Hard work has begun

In March 2004, a group of mothers joined efforts to create a quilt for the silent auction at The American School in Japan's spring "Gala".
That quilt and others can be found in the postings for each year.

This is more a group of willing hands than a group of quilters but each year we have been able to make a beautiful quilt that none of us could have completed in that time...if ever...on our own. It has also been one of the hottest items of the silent auction.

This year we have decided on a replay (with some changes) of our first quilt. Choosing a Japanese theme and using Japanese fabrics creates a lovely reminder for a family's years lived in Japan.

Last week we cut and marked the pieces for these kimono/yukata blocks. Saturday at the school's festival we began working on the piecing and along with today's few hours of work
have made a good bit of progress.

These blocks will be set on point with a dark blue block between in a checkerboard fashion. The blue blocks will be quilted with Kamon or Japanese family crests. Of the 36 blocks needed to make a queen-sized bed cover, you can see that we are pretty far along. Probably next week we will begin marking the crest designs before assembling the top.

The mothers, who have now learned how to sew the patches together, will also help in the assembly and quilting.

Although I hardly need another project to keep myself busy, I enjoy this process greatly. The volunteers are all of my daughters' generation and with my own daughters being so far away, these women fill a great gap. With some I know their children through substitute teaching or Scouting. Each year we welcome new-comers to life in Tokyo and say farewell to others. We learn what's up at school and where to buy needed or missed items in this city. We hear of their travels and our lives expand as well. In the process we create a one-of-a-kind piece that will bring joy to some lucky bidder. What could be more fun than that?