Good Day!

How are you doing? I am in Perth, Australia!!

This is my third day here my first time in Australia.
Wow, it was far away though.
MSP-LAX, LAX to Melborune and Perth---Total of 21 hours of flight time plus lay over.
This is my record.
There was also about a 2-hour delay from LAX so I had to take a different flight from Melborune.
Anyway, I am safe and enjoying the time here. It is beggining of Spring here though it is quite warm during the day. It gets cold in the morning and night, but it is much warmer today.
I took a walk in town yesterday by myself. I love to watch and listen to the birds. There are many wild flowers. I know it is almost spring, so it will be very beautiful with lots of wild flowers around here soon.

There is an art center close to where she lives. (She live in downtown, so everything is in walking distance!!) There were many drawings/paintings from children from local schools.
I noticed that many of their work has "kangaroo" in them. Yes, because they live in Australia.
Probably kids in MN draw cows and horses?
I haven't seen kangaroos yet, but I WILL!! I heard Koalas don't live in Western Australia because of the certain Eucalyptus trees they eat don't grow here...make sense.

I am making Wild Rice Soup for my friend, her family and her friends today. I brought some Wild Rice from Minnesota!
It is my favorite dish, too. I had better go to a grocery store.

I know I am here for teaching SAORI to my friend. I also brought many SAORI samples for her.
She seems so happy and helpful to see those itesm directly.
She is already happy herself what she does everyday, but she is not happy for people with disabilities here. That is why she decided to do SAORI so she can introduce it to them.
What a nice thing to do! I am also happy that I am a little bit of part of her great thinking.

Tomorrow, she is taking me to a yarn shop. I would like to see Australian sheep yarn!

Let's be in touch. I will report again from Perth.

Off to...

Perth, Australia this afternoon!!

My first time to Australia, I am so excited!
This is not just a vacation trip. I am going to see my SAORI friend in Japan's friend there to teach SAORI.
Thanks to my friend S in Japan to introduce her. This is what I love, the "SAORI Connection."

It is going to be a long flight, but I like flying. I am going there by myself, yes without my partner D.
This will be my longest flight, longer than going to Japan... Well, I have a lot to do in the airplane (sleep? Of course...)

First, I am going to take a Bikram Yoga class this morning to let my body be ready for the flight.

I will try to blog you while in Perth. We'll see.

See you~! and let's be in touch!

C

Minnesota State Fair

~Minnesota Great Get Together~

D and I went to the first day of Minnesota State Fair today.

This was my first time to go there on the first day.

This year was special for me because I entered my SAORI piece for the "creative activities".

Almost every year, we go to the fair and I thought "Some day, I will enter mine."

And I did this year. Thanks to "S" from the Weavers Guild of MN. She told me to enter my work at the fair.

I entered "weaving shawl category". There are many categories you can choose from.

Since I entered at the end of last month, I didn't enter something big.

Anyway, the first place we visited was of course "Creative Activities" hall.

Wow, there are so many crafts, cannings and bakings as usual... You can spend a half day here. There were so many of them!

I found a show case that had woven stuff in it. And here is mine...

Red Ribbon!! "Second Premium" Yeah! I got a ribbon for my first entry.

Not only that, I also got Weavers Guild of Minnesota Award that is "Best use of colors." Wow! Two awards. I almost screamed right in front of my piece!

I got so excited.

I feel like I am now 100% Minnesotan?!

Anyway, that made my day. I didn't want to move from the show case, but well, I enjoyed the rest of the fair might as well. We walked a lot...

I feel so GOOD! Getting awards like this give me so much energy.

I fell like "I am going to enter more pieces next year!".

Let's be in touch and happy weaving to all the weavers.

From Happy C

small work

There will be $99 SALE event at The Soap Factory in Minneapolis next month.

http://www.soapfactory.org/

I have never been there. It is a gallery, not a soap factory.

Anyway, artists who are interested in submitting their work need to be 5"x7 " size and it has to be hung flat on the wall.

I got interested in doing this, so I asked the gallery that I would like to submit my woven work.

They were so good at e-mailing back to me right away that was very nice.

I heard many artists draw on "140lb. cold-pressed paper".

To me??? Since I don't draw/paint at all, I didn't know anything about papers. Why 140lb.? Why cold-pressed?

I found the right paper and sewed on to it.

I have never woven something small like this particularly.

The title is "THE TEXTURE".

I am going to drop it off tomorrow.

I have a to-do list before I leave for Australia next Monday.

One of them was this to be done.

I need to pack, too...and more...

Let's be in touch!

Minnesota State Fair coming soon! and...

Minnesota's get together---Minnesota State Fair starts Aug. 21-Sept.1.

Last 2 years, I went there and enjoyed it.
This year, I am going there the first day. I am sure it will be more crowded than the rest of the days except for the last day?
Anyway, I am going even though it is crowded BECAUSE my SAORI shawl is there at the fair.
Yes, I entered my SAORI item for the first time at the fair.
My friend told me to enter the end of last month. I thought "There wasn't enough time to make something though...", but I still checked the fair website and found "Shawl" category.
"Ummm, I can weave a shawl", so I entered. (I am so easy!)
I finished weaving it in a week and dropped it off at the site.
I know all the entered items will be judged.
It doesn't matter whether I get a ribbon or not. It is important to participate in it and show people in Minnesota what SAORI is.

This is about winter...
Textile Center here in MN accepted my work for their Holiday Show and Sale!!
It is also my first time to put my work there at the Textile Center.
Last year I remember I was so impressed all the items at the show and was hoping to put my work there.
And I tried. It is a juried show.
I entered 5 different items and 2 kinds (scarf and vest) have been accepted to put the show!
Yeah! My dream came true. Also I can show people what SAORI is!
I need to make lots of scarves and vests. It will be fun to do it because my dream came true!
Yesterday when I received the notification letter which I was waiting for and found out that I can put my work!!!
The letter made my day. I was so happy.
The show starts Nov. 1 thru Dec.30.
Check it out!

Let's be in touch.

SAORI Olympics!

I stay up late these days because of the Olympics!
It inspires me a lot. I don't do any sports particularly, but I love moving my body!
I get inspired for my SAORI.
I have my loom right in front of a TV and I am watching Olympics and weaving SAORI many nights these days.
I get a lot done! While the commercial, my hands speed up and once the race starts, they slow down. It is still O.K. I am enjoying it.
I rememver two Olympics ago, I was doing the same thing back in Japan (I was still living in Japan two olympics ago).
I titled one of my pieces "Olympics".

I haven't felt like naming "Olympics" to any of my pieces yet since a couple of pieces have images of what I saw outside when I was walking or watching a cartoon movie with my neighbor child.
Now, I am working on a piece using "organic cotton" a lot.
I found out that there is a Eco Fashion Show in fall, so I am trying it out!
I love the theme "ECO". That is why I would like to try it out. We'll see....

In September, I will be able to weave with a lot of images/ideas from Australia because I am going there in 10 days! I am going to do SAORI with a woman in Perth.

I am so excited being there and make new connections with people in Australia!

Before I leave for Australia, I need to finish several Eco pieces! I had better go to my loom.

Have a nice day and Let's keep in touch!

SAORI weaving camp

Last Tue. & Wed. I had 3 girls plus 1 boy(he joined us Wed.) for SAORI weaving camp.

I know all of the children because they go to the school where I used to work.

One of the girls came to weave last fall for her firend's birthday party. Since then, she kept telling her mom "I want to weave" "I had a dream of myself weaving"etc...

Whenever I saw her mom, she used to tell me about her daughter wanting to weave.

Finally, she came with her friends. "My dream finally came true!"

For the other girls, it was their first time to weave. As usual, children are such a quick learners.

Soon, I heard them saying, "It's easy" "It's cool!".

They were all quiet. I only heard the shuttles are going back and forth.

I was able to observe them and weave myself.

"Feel this, Chiaki!" "I made this color!". Their smile faces..

At the end of the first day, one of them found a SAORI dog I made.

"Can I make this tomorrow?"

So, we did at the end of the second day. Look, aren't they cute?

They enjoyed two mornings of weaving with colors and texture.

The girl who wove for the second time, she has three brothers. One of them joined us the second day, but the other didn't and asked their mom, "We want to weave! Can we?"

So, the mom scheduled to come to weave with all her children and herself.

It will be fun!

Later, one of the girls gave me a "thank you" message on a stone so sweet.

Let's be in touch.

SAORI WEAVERS

"SAORI WEAVERS"---this was the name of the show at a gallery in the Chaska Community Center.

SAORI friends around the U.S. submitted their work to this show for last one month.

Yesterday, D and I went to take them down. It has been a month already, time flies.

This show was a part of SAORI U.S.-Canada Conference 2008 that was held second weekend of July in Chaska, MN. Some of SAORI friends from Canada, Hawaii and East Coast came to attend this conference and did a few public events, too. It was nice exposure for us to show SAORI to people in Chaska, MN.

We really had a good weekend here in Chaska.

We also made good connections with people.

Some of them are excited about introducing SAORI at their work places.

We are excited, too.

We are fortunate to have people to work with through SAORI.

D's tapestry called "Daily Lives" you know what it mean looking at the image?

My tapestry called "Oh, Minnesota". I expressed four seasons in Minnesota.

Let's be in touch!

C