Hari-Kuyo Festival of Broken Needles

Today is February 8th, where, in Japan, the Festival of Broken Needles is celebrated. Each year the a ceremony is held to give thanks to the needles that needle workers have used in their stitching over the last 12 months.  Seamstresses and embroiderers take their broken and worn needles to a shrine where  the needles are placed in tofu or jelly. The ceremony is to give gratitude and show respect to the needles and to pray for improved needle working skills. The belief is that inanimate objects also have a soul and as women stitch they pass their burdens onto their needles  The needles are given a soft resting place.

Several years ago I participated in a course held by Susan Elliott to create a needlebook.

My needle book has been well used.

The last page of this book is where broken and worn needles are stored.

I place my needles in a piece of batting and put that in a small container and bury it in my rose garden.

I have made several needle books now and given them as gifts.

Hari-Kuyo is a fascinating tradition that has been celebrated for several hundred years.

To read more about how I made my first needlebook and lots more about this wonderful tradition see here.

Susan has a post about the festival and how to create your own needlebook here .

Have you made a needle book?

Harikuyo 2014 and lots of applique

Once again it is time for the Festival of Needles, a Japanese tradition, where stitchers give thanks for their needles.
On February 8th each year broken needles are honored by laying them at rest.
I collect my broken and worn needles in the back of my needlebook.

I have placed my needles in some soft batting, placed them in a container to be buried in my rose garden.

My needles have been used for machine and hand piecing, applique, quilting and embroidery. Hours of meditation, improving my skills and creating useful and decorative objects for myself and others.

To learn lots more about Hari-Kuyo click here.  Susan also has lots more about the Festival on her blog here.


In the last few days I have managed to finish 3 different hand applique blocks.

Firstly Block 18 of CCCQ, Mary Mc Kissick.

I have started stitching the 2nd set of Noah and Matilda blocks. This one is Red Leaf Bouquet.

Lastly is the block that took the longest. My first completed corner block for Roseville Album.

Some close ups..

Keep safe everyone! Here it is very hot and windy with high fire danger. We can see and smell smoke. Don't worry we are safe!! The high winds are bringing smoke from fires away from us.
We are looking forward to a cool change later today.

Hari-kuyo - Festival of Broken Needles.

You may remember that early last year I participated in an online course to make a needlebook with Susan of Plays With Needles.  Click here for my post when I finished my first needlebook. It explains a little about the construction of the needlebook and a short explanation of the Hari-Kuyo tradition. For an even better description and more detail on the Festival of Broken Needles look here on Susan's blog.

Since then I have made several more needlebooks and given them as gifts to fellow stitchers in my family.

Here is my needlebook after a year of use.

Today, February 8th, is the day of the Hari-Kuyo festival in Japan. It is the day to honour our broken needles. The ceremony is to show respect to the tools' faithful service and to honour their value.

I have collected my broken and worn needles over the past 12 months and kept them in the back of my needlebook ready for today.

Traditionally the broken needles are placed in tofu because it is soft and soothing for the needles. I don't have any tofu, so I placed my needles in some wool batting and wrapped them in tissue paper.

I then buried my broken needles in the backyard garden and marked the place with a small stone.

I will be back tomorrow with a link to Susan's blog post about her Hari-Kuyo ceremony and lots of links to others who have made the needlebooks and saved their broken needles for February 8th, the Festival of Broken Needles.

Click here to see Susan's post. There are quite a few links to other's posts about their needlebooks and Hari-Kuyo ceremony.

Secret sewing revealed and Blogger's BOM

During the last few weeks I ave been working on some gifts. Two have been finished and are now in the hands of their new owners.

The first is another Hari-Kuyo needlebook.  This time I embellished the front cover by back stitching around two of the flowers. The bird has a bead for his eye.

The book's ties are made the same way as each of the other 2 books I have made.

This time I stitched some French ribbon down the spine of the book to cover the stitches made when sewing in the pages.

The second gift was a camera pouch made with a pattern from here.

The instructions were very clear, comprehensive and easy to follow.
I made the largest size: approx 17 cm wide, 11 cm high and 9 cm deep (approx 7"  W, 4" H and 3.5" D)

For the external fabric I used a Lecien fabric by Yoko Saito from her Collection Etoffe Imprevue.  I like the subtle print and the texture created by an interesting weave.

When the front flap is opened the contents of the bag are still held securely with an extra closure secured by an elastic drawstring.

The lining is a matching grey plain cotton.

Blogger's BOM is up to month 8 and this time the block was presented by Amy Lobsiger of Mrs Schmenkman Quilts. Amy gave very clear instructions and also some ideas for different fabric colour choices to make the block look quite different.

Here are my 2 blocks:

A very dear friend of mine is facing a battle with her health. If you are so inclined, some prayers for her would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Blogger's BOM, little houses and secret sewing

Already it is the 7th month of Blogger's BOM and the latest block comes from Allison Harris from Cluck Cluck Sew.  Here are my 2 blocks.

My housing construction is coming along slowly, but steadily. Below are my five recent completions.

All over the world there are hundreds of ladies making these little houses from scraps. Each house block is just 3 inches square. To see what everyone else has been making go here. Some very industrious ladies have   finished their quilts already!

Now for the secret sewing. :)  It was my sister's birthday last week so I decided to make her a needlebook. She reads my blog, so I couldn't post the photos until she received the package.

I followed the same design as Susan's Hari Kuyo needlebook. The pages are wool felt and all the other fabrics are from old kimonos.

These needlebooks are lots of fun to make. I have started my third one! :)

The last few weeks I have had less time to read and comment on  blogs. I hope to be able to get back into my blogging routine soon.
Thank you for everyone who has visited and especially to those who have left comments. I love comments! ......and replying to them. :)

Hari-Kuyo Needlebook finished.

I just completed my first Hari-Kuyo needlebook!

Susan Elliott has been running a very successful e-course for this book. There have been participants from several states in the USA, France, Norway, United Kingdom, Canada, Greece and Australia. A truly worldwide gathering of ladies eager to learn from a very talented embroiderer.

Here is the kit I started with, along with some embroidery threads I added.

I gathered supplies from my stash for 2 more needlebooks:

The fabrics in this one are from old kimonos.

William Morris fabrics and my favourite colours.

All the pages for the needlebooks are wool felt.

The first step was to embroider the flower for the cover:

Next the embroidery for the inside back cover:

This is the part of the book that takes it far beyond any other needlebook. This page is for keeping worn and broken needles until February 8th, when, every year, Hari-Kuyo, or the Festival of Broken needles is held. Hari-Kuyo is a fascinating tradition from Japan where people bring their worn and broken needles to a shrine where the needles are placed in tofu. The tofu acts to sooth and protect the needles. By this act the needle workers are showing gratitude and respect to the needles. In Japan they believe that all objects have a soul and that these objects receive part of our soul when we use them.
If you would like to read more, go here and   here for a very good explanations of the tradition.


My book complete with labelled pages and needles:

To learn more about the e-course click on the button on my sidebar.



I have started embroidering the front cover for my second book.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

An afternoon at the sewing machine

and some shopping.

It has been quite hot here the last few days, so I spent the afternoon at my sewing machine.

These are the next blocks for Blogger's Block of the Month. This month's block is by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter.

Now I have 6 blocks in each colourway.

I also finished my last 2 blocks for the Civil War Quilt.

I have been playing with arranging the blocks in several different ways, but I still haven't decided which way to go.


Recently I had a morning in the city and after seeing this shop referred to a couple of times I decided to take a look. What a treasure trove of goodies L'uccello is!!! I could have spent hours in there!

Here is what I came home with.

A lovely collection of wool felt, ribbon, thread and some Barbara Brackman fabric, all of which will be used for a needlebook....or three. :)


Does anyone remember this book???

This is my very well loved copy. I've had it since I was five years old. I can remember my Mother reading it to us at bed time. A year or so later a teacher read it to us at school. Later still I read it on my own...several times. :)

Weeeelll, look what I found at Spotlight yesterday.....:)

Aren't they cute!!!!  They are going in to stash until there are Grand babies! :)