd's Harvest last month. A lady who sold this was my next door one year at the festival. Since then, we meet every year and I keep visiting her booth to purchase rovings.

I was supposed to use this rovings for my friend's "Sea Turtle". Yes, I was going to make felted Sea Turtle for her, but I used it all for my SAORI Weaving, sorry K.

This can be either a winter shawl (wool 100%), a wall hanging.

Now, I feel like making one for me to wear. Yes, making a garment.

This wall hanging, shawl is now at the Mill District Arts Gallery, downtown Minneapolis.

Do you like this?