Monday, January 10, 2011

All kinds of HAPPY

Little did I know when my son set up a "blog" what I was in for other than simply letting my kids see what I had made. At that time, he pulled up a couple of quilt blogs already in existence and posted them along the side of my page. Where did he get those names? Was it only an accident or does God really work that way in our lives.

Some were like shops promoting themselves or long arm quilters looking for work but the first ones I read were Taniwa and Stitchin By The Lake. It was some time later I figured out what it meant to become a "follower". That may sound dumb to you but most of my friends my age don't even have a computer.

Now I am part of a virtual quilting group and that makes me happy but if you have not read either of these blogs, I will attempt at the end to add a link because you must see that they are about much more than quilting and have connected up those loose ends that seem to fill our lives. The first picture brings the happiness off those friendships. The Lovely pile of goodies sitting by my plant and coffee cup were sent by Marlene. The cozy hot pad she made with her own hands and is almost too dear to use. The other mini quilt on the table was made by Tanya. It has the kanji (characters) for my name. Fuku brings fortune and happiness and Ta or Da is a paddy field. She then selected a Psalm to print around the words. And such a perfect one it is! I am still blown away by the friendship of these two women who went to such lengths to make me happy.

Next you will see that the Psalm banner is DONE. I finished yesterday but it was much too windy to take a picture. Don't zoom in to closely because you will see a lot of threads and dog hair but when I returned from school today the weather was just fine for getting that picture and I grabbed the ladder, the banner, and the dog and raced to the park. As I was hanging it I saw the generous amount of dog hair covering every area.




Lest you think the dog must be bald by now ... here is my assistant, Nikko, guarding the work from the little kids with the frisbee. (Or maybe thinking she'd like to play with the frisbee too.)


And here is one more reason to rejoice. Today the little kimono blocks were complete and we began to arrange them on the floor. The dark blue blocks in between will be quilted with family crests. Today we copied them to the blue and then arranged everything into rows for assembling.



These last pictures are arranging and pinning.
Since there were only a few left to mark, we decided to get that part of the process done so we can get it all together and start on the quilting.
To mark the crests on the dark fabric, we centered the paper copies where they were to go. Then we went over the lines in the paper with a ballpoint pen. After picking up the paper, there was a line depression where the pen had drawn and we went over it a second time with a white chalk pencil. The Japanese sewers often mark fabric with a "hera"which is similar in that it leaves a light line in the fabric. This is quite useful but requires good lighting and may be difficult to see on figured fabric.
We had a good turnout for the work and you can see the happiness on the faces of the remaining three that we were able to get this much done.
So, now you see the blessings the day has brought. Thank you for being my virtual quilt group. Thank you to Marlene http://stitchinbythelake.blogspot.com/
and Tanya http://tttl1998.blogspot.com/ (check them out now, if you haven't already) And smile for the joy that quilting brings and the friendships that blogging brings too.







13 comments:

  1. Your banner is beautiful! As is your "assistant"! Can't wait to see more of the kimono quilt!
    LaDonna

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  2. I've finally made it over to your blog after seeing your name pop up in my comments, and I see we have many things in common. I'm a twin (although identical, not fraternal). My husband coached basketball at Case Western Reserve University before we came here, so my first son was born in Cleveland. While we were there, I was a teacher at Cleveland Central Catholic high school. I'm also a cub scout den leader (as you already know), and I love hand quilting. With all those commonalities, I've just got to become a follower!

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  3. Hi Julie... you know, I thought I was following you! Am now! :-)
    And yes, quilting (and birding) does bring joy and blogging has opened up a whole new world for me! Little did I know, as well...
    I will have to do some backtracking though you blog.

    Have a wonderful day, and I'll type to you later,
    Karen

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  4. Julie, the Psalms banner is absolutely incredible. I am in awe of your ability to envision and design - I just can't seem to picture things in my head without seeing a picture of it in a book. And the new quilt is going to be wonderful as well. Any group of women, whether it's in person or on line, becomes a support group and enriches our lives. blessings, marlene

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  5. Hi Julie,

    I love the Kimono quilt you are making! Nikko is so adorable... who cares if there is dog hair on everything. I think blogging is great. It keeps you motivated, you can share your ideas and make friends. Keep up the good work.

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  6. Everything is beautiful, and you obviously had a very happy day! : D

    Maybe I can put a cherry on the top? I learned a little computer trick in the past week, and maybe you already know this, but I've just learned it despite intensive computer use in the past 14 years:

    Ctrl and + will zoom in the screen so that small type in any window online will be easier to read. I love this new toy! : D Teeny print is no longer a problem! Woo hoo!

    Hugs,
    ~ Ronda

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  7. Julie-
    Yesterday was just great - Every year we moan a bit about all the work, but every year it is worth it!
    :-) Jacqueline

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  8. What a lovely post, you have so many reasons to rejoice.

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  9. Olá, amiga!
    Passei para uma visitinha e conhecer seu blog.
    Achei seu trabalho muito bonito.
    Tenha uma boa semana, cheia de muita luz, paz, saúde e inspiração porque criatividade você tem muita nos seus trabalhos.
    Bj♥s
    Brasil ♥♥
    ♥♥

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  10. Love it Julie! So happy to know you through blogging ;-).

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  11. Glad you like your name quilt. I had fun making it for you. And congratulations on finishing the Psalms banner! It is a beauty! I'm happy to have gotten to know you through blogging too Julie!

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  12. Julie, your Psalms Banner turned out absolutely beautiful.... wonderful work!

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