Friday, August 24, 2012

A week of work


One goal was met and the banner is done and ready to hang.  The deadline that was pressed on me was only to make a photography deadline so it can be used in the ministries booklet which was due at the printer.

Thanks to suggestions from my blogging friends, I quilted the background with the words, Time, Talent, Faithfulness, Vision, Discipleship, Prayer, Love, Peace, Service, and Support. I used light blue thread and I don't know if those words will be noticed when it is hung, but having them there made me feel a bit more satisfied than when the project was begun.

In the midst of making this, I had a week of Vacation Bible School, running the "Palace Playground Games".
And to add to the challenge, I added a broken toe to the equation

In the midst of nagging me to work faster on the banner, husband Paul (who is in charge of getting the booklets printed) returned from walking the dog saying that my neighbor, Miki-san, was outside and I should come out and say hello. Not wanting to stop what I was doing, I tried to ignore the request. After all, Miki-san's front door faces ours only separated by a few meters and we see each other often. Still, the requests got louder and not wanting to be rude, I finally put on my flip-flops and went out to give greeting. My neighbor was weeding so I did a bit to help and then swept the "road" between our houses.

Working in the bright sun, it took my eyes time to adjust when returning to our dark genkan. (the little space inside the front door where those entering leave their shoes). As I stepped inside, I kicked the wooden geta (clogs) my husband had kicked off earlier as he entered. This sounds like a re-run of the two broken toes last summer and when I went to the neighborhood clinic, the doctor had a good laugh.(It seems he laughs every time I go there). Oh what a klutz this foreigner is!

Since I had a busy week riding a crowded rush-hour train, I ended up with a partial cast and a big bandage. It was probably a good move because by day four, I had been stepped on enough to crack the cast. It never did win me a seat in the preferred seating though.

I ended up pulling three very late-nighters to get the banner done. I really need to get to bed by 10pm  when I have to get up by 6am to get to church and without my beauty rest I can get ugly fast. A week of rowdy lively games added to the equation, and I went to bed the last two nights without waiting for dinner.

 Between some long train rides home and a few meetings, I managed to finish sewing together the rest of the rows on the + and X quilt.

Today, after VBS was over, I laid the rows out on the fellowship hall floor and picked out the cornerstones. It is not really up to my son's standard but it'll have to do.

Now I will have a bit more take-along work, sewing and adding the sashing to each row. I will probably have to add the rows at home because it is getting a bit big to carry along.

I have no plan for the backing and still don't know where I can go to baste the sandwich... maybe back at church. I am also thinking of adding a border of some kind just to tie it all together and make it easier to bind.

Meanwhile, I have plans churning in my brain for the next project. My recently married son has requested something in green and brown with owls. At a quilt show this year, I saw a mola of an owl and thought making a large one (or two) in Mola style feathers might be fun. That will be a project with no deadline. I know my kids will be happy with whatever I make whenever they get it.

So ... now I am ready for a bit of a rest and a bit of neglected house-work.


17 comments:

  1. Julie, I love the church banner, you did a great job on it. Your quilt is coming along lovely, great colours in it. So sorry to hear about your accident, hope you are 100% soon

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  2. Julie, Both quilts are beautiful. Sorry to hear about your accident. You are so brave to navigate the crowded trains of Tokyo; I wouldn't have done that. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Gambatte!

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  3. Goodness ... you absolutly deserve a rest! Get thet foot up in the air and REST!!

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  4. Your really created a beautiful piece with what they gave you and made it even better and more meaningful.

    Debbie

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  5. So sorry about the toe. Ouch! The banner turned out great! I love how the other quilt is coming together. Love all those colors working together.

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  6. Well Julie, a second year of broken toes. Do you think they are trying to tell you something? The quilt is stunning as usual! The banner is very pretty and even though it doesn't reflect the full meaning of stewardship, it will catch people's attention. I hope you can get a bit of relaxing time now and give the toe time to heal.

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  7. Forget the housework, just claim the rest!

    Your banner is wonderful. I wonder if my church would use a banner. Not enough wall space probably...

    Do take care of yourself. Those get must have been really big and hard to break a toe! I can see myself missing the genkan step.

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  8. Your work is so beautiful with a real design ethos underlying it and is wrapped with care and feeling. I am so glad you have been having problems with pictures too. If it's a general problem I expect it will get fixed in time. I'm so sorry about the toe - I hope it heals quickly. Mary

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  9. Sorry my last comment read as if I was pleased you were having picture problems too. What I meant was I was glad it was something Google m,ight fix. Mary

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  10. All your work is so beautiful, but don't forget to stop and smell the roses once in a while. :0) I hope your toe heals quickly.

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  11. Nice wingy swoopy circliness that you have added with those curving words. v. Clever.

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  12. Hi Julie, Your yahoo email account has been hacked. They have a message to your whole address book saying you are in trouble in Spain and could people please wire you money. They've set it up so replying to your email works so it looks like it comes from you. I would create a new email address with gmail immediately and link it to this blog. And then see what you can do about stopping your yahoo account. They may have locked you out of it - happened to a friend of mine. Good luck and let me know from a different email address or by commenting on my blog if you need any help with the technical side of things.

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  13. Hi Julie, I also received an email as described by Laura above. It sounds like she has several ideas for fixing the problem. I hope everything turns out fine.

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  14. I also got an email and have ignored it since I've heard of similar accounts from other bloggers.

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  15. Hi Julie, I came here to post about your e-mail being hacked and I see that others are also letting you know. Follow Laura's advice and close your yahoo account, it's not hard to do.

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  16. Wonderful banner, Julie ! ... LOVEyour X's and O's quilt, too and I just can't wait seeing your new project coming along ;>) You're on a roll !

    XOXOXOXOXO
    NADINE

    PS : Julie, did you get my email, today ? Please confirm. THANKS

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  17. The words stitched in the banner show up pretty well in the photo, so I bet it will be fine. The banner looks great. I really like your scrap quilt too--very cool. You had a rough couple of days there, hope the foot is better.

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