Planning again.

I can't believe it's five years since I made this.

I don't quilt often.  It's like scrapbooking for me; I don't enjoy it as a crafty hobby, but do it as a very satisfying (when done) chore.  When there're ashamedly huge amount of pictures to be sorted, I just put them in albums.  No fancy stickers nor cutting into cloud-shape/heart-shape the pics.  When there're enough amount of worn-out clothes and old sheets, I just cut them roughly to reduce the amount.  And when there're enough amount of usable fabrics, I start thinking of cut them into squares or strips and put them together.  No new fabrics.

This, baby blanket, is made from old bed sheet.  I just couldn't throw it away when we moved from Kyoto to Texas, so I tucked it in my "craft" bin and brought it overseas.  Finally when we thought it's OK to feel happy and get prepared to welcome our baby (it happened rather slowly, cautiously, after several years of unsuccessful infertility treatment, and, with our scientific but superstitious Japanese mind, we'd been telling ourselves not to disappointed if, when, something goes terribly wrong) , it was there.  I folded it in half inside out to get smoother surfaces, sandwiched a thin batting and just machine-stitched along the edges.  To put all the layers together, I needed some more stitching.

This is what I did.  Sashiko.  

The pattern is Asa no ha (hemp leaves), which is traditionally used for baby clothes, because hemp grows very fast, and also because it (the pattern, rather than hemp itself, I guess) is considered to have a magical power to fight against evils.  

These days, I dream of sashiko project a lot.  Maybe the warm, a bit too warm for wool, weather makes me think about cotton.  Or because I saw Pomatomus a lot on Sock Knitters Anonymous group and can't get Seigaiha pattern out of my mind.

I believe sashiko technique can be used to make an afghan square.  How about a fingering-weight stash busting project?  A tube, set flat with Sashiko pattern stitches with contrasting color to make an 8-in square.  Hmmm.